Educational Foundation of Wauwatosa announces $36,620 in grants

The Education Foundation of Wauwatosa (EFW) has announced that it will award over $36,620 for 10 grants to be implemented during the 2014-2015 school year.

The awards, made to teachers and two schools, "support and strengthen outstanding learning ideas that improve the overall educational quality" of the Wauwatosa Public Schools, according to the foundation.

The foundation, founded in 1990, says that it has awarded more than $400,000 since it began.

This year's recipients are:

· Katherine Wilkes and Matt Schimenz of Eisenhower Elementary School, awarded $2,323 for a project called "100 Miles to a Healthier Student," which is designed to promote physical fitness in the daily lives of students through the use of pedometers.

· Linda Landis of Lincoln Elementary School, awarded $1,452 for a project called "Backpack P.A.L.S. (Prompted Academic Learning Students)." This would allow Lincoln to supply and prepare backpacks for senior kindergarteners to bring materials home to work on with their parents.

· Lyda Osinga of Whitman Middle School, awarded $1,350 for a project called "Library for Eclectic Literacy in Whitman Orchestra." This would allow students to expand their musical knowledge through the purchase of various resources, including a broader collection of books with play-along CDs that illustrate different kinds of music.

· Erin Gould of Wauwatosa East High School, $1,749 for "Ka-Boom, Crash, Wham, Pow! Creating Comic Books in the Classroom." The money would allow the purchase of software that enables digital graphic writing, allowing students to integrate technology, graphics, storytelling, dialogue, and other features.

· Angie Kolanko of Madison Elementary School, $6,207 for "Read to Learn: Informational Texts to Promote Research and Inquiry." Madison will use the money to purchase "informational nonfiction texts" to promote reading to learn and research.

· Michele Mushall and Joel Marinan of Eisenhower and Underwood elementary schools, $1,784 for "Social Studies Comes Alive Through Print and Play." This funding would be used to enhance current kindergarten social studies curriculum to proot literacy and play-base learning.

· Corrine Meyer of Underwood Elementary School, $506 for "The Positive Playground." The school plans to procure playground supplies and games, and literature that promotes positive social skills.

· Betsy Heun and Nancy Lovelace of Underwood Elementary School, $1,870 for "Wonderful World of Early Learning." They would use the funding to provide "family learning kits and workshops" that emphasize language and concept development, social skills, reading and critical thinking development, and other skills for early childhood and junior kindergarten programs.

In addition to the teacher awards, the foundation made special, one-time-only "endowment grants" to Whitman Middle School ($9,430) and Washington Elementary School ($9,945).

Whitman plans to increase reading growth through the purchase of nonfiction texts, and Washington will increase the availability of technology by buying touchscreen Chromebooks and software.