People's Bank & Stamford Credit Union:   Creative Classroom Mini Grants Applications for School Year 2002-2003
App. #	School	Grade(s)	Teacher(s)	Project Name	Project Description	No. Students
1	AIT	9 to 12	Dr. Paul Weinstein	Bottle Biology	Using recycled 2 liter soda bottles, students design and  construct miniature biomes where they observe how living organisms function, adapt and change.	90
4	Cloonan		Carlis Ward	I Am Somebody Special Cultural Portrait	Students present an autobiographical cultural & geographical portrait, which will educate their classmates and teacher about their lives. They present these universalities of culture and geographical information in three different formats: a poster, a written summary, and the oral presentations.	75
7	Cloonan	8	Rebecca Cultice Shiela Egan Thomas Mawulketis	Memory Speaks When We Listen	To enhance the interdisciplinary study of WWII, students will interview individuals who were living during the 40's. They will select a member of the family, a friend or neighbors (Since we are across the Street from Rippowam Manor and within walking distance of the Tandent Center every student should be able to locate a "partner".) Eventually students will decide how best to share the stories they've heard after meeting multiple times with their partners. Each student will contribute an entry to a memory book which will be presented to all as well as create a timeline, video, or visual display which will be shared in a culminating reception.	95
10	Dolan	6	Joy Bodnar	"Ancient Dolan" Frog Pharaohs	In an effort to integrate Social Studies and Science, students, in groups, will create their own mummified "Frog Pharaoh". They will apply the knowledge of Ancient Egyptian mummification, acquired in Social Studies , to a real life situation in Science in which they carry out the steps of the mummification process through work with their "Frog Pharaoh". In addition , they will name their "Frog Pharaoh", create a story about his our her life as cartouche, and design a sacred sarcophagus, write his or her name in hieroglyphics on a cartouche, and design a canopic jar. Throughout the entire project, students will be responding to their experiences in a journal format. Finally, The culmination of the project will include a simulated Ancient Egyptian procession and proper burial for each Pharaoh.	65
14	Dolan	7to 8	Eric Buirleson	Math Counts Club	Mathcounts is a national coaching and competition program for middle school students . Stamford schools participate in the animal Southwest CT chapter MathCounts Competition at Fairfield university in February , the first city wide local MathCounts competition will be in January 2003	18+
18	Hart	K	Rebecca S. Roth	Shaking and Baking in Kindergarten	Children will be able to practice math, sequencing and literacy skills by reading recipes. They will be able to mix, stir, measure and see the results of their accomplishments.	17
19	Hart	K	Victoria Fishman VickiEhrenzweig	Welcome to the Neighborhood of Nutrition	Kindgarten youngsters get the opportunity to meet a most wonderful diversified neighborhood: The Neighborhood of Nutrition where four families and their children live and play together and help each other. They shop in three supermarkets: a large one (Mr. Carbohydrates), a medium sized one (Mr. Protein) and a teeny tiny one (Chubby Bubby Fats).	40-60
21	K.T. Murphy	5	Mike Gosset	Pulse Tracking	Heart Rate Monitors will be used by 5th graders in Physical Education class to monitor their heart rate during the warm-up portion of their lesson. The students have four parts to their warm-up, flexibility being the first and cardiovascular conditioning being the last. We will rotate to wear the monitors. Students have been taught in class what a Target Heart Rate is and why it is important during exercise. Those wearing them will record their pulse in log.	39/year
24	Newfield	K-5	Mark Martini	Ongoing Student Digital Art Museum	An online Art Gallery of students work will be incorporated into our already existing website. Funds from this grant will be used to purchase a digital camera for the purpose of photographing art projects done by students for the online gallery. Samples of work on all grade levels will demonstrate the integration of the arts into our curriculum units. A brief description of the curriculum connection for each project will be provided for our online audience. Visitors to the website will be able to see the connections between units of study and their extension into the fine arts program . Art appreciation will be fostered  in our students, grades K-5, as well as self-esteem enriched by sharing the artwork with family and friends, near and far.	Entire School
