2015-16 Grant Awards

East Greenwich High School

• EGHS Birdhouse Project: This grant will fund birdhouses to be placed in visible locations from within East Greenwich High School. These special birdhouses have a one-way mirror, allowing people to view inside without disturbing the birds. Through data collection and research, Mr. Rath’s students will conduct authentic scientific investigations of the behavior and life cycles of Rhode Island bird species and share their learning with other EGHS students via a website and social media. All students will gain a greater environmental awareness of our local ecology as they witness the nesting of the birds in the houses throughout the school year.

• EGHS Rocket Club: With funds from EGEF, reusable equipment will be purchased for the EGHS Rocket Club, including a launch stand, an electrical launch system, safety equipment and specific software used to design and build model rockets. The Rocket club is guided by members of the Rhode Island Model Rocket Association (RIMRA) and is open to high school students who are interested in learning about physics, math, science, technology, and engineering. Over the 2015-16 school year, students will collaborate as a team to design a rocket in an effort to qualify for the Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC), a national competition held in Washington, D.C.

Frenchtown Elementary School

• Interactive Learning Aided by Real Time Assessment: Second grade teachers Roberta Serby and Michele Rinn, along with Donna Hayes, Librarian at Frenchtown Elementary, have been awarded funds to purchase a MimioTeach™ Interactive Whiteboard and a MimioVote™ Assessment System. These systems will provide the teachers with real-time data about their students’ understanding of curriculum and immediate feedback as to which students might need remediation in specific areas. The technology will allow teaching and learning to be differentiated to meet the needs of individual students.

George R. Hanaford Elementary School

• Augmented Reality in 5th Grade: Fifth grade science and math teacher Veronica Munroe was awarded funds to create an “Augmented Reality” in her classroom by using the iPad application Aurasma. This app will allow students to create tutorials to help others with homework in real time.

James H. Eldredge Elementary School, Frenchtown Elementary School, George R. Hanaford Elementary School, Meadowbrook Farms Elementary School, and Archie R. Cole Middle School

• Books for Students on Social/Emotional Themes:  Sharon Foley, a district Social Worker, has been awarded up to $2400 to purchase storybooks, literary books, and self-help books that that are current and relevant to the social and emotional issues that elementary and middle school students encounter today. The new books will be available to all East Greenwich elementary schools and Cole Middle School and will be managed by each school’s psychologist or guidance department.

James H. Eldredge Elementary School

• Story Grammar Marker Program: Patricia Garrahy, Speech Language Pathologist, was awarded grant money for The Story Grammar Marker Kit, which focuses on narrative development: telling, re-telling, writing and comprehending stories. The program will help students improve their reading and auditory comprehension of text as well as with oral language development.

​Meadowbrook Farms Elementary School

• User Friendly Library – An Augmentation to the Reluctant Readers Grant: Kathleen Lynch, Librarian at Meadowbrook Farms Elementary will receive funds for graphical signage decals to help direct the students with the various categories of books in the library. This money will augment the 2013 EGEF-funded Reaching Reluctant Readers Program which helped the library purchase 600 new books.