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Just Some of the Previously Awarded Grants
AVERY ELEMENTARY
Total Awarded: $1,410
"Kids in the Lead" - Our goal is to create a new dynamic in the culture of the building where students feel like they belong and that their voice and spirit are the true makeup of what we are. Too often we find that students want to be more involved in school and that there are some things that hinder them from being more involved (money, transportation, proximity to the building, etc.) We want students who want to build up the school and make it better than it already is to have the opportunity to do that with their leadership skills in many creative ways. The students will be navigating a new way to be Avery All-Stars. We are creating a news broadcast, podcast, and newspaper all student lead. We will be doing service projects to help the webster community as well as our school. All with students leading the way. Far too often we tell students what they are capable of doing but never allow them the opportunity to show it. By having the whole building be involved in helping our students be seen and validated we are hoping to create a space where students are proud of the building, want to continue to come to school, and truly feel like they belong. When students feel like they belong they want to come to school, when they are a part of something bigger than themselves they want to put forth their best effort as not to let others down.
HUDSON ELEMENTARY
Total Awarded: $8,865.49
"I’m More then a Number" - The goal of this project is to document the whole child and to provide a closer, more detailed window into their learning. Through documentation teachers will become better equipped to utilize documentation to inform curricular and pedagogical (the method of teaching) approaches being taken in the classroom. For too long children have been seen in education as a vessel to be filled rather than a fire to be fueled. In order to support this work, we are in need of a variety of tools for our building, as well as materials, to showcase this to families, students, and staff members. We will hang and display these documentation materials on the walls of our school. Through this work, we believe that student metacognition of their learning, student engagement, and family awareness of learning occurring in our building will all increase. This type of documentation puts students first in the curriculum development and celebrates the at times messy and difficult to see process of learning as opposed to just the end product.
HIXSON MIDDLE SCHOOL
Total Awarded: $10,000
"Friday Food Bags" - The goal of the Friday Food Bags is to ensure our students get the nutritious and easy-to-prepare food they need to get enough to eat on the weekends. Our counselors will deliver backpacks with the food to our students who are food insecure. We have begun a partnership with Straub's and have applied to be a food partner to Operation Food Search.This project is 100% student inspired, organized and driven. The Student Leadership Team identified an underserved group within our Hixson community and came up with the plan to address the very complex issues surrounding hunger.
Backpack food programs provide nutritious, easy-to-prepare food to students to ensure they get enough food on weekends and holidays to avoid hunger when they can't depend on school meals. We are helping students directly with their quality of life as well as their ability to learn and grow. It would supply students with a more leveled learning environment. The student leadership team will be responsible for securing the food resources needed to maintain this initiative. Student Leaders will also be responsible for maintaining the inventory and keeping the pantry organized and stocked. This will benefit both the students who will be running the food bag program and every student that is directly served to have an enriching and positive school experience.
Having a reliable food source for students in the building means students will be better able to learn and they will be more engaged and more focused.
STEGER SIXTH GRADE CENTER
Total Awarded: $3,115
"Photo Lab" - Photography is in high demand in today's world. From online blogging to photo editing for the digital marketplace, students could have a variety of job opportunities if they learned to take well thought out and purposeful photos. When creating a work of art with photos students are not only thinking creatively with picture set-up, but they are having to use story telling skills to link each of their photos in a series together. Students would get the chance to look at the world through a different lense, and edit it to fit the reality they saw. Getting students to understand how to tell a story with just photos is a higher level thinking skill. Usually students write the story and then if given the chance they get to illustrate it. This way of thinking forces students to tell a story with no words and try to have all viewers understand a common theme or meaning in their series. Everything the students want to say will have to be in a photo. They will have to learn how lighting, depth, balance, and content all play a role in each photo.
WALTER AMBROSE FAMILY CENTER
Total Awarded: $2,578
"Magic Sand" - The project will immerse the children of the AFC into a visual, tactile sensory exploration. We will purchase and build an augmented reality sensory table. The augmented reality sensory table is a hands-on sandbox combined with a 3D visualization application, created by researchers at UC Davis. A computer is connected to a projector, and the augmented reality program is projected onto the sand in the sensory table; it alters how the sand looks as the child plays, explores and moves the sand. The child will be able to create mountains, streams, and even deserts. The sandbox is augmented in real time with a topographic contour map, that when the children mold/move the sand it makes contour lines and simulates water. By mounding up the sand, the program senses the change in elevation and projects a simulation of a mountain. Waving a hand over the top of the table initiates the rain, and the digital water follows the contours of the sand, flowing downhill in a simulation of the way water would actually flow and respond to the landforms. https://arsandbox.ucdavis.edu/. Having the children's sensory needs met will help them self-regulate and help with concentration, which will in turn increase their development of fine motor, social emotional (controlling oneself and empathy for others), language (understanding what is being said to them and talking to a peer), speech, science and technology.
WALTER AMBROSE FAMILY CENTER
Total Awarded: $2,457
"Creating a Safe and Supportive Classroom" The goal of this project is to create a classroom environment which provides needed support for all learners. We hope to revamp our space and classroom community to deepen relationships, provide a safe space to feel and process big emotions, and promote creativity in thinking, learning, and problem solving. If awarded this grant we plan to:
- Create a space where students will learn and grow at their own pace in their own way. This space will allow them safely to take risks and deepen their desire to learn.
