You are cordially invited to the:
13th Annual Crystal Apple Awards

Recognzing Excellence in Education

Thursday, November 12, 2009
6:00 pm Pre-show: Live from the Red Carpet!
7:00 pm Awards Ceremony

Tickets: $15 each
The Historic Elsinore Theatre
170 High Street SE, Salem OR(503) 373-3574

To View the Nominees: click here

Oil Can Henry's Partners with Salem-Keizer Education Foundation to support schools!

Print out the coupon below and present it at time of service

Mat Genuser — Tools for School Drive and More

It’s not every day that you can find a volunteer willing to interest 35 businesses and organizations and numerous other volunteers into donating and collecting 51,500 school supply items for the Salem-Keizer School District’s first-ever Tools for School Drive. Unless, of course, you’re talking about Mat Genuser.

Mat’s day job as Director of Marketing and Recruitment with Professional Mortgage provides ample challenges and opportunities, but working on the Tools for School Drive allows him to fulfill a passion.

“In a prior life, I worked as a sign language interpreter. Before that, I worked as a career and guidance counselor, helping to support education and the goals and aspirations of students.” This career path clearly left an impression on Mat — ensuring students have the tools to succeed at school.

Combining that passion with a flair for fundraising has reaped benefits for students in the Salem-Keizer School District. A few years ago, Mat started Amerititle Idol, a 4-week competition in which business professionals are invited to compete in live band karaoke. The Salem-Keizer Education Foundation was selected as one of the recipients that received proceeds from the competition.

“I selected the Salem-Keizer Education Foundation as a recipient of 1 night’s worth of funds earned,” said Mat. “We raised about $2,500 for the Foundation the first year. Last year, we raised another $1,500 to $2,000.”

Why the Salem-Keizer Education Foundation? “The term ‘foundation’ says so much,” said Mat. “The Salem-Keizer Education Foundation has a great platform with a board of directors and volunteers wanting to support local schools. Faculty and staff in the district are so focused on their individual jobs. But the foundation can take a step back and look globally at our schools and ask, ‘What do they need? What are they lacking? What can improve the education of school children?’”

Because of Mat’s belief in the value of the Foundation, he has also volunteered as a table captain at the Great Educator’s Luncheon and helps with other fundraisers, like the Crystal Apple Awards ceremony.

“I’ve always been a firm believer of giving back to my schools,” said Mat.

233 Commercial St. NE Salem, OR 97301 Phone: 503-364-2933 Monday - Saturday 9:30 - 5:30 Directions

Living up to its name and in the spirit of the upcoming holiday season, we are pleased to have Ambassador, Salem’s Riverfront Carousel’s official representative. It will be showcased in our front window through the holidays, helping welcome you to Where the Sidewalk Begins. A special thanks to the Carousel’s Executive Director Marie Bradford-Blevins and her team for making our holiday even more special. While here, be sure to pick up your “Buy 1 Ride, Get 1 Free” carousel ride coupon.

http://www.salemcarousel.org/

Student Gallery

North American Physical Maps

Provided by 7^th Grade Geography Class

Judson Middle School

Teacher: Mrs. Megan Considine

            In seventh grade geography, they study physical and cultural geography of major world regions. This is the first unit and it focused on North America. They study cultural elements of the region, as well as learning about the physical geography that affects us. After studying North American physical geography, the class created physical maps to demonstrate their knowledge of significant physical features and to practice their map skills. In order to create their personal map, students used their Cornell notes from class as well as several different maps of the region. Students gained great appreciation of cartographers by creating this map entirely from scratch!

Celebrating the true culture of Teaching and Learning

The Student Gallery is a display of student and classroom projects completed within the Salem-Keizer school district which showcase a variety of subject and content areas, including but not limited to:

Exhibits can be fantastical, practical, high-tech, low-tech, humorous or serious, as long as they showcase education.  Exhibits will rotate monthly beginning on the first Wednesday of each month. Exhibits must be to storefront by 20th of prior month to exhibit being showcased. Must also be able to provide a general write up, including participants names, to be displayed alongside exhibit.

