Lawrence Intermediate School (LIS) students will learn how to tell the difference between a song sparrow and the white-breasted nuthatch, thanks to a $1,500 grant from the Lawrence Township Education Foundation (LTEF).
The LTEF approved the grant for the “Take Flight: LIS Outdoor Classroom Expansion.” The project focuses on helping students to learn about species with wings – from birds to bats. It encourages bird watching and bird identification, and teaches the environmental benefits of bats and native pollinators.
“Take Flight” was one of 14 grants awarded by the LTEF last month, totaling $26,632. Grants were awarded to most of the schools in the Lawrence Township Public Schools.
Also at LIS, a grant was approved to provide tools and appliances for special education students to enhance student instruction in varied skills.
Another grant will enable LIS students to learn about different music styles from around the world. They will hear professional musicians perform some of them through the “Simple Gifts Music Ensemble” assembly.
New books in Russian and Ukrainian will be added to the LIS library for the benefit of the school’s English language learners, compliments of a grant.
Two grants were approved at the Lawrence Middle School. One grant provides money to buy six ukuleles for eighth-grade Cardinal time, and another grant provides printed copies of cookbooks for Writing 2.0 classes.
The Lawrence High School (LHS) music department will receive an array of Latin percussion instruments to be used for the Concert Band, the Percussion Ensemble, the Jazz Band, the Honors Wind Ensemble and the Red Scare Marching Band.
Two-day instructional sessions with the Lily Yip Table Tennis Center will teach LHS students the fundamental skills, strategies and tactics of table tennis and pickleball.
The four elementary schools will benefit from the “Growing Your Vocabulary” grant. They will increase their vocabularies through interactive monthly hallway displays.
Three of the four elementary schools – Ben Franklin, Slackwood and Eldridge Park – received additional grants.
At the Ben Franklin Elementary School, 31 picture books will be purchased for special education students. Another grant, also aimed at special education students, provides music therapy.
At the Slackwood Elementary School, the “Recess: Refresh, Recharge and Reconnect” grant provides blacktop recess games and activities for all students.
Also at the Slackwood Elementary School, kindergarten classrooms will each receive wordless books for multilingual students in an effort to develop literacy skills through the “Opening Doors to Literacy” grant.
The Eldridge Park School will benefit from the addition of three new workplace tables to encourage collaboration and social-emotional growth through circle work groups.
The LTEF raises money from individuals, local businesses, corporations and foundations for grants to teachers. It has approved more than 1,100 grants, totaling more than $4.6 million, since its inception in 1992.