Grants

Grants 

We work with teachers at all levels who prepare rigorous grant requests for classroom projects they believe will benefit their students. PTEF’s grant committee then undertakes a thorough evaluation of the proposed projects, prioritizing and funding as many qualified projects as resources allow. At the end of each school year, grant recipients are required to prepare detailed evaluations of their funded projects with an emphasis on objective criteria if possible.  

2023-2024

PTEF awarded $40,072 in grants this year.

Your donations enable students to learn in new and dynamic ways with the engaging projects and curriculum listed below:


Microgrants (up to $750):

 

T.A.C.O. (Teaching Academics through Culinary Opportunities) - PTHS

PTHS Spanish students will grow and cook traditional Latin American dishes. Starting with the work of planting seeds in the PTHS garden and culminating in the preparation of meals in the Culinary Arts room, they will make connections to both the joys and hardships of people whose cultural legacy has brought us these magnificent foods, and they will develop their appreciation for the labor of those who grow our food.  All the while, they will learn Spanish communication skills to talk about nature, outdoor work, food preparation, food enjoyment, celebrations, and cultural aspects of food and fellowship.

 

Sled Hill Prairie - PTHS

Port Townsend School District inspires and encourages teachers to implement Project Based Learning (PBL) opportunities.  The class is wanting to establish a small patch of Ancient Prairie on our campus. This project is designed in partnership with a community member, Forest Shomer and will support students in identifying and remediating an ancient part of the land we reside. This project will include writing, science ongoing and individualized opportunities for students.

 

Sustainable Forestry Practices and Inventory - PTHS

This project will support a partnership between PTHS educators and the Jefferson Land Trust to develop and teach sustainable forest inventory skills for our high school math and science students.  Students will go on-site to the Valley View Forest Preserve in Chimacum to survey forest and inventory available board feet, do calculations for the sale value of the timber, develop a selective harvest plan, and learn how to maintain a sustainable forestry plan. These real world career skills can position students to pursue careers in landscape management, forestry, and environmental sustainability.

 

Exploring the Literary Gothic - PTHS

The grant will be used to purchase books from a set of choice books (students get to choose from a list) that represent important features of the gothic genre for the PTHS AP program, which now has grown to 74 students. The project will specifically facilitate student choice and variety. The purpose of offering these choice books is to engage students in a study of literature that results in deep understanding of the tropes and motifs of the gothic and be able to recognize them and reproduce them in their own work.

 

The Gothic in Port Townsend – PTHS

Gothic literature has long explored the things we repress, both individually and culturally. In this project, students will learn the history of the gothic genre, read gothic choice books, and go on to analyze features of the gothic in Toni Morrison's Beloved, recognizing the way our nation has repressed the   horrors of slavery. The grant will be utilized to pay the historical society for a field trip experience. The field trip is meant to be a launching point for student creative work within the gothic genre. Students will employ the tropes and conventions to explore a piece of our town's repressed history.

 

Improving College Access - PSAT Funding for Low-income Students - PTHS

Previously, the Practice SAT at Port Townsend High School was optional, and families were expected to pay for their child to take the test. As a result, many of the students who could most benefit from taking a practice test before taking the actual SAT for college admissions did not get that chance. A strong score on the SAT not only improves a student’s chance of college admission, it also increases a student’s chance of receiving merit-based financial aid. This project will fund the cost of the PSAT ($18) for 40 of our identified low income students at PTHS.

 

Multicultural Music - OCEAN

This grant will be used to support a workshop with drummer Bolokada. Bolokada will share about his experience about growing up in Guinea, how he became a famous drummer, and his humanitarian work in his home village Morowaya. He will perform a solo on the Djembe drum as well as teach a traditional rhythm to the students/parents/families. This is an interactive and multicultural experience for students and families participating in the OCEAN program to enhance their multicultural place based learning experience and culminating in a Multicultural Celebration Night.

 

OCEAN Free Reading Library Expansion - OCEAN

By expanding the Spanish materials in the Free Voluntary Reading (FVR) Library, this grant will support OCEAN students in developing their literacy skills and foster joy in reading. Reading is core to all literacy programs. Literacy in a Modern Language helps students to strengthen their competencies not only in the new language, but also supports their native language reading ability. Free reading libraries provide opportunities for students to pursue more advanced material, and spark confidence among struggling and reluctant readers through accessible, fun texts.

