Our Impact

 

WEOF is proud to provide funding for grants that enhance teaching and learning through new programs, equipment, technology and resources. Each year, Wissahickon faculty submit applications to WEOF with innovative educational ideas to further engage students in classroom and co-curricular activities.

 

   

  

Some of our past grants include: 

    • Performing arts assembly grants for all six schools
    • Stage lighting upgrades in the Wissahickon High School Auditorium
    • Wissahickon High School Round Gym Scoreboard
    • Two (2) sets of ukuleles for the elementary music program 
    • Podcasting equipment for the Wissahickon Middle School Library
    • Recording equipment for secondary music program
    • Laptops for the Wissahickon Valley Boys and Girls Club after school program
    • Broadcasting equipment and subscription for Wissahickon High School Athletics
    • Start-up costs for a smoothie business at the middle school operated by students in the Autistic Support Program.
    • Ten (10) laptops and projector for W.A.C. Cares Homework Club. The after school club supports 39 Wissahickon students K-6 from Shady Grove, Lower Gwynedd and the middle school.
    • Mobile tricaster for the WHS TV program that allows the new wireless cameras to communicate with the tricaster to edit and disseminate video from across the Wissahickon campus.
    • Start up costs for Brewing Independence program at the middle school. This innovative entrepreneurial program allows students in the Life Skills Classes to run a coffee business where they prepare and deliver coffee, tea and water to staff in the school buildings.
    • Break Boxes to be used by Shady Grove students, teachers and school counselors. Break boxes are filled with tools for students to use to help calm down and reinforce positive behavior.
    • Totem Pole Beautification Project with student-made mosaic tiles at Blue Bell Elementary. The project will beautify the front of the school and provide school-wide art instruction over the course of two years.
    • Six (6) Kindle Fire tablets for Stony Creek Elementary to provide daily immersion with digital media to promote reading interest and engagement for students who have reading difficulties.
    • Fifteen (15) digital cameras, two student assemblies with an author in residence for grades K-5 and a specialized photography session for fourth graders at Lower Gwynedd Elementary.
    • Hands-on classroom materials for middle school health program, including lesson materials to support hands-on learning about nutrition and emergency first aid care. Materials include choking manikins, CPR manikins, AED training devices and food replica kits.
    • Romo Robots and a three-dimensional printer for innovative learning activities at the middle school.
    • Expanded activities for an after school club called WissPals that pairs regular education students with the autistic support and life skills students
    • Cardio equipment for the WHS Fitness Center and physical education classes
    • TETRIX MAX Starter Set and a Hummingbird Classroom Duo kit to help the robotics team and club learn how to build and program robots
    • Costumes and props to help teach Shakespeare through performance
    • Tablets with additional speech and language software to support students with learning disabilities
    • Steinway Piano for the Wissahickon music programs
    • Interactive models for biology classes to help students visualize how molecules fit together
    • Signage for the Boo Crofton Nature Center that teaches students about plants and animals
    • Geocaching devices that have been incorporated into indoor and outdoor science and physical education activities
    • Installation of a walk/run trail at Blue Bell Elementary School
    • A pug mill for the WHS Art Studio that allows the students to produce, use, and recycle clay
    • Buddha Boards used for creative classroom activities where students can paint disappearing images with water 

WMS MAKERSPACE


 

SHAKESPEARE COSTUMES AND PROPS


“Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand?” The study of Shakespeare came to life at Wissahickon High School this month with students decked out in new Shakespearean costumes and using props provided through a Wissahickon Educational Opportunities Foundation (WEOF) grant. The grant was awarded to the WHS English Department to enhance the Shakespeare learning experience through performance. The department is using the Shakespeare Set Free series from The Folger Library which develops speaking and listening skills and challenges students in a unique and energizing way. Costumes and props include capes, dresses, masks, crowns, Styrofoam swords and daggers. “When you read the dialogue it’s hard to imagine and visualize what Shakespeare meant especially with the archaic language that is used, but when you perform it and get in costume you can really visualize it and see that a lot is open to interpretation and how people can interpret the text in different ways,” said student Ashley Ok. “The beauty of making the performance piece so engaging is that the students are unwittingly challenged to make meaning of the text they are speaking and to think deeply about the staging that goes along with the words they are saying. All WHS students at all grade levels will have the joy of learning Shakespeare’s play for many years with the costumes and props supported by WEOF,” said Language Arts teacher Melisa Perlman who submitted the grant.

 

BUDDHA BOARDS

 

WMS students have been enjoying a creative new learning tool called Buddha Boards that also aide in relaxation. Ten Buddha Boards, purchased with a grant through the Wissahickon Educational Opportunities Foundation (WEOF), allow the user to paint images on a board using water which slowly disappear. Students can use the boards to create images again and again. Courtney Fenstermacher, WMS Language Arts and Math Teacher, said the boards are great for academic related work and as a form of relaxation. She recently used the boards in a lesson about the middle school’s “No Place for Hate” initiative. Students drew images and wrote messages related to “No Place for Hate”. She has also used them for quick response answers, group and/or partner work and closure activities. During Language Arts, students have used them to visualize while reading and to learn new vocabulary. During Math, students have created representations of how data may look visually, as well as showing/ explaining how they would solve a variety of problems. “The Buddha Boards have been useful in encouraging students to participate in activities in a unique way. It is enjoyable to watch students (and adults in the building) create on them during down time. Everyone who has used them is entertained and seems to unwind a bit!” Ms. Fenstermacher said.