Garrison Elementary School Teachers Rima Sawyer and Rachel Hill have been awarded a grant to purchase Duplo, and Lego sets to foster innate learning in students and encourage reasoning, processing, and problem-solving skills.
Come Together To Breakout!
SEED has awarded the Dover Middle School Wentworth Team of Kelly Daynard, Patricia Mulqueen, Lisa Nash, and Mark Holt-Shannon a grant to purchase four “breakout boxes.” These boxes provide games and teaching methods to deliver content to promote critical thinking, complex problem solving, and teamwork. This will also have an element of training staff to promote a climate and culture of kinesthetic learning.
Woodman Park School Proposals Receive Funding
A Spring SEED scholarship will be funding the opportunity for Kelly Gennett, a Woodman Park teacher, to attend a UNH graduate level course called Integrating Technology in the Classroom. After completing this course, Gennett will use her newly acquired skills to integrate Digital Storytelling into her classroom and into her summer enrichment camp, Camp BEYOND, held at WPS each summer. Additionally, SEED will provide scholarships for five under-priviledge students to attend Camp BEYOND.
Jill Frederickson, another Woodman Park School colleague, was awarded SEED support for the third annual Ellis Island Experience, a district wide initiative.
Engaging and Achieving in Mathematics
SEED will provide funding for 15 Dover School District educators to attend Jo Boaler’s Growth Mindset to Increase Student Engagement and Achievement in Mathematics, a professional development course providing teachers new strategies to engage students in mathematics content.
Hands On Learning at the Seacoast Science Center
A SEED grant will make it possible for Nancy Colarusso’s STEM students to learn about ecosystems and inter-tidal animals with hands on learning at the Seacoast Science Center.
Teaching Algebra in a New Way
Patricia Mulqueen and Katherine Schulten received funding to purchase licenses of Dragon Box 12+, a mathematics application that explores algebraic concepts and reasoning through play and practice.
Kindle Fires in the Classroom
Garrison Elementary School teachers Emily Piller and Sarah Croteau received funding to purchase Kindle Fires for their classrooms. Emily Piller, a music teacher, will use the Kindle Fires to help her students to discover music in an innovative way. Sarah Croteau will use the Kindle Fires in her physical education classes which will allow her students to connect with fitness trackers and analyze their activity.
Anxious Kids and Anxious Parents: A Presentation
The Dover Middle School Guidance Department will be putting on a two hour research-based presentation on Anxious Kids, Anxious Parents: Seven ways to Stop the Worry Cycle.This presentation, which is open to all Dover School and the surrounding community, will showcase the work of nationally renowned anxiety speaker, author and therapist, Lynn Lyons.
Rube-Goldbags
Allison Friend-Gray of Dover Middle School received funding to purchase Rube-Goldbags from Rube Goldberg, Inc. a not-for-profit company created to continue the legacy of the great American author, engineer, and inventor. The purchase, which aligns with Next Generation Science Standards and underscores SEED’s commitment to STEM education, will be used in her fifth grade class.
Professional Development Program for Dover Middle School Educators
5 Dover Middle School Educators will attend a professional development program offered by the Landmark School in Beverly, MA. “Cutting-Edge Strategies to Improve Executive Function Skills in the Upper Elementary and Middle School Aged Students” will train the educators and help them launch an executive function training pilot program at DMS.
Enterprise City
Lauren Ashley Nichols received funding to bring the entire sixth grade to Enterprise City. Enterprise city allows students to learn citizenship skills, career skills, financial literacy, and economic concepts in a simulated community operated by students. The experience-based learning will better prepare students for when they enter the workforce and adulthood by building a solid foundation of real world applicable skills.
Dover Middle School Proposals Receive Funding
A team that includes Allison Friend-Gray, Amy Booth, and Fran Meffen, will be visiting the nationally recognized King School in Portland, Maine. There, teachers will observe project-based learning in action with a goal of bringing project-based teaching to their classrooms.
Step Into It
Fellow Garrison School teacher, Sarah Croteau’s Step Into It proposal was funded to allow students to walk across America by using pedometers in physical education classes. This project will incorporate math and geography skills while keeping the kids active.
The Iditarod Sled Dogs in the Classroom
The Garrison Elementary School team of Meghan Mayhew, Rachel Hill, Michael Romps and Rima Sawyer are now able to bring the Iditarod Sled Dog Race to the second-grade classrooms of Garrison School. Thanks to an extremely specialized software and website access, students will follow musher teams, explore Alaskan communities, track weather patterns, and use mapping skills to understand the Iditarod trail. The integrated unit will include access to a comprehensive website that provides remote access to the race, including live coverage and GPA tracking of the musher teams.
Creativity in the Classroom
Librarian Debra Cheney received funding to purchase Lego Story Starts sets for the Garrison School library. The curriculum pack includes Story Visualizer software to allow students to photograph, write and publish stories. Students will be able to engage in their creative process while expanding their reading and writing abilities.
Growth Mindset + Number Talks
Jo Boaler, a professor of mathematics education at Stanford University has created a highly valued, in-depth online course focusing on the mindset and student ability on high-quality mathematics teaching. This course will now be available to fifteen Dover High School District math teachers to continue to enrich and educate their students in mathematics.
A Fresh Perspective
Mike Russo of the Dover High School Science Department received funding to purchase a high-speed video camera. The camera can record images that traditionally occur too quickly for the human eye to capture. The new camera will give students a fresh perspective on the world of science. Mike Russo plans to use this new technology to incorporate video demonstrations and analysis emphasizing hands-on modality learning.
Dover Family School Alliance
Christine Boston, Director of Pupil Personnel Services for the Dover schools, was given a grant to fund professional development opportunities with Dover Family School Alliance (“DFSA”). Dover Schools, with the help of SEED, will now be able to continue work with DFSA to build stronger bridges between parents and educators, as well as providing support for parents throughout the special education process. This grant will also help DFSA provide opportunities for teachers to increase knowledge and skill in working with special education students.
Growth Mindset + High Quality Instruction = Excellence for all Students in Mathematics
District Math Facilitators, Patty Driscoll, Karen Berg and Stephanie DeMatteo, were gifted a professional development grant. This grant will allow teachers in the district to participate in a project which focuses on the work of Jo Boaler, a professor of mathematics education at Stanford University. Boaler is the author of many books that aim to increase public understanding of the importance of effective mathematics teaching. The professional development opportunity for Dover math teachers in the district will focus on mathematical achievement, educational practices and how to foster growth in all students.
VersaTiles Math Lab
Stephanie Levin, a Dover Middle School teacher, was awarded a grant to purchase VersaTiles Math Lab and eVersa Tiles CD-ROM for her classroom. VersaTiles is a hands-on, multimedia program that allows students to work at their own pace, individually or as a class, to practice specific math skills. This program will assist Levin in helping students build a stronger understanding of math skills including number concepts, estimation, computation, algebra, and many other concepts.