Thank you to all 143 educators who submitted applications! This year we'll fund 26 projects, evenly split between the Highline and Portland public school districts. Here is the list of winners from Highline for 2011/12.

Throughout the year, we'll be hearing about how the grants are used. Please see our Facebook page for news.

During the application process, educators were asked to go into some detail about their projects. This year, we’ve included their entire project descriptions instead of summarizing. We don’t want to edit out any of the MADness.

(Scroll down for Highline MAD Grants. They follow the Portland listing.)

Portland MAD Grants 2011-2012

Cleveland/Roosevelt High Schools
Collaboration Jazz CD Project
Kenney Polson
In today’s economy, budget cuts have affected our high schools tremendously. Usually, in education, the Arts are the first to be hit by the money crunch. Portland Public Schools has by no means re-invented the wheel. Two years ago 14 music teachers were either cut in FTE or totally eliminated. Last school year 12 music teachers were either cut in FTE or totally eliminated. At a time when having an instrumental music program is certainly not the norm, we are striving to encourage the spread of sensitivity through music in our communities. We are doing what we can to keep music education alive and in the hearts of our city.
Under normal circumstances each of our schools would find the money to financially produce their own individual CD project, if we chose to do so. During this economic crunch we thought it would be a good idea to collaborate on a CD project and share the finances as well as everything else that goes with it! This is MAD because no other High School music department in our district has decided to take this approach.  
The hardest and most expensive part of this project is already complete (recording, producing, editing, mixing, mastering). We are requesting a grant to help us defray the costs of duplication of the CD project. We would love to put the MAD* Grants logo on the outside back tray of the CD, so everyone can see who helped us!
The Cleveland High School and Roosevelt High School Jazz CD Project (Collaboration) will support the production of student work in the form of a professional recording by students currently enrolled in the Jazz Band classes of the two schools. This recording will serve as critical incentives to music (and would-be music) students considering a professional career, involve the community through its promotional capabilities and performance venues, support the school’s improvement plan, and positively impact student achievement and student attendance.
The 12 selections for the CD are performed by all of the students enrolled in the two Jazz Bands. The CD cover, subsequent fliers, posters advertising the Collaboration instrumental music program performances for the 2011-2012 school year have been designed by our band members.

Grant High School
Amy Lindahl (with Walt Hollands)
Authentic Ecology Research
This grant will support the two Ecology classes at Grant High School. Walt Hollands and myself, Amy Lindahl, are both teachers of this course. We believe deeply that ecology is best studied and understood when students venture into the field. Additionally, we know how important it is that students develop meaningful research questions, collect data, and present their work to larger audiences. Unfortunately, it is getting more and more difficult to fund these crucial experiences.
The funding you provide will allow our students to participate in a series of important activities, namely:
1. My students will be able to attend the Wolftree Student Summit at Timberline Lodge in May of 2012. I have brought students to this conference for the last two years and it is a seminal and exciting experience for them. At this summit, students will present research posters about their experimental questions and results. Students and scientists from throughout the state will also attend and serve as an authentic audience for my students. This will cap off our year.
2. Walt’s students will complete the SWRP program (Student Watershed Research Project). In April, his students will have an entire day in the field. They will collect watershed and water quality data that they will compare to their already-collected fall data. They will later present this data to a large audience at the spring SWRP conference at PSU.
The MAD Grant will provide the crucial missing links we need to complete student research experiences that are already underway...

