Farmington Public School Foundation Awards Grants to Fund Innovative School Programs

Farmington, Conn. (October 29, 2013) Farmington Public School Foundation (FPSF) is pleased to announce the award of five grants to be used to enhance educational programs in Farmington schools.

The innovative programs receiving grants are:

Archaeological Field School 2013. A continuation of the 2012 grant, this program enables students at FHS to enhance their archaeological experiences with more opportunities in the field at Yale's Lewis Walpole Library in Farmington. Students will also use new software to develop a system to catalog artifacts found.

Land & Water Stream Table Investigations. This program seeks to improve the understanding of behaviors of river environments over time, teaching fourth grade students at Union School about erosion, and sediment deposition in the Farmington River.

Maple Sugaring: Sap to Syrup. IAR special needs students and their peers will build and develop their skills in observation and collaboration with this grant. As students learn the real-world process of maple sugaring, math, science, and history curricula will be reinforced.

Math Music Videos. Union School students will design and produce short, skill-specific videos aligned with their math curriculum. By integrating music and providing engaging, innovative opportunities for creative writing, and video making, students will strengthen their problem solving skills.

Social Thinking Class. Connecting the FPS "vision of the graduate" to the middle school level, the development of this program will provide IAR students the social and critical thinking skills needed to succeed in the classroom and the 21st century workforce. Students will learn what “Social Thinking” is and how it impacts them personally.

"We are very excited to be in a position to award five grants this year and are excited about the educational opportunities that are now possible.  Successful fundraising efforts, like the FPSF Adult Spelling Bee that was held last March, combined with community support will allow FPSF to continue to further our Foundation's mission of funding innovation in education," commented Meghan Guererra, Chairperson of FPSF.

Each year, Farmington Public School teachers are encouraged to apply for an FPSF grant to fund an innovative educational initiative that otherwise would not be possible through the regular school budgetary process.  Before being submitted to FPSF, all applications are reviewed by school administration and determined to meet the educational goals of the Farmington curriculum.  

Additional details on FPSF grants as well as information on how to support the foundation can be found at FPSFoundation.org

About the Farmington Public School Foundation

The Farmington Public School Foundation, an independent, Section 501(c)3 non-profit organization, provides funds for programs and projects that excite & engage students, empower the creativity of teachers and support the goals and mission of the Farmington Public School System.  The Foundation adheres to its vision and mission by providing grants to educational programs that provide our students with strategic and forward-thinking capabilities throughout all grade levels (K-12) within the Farmington Public School System.  FPSF has donated approximately $95,000 to the Farmington Public School system for innovative programs such as Farmington High School’s robotic program, Enhancement of West Woods Upper Elementary School’s News Crew, and Noah Wallace Elementary School’s Science Fair.