The Portsmouth Public Education Foundation announced their yearly grant awards and teacher of the year prize at school district orientation day on Monday, according to their web site. This year, the PPEF funded 21 successful grant proposals worth $13,346, and revealed the selection of Cheryl DelSanto as Teacher Of The Year

"PPEF would like to recognize the Portsmouth Public School teachers, many who continue to go beyond their regular curriculum, to provide a unique and educational learning experience to their students," said the PPEF in a posted statement announcing the awards.

More information about all the winning grants is available on the PPEF Web site.

And remember to save the date: Thursday October 22 from 6-8pm at the Green Valley Country Club. Grant winners will demonstrate their innovative approaches and be on hand to answer questions. It's always a fun and enlightening evening to see the cool stuff our teachers and staff are doing to connect and teach in new ways.

According to the PPEF Web site, since 2002, the foundation has distributed almost $60K in over 100 grants, impacting thousands of Portsmouth public school students, parents and community members. The foundation is an independent not-for-profit organization which operates outside the school department.

Full disclosure: I recently joined the board of the PPEF.