April 24, 2025: Last week, the REF board was excited to see some wonderful grant requests from our district. We were thrilled to approve and fund three grants! Mrs Harmon at CVE has been updating the library to make books and browsing for books more accessible and fun for students. We were happy to provide funding for their library to purchase supplies to update the nonfiction section! The chemistry department at CHS asked for funding for supplies to enhance the lab experience of AP and college in the high school chemistry students! We were happy to be able to fund this grant which will make chemistry a better and more hands-on experience for more chemistry students. And last but certainly not least, we were excited to grant $10,000 towards the new playground at the final stages at Cherry Valley Elementary. We know that student learning is better when they have an opportunity to move their bodies! In support of this, last year, REF started a fund for each school in RSD, allowing them to receive funding every three years for just this purpose. We can’t wait to see the final playground in place at CVE
Feb 19, 2025: We've been asked for seating before! What made this grant request from Carnation Elementary particularly fun was that Mrs Clifford's class researched what they thought would work best for them and wrote the grant request themselves. What an awesome experience all around for these young learners! We hope you enjoy your new seating and hope you'll invite us over to test them out!Mrs Loewen is always coming up with new ways to engage her students! This time she asked for reusable materials that will give learners hands-on engineering experience as well as some early physics concepts! Kids love her cardboard arcade and this will be a great extension to the work she's already doing! Can't wait to see what the 6th grade scientists create!Thanks to Mrs Clifford's class and Mrs Loewen for sharing these opportunities with us. Putting tools in classrooms and expanding learning brings us so much joy!
Jan. 14, 2025: Last night the REF board of directors was happy to vote to approve the request for outdoor play equipment down at RLC. They're getting a gaga ball pit and tetherball sets! Should make for some good learning breaks!
Dec. 13, 2024: The first graders at Stillwater will have some fun new tools to help them in their math skills. All of Stillwater is going to being playing floor hockey (and learning from a big hockey fan!). And the CHS Life Skills students have some great new tools to help them in their business work they're doing within the school.
Nov. 17, 2024: Our board was so happy to be able to approve the funding for this grant at Cherry Valley Elementary. Their music teacher, Mrs Moeller, wrote a request for some recorders and a field trip for her 4th graders to attend and perform during a Seattle Symphony performance. See below how she describes the event! We can NOT wait to hear how fun and exciting this field trip is for her students. Thank you Mrs Moeller for writing the grant request and allowing us to fund it!
October 14, 2024: The REF Board of Directors voted on our monthly grant submission from Missy Krufka at Tolt Middle School. Missy shared that the yearbook students needed new cameras to create an awesome yearbook. We were excited to help provide the modern technology and also excited to support the Tolt phones away for the day policy. Previously students were using their phones and with the new movement to put phones away for better learning and connection, this seemed important for the students.
September 10, 2024: The new art teacher at Carnation Elementary is excited for painting and chalk projects and now the students will have the racks to dry their work! Simple but awesome!
August 12, 2024: REF board approved a grant to provide seating and a table for our iSET classroom at Carnation Elementary! Excited to see the kids getting just what they need for optimal learning!
May 20, 2024 - Megan Graff, Stillwater Librarian, wrote a proposal to update some books in the library. She proposed the purchase of 192 high-interest books.
One of the cool parts of this grant is how she included her 4th and 5th grade trained Library Volunteers! She shared that helping select new books was a project these student volunteers requested. They browsed publishing catalogs and selected books for the library that align with the student interests in the school! The library volunteers will be making short videos to promote the new books to other students. What another great opportunity for these young library volunteers to give back to their school!
Thank you Mrs Graff for working with your students and making this project come true! And thank you for letting REF be a part of this awesomeness.
And as always thank you to our donors, friends, and sponsors who make all of this possible with your contributions!
April 24, 2024 - REF was excited to fund Ms Sampson's grant to pilot a library of tools for students and teachers to use to help in times of need! Ms Sampson shared that these tools will help learners who may be having a harder time focusing or finishing a task. These tools will support students with the assistance of their teacher. We appreciate that she's thinking of ways to help our students be successful! Thank you Ms Sampson for allowing REF to support this pilot! We look forward to hearing more!
April 16, 2024: Last night at our monthly board meeting we reviewed grant proposals. We are thrilled to be able to announce that we approved the funding for 8 new grants!