Grant High School
Health Activities and Community Service Projects
Norman Scott
My goal as a health teacher has been to provide experiential health activities and community service projects that will allow students to apply health in very practical ways. So far this year my classes have done a 12 mile bike ride and a visit to OMSI, repainted and landscaped the health portables and athletic portables and lastly we are sponsoring a healthy lifestyle dance that allows students to have a great time without the negative baggage most school dances have. This will be the third school dance we have sponsored and the first two have been great successes in allowing students to apply health in practical ways. We did a host of activities last year from painting our cafeteria and making it an improved site for the school, planted and bark dusted the front of the school, did a beach clean up, visited the Zoo, Audubon Society, Oregon Food Bank, and Humane Society, and did work projects to help them and learn about their resources to the community.
This year I hope to continue our efforts to apply health in practical ways by taking students out of the classroom to make a difference in their school and community. Each quarter I’m designing four or five projects where students give up a Saturday to do an activity at their school or community. Next quarter we hope to design projects to two retirement homes by the Lloyd Center, where students eat dinner and lead programs at the Calaroga Terrace and the Hollady Park Plaza. Also we are planning a visit to the Oregon Food Bank, Audubon Society, along with sponsoring another school dance. Each of these activities takes place on the weekend and various amounts of money are needed to make them happen. Last year we raised $650 to landscape the front of the school. By having a grant it would allow me to build on the great successes my classes have had last year and the start of this year. ... Each quarter I plan to do at least four or five projects that students participate in. This usually involves a transportation piece, a food piece and sometimes a material piece. I usually ask students to contribute to the endeavor but many times additional monies are needed. Having a fund to help make these activities happen would be very helpful. This year I hope to take students on a beach clean-up to the Astoria and Fort Stevens area. We hope to include a history piece to Fort Clatsop and Astoria.

Jackson Middle School
Balsa Airplanes
Joe Maddocks
My MAD idea is having the students design, build and fly balsa airplanes. This is MAD because students and teachers talk and read about the forces necessary for flight in their physical science classes, but students in our school have never had the opportunity to put the forces of drag, lift, thrust, and weight into practice. Students will be able to have a hands-on experience that will help them understand the principles of flight. Instead of just flying planes, they will really have to understand how flight works to design and build their own planes. We will re-use plastic bottles by turning them into propellers that can be activated by a rubber band and wire. It will be just like the Wright Brothers when we go out onto our field and let our planes fly for the first time! Some students will have to make alterations to their planes to make them fly which will continue their problem-solving practice! Others will continue to find ways to make their planes fly higher, faster, or a greater distance! It will be absolutely MAD to see all of these planes flying at once! This is a great lesson for less than $4 a student!

Madison High School
Madison Reads Robopocalypse
Nancy Sullivan
“Madison Reads” Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson is a MAD idea in most senses of your grant requirements. Our intention is to obtain 200 copies of the book through various channels, have every student read the book,  have every student attend one of two author discussions taking place in early March 2012 and lastly have our art teachers engage their students in robot construction. Those robots will be on display during the author discussions. Our timeline starts now.  We are beginning to gather copies of the book. On January 12 we are inviting the public to an open discussion at 6:30 and asking them to donate their book to the school. We are advertising this through libraries, Facebook, Idealist.org and word of mouth. The students will be reading the book during January and February, with robots being constructed during this time as well. It will culminate with the author visits and discussion in early March.   
This activity will make a difference in the lives of our students by bringing them together as a community. It is rather like St John’s University where everyone studies the Great Books. They can look at anyone around them and have a discussion about the same book, not just a text book, but a novel.  By sharing this task, they will build community and that makes the school stronger.
Some would say this is a mad/crazy idea to engage all 800 plus students in this task; but it is important to expose new works to young people and giving them the opportunity to meet the author. Reading and writing becomes more tangible to them, they can also see that this person is not unlike them, so why not look at it as something they could do with their own lives.
Lastly, I think all educators are still a little bit mad that they have to struggle to accomplish what used to be easy tasks. But this project is a bit out of the box and wouldn’t expect that the general fund would be used to purchase so many books. We would whole-heartedly love to obtain this grant. It would help us to reach our goal and bring this project to fruition.

