Gripp Grant Application for School Year 2019-2020
Seedling grants are given in amounts up to $500.
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Seedling grants are given in amounts up to $500.
Please use Internet Explorer 9 or above, FireFox, Chrome or Safari to submit your application.
The District 39 Educational Foundation recently presented Wilmette School Board with a check for $55,000 to help fund projects for the District 39 community, according to its newsletter. The foundation is supporting District 39 and the Wilmette Junior High School science wing renovation through a private-public partnership of the Inspiring Scientist Fund, which will help provide hands-on classroom materials to complement the new science curriculum that debuts in fall 2013. The foundation is also planning to continue the Science Olympiad program next school year; the program was unveiled at Highcrest Middle School this year
Posted on May 29, 2013 by Chi-an Chang
in Wlmette-Kenilworth Patch
Central School classrooms will be receiving Tanzanian artifact boxes to complement their Sister School Program thanks to a Gripp Grant from the D39 Educational Foundation. These boxes will include hand-crafted artifacts, maps, flags, games and many other items that will enable Central students to make personal connections with the students in their sister school located in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. This program has expanded students’ perspective of our cultural similarities and differences and the foundation is pleased to be able to broaden students’ awareness of different cultures with these hands-on materials.
Debbie Clark, 8th grade science teacher at WJHS, has been awarded a grant to fund a Solar Car science initiative. This project will engage all of the 8th grade students in real world problem solving and allow them to experience inquiry-based learning as well as provide deeper understanding of an alternative energy source. They will build and race cars and then seek to improve their vehicles’ performance based on experimenting, learning, and adapting angles, mass, and other parameters.
Andrea Kowalchik, and 3 other WJHS math teachers will attend the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics annual conference in April 2011. This conference will allow our teachers to collaborate with colleagues, drawing on best practices from math teachers around the country. These teachers will learn about new math technologies and approaches to teaching math to 7th and 8th graders across the academic spectrum. They will then share their experiences and learning with their WJHS colleagues through collaboration at weekly meetings of their Professional Learning Community.
As part of the Foundation’s ongoing support of the District’s garden-enabled curriculum, a grant has been awarded to Central School for the piloting of a lunchtime recess activity enabling a hands-on exploration of ecology and ecosystems through creation and nurturing of tropical and desert terrariums. Through exploration and discovery of soil, plants, and animals that thrive in these varying eco-systems, as well as problem-solving skills and creativity associated with building the terrariums, students will have the opportunity to experience many of the learning components called out in the District’s strategic plan. This initiative will be piloted this spring in conjunction with the Evanston Ecology Center.
Harper third grade teacher Laura Nerenberg has been awarded a grant to enhance the Social Studies curriculum as third grade students learn about Wilmette and Glenview history. This grant will bring Dino Robinson, founder of Shorefront Legacy Center, to Harper to speak to students about the important historical contributions and lives of African-American Northshore residents.
In an effort to support an all-school green initiative, the District 39 Education Foundation will be supporting efforts to phase out water bottles in the WJHS cafeteria. This initiative focuses on an applied understanding of the environmental impact of bottled water consumption, with students viewing the documentaries “Tapped” and “The Story of Stuff”, complemented by a service learning component where students engage in the decidedly “low-tech” approach of pouring water for their classmates in the cafeteria line. This grant is part of a community-wide partnership with D39 Food Service, WJHS PTO Environment Committee, local business leader Dean Thanos of Ridgeview Grill and Wilmette’s Go Green Foundation.
The Foundation is pleased to support a pilot grant for several Highcrest 5th grade classes to participate in the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust’s “Architecture in Education: Building in Community” program. Preservation Trust instructors will visit Highcrest to work with students on architecture and design. Students will learn how to use their measurement and math computation skills to lay out an architectural floor plan and design a building and community. Grant recipient Joe Taylor, a HMS 5th grade teacher, says “Doing this project will inspire students to learn math and build their confidence in their math problem-solving skills.”
This program complements the Foundation-sponsored “Math: Let’s Get Real!” program, where students learn how math is an important component of many careers. Last spring, a local architect, airline pilot, and basketball team statistician demonstrated to HMS 5th graders how math is vital to their everyday work. The 2010 HMS program, scheduled for mid-March, will feature composer, conductor, and music educator Gary Fry, who will speak on tempo and math in the music industry; and Liz Johnson, a Northern Trust portfolio manager, who will talk about math in the financial industry.
The Foundation will pilot PE teacher Carol Fritz’s lunchtime fitness program. Based on the The Feelin’ Good Mileage Club model, which has been successful at many schools nationwide, this program encourages students to walk, jog, or run on a designated course several times a week during recess. More than 2.5 million children in participating schools logged almost 30 million miles last year. Central students will earn tokens and other rewards for the miles they log. The goal is to broaden student physical fitness, as well as encourage goal-setting and enhanced student focus in the classroom after lunchtime. Carol Fritz notes that “It’s fun, it channels kids’ energy, it gets kids ready to learn, it aids in a child’s educational development, and it’s getting the child physically fit.” Central staff will also be able to participate.