The Framingham Education Foundation showcased all the programs it sponsored over the last year: pen-pal correspondence between middle schoolers here and in Africa, a unique counseling curriculum at the high school, storytelling and mythology in an elementary school and much more.

The Framingham Education Foundation for 16 years now has raised money and used it to fund classroom experiments.

"We're looking for new ideas -- a new way to address a problem we have in the schools," said Jane Eyler, FEF's executive director. "We're trying to pilot some of the new projects."

Teachers from every school set up displays at McCarthy for programs they ran with FEF's financial support. More than two dozen of them were funded by $1,000 "mini-grants," and six more were larger.

One of the larger grants was called Bringing a Bit of Africa to Framingham, where African speakers visited sixth-graders.

"These speakers truly impacted our curriculum," said Amy Trompeter, a Fuller Middle School social studies teacher who spoke about the project.

A group of seventh-graders also wrote pen-pal letters to students in Africa. The letters that came back taught the students more about Africa than any book could have, Trompeter said.

One of the letters read, "We don't have any electricity because we are in a rural part of the country."

"The food we eat is milk and meat. My parents are farmers," another read.

"These help to break down stereotypes and draw attention to current affairs," Trompeter said.

FEF is also sponsoring a new counseling curriculum at the high school. The foundation paid for counselors to attend seminars and develop a way to meet their goal of reaching every student at the school.

"We started meeting with kids in small groups on things that are not confidential," like teaching study skills and holding college application orientations, said Richard Walcek, head of the guidance department at the high school.

The school is also developing a Web-based college research program. "It's sort of a sea change in how we do things with a college application," Walcek said.

The goal of the new guidance curriculum is equity, he said.

Another FEF-sponsored program brought a professional storyteller to the schools to help teach a unit on mythology.

"Students need to hear examples of mythology," many of which are oral, said Larry Wolpe, a fourth-grade teacher at Stapleton Elementary School. "(The storyteller has) got this extreme passion for storytelling. (Mythology) is a tough concept. Even I have trouble understanding it."

The mythology unit teaches the kids to interpret concepts that are not always in black and white, he said. "Students went on this incredible journey that they otherwise wouldn't have been able to."

FEF sponsored many other programs in the schools last year, and continues to review applications.

"We don't just buy books or materials and supplies," Eyler said. "We're looking for what's the specific project and what are the goals."

An annual community spelling bee in the fall raises a large portion of the foundation's money. Corporate donors also contribute.

At last week's showcase event, FEF announced its first batch of grants for next year. The list includes a Lego club at McCarthy, a program to teach fractions at Dunning Elementary School and a black history tour at the high school.

The foundation has grown every year, but Eyler continues to get the word out and raise more money.

"It just seems like an awful lot of people either haven't heard of us or don't really know what we do," she said.

Tyler B. Reed can be reached at 508-626-4423.