Help Fund A Grant

• 6 educational classes
• 4 evening activities
• 7 meals

Katie Kohtala (Danz Elementary) - Garden Club (partially funded)
The Danz school garden has been established for around 12 years and has been a great learning opportunity offered to students in grades 3-5 each year. It has provided an abundance of produce over the years to share with students and their families. We have been fortunate in the past to receive generous donations from community members for things like tools, seeds and plants. We received a grant during our first few years of operation from a program that is no longer in operation, and those funds have since run out, and our garden needs some updates to help us continue to run a successful program. This grant request includes:

• Update for our storage in the garden by purchasing a small shed and some shelving to better protect our gardening tools, increasing their longevity as they will not be as exposed to the elements of a Wisconsin winter.
• Our sink table is in need of replacement as the drainage pipes have cracked and are leaking.
• The bird houses are wearing out and in need of replacing and we will add a bird bath and feeders.
• We would also like to better provide for the other pollinators that visit our garden.
• One of our flowering plants has outgrown it's trellis and needs a larger one and some of the tomato cages and smaller trellises we use for vegetables are showing signs of wear and tear and should be replaced.
• We have had the same sets of gloves for many years now from a previous donation/grant, and many have had to be thrown out after years of use with holes and fading.
• Some of our hand tools were also damaged this summer when one of our storage tubs cracked and water leaked in.
• The grant will also help cover the cost of the bus we will take for our field trip to the Botanical Garden in the spring of 2026 so that students will not need to cover the cost.
• It will also be used to purchase items like disposable tablecloths and snacks for our family event at the end of year when we promote the opportunity to help care for the garden in the summer, as well as the ingredients needed for our spring and fall end of garden club dirt cake treat.

The hope is that as our garden continues to improve, I am better able to provide lessons that allow students to experience many of the different components of gardening. I would also like to encourage wider participation/connection to our school garden helping staff and students connect aspects of our garden to their literacy, math or science curriculum. With the enhanced features this grant will provide for our garden, we can continue to make the garden a bigger part of our school community that all are able to utilize and enjoy.

Through this grant, we are seeking funding to support two intentional school events that reflect our commitment to building strong relationships among students, families, staff, and the greater East community. These two events are designed to remove barriers, foster trust, celebrate success, and create opportunities for students both in and beyond the classroom. They are intentionally free from school-related stress, no talk of grades, behavior, or attendance, just meaningful, positive interactions to strengthen the partnership between East and some of our most vulnerable students and families. Beyond supporting individual students, these programs are also intended to shift the broader perception of East within the community. By fostering collaboration between our school and the surrounding neighborhoods, we hope to highlight shared values, build mutual understanding, and work toward common goals.

We are planning two large-scale, community-wide events intended to bring together our East students, families, school staff, and the surrounding East neighborhoods. These events are designed to build relationships, promote unity, and provide educational and social opportunities in a relaxed, welcoming environment. Dr. Mach, one of our Associate Principals, will oversee the grant in its entirety, ensuring the successful implementation of both intentional events. Our student-led Red Devil Pride Advisory Group and teacher team will play a key role in planning. Last spring, we piloted an event of this nature and witnessed an overwhelming success! It was a powerful reminder that many of our families and community members want to engage, but traditional school events often create anxiety due to past negative experiences (e.g., discipline issues, poor academic performance, or truancy discussions).

The two planned events include:

• February/March (Career & Community Expo): Held indoors at East, this event will invite local business leaders (4 already committed/agreed) and community members to host hands-on workshops, exposing our students to post-high school employment and trade opportunities available right here in our East community.
• April/May (8th Grade Welcome & Year-End Celebration): An event celebrating the year’s successes while intentionally including incoming 8th graders and their families to begin building relationships before high school starts with our current East family. Large picnic celebration in Joannes park! Yard games, barbeque, comradery!

February/March (Career & Community Expo): = $2,000 - Meal, supplies for hands-on workshops led by community business leaders, raffle prizes (to include pantry items, household needs, etc., NOT gaming systems or expensive items).

