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2010 Spotlight Grants supported the following projects:
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-A mini trampoline for students in the ABA (Autistic) class at Bryant to facilitate, boost and enhance language development and as a reinforcer for doing good work.
-A podium/lecturn for TJ students with ADD/ADHD so that they may stand and take notes and otherwise participate in class. Students will hopefully be able to focus better while standing rather than being required to remain seated in one place.
-Supplies for a bookcase project for the THS Transition program students.
-Storytelling puppets, a storytelling glove and lapboard to enhance reading experience for behaviorally challenged students.
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| Home > Spotlight Grant |
Spotlight Grants
Special Parents of Teaneck would like to bring to light your best education ideas with a SPOTlight Grant. We encourage special education teachers, general education teachers, speech therapists, occupational therapists and physical therapists that work with classified Teaneck students to apply for $100 project grants so that we may support and "SPOTlight your innovative and creative teaching ideas. Applications will be posted to the web mid school year. Projects should be completed by the end of the year.
Special Art Show: Celebrate the World Through My Eyes
On May 10, 2010, some of the children who receive occupational therapy services in the Teaneck public schools will be exhibiting art work produced over the past school year during their Occupational Therapy (OT) sessions. The exhibit, entitled “Celebrate The World Through My Eyes,” will be held in the Teaneck Schools’ Central Office at 1 Merrison Street in Teaneck. The reception for the event will take place from 6-8 p.m. in the Staff Development Room and will be open to all. The young artists used a variety of materials to create unique designs, collages, and mosaics for the show. Photography will also be exhibited. SPOT awarded a 2009 grant to occupational therapist, Linda Buckbinder, to develop this project. .
2010 SPOTlight Grant Recipients
Special Parents of Teaneck (SPOT) recently awarded four SPOTlight Grants to Teaneck educators. SPOT awards grants annually to assist educators in providing exciting and creative learning experiences for classified students. This year’s recipients are Rachel Bell, Language Arts teacher at Thomas Jefferson Middle School; Danny Gareri, Special Education Teacher at Teaneck High School; Iris Hernandez, Special Education Teacher at Bryant School; and Adina Milgram, ABA home Provider and Teacher of the Deaf.
This year’s SPOTlight grants will assist students across all age groups. Rachel Bell will be using her grant to purchase a podium for her middle-school language arts classroom. Her idea is to use the podium as an alternative to a desk for students with attention difficulties. She feels that a standing podium might help students with AD/HD to focus, take notes, and participate fully in lessons without having to sit still at a desk. Iris Hernandez will be using her grant to purchase a mini trampoline for students with autism in the ABA preschool classrooms at Bryant School. She plans on using the trampoline during Natural Environment teaching time to enhance language development as well as using it as a reward for good work during structured class time. Danny Gareri will use his grant to purchase a ready-to assemble bookcase to be assembled collaboratively by his Transition course high school students as a practical application of reading, basic math, following directions and daily living skills. The students will then use the bookcase in the classroom to organize their materials. Adina Milgram will use her grant to purchase storytelling puppets with a glove and lapboard for use in ABA home therapy sessions with her students who may be on the autism spectrum, hearing impaired or behaviorally challenged. She feels that visual aids like puppets will help engage these students in reading and help them develop their attention and comprehension skills as a result.
Last year’s winners report great success with their grant projects. Hina Mehta, Library Specialist at Benjamin Franklin, purchased two Playaway digital books to assist students with reading difficulties, and she says that the students love using them. She is particularly proud that students are enjoying listening to Barack Obama read his book Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance. Louise Van Horn, who used her grant last year to purchase children’s books about autism for her inclusion class, feels that her students have gained insight and developed more positive attitudes regarding tolerance and acceptance of students with differences. Saundra Warren-Givens used her SPOTlight grant last year to involve her regular and special education students in a poetry presentation for the entire Hawthorne student body. Students recited poems they had memorized as well as poems they had written themselves, and Ms. Warren-Givens was able to present each student with a keepsake DVD of the performance. SPOT also provided two grants to Bryant School teachers last year, Patty Monaco and June Pearlman, to purchase playground equipment for the preschool courtyard playground and yoga mats. Bryant students continue to use and enjoy these items.
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Application
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The 2010 Spotlight grants have been awarded. The 2011 application will be posted in December.
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