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D95 EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION GRANTS
The District 95 Educational Foundation offers Innovation Grants to support activities that enhance, enrich and supplement instructional opportunities for CUSD 95 learners to inspire all students to be passionate, continuous learners and to prepare them with the skills to achieve their goals and flourish as responsible, caring citizens in a global community. Innovation grants are awarded for unique educational programs or materials that promote and enhance student learning, inspire new teaching methods, and encourage employee creativity and excellence in teaching.
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RECENT GRANT HIGHLIGHTS
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YES! GRANT
District 95 - ALL SCHOOLS
$20,000 Grant, Winter 2022-2023
The Foundation awarded a grant of $20,000 for schools to use for materials and services related to the Instructional Model. Schools were awarded funds based on their enrollment and were given the opportunity to work in committees to decide how to spend their funding. Funds were used for vertical whiteboards, sensory materials for elementary students, outdoor learning materials, remote clickers for teachers and more! We are thrilled to allow every student and teacher in the district benefit from this grant.
REMOTE ROBOTICS MATERIALS FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL ROBOTICS
District 95 - MSN/MSS
$7,639 Grant, Fall 2022
The Foundation awarded a grant of $7,639 to purchase of remote radios and controllers for both middle schools. These materials are aligned with the high school robotics materials and will assist in vertical articulation across the curriculum as well as new opportunities for all middle school students. This grant was brought forward by Billy Heisler from Middle School North.
FAMILY RESOURCE CENTER
District 95 - All Schools
$2,200 Grant, Fall 2022
The Family Resource Center will primarily focus on supporting ISBE social-emotional learning standards for students. For example, in providing families with sensory regulation tools - they will be able to better support their students with building self-management. Any opportunities for students to interface with families (or for families to interface with each other) will be a practice opportunity in building relationship skills. In working with transition students to build and support the operations of The Family Resource Center, we will be building responsible decision-making skills (and post-secondary employability skills overall). This grant was brought forward by Dr. Lauren McArdle and Transitions teacher, Brittany Yates.
Book Ninja
District 95 - MSS and MSN
$6,000 Grant, 2022-2023
The Foundation awarded a grant of $6,000 to purchase books for Middle School South and Middle School North to create a student centered Book Ninja program to get engaging books into the hands of students. The grant came from Jennifer Eberle, librarian teacher at Middle School South.
Calming Room
Lake Zurich High School
$3,200 Grant
The Foundation awarded a grant of $3,200 to complete the calming room at Lake Zurich High School. The grant came from the student services office and was coordinated by Dr. Lauren McArdle, Assistant Superintendent of Student Services.
SEL Books
District 95 - All Schools
$8,000 Grant
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The Foundation awarded a grant of $8,000 to purchase 705 Social Emotional Learning (SEL) books for K-2 classrooms at ALL five elementary schools, as well as early childhood. The grant stemmed from a grant request from Isaac Fox 1st grade teacher Andrea Behm, and was coordinated by Dr. Susan Coleman, Assistant Superintendent
of Student Services.
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Sensory Tools Grant
District 95 - All Schools
$10,000 Grant
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After receiving several grant requests for sensory materials from different schools, the Foundation saw the need, and decided to make one large grant to impact ALL the schools. Coordinated by Dr. Susan Coleman, Assistant Superintendent of Student Services, the grant was used to purchase carpet, bean bags, a swing, mats, and numerous sensory tools for Spencer Loomis. At Isaac Fox, the Chill Zone is now decked out in style, with a new swing, canoe pod, bean bags, mats and additional sensory tools. At Middle School South, Chillville now has a water feature, light box, and other smaller sensory tools, thanks to this grant. The High School Sensory Room got new bean bags too! Every school in D95 received funds to purchase additional sensory tools. Dr. Coleman worked with D95 staff and OTs to determine each school’s needs. The Foundation is thrilled to be able to provide these additional therapeutic resources for students and staff to utilize!
Drum Circle Kit Grant
Nick Juknelis, LZHS
$3,800 Grant
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Drum circles are a way to create community through individualized performance and improvisation. Students have enjoyed using verbal and non-verbal communication to play a variety of musical games that reinforce musical skills of rhythm, performance, and collaboration. The drum circle kit is being integrated into the Transitional Cadet Choir class, which is a completely integrated regular and special educational music performance class. Students work together (modeled after integrated PE and SNAP) to create meaningful musical experiences based on singing, movement and composing/creating.
Elementary Library "Innovation Stations" Grant
Liz Delzell, Spencer Loomis Librarian & Anne Kuehl, Isaac Fox Librarian
$4,500 Grant
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A viable school library addresses the evolving needs of its 21st century students; the STEM/STEAM initiative is a learning opportunity that enables librarians to provide additional opportunities for exploring real world problems. This grant establishes several “innovation stations” that will be utilized in ALL 5 elementary school libraries and classrooms. Stations include cubelets, KEVA planks, edison robots, bitsbox, LEGO WeDo, snap circuits, and bloxel builders. Thank you to Ms. Delzell and Ms. Kuehl for spearheading this wonderful opportunity for all D95 elementary school students!
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