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Greetings BOOSTers!
What a wonderful season we are in! Autumn symbolizes the abundance of the season- pumpkins, apples and cider and the harvest of a lifetime of learning. And for those of you lucky enough to live in the richness of leaves that turn a cascade of brilliant color, a time of visual change. What does autumn mean to you? Is it a time of change or reaping the results of your work?
Here at BOOST, we are grateful for the international buzz around our 2012 keynote speaker Sir Ken Robinson and the opportunity to share his harvest with all of you. Sir Ken Robinson believes that our 21st Century education is based on 19th Century ideals that are no longer viable. He calls for a paradigm shift on how we educate our children and to shift to a more organic understanding of a child's development and personality.
So as the leaves change colors and apples ripen from trees, consider how each leaf, like every child, is unique in shape and growth in their stages of development. Each one unique, beautiful and glowing with creativity. Consider how will you embrace the diverse, limitless dreams of each student and foster their creativity in the 21st century.
Thank you for all of the work you do to support children, youth, families, and communities.
Tia Quinn
Executive Director
BOOST Collaborative
San Diego, CA
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Newsletter Sponsor of the Month:
You Can Do the Rubik's Cube
In response to teachers' requests, the You Can Do the Rubik's Cube Math Education Kit was created. Learning to do the Rubik's Cube builds self-esteem and boosts confidence while supporting 21st Century Learning Skills, such as problem solving, critical thinking and perseverance.
The You CAN Do the Rubik's Cube Math Education Kit provides everything you need to teach youth how to solve the Rubik's Cube and provides a range of Lesson Plans, Activities, Homework Sheets with answers that support Geometry, Algebra and General Math, and STEM. Lesson are appropriate for Grades 3-12. Visit their site and register as a teacher to download all their support materials for FREE.
Visit their site today www.YouCanDoTheCube.com
 Look what else you can do with the Rubik's Cube! - Build Mosaics Using the Rubik's Cube.The new Rubik's Cube Mosaic Builder Guide and templates of six historical figures allow educators and youth directors to combine fun with math, science, history and art! Now you can learn about algorithms, geometry, problem solving, spatial relations and more, while also learning about pixels and significant historical figures! What a great afterschool project.
Learn More about Mosaics
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BOOST Professional Development
Keynote Speakers:
Toni Yancey and Sir Ken Robinson
Toni Yancey
2011 Healthy Behaviors Conference
Toni (Antronette K.) Yancey, MD, MPH is currently Professor, Department of Health Services, UCLA School of Public Health, and Co-Director, UCLA Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Equity. She also directs her department's leadership doctoral degree (DrPH) program. She returned to academia full-time in 2001 after five years in public health practice, first as Director of Public Health for the City of Richmond, VA, and as Director of Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Los Angeles County Department of Health Services.
Read more about Toni Yancey here.
Sir Ken Robinson
2012 BOOST Conference
Sir Ken Robinson, PhD is an internationally recognized leader in the development of education, creativity and innovation. He is also one of the world's leading speakers with a profound impact on audiences everywhere. The videos of his famous 2006 and 2010 talks to the prestigious TED Conference have been seen by an estimated 200 million people in over 150 countries.
Read more about Sir Ken Robinson here.
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Program Highlight
TEDxRedmond
Redmond, WA
On September 10, 2011, 600 youth gathered at the TEDxRedmond Conference to hear 25 youth speakers talk about how they have created change in the world. The TEDxRedmond 2011 theme, "The Spark in All of Us," was inspired by twelve-year-old attendee Lily. She found her inner "spark" at the conference, which motivated her to make a difference in her community. According to Lily, "this year's TEDxRedmond has given me the spark I needed to do so...Now, I'm more determined than ever to make a difference in the world."
