The Fairborn Primary School teachers work hard all year long to make sure their students get the opportunity to participate in Muse Machine programs.  The Fairborn Daily Herald recently wrote about their efforts to raise the necessary funds to support their Muse program.

Excerpt from the article (click link for the full article on www.fairborndailyherald.com):

FAIRBORN — Fairborn Primary School is once again raffling off seven themed, miniature Christmas trees to raise funds to support the MUSE Machine program.

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“At East, we gave a tree to any teacher who was willing to decorate one and then the kids voted on which one they thought was the cutest,” said second grade teacher Stacey Frey.

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Since then, the Fairborn Education Foundation has continued to help fund the program, but the MUSE Machine teachers have found other creative ways to raise funds. The amount they need to raise each year depends on how many teachers are involved. This year they need about $3,000.

“With three to eight year olds, you can’t do carwashes or things like that like they do at the high school, so the majority of the fundraising falls on the teachers,” Frey said. “Last year the tree raffle raised between $400 and $500. That’s great, but we are always pleased if it goes over the previous year.”

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“Research has show how students do so much better learning through the arts rather than just memorizing,” Frey said. “I’m a strong believer in this. I event write my own songs to help students study. I see from my lowest struggling students to the highest achievers all blossom when we use the arts.”

Artist in residence Michael Lippert, an actor by trade, helps the students write a piece about a specific standard, such as social studies or science, and they perform it for their parents. Lippert is a 2011 recipient of the Governor’s Award for the Arts in Ohio.

“He’s absolutely marvelous with the students. He gets so much out of the kids,” said Frey, who believes that MUSE Machine is an important part of the educational experience at Fairborn Primary School.

“It’s my personal opinion that MUSE Machine is so vital, especially during a time when schools are cutting back and the arts are usually the first to go,” she added. “If you can use arts to teach the content areas, it really make a difference with the kids.”

 

The Fairborn Daily Herald recently ran this article about Fairborn Muse Machine teachers.  The Daily Herald has historically been very supportive of Fairborn’s Muse  program.

The local McDonald’s has been wonderful in helping fund their Muse program since the Muse program is not funded through the district budget and the students in the program are too young (ages 3-8) for heavy fundraising projects.   There is some support from the Fairborn Education Foundation, however the very motivated group of Muse teachers raise the majority of the money through their own fundraising efforts. Mcteacher Night has been instrumental in their efforts!

While they haven’t finalized the profits from the event yet, they estimate they earned a little over $200 from cookie sales alone! Besides the fundraising aspect of the event, McTeacher Night is just great fun for the kids, and it is a great public relations event for McDonald’s and the school. The kids have a wonderful time being served at their favorite restaurant by their teachers and principals.