CalSERVES Students learn to Go Green

During the week of April 15th, our STEM tutoring groups took part in a national week of Greening STEM. We partnered with the National Environmental Education Foundation for resources, ideas, and support. The National Environmental Education Week  focuses on hands-on environmental education through enriched STEM projects. Several CalSERVES students were able to expand their STEM knowledge while learning about important environmental issues. The week was a complete success and each of us is ready to live greener!

Taylor Mountain explored vampire appliances and how to save energy.

Bellevue helped the students learn how to reduce, reuse, and recycle.

Also, Team Bellevue spent some time in their school garden learning
about composting and soil.

Kawana ventured through their school garden looking for insects and other living things.

Meadow View’s older students learned about different forms of energy
and how to conserve each type.

The students at Meadow View were awarded with the
Greening STEM Week Certificate of Participation.

 by Katie Gill, CalSERVES AmeriCorps STEM Content Leader

A Valuable Volunteer

Volunteer Christina Strong works with students at Kawana Elementary.

Kawana Elementary has been honored with an exceptionally devout volunteer in Christina Strong. Aspiring to become a teacher one day, Christina brings a steadfast approach to the CalSERVES after-school program. Her experience continues to be an important stepping-stone in moving forward towards her career of teaching. “I am majoring in Liberal Studies to become a K – 12 teacher and this program offers me everything I need as I am searching for teaching and classroom leadership experience.”


Kawana team members have recognized her hard work. Classroom Leader, Emily Walski, praised Christina’s commitment, “she’s very self-motivated; she comes in to help, figures out where she can lend a hand, and starts working.” This kind of relentless work ethic and passion for teaching makes Christina such a unique and valuable member of the after-school team. Cody Cibart, the volunteer coordinator, added further appreciation, “Christina is great; not only do the mentors and children enjoy her, but she also brings value to our program through her willingness to make a difference.”

Since beginning as a volunteer in early October, Christina has made remarkable progress. In fact, she did such an amazing job as a volunteer that CALSERVES recently decided to hire her as a substitute classroom leader. She is confident going into the future, mentioning that this new position will provide good practice for her career goals.

Volunteers like Christina contribute to the improvement of our community with an unselfish zeal. Her dedication, patience, and desire to improve students’ learning capabilities are the perfect mix of support that the CalSERVES after-program is thrilled to have.

by Cody Cibart and Alex Rowan, AmeriCorps VIP Leaders

Meet the Team Leaders: Rebecca Dunckley

Rebecca Dunckley, CalSERVES Team Leader at Kawana Elementary

A local to the North Bay area and with first-hand experience on how after school programs can change a child’s life, Rebecca Dunckley is the Team Leader at Kawana Elementary School. This is Rebecca’s third year working for the CalSERVES program and her love for the program and how it positively impacts children’s lives is what has kept her involved with CalSERVES for so long.

As a team leader, Rebecca hopes to become an active and strong support system for her AmeriCorps members and wants to help them be great tutors/mentors for the students. She loves watching people work together and come up with creative ideas that can help the students grow and learn. As for working with the students, Rebecca wants to be a source of confidence for the kids; she wants to establish one-on-one relationships with her students and make them feel comfortable enough to go to her for help of any kind. Additionally, Rebecca is extremely excited and appreciative about the team at Kawana. She says that they have been tremendously patient with her as she learns and adjusts to the job as team leader. Classroom leaders and AmeriCorps members alike are amazing with their students and are always coming up with amazing lessons for the kids. Rebecca also is grateful for the support from her site supervisor, Katherine Brooks, whom Rebecca says has been helpful, supportive, sweet, and fabulous at her job and Rebecca is honored to be a part of her team.

Overall, as a team leader, Rebecca hopes to be a role model that the students can look to for advice or guidance and help be a positive force in a really important time and area of these kids’ lives. Rebecca states that she gets to leave work every day knowing that she is making a difference in these students’ lives and that is something that she loves.

As for advice for future Team Leaders or Service Scholars, Rebecca says to wear really good and comfortable shoes; "you are all over this place and you won’t be able to sit down a whole lot!"

By: Jacquelene Bennett, AmeriCorps Content Leader
 and Rebecca Dunckley, AmeriCorps Team Leader, Kawana Elementary

Make a Difference Day Part 2: Kawana, Taylor Mountain, and Meadow View Schools

Make a Difference Day, October 27th, 2012, saw some amazing projects around the CalSERVES school sites as AmeriCorps members joined together to provide a day of service. What follows is the second post in series of 3 outlining the projects competed by CalSERVES AmeriCorps members. Each post is written by a Team Leader who worked on that specific project.

