2008
(Total funded: $157,100)
Portable Document Cameras
HGHS/Bell/7B
This next generation of visual presentation tools capture, project, annotate and store information in many different formats, including text, graphics, three dimensional objects and microscopic images.
Printmaking
Bell
Students in all grades will be taught printmaking processes and techniques as well as enhance their study and understanding of cultures explored in their Social Studies units and the Foreign Language Department’s International Film Festival.
Ceramics
Bell
Integrates Art and Social Studies units as students create projects that draw upon what they learn about cultural imagery, form, function, symbolism, and their application to ceramic techniques, methods and personal expression.
Creating Interdisciplinary Sustainability Education Units of Study
Bell /Seven Bridges
Teacher training to create curriculum and materials that support interdisciplinary learning through the lens of sustainability education; includes systems thinking, problem-solving and the impact on the world of various factors and decisions.
The Robert E. Bell School Learning and Growing Garden
Bell
Through direct, hands-on experiences for students, the garden will teach the seed-to-table connection that is critical to enhancing students’ understanding of the concepts of sustainability, health and wellness. Community building will be fostered as students care for the garden together and seek guidance from local senior citizens from the New Castle Community Center.
Writing, Imagery and Technology – A Journal of Print, Poems and Prose
Seven Bridges
Students will connect what they learn in theirArt and English units each year as they are taught printmaking techniques that will culminate in individual journals of each student’s own writings and corresponding illustrations.
4th Grade SMART Boards
Grafflin/Roaring Brook/Westorchard
Continuing CSF’s support of this interactive whiteboard technology, this grant will expand SMART Boards to all fourth grade classrooms in the district, providing teachers with a powerful tool to engage students and enhance learning.
1st Grade Bookpack – A CSF Signature Program*
Grafflin
Introducing new books covering a range of reading levels organized around specific themes which enhance students’ interest in reading and comprehension skills. (* Since its inception over ten years ago, with the kindergarten bookpack program, CSF has been a continuous funding source for the elementary school bookpack program.)
Videoconferencing
Roaring Brook
Live remote conferencing via computer that extends learning beyond the classroom by connecting Roaring Brook students in kindergarten through fourth grade with schools and experts around the world. This cutting edge technology makes possible virtual field trips to planetariums, aquariums, rainforests, museums, and more!
Bringing Voices to Life through Digital Oral Histories
Westorchard
Digital recorders combined with digital photography enhance the fourth grade curriculum, including the Immigration unit, where students will use this technology to capture stories from family members as they share their life experiences and journey to America.
Digital Reading Experience: A Fusion of Literacy and Technology
Westorchard
Uses technology to enhance the reading program across all grades by providing access to popular animated storybooks on the Tumblebooks website and digital audio players for listening to audio books at school or at home.
2007
Robotics & Tablet PCs
Horace Greeley High School
Enhancing the computer science curriculum with the use of robotics and tablet PC’s, teaching problem solving, artificial intelligence and innovative technology by constructing and programming robots. In the 2006/2007 grant cycle, Horace Greeley mathematics teacher, Joshua Block, submitted a grant proposal to the Chappaqua School Foundation (CSF) for funding of a Teaching with Tablets and Robotics Program. This innovative program, with a budget of nearly $37,000, is the largest grant ever awarded by the Foundation. We recently sat down with Mr. Block to learn how this program will be implemented in the high school curriculum.
Click here to read the interview
Literacy through Foreign Language
Horace Greeley High School
Promoting student literacy in foreign languages and broadening exposure beyond the classroom curriculum through the study of authentic materials, including storybooks, magazines and other media.
SmartMusic
Horace Greeley High School
An interactive, computer-based practice system developed by Wynton Marsalis which provides skill-building methods, stimulating practice exercises, helpful assessment tools and accompaniments for more than 30,000 titles.
SMART Board for 7th & 8th Grade Social Studies
This technology will enhance class discussion, lectures and demonstrations to provide students with a more varied and stimulating educational experience and to make history more engaging.
SMART Board Library Media Center
Seven Bridges
Providing a SMART Board in the Seven Bridges Media Center to enhance information literacy skills, assist in teaching the research process and expose all faculty members to this new technology.
