BEF Awards 14 Spring Innovation-Grants
Congratulations to the following Berkley Schools staff members for receiving a Spring 2024 Berkley Education Foundation Innovation-Grant. The BEF funds innovative project requests, special materials to enhance lessons and educational technology. Innovation-Grants are for more than basic classroom supplies. They are an opportunity for staff members to be creative, push the envelope and expand learning for students. The BEF has an annual $15,000 allocation to support Innovation-Grants.
Berkley Building Blocks
Lisa Soffa & Lauren Reagan - Preschool - Preschool Science & Nutrition. Exploring healthy foods through growing vegetables.
Angell Elementary School
Meghan Thomas, Lauren Wexler & Kellie Zimcosky - 1st Grade - Hatchlings for First Grade Life Science. Each teacher received a new incubator plus accessories to incubate, hatch and care for duck and chicken eggs as part of their annual life cycle unit.
Burton Elementary School
Tracy Grabowski - Physical Education - Go For Your Personal Best! Purchasing a classroom set of stopwatches for students to when running the shuttle run, relays, the mile run, crunches, push ups, and completing minute to win it tasks.
Norup International School
Morgan Rowlik - 4th Grade - Growing Minds: Innovating Plant-Based Learning. Integrating hands-on plant care with cutting-edge technology, while fostering student engagement, responsibility, and collaboration with others in the Norup community.
Kristen Gustafson - 1st Grade - School Learning Garden. To provide all students with outdoor learning experiences and to support social-emotional well being.
Carole Hoste - Band - Digital Tuners and Metronomes. All in one devices to give Norup Band students real time digital feedback about if their notes are in tune and if they are playing in time.
Liz Reynolds (Kindergarten) and Val Mace (5th Grade) - Buddies and Board Games. Purchasing cooperative learning materials including board games and math games that the older students can teach and play with their buddies in small groups.
Rogers Elementary School
Andrea Halas - Kindergarten - Light the Way to Learning. New materials for the light table station to engage students with math and literacy skills.
Sarah Berry - Transitional Kindergarten - Dramatic Play Kitchen Food. Investing in long lasting, year round, dramatic play food items for the kitchen area where kids will be able to communicate, imagine, and play.
Anderson Middle School
Heather Roesner - Special Education - Life Cycle Science Units. Students will observe the life cycle of a butterfly, frog, ladybug, ants and various plants through all stages using live kits.
Berkley High School
Jacqueline Terbrack - Media Specialist - Unlocking Resilience: High School Puzzle Initiative for Stress Relief and Mental Wellbeing. New wood puzzles for the new puzzle table in the LMC.
Mary Martinuzzi - Special Education - Classroom Bank. Students in the BHS Special Education classroom will be working on budgeting/banking skills. Students will be given the opportunity to spend their digital deposits on classroom rewards weekly.
If you’d like to donate to the BEF to support the Grant program, you can do so online.
