SEED December Grant Winners
The Seacoast Educational Endowment for Dover (SEED), a non-profit organization founded to foster teacher creativity and fund new learning initiatives within Dover district schools, is pleased to announce it has awarded four education grants totaling more than $2,000 to Dover District school teachers.
Dover High School biology teacher, Caitlin Tenney was awarded a $410 SEED mini grant for her proposal entitled Cells Alive. The grant will fund the purchase of speakeasies for hands on learning instruction in her Introduction to Biology classroom. The magnetic activities will help teach very difficult learning concepts such as cell transport, cell structure and function, ecosystems, photosynthesis and cellular respiration.
Garrison Elementary physical education teacher, Greg Brown was awarded a $370 SEED mini grant for his Northeast Passage’s Similarity Awareness Program. This program emphasizes the importance of understanding that people with physical disabilities have similar interests as non-disabled individuals through the use of court wheelchairs.
The SEED Innovation in Health Education Grant valued at $550 was awarded to a team of Dover High School Math, Science, and Health Teachers for their Students PRomoting Information on Nutrition and Training (“SPRINT”) proposal . With this grant, the teacher team consisting ofAmanda Spadafora, Elizabeth ConnollyKatherine Hinkle and Arthur LeClair will encourage students to makepersonal decisions involving diet and exercise that support a healthy lifestyle and personal wellness. Students will be able to apply basic knowledge and skills learned in classes (such as health, biology, sports etc) to not only their personal life, but at the community level. By forming a student organization, the club mentorsand members will help create a culture of health and wellness at Dover High School.
Finally, SEED awarded $720 to a third grade team of teachers for their proposal to conduct an Ellis Island simulation. As a culminating activity to the study of immigration and students’ countries of origin, all Dover third graders will participate in a replicated Ellis Island experience. The journey will begin in their home classrooms through filling out the ship’s manifest, passports, birth certificates, and immunization records. The experience will continue on the “ship” (bus), where students will be assigned to first class, second class or steerage. Once students arrive at Ellis Island (Woodman Park School) they will go through a series of stations simulating what Ellis Island immigrants might have experienced. The stations include medical, logical, language, reading, math skills, and physical testing, along with an inspector interview. This will be an all day experience that will include all three elementary schools, as well as parents and community members and volunteers.
SEED raises private philanthropic dollars and provides grant funds, on a competitive basis, to educators who submit formal applications. SEED’s overarching goals are to create a legacy for educational excellence in Dover Public Schools and to advocate the value of education in the community. To learn more about SEED, please visit www.DoverSeed.org