Ledyard Education Advancement Foundation
Awarded Grants
2018 – 2019
Teacher Mini-Grants
“Look to the Sky”
Ted Allen & Shelley Spohr - Ledyard Middle School
This grant funds two automatic telescopes for use in supporting the astronomy curriculum at Ledyard Middle School. The telescopes will allow daytime viewing of the moon and planets, as well as night time viewing of planets, nebula, and other objects, giving students the opportunity to see these items with their own eye instead of just in a book.
“Metal Shop CNC Plasma Cutter Table”
Doug Meyer, Ledyard High School
The purpose of this project is to make a significant improvement in the current metals shop at Ledyard High School by enhancing the student’s educational experience to reflect modern manufacturing techniques and opportunities. The current Metals Shop at Ledyard High School is not equipped with any viable CNC machining options. The CNC machines that currently occupy space are obsolete and non-functional. The goal of this project is to enhance the current hands-on education opportunities from an all-manual interface towards automated computer control interface. Since its introduction in late 1950s, CNC has gained widespread acceptance among manufacturers and undergone major technology revolution in the early 2000s. Today, manufacturers in a variety of industries adopt CNC locally and worldwide.
“Colonel Coffee”
Liz Short, Ledyard High School
The purpose of this grant is for students in the special education classroom at Ledyard High School to create a business that can financially support their future life skills related field trips they will attend as a class. These trips will include going grocery shopping, visiting different job sites, and visiting different community based resources and programs.
“Flexible Seating for Story time or Anytime”
Heather Shipley - Gales Ferry School
The wobble stools will increase the students' attention span on the rug for story time, create a space for a group to listen to a recorded book for fluency and increase the student use of our computer catalog system for finding their own books.
Growing Grant
“iPads to Enhance Small Group Instruction”
Jackie Flakus, Jen Hickey, Gina Venancio, Ledyard Center School
Our goal is for our students to gain independence and apply Literacy and Math skills taught. Small group instruction is important in meeting the needs of young learners. Having other engaging options, such as iPads, for students to practice skills independently will enable us to provide instruction in smaller groups. Differentiation and intervention are more easily implemented with alternative activities that students can engage in when they are not working directly with us. Another purpose of the iPads will be documenting independent student work through online portfolios. An example of this would be the SeeSaw app. As students complete independent work, they can be taught to take a photo with an iPad and post it to their individual online portfolio. The work can be looked at in the portfolio at times convenient to the teacher without disrupting the flow of teaching and learning. This would add a layer of accountability for the students. The portfolios can also be shared with families so they can see some of the things happening in the classroom.
“Continuing Technology for Visual Arts”
Marin Marciano, Kate Flanagan, Ledyard High School
Encourge students to discover their artistic side and prepare for a life after high school! "Every semester, we find more students coming in with digital drawings of artwork and we are confident this interest will not fade but in fact, grow more popular. The interest of graphic design, illustration, animation, game design and other digital art careers has been growing and will continue to give artists a platform to grow as successful artists who can make a living. The term “starving artist” is finally coming to an end because people in the art field are adapting. Ledyard High School needs to give our students the opportunity to adapt to our global community in order to prepare them for a successful career path. Whether students choose the path of Visual Arts or another career, the experience of learning how to visually present something, how to problem solve through use of digital materials, and how to showcase themselves as people, will be a useful skill to have." Student work can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z8Xvfh-MAE&index=8&list=PLC9ZVOgmfGh_D6-2c7KBjhmsCY5uN8uk0
Capital Grant
“Gateway To Technology Begins at Ledyard Middle School”
Ledyard Education Advancement Foundation comitted to a $125,000 multi-year project to expand Ledyard High School’s Project Lead The Way (PLTW) pre-engineering program to Ledyard Middle School. PLTW provides teachers with the resources needed for rigorous and relevant project-based learning. Fundraising continues for phase three which will be determined after the middle school renovation project is completed.