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Be sure to check out the latest article from the Sonoma Index Tribune about a Classroom Grant you made possible: dance instructors, enhanced sets and costumes! ‘Shrek Junior’ musical takes the Adele stage with professional dance instruction, new costumes and set designs When the musical ‘Shrek Junior’ is performed at Adele Harrison Middle School this week, it will feature lively dances as well as new costumes and set designs, thanks to the Sonoma Valley Education Foundation. DANIEL JOHNSON INDEX-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER May 16, 2023, 1:53PM
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Be sure to check out the latest article from the Sonoma Index Tribune about a Classroom Grant you made possible: Books for classroom libraries! Thanks to the generous support of donors like you, local teachers at multiple campuses were able to purchase new bilingual books to add to their classroom collections and make available to their students. Both teachers and students are thrilled to have these resources at their fingertips!
 Teachers go above and beyond for students, and to show them how much we appreciate their dedication, SVEF is making a limited number of specially curated gift sets available for purchase. To show your heartfelt thanks, we will hand-deliver a gift set to the recipient of your choice*.
Each $75 gift set includes:
Purchase your gift online before the deadline of April 30 (availability limited). Please be sure to include the name of the teacher or staff at checkout. If you don't have a recipient in mind, purchase one and let us surprise a teacher on your behalf! All proceeds from the sale of these gifts will be invested back into programs that benefit students. Talk about a win-win! *Eligible schools for teacher/staff recipients: Dunbar, Flowery, El Verano, Sassarini, Prestwood, Altimira, Adele Harrison, Creekside, SVHS, Woodland Star, Sonoma Charter, and SVUSD district office. Special thanks to our generous Teacher Appreciation Week sponsors: Safeway, Lucky Supermarkets, Mary’s Pizza Shack, Sonoma Raceway, Highway 12 Winery When a local teacher asks for help, we never want to say no.
But without your support today, that’s just what we are going to have to do. Here’s why… When the new school year started in August, we asked our community to make a donation to our Classroom Grants fund. These grants provide direct-to-teacher support for educational materials, field trips, and other experiences that help students learn and engage. Thanks to friends like you, we had almost $50,000 available for Classroom Grants for teachers this school year! But now the unexpected has happened. Due to overwhelming demand from local teachers, our entire Classroom Grants budget has already been spent…and we still have teachers who urgently need a grant. You can help today by making a donation to fund a Classroom Grant, so that we don’t have turn away any teacher (and your gift will be doubled by matching funds to help twice as much!). In retrospect, it shouldn’t be surprising that so many teachers have asked for help this year. Many students are still behind in school due to the pandemic. We knew that this year, teachers would need to find ways to make school more engaging and impactful than ever before. That’s exactly why Classroom Grants are so important. If you donate by March 31, your gift will help twice as much! Our generous friends at the Vadasz Family Foundation have graciously offered to double any gift you send in, up to $10,000, before midnight, March 31! Your doubled gift today will mean that we won’t have to say “no” to any teachers due to a lack of funds. You will help a teacher to support and engage students in ways she or he knows they need – but that are not in the budget. Thank you for helping to support local teachers and students. Your gift to provide a Classroom Grant will mean so much! Click the link below to read the fifth article in our ongoing series in the Sonoma Index-Tribune about Classroom Grants that you made possible: The trip was made possible through a $2,000 Classroom Grant from the Sonoma Valley Education Foundation. Roberts said that the teachers applied for the grant to help reduce the cost for Prestwood families. “Outdoor education can be very expensive,” she said. “Our trip to Coloma can be anywhere from $200 to $300 per student.” Classroom grants for field trip have been in exceptionally high demand. “Since August, we have approved 71 Classroom Grant requests — and over one-third of them have been for field trips,” said Gail Chadwin, the foundation’s director of development. “We hear from teachers that many local families cannot afford to pay for these field trips out of pocket.”
Click the link below to read the article in the Sonoma Index-Tribune about the expansion of Creative Campus to El Verano Elementary that you made possible:   Click the link below to read the fourth article in our ongoing series in the Sonoma Index-Tribune about Classroom Grants that you made possible: Flowery Elementary School students are using the school’s new virtual reality headsets, thanks mainly to a $1,000 grant that Sara Hubbard-Lake, the school’s library media specialist, received for 2022-23 through the Sonoma Valley Education Foundation’s Classroom Grants program. “Our students are smart and curious. They are little mathematicians and scientists, artists and writers. Many of our students live their lives within a few-blocks radius. They might visit family in another town or take a trip to the city, but they don’t have many opportunities to explore beyond the city limits of our own little town. Virtual reality has some amazing educational platforms that allow students to take a trip around the world, into space or even back in time.”