There were three different projects that were completed at Kawana Elementary School. AmeriCorps members and volunteers broke up into different groups to complete a given task. Based on the different project, one could immediately see the various talents of the group.

The first project was to turn the boring, grey-colored “Wall Ball” courts into something more dynamic and visually stimulating. Unfortunately, Kawana has been plagued with graffiti and “tagging”, so emphasis was placed on painting images that could be easily fixed, if such an event were to occur. This project attracted the more creative, artistically gifted.

Classroom Leader at Taylor Mountain, Crystal Ruiz, shows off her artistic skills by painting abstract art
on the wallball walls at Kawana.

The second project was the construction of a tire obstacle course, such as might be seen on a football field. This project involved laying mulch for a solid foundation, drilling holes into each tire, bolting them together and painting the tires. This project was an attraction for those more skilled at construction, and also unafraid of manual labor. Shoveling mulch in the sun is no easy task!

AmeriCorps members from Kawana and MeadowView Elementary take some time from painting the
obstacle course to flash the camera a pretty smile!

 The last project was perhaps the least savory: removing invasive, prickly, Himalayan Blackberry bushes from the Kawana garden. For the task, we were given heavy-duty gloves, loppers, trimmers and shovels, in an effort to eradicate the thorny nuisance. This project was an attraction for all of the gardeners, and similar to the construction crew, individuals not afraid of a little manual labor.

AmeriCorps members stand with pride behind the immense amount of blackberry bushes they tackled.

Although the weather was perhaps a little warm, it was nevertheless a wonderful day to be outside and serve the community. Nearly everyone agreed that the time flew by rather quickly. One of the supervisors of the project, Kristen Mowers, noted how “This is a project where everyone worked the entire time!” The work was very rewarding and the results were stunning. This project is yet another testament to the positive and beneficial works undertaken by CalSERVES and AmeriCorps members in the Santa Rosa and Sonoma County community.

By: NightSnow Vogt, Team Leader at Meadow View Elementary

Kids Love Dogs

Sadie and three of her biggest fans. These brothers all received awards at our
fitness assembly this week and they asked for Sadie to be included in their picture.

Bringing your dog to work every day may seems a little unconventional to some, but for me, it’ a dream come true. When the kids ask what a therapy dog is, I say “Her job is to just to make you happy.” Sadie is a one year old Catahoula mix that loves kids; one thing is for sure, the kids love her even more! Whether it’s the 3rd grader that spends his mornings, recess, and lunch time in our room visiting her, or the 6th grader that asks to take her for a walk when he’s feeling upset, her presence has made quite the difference here at Kawana.

When I visit Ms. Garcia's Kindergarten, she asks the students as I’m leaving the room, "Say goodbye to Ms. Williams." In perfect harmony the kindergarteners yell "Bye Sadie!!” If that isn’t proof that she’s doing her job, then I don’t know what is! 

by Jackie Williams, After School Team Leader at Kawana Elementary

Healthy Food for Families

Fresh produce from the Redwood Empire Food Bank.

Every Friday I go to the food bank and get hundreds of pounds of fruits and vegetables to give out to the families. This past Friday I got over 600 pounds of produce. I picked up 150 boxes of strawberries (1 per family), 200 pounds of potatoes, broccoli, brussel sprouts, and celery. In the past I have also gotten sweet potatoes, carrots, parsley, green onions, apples, oranges, asian pears, and more. Although I do this every Friday, the parents still ask me how much I am charging for the produce. The families are relentlessly shocked and grateful for the copious amounts of fruits and vegetables I provide.

This is by far one of the most rewarding things I have a chance to do. Giving healthy food for the families to put on the dinner table, and knowing that my students aren’t going to go hungry tonight- that’s all the thanks I need.

by Melissa Collins, VIP Fellow at Kawana Elementary School

Fitness Fun! – Yoga Lessons at Kawana Elementary School

Sally McLeod, AmeriCorps Mentor at Kawana Elementary
 

3rd Graders doing Yoga at Kawana Elementary

As a mentor and specialist at Kawana Elementary, it’s not always easy coming up with fun and innovative lesson plans. In my search for something fun and unique, I decided to take a look at previous specialist lesson plans from past years. In my search I came upon something truly inspiring; yoga for kids!

I thought yoga would be a great activity to do with the third grade! I would introduce an alternative way of exercising and keeping healthy, which a lot of the kids had never been exposed to. Some aspects that I included in my lesson were different breathing techniques, yoga postures, and other calming affects.

