Our second week was a blast! We enjoyed a magic show and our field trip as we continue learning through our theme of discovery.
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We welcome all families to our Starr King Summer of fun!
We are excited to explore and discover this summer with all our participants! Summer Interns This summer we have a couple helpful interns! We welcome back past Rising Starrs ASP participants Xotchitl and Jenny with our leadership program! They’re in charge of planning/prepping the structured games choices we offer during lunch recess as well as our weekly sports tournament. Their daily help makes the greatest difference to our staff! We can’t WAIT to see how much they grow with us over these next few weeks. Week One's Theme Our theme for the entire summer this year is discovery! Throughout each week, our participants will focus not only on a topic of discovery – but also on a characteristic! This week, each class focused on discovering space and learning the meaning of perseverance. During our library trip on Tuesday, students were able to check out books on science! The picture on the right side shows how ecstatic our first grader Clarence was to find some books on his favorite hobby! Yesterday our participants were able to see all space has to offer at the Chabot Space Center. We also have our participants playing in weekly sports tournament. This week our tournament is “Hockey Shuffle Board.” Our tournaments are every Friday! Thingamajig Every week classes will be using recycled or old materials to build something for the BIG SCIENCE EXPO we will ALL participate in on Thursday, July 13th in Golden Gate Park. There will be over 1500 YMCA campers. This last week we focused on “Making it Better” Thingymajig projects! Next week our Thingymajig theme will be “Toy Master.” Keep dropping off building material and ask your youth about their Upcycled project! ... of EVENTS & Fundraisers! The word in the Starr King halls is that Spring Fling was LOADS OF FUN & the whole school feels supported from you all. Did you know that the Rising Starrs After School Program of Starr King enrolls more than half of the students enrolled at Starr King?! With that many students--it's easy for us to be a continuation of the community that is built during the school day. Our staff have relationships with school day staff, we attend & support MANY school day events, and we align ourselves with the academic & climate visions of Starr King Elementary. Did you also know that we have all of the following Enrichments offered during our program [all available at no added cost]?!
And... all of those are intertwined with making sure our students have enough structured & unstructured time outdoors, as well as our Program Leaders each supporting youth in Academic [Homework] Time. Lastly, all of that just happens during Monday through Thursday. I'm sure you've seen the difference in rhythm on our Friday Club Days--if you haven't yet, ask your child what clubs they've been in all year (we have them pick two new ones every month)! With that said... please read on to see how you can show support for all the hard work we've done this year! Fire Up Your Feet 4/15-5/15 (whole month) Have you seen that yellow bike rack by the office?! We all worked hard last fall to win that from a Kaiser Fundraiser. That was our FIRST TIME entering the contest--and we have high hopes of placing higher (and winning a bigger prize) this time around. PLEASE send us an email or just let any staff member know of ANY physical activities you do from now till Mid-May, and we can log it in our hours! Urban City Walk 4/22 (Saturday) The Rising Starrs After School Program is managed by Urban Services YMCA. We're one of the 14 branches of the YMCA of San Francisco, which means our staff has access to countless community resources. We are a true wrap-around service provider. The 2nd Annual Urban City Walk (3 miles) will be held THIS SATURDAY! and we've got a couple different ways for you to support us. 1) REGISTER TO WALK the three miles with us! 2) SPONSOR your child's Program Leader to walk 3) DONATE to our cause and name the whole Starr King After School Program CLICK HERE or go to https://www.ymcasf.org/programs/urban-services-city-walk to choose one of the above &/or get more information. Goat Hill Fundraiser 4/25 (Tuesday) We've found a community partner in Goat Hill! They're sponsoring another Day of Dining, where all we ask is for you (and your family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, etc) to eat at Goat Hill (West Portal or Potrero Hill locations) at any time next Tuesday. Let them know you are dining for the "STARR KING AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM FUNDRAISER". It was so inspiring, in the fall, when our whole team went to eat there for dinner and found ourselves surrounded by our Rising Starrs Families. We hope to get a bigger turnout this spring! STEAM Night 4/26 (Wednesday) @ 5:30pm-7:00pm It's finally here! We're a little more than a week away from STEAM Night! STEAM = Science Technology Engineering Art Math. For the past 2 years, we've hosted a science and art themed carnival for the entire school. Come one and come all -- you'll see your child