Winter 2019
Foundation awards $26,600 in Enrichment Grants
When you participate in Education Foundation fundraisers you support our Enrichment Grant program, which brings new and exciting educational opportunities to Berea City School District students. This year, proceeds from the Foundation’s 2018 Chevy Cruz car raffle and 2019 Auction funded 16 projects organized by staff members throughout the district. These grant-funded programs cover a wide range of student needs across curriculum standards as well as social-emotional and physical needs. Thank you to everyone who participated in Foundation fundraisers and helped support the following projects:
Shelly Pearsall Author Visit
$2,500 HESCHE WRITING/READING & PHYS ED. Grant
BMMS - Katina Anagnostou
Grant funds will provide a school visit and presentation from the author Shelley Pearsall. Students read at least two of her books in their seventh grade school year.
Community Garden
$4,000
BMMS - Devin Carmen
Grant funds will assist in constructing a community garden to help students with special needs develop functional life skills. Students with a wide range of abilities will work with typical peers to build and maintain the garden, applying academic concepts to a real world setting.
Titan Comfort Bracelets for Kindergarteners & Parents
$920
Grindstone - Kathy Laubert
This grant helps make the transition into kindergarten comfortable and positive. Teachers read Midge Leavey’s The Missing Mommy Cure to incoming students. In the story, a mother gives her son a bracelet to look at when he misses her. Each student received a silicone bracelet for him/herself and one for a parent or guardian. Students can wear their bracelets daily as a reminder of their parents’ love and support.
BMHS School World Language Versailles Experience
$500 MAKOVICH & PUSTI ARCHITECTS Grant
BMHS, BMMS - Heidi Morely
The BMHS travel group will explore the architectural and cultural significance of Versailles during their Spring Break trip to Paris with help from this grant.
One Book One School
$2,165
Grindstone - Lori Mucha
The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies will be purchased with grant funds. The whole school will read the same book and participate in discussions and events centered on the story. A service project is planned to benefit Alex’s Lemonade Stand, which helps fight childhood cancer.
Memory Garden
$500
BMHS - Jane Darrow
Funds will be used to purchase supplies to maintain the BMHS Memory Garden, as well as prepare plants and garden items for transfer to the new high school.
Storybook STEM
$3,000
BPM - Jamie Palcisko
Grant funds will purchase grade level storybook carts with STEM materials, quality mentor texts, task cards, and lesson plans. Teachers will have the opportunity to check carts out to use for engaging, hands-on STEM classroom experiences that meet state standards in all curriculum areas.
5P Portfolio Night
$1,090
Big Creek - Kristy Krajniak
This year-end celebration evening focuses on celebrating the individual growth of each child and the commitment between families, children, and school. It provides each child with a photo album and portfolios as keepsakes of memories made throughout the school year.
Sensory Learning Path
$1,000
Grindstone - Kari Novak
This grant will fund construction of a gross motor sensory learning path to encourage movement and stress relief for students. The path will be a colorful, creative, and playful way for kids to build brain connections responsible for sight, touch, sound, and more. It will enable them to complete complex, multi-step tasks and regain focus necessary for learning in the regular classroom environment.
6th Grade Animal Conservation Efforts
$1,270 BHS CLASS OF ‘72 Grant (funded $450) EF grant (funded $820)
BMMS - Kathleen Sloat
In collaboration with the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, Team 6D students will learn about the impact individuals can have on animal conservation in the wild. Students will work in collaborative groups to research and develop efforts to save individual animals.
The Sky’s The Limit
$650 IMAGINE! EXPLORE THE ARTS grant in memory of Joanna Pusti (funded $100) EF grant (funded $550)
BMHS - Dennis Kavran
This program links students with special needs and typical peers to build, decorate, and fly model airplanes. As well as aligning with curriculum standards, enhancing social and communication development, and providing skills in teamwork, sequencing, problem solving, and following directions, this program provides the opportunity for students who would never meet each other to form friendships and share time. Grant funds will purchase model kits.
Star Jumpers: Mission of Earth & Space
$6,000
BPM - Jenifer Csiszar & Trish Kukura
This grant will provide an innovative, enriching, all-school experience to engage elementary learners. Every classroom will read Star Jumper Journal of a Cardboard Genius, by Frank Asch. Students will participate in hands-on science lessons, write in science journals, use technology, take a field trip, and present a collaborative project. Community engagement will include a family science night and a school science project fair.
Alternate/Flexible Seating in the Classroom
$600
BMMS - Sheryl Medvetz
Grant funds will purchase additional wobble chair seating that is flexible, comfortable, and inviting for learners in the English Language Arts classroom.
Gelli Printmaking and Selfie Art Project
$650 IMAGINE! EXPLORE THE ARTS grant in memory of Joanna Pusti
J & G Snow - Johnnie Brooks
This grant will fund two new art lessons with varying levels of difficulty for all grade levels. The first is Gelli Printmaking, a one- or two-step printmaking process using objects to make prints without a printing press. Second is The Selfie, an exciting project of self-awareness for students to practice self-portraiture.
Self-Directed Calming Corner
$715
Grindstone - Tami Arthur
A classroom Calming Corner gives students a place to independently calm down when feeling anxious, upset, overwhelmed, or angry, preventing interruptions from student outbursts or out of control behavior. This grant will fund the Calming Corner’s bean bag chair, noise canceling headphones, a weighted lap blanket, a flip chart of different ways to calm down, supplies to go with the chart such as stretch putty and fidgets, and a timer to set for five minutes away from class.
