Partnership Awards Five Grants
The Portland Education Partnership recently awarded five Reachout grants to Portland public school teachers for innovative projects that encourage meaningful family and community involvement in the classroom and student and teacher involvement in the community.
Two Hall Elementary School teachers, Cynthia Taylor and Deb Small, will work with their class of kindergarten English language learners to make polar fleece hats and mittens to share with children in the Head Start program at Sagamore Village. The students also will share stories in a visit to Head Start.
Lincoln Middle School teacher Christel Driscoll and her eighth grade students will partner with Hilton Garden Inn employees, parents and community volunteers to construct planting beds, plant seeds and seedlings, create signs and develop the landscaping at the school’s outdoor education park adjacent to the recently completed geodesic dome.
Deering High School teacher Polly Wilson’s biology students will build and share three-dimensional poly bag models of cells and then fasten those cells together to create models of human organs. Younger Portland students will visit the sculpture gallery with the high school biology students as guides, explaining their work.
Portland Orchestra teacher Juliane Eberl will bring together Portland and Deering High School orchestra, chorus, Latin, French and art students to produce and perform highlights from the opera “Orpheus and Eurydice” by Gluck. The students will perform at various venues this spring.
Casco Bay High School teacher Frank Troyan and his foreign language students will partner with the Franco-American Heritage Center in Lewiston to interview Franco-Americans and share Franco-American history through the experience of those individuals.
Grants are funded by the Portland Education Partnership, a nonprofit organization focused on enriching student learning and building community support for Portland public schools, with generous support from the Margaret E. Burnham Charitable Foundation.