build seriously amazing projects. Last year, students built homemade stomp rockets and craft boat races based on economic theory (seriously!). Everyone is invited -- and if you’d like to help out, please contact Maybelle Miranda ([email protected]). We are in need of volunteers! REMINDER: After School Program is Closed 4/28 (Friday) It's time for our annual ALL STAFF Retreat with Urban Services YMCA. You probably don't remember us telling you this back in September (hopefully you do!), but on April 28th--our program will not be in operation. These retreats are important for our staff, as this is the time we collaborate with our fellow YMCA colleagues and exchange ideas in the improvement of our work. OMG--there hasn't been a newsletter update since after the Thanksgiving Potluck?! HOW!? I am SO sorry we've been slacking. There's transitions with job descriptions, and I think this website got lost in the mix. Read on for lots of updates. *Summer Registration is Out! Please click on this link, to access and print out the Registration Packets. Starr King Elementary School will be closed for reconstruction again this summer, which means our summer program will be housed at Cesar Chavez Elementary School (825 Shotwell St). Drop off will be located at the entrance off of Folsom/22nd. The GREAT news is that we will be the only summer program running out of Cesar Chavez! *Enrichment Roster for Feb 20th through April 7th The new enrichment roster for this second to last cycle of the year is here (click here). PLEASE make note of the timing for enrichments, so that you make sure your child is here to finish them. In addition to the enrichments from the roster above, students also partake in enrichments with their classes. These include the following: -General Music on Mondays (Ks & 1st) -Cooking/Nutrition class on Mondays -Kicking STEM into Soccer on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Friday (2nd, 4th, Ks) -Tech Bus/Tinkering on Wednesdays (4th & 5th) -DJ Arts on Thursdays (4th & 5th) In addition, we'd like to say THANK YOU to the families who had children in violin lessons on Wednesdays. We know that, for some, it's inconvenient that the violin lessons now occur on Fridays. Our new instructor, Azat, is trying to free up his schedule to be able to provide lessons on Wednesdays. You'll be notified when/if that switch occurs. *MARK YOUR CALENDARS: Thursday, March 16th We are hosting a basketball celebration for all the ASP teams from this school year. All players and their parents/guardians are invited. It will be in the cafeteria from 6pm-6:45pm. We will be celebrating the coaches and the players. This includes our Fall Boys Junior Warriors Team, as well as the 3 Park & Rec Winter Teams (1st, 2nd, 3rd/4th teams), and our Spring Girls Junior Warriors Team. Wednesday, April 19th STEAM NIGHT IS HERE! YAY! COME ONE COME ALL. Stay tuned for more specifics. If you're interested in volunteering--please email me at [email protected] For families who are new to Starr King, STEAM Night is one of the most fun evenings with the Rising Starrs After School Program--where the WHOLE SCHOOL is invited to a "carnival-like" evening, where activity booths of hands-on Science/Technology/Engineering/Art/Math are run by staff and parents. Tuesday, April 25th Our spring fundraising day at Goat Hill Pizza will be held on this day. We were able to generate a few hundred dollars with our Fall Goat Hill Pizza fundraiser. Goat Hill is committed to supporting our program and is allowing us to have a spring fundraising day. In the fall we saw lots of families eating there--we hope to see many of you there! Friday, April 28th We need to close program on April 28th for an annual YMCA Staff Training Day. We notified you of this date back in the fall. Historically, our annual YMCA Training Day occurred in the fall, but for this year it is happening in the spring. This is an important day of training for our staff, as we collaborate with almost 200 Urban Services YMCA staff--which helps to shape and generate new ideas for our program. A community coming together to celebrate its diversity & enjoy commonalities is the best part of ourselves. And, boy... did you all bring your best! On behalf of the entire Rising Starrs Community, THANK YOU. Our after school program is only as strong as the community that supports us. Thank you for picking up some extra chicken for your child to share with friends. Thank you for making an entire platter of stuffing. Thank you for putting together a platter of pasta on Monday evening, when your family was probably already getting ready for Thanksgiving break. Thank you for carrying another awkwardly-shaped package into school, as you dropped off your child last Tuesday morning. Thank you for trusting us with your kitchen-ware. Thank you for helping us out by LABELING your kitchen-ware. Thank you for coming to our 3rd Annual Afternoon of Sharing. Thank you for always showing that small acts of kindness, multiplied by many, comes together beautifully. THANK YOU. Now that Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday are over... one of the main lifelines of Non-Profits like the YMCA, is tomorrow! How will you and your family participate in Giving Tuesday?!
