2024-2025 Grant Awards.
Gratitude Boost Grant Round
An extra opportunity in Fall 2024 for small grants to boost instruction during the 2024-2025 school year!
Title: Lexington Symphony Collaboration
Educator(s): Steve Black, Director of Visual and Performing Arts
School: All elementary schools
Description: The Lexington Symphony will be sending a chamber ensemble to each of our 5 elementary schools and providing a 45 minute demonstration and educational session. In addition, all students will be attending a concert at the Lexington Symphony in January to hear a concert, tailored for elementary students, with a goal of exposing all 300 3rd graders to music and inspiring an interest in 4th grade instrumental lessons to develop the next generation of Melrose musicians. MEF is pleased to partner with many other community organizations to fund this effort.
Title: Hoover Library Maker Space
Educator(s): Mariellen Hardy, Library Media Studies / Digital Literacy Teacher
School: Hoover Elementary School
Description: This grant will allow creation of a maker space in the Hoover School Library, a fun and creative space to learn and explore science, technology, engineering, and math. These new tools will provide students with hands-on opportunities to explore STEM concepts.
Title: Archaeology Guest Speaker
Educator(s): Rob Mahoney, Lizzie Marino, Ashley D'Ettore, Social Studies Teachers
School: Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School
Description: This grant will allow Archaelogy PhD students from Harvard to present to each of the 6th Grade Social Studies classes about their research that is relevant to the 6th grade coursework. MVMMS students will have an opportunity to ask questions and interact with the PhD candidates.
Title: Constitution Quest
Educator(s): Maureen Connell, Jenna Duncan, Mike Mabee, Alicia MacDonald, Civics Teachers
School: Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School
Description: This grant will support the purchase of Constitution Quest games, the content of which connects to multiple units in Civics class. The games offer an engaging way to understand civics concepts and review for exams.
Title: Decodable Readers for Older Students
Educator(s): Ani Breay, Reading Teacher; Kassie Merrill, Reading Teacher
School: Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School
Description: This grant will support the purchase of 6 sets of decodable readers with content appropriate for older students, in order to give struggling readers a shared reading experience. These books will help to engage students in fluency practice with authentic stories and more engaging material than what is currently available within MVMMS.
Title: Productivity for Students through Typewriters
Educator(s): Adam Azia, ELA Teacher
School: Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School
Description: Building off an extremely successful visit by a typewriter purveyor that allowed students to try the devices, this grant will support the purchase of two typewriters. Certain students were able to increase focus and benefit from the tactile and novel experience of writing on a typewriter.
Title: Xylophone Use in Elementary Music
Educator(s): Kristen McEntee, Music Teacher
School: Horace Mann Elementary School
Description: This grant enables purchase of a xylophone that will allow more students access to an instrument to play both melodies and chords during music class. This allows more students to access the music curriculum and accompany each other.
Title: Increasing Engagement with Families of English Learners
Educator(s): Josh Murphy, Principal; Nora Lyman, School Counselor
School: Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School
Description: This grant supports the pilot use of a software, Talking Points, to aid in communication with families of English Language Learners at the Middle School. This will allow counselors and administrators to see if they can better support their students through easier communications between school and home.
Title: French Magazines in the French Classroom
Educator(s): Denise Wagstaff, French Teacher
School: Melrose High School
Description: This gratitude grant will support the addition of a current French language magazine subscription to the classroom's selection of reading materials. These modern materials will spark teen interest and appeal to reluctant readers.
Title: Declarative Statements and Emotional Regulation
Educator(s): Shannon Girard, Special Education Teacher; Erin Dubovick, Social Worker
School: Franklin School
Description: This project will utilize a book study and workbook to help teachers learn about using declarative statements that aid in a student's emotional regulation. Declarative statements are a way of communicating that involves making statements or comments to share information, observations, or opinions. It is thinking out loud for the student to hear and helps everyone slow down, observe the environment and take note of people and things in order to regulate bodies and feelings.
Title: English Language Learners ELA Materials
Educator(s): Amy Mirasolo, English Teacher; Christy Magoon, MHS Librarian
School: Melrose High School
Description: This grant will support English learners by purchasing bilingual texts, graphic novels, and differentiated classics that mirror novels taught in ELA classes, allowing students an entry point to engage in more material with their class. The grant will also purchase translator devices to enable students and teachers to communicate more effectively.
