YORK EDUCATION FUNDS GRANTS FOR THE 2018-2019 SCHOOL YEAR

The York Education Foundation is proud to fund six grants totaling almost $25,000 for the 2018 school year, with three grants at York High School, one at York Middle School, one at Coastal Ridge Elementary School, and one that will involve students at both VES and CRES.

Yoga 4 Classrooms, Amanda Benoit, School Counselor, VES:

A professional development workshops for faculty and administrators at both VES and CRES, as they learn how to implement yoga and mindfulness activities in their classrooms.  The goal of this program is to create classroom environments where students acquire skills to self-regulate, leading to improved student attentiveness and reduced anxiety, thereby improving student learning and performance.  “Leader” teachers will be trained in order to sustain the Yoga 4 Classrooms framework, skills and tools for future years.

Bringing Famous Americans to Life, Mrs. McKenna, Grade 2 teacher, CRES:

Stages Youth Theatre Company provides students an introduction to famous historic figures through theatre.  They will teach, over the course of five weeks, about the use of imagination to understand a character, and students will learn about the importance of the famous Americans through theatre games and character building activities.  The project will culminate with a special readers’ theatre production.  This grant integrates literacy with history and, in addition to giving students access to a different approach to learning, teachers will develop techniques to bring theatre into language arts and history curricula in their classrooms.

Hardy Girls, Healthy Women, Mrs. Lattari, Library Media Specialist at YMS:

A workshops to all 7^th grade girls.  The workshops will help the girls work through messages they receive through the media and society’s expectations of them, including how they relate to each other.  It will give them a voice about the YMS environment and an opportunity to identify adult allies in the school, while developing an action project related to the issues they address.

Telling Room Poetry Residency, Mr. Rosenberg, English, YHS:

This grant will have a poetry writing resident from the Telling Room in Portland, who will work with students to appreciate, understand, write and share poetry.  This residency will create a foundation in poetry and written expression that students will carry into their future academics.

Gundalow Sailing Trip, Mr. Cleary, History, YHS:

This grant will add an experiential learning component to his new history elective, “Exploring York History,” with a one-day sail aboard a 19^th century Gundalow ship along the New Hampshire and Maine seacoast.  This sail will enhance other research included in a writing piece by students.

Heart Rate/Wellness, Mr. Munn and the Physical Education Department, YHS:

Utilizing heart monitoring systems to enable students to actively monitor their heart rate before, during and after participation in physical activities.  These measurements provide immediate feedback, and will enable students to develop personal fitness plans applicable to their current physical health and abilities.  All students at YHS will be impacted by this grant as they take their required PE classes.