Flying Fingers by Adora Svitak

 

Flying Fingers is a compilation of nine short stories and writing tips from Adora. It takes readers on an engaging journey of creating and polishing their own fictional narrative with sections on descriptive writing, character development, and more. Short stories rich with vocabulary (and handy definitions) illustrate each point or concept while entertaining kids and adults alike.

Dancing Fingers by Adora and Adrianna Svitak

 

Dancing Fingers is a collection of stylistically varied poetry from two sisters, Adrianna and Adora Svitak. With topics ranging from the contemplative to the rowdy, their poems are sure to inspire and show your students how interesting poetry reading and writing can be. Dancing Fingers is full of writing activities that educators can use for their after school programs.

To visit our gear shop please click here.
 

Chinese Case Manager
San Diego, CA 

Youth Development Assistant
Houston, TX 

Assistant Director of Teen Services
Flushing, NY 

Dear BOOSTer,  

February is Black History Month, a time to acknowledge the importance of African Americans on our country's history. It is also important to explain this to our youth. Observing Black History Month is a great way to really focus energies on this one topic and discuss it with your youth in many different contexts. The link below provides many different kinds of activities that can be used with youth of all ages to highlight Black History through out the month. 

For a great list of resources from the University of Illinois click here.

Thank you for all that you do to support children, youth, families, and communities. You make a difference.

The BOOST Collaborative Team

Facebook Contest February 2011

 Solve that anagram! We'll be posting a secret phrase on our Facebook Wall for everyone to solve. Rearrange the letters in our phrase to create three words that are near and dear to the BOOST Collaborative!

For example: 
"Aviators Cobble Tool" can be rearranged to spell "BOOST Collaborative"!
 

Send your answer to inspire@boostcollaborative.org and one lucky person with a correct answer will win Guitar Hero Legends of Rock for Nintendo Wii!

Contest runs from February 14th-21st. The winner will be announced on February 22nd!  

Visit out Facebook page by clicking here.  

Central Middle After School Program
Oroville, CA 

Teng Yang, is best known as "Mr. Teng" to the Central Middle After School Program 7^th & 8^th grade students and staff.  If you were to ask them who they truly respect, most would share it's Mr. Teng, with so many wonderful reasons why. Teng genuinely cares about the students, the program and the community. He gives his all to everything that he does both in the ASP and his very full life. He's a student at CSUC, leads a youth group at his church and is part of very large, caring family, admiring his father and mother for all they give. Teng embraces his Hmong culture & heritage taking an active part in preserving traditions. He is truly a role model and mentor to all of his students, as he encourages them to embrace their cultural diversity, respect themselves by making healthy choices and pursuing their goals & dreams, building their confidence to overcome challenges and meet their full potential as caring & productive citizens.

As one of our college interns, Teng assists students during Academic/Homework/Enrichment Activities and as our Athletic Team Coach, Teng organizes and leads the Team Building, Recreation and Sports Program. Teng coaches various sports, and just started intramural soccer teams to promote physical activity, boost attendance and build self-esteem. He is also involved in upcoming Service Learning Projects, including Family Fun Nights to promote our Multi-Cultural Cooking Club & Food Security Program. Teng often takes part in the excellent training & opportunities provided by Butte County Office of Education and is one of our leaders in pursuing our team's vision of establishing Central Middle ASP as a Healthy Behavior Learning Center. He assists in staff development as they utilize the Healthy Behaviors Initiative's "Changing Lives, Saving Lives" Six Practices as we strive for program excellence.   

Submitted by:
We appreciate and believe in you, Mr. Teng....

Your Team: Ms. Palmerlee, Site Coordinator & Abby, Ayla, Michael, Sabina & Tami

Central Middle After School Program

Oroville, CA 

Do you have a staff member or colleague that goes above and beyond every day? Send a 200 word feature and photo of them to us at inspire@boostcollaborative.org

Comprehensive City-School Strategies to Reduce Childhood Obesity

 

To read this report please click here.
 

