2002 GRANTS AWARDED: $94,505

$2,800
Continued Monitoring of Prairie Restoration Site
Spring Harbor Middle School

Last year FMPS provided the funding to initiate a professional quality research project to obtain baseline data on this 75-acre site adjacent to the school forest, prior to its restoration as a prairie. All students in the school have participated in the project through their science classes. The project has been presented at Science Teacher Conferences and will be presented at the schools 6th Annual Environmental Conference this spring. New Funding will support transportation to the site for continued data collection for all Spring Harbor students for the 2002-03 school year. The applicants will be advised to seek other funding for future continued implementation.

$7,745
Community Cultures
Lindbergh Elementary School

This project is designed to build community among students, staff and parents and honor the diverse cultures at Lindbergh Elementary, a school where 50% of the students are not native English speakers and two-thirds are children of color. The four-part community-building and cultural heritage project will include: (1) parent gatherings in the three housing projects serving Lindbergh school, focused on discussions of cultural diversity; (2) a series of curriculum-related classroom presentations by community members representing the different cultrual communities at Lindbergh; (3) an artist-in-residence to work with the children to develop class collages using visual arts and writings to express the children's experiences and sense of belonging in the school and wider Madison community and (4) a Saturday Festival of Community Cultures with performances, workshops and displays for the school and surrounding neighborhood. The project will reach out to the older, mostly white residents of the community to bring them into closer connection with the growing ethnically diverse group of younger families.

$3,000
High School Archives and History Museum
LaFollette High School

A student project to collect, preserve and maintain the history of LaFollette High School and its community, as an example of high school culture from the 1960's onward. The project teaches students methods of historical study, including preservation of artifacts and documents which will record the history of LaFollette high school. This project, which will be the first operational archives in a U.S. high school, was initiated by a group of students who are now seniors, under the direction of a history teacher. Students can earn 1/4 credit working as Archive Assistants. The project will require additional funds from other sources to complete its budget.

$5,390
Open Captioning Video Program
LaFollette High School

With these funds the Hearing Impaired Program will be able to purchase the equipment needed to provide on-going video-captioning services for curriculum-related films for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. The films will also be available for use by English language learners and learning disabled students. As a result of a pilot project in collaboration with WHA-TV, the team has already captioned 12 films for use in classroom instruction and 4 District video projects, including the FMPS campaign video. A donation of one VCR from the Sertoma Club is helping to support this program.

$3,000
Printmaking Program
LaFollette High School

This funding will support the purchase of an etching press for the newly initiated printmaking program in the LaFollette Art Department, and enable students to design and produce holiday cards to build the endowment of the Printmaking Fund which will support art scholarships for graduating LaFollette students. The teacher involved has already garnered donations of materials and raised other funds for this endowment. It is anticipated that students in the printmaking project will design materials which can be used in thank-you messages to donors to FMPS.

$8,000
Middle School Video Production Program Media Production Unit
Teaching and Learning Department

This project targets at-risk middle school and 9th grade students not currently involved in sports or other after school activities. Students will learn video production skills and develop on-air announcing skills for projects that will be seen on Cable Channel 10 or in their schools. It is anticipated that students will participate in the project through middle and high school and serve as mentors to younger students. The project will be integrated with Madison School Community Recreation programs and supported, in part through staff time from the Media Production Department.

$3,000
Reading Outstanding Books on Tape (ROBOTS)
Franklin Elementary School

This project will provide materials and the services of a professional interpreter to record books in Spanish, Hmong and other languages spoken by Franklin students, to support reading at home for Franklin's increasing population of English Language Learners. Children will take home books, tapes in their native language, and tape recorders to emphasize the importance of parental support for reading and increasing child-parent bond around development of a critical academic skill. This is an expansion of a successful pilot program conducted at the school for the past 2 years. The Franklin PTO has also committed funding to the project.