 The conference, entirely planned by Adora Svitak, former BOOST Conference keynote, and a youth organizing committee of sixteen people, all under the age of 18, took many months of planning. The youth committee started planning TEDxRedmond in April of 2011. They made phone calls, wrote emails, designed posters, made a trailor video (watch below), and coordinated all the other details of the event. Svitak said it took several months to prepare, adding that the committee "even had one five-hour work meeting!"
Svitak was motivated to start TEDxRedmond after going to the main TED Conference in Long Beach, California, where she spoke in February 2010 about what adults can learn from kids (see video here). Svitak said, "The experience of going to such an amazing conference with so many of the world's luminaries present made me want to bring back something similar to my community. However, I noticed that very few young people were participating in the main TED conference, as speakers or attendees, so I wanted to start an all-youth TEDx event." Adora launced the first TEDxRedmond Conference in 2010.
 The goal of TEDxRedmond is to inspire the youth attendees to think about what they can do for their communities and the world. "Whether it's something as seemingly simple as saying 'hi' to someone new at your school or volunteering to tutor fellow students," said Adora, "or something as large-scale as publishing your debut novel or founding an international non-profit (as some of the speakers at TEDxRedmond have done), it's up to you to leave a mark on the world."
Click here to see a list of the 2011 TEDxRedmond Youth Speakers.
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TEDxRedmond 2011 Trailer Video
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Are you looking for relevant after school curriculum and activities for your students? Share the videos of the youth speakers from the 2010 TEDxRedmond Conference with your students. Click here to view.
Do you know of an outstanding out-of-school time program? Send recommendations to inspire@boostcollaborative.org |
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Breakfast Club featured Blog
"Ode to Site Supervisors"
by Diego Arancibia
Coordinator
ASAPConnect
San Jose, CA
 "I began to reflect on my career and realized that my days as a site coordinator have been the most defining and empowering. I dare say that this experience, as a site coordinator, prepared me for the biggest challenges of not only my career... but my life. So, I have written this ode, in honor of the site coordinator... "The one who is a part time employee with a full time attitude. The one who has survived the bullets of lock downs and who also rose to the occasion to help supervise 1400 students in the midst of a teacher walk out. "The one who has had to call 911 because of broken bones... and at the same time worried that the family didn't have insurance. The site coordinator who realized they are, in essence, the bridge between the school and family... When they heard a father say 'I got the message from the school but if i left work, I wouldn't get paid and my family won't eat... tu sabes?'" Click here to read the rest of Diego's entry. To view other Breakfast Club blogs, click here. |
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Meet the New Fall Interns
 Rachel Whiteside: Rachel grew up in Gilroy, California, fondly known as the "Garlic Capital of the World". She left her friendly and potent home for UC San Diego in 2007 and recently graduated June 2011 with a degree in Sociology and English Literature. Her love for sociological theory and compassion for people has taken her to many places in life including Thailand to teach English and Malawi, Africa for two summers. Her trip to Malawi the second time was a Human Rights team that she lead made up of professionals and graduate students in the fields of counseling, law, and child development. Her team put together a conference with the help of the Malawi Human Rights Resource Center to educate villagers about gender equality, property laws, and children's rights. She hopes to one day pursue a career in Urban Planning, with an emphasis on public policy. In her spare time she enjoys writing prose and exploring the many delicious eating establishments in San Diego with her boyfriend.
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October Contest
Find the Butterfly
If you find the butterfly, send us an email to inspire@boostcollaborative.org to tell us where you saw it. You'll be entered to win a copy of Richard Louv's book "The Nature Principle."
Make sure to "Like Us" on Facebook so you don't miss any clues!
Contest starts October 5, 2011 at 9am PST and ends October 24, 2011 at 5pm PST.
