By Erica Voolich

Many teachers have great ideas on how to make their classrooms a better place for their students to learn math. The teachers’ ideas frequently outrun the budget schools have for supplies and their own ability to subsidize their classroom. The Somerville Mathematics Fund tries to fill this need through the generosity of their donors with grants up to $500.

William Kuhlman, James Dean Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Donald McGoldrick each sponsored multiple grants. The East Cambridge Savings Bank, Jeremy Gale, Lali and Jay Haines, Jay and Jasper, William Kuhlman, Philip Parsons, Spring Hill Dental, Tufts University, Winter Hill Bank and Rebecca Wood-Spagnoli each sponsored a teacher’s grant.

The rest of the grants were funded thanks to the combined generosity of everyone who contributed to the Math Fund’s annual fundraiser. The following teachers won grants to encourage and support mathematics achievement in the classrooms of Somerville.

These Teacher Grants were funded by the many generous donors who together contributed enough in our annual fundraiser to support all of them. There is power in donations of many sizes coming together to support the larger whole. Thank you to our annual donors.

• Matthew Burch, Argenziano School (Math Instructional Coach K-8), Math instructional materials.
• Amanda Oppman, Healey School (Community Schools Site Coordinator After-School), Math Plus After-School Club 3rd-6th.
• Paula O’Sullivan, Swetha Kalluri & Jenna DiNovis, District-wide Math Interventionists, (K-8), Math Manipulatives.
• Katie Starbuck, Healey School and East Somerville Community School (Math Coach), Materials to Support Math Classes.

The Math Fund wants to thank the James Dean Foundation for generously underwriting the following teacher grants:

• Nicole Alimena, Healey School (5th, SEI-1), Math Station Manipulatives.
• Sabrina Boy-Arruda, Healey School (5th Math), Create Math Stations.
• Andrea Carcamo, Healey School (Dual Language Pre-K), Math Manipulatives.
• Susanne Douglas, Healey School (K), Math Activity Centers.
• Julie Gallardo, Healey School (4th SEI-1), Math Workshop and Intervention Materials.

The Math Fund wants to thank each of the following for generously underwriting a teacher grant:

East Cambridge Savings Bank:

• Dolores Theolien, Healey School (1st), Take Home Math Materials.

Jeremy Gale:

• Johanna Cooney, Brown School (1st), STEM bin materials.

Lali and Jay Haines:

• Michael Morgan, Somerville High School (AP Statistics), Numworks Calculators.

Jay and Jasper:

• Meredith Rothstein, Winter Hill Community Innovation School (3rd-5th, Autism), Math Manipulatives.

William Kuhlman:

• Jessica Anaya, East Somerville Community School (K), Math Manipulatives.
• Naina Sood Fox, East Somerville Community School (5th Math & Science), Fraction & Decimal Manipulatives.

Mr. and Mrs. Donald McGoldrick:

• Debra Dixon & Jacquelyn Berkowitz, Winter Hill Community Innovation School (Library and SMILE Pre-K), STEM Books.
• Molly Harrington, Argenziano School (2nd SEI Inclusion), Math Enrichment and Intervention Materials.

Philip Parsons:

• Mary-Kate Pereira, Argenziano School (K, SEI-1), Math Manipulatives.

Spring Hill Dental:

• Roxane Scrima, Kennedy School (K), Math Games and Manipulatives.

Tufts University:

• Alyssa Mackey, West Somerville Neighborhood School (7th & 8th Math), Support for Differentiated Materials.

Winter Hill Bank:

• Andrea Palmer, Winter Hill Community Innovation School (K-8 Math Coach), Support Materials for K-8 Math and Multi-Lingual Teachers.

Rebecca Wood-Spagnoli:

• Julie Jones, Lauren McGlashing, Shayna Goggin, Molly Dickerson, Jessica DaSilva, & Mallory Crane, Capuano School (K), Kindergarten Math Day.

The Somerville Mathematics Fund was chartered in 2000 to celebrate and encourage achievement in mathematics in the city of Somerville, Massachusetts. Over twenty-three years, the Somerville Math Fund has awarded $140,711 in teacher grants supporting three hundred seventy-two teachers’ projects in the city of Somerville along with emergency grants to East Somerville teachers after the devastating school fire.

On April 7, the fund will be seeking applications from students who reside in Somerville for college mathematics scholarships. Over twenty-three years, the Somerville Math Fund has awarded a total of $559,000 in four-year mathematics scholarships to one hundred eighteen students. Links to the scholarship application form is available at www.somervillemathematicsfund.org For more information, to volunteer or to make a tax-deductible contribution, please contact Erica Voolich (617-666-0666 or mathfund@gmail.com).