Foundation for Springfield Public Schools

Because of your generosity, students at David Harrison Elementary have the tools they need to manage big feelings right inside their classrooms! 💛

Thanks to a Foundation grant awarded to educator Erica Brummel, 19 classrooms are now equipped with “Calm Corners.” Instead of leaving the room and missing valuable learning time when they feel overwhelmed, students can independently use these safe spaces to self-regulate and reset.

The impact is truly transforming the school day. 🌟 Just ask 2nd grader Graysi: " Reading is really hard for me. When everyone else is reading big books and I can't, I used to feel really sad. I used to want to throw a fit and stomp my feet. Now, I just go to the Calm Corner. I don't get in trouble anymore because I have a place to go! 🥰✨

You can help us empower more educators like Erica. 🙌Join our Grant SPS campaign! Our goal is to raise $300,000 by August 31st to award even more educator grants this fall. 🎒📚

Make a difference today: ❤️ www.supportsps.org/GrantSPS

Your donations do more than buy supplies—they build true empathy and community! 💙🤝

At Cherokee Middle School educator Jessica Bengsch 🏫 launched "One School, One Read", giving every student and staff member a copy of Good Different by Meg Eden Kuyatt. 📖📚

The book follows Selah, a neurodivergent student who experiences the world differently than her peers. 🧠💭 Sharing her story sparked powerful conversations about empathy and understanding. 💬❤️

"I had several students come through the library telling me, ‘I’m just like Selah!’" 🥹 Bengsch shared. "Seeing this representation in something the entire building was engaged in was a positive experience." 🌟

It also transformed the campus culture, helping students better understand their classmates. 🤝❤️As Cherokee student Ava S. shared, “What I will remember is the sense of community it created. No matter who you talk to or where you were, you had something to converse over. You could make friends by simply asking if they had enjoyed the book so far. We all had a way to connect, and we did not have that before " 🙌

Help us empower more educators to create unforgettable experiences! 🚀 Our goal is to raise $300,000 by August 31st to fund new classroom grants for this fall. 🎯
Make an impact today: www.supportsps.org/GrantSPS 🎒🍎

Your generosity is changing lives! ✨ Thanks to our donors, Special Education Teacher Amber Hawkins received a Back-to-School Grant to help 40 students build crucial social skills and peer connections through cooperative play. 🎲🧩

The "Building Social Skills for Lifelong Success" initiative is working wonders! This year, out-of-school suspensions dropped by 37%, and 100% of students made measurable progress on their IEP goals. 📈🤝

But the best proof of your impact comes straight from the students. CT, a 4th grader, shared:

"I really liked playing Pass the Pandas. It made me realize games aren’t really too hard for me to play and understand. They can have easy rules and be fun. I also love playing with the dollhouse. My friend and I can pretend our dolls are families and make them have good days in their mansion. The families are big with a lot of kids and babies, and their parents take good care of them.

In social skills class, I worked on learning to be nice so that people want to play with me. People used to tell me no because I wasn’t nice to them. That was a bad choice for me. Now I have friends who say yes because they like when I am nice." 💖

Let’s empower more educators to create safe, supportive spaces! 🍎 Help us reach our Grant SPS campaign goal of raising $300,000 by August 31st to fund more educator grants this fall.

➡️ Support Grant SPS today: www.supportsps.org/GrantSPS