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Kimberly Bruster & Shanya Dean
Texas ACE
San Antonio, TX
 Kimberly Bruster has over 20 years of experience as an Executive Assistant with 9 of those years working directly for a school district. Her educational background comes from multiple certifications in administration and office & technical applications. Over the span of her career, she has received numerous Employee of the Month awards and is consistently recognized for outstanding performance. She is a member of the International Association of Administrative Professionals. Kimberly's main responsibility is to provide assistance and support to the Edvance Senior Vice-President of Emerging Practices, but she has many "add-on" responsibilities that include the management of the Texas ACE (21st CCLC) Help Desk.  Shanya Dean has a Masters of Education in Educational Leadership and a Bachelors of Business Administration from Stephen F. Austin University. She is a certified Business teacher and holds her Principal certification. She is an active member of the National Afterschool Association and is known throughout Texas as a leader in the field. Shanya's role with Edvance is that of a Senior Technical Assistance Consultant for Texas ACE (21st CCLC). In this role, Ms. Dean plays a multi-faceted and critical role in supporting the ACE program by helping to ensure that grantees are implementing their programs in compliance with grant requirements and to provide quality technical assistance. Additionally, she provides leadership and oversight of regionally based Technical Assistance Consultants located throughout the state. Both Kimberly and Shanya are critical staff members to the Texas ACE Program, but an area that they go above and beyond in is the management of something called the ACE Help Desk. The Texas ACE Program has over 700 centers serving more than 170,000 youth in out-of-school-time. These centers all have a variety of needs and concerns. Texas ACE provides a one-stop shop for these centers and their needs in the form of the ACE Help Desk. This is a simple e-mail address that anyone can send questions too. Questions are answered, researched, or delegated to appropriate areas for response. Implemented as a means of assistance, the ACE Help Desk has become an indispensable requirement of ACE participants. With many companies or organizations that have Help Desks, it may take a week or longer to get a response. However, thanks to Kimberly and Shanya, most ACE participants receive a response in 24 hours. The response is not your typical "thank you, we will get back to you" but an actual answer to the question asked. Kimberly and Shanya pride themselves on ensuring that ACE participants have the tools, resources, and answers they need to stay out of any red tape and get in the field to serve students. As Texas ACE State Coordinator, Candace Ferguson states in a recent e-mail of praise to Kimberly and Shanya, "This Help Desk Staff has been invaluable...You Ladies ROCK!" We couldn't agree more. Submitted by: Shawn Petty Edvance Research San Antonio, TX
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 Youth ActivityHalloween Stories
This is a fun activity that is perfect for Halloween and all ages. The children will have the opportunity to write a creative story or poem about a Halloween character. They will also create a mask of their character.
Prep time: 5 minutes Activity time: Approximately 1 hour
Grade level: Elementary
Group size: Small or large group
Environment: Classroom
Objective: To have students effectively engage their skills in: creative writing, parts of speech, descriptive language, and art.
Materials needed: -any colored construction paper available
-glue or tape
-scissors
-straws
-markers/crayons
Preparation: Collect materials and set up the room.
Directions:
1. Read aloud a Halloween story or poem (or just make one up if resources are not available!) in a dark room with the lights dimmed. Have students sit in a circle, and the instructor will use a flashlight while reading or telling the story to create a "Scary story-telling atmosphere" . Describe the unique characters and discuss what makes them stand out with the children. 2. Tell the children to use their imaginations to come up with original scary and/or funny characters. Write sentences about them using descriptive words and phrases (May want to discuss descriptive words/verbs/parts of speech/ etc.). 3. Create your imaginary characters using construction paper, crayons, markers (or any other supplies that are available). Use scissors, a craft stick, and other modeling tools to cut out shapes such as a jack o' lantern, monster skull, or witch head. (You may want to discuss what types of characters or monsters are appropriate). 4. Tape straw to the back of the character to create a mask. Once all children have completed their characters/mask, sit in a circle again with the lights dimmed and give the children an opportunity to discuss their "creepy characters".
Adaptation: Write a paragraph describing an imaginary character (or a Halloween character monster, witch, etc.). Draw a picture of it. Hang pictures on a bulletin board. Read descriptions orally and have other children try to identify the picture by listening to the oral description.
