2023-2024 Grant Awards.
Innovation Grants
Innovation Grants award up to $5,000 to support innovation and excellence across our district. Innovation Grants engage students in deeper learning, pilot new educational approaches and support educators to collaborate across disciplines, grade levels and schools. Initiatives are multi-faceted and take place over the course of the year. Funding is comprehensive and can include professional development, collaborative planning time for professional learning communities, guest speakers and outside facilitators, classroom materials, technology, and more.
Title: Elementary Ceramics Education
Educator(s): Meredith McGowan, Elementary Art Educator; Laurie Lawler, Principal; Steven Black, Director of Visual and Performing Art
School: Lincoln School, All Elementary Schools
Description: This grant will replace the kiln at Lincoln School and create collaborative opportunities for students at other Melrose elementary schools to have their ceramic work finished. In addition, curriculum connections will be made with classroom teachers at Lincoln to connect kiln projects to social studies and science coursework, exploring the role of pottery in history and the science of the materials.
Title: Decodable Chapter Books
Educator(s): Christine Rice, Janelle DeMerchant, Stephanie Shah, Special Education Teachers; Susan Jones, K-5 Instructional Coach
School(s): Lincoln School, Horace Mann School, Hoover School, Roosevelt School, Winthrop School
Description: This innovation grant will support students' social emotional needs and reading skills by providing decodable chapter books. Books they can decode give them a boost of confidence to be able to mirror what their peers are reading. Building a library of varying skills and options (single story to chapter books) supports the research found in the Science of Reading that promotes the practice of learned skills to build fluency and accuracy.
Title: Modified ELA Curriculum Materials for all K-5 Learners
Educator(s): Monica Knaak, Tami White, Katie Lang, Special Education Teachers
School(s): All Elementary Schools
Description: Educators will unify and streamline work across the district to allow for modified curriculum resources to align with the K-5 reading curriculum. Educators will increase access to the curriculum using visuals, choices, and other modifications. The finished resource will be available to general education and special education teachers across the district.
Title: Core Vocabulary and AAC District-wide Lending Library
Educator(s): Michelle Theodore, Speech and Language Pathologist, AAC District Consultant; Additional Speech and Language Pathologists and Developmental Learning Classroom Teachers
School(s): Early Childhood Center and All Elementary Schools
Description: The District-wide Core Vocabulary Initiative and AAC District Lending Library will support deeper learning for students with complex communication needs across the district, in addition to targeting all students' language skills. Using a core word vocabulary is an evidence based practice that allow communicators to express themselves using a wide variety of concepts with a very small number of words.
Title: The World Around Me: Grade 1 Social Studies Pilot
Educator(s): Melanie Wilcox, Michelle Malaguti, Ursula Boyle, Grade 1 Classroom Teachers
School(s): Winthrop School
Description: The first grade educators at the Winthrop School will pilot a comprehensive social studies tool to enhance classroom instruction. The World Around Me: Yesterday and Today series from Studies Weekly is centered around inclusive learning for all abilities. Students will benefit from the easily consumable, accessible, multimedia content that adheres tightly to the Massachusetts Curriculum Framework. Teachers will engage in professional development throughout the year as they plan, implement, and assess the impact of this approach with the potential of expanding across the district.
Title: PreK Thematic Read-A-Loud Literacy Curriculum
Educator(s): Donna Rosso, Principal; Rebecca Hendrick, Kristen Sasso, Kara Murphy, Sarah Lamapasona, Mary Crump, Lori Burns, Franklin Teachers
School(s): Franklin School
Description: Franklin School educators will collaborate to implementation a phonemic awareness program starting Fall 2023. This project will support professional development time in order to align Franklin Curriculum with the K-5 Literacy curriculum and fill in gaps in current practice.
Title: Middle School World Language Curriculum Design
Educator(s): Katia Marticorena, Director of World Languages; World Language Teachers
School(s): Melrose Middle School, Melrose High School
Description: Working with a curriculum expert, the World Language Department will collaboratively design a thematic, first-year world language curriculum to be taught across all modern languages (French, Spanish, Italian, and German) and classic languages (Latin). This new class will focus on the proficiency level of the learners and the 5 C’s central to foreign language curriculum: Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities. The grant will also provide language-specific resource materials.
