Together We Made a Difference

I'm lucky enough to be the one who receives the thank you letters from the dozens of Berwyn teachers Berwyn CARES has supported through our Donors Choose grants. I hope this thank you is read by the many people who deserve the thanks, the generous supporters of our mission. When the teachers write, "Dear Berwyn CARES", that means YOU! Click here to read just one example of the many letters that we at Berwyn CARES have received. Here is an excerpt:

"The way lessons are taught in school, and the ways we can engage our students are rapidly changing due to the far reaching grasp of technology. Thanks to your support, I can create lessons that will keep my students' attention by utilitzing the LCD projector...I will have the ability to show multimedia presentations, show video clips, model writing samples through a DVD program, use online grammar games and much more."

Together we MADE a difference!

CARES Awards 6 Scholarships to Deserving Morton Seniors

Berwyn CARES board members, Susan Crowe and Mark Titzer, attended the Morton Awards Night to announce the recipients of this year's Berwyn CARES scholarships. Thanks to our members' generosity and the sponsorships of the Lorraine X. Page Scholarship and the Democratic Citizens of Berwyn Scholarship, Berwyn CARES is able to support 6 students next fall. Congratulations to them for their hard work!

Check back on this blog for a profile of each student in the coming weeks.

CARES partners with Berwyn Public Library to Fight Summer Learning Loss

The Berwyn Public Library is joining CARES in efforts to keep kids reading and writing EVERY DAY over summer vacation. Research shows that kids can lose up to 30 % of the skills they learned during the school year. YIKES! We can't afford that. As a part of our Baseball Summer Writing Initiative, The Berwyn Public Library donated 50 books about baseball, 300 activity packets and suggested summer reading lists focused on baseball. They've also created some Baseball Reading Kits for parent volunteers to check out. Each contains 3-4 storybooks at appropriate levels for parents to use for a quick post-practice story time. Check them out today!

CARES Launches Summer Writing Initiative

Take Me Out to the Ballgame! Last Saturday CARES launched the 1st annual summer writing initiative to help encourage kids to continue learning during the summer months. Research shows that kids can lose up to 30% of skills gained during the school year over the summer if they do not continue reading and writing DAILY.

CARES, together with the City of Berwyn, the Berwyn Recreation Center and District 100, asked coaches and parents to encourage kids to read and write EVERY DAY this summer.

And to help, CARES passed out over 400 blank books to kids playing baseball at the Rec and talked to them about writing a baseball story.

Kids can write (or draw pictures) about their baseball experiences during the summer and submit their stories to their coaches. CARES will award prizes for the stories and the team w/ the most submissions will get an ice cream party at Over the Rainbow!

I was amazed at the response from the kids and adults:

One parent, when learning about the program for her 4 year old said, "But he's only 4, he can't write." All the more reason to start practicing. 3 and 4 year olds can absolutely write! Writing is just representing your thoughts and ideas on paper. Young children should be encouraged to draw pictures, symbols and other representations and adults can say, "Tell me what you wrote there." You'll be surprised at the detailed story you'll hear! Your child will be developing language skills that are the prerequisite for good writing skills. Next, you can encourage your young child to label their picture, form letters to represent words and write their name (a GREAT skill to practice for kindergarten readiness!). I realized that this writing initiative was a wonderful opportunity to educate the adults in our community about some early childhood development basics.

A 7 year old asked, "Can the story be fiction?" "What a cool idea!" I shouted. The other kids immediately wanted to know what fiction was. We talked to the whole team about fiction vs. non-fiction, poetry, picture books, songs, and all of the other creative ways to represent your ideas on paper.

Another player wanted to know what they should call their books. So, we got to brainstorming about titles. Some ideas the kids came up with: THE BIG HIT, HOMERUN, THE WORST PLAYER IN THE WORLD (note to coach: work on self-esteem!), and BASEBALL ROCKS.

CARES is super excited to read all of the entries later this summer and award the prizes. We will surely share some on this blog. If you see a kid in Berwyn playing baseball this summer, ask if he/she has started a baseball story. You can help by encouraging all the kids of Berwyn to read and write every day this summer! Together WE can make a difference!

Funding Reform: Call-in Today

To address a revenue shortfall of about $13 billion, Governor Quinn's proposed 2010-11 budget reduces education funding by 17%. This will translate into millions of dollars lost to Berwyn Schools. Our three districts are already suffering from long delays in state payments ($1M+ is owed to District 100 alone). Kids, families and our community need a balanced, responsible budget solution.

BerwynCARES is asking our members to support a statewide call-in day TODAY, Tuesday, May 4 to urge legislators to raise new revenues to prevent devastating cuts to education. This fiscal crisis, brought on by a long-standing budget deficit and an economic downturn, cannot be solved without significant new revenue.

One option under consideration is HB174 a comprehensive tax-reform package that includes funding reform for education. It will devote 33 1/3% of new revenues to the Common School Fund that provides general state aide to K-12 education, particularly in low and middle income communities across the state. To read the Center for Tax & Budget Accountability Fact Sheet on HB174, Click Here.

Please ask our elected officials to support education funding reform! Voice your concerns about how proposed budget cuts will affect your family's future.

You can call 1-800-719-3020 to be connected to your legislators (AARP sponsored line) or call their district offices:

State Rep Michael Zalewski, 708-354-2121
State Sen. Louis Viverito, 708-430-2510
11th Senate & 21st Rep Dist: S of 27th between Harlem & East*

State Rep Elizabeth Hernandez, 708-222-5240
State Sen Martin Sandoval: 708-656-2002
12th Senate & 24th Rep Dist: W of Lombard between 19th & 26th*

State Rep LaShawn Ford, 773-378-5902
State Sen Kimberly Lightford, 708-343-7444
4th Senate & 8th Rep Dist: N of 19th between Harlem & Harvey*

State Rep Daniel J. Burke: 773-471-2299
State Sen Martin Sandoval: 708-656-2002
12th Senate & 23rd Rep Dist: 33rd to 39th between Wesley and Lombard*

*district boundaries are approximate. Visit the Board of Elections site to search districts by home address. If you call 800-719-3020 you will be prompted to enter your zip code.