Groton-Dunstable Education Foundation (GDEF)
...helping our students "Reach for the Stars!"

2020-21 Mini Grants
Windmills
FR | Clare Gribi, AnneMarie Lanctot, Darlene Wilkins, Marcia Cragg, Catherine Hohmann
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!
3D Printer
HS | Rocheleau
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.
Fourth Grade Reading
SU| Genevre Jankowski, Sue Wynn, Peggy Fournier
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 - Minding Your Mind
SEPAC | Katie Leonard
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.
Second Grade Seating
Swallow Union | Hamel, Bushnell, Rozzi
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.
Fidget Tools
Florence Roche | Bent
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.
Scoop Seats
Swallow Union | Ackerman, Caulfield, Schott
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.
Obstacle Course
Boutwell | Cummings, Barrett, Stengrevics
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.
2020-21 Major Grants
Developing a Positive Sense of Self and Others through Literacy
District Grant
This grant would provide DEI professional development for all educators in the district through a literacy lens. The district will partner with Dr. Kimberly Parker, who will lead PD for all staff on identity and implicit bias while making recommendations for a curricular library audit.
Critical Thinking, Civil Discussion, and Evidence-Based Arguments
HS | Tammy Reynolds
This grant gives GDRHS students in all grades access to an online course, developed by Thinker Analytix, an educational nonprofit working in partnership with classroom teachers and Harvard’s Department of Philosophy, to help students build logic and reasoning skills using a
research-backed method called argument mapping.
Sentence Analytics
HS | Kelly Cook
This grant provides funding for a year for an online sentence diagramming program to help students learn sentence syntax patterns appropriate to their grade level. This contributes to their ability to edit their work and the work of their peers, defend their editorial decisions with absolute logic and improve success rates on multiple-choice tests with questions about usage, mechanics, and rhetorical skills.
Enhanced Engagement in Remote Learning
FR, SU | Grace Volpe, Holly Shreve, & Sharon Lemont
This grant allows for the purchasing 50 sets of Fundations letter tiles and magnet boards to support students who are striving towards mastering foundational reading skills. Kits will be loaned to families to use in hybrid and remote learning and then be returned to GD when instruction returns to typical practice.
Outdoor Sensory Breaks
B, FR, SU, GDRMS | Clare Gribi, AnneMarie Lanctot, Alison Sancinito, Laura Taylor, Ann Russo, & Chrissy Conway
This grant is for the purchase of equipment, paint and reusable stencils to make creative hardscape designs to create spaces for students to “remain together while apart” as well as spaces to connect with peers in positive ways.
Standing Desks/ Flexible Workstations
GDRMS | Tracy Weeks & Brenda Hoag
GDEF will purchase as a pilot, 5 standing desks with swinging foot bars, and tall stools that allow students to reduce sitting times and provide them the opportunity to change positions when required to stay in a limited physical area.