Peekskill Education Foundation

Oakside Elementary School, Monet's Garden, Karin Wallis $1000

Woodside Elementary School, Michele Laura, Woodside Store Project, $1,000

Uriah Hill School, Sharon Skinner, Pre-K Art Exposition and Dinosaur Museum, $850.

Repeat Funding for Peekskill High School - Jean Spooner, Resource Room Teacher
Funding for the Reading and Beading Literacy Program which is designed to improve literacy skills such as vocabulary and fluency, heighten reading comprehension, spark the motivation to read, develop reading habits, and improve academic achievement. It is also designed to increase fine motor skills. $1,000.00

Reading, Art, Nature, Science Focus Of First Three Programs To Receive Funding.
Total amount issued will come to $4,600.

Winning applicants were from Peekskill Middle School, Uriah Hill School and Woodside School.

PEEKSKILL, NY—As part of its mission to support educational excellence, the Peekskill Education Foundation has awarded its first three grants. A total of $4,600 will go to three very different programs that will support and enhance the Peekskill City School District’s educational efforts. One of the programs will bring parents and children together to support literacy; another will bring professional artists to inspire and inform the city’s pre-kindergarteners, and the third will send children on voyage through that will improve their reading, writing, observation and scientific skills.

“We are thrilled that are first grants are going to programs that use such a wide variety of methods and which use so many different tools to support our children,” says Jeff Stern, president of the Peekskill Education Foundation. “We’re exceptionally excited that community support has proven so strong for our schools and our children,” he says.

Each of the proposals went through a lengthy verification process. Teachers and administrators worked together to create detailed descriptions of the projects they wanted to create. These were then submitted to the Education Foundation’s Program Committee. After extensive evaluation, the winning grants were chosen.

“Its important to acknowledge the creativity and energy of our teachers and administrators. They came up with some great ideas, and we’re proud to be working with them,” Stern says.

Proposals for projects are being accepted on an ongoing basis by the Peekskill Education Fund. Teachers need to develop and submit projects in cooperation with their school administrators.
For more information, they can contact Jeff Stern, chairman of the Peekskill Education Foundation Program Committee at: 914-715-4781.

For Immediate Release
Monday, May 10, 2004
Contact: Jeff Stern 914-715-4781

The Peekskill Parent Child Book Club.
This program seeks to build a culture of literacy and love of literature among students, staff and community by creating a Middle School book club that brings together parents and children. Every month through the course of the school year, 15 middle school students along with their parents and/or guardians will receive two copies of the same book. The parents and students will then read the book within a set timeframe and then take part in a club discussion of the novel. The program’s goal is to create an informal gathering of students and adults who will share and grow as readers.

Pre-Kindergarten Artist in Residence Program.
By bringing professional artists and young students together, this program will provide children with new insights into creativity and art. It will work by inviting two or three Peekskill artists into classrooms. These artists will then work with about 90 pre-kindergarten students in such media as clay, watercolors, sketching and sculpture. The program will include a visit to a working artist’s studio and conclude with a student art show. Parents will be encouraged to participate. Through this program, children and parents alike will gain a greater appreciation of their own creative abilities and of the importance of the arts to the community. This program will take place at Uriah Hill School.

Peekskill Tree Trail Map and Pamphlet.
By combining science, language arts, map reading, ecology and community awareness, this program will enhance student skills in a number of different areas. The 20 third graders taking part will attend lectures by a naturalist to learn how to identify trees, take photographs, and then use books and the Internet to learn about the trees they’ve selected. They will then use this information to create a self-guided tree trail map, creating a pamphlet that shows the location of each tree. The trees will be located in Depew Park, which is adjacent to Woodside School, where the program will take place. Students will take a trip to the Lasdon Arboretum in Somers New York during the course of the projects. Besides the pamphlets, end results include permanent tree markets, books of poems, essays and drawings, posters, and a presentation on the Woodside School web site.