The Overdrive Digital Books Initiative provides all K-12 students, faculty and staff with in-school and at-home access to a diverse collection of digital books, including fiction and non-fiction e-books and audiobooks through Overdrive, the most commonly used digital platform for school libraries. The Overdrive subscription allows students instant access to books for both independent reading and academic research purposes through the Westchester County Consortium (WCC), a collection of 10,000 books and counting. With participation in the WCC, the district will also be able to purchase individual titles based on curricular needs and student interest for the six Pelham school buildings. With a digital book platform, the library is never closed! Grant amount: $20,880

At a special board meeting in August, the PEF approved the funding of the introduction of a nationally recognized anti-racism program and curriculum to students in grades 6-12. The grant will subsidize the delivery of a series of six professional development workshops, aimed at supporting English and Social Studies educators’ efforts to incorporate culturally responsive instruction and practice into the classroom and shape their schools into strong, equitable communities. You can learn more about Facing History and Ourselves here: https://www.facinghistory.org/. Grant amount: $6,000

The Foundation also awarded a major grant to the elementary music program for the purchase of new percussion instruments, including chimes, xylophones, and tom-toms across all 4 elementary schools.  Says grant applicant, Mr. Andrew Dolgan, “this is a big step into providing new instruments for the music program.  By obtaining these instruments, students will be exposed to numerous genres and be able to play more advanced music, which will enable them to transition smoothly into their middle school music classes. Grant amount: $26,479

The Foundation also partially funded a grant to bring the 33-member PMHS Chamber Chorus to Carnegie Hall to learn and perform the entire Mozart Requiem in collaboration with other choral students from around the country. (Note: The Chamber Chorus was not able to participate in this program due to the state-ordered shut down. The grant amount was not disbursed and will be returned to the Foundation for new grant-making.) Grant amount: $4,917

Ms. Laura Battema was awarded a grant to bring the AP Biology students to the Regeneron DNA Learning Center to work with gene-sequencing equipment that does not exist at Pelham Memorial High School.  The grant allowed the students to travel to the lab in Cold Spring Harbor, NY and complete a four-hour program on human DNA fingerprinting, which helped them further understand these concepts and research. Grant amount: $1,365

The Pelham Education Foundation was proud to facilitate a grant for the Door Magazine club at PMHS this fall. The Door Magazine is a literary/art magazine published by the students and for the students.  It is published at the end of each school year to celebrate and formally recognize the creative talents of our high school student body.  Through this grant, the students were able to publish and distribute copies of the Door Magazine to as many people as possible, celebrating literary talents as well as building awareness of the club to attract future submissions by students. (Note: this grant was not disbursed as The Door was published digitally in June 2020 but will return to print publication in the 2020-2021 school year.) Grant amount: $1,600

Chorus teacher Maria Abeshouse was  given $1,600 to bring Pastor Chantel Wright, a consultant for the Carnegie Hall Weill Music Institute and founder of Songs of Solomon, a gospel Choir, to our school. Pastor Wright is also a teacher at New York University and a sought after choral clinician.  She visited Pelham Memorial High School and Middle School to work with the High School choirs and the 8th grade chorus for two days, helping students connect more deeply to the meaning behind the music.

The Spelling Bee program offers students from across the schools an exciting opportunity to compete against each other through a literacy-based program. This grant allows an equitable Spelling Bee program to exist at all five schools and benefit students across the district in grades 2-8. Additionally, it provides for extra instructional hours supporting students in their preparation and allows for more students, who may not have the resources at home, to prepare for the Spelling Bee with a teacher.

A grant has been approved requested from Music Teacher, Maria Abeshouse for Juilliard-trained composer and pianist (and Pelham elementary and middle school grad) Will Healy will collaborate with PMHS concert chorus students to share his artistic process and work with the students in developing their own methodologies. Through a PEF mini-grant, four sessions from December to May will culminate with the creation of an original score of music that will premiere at the PMHS Spring 2019 concert. More than 100 students will benefit from this artist in residence, and the song will remain in the library to be used for years to come.

