2021 NCTA Grants

The NCTA rejoices in the successes of its members!

Below are examples of NCTA's 2021 Grant Recipients and information about their projects.

Vanessa Migos of Clyde Brown Elementary School, Millis:

Used the funds to create a STEM section in her Grade 2 Spanish Immersion classroom. This grant improved students' confidence and attitude towards failure, supported students in acquiring new Spanish language vocabulary, and enhanced their knowledge and experience in STEM.

Kim Tyszkowski of the Hollis and Morrison Elementary Schools, Braintree:

Purchased materials for continued support of the social and emotional needs of students at the elementary level (K-4). The bulk of the grant supplied books to continue the system's instruction for social thinking, mindfulness, and self-regulation. A small trampoline (often used to assist children with self-regulation) and posters (identification of feelings and growth mindset) were also purchased through this grant.

Michelle Perron of Elm Street School, Walpole:

Allyson Strachan of Stoughton High School:

Purchased ingredients, packaging, and marketing materials for a Transition Program for students with disabilities, ages 18-22. This pilot program created a school-based business, baking and selling dog biscuits. This activity provided immeasurable opportunities for students (learning about market research, planning a logo and name, shopping selectively for the best price, determining cost, need, actually baking the biscuits, and the social aspect of advertising, and selling/delivering the treats).

Sara Toye of Holbrook Middle-High School:

Purchased materials, allowing anatomy and physiology students (grades 11 and 12) the opportunity to dissect fetal pigs.

Jessica Jarboe of Milton High School:

Combined Funding with the Milton Garden Club to purchase materials and equipment for outdoor courtyard activites during lunch periods & after school to promote SEL and community-building.

Kerry Richardson of Delaney Elementary School, Wrentham:

Purchased materials to create a quiet, private "SEL Mindfulness Space" for helping dysregulated students.

SusanKoh SKOOG.mp4

Susan Koh of the Charles E. Roderick School, Wrentham:

Purchased music education software and a Skoog instrument designed for the special needs classroom in the Roderick School with 5 students with learning disabilities. I believe as a Special Education paraprofessional and as a Music Teacher I can greatly increase their Cognitive domain and interpersonal connections with this musical software designed to teach the most basic of music skills. The Skoog instrument which is completely accessible through it's soft material design and it is engineered for complete musical interaction through access points on the cube design make it very user friendly and easy to create music. The cube connects to an ipad for complete creativity with the Skoog App. It can also connect to other music apps to open new possibilities for creativity, music making and music composition.

Karen Corey of O'Donnell Middle School, Stoughton:

Purchased reading books for the classroom libraries of the ELA staff, seeking a robust collection of reading books that represent ALL students and gives them a wide variety of genres to choose from.

Our school will be incorporating book clubs and independent reading initiatives with our students and having books that students WANT to read is half the battle!

Jill Albanese of Sharon High School, Sharon:

Brought in guest speaker D'Angelo Brown and interpreter Keith Brown from Def Familia, Inc. for an interactive visit with the high school's American Sign Language Classes. Mr. Brown is a deaf adult who shares his story and life experiences being deaf. He interacted with the students using American Sign Language and some verbal discussion with the assistance of an interpreter.

Kathryn Bacon of Walpole High School, Walpole:

Purchased the National Spanish Assessments (an online exam which measures proficiency of second language learners of Spanish) for use at 2 different times this year (once close to the beginning of the year and once towards the end of the year) in hopes of showing student growth over the school year. 100 students are benefiting from this grant project.

Laura White of Delaney Elementary School, Wrentham:

Purchased copies of "The Ramped Up Read Aloud" by Maria Walther. A professional book written to support teachers in Pre-K through grade 3 in using read aloud books to teach and model various skills. Not only are the read aloud selections in the book geared toward reading skills, but the entire first chapter is geared toward building community within your classroom. There is future potential to create a professional learning community among colleagues with this book.