April/May (Year-End East Picnic & New Freshman Welcome): = $2,000 - Meal, bounce houses or age-appropriate family activities/games, raffle prizes (to include pantry items, household needs, etc., NOT gaming systems or expensive items)

We are committed to utilizing the awarded budget in a fiscally responsible manner, maximizing opportunities to engage students and families with the community. Our goal is to ensure that every dollar spent supports meaningful, inclusive, and impactful programming that strengthens school-community connections.

• The Road by Cormac McCarthy
• Fences by August Wilson
• Station 11 by Emily St. John Mandel
• The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande

The goal of the grant project is to promote literacy and the love of reading among students and families of
Eisenhower Elementary, a school of around 475 students, over 90% of which are minorities and 84% of which are economically disadvantaged. Offering a fun and engaging literacy program such as a family book club can engage motivation to read and engage with language. This opportunity would not only promote literacy but also community building, showing Eisenhower families, many of whom are new to our country, that our school is a welcoming and affirming environment for students and their families. Thanks to Education Foundation Grant funding for the Eisenhower Family Book Club from last year, we have had 46 families are signed up, with another month of sign-up time left! Of the 46 families signed up so far, 23 requested an English copy of our shared book, and 23 requested a Spanish copy! I am so excited that we are starting to engage our Spanish-speaking families in this way, by connecting through literature!

With $2,000 as an additional grant, 100 families can be served through our book club by receiving a copy of our shared book in English or in Spanish, along with interactive surprises to open coinciding with the readings and an end of the book club celebration.

• An English copy of Charlotte's Web is $10.44 x 50 families = $522
• A Spanish copy of Charlotte's Web is $9.49 x 50 families = $475
• Additional gifts to augment the learning with each book & celebration event= $1000

Jennifer Niles (King) - Books for All!
We are seeking funding to launch the Books for All initiative—a community-centered literacy program that provides every King elementary student with a free, high-quality book once or twice a year during school-hosted family events.

This event(s) will celebrate literacy, encourage family engagement, and help build home libraries for all students. With your support, we aim to improve reading outcomes, foster a love for books, and strengthen school-family connections.

During family literacy night, students would participate in literacy-based activities with their families that would model ways to interact with there new book at home.
$4500 for books
$ 500 for event nights

The purpose of this grant project is to bring the nonfiction author Steve Sheinkin to Lombardi Middle School for an author visit during the 26/27 school year. The author will provide three talks to our school, one per grade level.

Steve Sheinkin has written the middle grade books- Bomb: The Race to Build- and Steal- The World’s Most
Dangerous Weapon, The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights, Lincoln’s Grave Robbers, Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team, Fallout: Spiders, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Shutdown, and Impossible Escape: A True Story of Survival and Heroism in Nazi Europe. The purpose of having a nonfiction author visit Lombardi is designed to spark student interest in nonfiction reading and writing. Lombardi’s literacy coach attended an Unbound Ed conference earlier this year where they introduced the GLEAM framework. At the conference, it was discussed that there are major shifts that occurred in ELA, one of the shifts being the need for students to build knowledge through nonfiction content. In the past, the majority of reading done in ELA classes was fiction, but now students need to engage in more nonfiction. After hearing this, I knew I wanted to find ways to increase nonfiction reading through the Lombardi library program.

My hope in bringing in a nonfiction author to our school is to help students connect with a real person who writes engaging nonfiction books. This experience will not only increase student engagement with nonfiction through real world connections, but it will also strengthen literacy skills, like analyzing informational text and understanding the research process. Finally, meeting an author provides a unique and memorable opportunity for all students to listen to, interact with, and learn from a professional writer. By making nonfiction come alive, this visit will inspire curiosity, encourage reading, and empower students to view themselves as researchers and writers.