26	Newfield	2 to 5	Matt Beatty Chuck Peterson	Heart Talker- Talking Heart Rate Monitors	Physical education has changed over the  years. We are striving to find ways to keep our program innovative , challenging, and fun while striving to meet required testing goals. Incorporating new technology is an important part of the change. As a teaching, learning, assessment tool a heart rate monitor is invaluable.	All  Students Grades 2-5
27	Newfield	3 to 5	Hedy Siegel Sharon Maignan	Creating a Writing Case: The Power in the Pencil	The ESL and Media Center Specialist will present family literacy workshops emphasizing the enhancement of the reading/writing partnership. Parents will be given the chance to reinforce writing  efforts and understand how children benefit from experimenting with writing as they enjoy reading and writing together.	30
28	Newfield	3	Sandy  Palley-Bradt	Recipes for Learning	My students are 7 and 8 years old. They are identified Special Education  Students with a variety of disabilities. They are part of the 3rd grade team at Newfield School. In  addition to developing skill in reading, writing, mathematics, fine motor, following directions and social skills, they often lack self esteem. I tried to think of a way that  could improve skills in the  aforementioned areas that would be fun and educational students also have a rich cultural heritage. Some families are from: Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Mexico and San Salvador. While other families have cultural traditions from Israel, Ireland, Canada, and the American South.	9 +30 in their Immediate families
32	Rippowam	6	Myra Venezia Jim Stanton Bud Werdelin	Medieval Living  History Day	Students will take on the persona of a person living during the Medieval Time Period 1300-1496. They will write a journal of their life study - researching the various aspects of life during this time period. A speaker from the Society for Creative Americanism will  come dressed in clothes from the time period, illustrations for the students clothing and accessories form the time period.	320
34	Rippowam	7	Patrick Alarcon Todd Jones Shalyra Faiella	Aquaculture in the Classroom	7th grade Life Science students in both Eagle House (100) and Ferguson House (100) will create and maintain an Aquaculture System in our  classroom. Fish will be sold in student body at end of year and herbs will be sold to parents organization at end of year.	300
37	Roxbury	3 to 5	James Stuart Richard Bonitz	Night Skies of Stamford	The project will promote interest in astronomy and the use of the Roxbury Media Center Astronomy resources, including software, web sites, and printed text to promote recognition and understanding of the movement of celestial objects. Community resources as well as Roxbury School families will be encouraged to participate. We have a parent willing to help us set up and use a 12" computer controlled telescope. We hope to purchase a telescope with the grant for student use as night and for daytime observations of the moon with the grant.	60+
38	Roxbury	4	Diane Phanos Andrea Levine Kristy Sparan Jen Gentile Denise Quimi Sandra Stephenson	Colonial Day	Colonial Day is a culmination of our study of colonial life, students will participate in craft activities: Candle dipping, calligraphy writing, hummer making, soap whittling, stenciling, and stitchery/quilted pillows.	120
41	Scofield Magnet	6	James Ellsworth Carrie Chiappetta Herm Freeman	"Investigating Geometric Forms"	This is an interdisciplinary for art, social studies and math. Students will be learning about ancient Greece and about geometry. They will Learn not only the different geometric solids and the history of them, but also how to construct them. Students will plan, construct  and display a series of platonic solids including, hexahedron, octahedrons, tetrahedrons, dodecahedrons and icosohedrons. Variations of these forms will be invested and constructed as well. These variations will include star shaped solids and truncated versions of the platonic solids.	100
43	Scofield Magnet	6	Nancy A. Orifici	Tessellation T-Shirts!	Students will use geometric concepts previously studied as well as new concepts to create their own tessellation booklet. ( Tessellations is a figure which can be repeated to cover a surface leaving no gaps or overlaps. M.C.Escher was a famous Dutch artist who created pieces using tessellations designs.) The booklet will reflect  the student's understanding of the concepts necessary to create their own tessellations design. The booklet will include journal entries, exercises done individually and with partners, drawings and computer printouts from math and technology  lessons. The students will paint their tessellations design onto T-shirts as a culminating activity for this project.	100
