SERF-Funded Enhancements to Enrich the Upcoming School Year
It is a busy and exciting time of year for the members of Sudbury Education Resource Fund (SERF). As parents, we have been savoring the last few days of summer, shopping for supplies, and readying our children for the upcoming school year, be it at Nixon, Haynes, Loring, Noyes, Curtis, LSRHS, and even some now off to college. And as SERF board members, we are also now preparing for another great year of funding grants dedicated to enriching, enhancing and supporting public education across Sudbury Public Schools (SPS) and at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School (LSRHS).
SERF grants are initiated by teachers, administrators and specialists throughout the school year, and we look forward to funding projects that will enhance the learning experience for students during the 2018-2019 academic year and beyond. “SERF has been supporting innovation and enrichment in our schools since 1991. Last year SERF granted nearly $41,000 for projects at the elementary, middle and high school level. We can’t wait to see what SPS and LSRHS educators have in store for us this year,” says SERF co-president Rena Kams.
At the close of last school year, a grant awarded at Peter Noyes Elementary School funded the purchase of a standing desk station for a 5th grade classroom. This innovative alternative seating solution includes a stand and spin, balance, and pedal stations. This desk has now been delivered to the school and will provide kinesthetic movement opportunities to facilitate cognition, maximize brain function and anchor learning in that classroom this year and for many years to come. Also at the elementary level, SERF funded access to a Spanish language online platform that enables second and third graders to access songs, videos and other resources for learning vocabulary in a more engaging and memorable way. And a SERF grant has funded the purchase of a collection of developmentally appropriate non-fiction texts to allow for guided reading groups and writing units to take place in kindergarten at General John Nixon Elementary School this year.
Additionally, SERF funded an expansion of the Makerspace at Ephraim Curtis Middle School that will begin to benefit students this year with the addition of a 3D printer, a vinyl cutter, as well as associated supplies and books. Also at Curtis, SERF funds were granted for the purchase of MakerBot Replicator 3D printers for the Engineering program. A SERF grant has also allowed Curtis science teachers to begin to work with experts from Mass Audubon to determine key climate change concepts for introduction at the middle school level and to develop the most engaging way to explore them.
To learn more about these and the many other projects funded by SERF, visit www.serfsudbury.org. We wish all of the students and staff of SPS and LSRHS a successful and safe school year.