- Utilizing the tools of Mindfulness, Conscious Discipline, and Sensory Supports we will create a space that focuses on understanding the needs of each child and what they are communicating to us. This understanding will promote a proactive approach (rather than reactive) to student behaviors and emotions.
- Create tool boxes which provide other building educators the supplies/tools they need to implement this support system in their own classrooms.
- Engage in ongoing professional development to share with coworkers the strategies and tools we have learned.
- We will use grant money to provide opportunities for parent/adult involvement, teaching adults how to implement these strategies at home while increasing the trust between caregivers and educators.
WEBSTER GROVES HIGH SCHOOL
Total Awarded: $11,355
"Finding Our Voices" Current Music Department offerings are tied to programs that typically require students to have entered as a middle schooler (Choir, Band, Orchestra). While we do offer entry level classes in Guitar and Piano, they are formal in their approach to learning the basics of music. This class is innovative because it allows students to create, produce, and perform THEIR music, their works of art. This course will uniquely offer a genre and industry opportunity that only a select few are currently accessing. We want students to have equitable music opportunities. What we've all loved about the elementary music programs (student-driven, movement, performances, inclusive, FUN) in our district can be incorporated at the high school level with this course.
WEBSTER GROVES HIGH SCHOOL
Total Awarded: $390.16
"Calming Corner" The goal of our sensory corner is to have a safe and calming area for our preschoolers whenever they are having a rough time with transitions, sensory overload, or following directions. Our corner will provide space for them to quietly calm themselves down on their own time before having a teacher help reintegrate them into the rest of the class and the day's activities. The space will include comfy peapod bean bags that give sensory input through pressure, a sensory swing that kids can lay in and read books to calm themselves, and a variety of small sensory toys.Sensory processing issues affect up to 16% of young children, according to a study done by The University of California San Francisco. Consequently, this means that it's almost a 100% certainty that we will have multiple children in the Preschool each year who have some sensory processing disorder. Currently, when children are having issues of any kind, including sensory-based ones, we move them to a chair, which does not help to solve the problem. The corner will provide an effective alternative that will help the children to calm down safely, without disturbing other children, as the area we plan to implement this is outside of the main classroom. Additionally, as far as I know, this exact area has not yet been implemented anywhere.
Total Awarded: $1,410
"Kids in the Lead" - Our goal is to create a new dynamic in the culture of the building where students feel like they belong and that their voice and spirit are the true makeup of what we are. Too often we find that students want to be more involved in school and that there are some things that hinder them from being more involved (money, transportation, proximity to the building, etc.) We want students who want to build up the school and make it better than it already is to have the opportunity to do that with their leadership skills in many creative ways. The students will be navigating a new way to be Avery All-Stars. We are creating a news broadcast, podcast, and newspaper all student lead. We will be doing service projects to help the webster community as well as our school. All with students leading the way. Far too often we tell students what they are capable of doing but never allow them the opportunity to show it. By having the whole building be involved in helping our students be seen and validated we are hoping to create a space where students are proud of the building, want to continue to come to school, and truly feel like they belong. When students feel like they belong they want to come to school, when they are a part of something bigger than themselves they want to put forth their best effort as not to let others down.
HUDSON ELEMENTARY
Total Awarded: $8,865.49
"I’m More then a Number" - The goal of this project is to document the whole child and to provide a closer, more detailed window into their learning. Through documentation teachers will become better equipped to utilize documentation to inform curricular and pedagogical (the method of teaching) approaches being taken in the classroom. For too long children have been seen in education as a vessel to be filled rather than a fire to be fueled. In order to support this work, we are in need of a variety of tools for our building, as well as materials, to showcase this to families, students, and staff members. We will hang and display these documentation materials on the walls of our school. Through this work, we believe that student metacognition of their learning, student engagement, and family awareness of learning occurring in our building will all increase. This type of documentation puts students first in the curriculum development and celebrates the at times messy and difficult to see process of learning as opposed to just the end product.
HIXSON MIDDLE SCHOOL
Total Awarded: $10,000
"Friday Food Bags" - The goal of the Friday Food Bags is to ensure our students get the nutritious and easy-to-prepare food they need to get enough to eat on the weekends. Our counselors will deliver backpacks with the food to our students who are food insecure. We have begun a partnership with Straub's and have applied to be a food partner to Operation Food Search.This project is 100% student inspired, organized and driven. The Student Leadership Team identified an underserved group within our Hixson community and came up with the plan to address the very complex issues surrounding hunger.
Backpack food programs provide nutritious, easy-to-prepare food to students to ensure they get enough food on weekends and holidays to avoid hunger when they can't depend on school meals. We are helping students directly with their quality of life as well as their ability to learn and grow. It would supply students with a more leveled learning environment. The student leadership team will be responsible for securing the food resources needed to maintain this initiative. Student Leaders will also be responsible for maintaining the inventory and keeping the pantry organized and stocked. This will benefit both the students who will be running the food bag program and every student that is directly served to have an enriching and positive school experience.
Having a reliable food source for students in the building means students will be better able to learn and they will be more engaged and more focused.
STEGER SIXTH GRADE CENTER
Total Awarded: $3,115
"Photo Lab" - Photography is in high demand in today's world. From online blogging to photo editing for the digital marketplace, students could have a variety of job opportunities if they learned to take well thought out and purposeful photos. When creating a work of art with photos students are not only thinking creatively with picture set-up, but they are having to use story telling skills to link each of their photos in a series together. Students would get the chance to look at the world through a different lense, and edit it to fit the reality they saw. Getting students to understand how to tell a story with just photos is a higher level thinking skill. Usually students write the story and then if given the chance they get to illustrate it. This way of thinking forces students to tell a story with no words and try to have all viewers understand a common theme or meaning in their series. Everything the students want to say will have to be in a photo. They will have to learn how lighting, depth, balance, and content all play a role in each photo.
