MINI GRANTS

The TPMS PTA is offering small grants of up to $500 to teachers and staff to inspire creative approaches to learning. Mini-grants can be used to support activities or materials such as: guest speakers, learning incentives, instrument acquisition and repair,  After School Academic Academy-attendance incentives, book/music/supplies purchase, Classroom technology, guest speaker fees, instructional materials, DVDs, graphing calculators for classroom use, professional development and much more!

We invite proposals that will expand and enrich the TPMS students’ educational experience. Please keep in mind as you develop your proposal that the project needs to fit into the overall existing curriculum and class schedule setting—proposals should not call upon teachers or administrators to expend significant extra effort to enable your project to work. Please discuss your proposal with Ms. Deeny prior to submitting your application.

Once you have developed your project ideas, please tell the PTA more about it through the application that can be completed online: here . All submissions are due by December 11th, 2020.

The Mini-Grant Committee will review applications and award grants as soon as possible after the deadline.

Our hope is that the mini-grants will result in fun, enriching projects or opportunities for the students of TPMS that would not otherwise have been possible. If you have any questions, please contact the PTA Mini grants co-chairs or PTA President. Teachers should contact Ms. Deeny for additional guidance.

 

What Has the PTA Funded? (2018 Grants)

The PBIS committee is interested in providing incentives to students who demonstrate our core values at school.   Last year this was done by offering chipotle gift cards to students. The staff members who ran the committee last year thought that the money for this initiative came from a PTA grant.

Mr. Slagle has been working on setting up an after-school computer club for the kids at TPMS. He would like to fund the purchase of microcontroller boards to use in the club. The computer boards he plans to use in the club should be new to everyone but can be programmed with several different methods, from block-based visual programming for beginners to more advanced Python and C. The boards also have a number of sensors and outputs that will allow for many interesting interactive projects to be developed without requiring add-on parts. There are many other areas in computing that they could cover in the future, but having these boards will give us a great series of projects to work on as the club gets established and can serve as the basis for future projects in robotics and wearable technology.

Mr. Porch’s science enrichment opportunity for our students.

Ms. Linsenberg   Math Department Classroom Incentives: I am using behavior incentives within the classroom to promote a place of respect, safety, and positivitity!     Over the past few weeks, I have noticed that students respond well to positive reinforcement that comes in many different forms. From praise to stickers to stamps, it all works. I would like to reinforce appropriate behavior in the classroom. With the transition from 5th to 6th grade, I believe this will help many students continue to adapt to middle school.

Mr. Goehring requesting money for the Difference Makers and their financial support for our food pantry. They are trying to maintain our food pantry which currently serves about 51 TPMS families who are food insecure. The food purchased would be shelf stable food, as well as produce to supplement our weekly pickups.

Mrs. Seyoum Math Department provides Extended Day Program (EDP) for students struggling with Maths 6, 7, 8, IM, and Algebra 1. Students have the opportunity to be entered in a raffle to win prizes whenever they attend an EDP session. The sessions are offered weekly from November to April. Students who attend all 25 sessions get a special reward: a Kindle Fire/e-reader.

Mr. Goehring: Requesting money for STEAM Night is the largest program at Takoma Park Middle School other than Back-to-School. The program showcases the work of students in the areas of Science, Math, Technology, Engineering, and the Arts. He brings presenters and special programs as well. The event has an annual cost of about $2000. He always asks the PTA for some financial support. It is the one program at TPMS that benefits the entire school as well as the school community. The grant will fund the traveling planetarium- it costs about $600, so $300 mini-grant would pay half.

Mr. Baker: P.E. Department Turkey Trot which is an annual event where all students are invited to participate. The course is one mile covering the entire school campus. Every year the top ten finishers are given a Turkey Trot t-shirt

Mrs. Kowaleski School Nurse and Mrs. Hankins 7th Grade Counselor: Wellness Group for 7th Grade Students. This wellness group project promotes a healthy lifestyle, which includes learning food nutrient content, healthy food preparation, exercise benefits movement opportunities, and stress reduction strategies.

Mr. Baker: P.E. Department hosts two spurts celebrations (Fall Sports & Winter/Spring Sports). All participants (about 140) receive ribbons and select participants will get other prizes.

Mrs. Seyoum Math Department hosts the Survivor Incentive System tried to help with students who struggle with motivation. More than a third of her students receive Special Education/504 accommodations. She created this incentive system, which is like the Survivor Show on TV, where student teams that earn individual and team point stamps. At the end of each week, students with the most stamps erceive a prize. At the end of each quarter a student with the most stamps gets another prize. The two classes compete against each other and the winning class gets a pizza party.

Mrs. Norden Math Department also hosts the Survivor Incentive System tried to help with students who struggle with motivation. She and Mrs. Seyoum created this incentive system, which is like the Survivor Show on TV, where student teams that earn individual and team point stamps. At the end of each week, students with the most stamps erceive a prize. At the end of each quarter a student with the most stamps gets another prize. The two classes compete against each other and the winning class gets a doughnut party.

Mrs. Seyoum Math Department hosts the Math Department Student of the Month Celebration. The entire Math department rewards students every quarter with an ice cream sundae and a celebration, a certificate, and a small prize (bowls, spoons, ice cream, toppings for each quarter)

Mrs. Davis FACS class: She leads Real Food for Kids Culinary Challenge, which is a tri-state competition, where students create lunches that meet specific benchmarks of nutrition and that meet school lunch guidelines.

Ms Idehen: Dance Group uniforms

Ms Idehen: Dance Group

Mrs. Gordon: 3D-printer for Technology Class