Students, teachers and schools can respond to this call by:

• Proposing a project
• Proposing an exhibition of an existing body of work
• Proposing a collaboration
• Combining exhibit and studio space
• Proposing site-specific work

Selection Process:
All proposals will be reviewed first by a core committee. The following factors will be considered in selecting exhibit participants:

1. Ability to engage community and/or stimulate dialogue
2. Innovation and creative exploration of ideas
3. Student work in a content area or areas
4. Ability to deliver and pick up projects

Click here for more details

Featured Vendor

ASPEN BAY CANDLES

SIMPLY BETTER CANDLES! It’s a big claim, but they back it up with facts – the Aspen Bay Candles are the best candles on the market – a result of their continual and diligent application of superior candle science. Their unique NEW super-refined, high temperature SOY WAX formulation simply absorbs more fragrance oil than any other candle wax available. Their food-grade SOY WAX blend burns cleanly, strongly, and lasts up to twice as long as “normal” candles. Their wonderful fragrances are designed in-house with the assistance of the finest perfumers from all around the world. Aspen Bay invites you to take a moment to visit their unique high quality line of candles at Where the Sidewalk Begins. It is quality you can see, and most importantly, smell! Once you have experienced the superb fragrances and long burn times of these candles, we are sure you will be back again and again...

Since 1990, Aspen Bay Candle Company has grown from an exclusively votive and pillar-type candle manufacturer to a versatile, industry-leading, international supplier of fragrant goods. By improving on already good products and introducing innovative and sophisticated designs, Aspen Bay has filled a niche in the sale of fine home accessories, one hand-poured candle at a time.

The Story of the Fragrance Mushroom

When burning Aspen Bay Candles, wicks will develop a black "fragrance mushroom".  This "fragrance mushroom" is caused by the high volume of fragrance oils which have made our "Fragrances with Wicks" so popular.   A wick serves as a straw when burning, pulling the fragrance oil through the wax and releasing the fragrance into the air as it burns.

Aspen Bay Candles' "fragrance mushroom" is a constant reminder to you of our dedication to quality and your enjoyment.  When a "fragrance mushroom" is formed, gently blow out the flame, let cool, trim wick to 1/8"-1/4" and relight.  Without this simple attention, the "fragrance mushroom" could smoke and cause an oversized flame.

Our Wicks are Lead Free!

We have always used only American-made zinc core wicks, which are more expensive than plain cotton wicks and which give you the advantage of an easy-to-light (or relight) wick. When using a cotton wick, if the top of the candle liquefies and it is blown out, the wick in many cases will be submerged, and it is necessary to "dig" to relight the candle.
The zinc wick is 100% environmentally safe and has no relationship to a lead wick. By using a zinc wick, you will experience a longer-burning and more even-burning candle.

Just what are Fragrances with Wicks?

• 20-40% more fragrance oil
• Only pennies per hour to burn (divide price by burn time)  
• The Original 20+ Hour Votive (burn time will vary by fragrance and conditions) 
• 100+ fragrances 
• Available in today's designer colors 
• Easy-lite, lead-free wick

2009 Susan Gleason Award winning teacher grant
Marcia Zegar and Katie Nelson – “Love of Literacy Through Multiple Modalities”

“Love of Literacy through Multiple Modalities” captured the essence of the 2009 Salem-Keizer Education Foundation’s Susan Gleason Award, the most prestigious grant the foundation presents.

The grant proposal, submitted by Salem Heights Elementary staff Marcia Zegar and Katie Nelson, uses print, spoken, and sign language as well as music and movement to develop student literacy and partnerships between home and school.

“Our grant will promote literacy development and school/home partnership through innovative, best practice methodology that is interactive and engaging for both children and parents,” noted Marcia and Katie. “Listening and Spoken Language are the foundation for literacy development. Promoting literacy through the rich sounds and rhythms of language paired with a variety of home activities helps create a supportive, nurturing learning environment.”