Alyssa Dancey-Beaulieu of Stoughton High School, Stoughton:

Purchased materials for a new "Creation Station." The idea is that the supplies would be available to any student in the building when they need/want to be creative! This grant was able to fill the space with new supplies that are geared specifically for a high school level Maker Space!

Rachel Herbert of East Middle School, Braintree:

Brought in a guest speaker for sixth grade students studying ancient civilizations. Paulette Morin is an amateur Egyptologist who delivered 2 multi-media presentations about ancient Egypt, one of the main topics of study in sixth grade social studies. The NCTA Grant Award helped defray the total cost.

Kelley Christy of Delaney Elementary School, Wrentham:

Purchased materials to create..."Traveling Tool Boxes." Students receiving occupational therapy services requiring specialized writing and/or coloring tools received a traveling tool box containing individualized items to improve their writing, coloring, and cutting skills. The boxes contain the tools taught and practiced during the occupational therapy sessions. This enables the students to use the specialized equipment in inclusion and resource classrooms, as well as special subjects requiring fine motor responses. Having the tools readily available in each setting will promote continued progress and practice with the fine motor skills needed for school success. For this project, collaboration between the occupational therapist and special educator occurred for each targeted student requiring these supplies.

Jacquelyn Martin of Sharon Middle School, Sharon:

Purchased materials to continue building her classroom library with diverse books from authors of various racial, gender, and ethnic identities, as well as books by and about underrepresented voices. Her goal was to create an inclusive and inspiring library that will foster student engagement in reading and introduce students to authors and characters of various backgrounds.

Victoria Ruzzo of Sharon Middle School, Sharon:

Purchased books to diversify her classroom library in: the content of the book , the reading level of the book, and to increase the selection to more fully represent her students. The goal is to get students excited about reading!

Patrice Headd of the Johnson Early Childhood Center, Weymouth:

Purchased materials to expand existing STEM activities and Maker Space activities.

An inclusive public preschool in Weymouth, it serves a diverse population of over 200 students, serving more than over 48% of special education students. The JECC staff developed a small STEM room with monthly themes and changing hands on activities in an unused stage area that is loved and well attended by many of their students. Collectively the staff shares materials, design lessons and seeks to make the activities accessible to all students. The award of this grant added STEM materials and toys to expand the engagement in thought-provoking learning experiences to foster strong STEM foundations skills that will support future curiosity and wonder surrounding the world of STEM under the guise of play. The award also created more of a “Maker Space” where students go and tinker with loose parts, blocks and building materials.

Kaitlyn Lang of J.P. Oldham Elementary School, Norwood:

Purchased materials for a Calming Corner (self-regulation) for her

4th grade classroom.

Lanette Griffin-Caldeira of the Abigail Adams Middle School, Weymouth:

Purchased materials for custom made t-shirts for a 6th and 7th grade extra curricular club called "GOOD VIBES." The group sponsors activities to enhance a positive culture within the school and the community, such as Appreciation Days, Coat Drives, incentives and contests, etc.

Patricia Divver of the Millis Middle/High School:

Purchased enticing display features as well as improving the types of materials offered (including guides to drawing and creating anime) to attract a larger group of students to a library section dedicated to graphic arts: anime/manga books and artwork. The library covers grades 6-12, and the anime/manga collection benefits all ages.

Lisa Canavan of the Abigail Adams Middle School, Weymouth:

Purchased "artifacts" to create "treasure boxes" for students to explore the ancient cultures of Egypt and Greece. This allowed them to more directly engage with the content, investigating and probing... beyond simple picture observations.

Hope Rego of the John F. Kennedy Elementary School, Randolph:

Purchased flexible seating and educational center-activity manipluatives to help students achieve their academic goals in a Pre-K classroom.

Tracey Trombert of the Freeman-Kennedy School, Norfolk:

Purchased books depicting characters that represent different abilities, cultures, beliefs, and skin colors for all of the third grade classroom libraries in the town of Norfolk for the purpose of promoting equality, diversity and acceptance of differences.

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