Title: Algebra II Stem vs Stats Course Pathway Redesign Extension
Educator(s): Marissa Puccio, Jessica Sorrentino, Anthony McElligott, Math Teachers
School(s): Melrose High School
Description: Building on a successful first year, the math department will continue their work to make Algebra 2 a successful experience for all students. With this year's grant, they will revise existing work to better support both higher needs students and high performing students, as they create more scaffolds, curriculum supports, and more in depth Pre-Calculus extension modules.
Title: Spring 2024 Department Wide/Community Musical
Educator(s): Steve Black, Director of Visual and Performing Arts; Kim Piper, Choral Director; Matt Repucci, Band Director
School(s): Melrose High School
Description: As the visual and performing arts departments work towards a Spring 2024 production featuring department wide and community collaboration, this grant will support extra development time for leaders of chorus, band, visual arts, and orchestra classes as they work to integrate these classes into this ambitious performance.
Title: Digital Arts Initiative
Educator(s): Susan Jerz, Visual Art Teacher
School(s): Melrose High School
Description: The MHS visual arts program will provide students the opportunity to further their art using mixed media and technology. By introducing both technological resources and a practicing artist who combines both traditional and digital mediums, students will expand their own art and better prepare themselves for a possible arts career in the future.
Boost Grants
Boost grants award up to $500 for individual educators to implement a new project, elevate an existing experience, or try something new in their classroom.
Title: The Language of Art for Community
Educator(s): Elizabeth Collier, Classroom Teacher; Lynette Bruce, Art teacher
School: Horace Mann School
Description: Educators will bring the Horace Mann School community together through grade level painted canvases that are connected with a unifying theme. These will be displayed in the building going forward to reinforce the shared school community.
Title: Visual Learning in Elementary Band
Educator(s): Matthew Repucci, Band Director
School: Roosevelt School
Description: This grant will allow music students at the Roosevelt School to add visual learning to reinforce their music lessons and to increase the functionality of creative music making spaces within the school.
Title: The Science of Reading
Educator(s): MaryKate Isakson, Kindergarten Teacher
School: Roosevelt School
Description: A Roosevelt kindergarten teacher will pilot strategies related to the Science of Reading and help share learnings with the District's new Literary Task Force.
Title: Language Honor Societies
Educator(s): Denise Wagstaff, Michelle Stepper, Nicsa Dagger-Cain, Isaac Haven, Asha Weider< World Language Teachers
School: Melrose High School
Description: This grant will allow establishment of official chapters of the honor societies for our five languages at Melrose High, allowing for recognition and celebration of student efforts and achievement in world languages.
Title: Genocide Studies Pilot: Survivor Stories
Educator(s): Anne Gardiner, Lisa Lord, Social Studies Teachers
School: Melrose High School
Description: The high school ELA department will create a pilot about the Holocaust and Holocaust survivors. Support materials will be available, and they will have the opportunity to engage in deeper study and research on their own to learn more about other genocide survivors' stories.
Title: AP English Coaching Sessions
Educator(s): Nora Tsoutsis, English Language Arts Director 6-12
School: Melrose High School
Description: The ELA department will provide AP English Language and AP English Literature students an opportunity to work with a specialist in this area, with specific feedback on how to elevate writing. This will benefit both the students and staff who are part of this substantial program.
Title: Laser Engraver repair/upgrade
Educator(s): Betsy Giovanardi
School: Melrose High School
Description: A laser cutter purchased through a SY21-22 MEF grant was an immensely popular tool amongst students and was in high demand when a major component broke due to overheating. The teacher identified what caused the problem and how to both replace the component and prevent the problem in the future. With around $200 in parts and 1-2 days of work over the summer, she was able to make the repair and prevent future problems.