Weatherbug Achieve
The design of a real-time weather station incorporating on-line based software and enabling the integration of meteorology as a curriculum topic through all middle school grades. Students at Seven Bridges Middle School have a new way of tracking the weather – not from weather stations miles away – but by one located right on the roof of their school, recording 27 different real-time weather measurements, including temperature, wind and rainfall.
Automated Hydroponics Greenhouse
A fully automated greenhouse designed and constructed for the purpose of germinating and growing native tree species and demonstrating how technology can be applied to control an environment.
Students will design and create a small, thriving butterfly garden in the school courtyard, providing a teaching lab for science and reinforcing environmental stewardship and conservation attitudes. Sixth grade students will make Bell School a better place after they design and create a small but thriving butterfly garden in the school's courtyard. "When people experience a direct connection with the natural world, they discover a sense of beauty, balance and creativity," explains Bell science teacher Sarah Geronimo. "Through the butterfly garden, we can foster this connection with nature."
Click here to read more
SMART Board Library Media Center Location
Addition of a SMART Board in the Roaring Brook Media Center providing cutting edge technology to advance student learning in the media center, in collaboration with classroom teachers. Not everyone realizes that the Library Media Center has evolved from a place to borrow books to a central hub for learning outside of the classroom. Dotti Baier, library media specialist at Roaring Brook for the past 22 years, wanted to incorporate newer technology to enhance student learning. She requested the installation of a SMART Board to facilitate her ability to teach the important life skills of how to find information and conduct research.
Click here to read more
TriActive Kids
Westorchard
An outdoor fitness program designed to enable the physical education department to bring students to another level of fitness by focusing on balance, coordination, agility, flexibility, abdominal strength and upper body strength.
Location, Location, Location
Providing Global Positioning Systems (GPS) units to foster student interaction as scientists promote observation and experimentation and improve knowledge of mapping, navigation and geography. Located on approximately 50 acres of land, Westorchard Elementary School is an ideal setting for students to learn how to use Global Positioning Systems (GPS). A network of satellites circling the earth, GPS technology makes it possible to record locations and navigate to and from these destinations.
Click here to read more
Creating a nature trail on the Westorchard property with a bird feeding station, display boards and interpretive trail signs, will help educate students on outdoor resources and enhance appreciation of nature.
Book Group Digital Recorders
Use of digital recorders will capture fourth graders’ student book club discussions, giving teachers a valuable tool to encourage thoughtful conversation strategies, provide appropriate student feedback and foster improved reading comprehension. Helping students become better readers and enhancing children's book discussions are goals in the Grafflin 4th grade classroom. During the year, children are introduced to book groups to help accomplish these goals. Part of the curriculum is to teach “accountable talk” strategies that enable students to hone their discussion skills. Teachers model these discussion skills and provide students with ample opportunity to practice them.
Click here to read more
Yamaha Digital Piano
Grafflin
The addition of a digital piano to the school’s music program to enhance grade level performances by providing performance-quality piano as well as harpsichord, strings, jazz organ, choir and guitar accompaniment.
In 2007, the Chappaqua School Foundation also received donation of $50,000 toward the purchase of SMART Boards to equip the Math and Science classrooms at HGHS.
2006
Kindergarten Book Pack Program
Grafflin/Roaring Brook/Westorchard
Brand new books to fill the Kindergarten Book Packs of this signature CSF project, a highly successful program for over 10 years
Math Missions
Westorchard
Advanced mathematics software set in engaging real-world scenarios which motivates students with a range of challenging questions
Walk Across America
Westorchard
An interdisciplinary physical education program where students are given pedometers so they can track progress of their journey across America on a map of the USA. Imagine walking all the way from Maine to California! That’s exactly what students and staff at Westorchard Elementary school are doing as part of a program called “Walk Across America,” funded by a Chappaqua School Foundation grant. “Walk Across America” combines geography, social studies, math and physical education into an exciting and meaningful program that encourages students to stay fit!
Jacob Burns Animation Project
Grafflin
"Animation: Minds in Motion" an innovative program for 4th graders developed by the Jacob Burns Film Center to teach children the essentials of film animation. Fourth grade Grafflin students will explore the world of animation by collaboratively writing, storyboarding, directing and producing their own animated films through Animation: Minds in Motion!, an innovative film program designed by the Jacob Burns Film Center (JBFC).