The Incredible No-Shhh LibraryIn addition to the VR headsets, Sara Hubbard-Lake has created the Incredible No-Shhh Library, which is available to all Flowery students and was made possible partly through a $1,000 Classroom Grant during the 2021-22 academic year. “School libraries are evolving into bustling, vibrant centers of knowledge that engage the whole child. This library will continue to provide a quiet escape for our voracious readers, but it is my hope that it can evolve into a place that can impact a student’s day in a positive and meaningful way both in and out of the library." - Sara Hubbard-Lake You helped students engage and heal through the arts “Is the art studio going to be open today?” If you were to visit Dunbar Elementary School, that’s a phrase you would hear over and over. Because thanks to you, a new art program helps students put their creativity in action! The art studio is just one small facet of an exciting new initiative called dunbART. With this program (designed and implemented by Kimzin Creative, and in partnership with Creative Bridges) multiple local organizations have coordinated efforts to bring the arts to Dunbar students. Because of you, students were able to explore everything from ceramics to sewing to instrumental music, and much more. Arts classes have been integrated into the school day, and are also available after school and during the lunch hour. Dunbar teacher Karen O’Hara, who is also supporting dunbART through a teacher ambassador program, has seen firsthand how important this opportunity is. “Art is a fantastic way for all students to feel they can succeed. It is accessible for all learning levels. The lessons are engaging and help bring out the creativity in our scholars.” After the stress and isolation caused by the pandemic, students urgently need opportunities to engage and heal–and we know the arts are incredibly effective at doing just that. Thank you for helping to provide this for local students.  Students learn 21st Century skills, thanks to you! When you supported a Classroom Grant, you helped put innovative learning tools–like this Dash Robot–directly into the hands of local students. On November 2nd, the excitement in the air at the Sassarini Elementary School was palpable. A class of 5th grade students rushed to open the boxes of their new learning tools: small Dash Robots, which students could code to move, spin, talk, and more! The new Dash Robots were made possible thanks to donors like you, who helped fund a Classroom Grant for Sassarini teacher Danielle Wroblewski. When you make a Classroom Grant possible for a local teacher, you are ensuring that they can provide their students with the materials, resources, and experiences that their students need to thrive. As Ms. Wroblewski can attest, your support makes all the difference for local students. Ms. Wroblewski runs the Maker Space, a designated space for students to explore STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) throughout the year. All students at Sassarini, from TK through 5th grade, have the opportunity to visit the Maker Lab once a week to engage in exciting, creative, hands-on classes. While the Maker Space was already equipped with many resources, the new Dash Robots filled an important gap. Ms. Wroblewski commented, “There are very few opportunities for my students to learn to code. Learning to use block code to give Dash directions and complete tasks provides a tangible and exciting use of code.” Students control the robots through an app on an external tablet. Using the app, they learn the basics of coding and use their new skills to bring the robots to life! For their final project with the Dash Robots, Ms. Wroblewski will have the students program their robots to participate in a dance challenge. Her long-term goal is to build a Coding Unit for all students to learn and explore the wonders of computer science and programming year after year.  A local parent discusses the impact you have made on her child When you made a donation to the Sonoma Valley Education Foundation, you made an investment in the future of over 100 local children. You provided critical funds for our community’s largest, fully-subsidized preschool. Your gift sends a young student, from a family that needs a little help, to a safe and enriching school environment. Preschool gives students important opportunities to get the head start in school they need, and to learn important skills as they play and socialize. You have already given this gift to local student Alex. Alex started attending El Verano preschool in the fall. Already his mother, Jenny, has seen how important early education is for her son! “Preschool has helped my son establish a more consistent pattern and schedule, which in turn has made Alex easier to parent with fewer emotional outbursts. He has also caught up to other children his age in regards to his speech delays. “This program makes an impact on my son. His speech has greatly improved, and he is better socialized, calmer, and more attentive. It is extremely beneficial to him both socially and educationally.” “I’ve seen improvements in my son that are near miraculous. He is a more joyous child, and I am a better parent because of this program and its teachers.” No child should have to miss out on critical early learning opportunities–and because of you, they don’t have to! Thank you for ensuring that young learners like Alex can attend preschool.  |
