Roseland Nutrition Olympics

Kristen Mowers, Nutrition Coordinator - CalSERVES



CalSERVES Roseland Elementary Program hosted Nutrition Olympics at their site. The mentors and students had loads of fun participating in a variety of nutritional booths. Some of the students’ favorites were Pepper Toss,



Citrus Tic Tac Toe,



and the “Food For Thought” ticket booth. Students answered trivia and riddles to earn tickets that they could take to other booths and play games.

*** As a note to concerned readers, no fruits or vegetables were harmed in these games... those that were tossed were made of Styrofoam, and those that were real were eaten by the children after the games. ***

Nutrition Olympics at Wright

Katie O'Looney, Supervising Teacher at Wright Elementary

STAR testing week is the perfect time to get the kids out of the classroom and outside having fun. Luckily, testing week also happens to be TV Turn-Off Week and the week we celebrate the Nutrition Olympics. With help from the Network for a Healthy California, we were able to participate in activities such as raisin picking, the pepper toss, supermarket shopping relay, coconut bowling, the carrot hop, cucumber javelin and the lettuce dribble. The students and mentors had a wonderful time, evident by lots of smiles and laughs. I would have never imagined that you could keep primary students entertained by throwing raisins and sunflower seeds onto the grass and tell them to find as many as they can. Overall it was a fantastic event and our students learned to eat more fruits and vegetables and to stay away from high sugar drinks!!

Enjoy the pictures!

The Imagine Bus Project

Jane Lang, Imagine Bus Project North

Students show their art created on the Imagine Bus.

For two hours every Tuesday after school at Sheppard Elementary, The Imagine Bus Project North parks its mobile arts studio out in front and gets ready to welcome kids who are in the CalSERVES after school program. With yellow "bus passes" in hand, the kids board the Bus to create whatever project is happening for that week. It might be making rainsticks or clay bird nests or even monoprints with our very own printing press. Or maybe we will learn about a school of art and do a project in that school's style.

The kids get to learn about the larger world beyond Sonoma County: be it folk arts from other countries, art influences from times gone by, or even principles of art making, while creating a project that they can take home and proudly share with their family. We, on the Bus, know how important art exposure and experiences are for these kids as they build self esteem and self mastery. And art can even improve academic grades! But most importantly, it teaches a child how to dream and imagine beyond his current scope of vision, creating a more hopeful future with broader options to explore as they mature.

To learn more about the Imagine Bus Project, visit their website: imaginebusproject.org

Gearing up for the Human Race!

We are getting ready for the Human Race! Every year, CalSERVES participates in the Sonoma County Human Race, a fundraiser organized by the Volunteer Center. Thousands of people raise money for non-profits and participate on Race Day. We will be among the crowd!

Please drop by CalSERVES' Human Race Donation Site to make a contribution and see how we are coming on our goal to raise $15,000! The money we raise goes directly to the children we work with - we buy books for our students and support Summer programs.

Our own talented Jeremy King put this video together. Take a look! You can also view other CalSERVES videos on our YouTube Channel.

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!

A Student's Story

Christopher Farris, Program Assistant with CalSERVES and former AmeriCorps Team Leader

This is a story that a former tutee wrote for me. Rebecca came from Rio DeJaneiro, Brazil my first year in AmeriCorps. She was the only Portuguese-speaking student in the district and I just so happened to be the only Portuguese-speaking person in the district. So it just worked
out fine.

I got the watery eyes when reading this next to her because of how proud I was of her, how good I felt inside. This shows why I am so hopeful and encouraged in the work that we are doing at CalSERVES.

The following story was written by Rebecca, a 4th Grade student in our programs, as she remembered her first experiences with her tutor, Mr. Chris Farris. It was a project she did all on her own. The spelling, grammar, and punctuation are all hers - only minor edits were made for clarity. The illustrations are also done by Rebecca.




Weird Day
Hi. My name is Rebecca and I wil tell you about my srtory. OK, here we go.

When I came from Brazil my dad said I was going to start school the next day. So I did. I went to First Grade, but it was sooooooo easy for me, we were learning the + sign so they jumped me to Second Grade. I went to Second Grade and met a very special peason Ms. Kantor my teacher. She was soooooo nice, incredibal, and funny. She told me I had to go to a reading group to learn more.

When I got there, there was a teacher and she was preety nice, on the second time it was the same. Third time to, but on the forth “nonono Becca no liky”. I saw this man siting on a chair looking at me. Later on he was talking to me in a language I don’t know because I did not hear. On the next day he was saing my name, I got scared.

On the next day he went to pick me up on the class, Now I got so scared. He took me to a messy room first and trust me it was Messy. We sat at a desk and he started talking in my language, I was starting to understand. Then he took me to class.

The next day was OK. He went to pick me up OK. I was already talking a little bit to him. The one thing that it was special, is that he had the bravery to talk to me all the time. Then he took me back to class. Then I asked Mrs. Kantor why do that man need to pick me up everyday, she said he comes here to help me speak in English.

He came back again and we went to the same room, the messy one. We were talking and talking about stuff he got a paper out on no where about um um… “Mart Mart Luth ahh” you get it. It about a guy that changed the world with something about with the color of their skin. He took me back to class like always.

Finally I Understand
I was thinking that he is really helping me and of course my friends too. The stuff he tells me is important to me. On the next day I was a little messy with him.

He told me that when I act like that it is good for me. On recess I was already playing and talking like I new English for a long time. Tat made me feel good actually and I think that’s how you act when you know you are doing something right.

On the next day it was totally weird I was starting to care about him. People thought he was my dad. It made us laugh though we were alike in a strange way but yes he acts like he is my dad, that made me special because I feel like there is a bunch of people that cares about me and I don’t see it but they do.

As I told you he is helping me. He is special man for us and my family. He met my dad and may mom, they liked him, not only he specks in our language or that he helps me, it’s because he is nice, funny, and helpful.

Now he is part of our family. We thank him for everything especially me. Thanks for everything Chris. You’re the best.

Cesar Chavez Health Fair!

Emily Mann, Cesar Chavez Health Fair Organizer

Girls attending the fair try some oranges!

The Cesar Chavez Health Fair is this week! So much is happening as we prepare for this fantastic community event. CalSERVES students are busy with service learning and making flowers for decorations; their mentors are preparing to run tables, do face paintings and make balloon animals, run a bike rodeo and soccer games, and man the bounce house and rock climbing wall. Staff are coordinating a healthy lunch for everyone who attends, pulling over 80 community partners in to participate in the event, rounding up speakers and entertainers, and making sure everything comes together.

Even the weather is cooperating - it's supposed to be SUNNY ALL WEEK!

We are all excited and hopeful that this will be the best Cesar Chavez Health Fair ever! We invite all to come and have a good time. To learn more about this year's event, visit our website: www.calserves.org/events/chavez.html

Event Details:
Saturday, March 14th from 10am-2pm
Roseland Elementary School
950 Sebastopol Rd, Santa Rosa CA
This event is FREE to the community!

The Cesar Chavez Health Fair is generously sponsored by:
Kaiser Permanente, First 5 of Sonoma County, Network for a Healthy California, County of Sonoma Department of Health Services, St. Joseph's Health System of Sonoma County, Redwood Credit Union, Community Action Partnership, Taqueria Santa Rosa, and many more!