At the beginning of our week, I introduced the concept of yoga. I discussed what it is, its origin, and why it is useful. We then proceeded to go into our first breathing exercise. These breathing exercises were a great opener into our lesson. All of the students were asked to close their eyes and relax while given a calming visual to imagine themselves in. This really slowed up the pace and allowed students to instill a state of peace within themselves as well as a oneness with what they were imagining.

After our breathing exercises, we moved into the different yoga positions. While moving into different positions it was important for the students to understand what each position meant, so that they were able to embody all of the qualities themselves. Some poses students were asked to embody were warrior, tree, and mountain. Characteristics of these poses included strength, confidence, trust, as well as other great characteristics to promote good self-esteem and awareness.

At the end of our week, I was truly blown away at how much the students had taken from this lesson. I really felt that they were in tune and more aware of their surroundings and each other. Yoga seemed to have a real breakthrough upon these kids! They took the instructions I had given them whole heartedly and I couldn’t have asked for more!

Reclaiming the Kawana Garden

Katherine Brooks, Supervising Teacher at Kawana Elementary

Since November, the CalSERVES crew at Kawana Elementary School have been working hard to get their school garden back into shape. Luckily, we have many enthusiastic supporters: students, parents, school staff, and other community members that all want to see the garden in a better state and used more often.

Rebecca Leung, Garden Club Organizer

“At Kawana Elementary School, we strive to offer our students as many resources as possible. However, we have one resource that is being seriously underutilized: our school garden. With 8,000 square feet, the garden is a sizable lot and needs a lot of maintenance and love.” – Rebecca Leung

Rebecca Leung, a full-time mentor and the leader in our movement to reclaim the Kawana Garden, has worked tirelessly to organize a student Garden Club, care for seedlings, and decorate our garden. She has even contacted businesses for donations and organized two Community Garden Days.

In February, the community gathered to organize the garden shed, prune trees, remove dilapidated benches, weed garden beds and cut LOTS of blackberry vines. Parents and students also planted many seeds that are growing now inside pots in our classrooms.

5th grade student Temo says about the first garden day “It was fun cleaning up because it helps our community. My favorite part was pulling all the weeds.”

Temo’s sister and mother also attended the first Community Garden Clean-Up and are excited to participate in the next one that the mentors put on.

Students working hard in the garden - Adrian (2nd) Isai and Temo (5th)

On April 2nd, Kawana’s Garden Club will have a Garden Day once again, and this time, we will be able to plant edible foods, flowers, and herbs in the prepared garden beds. We will also paint over any graffiti on the benches, and continue to remove weeds that don’t belong there. So join us April 2nd from 10 am - 1 pm and be a part of or movement to reclaim the Kawana garden, and check out more photos of our garden events on Flikr!

We look forward to making Kawana’s garden beautiful, and having fun while doing it!

Volunteering with CalSERVES at Kawana Elementary School

Christine Mendoza, CalSERVES Volunteer at Kawana Elementary

Christine Mendoza, CalSERVES Volunteer, tutors Luis, a 5th Grade student at Kawana Elementary School.

I went into volunteering at CalServes with the belief that this was going to be a short-term work-like relationship with the organization. The main reason I chose to volunteer at CalServes was primarily to gain experience for future resumes and applications for graduate schools. Now I find myself investing more time volunteering than at my part-time job and as many people point out, I don’t even get paid to do this! I guess that’s what helps me realize my time volunteering is so well spent. CalSERVES provided me with an inside look of the state of California’s public school system that I have never experienced.

I have never felt so privileged until I began tutoring and helping out the children in the program. When I go to volunteer at Kawana Elementary, I don’t wonder why I don’t do this for money because I’ve never felt like going in was a job. It’s truly a pleasure to work with a team so dedicated to making a positive influence in the lives of children.

Kindness Counts!

Every Wednesday, After School students at Kawana Elementary School engage in lessons called “Kindness Counts”, which focus on helping their community and the world around them. Throughout the year, Promise Fellow Katie Brooks has put together many lessons, some which allowed students to send warm wishes to the elderly, and encouraging others to engage in physical activity. 

This past month, third and fourth grade Cool School students were given a WHALE of a lesson! The children learned that whales were endangered, and got to be outdoors to measure how long a blue whale actually is! They also got the chance to save their own whale! By donation and saving their pennies, students in both grades raised enough money to adopt two blue whales! 

Students will get pictures of their whales, but want to know…where will we put them?

