Get Info, Get Involved and Get to Know Each Other: Parent Social and Workshop

We are happy to inform you about a very exciting RDASC event! On Friday, November 5th at 6:15pm, we will be hosting our very first Parent Social, a networking and parent education event for our families. During the social, families will take advantage of a healthy harvest potluck, receive information on valuable family organizations and services and take part in an hour-long Parent Workshop on the topic of Handling Frustration & Anger in Kids.

During the event, free childcare will be provided along with translation services in Chinese where applicable.

Come one come all! We'll be sending out flyers to all of our families this week to give them the info. If you'd like to come, please let your Site Manager and/or one of the RDASC Directors know.

We look forward to seeing you!

GOOD NEWS: Tuition Lowered for RDASC ExCEL Programs!

We are ECSTATIC to announce that thanks to some recent restorative funding we've gotten, we are lowering the tuition for our Argonne, George Peabody, and Lafayette programs by HALF! Monthly tuition, set to begin in October, has now gone from $100 to only $50 per child, saving families a total of $400 per year. News about this and our scholarship allotments is to come out this week. Be sure to contact RDASC at 751.6600 if you have any questions.

We thank our tremendously supportive families for their patience and understanding in this difficult budgetary time. We also thank our San Francisco District Supervisor, Eric Mar, for his advocacy and help, without which this much-needed funding would not have been secured.

Summer Solstice Camp 2010

On June 14th Site Managers David Alexander and Shamia Sandles kicked off our Summer Solstice program, a 6-week program which offered a balanced composition of arts, nutrition and service-based enrichment courses tailored to meet the developmental needs of participants. The program was held at George Peabody elementary and featured multifaceted learning themes, such as the Self, the Environment, Literacy, and Food (the staff called it "SELF" for short). Not only were students taken on Friday field trips every week to destinations such as Pier 39 and the Bay Area Discovery Museum, they enjoyed fun and engaging activities with staff and ongoing music courses with Susan Appe, RDASC resident artist-teacher. (4th grader Jasmine Olshin shows off her drumming skills in the above picture.) The Solstice Camp went out with a bang on July 23rd following a parent night which featured a student play on important first aide principles and a rock-and-roll performance of 'Eye of the Tiger'.

Please contact RDASC directors and staff to get a head start on information for next summer's camp!

Lights, Curtains, Camera! RDASC Spring Arts Showcases and other 2009-2010 End-of-the-Year Events

What a month May was!

RDASC families, staff, and friends said goodbye to the 2009-2010 school year with a series entertaining and educational events. Festivities began with a Family Fitness Night hosted by our Alamo program, in which students and parents battled for kickball bragging rights while receiving healthy living tips and treats. On May 11th, our George Peabody program hosted a workshop on "Parenting Strategies for Success" and on May 8th, the Richmond District Neighborhood Center held its annual Family Fun Fest for all Richmond District residents. The Family Fun Fest was a humongous hit and featured fun family activities ranging from bouncy houses to rock climbing and cotton candy.

May was also the month of our long-awaited and much-prepared RDASC Spring Arts Showcase. The 16th of its kind, the showcase was an end-of-the year celebration of all of the hard work RDASC artists and students did throughout the year. Students gave performances in dance, music, poetry and puppetry led by our wonderful professional artist-teachers. Each performance was derived from inspiration from our partnership with the San Francisco Botanical Gardens and was created in the theme of "The World According to Us". After the show, families, staff and students gathered in the cafeteria to enjoy a meal generously donated by Panda Express. It was a great time, and we look forward to the festivities in 2011!

Applications for summer programs and 2010-2011 school year are AVAILABLE NOW!

Applications for the Richmond District Neighborhood Center's summer programs and for the 2010-2011 school year are now available. You can pick them up at the Neighborhood Center at 741 30th Avenue or with the Site Managers at the site. All applications must be returned directly to the administrative offices on 30th Avenue.

Deadline for both summer and 2010-2011 school year are due May 7th.
Acceptance letters will be mailed out week of May 17th.
Deadline for payment and to secure enrollment is May 28th.

Don't miss out on these important dates. Also, be sure to mark your calendars for this year's Annual Spring Arts Showcase on Thursday, May 20th from 6-8pm at Presidio Middle School!

Enrichment Clubs - Find out what's happening!

