Clipper Foundation Awards $30,000 to Portsmouth and SAU#52 Educators

Congratulations to the Portsmouth and SAU #50 recipients of this years' Clipper Foundation Grants. Thanks to the Clipper Foundation for awarding $30,000 this year to support innovative education practices. Below are descriptions of the projects receiving awards this year.

Beth Sommers, Greenland Central School: Tinker Town -- This grant will help create a weekly, scheduled destination for K-8 students to engage in STEM-based learning. Each trimester focuses on a different concept, i.e., Engineering, Coding/Robotics, or Maker Challenges, providing multiple avenues for varied interests, learning styles and readiness, while cultivating students’ abilities to think critically and design creatively.

Kristin Sweeney, Portsmouth Middle School: Design Thinking Lab -- This grant will fund an equipped Design Thinking Lab at Portsmouth Middle School where students embrace inquiry, exploration, design thinking, problem solving and collaboration.

Heather Jenkins and Lori Bromley, Greenland Central School:  Moving Students to 21st Century Learning -- This grant supports students' presentation and performance skills via a movie studio setting. Younger students will produce fairy tale/fable movies and older students will create NH history presentations, all while learning creative, collaborative problem solving skills.

Linda Beal, New Franklin School: Math Games Lending Library -- This grant funds the purchase of math games for families to borrow and support their students’ learning at home. The students will work to secure their understanding of the base-ten numeric system to help pave the way for future math success.

Joe Bassett, New Franklin School: New Franklin Little Free Libraries – Five Little Free Libraries will be built in partnership with the New Franklin PTO and older students and erected throughout the New Franklin School community to make accessible more books within the community and encourage literacy outside of school.

Abbie Frank and Anne Morin, Little Harbour School: Community Club -- This grant program creates a "community club" for grade 1-5 students, who may not otherwise have access to these activities due to socioeconomic issues, cultural/language differences or diverse learning needs. Sharing these experiences with other students can help close “opportunity gaps," create common ground and build social skills.

Christine Stillwell, Robert J Lister Academy:  Maple Syrup Makers --This grant will fund an interdisciplinary, hands-on, real-world learning experience. Students take part in the maple syrup-making process from tapping trees to the finished product. The Maple Syrup Makers is part of the Farm to School initiative and is an opportunity for students to make connections within our community.

Sheila Adams, Rye Junior High School: Sea-faring Vessel -- Students will construct a 5’ small-scale sailboat, equipped with a GPS transmitter for tracking, which will launch into the Atlantic Ocean. Students will observe data from the boat’s journey and learn about ocean waves, currents and geography. 

Heather Perigny, Portsmouth Elementary Schools:  Trout in the Classroom -- This multi-school collaborative grant will fund a conservation-oriented environmental education program for Portsmouth elementary 4th-graders. Students will raise trout from eggs to fry and then release them into approved cold-water streams and lakes while learning to raise, monitor and care for young trout. This fosters a conservation ethic and understanding of shared water resources.

Jen Bell, Maude H. Trefethen Elementary School: Global Steam Village -- This global STEAM program enables students taking Spanish to collaborate with Spanish speakers in a developing country and engage in a global research project about water usage and conservation. They will be led through scientific discovery via guided discussions, hands-on activities, technology and interactive media.