Grants Awarded for the 2022-23 School Year
Archeological Dig (Hanscom Middle)
This grant funding was used to bring Kimberley Connors, a local enrichment educator specializing in archeology, to the Hanscom School (Grades 4-8). Over two days, the archeological dig program allowed 6th and 7th grade students to excavate a preset and “seeded” dig site on campus. In doing so, students will further their understanding of their essential question, ‘how do we know about the past, especially if there is no written record?’. The project would brought together new grade team teachers in a collaborative effort, and allowed students to engage with their learning in a more interactive way. Students recorded their process and learning through video diaries that were shared with the school community.
Rigamajig (Lincoln K-4)
The grant provided an indoor recess option that gave opportunities for students to work collaboratively with hands on, open ended, creative play, similar to the Big Blue Blocks but for indoor use. The Rigamajig is a wooden, large scale, loose parts building and engineering kit. The Rigamajig Basic Builder Kit came with 260 parts including a cart to share and store them easily. These materials are used by K-4 students during indoor recess in the new school building with flexible learning spaces.
Regulation Stations (Lincoln K-4)
The grant recreated the regulation stations that LSF funded at Hanscom Elementary School in 2021-2022. The grant covered one regulation station for each grade level. Regulation station outside of the classroom gives students a safe space to reduce stress in a socially expected manner, and helps build a toolbox of regulating strategies. A regulation station is a safe space for a student to decompress and get extra movement. Teachers were trained on the warning signs of stress- release/ movement seeking behaviors. Students were taught the Zones of Regulation and learned to use visuals to indicate their stress level building or to indicate that they have reached their threshold. These trainings and lessons helped students and teachers recognize when students might need to access the regulation station, and when they were able to reenter the classroom setting.
Ecosonic Playground (Hanscom Primary and Lincoln K-4)
This grant brought the Ecosonic Playground Project team to both the Lincoln Smith School and Hanscom Primary School to engage students in collaboratively building a musical instrument from limited materials. The project connects a number of music standards with an authentic learning experience, building collaboration and problem-solving skills. The project allowed students and teachers to engage with music education in novel ways, outside of a more traditional music education that may focus on reading notation and existing ensembles. A facilitator from the Ecosonic Playground Project visited for one day in this first year, guiding one 3rd grade cohort from each school. The music teachers plan to replicate the experience for additional 3rd grade cohorts.
Where the Mini-Beasts Are (Lincoln K-4)
This grant brought Mass Audubon educators to the Lincoln 2nd grade classrooms, in order to teach students and model for teachers experiential science in the field. Students learned about “mini-beasts” or macro-invertebrates that were living just outside their classrooms, but out of normal sight, under leaf litter and in the grass. Students explored the fields and woods-edge to find and observe mini-beasts in their microhabitats. Second-grade teachers hope to be able to integrate this outdoor learning into their curriculum in future years.
Big Blue Blocks, Set 2 (Lincoln K-4)
LSF funded a grant in 2020 for Big Blue Blocks as an open ended outdoor recess solution. The blocks were finally able to be utilized during the 2021/ 2022 school year (due to pandemic restrictions the previous year) and have been a huge success within the K-4 classes with the feedback from Sarah Collmer being “They’re great! The only thing is, we need more!” This year’s grant provided Smith with an additional set of Big Blue Blocks and two carts to move and store them easily.
The Big Blue Blocks from Imagination Playground include big foam pieces such as: cubes, bricks, cogs, curves, cylinders, pieces with holes, and shapes that fit together. They provide an endless amount of collaborative open ended loose parts play for students and have been an especially important addition to recess throughout the school building project.