Educational Improvement Tax Credits to PA Businesses Benefit MTEF and the students of Manheim Township School District.

As part of Act 4 of the Public School Code, the Department of Community and Economic Development of PA has authorized the award of tax credits to businesses that make contributions to organizations on the approved list. It's a great way for Pennsylvania businesses to have a positive impact on education, right in their own community. A business will be approved for a tax credit equal to 75% of its contribution to an organization, up to a maximum of $200,000 per taxable year. The tax credit may be increased to 90% of the contribution, if the business agrees to provide the same contribution amount for two consecutive tax years.

In early January 2002, MTEF was approved to be included on a list of Educational Improvement Organizations, which allows our foundation to receive corporate contributions as part of the new Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) program.

The state of PA has made it very attractive to commercial organizations to contribute to foundations like MTEF, because of the tax incentive. So far, MTEF has received contributions from eleven area businesses. These donations have increased MTEF's ability to fund larger grant projects at Manheim Township School District, to benefit more students than ever before. Our education foundation is hopeful that many more businesses will take advantage of this new tax credit and make a contribution to its "Corporate Grants Program".

There is a limited amount of money set aside by Pennsylvania for the tax credit program, making it essential to act quickly if a contribution is planned. Each year beginning on July 1, "new" money becomes available for this program from the state. The EITC program has become so popular with PA businesses that the allotted $14.6 million is exhausted in one day.

Manheim Township Educational Foundation is very grateful to its corporate contributors for making more exciting grant projects possible than ever before. These projects or programs would not have received funding from the school district's annual budget and therefore would not have been possible without funding from the EITC program. Each year in late January, MTEF publicly acknowledges its contributors with a newspaper ad that runs for several days.

For additional information about the EITC program, log onto www.NewPa.com. For questions regarding contributions, please contact Executive Director of Manheim Township Educational Foundation, Julie Merrill, at (717) 333-1776.

Advanced Academic Programs

• Schaeffer Elementary's Eco-Pond Outdoor Classroom
  A large pond environment developed as a living laboratory for studies in science that is integrated with the existing curriculum and State standards.
  
• ESL (English as a Second Language) Computer Assisted Learning in the High School
  By supplying additional computers and specialized software to the ESL lab, non-English-speaking students can learn English at their own pace as well as do research in their native language to complete assignments in other classes.
  
• Brecht Integration of the Arts Program
  Under the leadership of an artist-in-residence, children and teachers learn how to integrate the elements of dance and drama with their academic curriculum. This non-traditional approach to learning helps students connect to academic concepts and shine in an artistic and creative environment.
  
• Leap into Learning
  This program benefits at-risk (for literacy) kindergarten students by providing individualized instruction using components of LeapFrog SchoolHouse Programs. The teacher is able to target key phonemic awareness skills for each student and can work with each student alone or in small groups.
  
• SMART Program (Stimulating Maturity Through Accelerated Readiness Training)
  The importance of establishing a strong early start in learning for children is well known. Therefore at Reidenbaugh Elementary, they are reconstructing their physical education program for kindergartners by including twenty minutes of specially designed activities that provide stimulation through the sensory receptors to improve the areas of reading, listening and writing. Funding has purchased additional gym equipment to implement these activities. Through this program, the school is seeing that stimulating the body through these sensory receptors makes a positive difference in a child's ability to learn.
  
• Wireless Laptop Integration at Bucher Elementary
  Through the purchase of ten wireless laptop computers, teachers now have the ability to differentiate instruction to meet the individual needs of their students. Technology allows the use of a wide array of individualized activities, right in the teacher's classroom.
  
• Enhancing Ninth Grade U.S. History
  With the purchase of a projection unit, a high school history teacher hopes to implement exciting new changes within the U.S History curriculum. Utilization will enhance the history class as the teacher will be able to use a powerful CD Rom of PowerPoint presentations, maps and other historically appropriate pictures and artifacts that can be viewed on a large screen which will give the students a more visual picture of what history is all about.
  
• EXCELLING (Extra Comprehension Strategies for English Language Learners) (Nitrauer)
  This project will promote literacy and academic achievement among English Language Learners (ELL students) at the elementary level. The program uses a reading comprehension program using the Quick Reads curriculum with teacher support for vocabulary and comprehension. Small group instruction will enhance the readings. Students will share strategies that they have found successful in improving their reading comprehension and overall academic achievement. Passages from these books will reflect information in national and state curriculum standards for science and social studies that will be helpful to students during their school day and later, in their assessments.
  