Mt. Scott Learning Centers (high school)
Connecting the Study of Anatomy and Physiology to Healthier Choices for Students’ Lives through Hands-on Lab Activities
Joe Orzali
This science course will focus on an overview of the organization of organ systems, scientific names of bones and muscles, the structure and function of bones, muscles, connective tissues, and organ systems. Other topics that will be covered include stem cells, their functions, and their current and potential uses in medicine. After the overview, we will conduct detailed investigations of the muscular, cardiovascular and
respiratory systems with a focus on general health and healthy choices. These investigations will involve exercises like yoga, stretching, focused breathing/meditation, pushups, running and jumping jacks.
Interactive labs are very important for the understanding of physiological processes, so the goal is to have students work in small groups on several different labs. The labs will include lung capacity testing (spirometer), the effect of adrenaline on heart rate in daphnia (water fleas), heart rate calculations, blood flow analysis and heart function (stethoscopes), body mass index calculations, analysis of muscle fatigue (hand grips), simulation of bronchioconstriction (like asthma), reaction time, and other specific muscle building exercises and endurance exercises such as crunches, calf raises and squats.
The dissection of (frozen, food grade) squid is planned as a lab to provide an investigation into comparative anatomy. The squid will also be grilled and eaten by students and staff. This will provide an example for a comparison of grilled foods versus fried foods.
The course will then focus on the function and structure of the brain. Particular attention will be given to the most recent science around the way the brain changes in adolescence presented in National Geographic magazine.
A field trip to The Gunther von Hagens’ Body Worlds & The Brain Exhibit at OMSI will provide a unique chance to study the human body and the brain. An extensive work packet will be provided during the field trip for guided observations and specific anatomical and physiological
questions.

Portland Village School
Operation Volleyball
Elizabeth O’Malley
Portland Village School is a relatively new kindergarten through eighth grade charter school located in North Portland. We adapt Waldorf educational methods to public education. We envision a school that provides a holistic, arts-integrated educational program, designed to promote the development of the head, heart and hands—the whole child.
Our curriculum teaches through all of the senses as children engage in academics, music, art, handwork, cooking, movement, foreign language, and drama. Our school guides the emotional, sensory, physical, and social life of children in ways appropriate to their development. We strive to cultivate children’s love of learning, and develop their ability to apply their knowledge in the world.
We are applying to MAD Grants for help in acquiring volleyball standards and a net. Our current site is small and our asphalt parking lot doubles as a playground. We have been searching for a permanent site with green space for children to run, play, and explore. Four years later, our children have grown, increased in number and we have not yet secured a new site. Alas, we need to be creative with our cramped space, especially for the older grades. 
Physical activity is highly valued at our school. As we don't have a P.E. teacher (we don't have the funding), however, the grades teachers teach games and movement classes. This adds to the teachers' workload. I'm requesting the funds on their behalf to help alleviate some pressure. Our children need to move and they need to move now more than ever! We're in the business of building life-long healthy habits - our window of opportunity is only open for so long.
This is where volleyball comes into play. After playing down ball (a version of 4-square, which uses a raquetball ball and the lines delineating parking spaces) for 4-years at recess, the 8th graders in particular are in need of another constructive and active option. The older grades are learning volleyball skills and rules in their movement classes. If we had volleyball standards, volunteers could paint a volleyball court on our asphalt and voila, our students could explore a whole new game throughout the school year.
As the manager of the lunch program, I am involved with and deeply concerned about the physical well-being of our students. Our lunch program reflects our values by serving local and/or organic, vegetarian food. Nearly 70% of our student who get hot lunch are on free or reduced lunch.
Will you help us help our kids learn that being physically active is fun and essential to an individual's well-being?

Portland Youthbuilders
MAD for Art
Megan Vosk
Portland YouthBuilders (PYB) is a fully accredited high school and is an alternative program of Portland Public Schools. All of the students we serve, who are between the ages of 17-24, have dropped out of their traditional high school and come from very low income families. Our students are the ones that people typically worry about, with their prior gang affiliations, or teen pregnancies, or drug addictions, or homelessness. But our students are also incredibly motivated to turn their lives around and make things better for themselves and their families. They come to PYB because they firmly believe that we can help them get out of poverty.
Our "MAD for Art" project will give our students a brief respite from their burdens while allowing them to express themselves creatively, something they rarely, if ever, have the luxury to do. For five weeks every quarter of the coming year, all students will participate in a weekly art class as part of their experiential learning curriculum. Our goal is to make lasting artworks that will beautify our local Lents neighborhood; something that our students can point to years down the road and say "I made that" with pride. Why not give them that chance? Why not allow them to see that they can make a positive difference in their community?
The artworks will be student-led mosaic tile projects. Yes, completely led by the students, with support from PYB staff! Empowerment, ownership, community leadership, confidence... sounds mad, right?

