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Education Foundation Links Authors to Lawrence Students
Several recent grants from Lawrence Township Education Foundation (LTEF) to the Lawrence schools will enhance the reading and writing skills of young Lawrence students by exposing them to experienced authors. A grant awarded to Jeanne Muzi, first grade teacher at Ben Franklin Elementary School, will provide grade a variety of opportunities to explore the work of Leo Lionni, one of the 20th century's most prolific and popular author of children's books. Through this program over 125 children attended a stage production of two of Lionni's most popular books - "Swimmy" and "Inch by Inch." Now the children will begin to write and illustrate their own short stories in the style of Lionni. Maureen Hayes, a reading teacher at Eldridge Park Elementary, received funding for a program that will visit all four of the district's elementary schools. "Nonfiction Matters" takes young readers in a direction that they do not often go. While children enjoy reading fictional stories, they are sometimes reluctant to tackle nonfiction texts. Ms. Hayes invited Wendy Pfeffer, a noted author of nonfiction children's books, to spend a day at each school working with students. Ms. Pfeffer will highlight the value of reading fact-based books and will help students develop nonfiction writing skills. These two programs are being carried out with $7,000 of LTEF funding, just a small part of the more than $1.6 million in grants LTEF has awarded over the past 15 years to support educational excellence, creativity and achievement. But they will make a big difference for the hundreds of students who will benefit from them. As one of the grant awardees recently wrote, "This is another example of a great learning opportunity for our kids that absolutely would not have happened if not for the LTEF." |
