September 15, 2017, San Jose, CA:  The Moreland School District announced that Latimer Kindergarten Teacher, Chris Bean, and First Grade Teacher, Julie Reid, were each awarded a $500 math grant from the Philanthropic Ventures Foundation.  This is Ms. Bean’s 4th consecutive year applying for and being awarded this grant and Ms. Reid’s first grant..

As Latimer reopened in the fall of 2014, Ms. Bean applied for this grant to purchase additional teaching tools such as manipulatives to start math groups.  Manipulatives are educational toys that help students build their fine motor skills and learn about their relationships with the physical world and how they can interact with it.  With this new grant award, Ms. Bean will be purchasing math readers and magna tiles to supplement Kindergarten STEAM activities in the classroom.  

Ms. Reid will be using her grant money to purchase various math materials and manipulatives, as well, that supplement the newly adopted Eureka Math program across all of Latimer’s first grade.  With a goal of keeping students engaged through fun and enriching math activities, Ms. Reid will add items such as Double Dice, Magna-Tiles and Counters, to name a few.

The Philanthropic Ventures Foundation math resource grants are open to Transitional Kindergarten - 3rd grade teachers in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties.  Grants are available to fund books, materials, software, manipulatives, and professional development related to mathematics.