• The author’s honorarium is $3,000, for which he presents three sessions and a book signing.
• There is an additional fee with his travel, which would include airfare from Albany, NY, and local ground transportation - car rental, or preferably host pick up/drop off) and lodging.
• A plane ticket from Albany, NY to Green Bay, WI is $500-700.
• A hotel room will be $100-200.
• A car rental would be under $100.

The AVID College and Career Field Trips project is designed to increase college and career readiness for middle school students. The AVID curriculum introduces students to new opportunities for college exploration in the form of college visits. We believe that the best way to get students excited and interested in learning more about what college can offer is by experiencing college campuses firsthand. College visits create impactful and lasting memories and allow students to see what their future may hold. By offering students the chance to visit college campuses, we hope to inspire and show them that their dreams can become a reality. Many times, students don’t know how to start thinking about what their life will look like after high school. 47% of students enrolled in the Lombardi MS AVID elective classes could be the first person in their families to attend college.

These college visits can provide students with a roadmap for how to achieve their goals and encourage students to dream big. By meeting with real college students who can outline their experiences and path to college, our students will get a sense of how there is no “right path” to a college education, and that college education is not out of their reach. When middle schoolers hear stories from college students who have faced similar struggles or life experiences and realize that they are successful despite the challenges, they start to believe that they can achieve their dreams too. By meeting with professors, our students can get a sense of the academic rigor that is essential to attend a post-secondary institution and get an idea for programmatic fit. Many middle school students, especially those who will be first generation college goers,
don’t realize how many academic programs exist that they could study or what the path is to get there. By meeting with coaches, admissions advisors, and other college faculty, students will be able to get a sense of college and campus life.

Sometimes our students think that college “isn’t for them,” but when they see someone who looks like them walking around on campus, their perspective starts to shift, and they believe that they also will one day. Each field trip provides one possible road map for our students. Giving our students multiple opportunities to visit colleges allows them to gain a variety of insights to inform their future decision making. Colleges have a wide variety of opportunities, whether it’s a 4-year, 2-year, private, or public college, and we want students to find what feels right for them. These experiences enhance our students' learning by showing them that college is within their reach and is often the catalyst that ignites their bright futures.

$1500 for bussing and travel expenses.
$2000 for fees associated with visits.
$1500 for sub days to accommodate trips.

This grant will purchase a cyclorama (cyc) for Webster Elementary Children's Center for the Integrated Arts. A cyclorama is a large, curved backdrop positioned at the rear of a stage that creates the illusion of open space, sky, or distance. This seamless surface serves as a canvas for lighting effects and projections that can transform a scene's atmosphere and mood.

As an arts integration school, Webster uniquely weaves artistic expression into core academic subjects to deepen understanding and foster creativity. Our annual Broadway Junior musical exemplifies this approach, providing rich educational benefits for 60-80 participating students. Through the musical, students develop responsibility by committing to rehearsals and performances, build confidence through public speaking and stage presence, explore creative problem-solving in set design and choreography, strengthen collaboration skills while working as an ensemble, and cultivate emotional intelligence by embodying diverse characters and stories. These experiences directly support critical thinking, resilience, and social-emotional learning—skills that transfer to all academic areas.

Our music program prioritizes inclusion, ensuring every interested 3rd, 4th, and 5th grader finds a meaningful role regardless of prior experience and developmental differences. We perform for all Webster students, including those requiring special audience accommodations, making the musical a powerful community-building experience that celebrates diversity.

Currently, Webster spends approximately $1,000 annually renting equipment for the spring musical, including the cyc and lighting. A permanent cyc would significantly reduce this recurring expense while exponentially expanding educational opportunities. Beyond the musical, it would enhance winter and spring concerts where all students perform, and it could enrich monthly PTO family events like Cocoa & Canvas and Movie Night. This investment transforms a temporary rental into a permanent resource that elevates the artistic and educational experience for every Webster student, every year.

The entire grant will be used to purchase one permanent cyclorama. A 45’ x 22’ white muslin cyclorama is listed for $4,337.04 at a stage lighting store.