--> We hope it's through ordering a slice or sharing an entire pizza at Goat Hill Pizza Tuesday, November 29th. --> Visit either of these 2 Goat Hill Locations on Tuesday, November 29th: *Potrero Hill Location: 300 Connecticut Street *West Portal Location: 170 West Portal Ave --> Encourage your lunch buddies to get Goat Hill delivered to work! --> Throw away the last of your Thanksgiving leftovers and get pizza with your family for dinner! --> Let Goat Hill cashiers know that you are eating pizza for the "benefit of Starr King ASP" & spread the phrase to ALL diners you see ordering while you're in the restaurant [so that they also say the phrase to the cashiers] --> If you can, take a picture and immediately email to [email protected] The proceeds we receive from Goat Hill on November 29th purchases will go directly toward our goal of inviting the Aquarium of the Bay to the Rising Starrs After School Program. We've been chipping away at our goal, and as we collectively support the fundraising events we've lined up--we will surely meet our goal by April! Here is a photo in case you need help in getting into the Holiday Spirit. The artist was Ms. Maybelle from Thanksgiving morning! Hello Rising Starrs Families Have you had a chance to see our Dia de los Muertos altar?! This past Monday (Oct 31), we changed up our usual Halloween Carnival and threw an event to expose our youth on the traditions of Dia de los Muertos. This altar was filled with projects that our youth made to honor their friends and families. There are dolls, tissue paper flowers, and picture frames all hand-made & dedicated to celebrating our loved ones. It's been on stage all week! Check it out if you haven't had a chance to see it. Along with the altar, we also incorporated some Halloween-themed activities. Adopting one of our activities from this year's Harvest Festival (Oct 22), we let our students do some "Pumpkin Chucking"! Students were challenged to create their own mini-catapults using limited materials (i.e. popsicle sticks, rubber bands, and masking tape). Once catapults were made, they each took turns to see who could launch a candied pumpkin the farthest--apparently 30 feet was the winner! ... and now, we're in the thick of event season for all of the holidays coming up. Here is a list of November/December events for After School & the Potrero Hill Community: Fri, Nov 4: Literacy Day To celebrate National Literacy Day (Nov 2), our Friday Club Day this week will be Literacy themed. There will be LOTS of activities to promote reading and comprehension--I hear there will be a Giant Boggle board and a new game called, "Double Lit Ninja" will be played. Tue, Nov 22: After School Program's Annual THANKSGIVING POTLUCK Every year has gotten better and better with our Thanksgiving Potluck... and when something works--you keep going! Who remembers these pictures? Be on the lookout for what your child(ren)'s group will be responsible to bring. Just put this on your family calendar now, so that you remember to send your child with something to share for this day! Tue, Nov 29: Program Fundraiser at Goat Hill Pizza We had such a successful & delicious fundraiser last year with Goat Hill, that they've agreed to help sponsor our program once per semester! Five days after Thanksgiving, when all of your leftovers are gone--or, you are just sick of them... TAKE YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY TO GOAT HILL PIZZA (Potrero Hill and West Portal locations only) AND LET THEM KNOW THE STARR KING ASP SENT YOU! Our program will get a percentage of the sales from dine-in and carry-out orders who specify our program fundraiser. Thu, Dec 1: Junior Warriors Basketball Playoff/Championship Double-Header The Rising Starrs ASP Basketball Team is on their way to making it into the playoffs for this year's Junior Warriors League. The TOP 4 teams will be in the playoffs, and according to Coach Rainer, this year's team is very capable of making it in! Please continue to support our Team of 14 competing (& seven 2nd grade students who practice with them). We will squeeze in one more practice day per week, so that our team can be set up with the skills they need to for the playoffs. The picture on the right shows our team participating in a community Court Unveiling sponsored by the Warriors, where our team got to participate in a basketball clinic with Warriors player David West! Wed, Dec 14: End of Semester Showcase Be on the lookout for your family invite! Our End of Semester Celebration showcasing our students in mandarin, violin, cello, music, and 5th grade dance will be performing what they've worked so hard on this whole semester. Please mark that you'll be at the Starr King Cafeteria for this send off into winter break at 4:30pm on Dec 14. As you can see, LOTS of opportunities to interact with and support our program are