Honoring Our Volunteers
The Braskamp Family of Franklin Elementary School
The Braskamp family was recognized as Education Partners at the January 18, 2011, meeting of the Elk Grove Unified School District Board of Education.
The Braskamps have been actively involved at Franklin Elementary School for the past four years since they moved from Irene B. West Elementary School.
Natasha Braskamp is Franklin Elementary School's PTA treasurer. Natasha has coordinated book fairs and holiday gift shops. She also volunteers in not only her child's classroom, but other classrooms as well.
Kevin Braskamp helps to support Franklin however he can. He regularly volunteers on field trips and at the annual Harvest Festival, sock hops and family movie nights.
Natasha and Kevin have two children - Trevor, a 7th grade student at Elizabeth Pinkerton Middle School and Riley, a 3rd grade student at Franklin Elementary School.
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Open Enrollment Deadline Approaching
Open Enrollment applications for students currently enrolled in the 6th and 7th grades for the 2010-2011 school year will be accepted for the following middle schools: Harriet Eddy, Edward Harris, Samuel Jackman, Joseph Kerr, Elizabeth Pinkerton, James Rutter and T.R. Smedberg. Open Enrollment applications for students currently enrolled in the 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th grades for the 2010-2011 school year will be accepted for the following high schools: Cosumnes Oaks, Elk Grove, Florin, Laguna Creek, Monterey Trail, Sheldon and Valley. To apply for Open Enrollment, parents/guardians should complete one Open Enrollment form for each student. Parents can get forms from schools, by calling the Secondary Education office at (916) 686-7706 or going online to www.egusd.net. For the application to be accepted the completed form must be postmarked or delivered to the Secondary Education Office at the Robert L. Trigg Center at 9510 Elk Grove-Florin Road by 5 p.m. on Friday, February 4, 2011. Late applications will not be considered. In addition, in order for the application to be accepted, the address on the application must MATCH the address that is listed with the district. Parents/guardians can verify that their address listed with the district is correct or change it by contacting their child's school. Open enrollment is open to all students who live within the district's boundaries as of January 1, 2011. The district reserves the right to limit the number of students transferring into or out of any schools. Parents/guardians of students granted an Open Enrollment Transfer are responsible for providing transportation for the student to and from school. EGUSD will not provide transportation for these students. Open Enrollment Agreements apply only to the student submitting the application. It does not include siblings. Students currently enrolled at a middle or high school on Open Enrollment, who intend to continue at their current school, DO NOT need to reapply for Open Enrollment. No elementary schools are included in Open Enrollment for the 2011-2012 school year. Questions can be directed to the Secondary Education office at (916) 686-7706. |
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Welcome to eguNews, an EGUSD email newsletter published every two weeks. If you have questions about eguNews, you can email communication@egusd.net or call (916) 686-7732.
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Lunch Bunch a popular sequel to Breakfast Club at Anna Kirchgater Elementary School
On the heels of the widely successful and popular Breakfast Club comes the Lunch Bunch, Anna Kirchgater Elementary School's newest student-adult mentor program.
"The idea for Lunch Bunch grew from requests from the students and mentors who participated in the Breakfast Club last year," said Maggie Wade, Prevention and Intervention Specialist at Kirchgater. "Participation in Breakfast Club generally lasts for one year but the students and mentors wanted to continue their relationships so Lunch Bunch was born."
Lunch Bunch was launched in November 2010 with the support and interest of Frontier Corporation employees. The Lunch Bunch program offers a similar take on Kirchgater's Breakfast Club. Approximately 24-26 adult volunteers are paired up with a student buddy to have a pizza lunch and participate in social activities through Lunch Bunch. Some adult participants are paired with their former Breakfast Club buddy. Other adult mentors are paired with a different student each month based on work completion, attendance, and behavior. These students are trying to "earn" the Lunch Bunch as a reward for their hard work. Many fourth and sixth grade teachers have also joined Lunch Bunch because it is offered during their lunch period. These teachers select a student from their classroom who has shown tremendous progress, effort or improvement over the past month.