WALTER AMBROSE FAMILY CENTER
Total Awarded: $2,578
"Magic Sand" - The project will immerse the children of the AFC into a visual, tactile sensory exploration. We will purchase and build an augmented reality sensory table. The augmented reality sensory table is a hands-on sandbox combined with a 3D visualization application, created by researchers at UC Davis. A computer is connected to a projector, and the augmented reality program is projected onto the sand in the sensory table; it alters how the sand looks as the child plays, explores and moves the sand. The child will be able to create mountains, streams, and even deserts. The sandbox is augmented in real time with a topographic contour map, that when the children mold/move the sand it makes contour lines and simulates water. By mounding up the sand, the program senses the change in elevation and projects a simulation of a mountain. Waving a hand over the top of the table initiates the rain, and the digital water follows the contours of the sand, flowing downhill in a simulation of the way water would actually flow and respond to the landforms. https://arsandbox.ucdavis.edu/. Having the children's sensory needs met will help them self-regulate and help with concentration, which will in turn increase their development of fine motor, social emotional (controlling oneself and empathy for others), language (understanding what is being said to them and talking to a peer), speech, science and technology.
WALTER AMBROSE FAMILY CENTER
Total Awarded: $2,457
"Creating a Safe and Supportive Classroom" The goal of this project is to create a classroom environment which provides needed support for all learners. We hope to revamp our space and classroom community to deepen relationships, provide a safe space to feel and process big emotions, and promote creativity in thinking, learning, and problem solving. If awarded this grant we plan to:
- Create a space where students will learn and grow at their own pace in their own way. This space will allow them safely to take risks and deepen their desire to learn.
- Utilizing the tools of Mindfulness, Conscious Discipline, and Sensory Supports we will create a space that focuses on understanding the needs of each child and what they are communicating to us. This understanding will promote a proactive approach (rather than reactive) to student behaviors and emotions.
- Create tool boxes which provide other building educators the supplies/tools they need to implement this support system in their own classrooms.
- Engage in ongoing professional development to share with coworkers the strategies and tools we have learned.
- We will use grant money to provide opportunities for parent/adult involvement, teaching adults how to implement these strategies at home while increasing the trust between caregivers and educators.
WEBSTER GROVES HIGH SCHOOL
Total Awarded: $11,355
"Finding Our Voices" Current Music Department offerings are tied to programs that typically require students to have entered as a middle schooler (Choir, Band, Orchestra). While we do offer entry level classes in Guitar and Piano, they are formal in their approach to learning the basics of music. This class is innovative because it allows students to create, produce, and perform THEIR music, their works of art. This course will uniquely offer a genre and industry opportunity that only a select few are currently accessing. We want students to have equitable music opportunities. What we've all loved about the elementary music programs (student-driven, movement, performances, inclusive, FUN) in our district can be incorporated at the high school level with this course.
WEBSTER GROVES HIGH SCHOOL
Total Awarded: $390.16
"Calming Corner" The goal of our sensory corner is to have a safe and calming area for our preschoolers whenever they are having a rough time with transitions, sensory overload, or following directions. Our corner will provide space for them to quietly calm themselves down on their own time before having a teacher help reintegrate them into the rest of the class and the day's activities. The space will include comfy peapod bean bags that give sensory input through pressure, a sensory swing that kids can lay in and read books to calm themselves, and a variety of small sensory toys.Sensory processing issues affect up to 16% of young children, according to a study done by The University of California San Francisco. Consequently, this means that it's almost a 100% certainty that we will have multiple children in the Preschool each year who have some sensory processing disorder. Currently, when children are having issues of any kind, including sensory-based ones, we move them to a chair, which does not help to solve the problem. The corner will provide an effective alternative that will help the children to calm down safely, without disturbing other children, as the area we plan to implement this is outside of the main classroom. Additionally, as far as I know, this exact area has not yet been implemented anywhere.
Grants Awarded for the 2018-2019 School Year
AVERY ELEMENTARY
Total Awarded $4,031.80
iSee-iSaw-iPads - $2,531.80 is a project that is focused on improving communication and collaboration with parents, teachers and specialists by showcasing students’ daily activities and progress toward their individualized Education Plan (IEP) goals. This multi-media journal will empower students to showcase what they are learning at school to their parents, demonstrate strategies in action and invite parents to be more involved in their special education activities and spread learning beyond the classroom.
Bringing Science Home - $1,000 Blending learning at home and at school will enhance students' learning opportunities. Utilizing this program students will take home kits to learn from with their families. It will help families and students understand topics that are being taught at school and further support a collaborative learning approach between home and school.
Conflict Resolution Time Machine - $500 A student's intelligence is not only the ability to understand material within subjects like reading, math, science, and others. Learning how to be emotionally intelligent is critically important in the development of people. Students can learn through this program how to become better problem solvers when experiencing a conflict with a peer or teacher, and others. It capitalizes on "teachable moments" and teaching children how to learn to "Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood” It creates an environment of respectful listening and learning the concept of perspective, leading to life long lessons.
