Grants Awarded for the 2024-25 School Year

ELA Makerspace

This fall 6th grade ELA students created prototypes of their personal narratives as a way to begin the writing process and to discuss them with their peers. The LSF-funded ELA Makerspace increases student engagement by using multisensory materials and lessons to help students grow their literary analysis and writing skills.

Fourth Grade archaeology

Lincoln School 4th graders participated in 3-hour site digs on campus with an archaeologist educator to enhance the grade-level focus on archaeology and artifacts. The students found many interesting items including pottery shards, rusty nails, bones, and glass.

Theater Audio Staff Training and Consulting

The LSF grant for Theater Audio Staff Training helped make shows sound better for everyone involved. The program brought in theater audio consultant Olmstead Sound who taught staff and students how to fix sound problems quickly and use their equipment better for both plays and town events. Students and staff gained useful skills and more confidence with sound equipment, which they can continue to use in future productions, other events hosted in the theater, and high school.

Learning & the Brain Conference

Lincoln School Foundation awarded a grant to Lincoln 5-8 Principal Peledge and two staff members to attend the Learning & the Brain conference, focusing on the Science of Emotion. This interdisciplinary conference equips educators with evidence-based strategies to support students who face emotional and mental health challenges. he professional development opportunity will provide our educators with cutting-edge research and practical approaches to enhance student wellbeing. Upon their return, the team will implement these strategies directly in Lincoln's classrooms, strengthening our school's ability to support students' emotional needs

AI Pilot: Empowering Teachers and

Lincoln educators are exploring the future of personalized instruction through an LSF-funded pilot combining teacher training with Magic School, a K-12 artificial intelligence platform. The program provides technology teachers with professional development alongside hands-on experience with Magic School's education-focused AI tools. By offering generative AI capabilities in a secure, classroom-ready environment, the platform enables educators to develop customized learning approaches for their students. The pilot will establish best practices for incorporating these emerging technologies into Lincoln's educational framework.

Understanding our Differences)

The Lincoln School Foundation has awarded a grant to Speech and Language Therapist Shawna Young to bring Understanding Our Differences (UOD) programming to Lincoln School. This initiative introduces students to disability awareness through specialized learning units that cover topics like neurodiversity, learning differences, hearing loss, mobility challenges, epilepsy, and diabetes. Through professional training and curriculum development, Young will help implement these educational units starting with a pilot program in fifth grade. The project includes school-wide assemblies featuring guest speakers from UOD, with the first presentations focusing on learning disabilities in October 2024 and autism awareness in April 2025. This program aims to foster a more inclusive school environment by helping students better understand and empathize with different abilities and challenges their peers may face.

Student Conflict Resolution

The Lincoln School Foundation has awarded a grant to classroom teacher Jenny Nam to enhance conflict resolution support for students. Through professional mediation training, Nam will build specialized skills to complement the social-emotional learning work already provided by school psychologists and social workers. This initiative adds another layer to Lincoln's bullying prevention efforts and aligns with Massachusetts state requirements for schools to equip students with skills to prevent and respond to bullying. Nam will dedicate weekly time to conduct conflict resolution sessions with students, working in collaboration with Mr. Peledge to help create a safer, more supportive school environment.

MARC

The Lincoln School Foundation recently awarded a grant to eighth-grade teacher Julie Reynolds to enhance anti-bullying efforts across Lincoln's middle school. This grant supports a new initiative created by eighth-grade teachers to help students and teachers better prevent and respond to bullying. The funding allows the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center (MARC) to conduct educational assemblies for middle school students. At the first assembly in November 2024, MARC presenter Meghan McCoy spoke with 7th and 8th graders about important topics like bullying prevention, healthy communication both online and in-person, and creating respectful communities. This program aligns with Lincoln School's existing Responsive Classroom approach and aims to give students practical strategies for handling social challenges in positive ways.

HYGIENE FOR ALL

Hanscom school nurse Amanda Jones recognized that adolescence brings significant physical changes and new hygiene needs for students. Through her LSF grant, she provided personal care kits to all students in grades 5-8, ensuring equitable access to essential items. Each kit contained deodorant, shampoo, and toothpaste, with students able to personalize their kits by selecting their preferred deodorant option. The program addresses both physical and emotional wellbeing during these important developmental years, helping every student feel confident and supported. Following this successful pilot at Hanscom, there are hopes to extend the program to Lincoln Middle School students in the future.