Gripp Grant Award Recipients

Two Spring Gripp Grants totaling $8,705 were awarded to 12 teachers, library professionals, and administrators, which will positively impact every student in the District by addressing needs encompassing those resulting from the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Kristin Johnson, Early Childhood LBS teacher, Elizabeth Foley, Early Childhood LBS teacher, Stacy Levine, Kindergarten teacher (Romona), Kristen Olsen, Comprehensive LBS (Romona), Stephanie Boron, Early Childhood SLP, Cindy Anderson, Principal (Romona), Lisa Anderson, Assistant Principal (Romona), and Amanda Barton, Early Childhood Coordinator, received a grant to build an all-seasons outdoor classroom to be used by the District’s Early Childhood program, as well as Romona Elementary students in grades K-2.  The wooden structure will take the form of a cafe including a “mud kitchen”, dining area, and work table, and will be called the Romona Mud Cafe.  The goal of this project is to provide a space that allows students a year-round, nature-rich environment to learn through play-based, imaginative, and collaborative experiences.  In addition, the space can be used for curriculum based lessons and will be universally accessible to the diverse community of students at Romona.

 

The Board of Trustees of the District 39 Educational Foundation proudly announces a $3000 gift to District 39 to support the implementation of SORA – the Student Reading App, from Overdrive.

Five Spring 2020 Gripp Grants totaling $17,104 were awarded to 12 teachers, positively impacting students and inspiring learners at each of the District 39’s six schools.

Bonny Skutch, Differentiation Specialist Teacher at Central, received a grant to bring Tang Math ‘Math Mania Days’ to each of the District 39 schools, which will be co-funded by the district. Math Mania Days will provide an immersive full day experience at each school for students, teachers and parents in the 2020/21 school year and will include: student assemblies, materials for teachers and students, professional development training for teachers, and family math nights led by Greg Tang. The goal of this program is to enhance mathematical fluency for students, develop best practices for teaching math fluency for teachers, and educate parents about how to support math fluency at home.

Learning Behavior Specialists, Julia Ryan (Romona), Kristen Olsen (Romona), Jen Archer (Central), Amanda Kahana (Central), Nate Rahn (McKenzie) and Cori Piper (McKenzie) received a grant to purchase 37 curriculum tasks from ‘Shoe Box Tasks’. These task boxes will allow students with low incidence disabilities to have access to instruction that is systematic, direct and conducive for academic growth. In addition, task boxes can be used in inclusion opportunities with peers.

Jessie Kerber, 4th grade teacher at Harper, and the fourth grade team at Harper will pilot The Nora Curriculum for the 2020/21 school year as a possible social emotional learning (SEL) program for the district. The goals of this SEL curriculum are to promote inclusion and empathy in the classroom in a rich, involved, hands-on, regular basis through consistent curriculum throughout the school year.

Andrea Dwenger, 7th grade math teacher, and Jennifer Wood, 8th grade math teacher, received a grant to transform the math office space connected to their shared classroom. The Math Zen Den will provide a more relaxing space for small group testing, reteaching and when students need a break to refocus and relieve anxieties associated with math assessments. Students actively participated in the designing of the space.

Nicole Martin, 2nd grade teacher at Romona, and Sammi Zauner, teacher for the visually impaired , received a grant to install a specialized Braille Panel and Braille Labels for the planned new playground at Romona School. The Braille Panel and Labels will promote inclusion with all students while in social settings. In addition, the Braille Panels and Labels would be used during lessons on Helen Keller and for disability awareness activities.

Congratulations to Paula Lundell, McKenzie School OT, for the Encore Gripp Grant awarded to her for a hallway sensory path. Encore Grants are awarded for Foundation-funded projects that have previously been successful within D39 schools. In this case, sensory paths were awarded to each D39 elementary school last spring and are being used by students in each school with great success. McKenzie’s hallways were carpeted at that time so a sensory mat was purchased to use in the school’s motor room. Now McKenzie School has new linoleum hallways and is ready to have the same sensory path experience for its students. This Encore Grant will allow McKenzie students to benefit from a path that engages them in a sensory motor activity during transitions.

Cheri Bridge and Jill Forti, Technology Specialists at WJHS, were awarded a grant to purchase 29 MERGE cubes to support the initiation of the D39 Augmented Reality program, which builds upon the existing Virtual Reality program. MERGE cubes allow students to visualize complex systems by turning 3D models into a virtual object that students can manipulate, allowing them to better ‘experience’ the content they are studying.

 

All four elementary schools will benefit from the grant for Sensory Paths to be installed in each of the schools.  A Sensory Path is an organized course typically placed in a school hallway that encourages a routine, predictable motor break and provides students with an additional place to take ‘brain breaks’ during the school day. This grant was a collaborative effort involving 10 staff members, namely: Elyse Adamo (Romona LBS), Michelle Mermelstein (Romona OT), Lindsey Barnes (Romona Early Childhood OT), Gabrielle Young (Romona 1^st Grade Teacher), Muffy Pinney (Harper Librarian), Anne Clark (Harper LBS), Emma Hearty (Central LBS), Kathleen Peth (Central PE Teacher), Andrea Zito (Central Nurse), Paula Lundell (McKenzie OT).