Wednesday, October 17, 2007

San Francisco Family Festival

Probably one of the busiest events of the year, the SF Family Festival was a huge success for the Early Literacy Initiative! The ELI team and our amazing volunteers welcomed over 10,000 participants to the event with our literacy stations and reading area. The stream of families and children was non-stop, as was the busy “All About Me” book, puppet making, puzzles and games, and parachute play! Our volunteers even had the chance to help DCYF with the ever popular jump houses, KQED with their book activities, and Tree Frog Treks with Trucker the turtle and Tiki the bearded dragon!

The crowds were relentless -- we barely had time to rest and grab a bite to eat, let alone stand the 45 minutes in line to use the restroom! After the event was over I had time to sit and reflect, and came to the following conclusion: the weariness of my limbs, the numb state of my mind, as well as the memories of all the kids’ bright eyes and smiles are all signs of another ELI event well done! We couldn’t have done it without our volunteers so once again, THANK YOU. GO TEAM!

**If you are interested in being a Jumpstart ELI volunteer, contact Nicole at Nicole.sirivansanti@jstart.org**

Welcome New ELI Staff!

ELI would like to give a warm welcome to three new Jumpstart staff who will be working with our team: Annie Robinson, Katie Westbrook, and Nicole Sirivansanti! Annie and Katie join us from New York City, and Nicole from Japan. Among other duties, Annie will be publishing the weekly bulletin, Katie the newsletter, and Nicole this blog! Their added energy and skills will make the ELI team even stronger, helping us spread our message and positively impact early literacy in our community!

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Bulletin: June 19th

BayView Story Book Productions Coming Soon
The ELI team has been working with five of Jumpstart’s program partner preschools to create wonderful performances around each schools favorite story book. On July 19th preschool children and their families will come to the BayView Opera House to celebrate the joy of stories and early literacy with Jumpstart. Great Job ELI team, and keep up the work!!!

New ELI BLOG
A big chip to Elizabeth Wilkinson, our Early Literacy Associate, for the great work she has done on the new ELI Blog!! Please use the address below and check out pictures from past events: http://jumpstartsfeli.blogspot.com/2007_06_01_archive.html

Event Summaries

VVCC: Family Workshop Series; June 14th
This was our second workshop of our 4 part series at the Visitacion Valley Community Center. Our discussion focused on phonological awareness, as we worked with the families to learn songs, talk about the importance of singing as part of language acquisition and developing vocabulary. The families even made their own puppets to use as props when reading their new copies of the book The Lady Who Swallowed A Fly. Their children were thrilled that their parents were reading to them with props they had made themselves.

Family Ambassadors End of the Year Celebration; June 9th
The event was a wonderful conclusion to all of the great work Family Ambassadors have done with many families around San Francisco. For the past 5 months the Early Literacy Team and Family Ambassadors have volunteered and worked at similar if not each others events. The family ambassadors requested that the Early Literacy Initiative team come and provide activities for the children of all of the families they have served. Additionally, the ELI team connected Family Ambassadors with Tree Frog Treks who specialize in connecting young children with reptiles. The event boasted 30 to 40 families who had a wonderful time.

VVCC: Family Workshop Series; June 14th
This was our second workshop of our 4 part series at the Visitacion Valley Community Center. Our discussion focused on phonological awareness, as we worked with the families to learn songs, talk about the importance of singing as part of language acquisition and developing vocabulary. The families even made their own puppets to use as props when reading their new copies of the book The Lady Who Swallowed A Fly. Their children were thrilled that their parents were reading to them with props they had made themselves.

Meeting Recaps

Last Family Child Care Providers Meeting; June 7th
Family Childcare Providers are a group of mostly women and some men who come together to discuss the many different issues facing providers in the home. In the near future the ELI team will collaborate with family childcare providers to enhance early literacy and language resources for the families they serve.

Headstart Health Fair Planning Meeting; June 12th
Liz attended a meeting at the San Francisco Zoo with the Headstart Health Fair planning committee to view the site and continue to plan for the Health Fair event, which will happen Saturday, September 29th 9am-3pm. The event will be catered to Headstart families around San Francisco and geared toward health readiness. At the event hearing and vision will be tested for the 3-5 year olds. Additionally, health booths and medical professionals will be available for families to ask questions and have their concerns addressed. We will be providing learning stations geared toward health for families to participate and replicate at home.

ELI Community Events Calendar