• FLEX (Foreign language Exploratory) Program for elementary students (Neff)
  At one of our elementary schools, a two-year program of introducing Spanish has been very successful. The program will now expand the students' exposure to foreign language and cultures by teaching them some Chinese as well as some French. Learning other languages at a younger age provides numerous benefits including better pronunciation in the target language, better performance in school overall, and better performance on standardized tests. Social studies and language arts in general will be interfaced with these lessons.
  
• Mark Mathabane Lecture (High School)
  Grant funding will bring award-winning author, Mark Mathabane, to M.T. High School to present his speech "Surviving Apartheid and the Importance of Education" to sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Most of the students have read his book "Kaffir Boy" and will be eager to listen to Mr. Mathabane's message of tolerance, humanity and our responsibility to those less privileged.
  
• Promoting Literacy and Democracy through Journalism (High School)
  This grant funded the purchase of software and digital technology in order to pull the journalism department into the 21st century. Journalism classes are now more real-life, as the group experiences the aspects of being a real newsroom. With the tools necessary for up-to-date photography, lay-out design, etc. the journalism curriculum and the school newspaper now provide a hands-on experience for students as they learn innovation and creativity in this area.
  
• Fall Play Visiting Scholar (High School)
  This project gave students, teachers and the community the opportunity to interact with a leading specialist in drama and foremost Arthur Miller scholar, Dr. Centola. The high school fall play was "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller. Dr. Centola visited Township on two occasions to host talkback sessions for the cast of the play, for the community, the English department as well as Township students. This program nicely supplemented the MTHS English curriculum, since every Township junior reads this play.
  
• Fifth Graders - Our Future Leaders (Brecht)
  The goal of this project is to help students learn first-hand the skills needed in the areas of business development, management and supervision, city government and personal money management. Students and teachers incorporate Junior Achievement's 6-week curriculum to prepare for the culminating visit to "Exchange City", where the students are grown-ups for a day. There they put into practice all that they've learned as they run businesses, elect government official, earn paychecks, etc. This project is excellent in connecting classroom to real life experiences. Funding covers the cost of the program as well as bussing to the site.
  
• Gardening for the Arts (Brecht)
  The Gardening for the Arts program was initiated at M. J. Brecht Elementary School as a cooperative effort between the faculty and the school's parent teacher organization (P.T.O.) in the spring of 2004. The program grew to include the entire school population of 259 children, 13 classroom teachers, one art teacher, local watercolor artist, Ann DeLaurentis, and many parent volunteers. Funding for the program was provided by a grant from the Manheim Township Education Foundation and by the M. J. Brecht P.T.O.
  
  Each child at the school participated in at least one gardening experience related to the grade level curriculum; and, students in grades three through five had learning sessions in the garden with artist, Ann DeLaurentis. During their time spent with the artist in the garden setting, the children observed and interacted with her as she demonstrated art techniques and then experimented by creating their own artwork. Emphasis was placed on observation and specific art concepts, such as light, shadow, color, and line. As a climax to Ann DeLaurentis' visits with Brecht students in the school garden, she created a watercolor image of the garden area.
  
• F.A.R.M. Project (Schaeffer)
  This program involves fifth graders in this organic farm project. The students research and learn about plants, organic agriculture, the environment and the Chesapeake Bay. The programs involve hands-on math and science as the school develops its own miniature farm, complete with shed and outbuildings.
  
• Exchange City Program (Reidenbaugh & Schaeffer)
  Fifth grade students learned first-hand the skills needed in the areas of business development, management and supervision, city government and personal money management so they could "run" Exchange City, a simulated city, for a day. The students prepared with their teachers for six weeks so that once they found themselves in an authentic adult situation of working, earning money, saving and spending, they were totally ready! Fourteen businesses make up Exchange City, including a Mayor's Office, Bank, Technology Shop, Distribution Center, Radio Station, Post Office, Sports Shop and more. Students interview for positions of owner, accountant, sales associate, police officer, bank president, etc. then apply their new-found skills in accounting, marketing, meeting deadlines and more. This program provides a real-life practice session for all students involved and prepares them to be productive citizens later in life. It integrates curriculum in math, reading, social studies (civics) and other language arts, and encourages team-building and sophisticated social skills.
  
• Artist in Residence (Reidenbaugh)
  The school will develop an integrated art experience with Linda Oatman High, an author. This will be a 4-day Artist Residency Program in March 2006. All 2nd through 5th grade classes will be involved in writing workshops with the author and the younger students will have a 30-minute book reading and discussion. Reidenbaugh will do student book publishing following the workshops. The program will include 3 one –hour assemblies to introduce the author’s theme to the whole school. Ms. Oatman High will then work through library periods to meet with all the students. She will also present a slide show and Q and A session for parents and families at Reidenbaugh’s Spring Open House. The PTO is matching the MTEF grant amount to bring Linda Oatman High to Reidenbaugh.
  