Submitted by: Whitney Spalding 4th/5th Grade Teacher Mentone Elementary School Redlands, CA
Do you have a youth activity that is fun, engaging, and easy to implement? Let us know about it and we may feature it here! Email inspire@boostcollaborative.org |
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Lights on Afterschool - October 20
Afterschool Alliance
The 12th annual Lights on Afterschool event is just over two weeks away! Join 1 million Americans and 7,500+ communities nationwide in celebrating the afterschool programs that keep our kids safe, inspire them to learn and help working families.
Make sure to register your event, or find an event that is already planned in your community. Need help planning your event? Visit Lights on Afterschool event planning kit for free tips and ideas.
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Research
Making Data Matter in Family Engagement
States and school districts have spent over one billion dollars in the last decade to build and implement student performance data systems. Yet families are rarely brought into discussions about the important implications of all of this data. Armed with meaningful information about how their child is performing in school, families are better able to support learning and school success. Additionally, collective data about student performance can help families and community leaders take action with schools on improvement strategies.
Harvard Family Research Project's Heather Weiss and M. Elena Lopez authored "Making Data Matter in Family Engagement," a chapter in the recently published Handbook on Family and Community Engagement. The chapter (beginning on page 22) explores how to make student data accessible, meaningful, and actionable for families, and profiles examples of districts currently using data to enlist families as partners in supporting educational goals. Additionally, the chapter highlights how data on schoolwide performance can support parent and community organizations as they advocate for change.
For more information and to read the full report, visit the Harvard Family Research Project website.
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Funding and Grant Opportunities
Dreamers Challenge Scholarship
Deadline: October 15, 2011
The California Museum dares to make your a mark on history! Take the 2011 Dreamers Challenge by telling them how your unique dream would change the world for a chance to win a $5,000 college scholarship & attendance at the 2011 California Hall of Fame.
Hunger Innovation Grants Program
Deadline: October 15, 2011
AARP Foundation is seeking to fund the development or scaling of innovative, sustainable solutions to hunger that have the potential to make a significant impact on community food security and sustainable food systems for Americans 50 and older. Learn more here.
Home Depot Community Impact Grants Program
Deadline: October 31, 2011
Grants, up to $5,000 are available to registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations, public schools or tax-exempt public service agencies in the U.S. that are using the power of volunteers to improve the physical health of their community. Grants are given in the form of The Home Depot gift cards for the purchase of tools, materials, or services.
Home Depot Community Impact Grants Program Website
To see more funding opportunities, click here.
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Out-of-School Time In the News
New York Times September 27, 2011
Los Angeles Times September 25, 2011
New York Times September 25, 2011
Los Angeles Times September 23, 2011
New York Times September 19, 2011 |
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Contact Us
BOOST Collaborative
1666 Garnet Avenue
PMB 126
San Diego, CA 92109
619-23-BOOST
(619-232-6678)
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October Poll
Are you going to celebrate Lights On Afterschool on October 20, 2011?
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BOOST Media
Sir Ken Robinson's TED Talk
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Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?
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Check out Sir Ken Robinson speak at the 2006 TED Conference. Don't miss his keynote at the 2012 BOOST Conference, April 25-28 in Palm Springs, CA.
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Red Ribbon Week
October 23-31
Red Ribbon Week, celebrated in over 120,000 schools nationwide, is the oldest and largest drug prevention program in the nation. This year Red Ribbon Week is October 23-31 and the 2011 theme is "It's Up To Me To Be Drug Free." Click here to download your Red Ribbon Planning Guide.
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Natural High:
Natural High 5
FREE Curriculum
Using drug-free celebrities, musicians and athletes as the messengers, Natural High reaches youth in a positive, forward-thinking manner to empower them to make the right decision when faced with very real pressures to use drugs and alcohol. Natural High believes that it's not enough to tell kids to say "no" without giving them something to say "yes" to - a Natural High!