Bristol Elementary - Total Awarded $5,541.00
Sound Domes - $3,394.00 - The “Sound Dome” concept are focused speakers hung from the ceiling to emit audio throughout a small area. Only the individuals standing directing below the dome can hear the sound being emitted. This will create an intimate learning environment in a large space. The school will use the Sound Domes to pair musical compositions that students create in class with a work of art or selection of writing, encouraging students to synthesize new information and see something familiar in a new and unexpected way. This will also showcase the school’s use of new technology in the education of our students.
Find, Feature, Film - The Power of Positive - $2,147.00 - This project is all about student voice and choice. It allows students to showcase that our school community , as well as the WG community in general, does great things which are certainly news worthy. This grant will allow a different medium to express their creativity. Student will be able film and edit stories and/or other projects based entirely about their subject and personal inspiration. They will have to communicate in all areas (reading, writing, speaking, listening, interviewing).. Students will learn to evaluate and select best social media ways to share out their creation. Students will scaffold video editing learning progressing from aps like Snapseed and Art Studio to more advance video editing such as Photoshop and Adobe Premiere.
CLARK ELEMENTARY
Total Awarded $2,529.00
All the Feels, Social Emotional Learning - $2,529.00 - This “Second Step” program takes place in partnership with the University of Missouri - Columbia’s Department of Special Education. The curriculum a will help ensure academic success for elementary school students experiencing personal trauma (home life), peer anxiety, and low socio-emotional functioning by reinforcing skills and encouraging positive behaviors that promote self-regulation, emotion management, problem solving, and responsible decision-making. The program creatively interweaves catchy songs, fun games, and other engaging activities that develop social-emotional skills and are beneficial for all students; children learn how to make friends, manage their emotions, solve problems, and deal with peer pressure.
EDGAR ROAD SCHOOL
Total Awarded $5,117.72
En Plain Air - $1,000 - The purchase of new outdoor looms will give Edgar Road students the opportunity to be inspired by their beautiful outdoor campus as they weave among the landscape. As the art room at Edgar Road does not have windows, this grant gives students the opportunity to bring the inspiration of the natural world into their woven creations through color, subject, materials, and environment, including natural habitats, entomology, plants, and light.
Light Up the Learning - $313.72 - Supplies would be purchased to go with the light table that meet a wider range of curricular goals - specifically science, math, and reading/writing. A new experience would be created for children by adding the light table into centers or stations during specific lessons. For example, putting numbers in order from 1-50 on the light table, matching upper and lower case letters on the light table, finding part of the body on x rays on the light table, building a tower using 3D shapes on the light table, and more! After exploring and learning at the light table with new materials, the children will be able to write about, draw and or share about their learning experience at different stations. Many children will benefit from this different way of learning. Still specific to goals, but more hands on and engaging for the young minds.
The Living Portfolio - $3,804.00 - The “Living Portfolio” is the next phase following the implementation of Teaching for Artistic Behavior. The Living Portfolio Project is a student-curated collection of personal thoughts, moments, big ideas, accomplishments and creations that have come out of their learning experiences in art. This project demonstrates an innovative use of technology, allowing students to create a personal digital portfolio that will authentically represent their journey as artist spanning the most crucial years of development.
HIXSON MIDDLE SCHOOL
Total Awarded $2,558.00
Sensory Garden - $500 - A hands-on sensory garden will be a beautiful and useful addition to Hixon Middle School! The garden will include plants with a variety of colors, textures and smells and not only serve as an area for multi-disciplinary learning, but also attract butterflies and other pollenating insects. The grant includes gardening tools that students will use to maintain the garden for years to come!
STEM-spiration - $2,058 (Funded by Class of 1958) - This STEM-inspired program will provide opportunities for students to experiment and tinker with computer science- and engineering-related instruments at the middle school level, sparking student interest and helping students to recognize their potential in STEM-related fields. Classroom STEM kits will be created for students to use in the middle school classrooms to teach students that STEM is everywhere and everyone is a STEM-capable learner; access to hands-on tools that surpass typical classroom content and experiences will provide opportunities for students to go beyond the material being taught and cater to their natural abilities to be creative.
HUDSON ELEMENTARY
Total Awarded $7,915.00
Outdoor Stage - $7,915.33 - This is an innovative way to integrate the community into the goals of the district to enhance student learning through diversified learning opportunities. This is an alternative way to enhance a students' interest in a variety of ways to share their knowledge and learning. It is an incredibly creative way to integrate learning AND providing a community space.
STEGER SIXTH GRADE CENTER
Total Awarded $3,600
Authentic Inventing for Design Thinking - $3,600 - The “Authentic Inventing for Design Thinking” will change the Library Media Center at Dr. Henry Givens Jr. Elementary School to a more innovative space for creative thinking, coding, STEM and problem solving. Little Bits for Education Packs will teach fifth and sixth grade students the basics of using circuits for engineering. Once students have mastered the basics, they will be able to take what they have learned and apply it by creating their own inventions. This activity has the potential to deeply engage students by allowing them to explore a new avenue for their learning. By requiring students to invent solutions to problems in small groups by using components of design thinking, they will be engaging in higher-level skills not achieved through ordinary problem solving.
WEBSTER GROVES HIGH SCHOOL
Total Awarded $3,549.00
VR Robots, Oculus Rift and Steam Outreach - $1,200 - This grant provides funds for three oculus rift packages that expands on a project initially funded by the Foundation. The WGHS Statesbots Robotics Team plans to expand community outreach, learn how to create content for the VR systems and begin the process of learning how to link the robots the program creates to a VR environment. Their ultimate goal with this grant is to create robots that are then controlled by members of the program wearing the VR headsets.