• Anthony Fredericks, Visiting Author (Brecht)
  A non-fiction author will be invited to Brecht to give exciting and interactive presentations to all Brecht students. The overall goal of the program is for students to learn strategies and techniques to improve comprehension of non-fiction text and non-fiction writing. Anthony Fredericks is a Professor of Education at York College and is the author of more than 100 award-winning children’s books and teacher-resource books. His time at Brecht will be divided between assemblies and workshops.
  
• Author/Illustrator Day (Neff)
  Drew and Neff staff would like their students to have the opportunity to see and to hear a nationally-known author talk about the process of writing and illustrating children’s books. Three presentations (by grade) will be done and some of the author’s books will be purchased.
  
• Guest Conductor for Grade 6 Chorus (Neff 6)
  The goal of this project is to expose the sixth grade choral students to a different conductor… his techniques, choral warm-ups, vowel pronunciations and cultural history of the pieces they are singing. Mr. Timothy Sterner, director of choral activities at McCaskey HS, will conduct a choral workshop. Students will have learned 3 of the pieces he is doing this year and he will guide the students on vocal technique and history of the pieces, etc. In addition the McCaskey Chamber choir will visit as well and sing with the Neff 6 students in an information concert.
  
• Character Education Mural (Bucher)
  Since character education has become an important theme in the school’s curriculum, grant writers are proposing a project to give the Bucher student body the opportunity to take an active part in creating a display illustrating the distinctive character of Bucher. Ideas will be gathered from the entire student body on the theme of character education and the seven virtues. A professional muralist will be brought in to work with 5th graders, to paint the mural. If Bucher is ever renovated, the mural can be removed and re-hung in the newly renovated school.
  
• Junior Achievement’s Exchange City Program for Brecht, Bucher, Neff, Reidenbaugh and Schaeffer elementary schools… please see above for description of this innovative program.
  
• Glass Artist: Student Fusing and Forming Works of Art (high school)
  Funding brought glass artist, Phil Barbers, to the Contemporary Crafts students in the high school to demonstrate fusing and forming of glass. Each student created useable glass forms that are functional and decorative, such as serving dishes, bowls or plates as he/she learned how to transform colored glass into 3-D forms. This grant also purchased a small portable glass electric kiln, which is needed for the students’ glass works to be heated, fused and formed.
  
• Brecht and Schaeffer Elementary Visiting Author/Illustrator
  Brecht and Schaeffer schools are inviting an author/illustrator to their schools, who connects the reader with the creative writing and illustration process. Lindsay Barrett George, a fine art printer in NYC, an author and/or illustrator of more than 15 books, an artist in residence and a lecturer would visit both schools in December and conduct 2 age-appropriate assemblies for students, followed by small workshops with an emphasis on observational drawing. The grant focuses on Ms. George’s books dealing with plants and animals, since both schools have gardens that provide an outdoor learning environment, then teach writing and observational strategies to students.
  
• Sprouting Readers! (Reidenbaugh, Bucher, and Neff )
  This program is designed for students who participate in the Extended Day Kindergarten Program. The ultimate goal of the EDK program is to have all of the students in the program on grade level by the end of the school year. This grant program implements an internet-based literacy program, Headsprout, for half of the EDK students. This would allow for a control group at Bucher and the Headsprout group at Reidenbaugh. Headsprout is a supplemental early reading program that ensures reading success for every child. It is designed specifically to address the needs of non-readers, struggling readers and beginning readers in the early grades.
  
• Brecht and Nitrauer’s JAZZLAB Program
  During the 2005-2006 school year, JazzLab met on Mondays at Brecht Elementary School. The program was directed by Tom Reese, a Grammy nominated composer and musician who has composed numerous jazz pieces and recorded approximately 10 CD’s. Tom often brought other professional musicians with him to interact with the students during Jazz Lab. Six 5th grade students participated in the program and they developed an idea for a jazz composition, wrote the lyrics, wrote the melody and chords, and then decided on the rhythm and dynamics for the piece. Writing the lyrics developed the students’ expressive writing skills as well as their poetry skills as they developed lines with rhyme. Writing the melody and harmony developed the student’s music composition skills. It was amazing seeing the entire piece come together! Tom Reese and his jazz ensemble came to Brecht and presented a Jazz assembly, which culminated in a performance of the student composition. The program was indeed successful and it brought Tom Reese back to Township, but this time to Nitrauer to do a similar program, but with many more students playing musical instruments, in addition to the composing.
  