The 8th grade students typically produce a perspective drawing, but with the help of this grant, a professional photographer will take pictures of the children. Students will then layer these photographs over their own drawings of their bedrooms. The photos will bring an enhanced perspective to the end result by using mixed media and multiple dimensions. The grant was requested by Mrs Schwarz, the 8th grade art teacher. Over 200 students will benefit.

Our science research program is growing thanks to a sizable grant approved by the Pelham Education Foundation. This grant will fund a science research consultant who will provide professional development for teachers and students, who will then act as mentors to other students. This consultant will offer guidance to the students as they prepare for the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium and the Westchester Science and Engineering Fair. The consultant, David Keith, most recently led the Authentic Science Research Program at Byram Hills High School to great success. He has identified our greatest need to be in the area of scientific writing and believes with his training, our students will be more successful. Finally, he will work with elementary school teachers for two full days to develop programs to prepare their students for the fourth grade STEAM-oriented science research fair and showcase.

The Middle and High School Bands have a new sound. Thanks to a major grant from the Pelham Education Foundation, the students in the percussion section have new instruments! New band director, Andrew Van Bochove, felt that the sound of the over 40-year old drums, bells, and cymbals was compromised due to their condition. The items being replaced include a new drum kit, set of timpani, marimba, vibraphone, orchestra bells, congas, bongos, concert bass drum, chimes, cymbals, as well as new hardware to ensure all the new equipment is properly supported and stored for greater longevity. The students will have the opportunity to perform using crisp, high-quality percussive instruments while also learning about proper storage and care going forward.

A coordinated team of teachers, parents, students, and administrators, led by Assistant Superintendent Dr. Steven Garcia, Director of Technology Mr. Michael Tromblee, and Director of Math & Science Dr. Thomas Callahan, have been working over the past year on one of the largest grants the PEF has ever considered. The PEF has carefully considered and has awarded a grant of almost $200,000 to create MakerSpaces in each of the six Pelham schools. The Maker Movement is about innovation, collaboration, experimenting, tinkering; using materials to create products and solve problems, individually and within teams. Each school will have a dedicated space with everything from furnishings to supplies and equipment. All spaces will have low to high tech resources.

The Pelham Education Foundation is pleased to sponsor two world-renowned choral conductors as artists-in-residence for the 2016-2017 school year. Harold Rosenbaum and Brian O’Connell will hold a series of choral conducting workshops with Maria Abeshouse, the PMHS Choir Director, and the roughly 100-member PMHS Choir, focusing on advanced choral techniques and phrasing. Micro grant amount: $1,749.

Through a Pelham Education Foundation funded residency program with The Picture House, eighth grade students worked with facilitators to create “Election Documentaries.” The students developed scripts, discussed guidelines for what was to be said, and learned how effective scenes are shot.

The Pelham Education Foundation (PEF) recently approved a sizable grant to replace basses and cellos for use by Pelham Middle School students as part of its ongoing mission to enrich curriculum and provide funding for special equipment. Typically larger instruments, such as a basses or cellos, remain at the school while students have their own instrument for at-home practice. The grant to replace the Middle School’s instruments complements PEF’s recent grant to replace the High School’s larger, full-sized basses and cellos. Middle schoolers require instruments typically at 1/2 size and had been practicing with instruments that had lost their best sound quality and function and which were, in many cases, too large. The instruments had holes, cracks and battered bodies producing poor sound quality and were in use for nearly 30 years.

The inferior instruments understandably affected student moral as well as performance quality. To protect the new instruments, a storage room was arranged in the High School by Mrs. Clark and ongoing maintenance of the basses and cellos will be provided as well. For instruction purposes, educators at the Middle and High schools could not be more pleased to eliminate the distraction of instruments of lesser quality and poor sound and the Pelham Eduction Foundation could not be more pleased to enhance the thriving orchestral programs in Pelham schools.

Popular children’s authors were brought into every elementary school to meet with all K-5 students district-wide. These visits offered a unique opportunity to breathe life and relevance into classroom reading and writing experiences.. The structure of the visits was relatively consistent from kindergarten through fifth grade. Each session was a mini-lesson followed by a workshop of guided practice conferring and sharing with the author.

