Greetings! The 2020 school year is well under way and all of our students, teachers and families are doing their best to adjust to this new reality. We've made it through the first two months of school and appreciate all of the hard work being done by our students and teachers to navigate a school year unlike any we've ever known.
The Falmouth Education Foundation is committed to finding ways to help and support our schools and community during these challenging times. Our regular Fall Grant cycle is almost at a close and FEF will be awarding funds to applicants and announcing recipients this month. Meanwhile, hang on tight as we make our way toward the Holidays!
2020 FEF ANNUAL FUND
While traditional fundraising opportunities are put on hold while we are required to limit our events and physically distance, your support is more important than ever! Please consider donating to the FEF Annual Fund in 2020!
Thanks to the ongoing support of local families and businesses, FEF has funded over $1,000,000 in grants since 2005, providing innovative programs and educational materials to the students and teaching community of Falmouth. FEF’s ability to support and enrich academics, athletics, and the arts could not be possible without the generous donations from supporters like you.
While it won't be the same as our Annual Color Run, or our Family Dances, we know our community will come together to support our students and teachers.
If you have already made a donation, we can't thank you enough! If you haven't, you can donate via online below or mail your donation to:
FEF
PO Box 6043
Falmouth, ME 04105
Grant Spotlight: Falmouth School Gardens
One of the key elements that distinguishes the Falmouth school system from its peers continues to be its stellar outdoor spaces, including the school gardens and outdoor cooking spaces managed by our very own local treasure, Justin Deri, more fondly known as Farmer Justin.
FEF has proudly supported the expansion of the schools’ outdoor spaces over the years through its grants program. Highlights include the following projects:
Falmouth school gardens and orchard care and development (2014-2015)
Construction of the outdoor pizza oven (2017-2018)
Falmouth Elementary School picnic table (2019-2020)
Falmouth schools’ Cooking Cart (2019-2020)
To help our families gain a sense of how these outdoor learning spaces supplement in-class learning, Farmer Justin was kind enough to share some behind-the-scenes information with FEF about the usage of these spaces. Hopping into our time machine to one year ago, let’s revisit what happened from the start of school in September 2019 through mid-October.
“I can say that during the first six weeks of 2019, there were about 70 different classrooms visits to the gardens where I was involved,” recalls Farmer Justin.
These visits included:
Preschool tours of the garden
Elementary school art projects (creating cement pavers using garden objects)
Elementary book readings of "What's in the Garden"
Elementary science journaling
First grade potato harvesting
Middle school art classes studying details of math and patterns in nature
"Rice and the Neolithic Era" with freshman history classes and sixth grade social studies classes visiting the rice paddy
Pizza oven usage by several classes and clubs throughout the school system
If this was just the first six weeks of school last fall, we can only imagine how much traffic these amazing spaces generated over the course of the school year. Of course, we can all agree that these outdoor spaces have never meant more to all of us than they do now during these unprecedented times.
The love of learning can be nurtured just about anywhere. Special thanks to Farmer Justin and his team for offering us this reminder regularly. FEF is proud to support these programs and looks forward to another amazing school year!
~ Make Your Mark at FHS ~
Consider celebrating someone special this holiday season by purchasing a paver at the Falmouth High School. An engraved paver installed at the entrance to Falmouth High School is a wonderful way to honor not only your student, but also an alumnus in your life, a special teacher or community member. Order now to have it installed this spring!!
If you want to learn more about how you can honor a special community member or relative with a paver at FHS, or purchase a paver for your own student or family, please visit our website.
Shopping online? Who isn't these days? Your shopping can help FEF when you shop at Amazon. Log into Amazon Smile with your regular account and choose Falmouth Education Foundation as your charity. Amazon will donate a portion of your sales to FEF with no cost to you!
View the full newsletter here:
Newsletter - Fall 2020
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