That's 8 times we said yes to supporting RSD students and their teachers who have big dreams!
Thank you donors, sponsors and friends who help support REF and allow us to grant these funds! Stay tuned for more details on individual grants and photos of #refbigcheck when it is out and about!
March 30, 2024: This is a grant that REF funded earlier this school year which we haven't shared with you all...until now!! The REF Big Check made a stop at Stillwater Elementary recently to celebrate 5th grade teacher, Ashley Wood, and her STEM grant! After a recent school-wide STEAM night Mrs Wood sent this lovely note below and accompanying photos to REF. We were thrilled to hear what a hit these additions to her class have been! Thank you Mrs Wood for applying for the grant and sharing your student's joy in STEAM learning with us!!! "Thank you so much for funding my project for STEM materials earlier this year! With your support, I started a STEM Club for 4th and 5th graders held during their lunch recess twice a week. Students have excitedly built a roller coaster, marble run (in progress- this one proved extra tricky!), Ferris wheel, and other K'Nex STEM kits including a hydro powered car. They've also explored Sphero Indi robots amd coding. Additionally, STEM Club members and the community showcased their builds most recently at Stillwater's STEAM Night. My classroom remained a packed house for over 1.5 hours as students from K-5 and their families admired STEM Club's builds, and built their own. Please enjoy the attached photos, and thank you again for support STEM learning at Stillwater! Ashley Wood Stillwater Elementary School 5th Grade Teacher"
March 28, 2024: The REF Big Check was out and about this week at Cherry Valley Elementary! These second teachers look thrilled to have received the funds for multiple LEGO insect kits for all of their 2nd grade classrooms! Their grant request shared that the insect models will expand students' learning of insects through active engagement - building, manipulating, and creating. They'll be learning about additional species and be able to compare and contrast with insects in their standard curriculum. In addition, the teachers share there are some wonderful social/emotional benefits to using LEGOs in their teaching. They'll practice working together, communicating, problem-solving, and other lifelong skills! We are excited to see the kids using this favorite "toy" in their learning! Way to go teachers -- finding a fun way to expand and enhance learning. Lots to love about this!
March 26, 2024: REF's financial year starts in March and we are excited to have another full grant funding budget! We can't say it enough but we send out a heartfelt thank you to all of our donors and sponsors....large and small...who make this possible! We started off with two great grant requests from CVE this month. Their librarian, Gretchen Harmon, asked for puzzling supplies for the library. The grant request outlined all the ways these will positively impact our friends at CVE! The second grant request that was approved this month was from the 2nd grade team at CVE. These young scholars will be learning about insects and building LEGO models to extend their learning with additional benefits.
Feb. 24, 2024. Such an exciting day for the percussionists of Cedarcrest High School! This week a 5-octave marimba arrived at their music department. REF was happy to approve the grant request written by Mr Snavely for the instrument. Mr Snavely shared the following with REF... "The addition of a 5-octave Marimba will enable us to expand our musical repertoire and better prepare our students for their musical careers. It will serve as an essential tool for our percussion ensemble, and we anticipate that it will greatly enhance the musical experiences of our students and the quality of our performances." Two of our board members were able to go observe the students' excitement with this new instrument this week! They reported that there was much happiness and enthusiasm for playing the new marimba
Feb. 15, 2024: We recently received the nicest thank you from the recipients of a cool grant at Carnation Elementary! This morning we got to go down with the REF Big Check to meet the teachers! It was so fun to see their excitement over the green buds popping through on some of the plants. And to see their joy in the anticipation of kids coming out to enjoy and learn in their native plant science garden was contagious (even for this black thumb board member..haha!). Thank you Dani Geitzke and Erica Parkin for the tour and for bringing these awesome supplies to your garden! We look forward to another tour in the spring!
Feb. 7 2024. This is a SPECIAL one! Each year REF has a dedicated $50,000 budget for grants that support large district wide projects. We were thrilled to have Dr Leach announce last weekend at our Evening For Education that we recently approved a request to fund a one-year pilot that will provide tele-mental health for every student in the district. Dr Leach spoke of the extraordinary times that we're living in and that student needs are different than we've seen in the past. With this pilot, every student will have access to teletherapy services at school or at home with licensed mental health counselors! Stay tuned for more information from the district as they implement this program! REF is honored to fund this program offering support to all of our students!