 

Japanese Language Curriculum - OCEAN

This grant will help fund a pilot program for Japanese language learning. World language credits help support students as they apply to 4 year colleges or universities. Here in Port Townsend, the only option for the last few years has been Spanish language learning. This program will pilot a Japanese language program at OCEAN to expand the option for learning a new world language and culture and will support the purchase of curriculum resources needed to support a Japanese 1 and 2 class. As we explore new languages and cultures, our worlds get bigger and the opportunities grow. Students are excited and eager to explore Japanese language, art, and culture at OCEAN.

 

Family Math Night – Salish Coast

This grant is in support of the Salish Coast annual Family Math Night. This event is a tradition that was started a number of years ago at Salish Coast Elementary, providing dinner for families and teaching families math games that support the curriculum in the classroom. Families get to take the materials home to play the game later with their student. Families are encouraged to visit other grade levels and learn about what to expect or review materials. The event began with 150 people in attendance and has grown to over 350 in recent years.

 

Accessible Literacy and Learning for All – Salish Coast

Students receiving special education services at Salish Coast Elementary through The Eagle NEST will have opportunities to better engage with literacy through sensory rich literacy lessons created by our collaborative team through the support of this grant. The funds will also support the purchase of sensory materials for the lessons as well as a field trip for students. Students will have the opportunity to visit an accessible playground after engaging in targeted literacy lessons around accessibility in our school and community through place based learning. We also hope to invite our student’s families to better learn about this accessible playground in our community and better know how to utilize this resource with their children in the future.

 

Salish Coast Physical Education Department – Salish Coast

Recently, Salish Coast has added two Transitional Kindergarten classes to the school, and they are now the youngest students that the school serves. The physical education department will use this grant to purchase new and safer equipment for these learners to use in their education so that they can move freely and safely while using the proper resources. This includes smaller, softer, foam, and other pieces of equipment and activities that would benefit their physical education goals while being catered to their abilities and size. This equipment will also be utilized by students with disabilities and other students with varying needs to provide additional accommodations and alternatives for their education as well.

 

Community Speaker Series – Salish Coast

This grant will support the continuation of an established community partnership with Sabrina McQuillan who has been coming to Salish Coast to provide authentic lessons and materials on the history and present-day culture of our indigenous community for several years. She is an asset to our community, and to our school and her talks support the teaching of the 'Since Time Immemorial' curriculum, which was recently created and mandated by the state. This curriculum is supported by all 29 federally recognized tribes in our state. This grant will help recognize the value of McQuillan’s time and experience while working as a guest teacher in all three fourth grade classrooms.

 

 

Traditional Grants (range approximately $800 to $7000):

 

Editing Bay/Recording Booth - PTHS

This program will convert a large closet space at PTHS into a designated editing bay that can also serve as a sound booth. In this way, it can serve both video production and radio/podcasting production purposes. It will also be used by PTHS ELA classes to further ongoing collaborations. Eventually, the project hopes to support students in writing and producing content for KPTZ, the Port Townsend Film Festival, and state and national school competitions.

 

We are Team Blackfish - PTHS

This grant provides support to the Port Townsend High School ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) team, Blackfish, which consists of a cohesive team of students, from all grade levels. Throughout the program, the team will form an ROV "company" dedicated to using their science, technology, math, writing, public speaking, and artistic skills to collaboratively design, manufacture, and program an underwater robot capable of any simple or complex tasks at depth during state-level competitions.

 

WITS for PTHS  - PTHS

Writers in the Schools (WITS) provides opportunities for published writers to come into our classrooms to empower our students. These local professionals provide writing tools and life experiences to help aid our students with their creative writing. By providing our students an opportunity to share their love of writing, it allows students to have a unique learning experience with professional writers within our school community. Students learn to express their voices and have power with words!

 

Culinary Pathway for ALE Students - OCEAN

This program will give students a venue to learn food preparation, nutrition, and professional skills as well as provide a CTE pathway to graduation. The class will be taught by Kyle Reynolds who is a trained chef with over a decade of experience in the restaurant industry. The grant will be used to provide students in the program with the most critical equipment and a space on campus to cook and learn. This program will provide students with valuable knowledge regarding food preparation, nutrition, and professional skills in addition to new pathways to graduation.


čičməhán and Maritime – Blue Heron

Blue Heron has long been known for its work in the Maritime trades and discovery projects.  This project supports the alignment of Maritime instruction with čičməhán (‘Since Time Immemorial) instruction while also integrating life-long learning, increasing partnerships and community involvement, creating citizens of the world, directly involving students with choice and voice, and addressing specific learning objectives and goals aligned to Washington state standards.

