• iPad Mobile Labs ($17,055) (Millstone Township Elementary School Principal,  Dr. Stephen Wisniewski ($5,685); Millstone Township Middle School Principal, Karen Barry ($5,685); Millstone Township Primary School Principal, Trish Bogusz ($5,685) – MTFEE awarded 45 iPads. Each school will receive 15 iPads that will be housed on a Mobile Computer Lab. The district plans to provide a limited number of iPads per classroom. The addition of the iPad Mobile Labs will enable teachers to utilize this technology for full class instruction, rather than be limited to small group instruction. Other Mobile Computer Labs that MTFEE has funded and are currently being used by students are in subjects including math, music, writing and social studies.

In keeping with its mission, MTFEE was the first organization in the district to fund the use of iPads in the classroom last spring. Third grade teachers who received that grant have been piloting them in their classrooms to promote literacy in developing readers with much success. That coupled with the fact that the majority of grants from teachers who submitted this cycle had an iPad component, made MTFEE take a closer look at the option of approving grants for iPads in all three schools. In fact, it was the teachers who submitted for grants this cycle that helped MTFEE and the district further see the need for this type of technology in the classroom by showing them how they plan to use the iPads for educational purposes.

To recognize those teachers, who are listed below, MTFEE is granting each teacher a $50 Apple Gift Card ($1,300) to use when purchasing applications for their classroom:

• Elementary School Special Education – Patti Prevosti & Cari Jensen
• Elementary School Third Grade Teachers – Eva Blahota, Allison Casais, Lisa Kennedy, Jennifer Kohn, Jason Miller, Meghan Olah, Patti Prevosti, Phyllis Schussler and Michelle Williams
• Elementary and Middle School Remedial Language Arts – Sarah Neuman (grades 3-5) and Sara Stofik and Stephan Judd (grades 6-8)
• Middle School Language Arts – Kelly Bircsak, Edward Bittner, Marcelle Mele, Rachael Moriarty, Audrey Ferraro, Marcella Heine, Kelsey Plunkett, and Lynda Reynolds
• Primary, Elementary and Middle School Librarian – Francine Kamen
• Primary and Elementary School Music Teacher – Doreen Laskiewicz
• Primary School Special Education – Marsha Pineles & Jyoti Sharma
  
  
• The 10th Annual August Institute on the Teaching of Reading/Teachers College, Columbia University ($4,050) (Elementary School Remedial Reading – Sara Neuman ($675); Elementary School Special Education – Meredith Weibel ($675); Fifth Grade Teacher – Michelle Uffer ($675); Middle School Remedial Reading - Sara Stofik ($675); Primary School Remedial Reading – Stephanie Dunk ($675); Third Grade Teacher – Michelle Williams ($675) – Teachers from each school will attend workshops focused on reading at the TCRWP Summer Institute. TCRWP is a leader in current trends in education. Their staff is committed to helping teachers turn their classrooms into richly literate reading and thinking workshops. Teachers of grades K through 2 will attend workshops on topics including units of study, assessing and planning for work with individuals and small groups, the components of balanced literacy, comprehension strategies, and methods of teaching. Teachers of grades 3 through 5 will attend workshops that cover comprehension strategies, read aloud and account-able talk, small group work, writing about reading, book clubs, and methods of teaching. Teachers of grades 5 through 8 will attend workshops on topics including time management, comprehension strategies, interpretations and critical thinking, writing about reading, and book clubs.

The teachers who attend these workshops will pilot the program in their classrooms next school year. MTFEE provided grant funding for The Write Stuff Columbia University Writing Project (TCRWP) last spring, which the schools are piloting this year. The program is planned to be implemented district-wide next school year.