Title: March Madness Championship of Books
Educator(s): Christy Magoon
School: Melrose High School
Description: This grant proposal is to fund the first annual Melrose High School March Madness Championship of Books. Similar to the NCAA basketball tournament, 16 diverse and popular Young Adult (YA) books will match up in a single-elimination format until the final game, when one "Best Book" will be awarded. During Crew the first week of March, students and faculty will be introduced to the book pairings and complete a bracket. The intent of March Madness is to encourage interest and excitement about reading and literacy. We hope that through discussion and voting, interest will build and students will borrow books from the MHS library.
Title: Chainsaws, Cheeseburgers And Rock N' Roll
Educator(s): Josh Murphy, Michelle Sewyck, Kerri Ciulla
School: MVMMS
Description: At MVMMS we adopted a new set of core values and have been implementing a new advisory program. A goal for this year is to bring in guest / motivational speakers whose messaging align to our new core values or Safety, Thriving, Integrity, Community and Kindness. Dr. "The Machine" Jesse Green from AMERICAN CHAINSAW visited and all students at MVMMS were able to take part in an motivational assembly that focuses on our core value of thriving with specific messaging around never giving up.
Title: Life Science Terrariums
Educator(s): Meghan Lewis, Jillian Carbone, Kasey Reynolds
School: Hoover School
Description: The fourth grade will be studying plants and animals during our life science unit. To elevate this experience for students, the fourth grade team would like to provide terrariums to small groups of students. This would maximize student learning by providing students with a hands-on exploration of plant growth and the opportunity to design experiments to determine the environmental preferences of isopods and beetles.
Title: Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Literature for 1st Grade Readiness
Educator(s): Erin Dubovick, Jocelyn Robichaud, Kathy Bishop
School: Franklin School
Description: The Franklin kindergarten students work hard to prepare and increase social skills for 1st grade. Books were added to the Franklin School Library both for students to check out and to be used within the classroom. This grant increased the number of SEL books available to students, as well as kindergarten teachers and counselors, contributing to meaningful community circles related to SEL topics such as feelings identification, empathy, emotion management, friendship skills and transitioning. The information regarding books and community circle topics/themes in the classroom will be communicated to families. Ideas for topics to discuss at home, perhaps similar to a community circle, would be provided with each book.
Title: Books that address Social Emotional ideas
Educator(s): Joan Abban
School: Hoover School
Description: Many children who come to school are dealing with different feelings, emotions and circumstances. These books address some topics that are not typically addressed. After reading these books, we can have whole group and individual discussions on big ideas.
Title: World Language Celebration Week
Educator(s): Christy Magoon, Katia Marticorena
School: Melrose High School
Description: In conjunction with the World Language department, the MHS Library hosted a celebration related to World Language Week. World Language Week has been celebrated for over 50 years as an opportunity to broaden our horizons, recognize the numerous languages present in this country -- and within our communities/schools -- and the cultures they represent. In addition to the 5 languages taught at Melrose High, we honor and celebrate students who come here with another language and want to celebrate biliteracy and bilingualism in all its forms. This directly advances the district's core values of diversity, equity and inclusion. MHS students were invited to the library during a school block to celebrate and honor World Languages, by creating various crafts and joining in various games.
Professional Development Grants
Professional Development Grants award up to $1,000 to educators to deepen knowledge in their field, develop new skills, or explore opportunities that will enhance teaching and learning in the classroom. Grant recipients also have a commitment to share professional learning with other educators in their building or practice/content area across the district.
Title: Orton Gillingham Practicum and Beyond
Educator(s): Jenna Lamusta, Michele Burke, Special Education Teachers
School: Winthrop School
Description: This Professional Development opportunity will help support two Winthrop Elementary Special Education teachers in their training in Orton Gillingham techniques for reading intervention, using practices supported by over eighty years of research.
Title: Written Expression: Scaffolded Strategies for Beginning Writers
Educator(s): Jessica Stone, Jennine Stevens, Maureen Quinlin Special Education Teacher
School: Horace Mann School
Description: This professional development grant explores diagnostic assessment, process writing, and specific instructional strategies for teaching basic writing skills to struggling writers, particularly students with language-based learning disabilities.