 

Wilderness Skills and Knowledge – Salish Coast

With this grant, this project will create a partnership between CedarRoot and the fourth grade at Salish that will embed place-based, experiential education into our Wit and Wisdom curriculum throughout the year. The fourth grade curriculum includes learning about wilderness survival techniques, edible plants, and teamwork throughout the winter months. CedarRoot has experience teaching all of those skills, in our local context, and will enrich and connect the traditional literacy curriculum. This added depth will allow students to learn real-world skills while also building a knowledge base with which to write nonfiction essays and fiction stories related to wilderness survival. These skills will transfer into the ability to recreate in the outdoors, gain early understandings of forestry and outdoor education-related jobs, and read and write at a higher level.

 

Classroom Set of Chromatic Glockenspiels – Salish Coast

This grant proposal is for a class set of 30 chromatic glockenspiels. This addition to the Salish Coast Elementary instrument collection would add so much benefit to the music education of every single student, from Transitional Kindergarten up to 5th grade. This would become a huge piece of students’ understanding of melody as it will allow students to play melodies in any scale or key!

 

Disability Awareness, Accessibility and Advocacy Library and Future Place Based Learning Curriculum – Salish Coast and OCEAN

The project will enable educators to curate a selection of books with a wide variety of children and/or people with varying disabilities and when possible, books written by disabled authors. This will create a core library for the special education program at Salish Coast Elementary, The Eagle NEST (Nurturing and Empowering through Specialized Teaching and Teamwork) and a more targeted library that will be used to create a curriculum on disability awareness, accessibility and advocacy. This library will be used by educators to develop lessons, units and eventually curriculum to share with our entire community at Salish Coast and hopefully create a framework for other interested Port Townsend schools in the future.

 

Empowering Students: SEL & Reading Proficiency through Board Games and Trading Card Games – Salish Coast; Blue Heron; and OCEAN

This program is a dynamic educational initiative designed to transform the learning experience of elementary and middle school students. Through engaging and interactive board games and trading card games, the program aims to promote socioemotional growth and enhance reading proficiency. The grant will enable the program to bring weekly game sessions to Port Townsend students, guided by a skilled teacher. These sessions will empower our youth to express themselves, solve problems, and collaborate effectively—all while having a blast.

 

Enhancing School Library Fiction Collections for Lifelong Learning: A Student-Led Library Book Selection Initiative – District Wide

The primary goal of this student-led library book selection project is to empower students to take an active role in shaping their school library's collection. Empowering students to help choose books for their school library is more than building a diverse and engaging reading collection; it's about fostering a sense of ownership and enthusiasm for learning. When students have a say in selecting books, they become active participants in shaping their educational environment. This project encourages them to explore their interests, discover new perspectives, and take pride in their school's library. By involving students in the book selection process, we promote a love for reading and teach valuable life skills such as critical thinking, teamwork, and decision-making. Ultimately, giving students a voice in their library's collection ensures that it truly reflects their evolving needs and interests, making the library a vibrant hub for learning and personal growth.

 

Multilingual Resources for PTSD – District Wide

This project focuses on different ways that schools can provide an equitable experience for our multilingual learners so that they are seeing their home language, cultures, and identities valued and reflected in our schools. Currently, many multilingual students don’t see their home language and culture represented in the classroom, libraries, and hallways of their school. With this grant, the program will supply every school in the district with multilingual resources to help our multilingual students feel valued and seen.

Port Townsend High School


  • T.A.C.O. (Teaching Academics through Culinary Opportunities)
  • If "eating is an agricultural act," what does it mean to eat here?
  • World History & Civics Extension Library Update
  • Publish it!
  • A Cut Above
  • Improving College Access - PSAT Funding for All 11th Grade Students
  • Updating High School Lab Equipment
  • Forensic Aspects of Fire Investigation
  • MiniOne

 

Ocean


  • Free Voluntary Reading (FVR) Spanish Language Library
  • Hi/Lo Reader’s Library and Resources

Ocean/PTHS


  • Developing Critical Thinkers and Lifelong Learners through Digital Access to the NYTimes

 

Blue Heron/PTHS


  • Port Townsend School District BIPOC Student Unions
  • Diversity in Music Project

 

Blue Heron


  • Electrostatic Attraction
  • Foldscopes
  • čičməhán and Maritime
  • Dystopian Genre Novel Choice
  • Leadership: Reducing Food Waste through Everyday Composting
  • Telling Our Stories: Digital Media Arts Literacy

Salish Coast


  • Building Virtual Worlds
  • Community Speaker Series
  • Let's Store it
  • Equity with Accessibility
  • AAC Access for All
  • WITS for 5th 

Salish Coast Elementary

  • Meaningful Work
  • STEM at Salish Coast Elementary
  • Sailing to the Future
  • WITS  5th
  • Watching It Break Down

