Our Accomplishments 2005-2006

Valhalla Schools Foundation and WestHelp Partnership Team Up to Award More Than $40,000 in Mini-Grants to Valhalla School Teachers

The Valhalla Schools Foundation and the WestHelp Partnership are pleased to announce the recipients of the Foundation’s 2005-06 Teacher Mini-Grants:

Virginia Road Elementary School

• Sarah Elliot, Art teacher at Virginia Road School, “Artifacts and Art Literature” a grant of $740 for purchase books about artists and art artifacts. This project will help give children examples of artwork by using children's books to illustrate how artists use their colors, texture, shapes and patterns. Children will be able to touch and examine such items as Mexican Molas, Homong story quilts and Japanese shadow puppets.

• Ellen Monten, Librarian at Virginia Road School, “Creative Dramatics”, a grant of $1,850 to have the story teller, Peg O'Sullivan, work with each grade. The theme would be “Creative Drama” with an emphasis on student participation. Teachers will be given follow-up plans to continue the creative drama sessions.

• Laura Kulers, ESL teacher at Virginia Road School, “Art Music and Me - Around the World”. A grant of $550 was given to incorporate multicultural literature about poetry, art and music into the ESL program using books, CD's and a digital camera to take pictures of the children to put into their own artwork.
  

Kensico School

• Sal Miele, principal at the Kensico School, “Ghosts of the White House”, a grant for $2,700 for author/illustrator Cheryl Harness to provide presentations to the students focusing on American History. Her focus will be the art of illustration and how it complements text. In advance of the authors visit students will become familiar with her works. During her visit they will learn the art of illustration and create their own book jackets as a post visit activity.

• Edward Rossi, music teacher at Kensico School, “Instrumental Music”, a grant for $1,115 for the purchase of a Yamaha keyboard. The keyboard will be used to simulate different instruments to allow Mr. Rossi to playback the sound of the instruments that the students are playing so that they can hear and play along with different parts of the music.

• Linda Carpentieri, Mona Voelkel, and Bill Wright of Kensico School, for their grant proposal, “Family Reading Nights.” This program will feature three theme-based Family Reading Nights, during which time families will share the joy of reading. The program advocates family reading time and will provide exposure to Kensico's inviting school environment and state-of-the-art library media center. We are pleased to award this program with a $725 grant. The same teaching team was awarded a $725 grant in 2004-05.”

• Mr. Sandro Prosperino teacher at Kensico School, a grant of $3,645 for the purchase of a Smartboard, which permits students and teachers to highlight, edit and annotate text that is projected onto a white board in front of a class.
  

Valhalla Middle School

• Lou Orfanella, 7th grade teacher at VMS, “Journalism/Newspaper Writing”. A partial grant of $300 was awarded for the purchase of tape recorders. Students are required to conduct interviews with school and community members. With the tape recorders students can be more accurate in their reporting.

• Leslie Goldrich, parent, “After School Drama Workshop”. A grant of $4,000 was awarded to fund an after-school drama workshop. Drama teacher Frank Ingrasciotta will teach students to express themselves in front of an audience. Students will explore elements of acting and performance and the workshops will build confidence and creative expression.

Valhalla Middle/High School

• Matthew Norris, music teacher at VMSHS, “World Beat”. A grant of $3,000 was awarded to teach students folk rhythms and music from around the world. Through recorded music, printed music, and group instruction, students will learn rhythms from Africa, Brazil and Cuba. Various percussion instruments will be bought and used to create a percussion ensemble that could perform at concerts, talent shows, etc.

• Jeff Dulitz, music teacher at VMSHS, “Production/Editing Computer System”. A grant of $3,758 was awarded to purchase a new computer based system with a production suite to allow DVD recording of school events. This would replace the current VHS based system. Editing could be made through the production suite and copies can be given to students that request them.

• Jeff Dulitz, music teacher at VMSHS, “TV Studio/Audio Visual”. A grant of $3,820 was awarded to purchase a Digital DVD Camcorder and DVD 160GB Hard Drive Recorder. The Digital DV Camcorder will greatly improve the quality of the schools Video Production. It will upgrade the existing program with TV Studio and Audio Visual needs. The DVD Hard Drive recorder will add a new dimension from analog (VHS) to Digital (DVD) reproduction.

• Jeff Dulitz, music teacher at VMSHS, “Baritone Sax”. A grant of $3,500 was awarded to purchase a new baritone saxophone. The baritone saxophone is an important part of the concert bands and jazz bands. It will be played proudly for years to come at all of the school's musical performances.

• Jeff Dulitz, music teacher at VMSHS, “Wireless Intercom System - Auditorium”. A partial grant of $4,230 was awarded for the purchase of a new wireless intercom system. The system will allow clear instruction from different locations in the auditorium to the technical booth. Camera cues can be given for video production on all different channels at the same time.

Valhalla High School

• Dr. James Skorney, teacher at VHS, “Psychology Through Multimedia”, a partial grant of $2,590 for the purchase of audio/visual materials that will engage the students while instructing them ethics, research procedures, perception ad physiological psychology.

• Andy DiDomenico, teacher at VHS, “Renaissance WebQuest”, a partial grant of $1,400 for the purchase of an LCD projector. The project will integrate the arts throughout the Global History 9 curriculum. The projector will allow for easy display of art, movies, PowerPoint presentations, streaming video, internet resources and photographs of the Renaissance era.

• Ms. Jennifer Cronk, Ms. Lisa Petek teachers at VHS, “Rosetta Stone Online Delivery”, a grant of $2,500 was awarded for the purchase of Rosetta Stone Online Delivery software. The software has two purposes, to help ESL learners with the acquisition of the English language and to provide enrichment and reinforcement for second language (Italian, Spanish) students at home and at school.

Accomplishments in 2004-2005

Accomplishments in 2003-2004

Accomplishments in 2002-2003