Materials

Musical rights are easily the most expensive budget item for a musical performance. Theatre performances are lucky to break even and even luckier to make profit, so the LPSF grant is crucial for schools to continue live performances by making them less financially restrictive. LPSF approved the purchase of rights/royalties along with scripts and music for a showing of “Big Fish: The Musical.” The show is about tall tales and larger-than-life characters, so having a sponsor cover the rights will allow the MHS technical theatre department to truly bring the magic to life. Auditions are happening Sept. 9-11, and the show will be Dec. 6-8. You can ensure an envelope filled with tickets will arrive at your office soon!

Live theatre has been shown in research and practice to provide students with the same benefits as team sports. When a large-scale production is carried out, students from all areas of the school — choir, band, drama, speech, wood shop, technical theatre, activities office/leadership, broadcasting, etc. etc. — make it happen by collaborating. Meanwhile, they are learning in the most engaging way possible: through hands-on, creative and real-world tasks. We are so thankful that LPSF supports projects like this, and we can’t wait to produce “Big Fish” this winter!

Ceramics is an art medium that is cost prohibitive for many people, so my goal with my classes is to introduce them to as many different techniques as I can since this may be my students’ only time they ever get to work with clay. Getting this grant meant that I was able to incorporate a brand new expensive technique that I never thought we’d get to try out: Nerikomi. It is a Japanese clay technique that involves layering different colored clay to create patterns. We usually add color and pattern on top of the clay, so to be able to do a project where it is part of the construction was a new challenge we’d never tackled before. All of us (teacher included) learned a lot and the reveal at the end when we opened the kiln was so exciting! This project would not have been possible without the LPSF grant since clay pigment is extremely expensive so we are very grateful for you choosing MacArthur’s Ceramics program as a grant recipient!

I want to thank the LPS Foundation for the items we received through the grant this year. The children and I are really loving the wobble chairs, dividers, clip-boards, and calculators. These items will be used (hopefully) for future students receiving assistance in the Resource Room at Pioneer Park. I have been donating to the foundation for years, and it is so nice to see others benefiting from the grant as well as my students. Win! Win! Thank you once again for the grant money and the opportunity to make our students feel special and supported.

The students at Sullivan Village have been so excited about the reading corner! As pieces were arriving, they could not wait to use them. The students are so appreciative to have a place in the library to call their own. They talk about how comfortable the chairs are and how much fun they have working on the puzzle with their friends. This reading corner has had such a positive impact on the students at our school. It has helped to encourage and motivate our students to spend more free time in the library. As a library media specialist, I always want to foster of a love of reading. This reading corner will help do that for many years to come!

My students were so excited to see the new seating in our classroom. They ask constantly to use these items. They are more focused and eager to learn every single day.