FALL 2001 AWARDS - (Projects to be completed between 1/1/02 and 6/30/02)

Visual Literacy Mural Project
Martha McCormick, Jan Spearance, Cynthia Larareo; NHS/Leeds, $500

Students from Ms.McCormick’s graphic arts classes at NHS and the kindergartners from Leeds will work together to create a mural based on the kindergarten curriculum frameworks, including art, music, science, social studies, reading, language arts, and math.  A long bulletin board of masonite will be affixed to the wall opposite the kindergarten classrooms at Leeds School, which will serve as the display for the artwork created by the students.  Kindergarten students will collect samples of their work in all curriculum areas throughout the school year and will meet with the NHS graphic design students at Leeds School to share and discuss their work.  The high school art students will take this representational material and incorporate it into their requirements for their art class.  The end result will be a representational mural. NEF funding will pay for transportation of the NHS students to Leeds and art supplies.

Northampton Junior Marching Band
Kerstin Becker, Kim O’Connell-Ryan; Jackson St., $1,400

This second-time grant continues funding for the junior marching band for 4th-8th graders.  The proposal seeks to build a firm foundation for the marching band at the high school by encouraging participation of the younger children.  Approximately 80 children participated last spring, and a new group of 86 4th graders have just begun their instrumental music careers.  The program takes place once a week after school at Jackson Street.  It utilizes high school students as Music Mentors who volunteer to help out at rehearsals.  NEF funding pays for the music teachers' time, sheet music, and field paint.

SVAHS Robotics Project
Bonnie Schuman; Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School, $2,000

This will be the second year of funding for the robotics project at Smith Vocational H.S.  The team will build a robot from a kit, then travel to the Kennedy Space Center for the robot competition.  NEF will provide $2,000 towards the total project cost of $12,600.  The costs are for the robot kit, entrance fee, supplies, shipping costs, transportation, and accommodations.  Teacher and engineer are volunteers.  Other funding sources include local businesses, Wal-Mart, Kollmorgen, and student fundraising activities.  Jeff Knox, an engineer at Kollmorgen Electro Optical in Northampton, will assist the team this year.

The Fish Project
Irene Sylvain, Julie Spencer-Robinson, John Yagodzinski, Ellen Coss; JFK Middle School, $1,990

This is a brand-new interdisciplinary unit developed by core academic teachers on the Big East team at JFK Middle School.  The 7th grade students will use the fish as a tool for learning about: art and economy in fishing-dependent cultures of Asia; fish as they relate to local and global ecosystems; the purpose of gills versus lungs in understanding ecosystems; data collection and statistical analysis; the use of imagery and metaphor in literature; and the development, investigation, and support of a hypothesis.  The nature of the project lends itself to team building not just among students but among teachers as well.  NEF funding will pay for stipends to each of the four Big East teachers for planning and coordination, supplies for creating t-shirts and ink prints, and a bus trip to a local fish ladder.

Enchanted Circle Theatre Residency
Holly Ghazey, Kathy Kozaczek, Sue Fink, Linda Tiley; Jackson St., $2,000

This second-time funding of the Enchanted Circle Theatre residency at Jackson Street will build upon students' and teachers' existing theater skills developed last year to explore new curriculum directly linked to specific Health Curriculum Learning Standards in the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks.  The focus of this year’s residency will be exploring and expressing the plethora of emotions around terrorism and the events of September 11th.  It will consist of professional performances, an extended theater production residency for students and teachers, and in-depth professional development workshops in using theater arts across the curriculum. The 5th graders will develop and perform their own monologues, while the 2nd-4th graders will participate in Theatre Arts and Creative Conflict Resolution Techniques (Fun Ways to Deal with Serious Issues). NEF will fund $2,000 towards this $16,450 project.  Additional funding sources include MCC Creative Schools Grant Program, Jackson St. PTO, Jackson St. cultural arts fundraiser, Wal-Mart, and a Northampton Arts Council Grant.

A Visit to a Maple Sugar Farm
Susan Lavallee; R.K.Finn/Ryan Rd., $404

This project incorporates a trip to the Krug Maple Sugar Farm in Chesterfield into the kindergarten curriculum including literacy, mathematics, and science.  Activities involved include literacy opportunities through the sharing of factual and fictional stories related to maple sugaring, and several cooking activities involving the process of following a recipe, identifying ingredients, and hands-on measurement practice.  Following the field trip, the kindergartners will hold a bake sale and donate the proceeds to a local charity.  The NEF grant will pay for books about maple sugaring, supplies to make maple sugar products, and bus transportation to the maple sugar house.

