Strengths

The Shore Acres Elementary School CARES is a well established program with strong support from our community partners as well as from our school site and administration. This support stems from a history of excellent programming, coordination, and strong program leadership. Financially we are supported by grants from both state and city initiatives. We pride ourselves on strong on-site staff development programs that have resulted in high staff retention from year to year. We provide numerous culturally diverse and artistic opportunities for students and families to participate in throughout the school-year and summer program.

Challenges

In order to maintain high quality services being offered to our students and families, additional funding sources are continually being pursued. There is an ongoing need to maintain high quality training and mentorship for CARES staff to ensure qualified staff are serving our students. Additionally, we are pursuing funding to both continue and expand arts and science programs. With continuing growth in the number of students served, adequate space to run our vibrant and diverse program continues to be a challenge.

Programs for Students and Families

Homework Help, Academic Intervention Program, ASPIRE Intervention Program, Nutrition Education and Cooking, Dance, Arts and Crafts, Gardening, Life Skills, Science and Science Fair, Field Trips, Drama and Stage Craft, SPARKS Games/Activities, and Clubs.

Daily nutritional snack provided in partnership with Food Services Department and the USDA.

• School day teachers instruct the Intervention portion of CARES.
• Representative of CARES attends faculty, Leadership, and grade level meetings.
• Informal and formal means of communication in place to facilitate discussion between CARES staff and school day teachers.
• Science Fair funding provided by school through Title I dollars to serve 120 CARES students.
• CARES staff complete and share Bi-monthly Student Progress reports with teachers.

• Homework Help: 1 hour HW assistance and 1 ј hour structured enrichment or recreation.
• Intervention Program: 1 hour of academic Intervention with a Credentialed teacher in either English Language Arts and Mathematics. Student to teacher ratio is 10:1. This program has eligibility requirements, inquire within.
• ASPIRE Program: 1 hour of academic Intervention with a Credentialed teacher in either English Language Arts or Mathematics. Student to teacher ratio is 6:1. This program has eligibility requirements, inquire within.
• Silent Sustained Reading: 20 minutes daily silent reading by all students during designated Homework time and supervised by Recreation staff. Student to teacher ratio is 17:1. Variety of reading level and language appropriate books available for students to choose from during this time.
• Math Achievers Club: 30 minutes of Math Games taught weekly by Recreation Staff. Student to teacher ratio is 17:1.

• Nutrition Education: 7 hours a week of nutrition education and physical activity promotion. Students participate in nutrition lessons, fitness card, cooking classes and field trips to the Gardens.
• CARES Gardens: Our two After School Gardens host daily classes in the garden serving all 14 CARES After School programs integrating nutrition, youth development and community development.
• Silly Science Program: 1-hour weekly of science instruction taught by a credentialed teacher for 120 students in grades 2nd to 5th. This instruction culminated in the 3rd Annual Shore Acres Science Fair. CARES students submitted 61 of the 65 projects to the school science fair. Six first-place projects went on to the MDUSD District-wide Science Fair in March 2006.
• Clubs: Students choose a themed activity offered 1-hour per week over a 4-week period. These activities are developed and lead by Recreation Staff at a 1:17 ratio. Examples of Club activities have included: Show Your Love Service Club, Art Explosion, Salsa Dancing, Camping, Spring Training and Club Sweat.
• Service Projects: Quarterly service projects completed by each student in CARES program.
• CARES Musical Production of : 20 students in 4th & 5th grades are participating in a musical production. This musical is directed by Ms. Ge Blind, a credential music teacher in MDUSD, and will open on May 18, 2006 for a one-time performance. 10 additional students participated in the Stage Craft class taught by Mr. David Garcia, a credentialed teacher in MDUSD. They designed, built the set and created costumes for the musical.
• Field Trips: All students in grades 1-5 attend three field trips throughout the year. Field Trips have included Les Ballets Africains, Velocity Circus, Museum of Children's Art, A's Baseball Game, SF Exploratorium, and Lawrence Hall of Science.
• Multicultural Activities/African Dance and Drumming: 1 hour weekly of activities and projects that expose students to world cultures, history, beliefs and celebrations. These activities are lead by Recreation Staff at a 1:17 ratio. As a compliment to this weekly program, students received 6 weeks of instruction from a world-renowned African Dance and Drumming teacher, Naby Bangoura of Guinea.
• Life Skills Program: 1 hour weekly of life skills and character education instruction lead by Recreation Staff. Student to teacher ratio is 1:17. Students learned about and practiced using the following Life Skills this year: Respect, Caring, Responsibility, Patience, Cooperation and Friendship.

• Middle School Volunteers: Middle School students are qualified 6th, 7th and 8th grade students who enjoy helping their peers learn. After homework and tutoring, volunteers participate in ongoing enrichment activities.
• Pathways to Development Training Program: Pathways is a semester-long class offered at Los Medanos College in Pittsburg, CA(LMC) that trains future after school program employees. Shore Acres CARES serves as a program for site-visiting for Pathways students. Site Directors also serve as guest lecturers during the semester at LMC.
• CARES Student Store: Operated, staffed and supplied by CARES, this store offers various items for sale to the school including pencils, paper, stickers, and holiday items. Funding raised is used to supplement our current arts and field trip budgets.
• Bay Point Carnival: Held in October 2005, this community-wide event raised funding for arts programming in the 4 Bay Point CARES sites.
• Spring Into Health Fair at Shore Acres: Held in May 2006, the fair will include physical education activities, cooking, arts, nutrition and health activities. CARES students from all 4 Bay Point sites will be in attendance.

Who We Serve

Number of Students served: 243
Free & Reduced Lunch: 92 %
English Learner: 82 %
Special Education: 20%
Male: 57%
Female: 43%

Demographics
Chinese: 1 %
Latino: 79 %
African American: 4 %
Asian Pacific Islander: 9 %
Other White: 2 %
Other Non-White: 5 %

How We Serve
Staff to student ratio: 1:20
Number of credentialed staff:4
Number of volunteers:10
Number of CARES staff: 16
Number of subcontractors: 4

Community Partners

• City of Concord Parks and Recreation
• MDUSD
• Contra Costa Department of Health