This year, RDASC students are enjoying the chance to take part in a wide variety of very interesting clubs. Take a look at what might be going on at your student’s site:

Alamo
1. Team Alamo Club:
During this Monday thru Thursday club, students receive additional help on unfinished homework and boost their literacy and math skills through staff-led academic games. Staff: Homework Leaders
1. Science Club: Students conduct experiments and complete multi-weekly science projects, such as “gaak”, tye-dye, exploding mentos and wood sketchings. Staff: Samson L.
2. Foods Club: A Friday club with theme-based activities, featuring preparation of 2-3 ingredient meals, excursions and making multicultural “food maps” of San Francisco. Staff: Donna F.
3. Youth Advisory Council: Ongoing leadership development club for 5th graders. Activities include a pen-pal circuit with another RDASC school, construction of a RDASC 09-10 yearbook, and a community service project. Staff: Katie J.
4. Sports Club: Students learn about new sports, engage in teambuilding activities and hold competitive games with parents and other RDASC sites. Staff: Steven C.

George Peabody
1. Comic Book Club: Youth learn the mechanics of comic books, from the plot to the design. Students in the club are now developing characters for their final comic books, to be completed by the end of the school year. Staff: Jose C.P.
2. Cooking Club: Kindergarten and 1st graders take on small cooking projects, such as sushi and smoothies. Staff: Amy L.
3. Science & Art Club: An amalgamation of art and science, students in this club alternate between and connect the two subjects. Current work includes creating stencils for t-shirt designs. Staff: Sean L.
4. Arts &Crafts Club: Students design and create diverse art objects. Staff: Sophia W.
5. Sports Club: Students learn about new sports and the importance of teamwork while competing with other RDASC sites. Staff: Briah L.
6. Youth Advisory Council: Ongoing leadership development club for 5th graders, where students will develop a documentary of their own community service project. Staff: Sarah W.

Argonne
1. Youth Advisory Council: Ongoing leadership development club for 5th graders. Activities include giving fellow students anti-bullying trainings designed to help students combat bullying. Staff: Terrianne G. & Stanley L.
2. Literacy Games & Drama Club: In this club students take part in exciting drama exercises, theater games, fieldtrips and literacy enriching activities, such as jeopardy championships. Staff: Kristina H. 7 Chris C.
3. Cooking & Science Club: Participants in this club receive a small cultural history lesson regarding the food they’re preparing, practice measuring, and will create a recipe book this term. Staff: Jasmine G. & Liliya S.
4. Sports & Travel Club: Students learn about new sports, engage in teambuilding activities and hold competitive games with other RDASC sites and parents. Staff: William Z. & David L.

Lafayette
1. Cooking Club: Students prepare food and create their own cook book for each recipe including key ingredients and cooking vocabulary. Staff: Shirley N., Angel N. & Shana E.
2. Sports Club: Students learn about new sports through drills and practice activities and hold competitive games with other RDASC sites and parents. Staff: Drew T. & Calvin C.
3. Comic Book Club: Students practice reading and plot development as they discover comic books and create their own. Staff: Jarys M. & Ruth G.
4. Youth Advisory Council: Ongoing leadership development club for 5th graders. Activities include a implementing campaign against hunger and visits to middle school sites. Staff: Frank F. & Anthony P.

Talented Puppeteer Visits Alamo

British puppeteer, Robin Stevens visited RDASC Alamo site to perform an engaging and imaginative puppet show for the RDASC youth. As part of the Richmond District After School Collaboratives's art component, Alamo students have been working with Michele Menard, a visual and puppet artist, this past semester on the art and craft of puppetry. Students have been making their own puppet characters and creating stories to illuminate the personalites of their puppets for their final culminating event happening on Decemeber 16th at 5pm in the Alamo auditorium.

Students were completely enthralled with Robin's presentation and his impressive background. As a British puppeteer, actor, director and writer Robin Stevens has worked for children's TV for nearly 30 years, and has done many successful programs. These include The Teletubbies, Pob, Rosie and Jim, Tots TV, Boohbah & Blips. He worked for Ragdoll Productions for about 20 years, at times co-writing scripts and originating content with Alan Dapre, before that working for the BBC. He trained with John Blundall the world famous puppet master. Currently in the USA and worked in Hattersley tugging the old rag doll from 1990 to 1993.

For more information on Robin Stevens, please see his website at http://www.robinstevenspuppets.com/