$2,970
Outdoor Classroom
Hamilton Middle School

This funding will support Hamilton staff in their development of an inquiry-based curriculum, aligned with District science standards, which makes use of the outdoor classroom and restored prairie on the school grounds. This project is a collaboration with two University of Wisconsin programs, School Yard Science and Kindergarten Through Infinity. Funding has been committed from the PTO and other donors to support the materials needed for construction of the outdoor classroom and prairie restoration. This project will benefit all students at Hamilton, as well as making an esthetic contribution to the neighborhood.

$3,000
Middle School Service-Learning Conference
Shabazz High School

This funding will support a service-learning conference for middle school students and their teachers organized and facilitated by Shabazz students, as part of an English class, under the guidance of the teacher and the school's Coordinator of Service Learning. Following participation in the conference, teams of middle school students and their teachers will implement service-learning projects at their schools. The participating Shabazz students will complete Teaching Service-Learning: A Guide to Student-Directed Conferences, as a result of their experience organizing this conference. Shabazz High School has been recognized as a model service-learning school by the National Youth Leadership Council and the Corporation for National Service. Service learning has been demonstrated to enhance academic achievement, foster positive character traits and promote democratic citizenship.

$4,800
Literacy Lab
Sherman Middle School

Six computers, needed to implement a technology-based Literacy Lab for students who are one or more grade-levels below standard in reading, will be purchased with this grant. The lab will provide opportunities for supplementary instruction and practice throughout the school day and during summer school. It will be staffed by reading specialists and support staff and serve approximately 150 students. The Sherman parent organization has committed funding to the project and additional funds are being sought to complete the total budget required.

$4,560
Project Renewal
West High School

This project will focus on building new organizational and instructional systems to foster academic and social connections between entering 9th graders and their large impersonal high school. The 9th grade team will identify and implement instructional strategies such as cooperative learning, differentiated instruction and a more inclusive environment to reduce alienation and increase the academic success and graduation rate among West High School students. This project has evolved from 6 months of study and planning by more than 50 West faculty and their new principal. It is one of three initiatives identified by the school staff as needed for changing the climate at West so that all students can be successful.

$7,000
Moving Middle School Students Toward Success in Literacy
Cherokee and O'Keeffe Middle Schools

This funding supports professional development time for teams of language arts teachers from Cherokee and O'Keeffe Middle Schools to develop a curriculum which will implement research-based strategies for motivating and teaching students who are considerably below grade level in reading skills. Both schools serve a high proportion of students considered to be at risk for high school graduation unless they develop the reading skills necessary for high school-level work. The teams of teachers involved in this project have worked with UW-Madison faculty at the National Center on English Learning and Achievement on a federal grant which has supported investigation of research-based strategies for improving the literacy skills of middle school students. Through funding from the Foundation, the teams of teachers will collaborate to turn their new knowledge into practical applications for students.

$4,000
Emergency Fund for School Nurses
District-Wide

These funds are used by school nurses throughout the district as "last resort" funding for children who have specific health needs that are not covered by insurance. Examples include dental care, asthma medicine, and eyeglasses.

$3,000
Emergency Homeless Fund
District-wide

A gift from an anonymous donor was used to provide clothing, school supplies and necessary personal care items to homeless families.

$7,500
Grow Our Own Principals
District-wide

This program was funded through gifts from several MMSD retirees. Through it, new principals are trained and mentored.

$6,000
Student Parent and Reading Connection (SPARC)
Shorewood High School

The program increases students' literacy through collaboration between school and home with fun activities based on students' interests. This was the first grant made by Shorewood School under the Foundation's Individual School Endowment Initiative, which builds an endowment for every school in the district.

$16,600
Summer Reading Academy
District-wide

This was a designated gift from a generous anonymous donor to fund a summer reading program so that the students involved don't back track on their reading progress over the summer.

$1,140
Science Olympiad
West High School

Madison West High School has one of the most successful science Olympiad teams in the country. A generous anonymous donor helped to fund their expenses using the Foundation as a vehicle for making the gift.

$1,000
MSCR Swimming Program
District-wide

An individual supports this swimming program annually as a way of endorsing the work of Madison School Community Recreation.

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