Visiting Napa After School

In my role, I have had the pleasure of working with 17 after school programs in Napa County.  Over the past few weeks, I have been able to visit some of these programs. Last Friday, I visited Napa Valley Language Academy (NVLA) which amazingly hosts nearly 300 students in their after school program—every day!  Eric Dreikosen and NVLA Site Director Julia Matison with Boys & Girls Club of Napa Valley show us around the NVLA program.

Director of Operations, Eric Dreikosen and NVLA Site Director, Julia Matison of the Boys & Girls Club of Napa Valley

We joined them on Friday and there were activities going on in all corners of the school, with upper grade students preparing a dance performance outside...

To students receiving individualized homework support in the multi-use room.

 

I also visited two of the ACE program sites this Friday.

At the Silverado Middle School program, I met Coach Tracey Emberley and her students in Silk Screening club.

The students explained the process of creating a silk screened print from sketching the design to creating the screen to the printing process itself.  

The students get to create their own designs and follow the process through to the end product, learning valuable skills along the way.

At Harvest Middle School, we checked out lesson conducted by the CalSERVES AmeriCorps members focusing on propulsion. The team worked with students to test their creations.

This balloon-powered car project had kids exploring the best and fastest designs using balloons and paper plates!

 

Students come back in the classroom to modify their designs after testing.

Napa After School program manger Yesenia Salas-Chavira and AmeriCorps Content Leader Enoch Page take in the culminating car race.

Many members of the After School team at Harvest Middle School debrief the day and explore ways to improve their lessons to create the best experience for students.  Way to go team!

Yesenia Salas-Chavira, Casey Wedding & AmeriCorps Members Enoch Page, Anthony Farina, AJ Smith, and Lisseth Ramirez

Bellevue District Soars into Spring

Bellevue District includes Bellevue Elementary, Kawana Charter, Meadow View Elementary and Taylor Mountain Elementary Schools.  Staff and tutors of Bellevue's CalSERVES programs have a lot to be proud about.

Just through February in the Bellevue District:

• 510 Students have received academic support, enrichment programming and mentoring in the CalSERVES After School program
• 596 Students have received 16,219 Tutoring Sessions in Literacy,  STEM, and Healthy Behaviors

Assessments show students already improving 1 whole grade level or more:

• 39% of students receiving Science, Tech, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Tutoring
• 22% of students receiving Literacy Tutoring
• 59% of students receiving Healthy Behaviors Tutoring

Bellevue Elementary

Mr. Sosa, Bellevue's Healthy Behaviors Scholar, has done a fantastic job in increasing fruit and veggie consumption during the After School Program.  One particular aspect that Mr. Sosa has improved is the overall consumption of milk by students.

Each day the students look forward to snack because they know Mr. Sosa is always ready to greet every child as they pass by and pick-up their snack. "Remember to drink your milk!" he says and the children simply smile and do just that, they drink their milk!

Kawana Charter

These STEM tutoring students get their hands in peanut butter to learn all about tectonic plates.  Science is fun, especially when it is hands-on!

New STEM Scholar Celeste gets ready to teach her students how to use a microscope.

Meadow View Elementary

Fitness Week isn’t the only time Meadow View after school students enjoy physical activity. This January, they started new fitness classes. Classroom Leaders pick a sport or physical activity they are passionate about and lead a six-week fitness class with a consistent group of students. 

This has been highly successful. Students have responded well to the consistency and structure, and Classroom Leaders have enjoyed building on activities week after week. This was especially successful with our Cool Sports Basketball Team, which had regular practices twice a week. Our 3-6 grade boys really blossomed during the month before the competition. Under the guidance of their fantastic coaches, these students became a truly cohesive team. 

Taylor Mountain Elementary

Healthy behaviors are learned early as demonstrated by these Kinder students practicing their yoga poses increasing their focus, flexibility and strength.

Taylor Mountain students get a hands-on experience with fire prevention when the fire department visited...the hats were a popular bonus!

Leadership
As you can see the Site Supervisors of the Bellevue District are inspiring their teams to promote wellness and learning in their students (Yesenia, Kate, Sandra & Katherine).