BWEF grants to promote student excellence

The foundation awards $63,000 to Bristol-Warren schools

Posted 6/27/16

The Bristol Warren Education Foundation recently announced funding of $63,000 in enrichment programs for the 2016-17 school year, the most the foundation has given away in a single year.

The …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Register to post events


If you'd like to post an event to our calendar, you can create a free account by clicking here.

Note that free accounts do not have access to our subscriber-only content.

Day pass subscribers

Are you a day pass subscriber who needs to log in? Click here to continue.


BWEF grants to promote student excellence

The foundation awards $63,000 to Bristol-Warren schools

Posted

The Bristol Warren Education Foundation recently announced funding of $63,000 in enrichment programs for the 2016-17 school year, the most the foundation has given away in a single year.

The grants will support 25 teacher-initiated ideas that meet the organization’s mission “to promote student excellence, in each of the Bristol Warren Regional School District’s schools,” the foundation said in a release.

“BWEF is pleased to be able to continue to support these exciting teacher-led initiatives,” said Grants Committee Chairman Tyler Dixon. “BWEF’s goal is to support innovative ideas and programs that impact all students in Bristol and Warren. We are equally thrilled to see several former grant ideas incorporated into the district’s planning and funding for next year.”

The grants include:

Cross District Grants

  • Hugh Cole COZ Garden – Students will be able to maintain the Hugh Cole gardens through the summer. 
  • Summer Camp HEARTfulness — This interactive experience for children at summer COZ camp allows them to learn what love is, how to love themselves and how they can embody love in the word. 


Colt Andrews School

  • One School, One Book – The goal is to celebrate reading and to encourage students to develop a love for reading, by providing a book for all elementary students to read together.
  • 2nd Grade Home Based Math Games – Incoming second grade students are given resources at home to play math games (which are played in the classroom) to reinforce and strengthen math skills. 


Guiteras School

  • Outside the box with Bitsbox — Three Classroom Bitsbox kits will help third-graders learn and practice computational thinking skills and then teach others about their learning experience. Bitsbox helps students learn computer programming by typing code using a text editor. 
  • One School, One Author - Melissa Stuart — Students will be given a book list and each classroom will vote to select the book they choose to read and discuss. In addition to the class’s choice of book, multiple books by the author will be available for students to borrow and read to provide as much student choice as possible. 
  • Guiteras School Engineering Week — Students in all grade levels will have the chance to participate in engineering explorations and to meet engineers from the community.


Rockwell/Guiteras School

  • Link-up with the RI Philharmonic — Fourth grade music students of Rockwell and Guiteras Schools will participate in the RI Philharmonic’s Link Up program, which is based on a curriculum developed at The Weill Music Institute of Carnegie Hall. 


Rockwell School

  • Grade 5 Puberty Education — Accurate information regarding puberty, growth and development and basic sexuality concepts gives the students the necessary foundation for preventing early adolescent risk-taking behaviors.
  • Performing Arts (Trinity Repertory) — Using materials provided by Trinity Repertory Theater Company, students engage in investigating dramatic enactments using dialogue from “A Christmas Carol.” They will travel to Trinity Rep to view a live performance.
  • Spanish Language Enrichment – The program will help students in grades 1-5 reach higher levels of social, emotional and academic achievement.
  • Art Docent Program – The program uses works of art to promote interdisciplinary and multicultural connections through direct experiences in creative expression. 
  • Science Collaborative with Audubon Society – Students will participate in five hands-on science lessons in the classroom provided by the Audubon Society of Rhode Island. Each lesson is aligned with specific content standards from the district science curriculum. 
  • Lego Education More to Math – This project will provide a hands-on educational tool for teaching mathematical problem solving. By using the familiar LEGO brick and real-life understanding, students should feel encouraged and motivated to think, write and speak freely about mathematics.


Hugh Cole School

  • Visual Arts Digital Learning Journal – Technology will be used to empower students to independently create individual visual arts digital journals/portfolios.
  • Hot Dots for Learning — Hot Dots are cards or books that have multiple choice answers to questions. Students use the Hot Dots pen to check their answer. The pen flashes green and gives audible encouragement for correct answers. Students would be able to use the in the classroom and at home. 
  • Writer in Residence - Julia Cook — This program will bring writer, teacher, counselor Julia Cook to the school for one week to work with students and faculty. She will lead entertaining discussions on the use of storybooks to offer children and adults a fun way to learn important people skills. 
  • Mad Science Workshop - Weather — The goal is to host a workshop in the classroom for all grade 3 students through Mad Science, which is aligned to STEM objectives in science. 
  • Colonial Days — Fifth grade students engage in hands-on projects relating to the Colonial time period. 


Kickemuit Middle School

  • Natures Classroom - 7th Grade – Over a five-day period of time students engage in activities outside the classroom that promote learning about science and nature, teamwork and self-awareness.
  • Best Buddies Kickemuit — The grant will allow students from grades 6, 7 and 8 to participate in Best Buddies and promote an inclusive culture at KMS. 
  • Beginning Band Program — The program provides students with small group instruction by professional musicians at the beginning of the school year. 
  • KMS After Zone HEARTfullness — The program allows them to learn what love is, how to love themselves and how they can embody love in the word. 
  • STAAND: Students Taking Action Against Negative Decisions — STAAND students guiding other students and help them make healthy and positive choices concerning, drugs, nicotine, alcohol and other substances. 


Mount Hope High School

  • Functional Fitness - This grant will help buy fitness equipment, including flip trainers, sandbags, ropes, resistance bands and weighted bars.

“We are excited by all of the amazing ideas presented by the faculty, they continue to impress us with their innovative approaches to learning,” said Mr. Dixon. “Promoting student excellence in our school by supporting creative and engaging ideas such as these is our organization's primary mission.”

The BWEF has funded more than $350,000 worth of educational initiatives in the Bristol-Warren School District over the past nine years. For more information on BWEF visit bwedfoundation.org.

2024 by East Bay Media Group

Barrington · Bristol · East Providence · Little Compton · Portsmouth · Tiverton · Warren · Westport
Meet our staff
Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.