The College Board recently changed the curriculums for AP Physics, Chemistry and Biology dramatically increasing the expected laboratory activities. Over time, lab group size has grown from 2 or 3 students to 6 or 7 students, decreasing the quality of the lab experience in these classes. This grant has enhanced the experience of students in AP science classes by purchasing equipment to run smaller group laboratory activities. The equipment included microscopes, spectrophotometers, laptops, and high precision scales.

Students in all schools in grades K-8 will soon enjoy new hands-on tools by virtue of a major grant of iPads and Netbook computers. In addition, the Foundation has already provided all schools with Smart Response “clickers.” Each elementary school received 30 iPads and a syncing cart, and the Middle School received 30 Netbook computers and a mobile cart. iPads were selected after reviewing best practices because it takes multiple technology tools and integrates them into one platform, can be used as an e-reader, internet browser, research tool, word processor, camera, video recorder and presentation tool affording teachers and students increased flexibility.

Netbooks were donated to the Middle School were chosen for their durability and will allow teachers to bring the educational benefits of a computer lab into the classroom. The hand held Smart Response clickers quickly engage students while allowing teachers to easily assess student understanding and instruction knowledge during instruction.

Students at Hutchinson Elementary School can now improve their flexibility and stamina while having fun climbing on the traverse climbing wall provided by the Foundation. The wall is an extension of the fitness program that allows physical education teachers to work on muscle development and endurance as well as general physical coordination.

In addition, teachers can now track the progress of students in all the elementary schools and middle school via the Fitness Gram program which includes a variety of health related physical fitness tests to assess aerobic capacity, muscular strength and endurance and flexibility. Each physical education teacher is able to track students’ progress using iPads provided by the Foundation that are loaded with a software package that is consistent throughout the elementary and middle school grades. Students will carry their fitness profiles as they move from elementary to middle school.

In order to ensure that all teachers would have the skills to use 21st century teaching tools effectively, the Foundation supported the rapid infusion of new technologies by providing an intensive summer technology workshop. The workshop prepared 14 teachers, representing all disciplines and grade levels, to act as technology coaches for the next school year. Working with their colleagues in regularly scheduled, mandatory professional development meetings, the coaches will train teachers to use technology tools to differentiate instruction, assess learning throughout lessons, and better engage students in analysis, critical thinking and knowledge creation.

The Foundation and the school district, with the sponsorship of TD Bank, co-hosted a family-oriented PEF Science Expo. The event provided hands-on activities showcasing new teaching tools and techniques in language arts, math, social studies, science, visual and performing arts and physical education. In addition to workshops and drop-in zones for elementary school students, the evening featured guided tours and visits to some of the district’s state-of-the-art facilities, including the Foundation-funded foreign language lab, broadcast production studio, fitness center and science research lab.

The Foundation provided a grant to fund a pilot program during the summer of 2008 to increase opportunities for PMHS students to succeed in the School’s most challenging courses.  Attended by 46 students, the two-week long Academics for Curriculum-based Excellence Seminar (ACES) program focused on improving reading comprehension, developing critical thinking skills, and preparing for both objective tests and written assessments.

ACES allows students who aspire to take Honors or AP level courses, but who do not meet existing criteria, to demonstrate their commitment to the higher level work while providing a foundation for success in the most academically rigourous courses.  It replaces an appeal process that allowed some students to access Honors and AP courses without meeting academic criteria, but provided no additional support.

The Foundation sponsored a thought-provoking art installation and corresponding educational program at the middle school, presenting a visual and historical narrative of the 1970’s Civil Rights Movement. The exhibit was viewed by all middle school students, and the corresponding academic program was integrated within the 8th grade Social Studies curriculum, through varied learning activities and classroom instruction by the artist.

 “The Soles of the Movement program allowed our students to experience first hand how art and history can be brought together to educate and enlighten.” Thomas Tobin, 8th Grade teacher

The new fitness center at the middle and high schools (funded jointly by the Pelham Education Foundation and Shea Family Foundation) is now in its second year of use.   This fully-equipped aerobic and strength-building center accommodates classes of up to 35 students and has fostered an expansion of the physical education curricula to educate students in lifelong health and fitness practices.

 “The expanded Physical Education curriculum teaches our children how to build and maintain a healthy body.”  Susan Hughes, Dept. Chair, Physical Education