Sports Confusion 
 

The basic exercise is simple, move from one sport to another, one rule at a time. Here's how you lead it: 

Ask your students for the basic rules of a common sport, such as basketball.  Ask them to describe the sport as if they were speaking to Martians, who understand nothing of human sports.  (Be advised, these Martians speak English fluently.)

• Once you have written out a general sense of the game (10 rules or so should suffice), ask them to describe the basic rules of another common sport, such as soccer.
• You now have your trajectory:  Basketball will turn into Soccer, one rule at a time.  You will need equipment for both sports on hand.
• Starting with a proper basketball jumpoff, allow your students to play full court basketball for no more than 5 minutes, then stop the game.  Ask your students to introduce ONE NEW RULE that will move the game towards Soccer (i.e. The hoop becomes a goal on the ground.)
• Resume playing with this new rule for no more than 5 minutes.  Encourage students to develop new strategies to adjust to the new rule. 
• Stop the game again, and ask a different student to introduce ANOTHER NEW RULE (i.e. increase the size of the field)
• Soon your students will be playing a game that is vastly different from both Basketball and Soccer.  These games often appear wild as strategies are constantly changing and proper penalties are unclear, but as long as they remain focused, there is a way out!
   

As an activity leader, you have several options:  You may continue to move rule by rule towards soccer, OR you can further develop the new sport your students have just created.  What you choose depends largely on the maturity of your students and the amount of time you have with them.  Making it all the way to soccer is more of a mental challenge, but developing a new sport can be rewarding on its own!  the choice is yours.

Every time you try this exercise, something different and exciting is sure to happen.  Experiment with different sports depending on available equipment.  (football to basketball, soccer to volleyball, capture the flag, to freeze tag and so on!

Submitted by:

Greg Manley, Commissioner

Circle Rules Federation

Press Telegram - January 5, 2011
Truants' parents may face jail 

Sun Times - January 5, 2011

Emanuel: Ads could help pay for after-school programs 

L.A. Times - January 8, 2011

In tough times, schools try to keep homeless students' education on track

The Modesto Bee - January 12, 2011
Project YES helps youth build lives 

New York Times - January 12, 2011
Mentoring Program Turns Cameras on Its Young Clients 

Wicked Local Cambridge - January 13, 2011
Cambridge Police program focuses on prevention

Edweek.com - January 27, 2011

Chicago Approves Free Breakfasts for All Elementary Students 

Welch's Harvest Grants
Feb 11th    

As a family farmer owned company that is proud to grow and nurture grapes, Welch's values the importance of healthy eating. Hands-on experiences with planting, tending, and growing gardens provide a dynamic setting for learning and benefit kids of all ages.

Now in our second year partnership with Scholastic and the National Gardening Association, Welch's will support school garden programs through Welch's Harvest Grants. We are pleased to invite you to submit an application for your opportunity to win a valuable garden for your school.

The SEVEN Fund
February 15th
The SEVEN Fund is pleased to announce a competition inviting K - 12 teachers and administrators from around the United States to apply for a Summer 2011 Fellowship. The SEVEN Fund 2011 Teaching Fellowships enable teachers to travel to Rwanda and study enterprise solutions to poverty.  

Sodexo STOP Hunger Scholarships
February 18th
The Sodexo Foundation seeks applicants for the STOP Hunger Scholarships to recognize students in the fight against hunger in America. Fifty-million people are at risk of hunger, including 17 million children. The Sodexo Foundation works to ensure that every child in the U.S., especially those most at risk, grows up with dependable access to enough nutritious food to enable them to lead a healthy, productive life. The STOP Hunger Scholarships recognize and reward students who have made a significant impact in the fight against hunger in the United States.  

Department of Justice: Multi-State Mentoring Initiative
February 28th
This program provides support to expand or enhance the capacity of organizations currently operating mentoring programs in several states that target at-risk or high-risk populations younger than 18 years of age. Priority will be given to enhancement activities that contribute to the quality of the mentoring program, as well as efforts to address both individual and environmental factors that contribute to delinquency, with a focus on the following program strategies: the involvement of parents in the project and the provision of services for them, the delivery of structured activities and programs for the mentoring match, or the implementation or expansion of ongoing training and support for mentors.