• Robotic Control Systems for MTMS Technology Education Students (Middle School)
  This innovative program is providing students with relevant, 21st century system control experiences via the use of programmable robotics within existing manufacturing and construction related Tech Ed curriculum at the MT Middle School. The entire 7th grade at MT Middle School will learn the technical design process as they build robotic control systems that simulate the role of computers and robotics in the design, manufacturing and construction sector of our economy. Activities will be developed using the robotics software and special computers that will successfully connect students to the types of skills required of them not only in future Tech Ed courses but in other math, science and engineering courses in high school and beyond.
  
• Beauty and the Beast Story-Telling Residency (Bucher)
  As artists in residence, the “Beauty and the Beast Storytellers” will conduct assemblies and workshops in storytelling for three consecutive days. This experience will provide the opportunity for the entire school to experience an in-depth exposure to storytelling as an art form. Each assembly/workshop will be specifically targeted first, to the youngest group of students, then the next oldest group and finally to the third to fifth grades. Additional classroom workshops will culminate in presentations of stories created by the students. This residency program nicely supplements the reading and writing in balanced literacy that already takes place in Bucher, and will satisfy the reading and listening educational standards that are the most challenging to teach in a meaningful way.
  
• An Adventure in Economics – the Junior Achievement BizTown Program (Bucher, Neff, Reidenbaugh, and Schaeffer)
  This six-week program (updated version of Exchange City) teaches hands-on economics and work readiness to fifth graders, and satisfies many of the economics and math educational standards in a memorable way. The program culminates in an on-site visit for a full day to BizTown, a simulated town that students actually operate themselves. Teachers use the Junior Achievement 21-lesson curriculum to teach students the concepts of starting and running businesses, managing employees, making laws, electing town officials and working in a variety of jobs for which they have applied and interviewed. As consumers in the “city”, students learn about being workers, receiving a paycheck, doing banking, balancing a checkbook and how to make decisions regarding spending their money. Personal financial literacy is stressed along with the economics of business decisions and the interdependence of public and private enterprise. Since children learn by doing, this hands-on program teaches the concepts very effectively.
  
• Elementary Health Curriculum (all elementary buildings)
  This comprehensive, effective and executable health education program is for all elementary students at Manheim Township and is definitely a step up from the existing curriculum. This new program utilizes a “health learning system” for each grade level that includes teacher editions, student books/workbooks, transparencies, comprehensive lesson plans, wonderful assessment materials, songs, videos, posters and even items like puppets for the younger grades, for hands-on learning. The range of topics covered is incredibly diverse and ranges from teaching students about parts of the body to workshops about drugs, bullying, staying safe, first aid, kids and divorce, handling anger, nutrition, importance of exercise, weight control and so much more. The program includes an emphasis on vocabulary, questions designed to practice and check reading comprehension, and even fosters communication skills using discussion topics. It far exceeds the old-fashioned health lesson by allowing for an application of skills, providing critical thinking opportunities and problem-solving exercises. Currently, MTEF is able to fund this program for all of grade two students, partnering with the school district to eventually fund all the elementary grades’ health programs.
  
• Reidenbaugh TV Studio
  This grant enables the school to purchase basic equipment to set up a TV studio which will be available to all teachers to work with their students. Students will be able to broadcast morning announcements. Classroom teachers will be able to use it for sharing student writing and art work, performing music and discussing books. The studio will benefit teachers and students across the curriculum. Reidenbaugh is already wired for room-to-room video access from the auditorium.
  
• Floyd Cooper, Visiting Author (Brecht)
  Acclaimed author/illustrator Floyd Cooper will visit Brecht for one day to share his process of writing and illustration. He has published books on a wide variety of subjects, including grandparents, the civil rights movement, Down’s Syndrome, jazz and Michael Jordan. Each student will attend one of two age-appropriate assemblies. In addition, Brecht faculty members involved in the Jazz Unit will work with Mr. Cooper to develop small writing and illustration workshops for the fourth and fifth graders. Teachers and librarians will introduce students to Mr. Cooper’s books prior to his visit.
  
• Mosaic Tiling and Raku (Reidenbaugh)
  Funding pays for a three-month visiting artist experience which will engage the entire school and result in a unique mural in the halls of Reidenbaugh. Matching funding will come from the PA Arts Council and additional funding needed will be raised by the Reidenbaugh PTO.