Canvas Creativity - $1,699 - The grant committee was excited to award a Dell Canvas to Webster Groves High School! The Dell Canvas is a 27-inch combination drafting table and intuitive digital art board that students can use to bring their creations to life and become effective visual communicators. The canvas will be housed in the Makerspace lab, and available to all Webster Groves district students. Immediate visions for the product include Makerspace and A.M.P.E.D. students creating design models for their clientele, as well as visual arts and computer students using it to enhance creativity and learning.
Junior Gardeners - $650.00 - The Junior Gardeners program will create a space where preschool-aged children can learn how to appreciate nature by interacting and observing in the planting/cultivating/harvesting process with the use of a ten-by-twelve foot greenhouse. The greenhouse will provide one-hundred and twenty square feet of sanctuary for children to create a relationship with nature that will stay with them for years to come. Besides teaching young minds how to maintain their own fruits, herbs, vegetables, or spice garden, the project fosters a sense of community as students work together and will be able to give back to needy in our community with their produce. Additionally, the development of programs for the preschool greenhouse can inspire creativity within current high school programs.
Total Awarded $4,031.80
iSee-iSaw-iPads - $2,531.80 is a project that is focused on improving communication and collaboration with parents, teachers and specialists by showcasing students’ daily activities and progress toward their individualized Education Plan (IEP) goals. This multi-media journal will empower students to showcase what they are learning at school to their parents, demonstrate strategies in action and invite parents to be more involved in their special education activities and spread learning beyond the classroom.
Bringing Science Home - $1,000 Blending learning at home and at school will enhance students' learning opportunities. Utilizing this program students will take home kits to learn from with their families. It will help families and students understand topics that are being taught at school and further support a collaborative learning approach between home and school.
Conflict Resolution Time Machine - $500 A student's intelligence is not only the ability to understand material within subjects like reading, math, science, and others. Learning how to be emotionally intelligent is critically important in the development of people. Students can learn through this program how to become better problem solvers when experiencing a conflict with a peer or teacher, and others. It capitalizes on "teachable moments" and teaching children how to learn to "Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood” It creates an environment of respectful listening and learning the concept of perspective, leading to life long lessons.
Bristol Elementary - Total Awarded $5,541.00
Sound Domes - $3,394.00 - The “Sound Dome” concept are focused speakers hung from the ceiling to emit audio throughout a small area. Only the individuals standing directing below the dome can hear the sound being emitted. This will create an intimate learning environment in a large space. The school will use the Sound Domes to pair musical compositions that students create in class with a work of art or selection of writing, encouraging students to synthesize new information and see something familiar in a new and unexpected way. This will also showcase the school’s use of new technology in the education of our students.
Find, Feature, Film - The Power of Positive - $2,147.00 - This project is all about student voice and choice. It allows students to showcase that our school community , as well as the WG community in general, does great things which are certainly news worthy. This grant will allow a different medium to express their creativity. Student will be able film and edit stories and/or other projects based entirely about their subject and personal inspiration. They will have to communicate in all areas (reading, writing, speaking, listening, interviewing).. Students will learn to evaluate and select best social media ways to share out their creation. Students will scaffold video editing learning progressing from aps like Snapseed and Art Studio to more advance video editing such as Photoshop and Adobe Premiere.
CLARK ELEMENTARY
Total Awarded $2,529.00
All the Feels, Social Emotional Learning - $2,529.00 - This “Second Step” program takes place in partnership with the University of Missouri - Columbia’s Department of Special Education. The curriculum a will help ensure academic success for elementary school students experiencing personal trauma (home life), peer anxiety, and low socio-emotional functioning by reinforcing skills and encouraging positive behaviors that promote self-regulation, emotion management, problem solving, and responsible decision-making. The program creatively interweaves catchy songs, fun games, and other engaging activities that develop social-emotional skills and are beneficial for all students; children learn how to make friends, manage their emotions, solve problems, and deal with peer pressure.
EDGAR ROAD SCHOOL
Total Awarded $5,117.72
En Plain Air - $1,000 - The purchase of new outdoor looms will give Edgar Road students the opportunity to be inspired by their beautiful outdoor campus as they weave among the landscape. As the art room at Edgar Road does not have windows, this grant gives students the opportunity to bring the inspiration of the natural world into their woven creations through color, subject, materials, and environment, including natural habitats, entomology, plants, and light.
Light Up the Learning - $313.72 - Supplies would be purchased to go with the light table that meet a wider range of curricular goals - specifically science, math, and reading/writing. A new experience would be created for children by adding the light table into centers or stations during specific lessons. For example, putting numbers in order from 1-50 on the light table, matching upper and lower case letters on the light table, finding part of the body on x rays on the light table, building a tower using 3D shapes on the light table, and more! After exploring and learning at the light table with new materials, the children will be able to write about, draw and or share about their learning experience at different stations. Many children will benefit from this different way of learning. Still specific to goals, but more hands on and engaging for the young minds.
The Living Portfolio - $3,804.00 - The “Living Portfolio” is the next phase following the implementation of Teaching for Artistic Behavior. The Living Portfolio Project is a student-curated collection of personal thoughts, moments, big ideas, accomplishments and creations that have come out of their learning experiences in art. This project demonstrates an innovative use of technology, allowing students to create a personal digital portfolio that will authentically represent their journey as artist spanning the most crucial years of development.