Marcia has been a Speech/Language Pathologist at Salem Heights Elementary since 1985 and loves working with the deaf/hard of hearing students. She has over 50 post-graduate hours focusing her studies on literacy development and listening/spoken language intervention with deaf/hard of hearing children. Marcia was awarded the internationally recognized certificate of Listening and Spoken Language Specialist (LSLS) Certified Auditory Verbal Educator from the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in 2008.
Katie is in her 28th year of teaching. She has a Master’s Degree in education, and because she believes one should never stop learning, has 70 additional graduate hours of classes.

“Katie and I are most fortunate to have worked together for the past 14 years,” said Marcia. “Along with our 50+ collective years in education, we have advanced graduate degrees in literacy and spoken language development. We share the same commitment and dedication towards education of children and are firm believers in early childhood education.”

The Susan Gleason Award honors the memory of a Salem-Keizer Education Foundation, founding director. The award is presented to the teacher or team whose proposal meets the highest level of grant criteria each cycle, and which the committee determines symbolizes the innovative and compassionate commitment to children and academic achievement that Susan modeled. This year’s grant recipients reinforce Susan Gleason’s legacy.

“Katie and I were very honored to be selected as recipients of the Susan Gleason Award,” said Marcia. “We both view life-long learning the cornerstone of teaching grounded in research and best practice. We both enjoy the creative process of applying new research to implement optimal learning environments which guided the development of our grant.”

What prompted Marcia and Katie to develop the idea for the project?

“Children who have hearing loss need multiple opportunities to rehearse auditory information/spoken language before those word patterns and vocabulary become their own,” noted the grant recipients. “These best practices of multiple exposures and school-to-home carryover programs are also extremely important for the population of children at-risk for reading failures. This grant provides the opportunity for both school and home repeated practice of poetry, verse, chants, stories and songs. Because the recordings are student-created, students have a vested interest and families communicate the pride and enthusiasm their children have when listening to the CDs they’ve actually made at school.”

Salem Heights Elementary School is a pre-kindergarten through fifth-grade school with an enrollment that averages around 320 students. It is an elementary feeder school for hearing impaired.

“Love of Literacy through Multiple Modalities” reinforces Marcia’s and Katie’s commitment to providing a language rich learning environment through the students’ literacy journey.

“Without the grant, we would not have the necessary funding to support our program in this way,” noted Marcia. “Grant monies will cover the costs of additional literacy support materials and consumable production of stories, chants, poems, rhymes, and songs through little books as well as parent copies of student-made CDs and DVDs. Through the grant, we will be able to strengthen the bond between home and school; parent and educator; and parent and child. We are extremely grateful for the funding provided by the Salem-Keizer Education Foundation and their support towards innovative approaches to education.”

GRANT UPDATE

Portland General Electric:
To launch a Fine Arts Initiative to compliment our full menu of subject initiatives, including
"Loving Lens" a non-violent communication curriculum taught through the lens of nationally acclaimed photographer Jill Cannefax.

The Gannett Foundation:
To support parents and families in order to increase student academic achievement through parent trainings, engagement and community opportunities, and development and activities that support literacy.

U.S. Bancorp Foundation:
To support The Enrichment Academy's before and after school programs.

The Brent and Natusumi Neilsen Family Fund:
To support the mission of The Salem-Keizer Education Foundation.

CASA CORONA

Casa Corona is the ultimate private paradise deep in the heart of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
Privately owned by Salem resident, Dale Van Lydegraf of Dale's Remodeling, Casa Corona is available to Great Educator Circle members at a discounted rate.  "Public education is the key to the quality of life and economic vitality of our community.  Salem-Keizer Education Foundation plays a significant role in supporting all of our children and their teachers in the Salem-Keizer school district.    This is our way of saying thank you to those who contribute financial and human resources to SKEF" says VanLydegraf.
Please visit the website and see how Casa Corona can be your family's next vacation destination, or your corporation's next retreat site.  Giving locally has never been more beautiful!