Magic Wings
Paula Drabek, Nancy Murphy, Barbara Dihlman; R.K.Finn/Ryan Rd., $1,200

This grant will enable all R.K. Finn Ryan Rd. 2nd graders to visit the Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory & Gardens in South Deerfield, where they will actively participate and learn more about butterfly life cycles, migration, food sources.  The project organizers and their students will collaborate with volunteers from the school community to design, plant and maintain a Monarch butterfly garden and habitat at R.K. Finn Ryan Rd. School.  As a culminating activity, the students will publish Monarch Butterfly books complete with milkweed seeds to be distributed throughout the school community.  NEF funding will pay for teacher planning, transportation and admission to the Butterfly Conservatory, books about butterflies, and supplies to design and build the butterfly garden.

SPRING 2001 AWARDS - (Projects to be completed between 7/1/01 and 6/30/02)

Bridge Street School Literary Magazine
Margie Riddle, Kathleen Casale; Bridge Street, $950

A five-teacher collaboration to create a student literary magazine published twice during the 2001-2002 school year featuring a variety of written work from students in every grade at Bridge Street School.  The project’s goal is to promote student interest in writing, build student confidence about their writing skills and produce a durable product that is representative of the whole school community.

Historical Process Photography
Lisa Leary, Sheryl Jaffe; NHS, $2,000

Visiting artist Sheryl Jaffe will help bring historical process photography, the methods of Cyanotyte and Van Dyke photography invented in the 1800’s,   to two high school art classes.  Students will create a narrative book featuring photographic images and text on handmade paper.  The techniques learned will be incorporated into the art curriculum, addressing the department’s lack of a photographic darkroom.  NEF funding for consultant fees and supplies is part of a $4,026 budget, which includes grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the Northampton Arts Council.

Nature’s Classroom
Holly Ghazey, Kathy Kozaczek, Pat Russell; Jackson St., $1,100

This grant will enable all Jackson Street School 5th graders to attend a four-day residential program integrating environmental educational with motivational learning and community awareness at Nature's Classroom in Lakeside, CT. NEF funding for transportation and two scholarships will supplement ongoing student fundraising activities for the project.

Por Muchos Caminos/By Many Paths
Marta Mangan-Lev, Kathy Kozaczek; Jackson St., $1,120

A speaker series for 5th graders featuring Latina and Latino professionals from the Northampton community talking to students about their work, training, education, and live experiences. Students will also explore the professions presented through reading, discussion, written reports, and a class book compiling the project.

Strings in the Schools
Johanna McKenna, Karen Hurd, Lucia Miller; Bridge St., $1,000

In its third and final year of NEF grant funding eligibility, this project offers the study of violin and cello to all second grade students and third grade students who elected to continue last year’s studies, and will expand next fall to allow their studies to continue in the fourth grade.  Working with instructors from the Northampton Community Music Center, more than 100 children at Bridge Street School will be studying a stringed instrument during the 2001-2002 school year.

High School A Capella Group
Beau Flahive; NHS, $2,000

This project will allow for the continuation next year of an after-school A Capella Group established for NHS students in January 2001.  The 12-16 member group will meet once a week to study and rehearse a capella music and will perform at various school and community events.

Economic, Social and Technological Change in the Industrial Revolution
Michael Sullivan, Elaine Kachavos, Steve Woodruff; JFK, $2,000

One hundred ten 8th grade students will visit the Tsongas Industrial History Center at Lowell National Historic Park as part of an interdisciplinary unit on the Industrial Revolution combining history, social science, English, science, and math.

Songs, Stories, Movement and Art
Barbara Thompson, Anne Cernak, Nicholas Kachulis; Ryan Road, $2,000

Visiting artist Nick Kachulis will work with classroom and music teachers to offer all students (K-5) an interactive program in African American music together with an integrated arts program focusing on math and art, Mozart and Beethoven.

Multi Media Fun
Trish Duffy; Leeds, $1,420

This project continues and expands a program funded by NEF in 2000-2001 in which students and their teachers learned the multimedia software program "Kid Pix" together. For the 2001-2002 school year, the program will expand to reach more classrooms and include more multimedia technology (Internet, digital cameras, etc.).  This creative response to the need for technology teachers at the elementary level has the dual goals of showing teachers how to integrate technology into the curriculum while teaching children how to produce a curriculum-related multimedia presentation.

NHS Poetry Slam
Heather Drucker, Suzanne Strauss; NHS, $1,000

In its third and final year of NEF grant funding eligibility, this highly successful program features a one-day Poetry Slam event in which students perform their poems in front of an audience.  The Poetry Slam will be preceded by two days of instructional workshops for student poets, where they will work with professional poets.  The event will be publicized for the community and student poems published in an anthology.

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