Classroom Support

“My heart is SOARING! My mom NEVER lets me get books from the book fair!"* While they are anticipated events for some students, traditional book fairs can unintentionally expose the inequities among our students, as not every family has the means to purchase books. In the past, schools have provided book coupons for students who are unable to purchase books, but that still serves as a social divider between the “haves” and "have-nots.” Additionally, book fairs temporarily shut down school…

Fifth grade teacher Ms. Wise of F.AVE Upper Elementary was awarded a DEF Teacher Innovation Grant recently to reinvigorate the school garden. Ms. Wise manages the school garden and has already begun fall garden planting with her students. Over the last few weeks, they have planted two types of collards, several types of lettuces, radishes, sorrel, kale, and rainbow chard. The students are also assembling trellises for sugar snap peas to climb. The garden serves as a living laboratory where students…

It’s that time of year again: we are launching the annual Teacher Innovation Grant application process! Decatur Education Foundation has been awarding teacher grants since 2002, and last year we awarded more than $35K in funds to City Schools of Decatur teachers in almost every school in the district. These grants provide funding for our teachers to enhance classroom learning by introducing new books, technology and equipment, addressing different learning styles, and bringing creative ideas to life. We hope to…

Christopher Brune’s title is “English Language Arts teacher” at Decatur High School, but he recently expanded his repertoire when he became one of two teachers of the brand-new IB HL Film class in the 2022-2023 school year. A few months into teaching this class of junior and senior students, Brune realized the class needed new filmmaking equipment and access to more movies for the students to analyze. “The DEF grant [will] provide students with the necessary equipment and knowledge to…

For six years now, DEF has helped fund the Blue & Gold Squad, a grassroots mentoring program at the high school that was the brainchild of Special Education teacher Beth Lewis to establish one-on-one relationships between faculty and the DHS football team. In the beginning, the Squad connected a teacher or CSD staff member with a member of the football team to support them in their transition from 3A to 5A.  As many good ideas do, the Blue & Gold…