Middlesex Savings Honor Grant
Elementary Orff Instruments
Richard King, all elementary
This grant funds the purchase of a complete set of 15 individual Orff instruments for use in all Natick elementary schools. All of the elementary school music instructors have some exposure in Orff methodology which engages students in music through speech, singing, movement, dance, and the use of the specialized instruments included in each set.

Fair & Yeager Honor Grant
High School Printmaking Equipment
Richard King, Natick High School
This grant will fund the purchase of a professional standard printing press to greatly expand the visual arts curriculum. The press will provide teachers with the necessary equipment and tools to challenge students with “sophisticated lesson units” at the high school level. In addition, the opportunity would exist for students to use their skills to print materials for community events.

Cognex Honor Grant
Electronic Music Program
Marjorie Roberson, Natick High School
This grant funds the purchaseof software and equipment to expand the current Electronic Music Course offering, a course that has a long waiting list of students eager to enroll. The requested equipment will provide students with opportunities to compose, edit, and critique music. Students will also be able to use the equipment to develop projects for other courses.

Mathworks Honor Grant
Television News Magazine Show - TV/Video Club
Marjorie Roberson, Natick High School
This grant will fund the purchase of professional-level equipment for video technology. Ms. Roberson is starting a TV/Video club as an afterschool program to meet the great student interest in video production. The club will produce a monthly magazine show which will deal with issues affecting teens. The purchased equipment will also be available to additional high school students (with appropriate training) who wish to use it for class projects.

Biotechnology I
Kathi Browne, Natick High School
This grant will allow biology teachers to bring into their classrooms a technique for staining gels produced from the process of electrophoresis using a UV light source, a technique currently used in the industry. Currently the methods used for staining gels are both time consuming and tedious, using valuable class time that would be better spent the analysis of the gels.

Classroom Aquariums
Laura Muller & Kim Marzullo, Ben-Hem
The visiting aquarium project will supplement the existing kindergarten science curriculum which includes a springtime unit on oceans. The Biomes organization will set up two 20 gallon salt water, marine life tanks. Over the course of one month, the children will have a chance to learn about a variety of ocean animals and get to observe a microcosm of an actual ocean.

Fair & Yeager Honor Grant
Drum Circle
Alexandria Pearson, METCO
This is a collaboration between the Natick Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity (METCO) and the Department of fine arts to introduce the teaching of traditional African drum rhythms at the High School by establishing an after school "Drum Circle". This drum circle would enhance the NHS music program by teaching percussion, and fostering creativity and teaching participants certain ancient culture specific musical traditions as well as serving as a community building tool. The circle will feature a processional musician who will function as Circle leader. This grant will provide funding to purchase a variety of professional quality drums.

What's the Matter?
Kathi Browne and Kindergarten teachers, all Kindergartens
The project, 'What's the Matter?' is designed to provide materials for use in Kindergarten classes to implement the newly aligned Kindergarten science curriculum. Three units of study were reviewed and aligned to the state frameworks, including a unit on the study of matter. Hands-on activities, which are important to the study of science, were developed which supported this curriculum.

Kennedy Robotics Team
John Stefanini, Kennedy Middle School
This grant will fund the competition-related operating expenses for the Kennedy After school Robotics team for the 2008-2009 school year. Expenses include First Lego League (FLL) enrollment fees, robot competition enrollment fees, and batteries.

Boston College Education Seismology Project
Paul Power & Rosemary Vickery, Kennedy Middle School
The Kennedy Middle School Science Department has been approached by the Boston College Educational Seismology Project to become a school site as part of their efforts to promote scientific inquiry in the Massachusetts schools. This project has been established to address the growing concern that the quality of science education in the US is not adequate to provide students with the level of scientific inquiry they will need. This grant will partially cover operational expenses for the Project for 2008-2009.

Nosinki Returns
Doug Scott, Natick High School A+ certification class
In 2007, NEF initiated the funding of a long term project named Nosinki (ROV). Students engaged in the design and construction of an underwater remote operated vehicle. Working with Dr. David Switzer of Plymouth State University, the Nosinki helped to locate a 1917 steam wreck of the Stella-Marion in Newfoundlake, New Hampshire.This year, the students have gained the assistance of Justin Manley of NOAA, who has been an ROV engineer project with Dr. Robert Ballard on Titanic expeditions.This grant will fund the contruction of a follow-on a submersible unit (SeaMoose) complete with video feed capabilities controlled by laptop computers. The goal of the project is to document the Stella-Marion wreck site with accurate and complete video documentation of the whole site.
View the YouTube video of the SeaMoose exploring the Stella-Marion wreck.

Biotechnology II
Kathi Browne, Natick High School
The grant will provide increased access to laboratory experiences related to biotechnology for all biology classes. The acquisition of additional SYBR Safe stain for use in electrophoresis experiments and microscopes with higher magnifications and resolutions will give students the opportunity to observe and analyze bacterial cells.

Step-by-Step Mapping in American History
Kay Dopfel, Wilson Middle School & Kennedy Middle School
The grant will provide each fifth grade student with a set of 3 16X20 inch desk top sized maps directly related to what is taught in the curriculum—pre-Columbian civilization, early explorers, and the thirteen colonies. Students will be labeling, discussing, comparing, and analyzing specific dates, locations, and other facts within the units. The maps will provide a unifying experience for the information and also provide a spatial context for the learning.

Words to Live By
Karen Ghilani, Ben-Hem
This grant will fund materials to produce signs highlighting famous quotes that represent the virtues shared through the Open Circle program, social studies and language arts curricula. Ben-Hem has a standing tradition of offering a Biography night to students that wish to study and explore the lives of someone meaningful in their lives or the world beyond. Students will incorporate the famous quotes from historical figures throughout the school as “Words to Live by,” signs that would be hung at different parts of the school.

Math Perspectives
Karen Ghilani, Ben-Hem
This grant will purchase manipulatives, such as snap cubes and pattern blocks, and organizational supplies to supplement instructional materials developed by Kathy Richardson of Math Perspectives, a well-known teacher development organization. These materials provide teachers with tools to assess students’ understanding of early numeracy concepts. They also link the assessments to differentiated activities that provide both remedial instruction and practice for students.

Boston Scientific Honor Grant
A Study of Ecosystems
Kathi Browne, all grade 3
This grant will provide nonfiction readers for use in grade 3 classrooms as students study ecosystems, in particular as they study the characteristics of the ecosystem found in Natick.

Rocks and Minerals
Kathi Browne, all grade 4
This grant will provide materials for use in grade 4 classes as they study the earth and the matter that is found within the earth’s surface. Using the samples provided students will be able to compare and contrast the properties of various types of rocks and minerals including igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. Students will also perform a series of tests using the rock samples including testing for hardness and reactions with water and acid rain.

All About Animals
Kathi Browne, all grade 1
This grant will provide non-fiction readers for use in grade one classes for the study of animals and animal characteristics.

Jordan's Furniture Honor Grant
Force & Motion
Kathi Browne, all grade 1
This grant will provide materials for use in first grade glasses for the study of motion of objects and how forces placed on those objects affect their motion. This grant would allow for the purchase of a variety of wind up toys.