44	Scofield Magnet	6 to 8	Jeffrey C. Williams Simon Wheatley	Greenscreen Project	Through the acquisition of green screen, ongoing school-wide projects, including the morning news, Communication Literacy projects, Advisory happenings, and all classroom activities, would take on a more fulfilling and professional appearance; students would learn how to digitally and electronically control the setting of any video filming.	Entire School
48	Scofield Magnet	8	Nancy a Louth	The Inventive Mind	In order to inspire higher-order thinking skills in students, and elicit imagination, originality, collaboration, and risk-taking, we immerse students in the "Inventive Mind". Students must utilize multiple intelligences to solve a problem by designing a possible invention. Students also apply their knowledge of scientific principles explaining  how their invention works its 'wonder'. A portion of this unit shares types of propaganda used in advertising , teaching students to be better- informed consumers. These principles are then incorporated into advertising brochures designed to "sell' their invention to target audience.	102
50	Springdale	2	Ellynne Plotnick	King Snake Science Literacy Project	To raise and care for a King snake: We will use this experience of raising and caring for a reptile to integrate science and literature in the classroom. We will study snakes (observing, reading, researching them on the internet), and then write about snakes from personal experience and also as a springboard to learn expository writing. The snake will provide a concrete example of an animal (as opposed to just reading books.)	20
51	Springdale	4	Mrs. Linda Latosh	"Across the U.S.A.	A carpet map of the United States will be purchased for the classroom use in order to instruct children  about their country and basic geography skills.	75/yr
53	Springdale	4	Karen Gordon	Dr. Super's Factor Block City	Students will use factor blocks and build "factor City"  Through specific  requirements Re: size, area, , and volume. Students will create a city as well as an aquarium. While building the cities the will  explore various math concepts.	25
54	Springdale/Davenport	5	Vivian D. Levine	"Construction"	Children will use Campbell Soup Cans to build a structure for creative ingenuity- will connect with Velcro. Ex. Chair, ottoman, table, etc. (life size) when complete we will donate "creations" to shelters.	49
55	Stamford High School	9 to 12	Frank LaBlanca Steven Fasoli	Scientific Analysis and Evaluation of Sound Produced by Percussion Instruments	Standards have been established by OSHA to quantify the amount and quality of sound that is safe for individuals in different environments. Our students are constantly exposed to a range of sounds from normal background noise, music at concerts or from Walkman, the TV, and conversation. The frequency and impact of sound and draw their own conclusions about its impact on their hearing.	40
56	Stamford High School	11 to 12	Kristen Amon	Movie Stunts	Students will use CBR's (motion detectors connected to the TI83 calculators) to determine average speeds of vehicles. Sing this information, students will design stunts such as a near collisions" or "dives into moving  vehicles". This "authentic application" will be completed on a small safe scale.	50-100+
58	Stark	5th	Ann Bucsbaum Lau-Ann Finch	New England Coastal Tidal Pool Touch Tank	The students of the 5th grade mainstream and 5th grade special education class in consultation with adults and community resources (Sound Waters) will be able to create a touch tank of Connecticut's coastal tide pool ecosystem and a fresh water aquarium. The tide pool will include various animals. For example, crabs, starfish, clams, oysters, mussels, etc. The freshwater tank will have fish, plants, etc. These students will make PowerPoint presentations and share research about the touch tank with other 5th grade classes and other grade levels.	26+ all Grades
64	Turn Of River	7	Deborah Wilson Marjorie Pucciarelli Jessica Reap	Project Child	They Cage the Animals at Night, by Jennings Michael Burch, is a nonfiction account of one child's years as a foster child. This is a high-interest book that helps create interest in the genre. While home activities will vary for each academic group, each of our 225 7th grade students will be reading the novel in reading class. we are fortunate this year, as Jennings Michael Burch has agreed to come speak to the entire 7th grade on November 22nd. One of the points this author makes as a speaker is that there is no room for teasing and bullying behavior; hence, the attached "Sticks & Stones" project that will also accompany this novel.	225+