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: Author Odyssey: Explore, Engage, Create
Educator(s): Christy Magoon, Librarian
School: Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School, Melrose High School
Description: This grant, a collaboration with the MHS Library and the MHS English Department, will bring a popular YA (young adult) author to the Melrose school community during the 24/25 school year. An in-person author visit engages students in a deeper appreciation for literature and the power of storytelling; hearing about the author's journey and the challenges they've overcome can inspire students and this type of hands-on experience can foster interest in lifelong reading habits. The novel will be showcased in the library and offered as a choice reading title for all MHS students. In partnership with the English Department Chair, the author’s novel will be woven in into the curriculum this year. The author presentation(s) will run as an in-school field trip and all students will attend the presentations with their teachers. This grant will also explore the possibility of a book signing or other collaboration with a local bookstore.
Title: Page to Stage
Educator(s): Steve Black, Director of Visual and Performing Arts; Nora Tsoutsis, ELA Department Head
School: Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School, Melrose High School
Description: Through this grant the MVMMS ELA and Drama Departments will create a "Page to Stage" opportunity for all middle school students. Each grade will read a work, attend a performance, and engage in a workshop on character analysis/transferring source material to theatrical performance. 6th graders will read the play to be performed by the Middle School, and 7th and 8th graders will read works to be performed by the High School. Teachers will engage in professional development on how to collaborate and sustain the works studied moving forward for future years and classes.
Title: Adding to our Digital Arts Offerings
Educator(s): Susan Jerz, Visual Arts Teacher
School: Melrose High School
Description: This grant is an extension of last year's extremely successful visual arts grant that will allow extension into graphic arts for 7 more students allowing 12 students to use ipads, Apple Pencils, and appropriate graphic art software used widely in a number of professions. This grant will also enable a working artist to meet with students and share their expertise in using the software and tools for a multitude of projects.
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: Romeo & Juliet Mock Trial
Educator(s): Sarah Haney and Team, 8th Grade English Language Arts
School: Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School
Description: This grant will support the MVMMS English Department in the purchase of classroom podium to support presentations and a Romeo & Juliet Mock Trial.
Title: Mindfulness Mondays
Educator(s): Catherine Horkan, Social Worker; MaryAnn Barriss, Reading Specialist
School: Hoover School
Description: A Hoover Elementary School social worker and reading specialist will will pilot in school Mindfulness Mondays. By helping students become aware of and then embody the connection between their emotions, thoughts, and bodily sensations, students are better able to regulate their emotions, which then impacts things such as their behavior, stress levels, relationships, and ability to focus.
Title: Atlases and Globes for a Changing World
Educator(s): Anne Healy and Nicole Goodhue, Grade 2
School: Horace Mann School
Description: This grant will provide updated atlases and globe for Horace Mann second grade classrooms to accurately reflect our changing world. The materials will support research writing for writing units while the classes learn about different countries and cultures and will also support the geography unit in social studies.
Title: History of Genocide
Educator(s): Hannah Edsall and Mark Pappas, Social Studies Teachers; Christy Magoon, Librarian
School: Melrose High School
Description: This grant will provide books related to genocide to adhere to the state's requirement that districts provide instruction about the history of genocide to their high school students. The MHS Junior team implements this through a mock United Nations hearing in the Spring, but would like supplemental materials to develop this into a more thorough process that includes more perspectives and an opportunity to elevate student literacy
Title: MVMMS Anti-Bullying Initiative
Educator(s): Kerri Ciulla, School Guidance Counselor; Samantha Cardoso, School Adjustment Counselor; Jackson Goodwin, SEL Coach
School: Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School
Description: This grant will support the implementation by MVMMS of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program by supplementing the districts plans with signage, stickers, and school-wide anchort charts. This grant is being spearheaded by the School Guidance Counselors
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: Comprehensive IMSE Orton-Gillingham Training
Educator(s): Kate Clark, Kindergarten
School: Hoover Elementary School
Description: This grant will allow a Hoover teacher to receive training that provides an in-depth understanding of IMSE's Orton-Gillingham methodology. This course focuses primarily on phonological awareness and phonics (along with encoding/decoding) incorporating how to teach fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension using the highly regarded OG philosophy of multi-sensory, sequential, direct instruction.
Title: Visualize Success with Graphic Novels
Educator(s): Kaitlyn Beaumont, Grade 7 ELA
School: Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School
Description: This Professional Development opportunity for a MVMMS English teacher will explore the benefits of graphic novels in a middle school classroom setting. The course will allow the teacher to explore different innovative techniques in visual learning to boost student learning and give access to a wide variety of graphic novels that can bed used with students, along with teaching tips and strategies tailored specifically to graphic novels.
Title: Active Allyship in the Arts
Educator(s): K-12 Visual and Performing Arts Staff
School: All Schools
Description: This Professional Development grant will allow members of the MHS Arts Department to participate in a train the trainer model course around Allyship in the Arts, aimed at targeting specific action steps for Visual and Performing Arts Staff regarding active allyship and actionable EDI work.