FCEF Super Grant Awards Winners!

The Falls Church Education Foundation awarded over $73,000 in Super Grants for the 2022-23 school year!  These awards went to staff at all 5 schools and included some amazing and creative way to enhance learning and teaching to our students.  Congrats, FCCPS Staff! Read on for a brief description of the winning grants.  A more details write-up of each grant can be found here.  

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Jessie Thackery Preschool
PreK Jam Band (Oudheusden-Adelman)
Access to a musical arts program and materials that are developmentally appropriate, engaging and aligned to state standards.

Jessie Thackery Preschool
​Family Engagement (Rosenberger)
Purchase the Systematic Training for Effective Parenting (STEP) curriculum and provide the “My Big World” magazine for each student

Jessie Thackery Preschool
Flexible Seating (Saaty)
Provide various types of flexible seating (scoop rockers, floor table and four chairs, moon seats, concentration rocker, vidgets, peanut balls, wiggle cushions) for our youngest students. 

Mt Daniel Elementary
Kimochis Schoolwide (Reyes)
​Fund a “Mixed Bag of Feelings” for every classroom (24) and for each administrator.  Purchase one set in Spanish and additional characters that were not part of the Educator Kit purchased last year.  

Oak Street Elementary
A Nugget of Learning (Wiles)
This grant will provide innovative flexible seating and equipment for special needs students by funding an Outdoor Nugget, lap desks and a mobile white board to be used indoors or out.

Oak Street Elementary
Revitalizing the Third Grade Courtyard (Lands/Third Grade Team)
To bring JOY into the courtyard space by purchasing two coated picnic tables with attached seating (one is handicapped accessible), benches, windchimes, wooden signs, standing wooden planters, paint, and other supplies for planting.

Oak Street Elementary
Global Adventures in Engineering (Adetoro)
For 4th grade students, purchase an EiE unit called Earthquake Engineering, which will give students additional opportunities to explore natural phenomena and it impact on human survival.  For 3rd grade students, grant funds will purchase “Hop to It”, a unit through which “students learn about invasive animals around the world and how to help protect that region.

Mary Ellen Henderson Middle
Theater Archiving Equipment (Gross)
Fund equipment to archive after-school rehearsals, productions and in-class summative performances, take production photos at dress rehearsals, headshots of actors and production photos to use in marketing and lobby displays, and enable students and families to access previous performances.

Meridian High School
 Magic with Black Lights (Northrip/Sample)
Purchase black light equipment for use in the fall musical, Pippin, and then to use in the Black Box Theater and in the new Technical Theater class. 

Meridian High School
Pinball! Creating, Designing & Programming Games (George/Snyder)
Fund the purchase of “a Multimorphic P3 Pinball cabinet, one game module and a kit of basic components and circuitry that will allow students to learn about game programming, basic circuit design, and mechanical engineering through working with an open-source pinball cabinet that is intended to encourage users to build their own games.” 

Meridian High School
3D Printer Recycling (George)
Fund to establish an experimental 3D recycling center in the Fab Lab at Meridian High School. The equipment will allow students to grind, melt, extrude and respool 3D printer waste so that it can be reused  

Meridian High School
Hands-on Learning and Real-World Problem-Solving Through Spheros (Rerucha)
Funding this grant will benefit 25-50 students each year in the environmental science course or the sheltered EL biology course, many of whom receive special education or English language services. They will use the Spheros for two tasks-to collect trash on land and then to collect trash in water.   

Meridian High School
Comprehensive Physical Education Program (Moore)
Provide a “more individualized approach while enhancing the educational experience offered to students” and “to develop physically literate students by providing experiences outside of the norm of common team sports” by purchasing additional types of PE equipment to supplement current program offerings, like recreational games, archery, CPR, and outdoor pursuits.    

Meridian High School
Biking Around the Block (McCarthy/Block)
Fund the purchase of two adaptive tricycles for 20 special education students to use to learn how to ride bicycles.  

Meridian High School
Virtual Reality Therapy (Galliher)
Fund the purchase of VR headsets to to be used with athletes recovering from acute/chronic injuries, students with special needs, and athletes recovering from concussions.  

Meridian High School
 Sonic Journey! (West)
Fund the replacement of our 25-year-old synthesizers, since synthesizers have changed significantly in the power and the sounds that they produce.  The grant will fund two synthesizers and two amps.    

Meridian High School
 Aquaria 414 (Pollack/Wu-Rorrer)
Purchase and development of an ecosystem-based series of aquaria to outfit a newly designed aquatics room.    

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Click here for prior years' awards.