THE EDUCATION FOUNDATION OF THE GREATER PARAMUS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

P.O. Box 1703, Paramus, NJ 07653-1703

201-261-3344

Our Mission
The Education Foundation of Greater Paramus Chamber of Commerce is a registered 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation dedicated to encouraging and funding innovative and challenging ideas and projects amongst Paramus students and teachers. The Foundation was formed in mid 1995 and is non-political and operates independently of the Paramus Board of Education. Deserving grant recipients are recognized at an annual “Dream Awards” gala.

Who Directs The Foundation?
The Foundation is managed and directed by a Board of Trustees. They represent many aspects of Paramus cultural, civic, corporate and educational leadership. The Paramus Public Schools Superintendent and the President of the Chamber of Commerce sit as permanent ex-officio trustees. However, the vast majority of the trustees are not directly connected with the Paramus schools. They are citizens who are interested and committed to the betterment of education.

Our Goals
The Foundation was created to promote, through corporate and private funding, excellence in education and to provide our schools with resources to reach beyond the limitations of the school budget. The goals of the Foundation are to encourage teachers and students to pursue innovative and creative ideas and projects.

What Is A Grant & Who Makes The Decision?
Teachers and their students apply for grants each year. Grants applications for projects are reviewed by a teacher’s principal, school department supervisor, and the superintendent or assistant superintendent of schools, and then reviewed and approved by the Education Foundation’s Board of Trustees. The Foundation awards grants to applicants whose projects are exceptional, innovative, original, and which clearly enhance the quality of education in Paramus schools.

What Kinds Of Projects Are Funded?
The Foundation will award grants to deserving projects which actively involve and stimulate students and which can be replicated or shared throughout our schools. Among the areas that will be considered for grants are:

• Multicultural Studies
• Math and Science Projects
• Whole Language Programs
• Foreign Language Enrichment
• Environmental Studies
• Problem Solving and Critical Thinking
• Art, Theater, Music and Literature
• Technology

How Does The Foundation Raise Funds?
The business community and individuals who live in the Greater Paramus area help ensure that the tradition of excellence in education continues by their support of major events, corporate sponsorships, and private donations.

• Taste of Paramus – Paramus area restaurants offer tastes of their very best food and beverage samples with proceeds contributed to the Education Foundation Fund. This event is held at the Rotunda at Neiman Marcus at the Westfield Garden State Plaza. This event is held in late winter.
• Mini Golf Outing – Area residents and businesses enjoy a day of mini golf at the Paramus Municipal Golf Course with proceeds contributed to the Education Foundation Fund. This event is held in early summer.
• Dream Awards Gala – Past year’s Grant recipients are honored and current year’s Grant recipients are announced. Additionally the Education Foundation Board of Trustees honors several community or business leaders for their exceptional contribution to education. This event is held in the fall.
• Advertising Journal – Business and community members have an opportunity to contribute and be recognized at the Dream Awards Gala.

Here Is How You Can Help
In order to provide opportunities for educational excellence and creativity the Education Foundation needs great support from the entire community. Parents, alumni, businesses, and other Paramus area residents can help insure that the tradition of excellence continues.

• Attend Events
• Spread The Word
• Solicit Donations
• Personal Donations

In addition to cash, contributions to the Foundation may take the form of securities such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds and life insurance policies. Contributions may be made through wills, bequests and personal property, gifts in kind and other deferred gifts. All gifts to the Foundation are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law. It is important to note that many corporations will match the gifts of their employees. Pledges to the Foundation may be paid over a three year period.

Invest In A Dream
There are few investments that will yield a greater return than the investment in our children. Through the generous donations of Paramus residents, local businesses, and Paramus alumni, the Paramus Education Foundation of the Greater Paramus Chamber of Commerce has raised more than $250,000 to support innovative and creative classroom projects and enrich the learning experience of hundreds of Paramus students.

2009 Grant Descriptions:

Come Wii With Mii

• East Brook Middle School
• Christina Costanzo & Amy D'Ambola

This project integrates educational video gaming into mathematics. Games and the act of play positively impact student engagement as well as enhance knowledge retention. This instructional tool will allow mathematics teachers to infuse video gaming into a standards based curriculum. Students will use the Wii to design experiments and generate data. They will then analyze the data and present their findings both graphically and statistically.

