THE 2026 GRANT AWARD CYCLE IS COMING!
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Application Window
JANUARY 6 - FEBRUARY 27, 2026
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Grant Selection
APRIL 16, 2026
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Funding Available
MAY 2026
The purpose of the Natick Education Foundation is to provide to the public schools of Natick the resources (in the form of grants) necessary to enhance the curriculum, programs, and services necessary beyond which is supported in the annual school budget.
Grant awards vary from $500-$5,000. Grant applicants can be teachers, students, department heads, or principals. Grant projects can be designed to serve a classroom, an educator’s professional passions, a department need, a building community, or a need across the entire district.
HIGHLIGHTS OF PRIOR YEAR GRANTS
AWARDED TO NATICK PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Johnson Elementary:
The Bookfix Project
Awarded 2019-2020
BookFix promoted the love of reading and was inspired by a retail phenomenon called Stitch Fix. BookFix is used as a way to keep classroom libraries current by adding newly released literature, in various genres, to encourage students to expand their exposure to new and different literature. The project requires students to offer feedback on the literature by encouraging students to talk, (v)blog, review, and promote books using specific discussion criteria that is in alignment with our Benchmark Assessment System's elements that students, by grade-level, that all students are expected to have mastered.
High School:
Aluminum Cobblers
Team 5436 - RoboNatick
Awarded 2019-2020
RoboNatick Team 5436 seeks to inspire young people to become science and technology leaders, by engaging them in a hands-on challenge that builds science, engineering, and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership. The Grant will be used to to compete in the First Tech Challenge competitions as well as purchase for parts for the robot.
Wilson Middle School:
Generation Genius Subscription
Awarded 2019-2020
The funds from this grant will be used to purchase a one-year subscription to Generation Genius . According to its website, "Generation Genius is a science teaching resource produced in partnership with the National Science Teachers Association. It brings school science standards to life through fun and educational videos paired with lesson plans, activities, quizzes, reading material, vocabulary, discussion questions and more." Generation Genius videos and materials can be used by all science teachers at Wilson Middle School and conform to Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and MA state curriculum frameworks.
Preschool:
Nature Nurtures Monarch Magic
Awarded 2019-2020
Preschool students develop social-emotional skills such as empathy and compassion by caring for schoolyard wildlife: Monarch butterflies. The children planted and maintained the Monarch’s only host plant - Milkweed. The Monarchs are raised from eggs and caterpillars found on Milkweed plants. When the Monarchs emerge from their chrysalis, they are tagged with Monarch Watch migration tags and released. Data will be sent to Monarch Watch for their research on migration patterns. This project is done at the NHS preschool and the Lilja preschool sites.
Johnson Elementary:
Student Led School Store
Awarded 2018-2019
A hands-on project for 4th grade math students at Johnson Elementary School to use their developing math skills to design, open and run a school store. This project is based on a learning principle called Project Based Learning (PBL). PBL provides students opportunities to grapple with challenges and experiences. It creates relational learning where struggle is key and students take risks as they realize understanding for themselves.
Wilson Middle School:
Courtyard Chess Board
Awarded 2017-2018
Chess set is used by students and teachers at Wilson Middle School as an alternate outdoor activity during lunch, after school, and at other free times.