Jan 26, 2024. This is a fun one! Mrs Cutter from Stillwater's music department wrote a grant proposal for us to provide ukuleles for Carnation and Stillwater elementary schools. With this donation now all 3 elementary schools have their own set of ukuleles (with cases!). These three music teachers have big plans for our young music students!
Jan 13, 2024. Fun to stop by Tolt with the Famous REF BigCheck this week! Last month the Tolt Den Time team submitted a grant to support the social emotional learning, inclusiveness activities and sense of community for our students during the new Den Time program. We hope the supplies will make this time even more valuable for our Tolt Bears!
Jan 28, 2024: More fun at Stillwater Elementary! Mr Madigan and Mr Kahrimanovic worked together to write a proposal for new mats for the climbing wall in the gym. Not only is climbing super fun for the kids they learn a lot about teamwork and other great skills. With thicker and safer mats the kids will get to use this awesome piece of equipment so much more!
Jan 11, 2024. Monday evening was another spirited conversation at the REF monthly board meeting. We were thrilled to approve funding for three grants - one that supplies books to every kindergarten class in the district!! Granting funds to schools throughout the district is an honor and a privilege. And one we can only do with the generosity of our donors!
Dec. 17, 2023. On Monday evening the Riverview Education Foundation board met and reviewed the grant requests for December. We are thrilled to be able to award two grants! We appreciate the time and effort each grant proposal writer puts into their dreams for their students/schools! Stay tuned as we learn more about these awesome projects coming to schools soon!!
Dec. 8, 2023: Cherry Valley Kindergarten team received a grant last month and we stopped by recently to present the REF BIG CHECK!The Kinder team wrote a grant titled "Better Social Behavior for Increased School Success". This REF grant will allow them to attend an online training course for themselves and other key team members at Cherry Valley! Starting students off with the best foundation in kindergarten is always a good investment! Thank you CVE Kinder team - we can't wait to hear about what you learn and implement!
Dec. 4, 2023: We stopped by CHS and met with Mr Byars and Mr Ward to present them a check for their grant that was approved in November! This grant will fund new equipment for the CHS weight room. This space is used by students in and out of class, student athletes and staff. The improvements will have a great impact on all of these group's ability to use strength building equipment! Seeing these two teacher's excitement talking about the improvements was awesome!Thanks to Mr Byars for spearheading the writing of this grant so we could help contribute to these strong improvements!
Dec. 2, 2024: This week we got to see a small but mighty grant in action! Madame Sensei at CHS wrote a grant to purchase computer mice for her classroom. She invited us to see the escape room she had built in Minecraft based on a book her French language students finished this week. It was AMAZING watching the students speaking in French navigating the escape room with their classmates. Truly an awesome experience to watch these French speakers! And it warmed this REF board member's heart when she unveiled the mice to her students and they were genuinely excited!!Merci Madame Sensei for your very fun learning experience and REF is so grateful we could help make it even better with the addition of mice for your classroom!
Nov. 20, 2023: Last night we were so excited to bring out The Big Check! We presented the latest round of grants to the Riverview School Board for their approval.While we were there we shared that so far in our Fiscal Year 2023 we have gifted over $63,000 to our schools! All schools and all areas of education - music, health, books, STEM, etc - are represented! It feels great that with our donors we can support students, teachers and learning here in Riverview in such impactful ways!
Nov. 18, 2023: REF's new monthly grant review process has a quick impact on Stillwater's Third Grade Team! Their grant proposal for The Secret Stories was approved on Monday night and already ordered by Friday!!What is The Secret Stories? In her grant proposal, Heather Nelson explains how this interactive word sound wall will support students in their study of phonics. It will be used as individuals, as a whole class and in small groups. It will provide meaningful and engaging stories. It gives students instant access to all sounds by putting meaning and explanation to when letters are combined to make a new sound and/or new word part meaning!Learning to read is hard work and this sounds like a fun way to build those needed skills! Check it out here - www.thesecretstories.com
Nov. 15, 2023: Monday night was a wonderful night of grants discussion! Seven grants were approved for four of our schools this month!! Every month it's so exciting to see the great proposals from our district community! And being able to fund so many of them thanks to our amazing donors is so wonderful. We are grateful for RSD and our REF donors.
Oct. 11, 2023: On Monday at our monthly meeting REF approved four new amazing grants! Students across all ages and four schools will be impacted by these gifts to the district!
