Past Grants Awarded by the Foundation

In Biology, laboratory procedures will often require that samples are heated. Currently, our only means of heating these samples is via hot plates or stoves. These heating apparatuses can easily reach consistently high temperatures close to that of boiling water. However, we are extremely limited in our ability to incubate samples at specific temperatures, which is a requirement of more detailed procedures and experiments.

The science elective, Marine Biology, is new to our high school curriculum. The students can obtain a hands-on learning experience aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and New Jersey Student Learning Standards via the "Classroom STEM Lab” hosted by traveling outreach programs of the Center for Aquatic Sciences. In their hour-long presentation, the students will learn about the unique characteristics of cephalopods in terms of their structure and processes, genetics, and evolution. At its conclusion, one food grade squid per pair of students will be dissected.

We are proposing to create large scale collaborative artworks with our 5th grade students, entitled “Threads of Connection”. These artworks will be created in all 5 elementary schools district-wide. The fifth grade artists will first write “I am” statements describing who they are. For example: “I am confident, I am athletic, I get anxious, I am shy, I am creative”. The school counselors will be brought in to collaborate and guide students through this self expressive creative process. The student and teacher curated statements will be attached to pegs on a 4’x8' board. Lastly, each student will use yarn to create a fiber path that wraps around each statement that they believe applies to themselves. The finished artwork will show a variety of fiber paths, overlapping, diverging and intersecting in a variety of ways. It will be viewed as a class and reflected upon individually. The goals of this project are for students to collaborate, working together to create something larger than possible if they were working by themselves. Students are also going to recognize and celebrate their similarities as well as differences, express personal things about themselves that they may not otherwise share, as well as incorporate social and emotional skills into their artwork.

The Wellness, Farm to Fork Project has been developed for the Foods and Nutrition Classes at HTHS with the hope of spreading past the classroom and into the entire school. The objective is to teach more students about where their food comes from and how the food we eat grows from seed to fruit or vegetable. Students will learn how to plant, grow/care for and harvest fruits and vegetables in the classroom through a hydroponic system (NFT system) as well as in the school greenhouse and plant beds found in the courtyard. Once students harvest the fruits and vegetables, they will then learn how to create dishes for each in the classroom kitchens.

The goal of the flexible seating lending library is to provide access to various flexible seating options to students throughout the school year. Many students benefit from frequent movement to improve their ability to attend to learning tasks. One way to provide this without interrupting learning time is to provide seating options such as wobble stools, cushions, yoga balls or opportunities to stand while working. The secondary goal of this project is to educate teachers and staff on the importance of movement during the school day and how it can impact educational performance.

The graphing calculator is used for all of our math courses. This proposal will supply a classroom set that can be shared among the math department teachers, providing valuable practice for the population taking the PSAT, SAT, and ACT.

We would like to give our students the opportunity to experience an animal life cycle in person. We have discussed life cycles and growing things in previous years, but a hands-on experience with living animals would create an unforgettable experience for our young learners, and help the academic themes sink in. The students would observe and care for the chick eggs, then watch as they hatch in real time. The preschool classes use Creative Curriculum, which focuses on play based, hands on learning while aligning with the science objectives

We are requesting funding for a duck egg-hatching program for the classroom. Student goals and objectives for this program include: (1) Acquire the abilities necessary to conduct scientific inquiry (2) Learn the characteristics of organisms, life cycles of organisms and their environments and also learn to acquire the abilities of technological design (i.e. be able to identify a simple problem, propose a soletion, evaluate a product or design, communicate a problem, design and solution); (3) Acquire/increase language development particularly for children who have limited language abilities. 

Matthew Lynch states in his article 7 Benifits of STEM Education that STEM "Fosters ingenuity and creativity, builds resilience, encourages experimentation, encourages teamwork, encourages knowledge application, encourages tech use, teaches problem-solving and encourages adaption.” (2019). All of these benefits directly affect a child's ability to do well in a school setting and allow for the student to succeed. With these skills, a child is more likely to take educational risks and be adaptive in their learning in school. With this project, I plan to foster these skills through the use of the Sphero Coding Robot Balls, while also giving students the 21st century skills they need while working with technology. Student will participate in STEM related lessons involving coding and problem solving. 

Each year the Environmental Science classes participate in the Philadelphia Zoo's UNLESS Contest. Following the theme from Dr. Seuss's The Lorax, students select a campaign organism and goal for their contest submission. The 2021-2022 classes aimed to reduce waste for the now endangered Monarch butterfly by collecting non-recyclable bottle caps to create a mural that was displayed along the fence of the high school bordering Cuthbert Blvd. In March 2022, Haddon Township High School was accepted into the “A Bench for Caps” (ABC) Promise Partnership with “Green Tree Plastics.” Sadly, they have since closed their business. With the remaining bottle caps, I am proposing a new partnership with the Introduction to Wood Technology classes taught by Mr. Jesús Castro to construct a resin bench made from the bottle cap collection. This bench will be placed in the Haddon Township Community Garden. Participating in this program will increase students' understanding of environmental activism and their appreciation for our place within the local environment. 

This proposal is for a year-long subscription to the literacy app Reading Eggs. We would like to use the app with all of the K and 1st grade students who qualify for LI or ELL services across the district. The goal is to increase meaningful student practice with basic literacy skills to strengthen their foundation when not receiving direct instruction from a teacher. 

The purpose for this grant proposal is to increase hands-on, evidence based, experiential STEM/NGSS learning opportunities for all students in grades 6-8. The greatest barrier and challenge to better teaching and implementation of STEM/NGSS learning opportunities for students is a lack of funding for supplies and materials. This grant would provide long lasting, scientific, learning experiences that would improve outcomes for all students in grades 6-8 science classes. Many research studies have shown that STEM learning as an integral part of the classroom, maximizes student engagement, teaches students to think critically, problem solve, builds resilience in learning through difficulty, and the ability to adapt and apply what they have learned across all academics. NGSS are the standards of science literacy and knowledge of the natural world. New materials would allow students to investigate these processes in greater depth, with hands-on, minds on learning activities.