Grindstone Ukuleles 2.0
$1,040
Grindstone - Lea Pulizzi-Smith
Grindstone third graders participate in a ukulele unit during music class and fourth graders may join the Ukulele Club. Grant funds will purchase replacement ukuleles for Grindstone’s Ukulele program.
$2,500 HESCHE WRITING/READING & PHYS ED. Grant
BMMS - Katina Anagnostou
Grant funds will provide a school visit and presentation from the author Shelley Pearsall. Students read at least two of her books in their seventh grade school year.
Community Garden
$4,000
BMMS - Devin Carmen
Grant funds will assist in constructing a community garden to help students with special needs develop functional life skills. Students with a wide range of abilities will work with typical peers to build and maintain the garden, applying academic concepts to a real world setting.
Titan Comfort Bracelets for Kindergarteners & Parents
$920
Grindstone - Kathy Laubert
This grant helps make the transition into kindergarten comfortable and positive. Teachers read Midge Leavey’s The Missing Mommy Cure to incoming students. In the story, a mother gives her son a bracelet to look at when he misses her. Each student received a silicone bracelet for him/herself and one for a parent or guardian. Students can wear their bracelets daily as a reminder of their parents’ love and support.
BMHS School World Language Versailles Experience
$500 MAKOVICH & PUSTI ARCHITECTS Grant
BMHS, BMMS - Heidi Morely
The BMHS travel group will explore the architectural and cultural significance of Versailles during their Spring Break trip to Paris with help from this grant.
One Book One School
$2,165
Grindstone - Lori Mucha
The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies will be purchased with grant funds. The whole school will read the same book and participate in discussions and events centered on the story. A service project is planned to benefit Alex’s Lemonade Stand, which helps fight childhood cancer.
Memory Garden
$500
BMHS - Jane Darrow
Funds will be used to purchase supplies to maintain the BMHS Memory Garden, as well as prepare plants and garden items for transfer to the new high school.
Storybook STEM
$3,000
BPM - Jamie Palcisko
Grant funds will purchase grade level storybook carts with STEM materials, quality mentor texts, task cards, and lesson plans. Teachers will have the opportunity to check carts out to use for engaging, hands-on STEM classroom experiences that meet state standards in all curriculum areas.
5P Portfolio Night
$1,090
Big Creek - Kristy Krajniak
This year-end celebration evening focuses on celebrating the individual growth of each child and the commitment between families, children, and school. It provides each child with a photo album and portfolios as keepsakes of memories made throughout the school year.
Sensory Learning Path
$1,000
Grindstone - Kari Novak
This grant will fund construction of a gross motor sensory learning path to encourage movement and stress relief for students. The path will be a colorful, creative, and playful way for kids to build brain connections responsible for sight, touch, sound, and more. It will enable them to complete complex, multi-step tasks and regain focus necessary for learning in the regular classroom environment.
6th Grade Animal Conservation Efforts
$1,270 BHS CLASS OF ‘72 Grant (funded $450) EF grant (funded $820)
BMMS - Kathleen Sloat
In collaboration with the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, Team 6D students will learn about the impact individuals can have on animal conservation in the wild. Students will work in collaborative groups to research and develop efforts to save individual animals.
The Sky’s The Limit
$650 IMAGINE! EXPLORE THE ARTS grant in memory of Joanna Pusti (funded $100) EF grant (funded $550)
BMHS - Dennis Kavran
This program links students with special needs and typical peers to build, decorate, and fly model airplanes. As well as aligning with curriculum standards, enhancing social and communication development, and providing skills in teamwork, sequencing, problem solving, and following directions, this program provides the opportunity for students who would never meet each other to form friendships and share time. Grant funds will purchase model kits.
Star Jumpers: Mission of Earth & Space
$6,000
BPM - Jenifer Csiszar & Trish Kukura
This grant will provide an innovative, enriching, all-school experience to engage elementary learners. Every classroom will read Star Jumper Journal of a Cardboard Genius, by Frank Asch. Students will participate in hands-on science lessons, write in science journals, use technology, take a field trip, and present a collaborative project. Community engagement will include a family science night and a school science project fair.
Alternate/Flexible Seating in the Classroom
$600
BMMS - Sheryl Medvetz
Grant funds will purchase additional wobble chair seating that is flexible, comfortable, and inviting for learners in the English Language Arts classroom.
Gelli Printmaking and Selfie Art Project
$650 IMAGINE! EXPLORE THE ARTS grant in memory of Joanna Pusti
J & G Snow - Johnnie Brooks
This grant will fund two new art lessons with varying levels of difficulty for all grade levels. The first is Gelli Printmaking, a one- or two-step printmaking process using objects to make prints without a printing press. Second is The Selfie, an exciting project of self-awareness for students to practice self-portraiture.
Self-Directed Calming Corner
$715
Grindstone - Tami Arthur
A classroom Calming Corner gives students a place to independently calm down when feeling anxious, upset, overwhelmed, or angry, preventing interruptions from student outbursts or out of control behavior. This grant will fund the Calming Corner’s bean bag chair, noise canceling headphones, a weighted lap blanket, a flip chart of different ways to calm down, supplies to go with the chart such as stretch putty and fidgets, and a timer to set for five minutes away from class.
Grindstone Ukuleles 2.0
$1,040
Grindstone - Lea Pulizzi-Smith
Grindstone third graders participate in a ukulele unit during music class and fourth graders may join the Ukulele Club. Grant funds will purchase replacement ukuleles for Grindstone’s Ukulele program.