coming up. We hope to see ALL of you there! In case you haven't had a chance to check out our Rising Starrs YMCA Communication Board, click on the Enrichment Roster page to see which enrichments your child has been participating in during After School. We can't stress enough to please make note of the Enrichments Days/Times, because we pay for each child UPFRONT to participate in enrichments. This means that when your child misses enrichments (by getting picked up early or forgets instruments or swimsuits), hard-to-get funds aren't being used to their maximum benefit. There has also been some changes to SFUSD's insurance liability requirements, which has impacted a couple of our enrichment providers (i.e. Dance and Chess). For the 2016-17 School year, the general liability insurance coverage now requires $2,000,000 per occurrence and $4,000,000 in aggregate for Bodily Injury and Property Damage (in short, basically doubling insurance requirements). We are working with our enrichment providers to expedite the process as quickly as possible. I also want to assure you that I am working very proactively to find alternate enrichment providers who cannot meet the insurance requirements. Thankfully, we have so many fun activities already infused within our program, that we've had a smooth year even without one day of chess and one day of dance being provided. The talent of the after school staff is DEEP, and many of them have stepped up to the plate in planning much more engaging activities to our youth. Make it a habit to check out our community board regularly for more ASP announcements. Hello Rising Starr Community!
We received some FANTASTIC news today -- we will be able to participate in the Junior Warriors League with the Bayview YMCA! In case you didn't know, building the sports program of the Rising Starrs After School Program is something we are busily working to improve.
Related to Sports & our goal of creating a Healthy, Active After School Program... Please click on this link and log your activity hours for the entire month of October! Doing so will help our program beat out over a hundred schools to win the Fire Up Your Feet contest held by Kaiser Permanente (we're currently in the top 10). This is an EASY contest to win--share the link above with families, friends, colleagues, and strangers! We just need to track (log) as many activity hours from as many people as possible--for an entire month! If you know that your child ALWAYS has soccer practice, then indicate it on the form. If you always go hiking on the weekends--indicate it! If you went on your once a year huge shopping spree where you walked for 5 hours--indicate it! ANYTHING COUNTS... encourage everyone you know to track with us! Hello Rising Starrs Community
Here's a quick, mid-week update regarding enrichments. There's been some changes to the contract requirements from the YMCA of SF for our outside agency providers (i.e. enrichment providers). This has caused a major hiccup in our schedule. I apologize for this, but rest assured that we are all working diligently to get this all resolved. Enrichment start dates are the following: General Music --> Mon, Oct 3 (ALL Kinders & First Grade; no sign-up required) Nutrition & Food --> Mon, Nov 7 (ALL grades cycle through; no sign-up required) Violin --> Mon, Oct 3 (those signed up; found on ROSTER) Swimming --> ALREADY STARTED Chess (Tue) --> TBD Chess (Thu) --> ALREADY STARTED Cello --> Wed, Oct 5 (those signed up; found on ROSTER) Mandarin --> ALREADY STARTED Dance --> TBD I apologize for this inconvenience. Good News is that if you are enrolled in Tue Chess or Thu Dance, you will be enrolled in that activity through December 9th! Also, I am on the lookout for identifying MORE enrichments to be provided this school year. YMakers [Tinkering] will be back to our after school program soon. THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR PATIENCE. In the meantime, here's a wonderful pic of the fog rolling in yesterday. THANK YOU, Rising Staff Family! We had over 90% attendance during our AfterSchool Mandatory Orientation. Wow! That is definitely a success rate. Program Updates *Enrichments -- First and foremost, your patience in waiting for the enrichment roster has been greatly appreciated! Lots of factors played into the delay. One of which was the fact that SFUSD/YMCA changed their Insurance Liability requirements from our contracted agencies... meaning we had to re-do A LOT of paperwork. --> click on THIS to see which enrichment(s) your child is enrolled in through Oct 21st. --> make note of the SCHEDULE of enrichments, to make sure your child is present for their scheduled activities. *Friday Clubs -- Have you heard from your child yet, about their favorite Friday club? We've got a good list going on exciting Friday clubs that include the following: --> Cooking in the