Rieke Elementary
Dictionaries for All!
Jeff Sturges
“MAD, you say....”
Didn’t Edgar Allen Poe write about madness? Was Victor Frankenstein mad when he created life from dead body parts?
What is madness?
As a fourth grade teacher I will tell you what is mad. In our state of Oregon we have gotten rid of the state writing test. I hear murmurs from colleagues that they will lighten up on writing standards. That is madness!
I consider myself a proficient writer and take writing to heart. I tell my students that the power of a pencil will never go away, and the ability to communicate well with others through the use of paper and pencil is as old as time.
One of the many ways we explore language and language usage is using the tools available to us. Sure we have computers, but only a couple and they don’t work that well. Sure we have a library in school, but we only visit it as a class once a week. Something that has not gone out of style that works for us is learning how to successfully use a standard dictionary.
That is not madness; that is being a responsible learner!
What I need in my room is a nice, new set of dictionaries. I currently have seven, dating as young as 1989. They are worn out, ripped, beaten...but well used. I encourage the dictionary as a haven for words--how to spell them and how to use them.
I must be MAD because I am requesting a brand new set of 30 dictionaries for my classroom!!
...Would it be madness to request that my students now, and those to come through my door, be offered the opportunity to learn about words using a new, 2011, dictionary?

Roseway Heights
Passport Club
Patty Lovely
[From the website] The Passport Club is an individualized, sequential, geography program for schools. Its main purpose is to help students learn some, or all of the world’s countries over the course of a school year, and to meet essential academic learning requirements for geography. It also promotes strong parent involvement in the school. Finally, the program introduces postage stamps as a valuable educational tool for teachers, and an interesting and enjoyable hobby for students. This grant covers maps, globes and stamps to support the Passport Club.

Skyline School
Can You Cube?
Kimla Johnson-Koziuk
Last year at our school we experienced a resurgence of an obsession with Rubik’s Cubes among our middle school students. They were everywhere and there was every kind imaginable! Did you know there are many versions of the cube beyond the 3 x 3 array on each face? Students were working them at lunch, on the bus, in the hall, the library and, sometimes to the detriment of course content, in classes. Students initiated finding sources of solutions on the internet and one student discovered the algorithm from a CD that accompanied the purchase of a Rubik’s Cube at a garage sale. The students start initiating Rubik’s Cube “throw downs” challenging each other to who could solve a cube the fastest.
Last spring I received information for a math education kit for addressing Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) using the Rubik’s Cube. Upon exploring the lessons offered I found some exciting opportunities that were specifically tied to National, State and Common Core Standards for mathematics. What an opportunity to capitalize on the latest school craze while teaching the standards! Sadly, I missed that opportunity as no funds were available to purchase the materials.
Summer did not seem to dampen the Rubik’s Cube enthusiasm at Skyline. Not long ago the same information made it through the email filter and I, once again, wished I could capitalize on this. Last week my principal forwarded the MAD Grants information and I knew I had to apply.
I am requesting funding for 3 kits. I am eager to be able to promote mathematical thinking building on a highly motivating model for students at Skyline. This combines best practices and fosters meaningful learning opportunities for students.  

Vestal Elementary
Give Them the World!
Dave Blanchard
Teachers in the classroom have long struggled with trying to teach about the modern world using outdated maps and globes. The U.S.S.R. is still alive on our classroom walls and on our globes -- and yes, that makes me MAD! I'd really like to bring my class into the 21st century with some updated geographic tools! To that end, I'd like to request funds for a new, durable classroom globe with base (see link below for pictures and details, if desired) and a set of heavily laminated contemporary maps for use with our data cameras and projectors, so we can dispense with the old pull-down maps (mine are hanging behind the projection screen at the front of my classroom anyway). My students really do consult these resources frequently as we learn about the world, our country, and the Great Northwest; I'd like them to get an accurate picture as they do so. Thank you so much for making these grants available!

