With the boundless creativity of our First Grade teachers, our first graders at Florence Roche built a community pinwheel garden. Students all brought a pinwheel home to represent families as an extension of the school community. So many smiles!

This grant is for a Prusa 3D printer with features such as auto bed leveling, filament runout detection, skipped step detection, and power resume which nearly eliminate the most time-consuming and frustrating points of failure in 3d printing. This printer provides students with the opportunity to experiment with design and prototyping and will create excitement about the engineering design process as it give students an opportunity to quickly make their designs a reality. 

Tents were purchased for Boutwell to assist in outdoor learning spaces for the preschoolers.    The tents are meant  provide shade/shelter and a designated area to do small group play, learning, and therapy activities.

This grant is for 4 adjustable nets that can be used for various games including badminton, pickle ball, and volleyball. These nets will used the entire year inside and outside by all students in the HS program. These games foster lifelong activities!

This grant includes yoga mats and scoop chairs to allow for flexible seating.  Chairs and mats can easily be moved outside for learning.  These also allow for alternate seating in the classroom within each child's 6 foot area.  The seats and chairs will continue to be utilized in a post Covid environment.

Jon Mattleman, a mental health counselor for over 35 years will give a dynamic presentation Oct 8, 2020 on returning to school and resilience.   He will address the mental health warning signs in our children, how to establish routine but stay flexible, and the importance of kindness during COVID-19.

GDEF is sponsoring the Robotomies Club once again to support in STEM learning.  The sponsorship will help to cover the entry fees and supplies needed to create a competitive robot.  We wish them luck!

This grant provided individual scoop chairs and yoga mats for the hybrid second graders at SU. These seats can be brought outside and rearranged in the classroom while adhering to social distance regulations, allowing for flexibility and more comfortable seating options.

Thinker Analytix, whose mission is to empower educators to teach critical thinking skills so that students achieve academically and discuss social issues with precision and care, provided on-site training for teachers at the high school.

This grant provided “sensory kits” for special education students. Because of social distance regulations, students are required to stay in their seats, which creates a need for stationary movement breaks. This project  supports each student’s individual needs by allowing them access to student specific and individualized tools that promote engagement and decrease stress.

This grant provided individual scoop chairs and yoga mats for the hybrid first graders at SU. These seats can be brought outside and rearranged in the classroom while adhering to social distance regulations, allowing for flexibility and more comfortable seating options.

This grant supports the children of Boutwell  in the work of  language comprehension and use (understanding linguistic concepts, on, next to, under, between, through, first, second, then, etc.., categorization, description), development of gross motor, and fine motor abilities in a safe and fun environment.

This grant supported a gardening program for special education students at the middle school.  It teach the functional life skill of gardening by growing vegetables and relate to the nutrition activities completed throughout the year.

These books will help provide students with a rich opportunity to deepen their understanding of the immigrant experience and expose students to cultures similar to and different from their own.