A Satire: A Pumpkin-Day Massacre

Jamie Farries, AmeriCorps Mentor at Kawana Elementary


The chill of fall settled upon us as the wind blew the brittle leaves down from the boughs of trees lining the plastic covered picnic tables. The third graders squirmed eagerly as their wicked plot unfurled onto their unsuspecting pumpkins. Unknowingly, their dreary fates were laid in the hands of these callous carvers. The defenseless pumpkins didn't stand a chance.

Oh the gore! Pumpkin guts were spewed across the tabletops like the stomach contents of a child who gorged himself on too much Halloween candy. The pumpkins silently screamed in horror as the devilish children carved them up like Christmas hams, only leaving hollow shells and traced out faces to commemorate their destruction.

The third graders giggled in delight over their reign of terror. After the carnage was finally over, they took their lifeless pumpkins home as souvenirs of what is infamously known today as the Pumpkin-Day Massacre.

Kawana Club Craziness!

Riis Larsen, Mentor at Kawana Elementary School

Kawana Student with his Story Stick

This Friday I led my first ever club. I chose to do an art project called “Make Your Story Stick”. We sat in a circle and chose an idea for our story; then the leader started it off. Each person would add a piece to the story and it turned into an hilarious tale. We discussed the idea that the story was unique because each person added his or her own idea. I explained that the concept of the Story Stick was to create a piece of art that was representative of your individual self, and that each person’s Stick would be different, just like the story.

A Story Stick is essentially a piece of bamboo wrapped in some colorful material (we used yarn), and then topped with large feathers. The yarn is simply tied and then wrapped, and then tied again at the end. The feathers are glued into place with a hot glue gun. We also used strings of beads to adorn the Sticks, and craft sand and glitter to cover the glue.

The club went well; all the students were able to make a stick. It was a little chaotic, but we were able to manage! It was very important to me to explain to the students about the artistic value of what we were doing, Very fun, a little crazy, but the students absolutely loved it, and of course, so did I.

Michelle Hernandez- Featured Student!

Diana Bridges, Literacy Team Leader at Kawana Elementary

Diana and Michelle

On the first day of tutoring last year, I was as nervous as any other mentor. My first student was a tiny fifth grader, Michelle, who loved the color purple and hated taking tests. As we sat down to do our first assessments, Michelle was quiet, rung her hands, and asked to get a drink from the water fountain. It seemed I was not the only one who was terrified on the first session! After realizing this about one another, we both laughed, and from that day forward were able to have successful tutoring sessions. I learned more from Michelle than she knows, and as her tutor again this year, I am excited to be learning from her again.

Michelle is now a sixth grader, and though she is small, she is tough, and that initial silence has been replaced by confidence and an sense of humor that can make any bad day turn around. Michelle now loves to read and has begun reading with her sister outside of school, and sharing her thoughts about these books with me. She loves playing "News Cast" while we do our STARS curricula and asks with suspense in her voice, "Will Michelle answer all 4 questions right? Let's head over to Ms. Bridges to see!" She makes the best out of her education and has been an inspiration to me in my returning a second year in AmeriCorps, and in furthering my education to become a teacher.

Meadow View Health and Wellness Fair!

Diana Bridges, Literacy Team Leader at Kawana Elementary



The Health and Wellness Fair, put on this year by Meadow View Elementary School, had all the features of a good fair. Parents, mentors, and students alike attended the event and enjoyed the activities and attractions. Many booths offered information about health care and safety for families, and other offered food like watermelon, which was popular on such a hot day! Aztec and Chinese dancing was also featured as entertainment, adding a multicultural aspect to the fair.

The favorite attraction of the day for kids seemed to be the bike rodeo, where students were given the chance to ride awesome courses chalked onto the hot pavement of the blacktop. At the Bike Rodeo, students had their pictures taken and were awarded their bicycle licences before riding the four trail course. Students were most excited to dodge boulders, ride the figure eight trail, and use the hand signals they had learned in the mini-safety course. Just as it has been in the past, the Health and Wellness fair was successful in bringing many families together for food, fun, and education!

The Dog House 3rd Grade Built!

Dani Deems, Part Time AmeriCorps Mentor at Kawana Elementary

It was a lot of fun developing a service-learning project with our third grade After School class at Kawana Elementary. The students worked in small groups to come up with at least five different service opportunities they wanted to help with. With a class vote, they decided to help the Humane Society. We facilitated small group discussions to see how they wanted to help. They chose to help stray dogs to have a home. We made sure the students understood that the class couldn’t keep the strays, but that maybe we could build a home for them and then donate it to the humane society. They really liked this idea and were excited to build a dog house.