HIXSON MIDDLE SCHOOL
Total Awarded $2,558.00
Sensory Garden - $500 - A hands-on sensory garden will be a beautiful and useful addition to Hixon Middle School! The garden will include plants with a variety of colors, textures and smells and not only serve as an area for multi-disciplinary learning, but also attract butterflies and other pollenating insects. The grant includes gardening tools that students will use to maintain the garden for years to come!
STEM-spiration - $2,058 (Funded by Class of 1958) - This STEM-inspired program will provide opportunities for students to experiment and tinker with computer science- and engineering-related instruments at the middle school level, sparking student interest and helping students to recognize their potential in STEM-related fields. Classroom STEM kits will be created for students to use in the middle school classrooms to teach students that STEM is everywhere and everyone is a STEM-capable learner; access to hands-on tools that surpass typical classroom content and experiences will provide opportunities for students to go beyond the material being taught and cater to their natural abilities to be creative.
HUDSON ELEMENTARY
Total Awarded $7,915.00
Outdoor Stage - $7,915.33 - This is an innovative way to integrate the community into the goals of the district to enhance student learning through diversified learning opportunities. This is an alternative way to enhance a students' interest in a variety of ways to share their knowledge and learning. It is an incredibly creative way to integrate learning AND providing a community space.
STEGER SIXTH GRADE CENTER
Total Awarded $3,600
Authentic Inventing for Design Thinking - $3,600 - The “Authentic Inventing for Design Thinking” will change the Library Media Center at Dr. Henry Givens Jr. Elementary School to a more innovative space for creative thinking, coding, STEM and problem solving. Little Bits for Education Packs will teach fifth and sixth grade students the basics of using circuits for engineering. Once students have mastered the basics, they will be able to take what they have learned and apply it by creating their own inventions. This activity has the potential to deeply engage students by allowing them to explore a new avenue for their learning. By requiring students to invent solutions to problems in small groups by using components of design thinking, they will be engaging in higher-level skills not achieved through ordinary problem solving.
WEBSTER GROVES HIGH SCHOOL
Total Awarded $3,549.00
VR Robots, Oculus Rift and Steam Outreach - $1,200 - This grant provides funds for three oculus rift packages that expands on a project initially funded by the Foundation. The WGHS Statesbots Robotics Team plans to expand community outreach, learn how to create content for the VR systems and begin the process of learning how to link the robots the program creates to a VR environment. Their ultimate goal with this grant is to create robots that are then controlled by members of the program wearing the VR headsets.
Canvas Creativity - $1,699 - The grant committee was excited to award a Dell Canvas to Webster Groves High School! The Dell Canvas is a 27-inch combination drafting table and intuitive digital art board that students can use to bring their creations to life and become effective visual communicators. The canvas will be housed in the Makerspace lab, and available to all Webster Groves district students. Immediate visions for the product include Makerspace and A.M.P.E.D. students creating design models for their clientele, as well as visual arts and computer students using it to enhance creativity and learning.
Junior Gardeners - $650.00 - The Junior Gardeners program will create a space where preschool-aged children can learn how to appreciate nature by interacting and observing in the planting/cultivating/harvesting process with the use of a ten-by-twelve foot greenhouse. The greenhouse will provide one-hundred and twenty square feet of sanctuary for children to create a relationship with nature that will stay with them for years to come. Besides teaching young minds how to maintain their own fruits, herbs, vegetables, or spice garden, the project fosters a sense of community as students work together and will be able to give back to needy in our community with their produce. Additionally, the development of programs for the preschool greenhouse can inspire creativity within current high school programs.
Grants Awarded for the 2017-2018 School Year
September 2017
October 2017
November 2017
Mini Grants
Major Grants
December 2017
January 2018
February 2018
April 2018
Alumni Grant
- Betsy Moppert - Edgar Road School - "STEMetize my Learning" - $1,000
October 2017
- Mebbie Landsness - WGHS - "Inquiry in Physics: Electricity Comes to Life" - $1,000
- Samantha Gegg, Kelly Wilkes, Kerry Anne Cocos - Edgar Road School - "Wake Up.. Be Awesome" - $425
November 2017
Mini Grants
- WGHS – $349 – Nicholas Kirschman – “Physical Computing”
- WGHS – $488.93 – Jaime Schwarts – “A Classroom to Reflect Redefined Teaching Strategies”
