COSTA MESA, NEWPORT BEACH : Funding Innovative Teaching Programs

By the start of next year, children in science classes at Andersen Elementary School will be able to watch their teacher perform experiments on a special, mirrored lab table.

Costa Mesa High School biology students will study intertidal zones and estuaries with special fieldwork labs, and Estancia High School students will have access to a computer database with information from more than 200 countries.

The projects were among those that will be funded by grants from the Newport-Mesa Schools Foundation, a nonprofit group that underwrites innovative teaching programs. This year, 53 individuals received grants totaling almost $40,000.

The projects were singled out for their contributions to academic excellence and their practical application in the classroom, according to Reg Fifer, one of the foundation directors.

Among them were money for a school nurse to purchase a vision testing kit to identify students with early childhood sight problems, the purchase of new science books to replace those written before 1960 in one school library, and a set of books that teachers hope will help integrate classical literature into a kindergarten language arts curriculum.

The grants, donated by the foundation in a lump sum, allow the district to fund projects that it cannot afford.

Of the 49 grants given out, 11 went to fund science-related projects. Teachers interested in improving computer-teaching tools received 10 of the grants, and language arts, elementary reading, math and other projects split the remaining grants. Teachers could receive a maximum of $1,000.

According to science teacher Kathleen Schwartz, who will be purchasing a rolling, mirrored lab table for her classroom with her grant, smaller projects often spark ideas for other teachers across the district.

“One of our precepts is ‘Let’s get a new idea going,’ ” said foundation President Diana Long. “Then let’s see how easy it is to extend that idea throughout the entire district.”

The foundation started in 1981, in an effort to make up for funds that were lost after the passage of Proposition 13. Since then, the foundation has distributed more than $450,000 to teacher projects.