Teacher Initiative Grants

These grants are requested by teachers specifically for innovation to achieve curricular objectives in their classrooms, and in some cases, lead to larger-scale adoption.

2023-2024 school year Teacher Initiative Grants:

  • Chick Life Cycle Study (Greeley):  As part of the Lifecycle Unit, each Kindergarten class will successfully raise 5 - 8 chicks and watch them grow.  Having the chicks in the classroom will help children learn first-hand about life cycles, egg development and connect with and develop empathy for living things.

  • Field Trip for Kindergarten and Fourth Grade Buddies (Crow Island): Kindergarten and 4th grade buddy classes visited the Lincoln Park Zoo in February to observe animal behavior.  Children worked alongside their buddies to observe and collect their data from their observations, as well as create observational drawings.  Both classes learned about different animal behaviors and what specific traits can tell us about that animal before the trip. Children paid close attention to play in the animal world, specifically how animals play and why.

  • Kindergarten Bird Habitat and Study Grant (Greeley): Extension of the Kindergarten bird study and the addition of a variety of bird feeders outside of each one of the kindergarten windows. Feeders will attract a variety of birds, including the ones classes are currently studying. Bringing birds to the outdoor Greeley environment will enrich the experience with the natural world and help the native fauna, which is a value shared in our classrooms.  It is one thing to learn about a bird in a story, but to be able to see and connect with it in real life is another.

  • Preventing the Summer Slide reading program (Skokie & Washburne): Expansion of the program to now target rising 5th through 8th-grade students who received MTSS reading support at Skokie/ Washburne during the school year. This program has been in place for multiple years expanding across the middle school and junior high grades. Because it has been so successful funding will be absorbed by the District next year.

  • Podcasting Sound Booth (Washburne): This booth, called the Whisper Room, allows students a quiet space to record voiceovers for creative projects such as podcasts and documentaries. This allows students to add more audiovisual elements to their project-based learning tasks. The booth is located in a classroom allowing greater accessibility to a quiet space and easier supervision.

  • Fitness Room Equipment (Skokie): The Skokie School Kinetic Wellness team acquired additional pieces of cardio equipment for the fitness room, allowing for greater accessibility for larger classes to experience the full benefit of the cardio experience.

  • Outerwear for Kindergarten Nature (Crow Island): This grant funded rain suits and rain boots to keep at school, allowing Kindergarten students to explore nature when it is raining, wet, or muddy outside. 

  • Classroom Community (Skokie): Request for new furniture for the classroom to create a stronger classroom community that fosters connection and collaboration, while still honoring personal preferences, space, and flexibility. The goal of this proposal is to replace current whiteboard tables with limited seating options, for flexible whiteboard furniture. 

  • Friendly Loom T-shirt Weaving (Crow Island): After the successful grant at Hubbard Woods for a loom last year, a grant was requested for the purchase of a Friendly Loom for the Crow Island art program. Once this simple, large-scale loom is set up, it can be used as part of a weaving lesson (i.e. 3rd-grade Pioneer unit), an activity for fast finishers, or school-wide collaborative artwork.

  • Artifact Discoveries (Greeley): The Winnetka Historical Society began a new in-class program in the fall of 2022. The second-grade team is interested in their Artifact Discovery program which is a 45-minute guided program conducted by a WHS educator.  This experience is part of the Old Winnetka Unit. The children analyzed and discovered the use of historical artifacts, matched artifacts with corresponding objects, and discussed the modern-day versions of each item. 

  • Effective Task Seating for the Classroom (Skokie): Targeted new classroom seating allows chairs to adjust to the height of student desks to allow for the correct sitting position – with backs supported by the chair and feet firmly on the floor. New seating provides healthy movement of the body, a feature necessary for the comfort of the student. This grant request allows for functional, flexible seating in the classroom. This will allow children to arrange chairs in a manner that complements the curriculum and makes learning participative.

  • Thrive (Skokie): The Thrive request supports the creation of a therapeutic indoor garden space within the social work office. Students can sit in the indoor garden to relax, recharge, and/or regulate. Students will also learn about the therapeutic benefits of nature and gardening and will have an opportunity to help care for the garden. The goal is to develop a "green space" inside the school. The objective is for students to experience and learn about the multiple therapeutic benefits of nature and gardening. A secondary objective is that they learn to care for the plants around them. Caring for plants can also be used as a metaphor for how the students can care for their own well-being and thrive as people. 

  • ELL Summer Reading Club (All Schools): The Summer Book Club creates a positive, community-building, and uplifting experience around reading and literacy for our ELL students. This experience will also create a passion for reading and increase confidence. Expected outcomes include helping and supporting ELL students to become better readers, growing relationships, and learning from diverse perspectives. Funding will shift to the district in 2024.

  • Skokie’s South Courtyard Beautification Project and the Development of Outdoor Learning Space (Skokie): The development of a new and improved "Green" Space in Skokie's South courtyard. Students will plan and develop an outdoor garden space in addition to an outdoor classroom space open to all 5th and 6th graders. The learning space would consist of lab tables for science instruction/benches/chairs for whole group instruction time and a partially covered shelter in the form of a green roof. 

  • Froebel Gifts (Hubbard Woods): Replenishment of the Froebel gifts at Hubbard Woods originally purchased in 2005 through the Foundation. Froebel's gifts support student's growth in several areas: geometry, number sense, part/whole, fractions, number operations, plotting on a graph, visual memory, short-term memory, long-term memory, visual perception, patterning, copying a pattern or structure, problem-solving, design thinking, differentiation, creativity, visual representation, language development, story development, listening, respecting others, risk-taking, executive functioning, among others. 

  • Feelings and Friendship: Fostering Social and Emotional Connections (Hubbard Woods): Materials dedicated for use in the classroom that support students' understanding, vocabulary, and skills around feelings and friendship.  The literature collection contains more recently published titles that offer stimulating stories to foster discussion and model strategies for navigating emotions and social relationships.  This funds games and puzzles that promote cooperation and collaboration as well as several other tools that support emotional regulation. These materials enhance the teacher’s ability to differentiate instruction around social and emotional learning.


Click here for more information about our previous years’ grants.