Vestal Elementary
Recycled Two Liter Greenhouse
Gretchen Rowland
Students at Vestal Elementary will be creating a greenhouse out of recycled bottles. We are requesting $500.00 to cover to cost of creating the wooden frame from which the bottles will be attached. The cost includes the estimate for potting shelves and roofing material.
The greenhouse will be put together incrementally over the course of the winter. This is a school wide project led by the Student Garden Club. We hope to have the greenhouse completed by mid January in order to start an earlier growing season. This is the second year that Vestal students will be growing food in the garden, a space we reclaimed from the parking lot. Last year we had a very late Spring and this made harvesting different foods before school got out too difficult. We hope that by having a greenhouse we will lengthen the growing season.
Vestal students are learning important lessons in the garden. This project reinforces the idea of reusing and recycling objects. Our garden has made a huge difference on the students and the nutrition choices they make. We think this project will reinforce the importance of recycling and reusing whilst creating a space we can use. We look forward to utilizing the greenhouse to help our growing season start a little earlier.

Highline MAD Grants 2011 - 2012

Beverly Park Elementary
Bonanza Girl
Linda Wheeler
Sixth grade students will read and discuss the book Bonanza Girl. They will then recreate the restaurant in the book. Students will invite guests, make invitations, signs, create the menu, name the restaurant, cook and serve the food for their guests. Before service the students will introduce themselves as one of the characters in the book. They will reenact their character in first person.

Bow Lake Elementary
Country Books for Our Library
Deanne Bell
We need new up-to-date country books in our library collection for two reasons:
1. Our children come from all over the globe and they want to read about their country.
2. Teachers are trying to combine social studies with non-fiction reading skills and ask for country books throughout the year.
As you know, this is the second year the district has not funded libraries. It is important that we try to maintain quality collections that benefit all of our children.

Bow Lake Elementary
Mountains to Sound Excursion
Melinda Nixon
Our 5/6th grade team would like to take our students to the Mountains to Sound Greenway for an environmental science field trip. We're asking for school bus funding. The purposes of the trip are to refresh our 6th graders with concepts from Waskowitz and to help prepare our 5th graders for the MSP science test. The Greenway educators will teach the program, Forest Ecosystems. They come to the classroom with preparatory lessons and then teach the field lesson on site. Their outdoor education programs are top notch and the students will spend the day in the outdoors; it’s authentic!

Cedarhurst Elementary School
Student Composition Recording and CD Making
Bianca Smith
This composition project allows for students in 5th and 6th grade to build their musical knowledge and learning by creating their own songs, recording them, and having a CD as a finished product. The composition process is much like the writing process, where it includes drafting, revising, practicing, and publishing. I have the technology and knowledge to put student recordings onto CD, and I’ve successfully done this project in the past with the help of grants, but I have also used my own funds and some donations to provide CDs for students before that. This grant offers a great opportunity for me to do this project again. It is too expensive for me to do it on my own.
I created a composition unit where students can work individually or in groups to write songs for their instruments of choice. After the songs are written and practiced, class sessions become “studio sessions,” where each group performs and records their songs for the class using my digital recorder. Students learn quickly how songs often need to be recorded multiple times to get the best performance quality.
After recording, students design their own CD labels to go on their copy of the CD. During this stage in the project, the classes discuss connections between visual art and music, and students are thoughtful about their album artwork. We also discuss the copyright laws and the significance they play in this technological time, as well as how it affects the musicians and artists to which they listen.
By the end of the project, students have all the recordings of their music, the music of their peers, and I would like to even include recordings from ensemble work and performances they do throughout the year. Especially for 6th graders, this will document memories of their experiences in their last year of general music.

Chinook Middle School
Cards, Dice and Chess
Tonni Best
Middle school students enjoy math when it can be seen as relevant to their lives. I would like to purchase chess boards, decks of cards and dice to engage students and connect with them on a more personal/practical level of math.
Playing Chess and learning dice and card games not only helps students’ overall number sense skills but requires the mind to think logically, problem solve, and enjoy math. Our School Improvement status encourages us to reach out to kids in new ways. Our scores last year show we are doing this. We would like to continue.
I would like to purchase 200 dice, 24 decks of cards, and three new wood chess sets to be used at before school tutoring, in teachers’ classrooms, and in after school activities. We have systems set in place at our school to ensure these items will be used. We have the capability to put these in all math teachers hands, and reach all 600 of our students.