 Blue Heron Middle School

  • Foldscopes
  • Sensory Room
  • Students Taking Ownership of Their Fitness
  • Art Display Panels for Art Shows
  • 3D Printing: Taking Ideas Into Reality

Port Townsend High School

  • AP Physics Support
  • Vernier GoLink! Adapters for Science
  • Access for All: Digital Access to the NYT
  • Physical Education Transformation

PTHS, Blue Heron, OCEAN

  • Driving Place-Based Learning with Science

Salish Coast Elementary

    •  Social Thinking for Early Learners
    • STEM Attraction
    • STEM Crossover
    • SAIL in COLOR
    • AAC on the Playground
    • Communication Stations
    • Diversifying Kindergarten Materials
    • Facts and Fiction
    • Wordly Wise i3000
    • YEA Music!

    OCEAN
    • Novel Engineering

      PT School District (Library)
      • We are all in this together

       Blue Heron Middle School

      • Foldscopes 2020
      • YEA Music!

      Port Townsend High School

        • World Language Independent Reading Library
        • Forensic aspects of Fire Investigation
        • Weight Room Transformation
        •  Building a Civics/CWP/World History Reading Library for a Pandemic
        • WITS 2020
        • Forensic Science Books for Alternative Assessment
        • Weight-room Transformation
        • iPads for the HS Art room
        • Keeping up with the Joneses
        • Increasing College Access - Offering the PSAT to All Juniors

        Salish Coast Elementary

        !YEA Music
        Enriching 4th Grade Classroom Library
        Hoops for Student Health
        Writers in the Schools Program
        Eureka
        K Guided Reading Leveled Books
        Sailing aboard the schooner Adventuress
        Salish Coast Elementary Family STEM Night: Children's Film Festival

        Blue Heron Middle School

        From Pigments on a Palette...
        Through the Lens: Photography
        Writers in the Schools Program
        Equity in Shakespeare
        ROADS challenge
        Maritime Discovery Program
        YEA Music!

        Port Townsend High School

        Extra Credit Humanities Library Expansion
        Analyzing Student's Personal Genomes
        What the Eyes Don't See
        T.A.C.O. Program
        Gears to Gizmos
        Lift your Voice Unit
        Updating and Expanding Science Tech
        Offering the PSAT to all Juniors
        Screen & Projector for PTHS Auditorium
        College Inspiration Day

        2018-2019

        The grants we have awarded  in our school district in past years are still impacting our  students today. 

        Salish Coast Elementary

        Teaching Artist in the Classroom
        Literate for Life
        4th/5th Grade Tall Ship Sailing Experience
        Custom Hula Hoops
        Revitalizing 5th grade Class Library
        Kindergarten Dramatic Play
        Creating a New 3rd Grade Learning     Community

        Blue Heron Middle School

        Jamestown S'Klallam Tribal Art
        Maritime Culminating Experiences
        STEM Inspiration through Living Computers
        Salish Sea to Olympics Challenge
        PBIS Film Production
        Collaborative Writers in the Schools Program
        Lit Lab Classroom Library Refresh
        6th Grade STEAM projects

        Port Townsend High School

        Childrens Theater "The Diary of Anne Frank"
        Seattle Repertory Theater "In the Heights"
        Updating and Expanding Science                        Equipment and Technology
        Building Competency Takes Tools and Time
        PSAT funding for all 11th graders
        Literary Arts - French Classroom Library
        Lecture with Filmmaker Leah Warshawski
        Forensic Aspects of Arson Investigation
        Contemporary World Problems Library Voluntary Reading - Spanish

        2016-2017

        Grant Street Elementary

        Robin Hood Performance
        Get Comfy with a Good Book
        Citizen Science; It’s Elementary
        A Bugs Life - Insects and Poetry

        Blue Heron Middle School

        High Interest Non-Fiction Reading
        Blankets for the Needy
        Keyboarding Technology
        Cameras for Publications
        Nonfiction Literature
        Teaching Artists in the Classroom
        Protecting Northwest Waterways
        Writers in the Schools
        S20 Challenge
        Blue Heron Culminating Experience

        Port Townsend High School

        All Movement Matters
        Extension Reading Library for Contemporary Problems & World History
        PT High School Wearable Art Show
        Vietnam AP English Field Trip
        Math Interaction
        Warhorse
        Mock Trial Extended Season
        It’s Off to the Races
        Maritime Discovery Bidarka Project
        Changing our Fast Food Culture
        PTSD Learning Lab Classrooms at Ft Worden
        PT Young Composers

