SERF Ideas
Sudbury Education Resource Fund, Inc.
www.serfsudbury.org
Inspiring Education... One Grant at a Time
May/ June 2010
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Give Great Teachers the
Recognition They Deserve
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"What a great way to
recognize an
outstanding teacher while also giving back to our children."
Make a
donation to SERF in honor of teachers, specialists and administrators
and they will receive Appreciation of Champions in Education (ACE) Award
Certificates recognizing their contributions to your child's education.
Sudbury parent Nicole
Arpiarian gave an ACE Award in honor of her
daughter's first grade teacher, Christine Fearey. "I know Ms. Fearey will always hold a special place in our daughter's
early school memories and I am glad that
the
ACE award can show her that she does make a difference, that she is
appreciated and that she really is gold," Arpiarian says. "What a great way to recognize an outstanding teacher while also
giving back to our children," she notes.
This is how a SERF ACE Award works:
A family makes a donation, in honor of a teacher, to SERF. SERF is
dedicated to funding student enrichment and curriculum enhancement projects in
K-12 classrooms in the Sudbury Public Schools and Lincoln Sudbury
Regional High School. The honored
educator receives an ACE Award certificate announcing that a donation has been made to
SERF in his or her name as a "Champion in Education." SERF gives notice of the awards to each
school's principal, who often will in turn announce the awards to the school's
faculty and staff. In addition to this important recognition, your donations go directly toward grants that benefits teachers and students!
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SERF Grants Bring Diverse Cultures to Classrooms
New materials at Noyes, Curtis and LSRHS
| Each year, teachers throughout the Sudbury Public Schools and LSRHS apply for grants to fund a wide variety of materials to enhance the learning experience in our classrooms. Here are some descriptions of recent grants that have enriched social studies, history, mythology and music curricula:
A recent SERF grant funded sets of Canadian maps for two fourth grade classrooms at the Peter Noyes Elementary School. "Our grade 4 study of North America includes learning the provinces, territories, capitals, major cities and landforms in Canada," notes fourth grade teacher Shannon Famigletti. "In past years, we did not have [current] maps for the students to refer to during our study," she reports. The SERF grant funded a total of 60 maps, so that each student could study and explore his or her own map. "Having a map to refer to obviously made the students' work easier," Famigletti says.
A SERF grant funded world mythology books for sixth graders at the Ephraim Curtis Middle School (ECMS). Teacher Robin Sallese sought the funding in order to expand the curriculum - which had focused on Greek creation myths - to include creation myths from the Incan, Native American, Celtic, Norse, Chinese, African, Middle Eastern, and Australian cultures. Not only did the expansion better align the curriculum with state standards, but "the mythology picture books grabbed the students' interest, in a fun, multi-modal way," says Sallese. Using the SERF-funded books, the students explored "what we can tell about a culture from its myths as well as why cultures create myths," Sallese explains.
Another SERF grant at ECMS funded teacher resources on the ancient world for the seventh grade curriculum. Several years ago, Curtis had adopted the History Alive! Ancient World textbook, which explores the great early civilizations of Egypt and the Near East, India, China, Greece, and Rome. The SERF-funded teacher resources kit complements those textbooks, with a number of resources on the ancient world, including lesson guides, CD-ROMs, an interactive student notebook, and online resources. Social studies teacher Tammy Fox reports, for example, that using the interactive student notebook, students completed a graphic organizer, shaped like a pyramid, to diagram the various social classes of ancient Egypt, and then wrote and acted out skits about them. "I find that when students interact with the material rather than just reading the material, they become the people, and achieve a greater appreciation for ancient history," says Fox. Students have also used resource kit materials to document differences between ancient Athens and ancient Sparta, and then to debate the relative strengths of each city-state on topics such as government, economy, education and treatment of women or slaves.
SERF also funded Renaissance costumes for LSRHS students to wear during their first Annual Renaissance Madrigal Dinner fundraiser in 2009.
Students were involved in ever y aspect of the dinner: the mixed and select choral groups performed, students wrote the script for the evening and costumed servers presented the meal. "This project broadened students' horizons in a variety of ways," L-S's former Choral Director, Ruth Hartt reports. The students learned about proper performance in the Madrigal style, Renaissance music, culture, language and dance, and honed their performance and acting skills in the process. |
Grants in Action
SERF Funds State of the Art Meteorology Technology
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LS Students Sara Nelson and Liam Morley with their teacher Alison Sanders-Fleming
 | Students have moved from the classroom out into the elements, as part of
a ninth-grade weather unit at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School
that uses state of the art meteorology technology funded by SERF.
The new weather curriculum at L-S was designed by veteran earth science
teachers Alison Sanders-Fleming and Leslie Knight. The teachers' goal
was to get students outside to observe, measure and experience the
weather from a meteorologist's perspective. In order to
reach this goal, they applied for SERF funding for two types of science
technology equipment:
Kestrel anemometers and a wall-mounted aneroid barometer.
In the new curriculum, students use the
anemometers outside to learn how to measure wind speed and direction,
observe cloud type and precipitation, and measure air and soil
temperature and relative humidity. Back in the classroom, students use the barometer to measure air pressure and make connections between
their outdoor observations and changes in air pressure throughout the
weather unit.
Read more...
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College Searches in Full Swing at Spring College Fair
| SERStudents met with reps from over 100 colleges and universities
 | F's second annual Spring College Fair, held March 27, 2010, hosted over
1000 students and parents at
LSRHS, making the event an all-around success!
Representatives from 117
colleges and universities, 4 Gap Year programs and 1 professional
organization came away impressed with the caliber and interest of
our students! We had over 400 families participate and attend both the
keynote, delivered by Marty O'Connell of "Colleges That
Change Lives," and the numerous
informational seminars.
Funds raised through event sponsorships and college registration fees will fund
grants for innovative curriculum enhancements, technologies, professional development and
materials for grades K-12. Teachers and administrators rely on these
grants to keep our schools moving forward.
SERF is proud to present this Spring
College Fair, free to students and families, as our
premier annual community event. Look for College Fair announcements next Spring!
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Make a Difference in Your Children's Education
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 If everyone in Sudbury contributed to SERF...It would
make the difference between a good education for our children and a
great one!
With the noticeable increase in grant applications because of tightened school budgets, your contribution to SERF's Direct Appeal is needed now more than ever! It is not too late for you to make a difference in your children's education with your donation to SERF's 2009-2010 Annual Appeal. Contributions of any amount are appreciated!
Thank you to the many who have chosen to make a difference to our 2009-2010 Direct Appeal (see who has contributed so far). And thanks again to the many families and businesses who contributed to SERF during the 2008-2009 school year.
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SERF Board of Directors 2009-2010
Debbie Pullen,
Co-President
Karen Volo, Co-President
Susan Goswami,
Treasurer
Beth Winograd, Secretary
Lisa Weil, Chair, Marketing
Faith Chen, Co-Chair, Granting
Marisa Dawson, Co-Chair, Granting
Members: Betsy Cohen, Karen Darmer,Susan Ganio, Ellen Gitelman, Marisa Helgeson, Anne Hincks, Kim Kelly, Elena Kleifges, Stephanie Stein
Lapat, Ruth Miller, Hannah Pentz, Kim Prendergast, Dawn Solowey, Laura Tyrrell, Carol Zais
SERF is always seeking new Board of Director members. If you are interested in serving on this dynamic board, please contact Debbie Pullen at info@serfsudbury.org.
SERF's 2008-2009 Board of Directors at "Not Just Desserts," May 2009
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