Global Connections High School
Chimposium Visit at Central Washington University
Rachel Walker
This grant money would allow 45 students from the Tyee Complex and the Evergreen Campus to participate in a Chimposium while visiting Central Washington University.
The Chimposium showcases a unique research facility that houses chimpanzees who are being taught sign language; because students in our group have learned sign language during summer course work, this would be an amazing opportunity for our students to see how sign language is used in the program (and perhaps even communicate with the animals!).

Global Connections High School
State Capitol Field Trip
Jill Weseman and Kate Hennessy-Fiske
We are seeking funding to take two classes of students to visit the state capitol in Olympia for a one-day field trip this spring. We will arrange to take an official capitol tour while there, and explore the state government. We will also arrange to meet with a state legislator while we are there, so that students will be able to make a local connection and better understand how they may become involved in the legislative process once back in SeaTac.
We would like to take the Senior Government class and the Beginning ELL Social Studies/Writing class on this trip together. Because so many of the Beginners are at a basic level with their English, we would match up the seniors with the ELL students as government and language mentors for the day. This might be construed as MAD by some, as the seniors will help the ELL students understand the capitol tour by interpreting for them as well as teaching them more about the state government. Both classes will have participated in units on Democracy and Citizenship by the time of the trip, so they will have had exposure to background information.

Hilltop Elementary
Terre Salzer
Wildlife Experiences for 5th and 6th Graders
I believe that being aware of our surroundings encourages us to lead a more responsible life. To that end, I would like to pique student interest in the OUTDOOR world around them by providing classroom investigation programs offered through the Tacoma Nature Center, with the cooperation of the Tahoma Audubon Society.
Three fifth grade classes would attend “Awesome Owls”. Through hands on experience, students will learn about how owls are built for hunting and gain knowledge of which owls inhabit the Northwest.
For three sixth grade classes, the center would provide the program, “Washington Wildlife”. During the presentation students would learn about common wildlife species found in Washington and some of the adaptations they have, in order to survive. They would also investigate the problems facing wildlife today.
These programs will provide information that will help students understand the wildlife in their own backyard. I imagine that the hands on nature of these programs would be beneficial for my students.

Mt. Rainier High School
Giving Back
Michelle Mahurin
We are interested in getting our Emotional Behavior Center students involved in the community. They utilize a local clothing
bank, so we thought it would be a good idea to have them volunteer there, to both do laundry for the bank and help
organize the clothes. So often our students take from their community, but do not have the opportunity to give back. This
opportunity will teach them to
1. Figure out a metro schedule and ride metro to the clothing bank
2. Use a washer/dryer at a laundry mat
3. Work as a team to volunteer in a community setting.

Mount View Elementary
We Need Trees!
Delila Leber
I am the Spanish teacher in our school's dual language kindergarten program, and teach science in Spanish to 50 dual language students per year. We have an enhanced amount of time for science instruction because it is the primary way in which the English speaking students learn Spanish. We are lucky to be able to use FOSS science kits, including the Trees unit.
As part of that unit, the kit recommends planting a tree with the students so that they are able to learn about what a tree needs to grow. In addition, they will be able to watch their "class tree" change through the seasons and grow year after year while they are in elementary school. Our district paid for a tree in the past, but it does not have the funds anymore due to budget cuts. They are willing to come out to help plant a new tree each year with a tree that we purchase.
I am requesting the funds to cover one tree per year for the next three years, so that students can continue to learn about this important part of our ecosystem and how to care for them.

Parkside Elementary
Jeanette Yee
Build an Air-Propelled Motor Boat
Students will combine the joy and excitement of mechanical toys with science content, “Electric Circuits” by constructing an air propelled motor boat for their culminating project. Students will use functional reading and apply science skills by building circuits and troubleshooting. Students will be engaged because they love to build science models and will have an opportunity to participate in car boat time trials.

Seahurst Elementary
Can I Play?
Micheline Mazzola
We would like $100 to purchase board games and age appropriate activities for students in our emotional behavior classroom. We would like board games so that we can teach appropriate social skills such as turn taking, coping with losing a turn, positive interactions with peers, problem solving, how to initiate playing with others etc.

Seahurst Elementary
Outdoor Learning Means More
R. Mimi Krsak
This grant will help pay for ELL newcomers and other fourth graders to attend Camp Waskowitz for a week or a one-day program.