In conjunction with Red Ribbon Week, Natural High is releasing their Natural High 5 FREE curriculum. Natural High is working with more than 10,000 educators through the Natural High Education Network and to date has reached more than 3 million youth by providing the program free of charge to middle schools and high schools across the United States. Join the Natural High Education Network and receive a complimentary copy of Natural High 5, the fifth installment of the nationally acclaimed DVD series. You will also receive worksheets, lesson plans, and curriculum. This program includes cutting edge, turn-key curriculum informed by educators, for educators. For more information on Natural High, click here. |
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Adora Svitak
Teacher, Speaker, Writer
Inspired by Adora Svitak's work? Check out her books Flying Fingers and Dancing Fingers. You can learn more about Adora and purchase her books on her website www.adorasvitak.com
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Free Resource:
Children & Nature
Where Nature Meets Story
Children & Nature has created a special section on their website, Where Nature Meets Story, that provides stories and activities designed to help children connect to nature. Discover old and new stories about animals, planets, insects and the outdoors that will help enrich children's discovery of nature.
Visit their site for ideas for simple outdoor activities, as well as great books for kids of every age to read along the way. And in each activity section, click on the READ ME links for some words of wonder to inspire your adventures! |
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September Contest Winner
Congratulations to Sandra Bishop! She is the lucky winner a diamond necklace for the September Facebook contest. Her after school program, Club TC, started a new club called PAC-photography. The kids are all over the school filming Club TC commercials, music videos, and conducting interviews. Thank you Sandra for sharing your promising practices with us!
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Planet BOOST
Check out where BOOSTers are going in their BOOST t-shirts! Take a picture in your BOOST shirt and send it to us, then you'll be entered to win FREE conference registration!
 ElizaBeth Phillips Program Development Director
CDI/CDC
Sacramento, CA
Photo: Dollywood
Pigeon Forge, TN
August 2011
Visit Planet BOOST to see other BOOSTers in their t-shirts.
To purchase your own BOOST Gear, visit the Gear Shop.
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StopBullying.gov
Recognize the Warning Signs
There are many warning signs that could indicate that someone is involved in bullying, either by bullying others or by being bullied. However, these warning signs may indicate other issues or problems, as well. If you are a parent or educator, learn more about talking to someone about bullying.
Visit StopBullying.gov to learn more about how to prevent bullying and how to recognize the warning signs of bullying.
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BOOSTOPEDIA
Do you ever sit in a meeting and wonder what all these acronyms really stand for? We have created an easy-to-use guide to help you better understand and decipher commonly used acronyms used in the out-of-school time field. Click the categories below to learn more.
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Free App of the Month:
BrainPOP Featured Movie
This innovative and educational app delivers one short animated educational movie every day on a variety of topics. Your kids watch the hosts Tim and his robot pal Moby explore tons of subjects. Topics range in everything from dinosaurs and aliens to natural disasters and the U.S. Constitution.
The movies are subtly amusing and very informative. Best of all, they are really short (4 minutes). Kids will love the quiz that they can take immediately following the movie. The app tracks and records your score, which is fun. Let's be honest, plenty of adults will like this app too.
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Speakers Corner
The Speakers Corner provides out-of-school time professionals access to a wide variety of speakers, consultants, coaches, and trainer that can help you enhance your programs. Browse through the Speakers Corner to learn more about services that can take your program to the next level. It is absolutely FREE to browse!
Speakers Corner Highlight
Dr. Gale K. Gorke
Executive Director
Kids Kan Inc
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Vendor Fair
The Vendor Fair provides out-of-school time professionals access to a wide variety of products and services to enhance their programs. Browse through the Vendor Fair to learn more about the latest products and services for out-of-school time. It is absolutely FREE to use!
Vendor Fair Highlight
Challenge Day
Academic Enrichment, Assembly Programs, Non-Profit Organization, Team Building
Concord, CA
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Free Resource Center
BOOST is proud to bring you free resources to enhance the quality of your out-of-school time program and professional development needs. We will be adding resources to this section on a quarterly basis.
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