WILMETTE – The District 39 Educational Foundation recently announced the recipients of its Fall 2015 Gripp Grants, including the purchase of adaptive musical instruments for students with comprehensive learning needs and/or physical challenges at Highcrest Middle School and Wilmette Junior High School.
“Adapted instruments allow for more full participation in musical opportunities at school across settings, including general education, special education, and PTA clubs,” said Alene Frost, a social worker at Highcrest. For example, the adaptive instruments will allow students to fully participate in the Wilmette High Five Junior Choir, a PTA club that pairs students with comprehensive learning needs with typically developing peers.
The adaptive instruments include features that make them easier to handle, such as tactile grips or touch activation. One of the instruments is a lighted tambourine that responds to a lighter touch and provides auditory, visual and tactile stimulation. Many of the instruments can be mounted to a table for stability or for use by a student in a wheelchair.
“From our standpoint the adaptive instruments incorporate the accessibly of learning and allow students to fully participate in their classes,” said foundation chair Tracy Peacock.
Touch activated light-up tambourine works by touch; for students with limited hand/arm motion
Allowing all students to fully participate in school sends an important message to the entire community. “More complete participation of all students benefits the entire school population, fostering relationships and the school climate of acceptance, diversity and inclusion,” Frost said.
Music programs are an integral part of the District 39 curriculum, which includes traditional music classes as well as orchestra, band and chorus.
“The use of instruments not only brings musical learning to a higher cognitive level, but also encourages the use of gross motor and kinesthetic skills. With some of our non-verbal students, the use of instruments and manipulatives or props serves as a communication tool to express themselves musically,” said Jana Martin, Highcrest music teacher and director of the Wilmette High Five Junior Choir.
Switch activated Bong Drums are played with a touch of a switch
The Foundation was established in 1993 when budget cuts were putting programs like art and technology at risk. Since then it has donated more than $1 million for programs that tax dollars do not cover, ranging from adaptive classroom furniture and technology kits such as Makey Makeys to forward-thinking teacher conferences.
“[The foundation focuses] on anything that is going to enrich the school experience for the kids,” said Peacock.
The foundation’s Gripp Grants program, which was named for Phyllis Gripp, a D-39 teacher and founding foundation board trustee, funds initiatives that enrich as many students as possible by piloting new initiatives or providing teachers with funds to take an existing program to another level.
In addition to adaptive musical instruments, other grants awarded this fall funded teacher conferences, adjustable desks designed to adapt to an individual child and their learning environment and Makey Makeys innovative technology kits.
The deadline for spring Gripp Grants is March 3. Peacock encouraged anyone with a good idea to consider submitting an application. “We are only as good as the grants we get requests for,” she said. “It is a great opportunity for teachers to be creative in their classrooms.”
More information can be found at www.d39foundation.org.