Last Friday, June 27, saw around 200 people celebrating literacy at the Bayview Opera House. The historic setting was abuzz as preschool children from four local schools gathered, donned their costumes and prepared for their storybook presentations. After a month-long preparation by the Early Literacy Initiative and Jumpstart, these children were ready and rearing to shout, sing and serenade their family members, teachers and community members who had turned up on the sunny Friday afternoon to watch these young’uns truly transform into “Summer Stars.” There were growls and gnashed teeth for Where the Wild Things Are;  an earnest search and a stage crawling with animals in Are You My Mother?; an impressive and dutiful recitation of the alphabet in Chicka Chicka Boom Boom; and the singing performances for Down By The Bay and Wheels on the Bus surely should give American Idol a run for its money.

Please enjoy the photos below which truly do the remarkable event justice.

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On Sunday, June 22, 2008 the Jumpstart ELI team and an awesome group of volunteers made quite the splash at CPMC’s Baby Steps event at the Jewish Community Center. The place was bustling with activity as parents learned about services for young children and their parents in the city, got free food, and won raffle prizes. Even MORE exciting was the Kid’s Corner where children posed for pictures to put in their very own, personalized ABC books! Our group of twelve volunteers fell quickly into the groove of things and were a big part of making the event a success — thanks to Circle K, Leilani, Amanda, and Alex for all your help! Check out the pictures below!

Julie, Chloe, Amanda, Ron, and two of our tiny guests at the Reading Corner!

Alex and Brandon, the Printer Pros who made sure every child’s photos were printed, despite the condition of out well-used printers.

The bustling Kid’s Corner — never a quiet a moment!

 Liz, Hagar, Nicole, and Volunteers = Red Shirt Team!

On April 20th, Jumpstart ELI joined a myriad of other organizations to celebrate the Earth with kid’s activities, healthy foods, and live performances at the Jerry Garcia Amphitheater in John McLaren Park. The reading corner was a big hit with families as people wandered over to read and do activities about the Very Hungry Caterpillar!

Our next event will be May 4, “See Me!” at Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco from 11-3pm. Come out and join us for some more Caterpillar fun!

On Saturday, April 12, the Jumpstart ELI team and fabulous volunteers from Banana Republic and the community premiered brand new kids’ activities at Family Day at Crocker Amazon Park! Children got to make, play, talk, read, and write all about our theme of the day, “The Very Hungry Caterpillar!” We all had an awesome time with the free ice cream and popcorn, live music, and the trio of jumphouses. Check out our pictures below…

 
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This past weekend Annie and Nicole joined thousands of people to commemorate Cesar Chavez day by volunteering in the community. Annie worked with Hands on Bay Area to paint a mural at Marshall Elementary, and Nicole worked with KABOOM! to build a playground at Jerome Park in southern California’s Santa Ana.

For pictures of Annie and the mural, check out this link: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=kaido37.13isdghj&x=0&y=40wh2o&localeid=en_US

“BOOM! BOOM!” the kids yelled in response to Janelle’s “Chicka, Chicka!” Yes, last night’s theme was Bill Martin Jr.’s classic, “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.” As Janelle read the rest of the story out loud, kids and parents alike got excited as their turn came up to stick their alphabet letter on the flannel board. Little Joshua in particular got up every time to put up his “R,” only to be turned away as Janelle seemed to call out every letter except “R!” Finally, when “black-eyed P, Q R S” came up, the whole group got up to help Joshua put his letter up! As I sat back in my seat, I realized that the volunteers were right in their feedback comments; this small group dynamic was intimate and made the whole workshop experience that much more special and worthwhile.

After the big group reading, we split off into groups with parents in the conference room and children in the library. The kids quickly got busy with creating and decorating letters in their name, playing with alphabet puzzles, and at the end right before dinner, ABC Bingo. The winner of ABC Bingo, by the way, was Glynia who won a Rosemary Wells storybook. Meanwhile, the parents learned about print awareness for children. Time flew and before I knew it, the smell of greasy Chinese food, ordered from the restaurant next door, had wafted into the children’s room, causing stomachs to grumble. Porsha, a fantastic and dedicated volunteer, and I promptly cleaned up our activity stations and joined everyone else for dinner. Everyone hungrily ate the fried rice, broccoli and beef but after everyone left, there was still enough food left to feed the whole regional office lunch for 2 days. (Actually, it’s still sitting in the break room fridge so please, Regional Staff, help yourselves.)

Michael, Lygia, Janelle and I packed up our boxes for the last time and headed out the door. Even though we won’t be at the library anymore (at least til the next series), the library will still be open and Darcelle, the children’s librarian, welcomes kids of all ages to visit and check out other exciting events and books in Bayview! Click here to find out what they’ve got planned!

Last Thursday was our first Winter Wonders Storybook Production in Visitacion Valley! Children from local preschools performed skits of their favorite tales, including “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” “The Wheels on the Bus,” “Polar Bear, Polar Bear,” “Brown Bear, Brown Bear,” “Polar Bear Nights,” “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom,” and even a song to celebrate the Lunar New Year! The energy level was high throughout the event as parents and families cheered on their little performers.

In addition, different community and city organizations came out to distribute resources to the family. It was great to see Shem from SF Unified School District surrounded by parents eager to enroll their kids into kindergarten. After all, raising awareness about early literacy and helping to put kids on the path to success through education is our mission. Having fun and dressing up in costumes too just makes it all the more better!

Check out these awesome photos, courtesy of Nic Hunter…

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This Wednesday was the first of our Family Workshops at the Bayview Public Library, and I must say it was awesome! Parents and caregivers learned about ways to incorporate reading and literacy into their kids’ daily lives, and even got to take home free books and tools. This week’s theme was the well-loved children’s favorite, “Brown Bear, Brown Bear.” The other volunteers and I agree that hearing the kids ROOAR like bears, BELLOOOW like walruses, and YELP like peacocks was quite entertaining too. Everyone from the kids to the volunteers had a great time — we still have space available so if you or someone you know wants to add some fun with literacy to your family life, come and help us spread the word: every Wednesday at the Bayview Library (5075 3rd St., SF, CA 94124) from 5:30-7pm until February 20, 2008!! 

Photographs courtesy of Barbara Sari: barbarasari.zenfolio.com

Last night the ELI team and our awesome volunteers, Eleanor, Yun, Kelvin, and Charlie, celebrated Kwanzaa at the Bayview Library. Children and their families enjoyed the rhythmic sounds of African drums, joined in the lighting of the Kwanzaa candles, and made Kwanzaa wreaths and placemats with Jumpstart. The turn-out was fantastic — we even had a first-time library visitor, 17-month-old Miracle! The night ended with the crowd playing Kwanzaa Bingo and chowing down on a delicious fried chicken dinner! Thanks to everyone who came and Happy Holidays! We hope to see you all, new friends and old, again in the new year!

Our most recent event at the Bayview Library, “I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly,” was a fun night for all. Children and their families participated in an interactive reading, done by Jumpstart’s own Caitlin Grabowski, as well as created their own imaginary pie recipe and healthy eating placemats. Parents constructed an old lady storybook prop to engage their children in interactive reading at home. This is one of the many workshop collaborations done with the Bayview Library, so keep an eye out for more volunteer opportunities!