Since its founding in 1992, the Littleton Public Schools Foundation has provided over $1,350,000 in funding to LPS teacher projects and district-wide programs. Listed below are examples of projects, funded through LPSF, that have made a significant impact in the LPS District.

 

For additional information about Grants-On-Line and how you can become a “Friend”, click on "Grants On Line" from the menu on the right.

 

For additional information about the Foundation, click on “About Us” or “Contact Us” from the menu on the right.

 

 

Our three major fund-raising events – the Stride (November), the Spirit dinner (March), and the Golf Classic (June) raised a net total of $85,000. In addition to this, we received a total of $383,000 in donations received from grants, corporate partners, gifts, and individual donors.

 

LPSF awarded $7,700 in scholarships and $225,000 for teacher grant requests and district-wide training programs. We also presented the District with $12,500 to be applied to their 21^st Century Learning Program.

 

Last May (2007), the Littleton Public School Foundation announced the four winners of its 2007 Spirit of Littleton Scholarships program. Each year, the Foundation awards four, $1000 scholarships, one to a graduating senior from each of our four high schools. Each high school may nominate up to three students from its graduating senior class. These nominees must not only have remarkable academic achievement, but they must have demonstrated outstanding commitment to service to the community. From these nominated “Spirit of Littleton Scholars”, the Foundation Board of Directors interviews each candidate and selects one winner from each school. The nominees from each school who do not receive one of the scholarships receive a $200 savings bond, generously provided by Wells Fargo Bank.

Justin Lambert - Arapahoe High School

Lucille Holtsnider - Heritage High School

Natalie Jacobs - Littleton High School

Celia Cabodevilla - Options

 

 

Each year, FirstBank generously partners with the Foundation to underwrite the funding of the grant requests submitted by LPS teachers. Last November, thirty-eight grant requests were selected by the LPSF Board of Directors for funding, totaling over $10,600.00. Two-thirds of the schools in the LPS District provided entries for consideration and every one of these schools received at least one award. 

 

 

The second 2006 Teacher Grant program provided by the Foundation is supported by funds provided by Wells Fargo, which are matched by the Foundation. This year, twenty-four grant requests were selected by the LPSF Board of Directors for funding, totaling over $10,200.00. Two-thirds of the schools in the LPS District provided entries for consideration and more than half of these schools received at least one award.

 

 

In 2002, the LPSF provide funding in the amount of $100,000 to establish a program of Fine Arts Instruction (CA²FE) at Centennial Elementary School. The program includes instrument classes in piano, brass, woodwind, strings and percussion. Students can participate in two choirs, theater classes, rhythm and movement arts and computer graphics. Visual Arts include ceramics, painting, and sculpture. 

 

According to surveys, 96% of respondents believe the programs have added value to their children’s education. All survey questions received approval rating of 93% or better. 

 

Since the beginning of the CA²FE program, all measures of student performance – writing, math, arts – have improved, while behavioral referrals, absenteeism, and truancy have dropped significantly. Also, out-of-district enrollment has increase substantially.

 

One of the most difficult things to teach in Physics is projectile motion. Through a $498 Wells Fargo/LPSF funding grant to Heritage High School, the Physics Department has been able to purchase lab equipment (The Monkey Gun Trajectory Apparatus Kit and Projectile Launchers) so that students can make connections between theoretical predictions of projectile motion and actual flight paths. Each year, approximately 150 students will participate n these experiments.

 

 

Written language is a challenge for the student with severe disabilities in the PACE Program at Littleton High School. Although many can identify the sound of a word, relate to pictures of a word, or understand its meaning, they cannot always read the written word. The LPSF has funded a teacher grant request in the amount $494.00 for the purchase of picture-assisted literacy software. This software enables teacher to create individual picture schedules and produce picture images for the students to increase literacy.

 

 

To give fourth-grade students at Franklin Elementary hand-on experiences with the Physics of Sound, the LPSF funded a teacher grant request for the purchase of the FOSS Physics of Sound science kit. Students learn to discriminate between sounds generated by dropped objects, how sound can be made louder or softer and higher or lower, how sound travels through a variety of materials, and how sound gets from a source to a receiver. Each year, approximately 70 students will benefit from this project.

 

 

In the spring of 2007, the LPSF provided Heritage High School with $28,000 in funding to purchase four TI Navigator Systems (2-Math, 1-Chemistry, 1-Biology), which includes a set of TI-84 Calculators for student use in each of these four classes. Phase Two of this program, in 2008, will include three additional TI Navigator Systems and keyboards, costing $22,000 and $14,000 of expanded teacher training.

 

This equipment can be used as graphing calculators and as word processors. It will permit students to do class work that is immediately available for teacher review and feedback. Improved student engagement and accountability will reduce tardiness and improve assessment.