LASF: Grants / Spring 1998

About LASF: Grant Program

Spring 2000 Grant Awards

../funding/Adding%20Machine 1. Famous Names - $1845

Teacher: Diane Wilson, Springhill, 2nd grade

Curriculum Focus: History/Social Studies and Reading/Language Arts

Newly adopted state history/social science framework calls for a second grade curriculum that stresses geography and history more than in the past. It also calls for basic research and report writing skills that had previously been emphasized in third grade. This grant will purchase new biography sets, cassette tapes to accompany each book, and tape players for student use to assist in implementing this new curriculum.

2. Leveled Book Collection for Guided Reading - $3,543

Teacher: Mette Thallaug, Springhill, 1st grade

Curriculum Focus: Reading/Language Arts

Students enter first grade with a wide range of reading abilities. To more effectively meet the needs of all students, this pilot program will acquire a broad range of books designed to challenge all first grade students, from the nonreader to the advanced reader. The books would be used in guided reading groups of 4 to 6 students.

3. Music Instructional Videos - $490

Teacher: Susan Pereira, Lafayette School Choral Music Teacher K-5

Curriculum Focus: Music

This grant will purchase 15 well-produced music instructional videos to enhance the music program for all students at Lafayette School.

4. Lafayette School’s Publishing Post -$15,025

Teacher: Joy Schultz, Lafayette School

District: Angie Corritone, District Instructional Technology Specialist

Curriculum Focus: Literacy Grades K-5

This grant will support a school-wide project to develop and maintain a website where work created by students from all of the grades, across the curriculum, will be uploaded and accessible on the Internet, at the "Lafayette School Publishing Post".

5. A Three Dimensional View of Lafayette - $565

Teacher: Nancy White, Burton Valley, 3rd

Curriculum Focus: History/Social Studies

This project will further enrich the current third grade study of the history of Lafayette, by permitting students to build a floor size, three dimensional map (approx. 6’ by 8’) of old Lafayette. The grant will buy software which will allow students to design buildings onto paper, and then cut, fold, and assemble the pieces into buildings to place on the map.

6. California Sesquicentennial for Kids - $2,230

Teacher: Nancy Kassover, Happy Valley 4th

Curriculum Focus: History/Social Studies

California celebrates its 150th anniversary in September, 2000. Working together, the three fourth grade classes at Happy Valley will research important events in the state’s history, and develop a web page that will display their reports, related pictures, maps, and other materials gathered during the research.

7. Sewing Unit Project – $7,100

Teacher: SueAnn Arens, Stanley, 7th and 8th

Curriculum Focus: Home Economics, Skills for Living

The Skills for Living elective in 8th grade and the Home Economics component of the 7th grade rotation elective, MASCH, are the only home economics offerings available to Lafayette students. The classes are popular and the Skills for Living elective could not accommodate all the students who selected it. The sewing machines currently in use in the class were built in 1980 and are no longer functioning properly. This grant will purchase 21 new sewing machines to permit this popular class to continue offering sewing using safe and reliable machines.

8. Music MIDI Lab - $7,000

Teacher: Bob Athayde, Stanley, Instrumental Music -6th – 8th Grade

Curriculum Focus: Music/Student Compositions

This grant will provide two computer midi stations for the new music building. The MIDI lab will allow the students to use the computers, keyboards, speakers, and earphones to compose and share student developed compositions, learn and reinforce music theory, and increase listening skills.

9. Publishing a Foreign Language Newspaper: Writing for a Wider Audience - $8,236

Teacher: Claudia Windfuhr, Stanley, Foreign Language, 7th, and 8th

Curriculum Focus: Foreign Language

This grant will support a newspaper to be published by the students in the foreign language classes. The focus of the project will initially be French and German students, but hopefully will be expanded to Spanish students.

10. African Music/Dance Exploration - $1,793

Teacher: Bruce Lengacher, Acalanes, Choral Music, 9th to 12th

Curriculum Focus: Music unit

This grant will give all students in the choral music program an authentic experience with African music and drumming. African percussion instruments will be purchased and guest artists will teach African drum techniques and dance.

11. Millennium Mural - $1,900

Teacher: Karen Carbone, Acalanes, Art, 9th to 12th

Curriculum Focus: Art for all students

This grant will support a mural project, to be designed and painted by students from all four grades, under the direction of renowned artist, John Werhle.

12. The Riparian Classroom - $4,584

Teacher: Rosemarie Bauer and Lori Tewksbury, Acalanes, Science 9th to 12th

Curriculum Focus: Biology Fieldwork

This grant will help to provide an outdoor classroom for biology students. The "Riparian Classroom" will give the students the experience of fieldwork via hands- on data collection, while supporting environmental science studies. A gate will be installed in a fence to provide access to an area near a creek.