- Avery Elementary - $300 – Stacey Kuschel – “Water Filtration”
Major Grants
- Steger & Computer School - $2,670 – Kendall Olsen – “Video Game Production for All”
- Edgar Road School - $477.00 – Colleen Schrappen – “Tools to Practice Anti-Racism”
- Hudson Elementary - $2,100 – Chris Jackson – Lego League WeDo 2.0”
- Edgar Road School - $3,653.10 – Julie Wuch, Kelly Lee, Susan Berger – “One Book, One School”
December 2017
- Hixson Middle School - $892 - Leslie Creath - "Responsive Spaces"
January 2018
- Walter Ambrose Family Center - $1,000 - Meghan Casey - "Connecting to the Outdoors"
February 2018
- WGHS - $321.55 - Glory Patrick & Ashli Wagner - "Physcial Activity Backpacks for Statemen Preschool"
- WGHS - $1,000 - Sara Herra & Jennifer Aguado - "Responsive Spaces"
- WGHS - $270.12 - Joe Boeckman, Skylar Garcia, Greg Heard and Jeanette Hencken - "This is What a Scientist Looks Like"
- Edgar Road School - $339.15 - Julie Wuch, Lisa Eckert - "Kindergarten, Here I Come"
April 2018
Alumni Grant
- WGHS - $10,800 – Paige Sanders, Diane Stromberg – “Amazing Places, Outdoor Spaces”
- Hixson Middle School – $3,500 – Jennifer Malloway – “Preparing for a the World of Independent Living”
- Hixson Middle School - $1,988 – Scott Gillilan – “Functional Fitness”
- Edgar Road School - $2,000 - Samantha Gegg, Kerry Anne Cocos, Tiffany Tebbe, Carrie Sachtelben – “Play the Part”
- WGHS - $4,622.91 – Greg Fick, David Kilstron – “Makespace Takes Flight”
- Avery Elementary - $1,085 – Jennifer Pupillo – “Stemitizing Project Based Learning”
- WGHS - $700 – Diane Stromberg, Alina Castro, Hollen Peterson – “Take a Look and Listen to a Book”
- Bristol Elementary – $640.90 – Jennifer Hahn – Prototype for Future After School”
- WGHS - $375.00 – Cici Faucher – “Interactive Games Review”
Grants Awarded for the 2016-2017 School Year
April 2017 - Major/Alumni Grants:
*Justine Fields, all K-6 PE “Moving and Coding in P.E.” $4,880
*Steger, Wendy LaRose, “Steger Star Entrepreneurs.” $4,000
*WGHS, Greg Fick and Cici Faucher, “ Water, Water, Everywhere….” $2,700
*WGHS, Beth Rasnic and Anne Gibbs, “Mindfulness For Everyone” $2,258
*WGHS, Jaime Schwartz/World Language Dept , “Edutainment for World Language” $1,100
*WGHS Emily McEntire and Stacey Bates, WGHS, “Visionary Integrated Independent Classroom”, $4,500
*WGHS, Leslie Creath, “Goggle Expedition VR”, $7,000 (In part funded by Alumni Class 1959 + 1961)
*WGHS, Cici Faucher and Science Dept, “Advancing the Environment and Education, AP/ACC Environmental Science”, $8,000
(In part funded by Alumni Class 1959 + 1961)
Total = $34,438
March 2017 - Mini Grant
All K-5 Students WGSD - $990 - Susan Bergman - "Problem Solving with Think Tanks"
WGSH 9-12th Grade - $300 - Cici Faucher - "Canopy Discoveries"
February 2017 - FUNDing Innovation Grant
Awarded to all schools in the WGSD - total of $12,000 ($1,200 to each school) - FUNDing Innovation
January 2017 - Mini Grant
All K-6th Graders WGSD - $923 - Laurie Dahle - "Leadership Academy"
December 2016 - Mini Grants
Edgar Road School – $870 - Brenda Wright - “Coding in the Library”
Clark - $265 – Cary Morrison - Cork Board Clark Eagle “Clark Eagles are Active”
Bristol – $275 - Carolyn Nichols – "Movin’ and Groovin’ on the Playground"
Total = $1,410
PTO Grants - 2016
Avery $1,000 "METC Coding Academy for Teachers"
Bristol $1,000 "We Stories Equity Kits"
Clark $865 "We Love Reading All School Family Read"
Computer School $1,000 "Flexible Library Seating - Responsive Space"
Total $3,865
November 2016 - Mini Grants
Avery Elementary - $558 – Tony Arnold – “Egg-cellent Education”
WGHS - $700 – Anne Gibbs, Social Worker & Claudia Glenn, Student – “The Pause Project”
Total = $1,258
October 2016 - Mini Grants
Steger 6th Grade Center - $568.36 - (All 6th grade Science, Team Polaris – Lisa Rodriguez - "Project Based Learning Design Studio"
Edgar Road School - $406.92 - Carrie Sachtleben - "Engineering in the Morning"
Edgar Road School - $400 - Kerry Anne Cocos - "Learn to Play, Play To Learn"
Total = $1,12375.28
September 2016 - Mini Grants
Avery Elementary - $1,000 - Danielle Zuroweste - "SPRK for Learning, Roll into Coding with Sphero Robots"
Ambrose Family Center - $800 - Beth Rieder and Deanna Sheehan - "Sensory Integration Using Transformable Materials"
Edgar Road School - $800 - Eric Hansen - "Democratic Learning with Ukuleles"
Total = $2,600
*Justine Fields, all K-6 PE “Moving and Coding in P.E.” $4,880
*Steger, Wendy LaRose, “Steger Star Entrepreneurs.” $4,000
*WGHS, Greg Fick and Cici Faucher, “ Water, Water, Everywhere….” $2,700
*WGHS, Beth Rasnic and Anne Gibbs, “Mindfulness For Everyone” $2,258
*WGHS, Jaime Schwartz/World Language Dept , “Edutainment for World Language” $1,100
*WGHS Emily McEntire and Stacey Bates, WGHS, “Visionary Integrated Independent Classroom”, $4,500
*WGHS, Leslie Creath, “Goggle Expedition VR”, $7,000 (In part funded by Alumni Class 1959 + 1961)
*WGHS, Cici Faucher and Science Dept, “Advancing the Environment and Education, AP/ACC Environmental Science”, $8,000
(In part funded by Alumni Class 1959 + 1961)
Total = $34,438
