For the 2019-2020 school year, TVCEF funded specialized equipment for Themed Restaurant/Food Truck/Cake Decorating Projects for the Culinary Arts electives at the high school. This allowed Mrs. Kim Barndt to purchase an edible image printer and color printer in order to enhance her students’ class projects and skill sets. According to Mrs. Barndt, “The students formerly completed basic versions of hand-drawn logos or black and white printed images for menu and business logo designs. The new color printer enables students to produce high-quality digital color logos and menus that they design themselves for their Food Truck concept final project. For Pastries students, cake decorating is limited to the use of Wilton cake decorating design tips for design elements using buttercream frosting. The edible image printer provides students with the option of including photos, logos, or hand-drawn artwork on cake designs… students were able to make an edible image cake for Secretaries Day for the high school office staff, and also made an edible image cake for Guidance Appreciation Week, which was presented to the high school guidance staff as well to celebrate their contributions to students.” Mrs. Barndt continues, “The students were so impressed with the final logos that were printed, as was I. They were so professional looking and looked like things that could be used for any business today in the real world. We have come so far with the Food Truck Project and cake decorating. We went from hand sketches to producing full color photography elements that can be eaten! It is amazing to have that technology that not even all commercial bakeries have access to. Exposing our students to these new technologies in Culinary Arts not only enhances the classes with new opportunities for creativity, but it also provides them with skills that they could include in a portfolio or resume should they pursue a culinary pathway. It is evident that with this equipment we can continue to move forward and offer students additional opportunities every year building a Culinary Arts program that features elements of technology that are state of the art.”

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​As students and teachers transitioned to emergency remote learning at the end of last school year, the TVCEF funded program, “Get the Facts,” for 4th graders at TVEC provided helpful tools to students at home. According the Mrs. Sue Sanger, “The grant allowed us to purchase addition, subtraction, multiplication and division flashcards for each student. Because of this, we could assign fact practice as homework daily, helping to increase the number of facts a student could obtain in a one-minute timed test. In addition, we could use a set of flashcards in centers in the classroom to help the students we know needed help with their facts.” Students were evaluated using the district’s one-minute timed tests at varying frequencies throughout the math units. Although moving to online schooling did not allow teachers to do the one-minute timed tests in the same capacity, students did continue to use their flashcards during their time at home. In fact, 95% of students found the flashcards helpful for math fluency.

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As we all enjoy the last few weeks of summer, TVCEF is delighted to share some more of the recaps and successes of programs and projects we supported last school year. At TVMS, we funded flexible seating in Mrs. Pugliese’s learning support classroom. In Mrs. Pugliese’s words, “With flexible seating, students were more engaged in their work and had a positive commitment to learning because I believe they felt “empowered” by having some degree of choice and control over their environment. It allowed them to change their location and positions as needed… You could clearly see the results in the student actions and choices as well as their work completed; the flexible seating was their preferable space to work. It allowed them to work with choices and to work in a comfortable environment where they were focused, productive, engaged and positive while completing progress monitoring, corrective reading, small math groups as well as testing.”

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It is amazing to see how resourceful, creative, and dedicated Twin Valley teachers can be! Last year, TVCEF gave $860 to Mrs. Witman at TVMS for her Café Classroom. She used this to redesign her classroom and build community with her students. This allowed activities to be completed easier and more effectively, it made the classroom feel bigger, and even helped students communicate with each other, all while staying focused on their work. It’s exciting to know that students in years to come will benefit from this project as well.

Mrs. Witman writes, “After I finished the set up with the new items, my classroom didn’t feel like a regular classroom. Everytime I set foot into it, it made me smile. It felt more like a safe, comfortable home. I know my students felt the same way. They were proud of the room they got to go into each day and took great care with everything in it. I believe my goals were met, I felt that this year my students felt more like a family. They all got along, and worked so well together. I think having the high tables really enforced a “community”… I was nervous to try flexible seating, but I was completely blown away by how it really changed the feeling in the classroom. Thank you so much, my students came into the classroom smiling every day.”

Thank you, Mrs. Witman, for your hard work and dedication! TVCEF encourages all Twin Valley teachers to apply for support for 2020-2021 enrichment programs and projects at tvcef.org. Applications are being accepted now.

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At Honey Brook Elementary Center, TVCEF contributed to the Parent Academy Series, which gave training and resources to parents to better engage with their students at home.

Last school year (2019-2020), four sessions were held including an online session after school buildings were closed due to COVID19. Over 50 families attended at least one session. Parents were presented with important information as to how they could help their children at home with math, literacy, STEAM, and wellness. Alongside HBEC teachers and staff, parents practiced activities that they could do at home with their children, and took home materials needed to support these activities. This impacted student achievement because parents were able to more positively engage with their children at home, as well as help them with assignments and challenge them using the resources provided that they may not have previously known about.

As an unexpected outcome, this program even helped parents and families with engaging their students during emergency remote learning. According to Mrs. Michele Murtaugh, “Making positive connections with families early in the school year certainly did help parents to keep kids moving during online learning. The wellness sessions were targeted to helping the parents at home during this situation, which they appreciated.”

The Parent Academy Series had many benefits for parents and families, including practicing important strategies, connecting with teachers and staff, learning new ideas for engaging with their child, knowing where to find learning resources, and even addressing how to better mentally cope at home and at school. HBEC teachers and staff did a wonderful job implementing this program and TVCEF is very glad to have helped make it happen!

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It has been an honor to recognize and award some amazing Twin Valley seniors with scholarships, including the first ever Carroll S. Arnold Memorial Scholarship.

We know that all seniors needed a little extra support the last few months, and we were happy to support them by participating in the community run “Adopt a Senior” project as well as contributing to purchase yard signs to decorate the high school and boost morale. We hope that as seniors came back to the school to walk across the stage for their virtual ceremony, they felt the love and pride that TVCEF and the community has for them and all that they will do in the future. Congratulations, Twin Valley seniors!

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Great education is not just the responsibility of teachers and students, it requires community support. The Twin Valley Community Education Foundation (TVCEF) works to raise funds that promote educational excellence and community service to help Twin Valley students reach their full potential. 

TVCEF supports Twin Valley schools, students, and the community through grants to teachers and schools, student scholarships, and community programs. We believe that the dollars and resources TVCEF provides will continue to enhance the educational experience Twin Valley parents, alumni and community members have come to know and expect.

TVCEF's mission is to serve as a link between business, the school district, and the community to provide educational, cultural, and recreational opportunities.

“We love letting our students explore these materials and utilize their creativity and critical thinking skills to find novel solutions to our challenges. What’s best though, is that our students LOVE it too and are always asking when they will be using the STEM materials next. ”
​–Mrs. Arielle Chirlin, 2nd Grade teacher and 2018 recipient of STEM Stations grant