65	Westhill High School	9	Michael Harris	Japanese Studies: In School Project Extension	As an extension to the close of a major Japanese Studies project funding is sought to add traditional "Berto Box" lunches to our in school culminating experience.	118
71	Westhill High School	10 to 11	Trema L. Voytek	Acidity & Basicity of Household Products	The project is designed to have students determine the pH values of household products. The students will arrange items from most acidic to least acidic.	68/year
73	Westhill High School	11 to 12	Stamford History Archives	Bruce Cutter Lisa Forbes	This project will create an archive of materials to supplement the American History Curriculum while focusing on Stamford History.  Primary sources including photographs, illustrations, drawings, and paintings will be collected, enlarged, copied and laminated for future use. The Stamford Historical Society, Ferguson Library and Advocate newspapers will be the major focus for collection of personal artifacts. Areas to be archived include: Fort Stamford, Old Pacific Street, Canal Street , Town Hall, Atlantic Street, Cove Mills, Dan Town, Trolleys, Grave Yards, Wire Mill Area, Yale & Towne, South End Industry, Springdale, Mill River and many more. The collection of materials would be re-used and expanded year after year to motivate and encourage the study of Stamford History.	450
74	Westover	PreK-1	Barbara Remondino Kara Peterson Julie Andrews	Animals Around Us	We will teach about many different animals using pictures and stories. We will have a visit from the Fish Bowl Pet Shop. They will bring six animals to our classroom: rabbit, snake, lizard, hedgehog, frog, and guinea pig. They will present classroom: a rabbit, snake, lizard, hedgehog, frog, and guinea pig. They will present a 45-minute show giving information about the features, habitats and lifestyles of these animals. The students will have an opportunity to touch each animal. After the classroom visit each student will create each animal using three dimensional art materials. These follow up projects will be used to reinforce the information learned through pre-teaching and the hands on experience.	15
75	Westover	K	Elaine DeVylder Allison Klein Beth Baer Berta Yanez Lisa Wilson Susan Cavanagh Sandra Fecci	KINDER "GARDEN"	One hundred and twenty-five Kindergarten students will turn their classrooms into a garden of plants and flowers as part of their six weeks unit on "Plants". The students will discover the process of seed to by painting clay pots, planting flower seeds inside them, and through a weekly journal, discover the joy of seeing flowers grow and develop. Children will learn the parts of a flower and the care it takes to help it grow. These beautiful, loving plants will be sent home as part of the Mother's Day celebration. Additional activities will supplement the learning. For example, making a model o a flower out of clay, making felt and tissue paper flowers and writing stories about plants flowers.	125
76	Westover	K	Elaine DeVylder Allison Klein Beth Baer Berta Yanez Lisa Wilson Susan Cavanagh Sandra Fecci	Rhyme Time	One of the important indicators of how well kindergarten children learn to read is their ability to rhyme words. This project involves participation of 125 students(7 classes) and their parents. It begins by the teacher immersing the students in books with stories that rhyme. Then two students per night will take home a rhyming "Brag Bag". inside the bag will be a paper with a poem that says, " I don't meant to brag, But their is something in my bag that rhymes with ________. The children will look around their home with their family and find an object . The next day the class will listen to the child read the "brag bag clue" and they will try to use the rhyming object in the bag. For example: Student writes on the paper " I don't mean to brag, but their is something in my bag that rhymes with cat and the object in the bag is a "hat".	125
80	Westover	4 & 5	Edward Rensin	Mahadhi Kiafrika (African Rhythm)	Mahadhi Kiafrika is Swahili for African Rhythm. Our project will consist of constructing, decorating, and performing on three types of African-inspired rhythm instruments made largely from natural materials. The three instruments we will make are: 1. shell-and-gourd shakers; 2. triple-gourd rattles (maracas); and 3. raft shakers. After the instruments have been built, they will be decorated with traditional African patterns and designs.	80-100