March 2017 - Mini Grant
All K-5 Students WGSD - $990 - Susan Bergman - "Problem Solving with Think Tanks"
WGSH 9-12th Grade - $300 - Cici Faucher - "Canopy Discoveries"
February 2017 - FUNDing Innovation Grant
Awarded to all schools in the WGSD - total of $12,000 ($1,200 to each school) - FUNDing Innovation
January 2017 - Mini Grant
All K-6th Graders WGSD - $923 - Laurie Dahle - "Leadership Academy"
December 2016 - Mini Grants
Edgar Road School – $870 - Brenda Wright - “Coding in the Library”
Clark - $265 – Cary Morrison - Cork Board Clark Eagle “Clark Eagles are Active”
Bristol – $275 - Carolyn Nichols – "Movin’ and Groovin’ on the Playground"
Total = $1,410
PTO Grants - 2016
Avery $1,000 "METC Coding Academy for Teachers"
Bristol $1,000 "We Stories Equity Kits"
Clark $865 "We Love Reading All School Family Read"
Computer School $1,000 "Flexible Library Seating - Responsive Space"
Total $3,865
November 2016 - Mini Grants
Avery Elementary - $558 – Tony Arnold – “Egg-cellent Education”
WGHS - $700 – Anne Gibbs, Social Worker & Claudia Glenn, Student – “The Pause Project”
Total = $1,258
October 2016 - Mini Grants
Steger 6th Grade Center - $568.36 - (All 6th grade Science, Team Polaris – Lisa Rodriguez - "Project Based Learning Design Studio"
Edgar Road School - $406.92 - Carrie Sachtleben - "Engineering in the Morning"
Edgar Road School - $400 - Kerry Anne Cocos - "Learn to Play, Play To Learn"
Total = $1,12375.28
September 2016 - Mini Grants
Avery Elementary - $1,000 - Danielle Zuroweste - "SPRK for Learning, Roll into Coding with Sphero Robots"
Ambrose Family Center - $800 - Beth Rieder and Deanna Sheehan - "Sensory Integration Using Transformable Materials"
Edgar Road School - $800 - Eric Hansen - "Democratic Learning with Ukuleles"
Total = $2,600
Grants Awarded for the 2015-2016 School Year
Crossing Curriculums with Lacrosse by Jen Harness and Melissa McCartie for all WG Elementary Schools. Native American history enrichment through the Social Studies curriculum combined with a lacrosse unit and equipment for Physical Education. $1,550
Project StickStations by Sara Wichard, Justin Augustin, Heather Mosley, Rebecca Brinker, Hana Abrams, and Erik Hansen for all WG Elementary Music Departments. Innovative music program and personal percussion sets for students to create and perform their own compositions. $1,325
A New Perspective by Heather Nichols, Akeba Chapman, and Katie Heisel for Ambrose Family Center. Audio and video documentation looking through the eyes of the preschool student to influence the direction of learning. $1,592
Innovate, Collaborate, Educate by Sam Pitlyk, Jodi Bergmann, Julie Paur, and Lisa Hilpert for Hudson. An innovative model collaborative classroom focusing on community learning space for improved personalized and group learning. $6,000 * Alumni Grant funded in part by the Classes of '59,' 61, '64
Hudson ROCKS Recess by Claire Diemler for Hudson. Recess boxes to strengthen connections and facilitate common interests and learning opportunities. $5,000
Sew What? by Christy Burton for Hixson. Personalized embroidery sewing machine to integrate cross curriculum STEM education in FACS learning.$4,885
Programming a Makerspace by Patrick Dempsey and Rob Rambach for Hixson. Makerspace programming technology to enrich STEM learning.$4,948
Exciting Experiential Learning Opportunities by Melissa Hellwig, Aimee Vogt, Gail Tumminello, Christy Burto, and Vinnie Raimondo for Hixson. Summer enrichment through experiential learning. $1,700
Biofeedback and the Brain by Jon Petter and Chris Allen for WGHS. Energizing science education with EEGs advancing studies in Psychology and Anatomy Neuroscience. $4,458 *Alumni Grant funded by Class of '58
Improved Technology for Business Students by Kara Siebe and Mark Young for WGHS. Advanced technology to enable web, game and multimedia design. $3,480
Social and Emotional Learning by Anne Gibbs, Pat Ferrugia and Suzanne Goldstein for WGHS. Innovative social and emotional programming to aid in overcoming barriers to learning. $1,611
Apps and QR Codes in Physical Education by Alice Miller for WG Elementary, Steger and Hixson. Daily fit log programming. $2,000
Grants Awarded for the 2014-2015 School Year
March 2015
Barbara Davidson for Elementary School Nurses
What's Happening to Me?: $320
Februrary 2015
Linda Neumann for Hixson and WGSD Nurses
Project Save a Life: $678
Marigene Lorson, Sara Kimble and Terri Hennrich for Clark
Puzzle Me Please: $500
January 2015
Nicholas Kirschman for WGHS
3D Printing Wind Turbines: $600
December 2014
Maggie Parker and Diane Stromberg for WGHS Statesmen Preeschool
Science for Littles and Biggs: $600
Andrea Aughinbaugh, Debbie Grubbs, and Jill Wilson for Hudson
Fluency in Action: $828
Laura Iannazzo, Chris Steger, and Juanita Graham for Ambrose Family Center
Traveling Family Cafe $800
November 2014
Eric Hanson for Edgar Road
World Drumming: $990
October 2014
Renee Clifton for Bristol
Disco Days: $916
Greg Fick for Hixson
Colaboration and Creativity on the Fly:$600
September 2014
Lisa Picker for Steger
STEAM Studio: $976