Click here to read more
Climbing Wall
Roaring Brook
Adventure, challenge and discovery are guaranteed with the addition of a climbing wall to the physical education program.
Emmett Till Project
Bell/Seven Bridges
A program for all 7th and 8th graders involving Chris Crowe’s award-winning novel Mississippi Trial about racism in the 1950s, based on the story of Emmett Till
Videoconferencing Project
Bell/Seven Bridges/Grafflin/Roaring Brook/Westorchard
Videoconferencing capabilities extend learning beyond the classroom by connecting Chappaqua Middle and Elementary school students with other schools and experts around the world. A videoconferencing grant funded by the Chappaqua School Foundation provides interactive, real-time communication with students and content experts throughout the world! Students are able to connect to classrooms in far away places, museums, aquariums and many other interesting and educational venues.
Click here to learn more
Outdoor Game Table
Bell
Bright, colorful concrete, outdoor chess and checker tables with coordinating benches which will be designed and painted by Bell art students
Cave Painting
Bell
Materials inspired by the cave paintings at Lascaux, including large posters of the paintings at Lascaux, a DVD about the paintings and their discovery and a CD with animal/cave sounds
Bluebird Habitat
Bell
The creation of a bluebird trail around the perimeter of the Bell School will foster a respect for birds and wildlife, as well as an appreciation for their conservation
Literacy & Cultural Understanding through Foreign Language
Bell
Foreign language literacy and cultural understanding is enhanced through the study of authentic materials in a foreign language including books, magazines, poetry and videos from the native countries
Traditional African Drumming & Dance
Horace Greeley High School
A multi-cultural program featuring African drum rhythms, dances and songs featuring master drummer Kazi Oliver and dancer Jeri Baker. One of the goals of our district's music program is to expose students to music from other cultures. Kim Meade, a music teacher at Greeley, approached CSF for a grant to honor authentic African rhythms and culture, and to promote cultural awareness and community bonding. Click here to read more
Previously Funded CSF Grants
Horace Greeley High School
Electric Kiln for Ceramic Arts
GIS Positioning System for Environmental Studies
Video Camera
GLOBE Environment Program
NCCTV Editing Station
Robert E. Bell Middle School
Trout Study Program Supplies
Imagine learning about ecology and the environment – beyond the scope of text books – by putting on thick rubber boots up to the knee, choosing among different types of nets and going into a local stream to collect, observe and analyze the living organisms you encounter.
Click here to read more
SMART Board (Science, Math)
Stage Lighting
Science Data Probes
Masters Music Library
Seven Bridges Middle School
Wind Tunnel for Aerodynamics Study
Seven Bridges Technology students are geared up for testing; that is testing for aerodynamic drag. As part of the curriculum, eighth grade students will apply engineering to design and build a model vehicle, which will be used in a CO2 Drag Racing Competition. With the new wind tunnel, acquired through a CSF grant, students will be able to measure the frontal drag force on their model vehicles.
Harlem Renaissance Literary Program
Music Technology Studio
Student-created Chess/Checker Board
Roaring Brook Elementary School
Sound Equipment
SMART Board Learning System (4th Grade)
Writing Genre Kits
Teaching the various writing genres is an important facet of the second grade curriculum. Teachers require various tools: read aloud books, writing samples and other resources to demonstrate non-fiction (“all about” and “how to” writing), poetry, small moments/narrative writing and author’s study (biography). Thus was conceived the Roaring Brook “Writing Genre Kits” for second grade classrooms, which are intended to enhance the district writing workshop model of learning.
WRBS News Studio
Literacy Program
Westorchard Elementary School
Art Library
Electric Stereomicroscopes
Traversing Wall
Weather-Net Program
SMART Board (Media Center, 4th Grade)
Grafflin Elementary School
Library Presentation Projector
Grafflin Greenhouse (Irrigation System)
1st Grade Reading Bookpack
Video Equipment for Music Program
All Chappaqua Elementary Schools
Digital Cameras
Children of all ages are fascinated by digital cameras and are amazed at how quickly they can turn these pictures into meaningful projects. Funded by a grant from the Chappaqua School Foundation, each elementary school received 15 new digital cameras to be used in Kindergarten through Fourth Grade.
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