        2015-2016

        Grant Street Elementary

        2nd Step Child Protection
        Taproot - Bullying
        Learning Garden
        Mobile Tech
        Dockside Programs

        Blue Heron Middle School

        Building Blocks
        Teaching Artists
        S20 Salish Sea-Olympics
        MDS Culminating
        Dockside Programs
        BH Publications

        Port Townsend High School

        AP English National Theater
        MiniOne Electrophoresis
        Sherlock Bones
        Dockside Programs

        2014-2015

        Grant Street Elementary

        Garden
        Integrated Mobile Tech

        Blue Heron Middle School

        Maritime Discovery
        Teaching Artists
        Young Composers
        Students with Learning Delays
        Collaborative Writers
        Keyboarding Tech
        Chimacum Creek Restoration

        Port Townsend High School

        Cape Alava
        Enhancing Science Instruc.
        Collaborative Writers
        Laser Cutter Robotics
        Learning Support Tech
        Next Gen Science

        2013-2014

        Grant Street Elementary

        Integrated Mobile Tech
        Marine Biology

        Blue Heron Middle School

        Writers in Schools
        Maritime Discovery
        Teaching Artists
        Non-Fiction Literature

        Port Townsend High School

        Commercial Range & Hood
        Cape Alava
        Improving Math
        AP Statistics
        Enhancing Science Instruc.
        HS Creative Writing
        RAD Defense Class
        Basic Applied Math
        Using Tech
        Exo Labs

        2012-2013

        Grant Street Elementary

        Teaching Artists
        iPad for SLP
        Page to Stage
        Grant Street Garden

        Blue Heron Middle School

        Writers in Schools
        Maritime Discovery
        Tales, Text & Theater
        Gateway to Tech
        King Tut
        Non-Fiction Literature
        Math Tech

        Port Townsend High School

        Science Lab
        Foreign Language
        Maritime Framework

        2011-2012

        Grant Street Elementary

        Teaching Artists
        iPad therapy
        Amplification systems
        Math

        Blue Heron Middle School

        Species Identification
        Teaching Artists
        Tales, Text & Theater
        Video Enhancement
        Writers in Schools
        Maritime Discovery Program
        Kinesthetic Modeling
        Physical Education

        Port Townsend High School

        Enhancing Science Curriculum
        Wellness Unit
        Improving Math Instruction
        Environmental Science
        Foreign Language
        Math

        2010-2011

        Grant Street Elementary

        Poet Christine Hemp
        FM System

        Blue Heron Middle School

        Calculators
        Writers in Schools
        Building Bridges
        Martime Discovery Program
        Class Novels

        Port Townsend High School

        The Motor Project
        Points of Light Youth Lead
        Environmental Science
        Hominid Skull Investigation
        Symphony Orchestra Retreat
        Mobile Lab

        2009-2010

        Grant Street Elementary

        Ready for Kindergarten
        Poet Christine Hemp
        Gardening Project

        Blue Heron Middle School

        Calculators
        Writers in Schools
        Martime Discovery Program
        Marine Science Center
        Class Novels

        Port Townsend High School

        Chemistry Lab Balance
        Marine Biology Texts
        SPED Reading Pens
        Explore Options

        2008-2009

        Grant Street Elementary

        Marine Science Center
        Playaway bundles
        Ready for Kindergarten

        Blue Heron Middle School

        Maritime Grant

        Port Townsend High School

        Foreign Language Media
        Black History Month
        Carpentry Sander

        2007-2008

        Grant Street Elementary

        Measurement Olympics
        Seattle Childrens' Theatre -  The Shaw
        Seattle Childrens' Theatre -  The Walker
        2nd Road Contact Links
        Photo Enhanced Literacy
        Tools for Handwriting

        Blue Heron Middle School

        Yoga Mats
        Julius Caesar
        Build Confidence in Math

        Port Townsend High School

        Explore Options
        Energy Bike

        Grant Application

        Grant submissions for 2024-2025 will open in June 2024.

         -----------------------------------------


        Any PTSD employee may apply for these funds and an employee may submit multiple grant applications. Since we have limited funds to distribute this year, the maximum request for Traditional grant applications is $5000. Applications will be reviewed individually based on criteria described below. 


         

        Things to note about the online process:

         At the close of each grant cycle the PTEF Grant Committee  meets to select grants. Teachers and staff will be notified by mid-October and funds will be released soon after. The deadline for use of the awarded funds for supplies is May 1. The deadline for use of the awarded funds for culminating experiences and field trips that often occur after the first of May is the last day of the school year.  All grant evaluations  are due the last day of the school year.


        Please note that we can NOT fund the following:

        Other considerations taken into account:


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