"It is so wonderful to see community members and teachers joining together in support of our students," said Wade. "Some of our most challenging students have been improving their behavior and working hard in the classroom to increase their chances of participating in the Lunch Bunch."
Any adult can become a mentor through both the Lunch Bunch and Breakfast Club programs. For more information or to volunteer, contact Maggie Wade at (916) 689-9150 or at mwade@egusd.net.
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Online Posters "on Display" in EGUSD Classrooms
Teachers throughout the Elk Grove Unified School District are switching from the old-fashioned poster board format for student reports to glogs. Thanks to the program Glogster for Education,students can put away their scissors and glue and start creating online, interactive posters that include text,images, video files, sound files, text and hyperlinks.
"Glogs address multiple learning styles and motivate students to think more deeply about their research topics," says Denise Phillips, a fifth/sixth grade teacher at Joseph Sims Elementary School. Phillips' students are using Glogster to explore the ancient civilizations of Egypt and China.
Cosumnes River Elementary School computer lab teacher Beth Anderson says loves using Glogster with her students.
"Glogster is a great technology tool to use in the classroom because it engages students across grade levels and subject areas," said Anderson. "From state reports to biographies and art projects, any poster you can do on paper you can probably do better as a glog. A project on great artists, such as Salvador Dali, is much more exciting when students are creating for a real audience."
"Glogs are fun and 'green,'" adds Donner computer lab teacher Chris Perris. "My students are currently working on an Internet
safety poster project - that doesn't require paper or ink. I really like that I'll be able to showcase their final projects by embedding them into a blog or wiki."
If you are interested in bringing online posters into your classroom toolkit, the free EDU Basic program is a good place to start. The free version allows users to set up accounts for your classrooms, monitor and manage individual student accounts and offers new opportunities for promoting digital writing skills.
As of last year, Glogster now offers the EDU Premium version, with more controls and resources. Pricing information can be found here. For information about upcoming Glogster and other Web 2.0 workshops, contact Gail Desler in Technology Services.
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Latino Family Literacy Program at C.W Dillard Elementary School
On Tuesday and Thursday nights, the computer lab at C.W. Dillard Elementary School becomes a reading hub at Latino Family Literacy Program workshops.
"I felt it was important to establish this program because I felt it would allow our school to address the educational and social needs of families in the community," explained Edith Espinoza, a sixth grade teacher at Dillard. "When we started the program three years ago, we had eight families participating. That number has risen to 15-20 families on a weekly basis."
Espinoza, along with sixth grade teacher Antonio Gonzalez and second grade teacher Kathy Dill, established the Latino Family Literacy Program three years ago. The program uses curriculum to increase parent/family involvement in family literacy through a workshop format. During workshops, time is divided between one hour of English lecturing and one hour in the computer lab. The literacy program engages parents in reading with their children, reflects the experience of Latino families and is centered on universal themes. The objectives of the workshop focus on better understanding of early literacy concepts and concrete skills or ideas to implement within the family. The program seeks to establish family reading routines for Spanish-English speaking parents and children.
Overall, parent participants are pleased with the program and are making great strides in their progress.
"The program has increased parents self-esteem in many levels," said Espinoza. "They are less embarrassed to share daily experiences, issues and needs. They enjoy getting together and doing homework with other adults at their workshops."
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Tooth Fairy flies in for a visit at Barbara Comstock Morse Elementary School
On January 14, kindergarten and first grade students at Barbara Comstock Morse Elementary School learned about the importance of dental health from an extra special visitor - the Tooth Fairy.
The Tooth Fairy's visit, presented by Make a Smile Children's Dental, highlighted the importance of good dental habits. Students were able to ask the Tooth Fairy dental-related questions and each student received a bag of dental health goodies.
"The Tooth Fairy's visit was the perfect way to help reinforce the importance of good dental habits," said Kilolo Umi, principal at Morse. "The students thoroughly enjoyed chatting about brushing their teeth and flossing with their special guest."
For more information about the Make a Smile Tooth Fairy Tour, call 916-984-0304 or email Toothfairy@makeasmile.com.
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