A private paradise deep in the heart of Puerto Vallarta. Casa Corona is a luxurious multi- level, 5 bedrooms, 7 bath open air home located within a two minute walk of the finest restaurants, galleries, and shopping downtown Puerto Vallarta has to offer.

10% discount on rentals booked May thru October or
5% discount on rentals booked November thru April.

Toll Free:  1-877-462-7720
www.pvrpv.com/puerto-vallarta-downtown-house-casa-corona-5-bedrooms.html

Featuring:  Adam Stephens Middle School’s “World of Art”

Art teacher Tom Douglas is bringing culture to the after school experience this session by offering “World of Art” every Monday and Wednesday. The response from the students has been fantastic! In this after school enrichment program, students are learning about and exploring many different forms of art. Currently, the students are working on Kaliedescope Mandala color pencil drawings. These types of drawings originated in China (Tibet). They plan to study famous artists and their works, while creating their own art work as well. Participants will learn about different art materials, art vocabulary, and methods of creating art, history and design. The class will also study art from different countries from around the world.

Great Educators' Circle Members

Great Educators' Circle Lunch features
 Max Williams, Director of Oregon Department of Corrections

Education is crucial to crime prevention, recovery

"As the director of the Oregon Department of Corrections, I may seem an unlikely person to be asked to speak at the Salem-Keizer Education Foundation luncheon about the importance of education. But every day I see firsthand the need for a quality education system. The relationship between Corrections and education is closer and more intertwined than you might think."

To read the whole speech, click here.

Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present.
                                                                               -Albert Camus

On behalf of 40,000 children and 5,000 educators we are honored to recognize the current individual and organizational contributors to the Salem-Keizer Education Foundation.

Oregon Schools Invited to Scratch-it for Schools

Scratch-it for Schools is an Oregon Lottery promotional program in which 75 randomly selected schools from across Oregon get the chance to compete for cash prizes. The program is in its 14th year, and since its start in 1995, it has awarded over $1 million in prizes to participating public schools. All open Oregon public schools are eligible to participate, and can enter through www.scratchitforschools.org now through Wednesday, December 2 at 5:00 p.m. MAC Users are encouraged to use Firefox. The Oregon Lottery will conduct the drawing on Friday, December 4. The 75 randomly drawn schools will be informed via mail the week of December 14, 2010.

The events will take place throughout Oregon in April 2010. Each school will send representatives to scratch promotional Oregon Lottery Scratch-it tickets, and whatever cash prizes they uncover, they get to keep. In past years, schools have used their winnings to fund field trips, purchase new playground equipment, adding books to their libraries and much more.

BECOME A SKEF VOLUNTEER
When the story of these times gets written, we want it to say that we did all we could, and it was more than anyone could have imagined. - Bono, U2 Lead Singer

It's the human factor that makes SKEF so successful. Volunteer your time to help make a difference to a student, a teacher, or another friend in the community. SKEF volunteers come from all walks of life, including senior citizens, retired professionals, service organizations, business partnerships, and students.

Volunteer opportunities can include clerical work, assisting with a class or workshop and preparing outreach class supplies, or working on one of our many great special events like the AWESOME 3000 or Crystal Apple Awards. If you have a special talent or skill you want to share, we will create an opportunity for you.

If you are interested in learning more about volunteering for SKEF, please contact us at info@skeducationfoundation.org or call (503) 364-2933.

• Plastic totes with lids
  
• Small ice machine
• White copy/printing paper
  
• Gift cards for print cartridges
• Postage stamps
• Projection screen

Feel free to drop them off at Where the Sidewalk Begins gallery/gift shop at 233 Commercial St. NE Salem, OR. 97301 or call (503) 364-2933 to make other arrangements.