Since 1983, SPEF has been proud to help teachers fund innovative projects and curriculum to help advance educational excellence in the schools of South Pasadena. We are proud to announce this year’s award recipients. We were able to fund 31 grants in all 5 schools for $50,000. Your donations go directly to the Teacher Direct Grant funds and could not happen without the communities generous support.
Elementary School Awards
| Arroyo Vista Elementary |
|---|
| Bubble Mania & Lovebug Assemblies | Special Education |
| Assemblies that provide a sensory experience through touch, sight, and hearing as well as exercises gross and fine motor skills that are especially beneficial to students with special needs. |
| Ecosystems All Around Us | Science |
| This grant will allow Kinder students to have numerous opportunities to observe a variety of living things in their own unique environments to bring real-life observations to their Science curriculum. |
| Mindfulness > Friend Finder | Social-Emotional Health |
| The Friend Finders program will allow students who have had previous years of mindfulness training to support other students who struggle with social interaction and basic social skills. |
| Mystery Science & FOSS Kits |Science |
| An excellent program that not only is adapted to the new NGSS standards but taps into students’ natural curiosity and encourages investigation and exploration through hands-on, engaging, and exciting activities. |
| Lights! iPad! Action! | Performing Arts |
| Students will be able to view themselves in their performances, thus advancing the learning process. Mr. Mannal will be able to target grade-specific standards with better accuracy. |
| Physical Fitness & Outdoor Play | PE |
| This grant will help to utilize the space on the Kinder playground area better with fun activities that will promote balance, muscle strength, hand-eye coordination and imagination through dramatic play. |
| Marengo Elementary |
|---|
| Engaging Learning Through Dramatic Play | Social Skills |
| A dramatic play center in a Kinder classroom supports literacy and language skills. It allows children to learn a new language naturally. When children play they are encouraged to speak the target language and apply what they learned in class. |
| Ignite A Love For Chinese Reading | Language Arts |
| To build the library and encourage learning literacy in the DI Chinese classroom to improve vocabulary and reading fluency. |
| Lights! iPad! Action! | Performing Arts |
| Students will be able to view themselves in their performances, thus advancing the learning process. Mr. Mannal will be able to target grade-specific standards with better accuracy. |
| Molding Scientific Minds | Multiple Subject Matters |
| A sculpting experience developed and taught by the Pasadena Armory for the Arts. The experience will be the exclamation point on lessons encompassing technology, scientific research, and writing. |
| PLTW Robotics Kits | Science & Technology |
| To expand the VEX robotics kits in the classroom to make student groups smaller allowing them more engagement with the materials. |
| A Walk Through The Revolution | Social Studies |
| A program where students are engaged and learning about the participants of our country’s historical past. Students take on the role of a participant and become the character when they act out the part they played in our history. |
| Monterey Hills Elementary |
|---|
| DI Leveled Books | Language Arts |
| This grant will buy books to expand the classroom library for the DI Program in Spanish. Books will be leveled for emergent readers as well as for more advanced readers to practice fluency and gain vocabulary. |
| Bang The Drums | Music |
| A Bass drum is large enough that bringing one daily between schools is unrealistic. This drum will live permanently at the school so students can practice at school for band concerts. |
| Lights! iPad! Action! | Performing Arts |
| Students will be able to view themselves in their performances, thus advancing the learning process. By grade level, the outcomes are: capturing emotion statues with TK and Kindergarten; tableau stories with 1st grade; video for the 2nd-5th-grade end of year performances; Tableau Vivant with 5th-grade. |
| Sarit’s Art Shed | Visual Art |
| Space for Ms. Swanborn to keep her art supplies as well as give her a space to prep art lessons thoroughly, thus ensuring that Ms. Swanborn spends maximum time during the art lesson on teaching and not on prepping materials. |
| Space Systems: Patterns & Cycles | Science |
| This grant will purchase three DELTA science kits, which focuses on Finding the Moon and will also investigate the sky, and sunshine and shadows, thus enhancing the earth science curriculum. |