Dance Your Way to the Top of the Class

• Ridge Ranch School
• Ruth Rice, Eileen Palumbo & Jeanine Nostrame

Research shows that students learn best when they are active. Students can dance their way to the top of the class by using a “Dance Mat” to increase understanding and content retention.

The Dance Mat functions like a keyboard by sending signals to the computer when the student steps on the mat. Software enables the teacher to create specific content questions that the student must answer by dancing on the Dance Mat. Even the most reluctant student cannot resist the opportunity to participate in this highly kinesthetic activity.

Imagine Mars

• East Brook Middle School
• Diane Verhasselt

Imagine Mars places students on design teams where they creatively work together to solve hands-on, open-ended engineering challenges. These challenges are similar to the ones NASA scientists are currently using to find ways for humans to live on Mars. This learner-centered approach will facilitate their understanding of scientific concepts, procedures and principles. Abstract concepts will be given concrete meaning.

Listen to Read

• Stony Lane School
• Karen Beards & Leslie Rochman

This project is designed to support the goal of improving reading comprehension. It makes use of print books and new audio book technology to allow children to receive extra help at home or in the classroom. Research shows that when children listen to audio books while reading along in print, comprehension improves. Students who need extra support because English is their second language or because of Speech/Language delays will benefit from the Listen to Read approach.

"Power Pak"-ed Readers for Fast, Fun, Focused Fluency

• Ridge Ranch School
• Noel Drower

Power Paks contain high interest, leveled, recorded and reproducible short stories, as well as questions, games and activities designed to develop fluency in a fun way. These Power Paks correlate with the NJCCC foe Language Arts and are designed to assist struggling readers to develop strategies and make high gains in reading. The program will nurture the love of reading, strengthen reading comprehension, increase motivation to read and support continuing academic success.

Robot Olympics: Technology is More Than Just Computers

• East Brook Middle School
• Mary Hall & Todd St. Laurent

This project will provide students an opportunity to explore the building and programming of LEGO robots while learning corresponding physics. They will combine modern technology with the age-old principles of motion, energy and simple machines. Students will design robots to compete in various events, based on function, form and programming.

Trout in the Classroom

• West Brook Middle School
• Susan Dziob

Students need to play an active role in the conservation of our waterways. By bringing trout into the classroom, they will not only have a hands-on opportunity to master the curriculum, but they will also learn about interactions between man and the environment.

"We Got the Whole Story in our Hands" - Reading Through Puppets

• Stony Lane School
• Kristen Greco

Children in Kindergarten learn best when they are speaking, reenacting and dramatizing. Creative dramatic s related to reading, such as puppet shows, play an important role in developing language skills. Puppets are used to introduce children to punctuation, quotation marks and reading inflection; a story read may be aloud through the use of a puppet as “reader.” This project will combine the use of big books and puppets to deepen the children’s experience of literature. The project will acquire twenty big books of classic literature and folktales, 43 character glove puppets along with a puppet stand and a big book bin.

Yoga - "Bridging" the Gap Between Regular & Special Education

• Ridge Ranch School
• Barbara Vene-Anderson, Diane Schubert & Jeanine Nostrame

This grant will purchase yoga mats, books and DVDs, as well as formal yoga instruction by a certified teacher who specializes in yoga for special needs students. Research shows that yoga enhances flexibility, strength, coordination and body awareness. In addition, students’ concentration and sense of calmness and relaxation improves. Doing yoga, children exercise, play, connect more deeply with the inner self, and develop an intimate relationship with the natural world.

ICast

• Paramus High School
• Dianth Acevedo, David Allocco & Michele Sarnoski

This project takes technology that students know and love and applies it to classroom instruction. This technology is Podcasting. Podcasting is a digital recording made available for downloading to a personal audio player. The term podcast derives from a combination of iPod and broadcasting. Writing, recording, and editing podcasts combines and challenges a variety of skills. Students will choose a research topic, research and define it, learn and implement a variety of writing styles to script the broadcast, practice communication and public speaking skills and learn to master the software required to cut and edit files into a finished product.