Southborough Education Foundation announces grant recipients

Southborough - Students in Southborough will have a half-dozen fresh and innovative ways to approach their studies next school year, thanks to the Southborough Education Foundation (SEF).

The SEF recently announced its six grant recipients and the new program initiatives, which include ways to get kids more active as well as improving word and reading skills, an introduction to a new language, the creation of a bilingual library, and an art comparison as it relates to world history.

"The annual awarding of exciting grants like these is one of the important ways we fulfill our mission of supporting excellence and innovation in the Southborough schools," SEF President Nicki Mauro said. "We are extremely excited about the programs our recipients will undertake and we, on behalf of the children who will benefit from these programs, thank the individuals and businesses who make these grants possible through their generous financial contributions."

Mauro said the six grants awarded total about $13,000.

The 2008-2009 SEF grants are:

Learning Through Movement, requested by Nancy Ahrabi-Nejad of the Mary Finn School. The goal of this project is to train pre-school staff to appropriately carry out sensory motor activities within the pre-school classroom and, through consultation with physical and occupational therapists, follow through with motor activities within the classroom on a daily basis.

Working on Words Their Way, requested by Mary Ellen Shields and Betsy Joseph of the Mary Finn School. The program is designed to assess the working knowledge each student brings to the tasks of reading, writing and spelling. Through the use of specialized materials, the program allows each teacher to have a wide variety of new and differentiated materials for each student and strengthens students' skills in their individual spelling stage before moving on to new skills.

Lexia Reading, requested by Mary Ellen Shields and Katie Nordman, of the Woodward School. Lexia Reading is a web-enabled reading program that builds skills with practice in phonemic awareness and phonics while promoting gains in vocabulary, fluency and comprehension.

Introduction to Latin, requested by Kerry Brown Trautner, of Trottier Middle School. Introduction to Latin will be off ered as part of the eighth-grade elective program. The class will provide a foundation for Latin off erings at the high school level and give students a strong base for other languages. It will off er teachers the opportunity to collaborate across teams and grades, as the seventh grade celebrates their annual Greek and Roman Day.

Bilingual Language Library, requested by Kerry Brown Trautner, of the Trottier Middle School. A French/ Spanish bilingual language library will provide students with an appropriate level of foreign language reading materials, including magazines, popular children's books and novel sets.

Advanced Placement World History Visual Art Comparison, requested by Nathaniel Uttaro, Algonquin Regional High School. This project will use the visual arts as a basis for comparing diff erent cultures and time periods. Students will view examples of art and learn to identify characteristic symbols and techniques from that particular culture.