Fairview School District

Elementary Autistic Support teacher, Elizabeth Clark, was awarded a grant to take her students to local stores and restaurants to practice skills they are working on in the classroom. Clark says, "There are so many other opportunities in the community that can help our classroom become successful members of the community." They will be practicing transportation skills, communication skills, grocery shopping, making a grocery list, waiting in line, using appropriate behavior in restaurants and stores, choosing and communicating menu choices at a restaurant, following community signs, interacting with other students, and so much more! Parents were very excited to have their children be able to go on these outings and practice appropriate social and behavioral expectations in and around the community.

The District has been utilizing a therapy dog for several years. This service animal supports our students in many areas - whether autistic support, counseling, or mental wellness. A second dog is being trained to become a Therapy Dog for the District. The Foundation agreed to fund the training classes for a new dog. We can't wait to see the good things "Evie" will do for the students of Fairview.

Middle School Autistic Support teacher, Carly Nicholl, was awarded a grant to take her students on community-based outings around the Erie area. For individuals with autism and their families, community outings are often a source of anxiety and frustration - they can cause overstimulation, which can result in full-scale meltdowns in public. As a result of this, families will often steer clear of taking their children into the community. These children often miss out on diverse learning opportunities to become future members of society. This grant for community outings gives children with autism the chance to practice all of the social skills they are learning in our classrooms, such as appropriate social interactions, physical awareness, and generalization of all other skills out in the community. Nicoll says she and her team will guide students through the community to help improve their skills and be able to go out with their families. Some of the places they will visit are Port Farms, the Erie Zoo, a local dance studio, an Erie Otters Game, Round One, Trampoline Park, a Seawolves game, and Sara's. They will also be incorporating sit-down lunches to practice appropriate restaurant behaviors, communication, and manners.

The computer science teacher and advisor for the Fairview Middle School Yearbook, Hayley Kloecker, had a unique request for the Foundation. She indicated that in the past, students have used their personal cell phones or devices to take pictures for the yearbook. Because of this, photos have not been the best quality. In addition, the district has strictly enforced its cell phone policies this year, so students are no longer able to have their personal devices during school hours. Ms. Kloecker thought it would be an amazing opportunity to obtain two high quality cameras for the FMS yearbook club. Students would learn how to use, handle, and care for the equipment. They will use the cameras to document every day life at FMS, sporting events, activities/clubs, and other happenings for the project. The entire school will benefit from a more refined yearbook.

The Foundation agreed to purchase two high quality cameras for the FMS Yearbook Club to use this year and each year going forward. Extra SD cards, locking containers, and cleaning products were also purchased. We are excited to see the finished product!

Claudia Filippi and Abby Thomas saw a need at the elementary school and asked the Foundation if we could help bring their vision to life.

The project is called the “Tiger Cub Closet”. It is a place for disadvantaged children to "shop" for items they need. Whether shoes, a coat, a backpack, or socks and underwear - this private area will give students a chance to self-select what it is they need and give them a sense of pride.

The Foundation provided the funds to create the space with racks, hooks, and start-up materials. The closet will be stocked with gently used items donated by our generous Fairview families.

This year the school district’s theme is "Do All Things With Love”. The Tiger Cub Closet is how we can show, as a collective community, that we do all things with love!

The Memory Project is a charity organization that allows art teachers and students to make portraits for youth around the world who may have been neglected, lost a parent, involved with violence, or lives in extreme poverty.  This project is a great way for some of Fairview High School’s best artists to use their talents to benefit others and show kindness.  The organization will send the art teacher both a physical print and a digital image of a child.  The art student will draw or paint that child’s portrait.  It will then be sent back to the organization where they will hand deliver the finished portrait to the child.  The art student will receive a video recording of the event.  This project is meant to help these impoverished children to feel valued and important – it also allows our students to become more empathetic and aware of what life can be like outside our small town.  The Foundation is proud and excited once again to participate in a small act of kindness that can bring a difference to a child in another part of the world.

High School Science teacher, Ms. Christine Groff has been awarded a grant through the Fairview School Foundation to purchase 3 data logging interface pieces of equipment for her Biology and Chemistry courses.    Students will have the ability to collect real data and track the results, instead of looking at a graph or table in a textbook. These types of cutting-edge tools bring the science material to life. Vernier equipment is commonly used in college laboratories. The Foundation is proud to have purchased several pieces of Vernier products for the FHS science department over the years.

The Foundation funded this project through EITC donations.

The Foundation is proud once again to be able to purchase Kindergarten readiness kits for all of our new “Tigers” that will be starting school in the fall. These kits have great information and skill-building tools that students and parents can work on together to ensure a successful start to their career at Fairview.  The kits include a usable draw-string bag, magnetic numbers and letters, scissors, a book about Kindergarten, crayons, a book of construction paper, and useful information about the Kindergarten teachers and other staff, as well as policies, procedures, and expectations at Fairview Elementary School.

The Foundation funded this project through EITC donations.

The Foundation awarded a grant to the Kindergarten team that provides each student in kindergarten with a Rekenrek. A rekenrek is a math manipulative used to help students with counting. If you can recall a traditional abacus, a rekenrek is a smaller version with two bars that has ten beads on top and ten on the bottom. The beads are grouped into five red and five white in each row to help students with grouping. This small setup gives students the opportunity to visualize, manipulate the beads as they count, and see the beads stacked on top of one another as numbers in traditional problems. Using a rekenrek also gives students an opportunity to use a math tool at their desks in everyday discussions that can be used from year to year. Kindergarten teachers can incorporate this tool into regular math instruction in their classroom as students continue to develop their number sense, counting abilities, addition problems, and subtraction skills.