Kitchen Lab with Ms. Alex --> Motor Skills development in Relays with Mr. Rainer --> Engineering in Building Workshop with Ms. Yvonne --> Storytelling in Film with Ms. Jenny --> Teambuilding in Sports Tournaments with Mr. Cliff --> Empowerment in Girls Club (3rd-5th only) with Ms. Taeana --> Creating in Arts & Crafts with Ms. Crystal *We will also begin hosting our FUNdraising Snack Cart every Fourth Friday during After School (3:30pm-5:30pm). Last year, the funds we generated from our on-site fundraisers allowed us to re-stock our aging sports equipment supply! This summer--we became proud owners of an archery set, brand new rubber balls, and an awesome volleyball/tennis net! *Wish List -- We're always on the lookout for extra shelving, storage bins, and cleaning supplies! We'd also appreciate any new or old, but CLEAN pillows and blankets to help make our spaces more comfortable. Our Building Workshop has also been a huge success, which is supplied by recyclables. We're looking for cardboard rolls, plastic caps, corks, and packaging materials. *We still have spots available in KINDERGARTEN! Let your friends know. *Are you interested in supporting or leading a club? If you're passionate about cooking, yoga, crafting, or anything that you'd like to share with youth, then let us know by emailing [email protected]! *Social Media -- Like us on Facebook & subscribe to this Newsletter. Add your email address below! Welcome back Rising Starrs Family! If you were with us during the summer, you're probably familiar with our summer motto of "Best. Summer. Ever." We had such a fun-filled & engaging summer program, that we are bringing that same energy to the new school year. It's my 3rd year of managing the Rising Starrs After School Program, and my team and I are committing to making this the "Best. Year. Ever." Program Updates * Choose ONE of the dates to attend our MANDATORY Rising Starrs Parent/Guardian Orientation
* Enrichments will begin the week of Sep 12th. Sign ups will happen during the Mandatory Rising Starrs Parent/Guardian Orientation (above). This will be when you learn of the days and times of our enrichment offerings. Most are staying the same days and times, however, some have changed due to instructor schedule needs. * Without enrichments, what's happening in After School right now? The first 3 weeks of school, Rising Starrs are getting to know their After School Grade-Level group and Program Leader. If you haven't heard, they've been playing a lot of teambuilding games. Last week, they went on a scavenger hunt to learn all about the appropriate behavior in each of our After School spaces (i.e. cafeteria, Flex Room, playground, classrooms, hallways, etc). They've also already started getting in the habits of what "Homework Time" looks/sounds/feels like. Check out the pictures above of our most popular Friday Club - Building Workshop! We are continuing on the success of "Thingamajig" from this summer, where Rising Starrs invent contraptions to tackle every day problems or challenges. Their first Building Workshop! challenge was to create something they could use at home or at school. Our huge stack of recyclables were wiped out after just one Friday Club Day. PLEASE CONTINUE TO DONATE RECYCLABLES TO OUR PROGRAM! The best Workshop items are cardboard rolls, boxes, plastic bottle caps, foam, and packing/shipping materials. * Spread the word! We have Open Spots in after school in the following grades: Kinders: 9 spots left 1st Grade: 1 spot left 2nd Grade: FULL 3rd Grade: FULL 4th Grade: 2 spots left 5th Grade: 3 spots left (We will open up more spots once we are fully staffed.) * August/September Program Payments will be charged Thu, Aug 25th. The fees deducted will be $180 (Aug) + $280 (Sep) = $460. If you would like to pay in installments, please email [email protected] by Wed, Aug 24th. Lastly, Mr. Mike and Ms. Maybelle want to share a few Summer Break pictures--to show what they did to rejuvenate and be ready for the "Best. Year. Ever." Ms. Maybelle had a summer break full of Family & Friends Time. The pictures on the left & middle show her with 29 of her cousins & their families (NO PARENTS!) vacationing in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico (yay! matching shirts!). Can you guess where the picture on the right is taken? CHICAGO! Ms. Maybelle is from the midwest, and spent another week with family and friends in Chicago & Indianapolis. Mr. Mike spent a week in Maui! It was his first adult vacation EVER. He swam with sea turtles, ate his weight in shaved ice, and surprised his girlfriend with a sunset cruise. Every night for dinner, he would order three entrees so that he could try all the different awesome fish options on the island. He's decided to vacation in Hawaii every year from now on.
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AuthorSol Granados |