SPMS & SPHS Awards
| South Pasadena Middle School |
|---|
| Alternative Classroom Seating | History |
| Alternative seating options for students for sensory stimulation and lap desks to help kids who struggle in a traditional desk. |
| Band Master Classes | Performing Arts |
| To bring in experts on each of the instruments to masterclass those students that are interested in those instruments. A professional will inspire students by allowing them to hear what is possible with a dedication to their musical learning while show students how they can continue on in music in life and give that little amount of individual attention that is so motivating to students. |
| Broadcast Journalism Video Equipment | Journalism |
| To increase the professional quality of our news broadcast by using a GoPro camera allowing students to photograph and video school events in a unique way. |
| Culinary Science Demonstration Table | Science |
| A new cooking demonstration table that will have a cooking surface and water capabilities. This will increase the teachers demonstrations abilities and decrease on safety issues. |
| Empathy & Awareness | Next Generation Science |
| To help the 7th-grade science teachers implement the CA Healthy Youth Act and comprehensive sex education program. They will study children’s books to analyze the messages that are sent to our youth and discuss empathy, gender roles, relationships, consent, body autonomy, and other topics. |
| In Your Own Backyard | Library & Social Studies |
| Following last year’s grant theme of ‘Books Without Borders,’ this year we turn our gaze in the opposite direction with ‘In Your Own Backyard.’ All year long the library and social studies teachers will use literature to highlight local stories, authors, issues, places, and history to give students an enhanced sense of where they live. |
| Measurement & Lab Equipment | Science |
| This grant will fund new hot plates and digital scales to replace damaged ones and to increase what is on hand so more students have access to them during vital lab classes. |
| On-Camera Acting Project | Performing Arts |
| iPad minis to provide students with an opportunity to do some on-camera acting. Projects will include the creation of a silent film and other on-camera projects such as commercials and the development of a web series. |
| SPMS Orchestra | Performing Arts |
| Funding for the expanding Orchestra Band which has expanded quickly in a small amount of time. This grant will allow the band to purchase music to expand their education on a string instrument and analyzing music. |
| South Pasadena High School |
|---|
| Color Guard Flags | Color Guard Performances |
| The quickly expanding popularity of this program requires new flags needed to perform with the band as well as during the spring season when the Color Guard competes. |
| Drama Department Enhancements | Theatre & Performing Arts |
| This grant will allow the Drama Department to participate in festivals, competitions, and associations such as the Fullerton HS Theatre Festival, and in IT’S, a national thespian honor society. |
| Graphic Design & Dye Sublimation | CTE |
| An expansion of the program to include more products which require a specialized oven. Students learn to run their own business and can also compete in SkillsUSA with skills learned. The possibilities for use of this equipment can easily expand into other classes as well. |
| Marching Band Uniform Upgrades | Performing Arts |
| To help the SPHS Marching Band remain a strong contender during competitions they need to upgrade their uniforms. This grant will purchase the band gauntlets to accessorize the wrists of the marching band uniforms. |
| One School, One Book Summer Reading | Library |
| To increase student literacy, foster a love of reading, and raise awareness of various social issues. Providing all of our students and staff with the same book, we hope to encourage conversations that run throughout all subject matters and classrooms. |
| PawPrint A Student-Run Enterprise | Virtual Business |
| To expand the Virtual Business’s ability to utilize their dye-sublimation machine and work in collaboration to run a self-sustaining business. |
| Robotics Competition Equipment | SkillsUSA |
| This grant will help fund an additional robotics kit so the SkillsUSA team can compete in the Urban Search and Rescue robotics competition to full capacity. |
| TEDxSouthPasadenaHigh | Multiple Subjects |
| Funding to help make the TEDx program larger and more inclusive to South Pasadena’s Residents by opening up speaker opportunities to adults and 8th-grade students. |