Our Promise Fellow at Kawana, Jenny Gibson, was able to obtain a donation of wood so our kids could build a dog house. A mentor’s cousin volunteered to cut the wood for us, which was necessary for the safety of our students. The kids were so excited for the first day on the project. The first step was for students to draw markings on the wood so our helper would know where to cut the wood. While some kids were outside, the rest of them were inside following step-by-step directions in creating their own 3-D paper doghouse. This kept them pretty entertained and it was nice to see them working as a team and helping their neighbors when they couldn’t figure out what to do next.

Students painting their dog house.

Once the doghouse was put altogether, the next part was painting it. We did a primer coat first. They all got their chance to paint. While some of the kids were painting, the rest of them enjoyed a game of Frisbee, which they were calling a game of “fetch”. Our next step in the project will be painting the doghouse a shade of blue. That’s the color they had voted on. And finally the last step for our project will be finding a local chapter of the Humane Society that will accept our doghouse. We’d love for the next adopted dog to go home with our fabulous never-been-lived-in doghouse!

Kawana Knows How To Party

by Cyndie Granato, Team Leader at Kawana Elementary

5th graders with pumpkins they carved

Halloween festivities were in full swing at Kawana's CalSERVES programs last week! Promise Fellow Jenny Gibson worked nonstop to make sure that this Halloween would be one that Kawana kids wouldn’t soon forget. CalSERVES entire room was turned into a haunted house, and mentors got into the act by dressing in costume for the day of Halloween. Even in the rain, kids and mentors all had a blast this Halloween!

Some of the costumed Kawana mentors

Additionally, earlier in the week, students painted/carved pumpkins that had been donated from generous farmers and stores across Sonoma, Napa, and Mendocino counties.

3rd graders with their mentor, Alli Campfield, show off their pumpkins

1st grade Daniel paints his pumpkin

KAWANA PRESENTS... Christian!

Cyndie Granato, Team Leader at Kawana Elementary

Christian Lugo, CalSERVES Tutoring and After School Student

Kawana has decided to profile one amazing student each month in a special section called KAWANA PRESENTS. And who better to choose for our first article than one of our star tutoring kids? So, Kawana is proud to present: Christian Avina Lugo.

Why Christian? Christian has been in CalSERVES Literacy Tutoring and After School programs for several years. Mr. Nyholm, Christian’s tutor, notes that he is “polite and down to earth; he’s a very clean cut and stylish kid.” He was known in After School all last year as one of the most polite kids in his class, and, just as importantly, for his style and dance skills. He is also a skilled poet, having performed his poetry live in the Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration, with an audience of hundreds. Christian dreams of being an NFL player when he’s older, but right now, his favorite things are math and cheeseburgers. Finally, Mr. Nyholm recalls, Christian “was the first kid to say hello to me at this school.”

Polite, funny, outgoing, smart, and friendly: these are just a few of the many things Kawana loves about Christian.

Christian and his mentor, Mr. Nyholm

Science Fair!

Nicole Lafreniere, Supervising Teacher at Kawana Elementary

On March 21st, students in the CalSERVES After School program showcased science projects to Santa Rosa residents, parents, and teachers in the cafeteria of Kawana Elementary School. As a class or with an individual mentor, kids were able to conduct a two-week experiment of their choosing. They then illustrated what they learned on a traditional display board. “We really wanted to support our kids in researching a topic that interested them and not say something is or isn’t science because science is everywhere,” says fair founder and After School Mentor, Kelly Richmond.


Projects entailed Defining Density (3rd grade), “Catching” a Rainbow (4th), examining Plant Absorbency (5th), and uncovering the tactile wonders of creating a “Rubber Egg” with a little amateur chemistry (1st/2nd).

Kawana’s 6th grade class was so inspired that after studying the functions of the human lung, they sought to use their findings to serve a greater cause—educating the public about a healthy lifestyle. “We are going to use our findings in our service outreach with the community,” said 6th grade mentor Sam Sowl. “It’s going to be nice that, after all the work, our kids will be able to see not only the scientific process, but how this is applied in a greater context.”

Yet, aside from the sheer fun of an experiment, Kawana’s After School Science Fair also gave students a chance to explore a subject sometimes absent from the normal school day. Due to funding and unfortunate budget cuts, science has taken second-stage to other subjects such as English and Math. However, as they highlighted their results on Friday, students seemed better acquainted with a new academic discipline.

Organizer Kelly Richmond feels that the fair was a great success. “All I wanted was to get kids interested, to have them question the things that occur in life, and to understand that science is an interesting approach to answering these questions,” Richmond said. With a smile she then added, “I think, at least, that we saw that interest today.”