The San Lorenzo School District recently received $15,000 from Wells Fargo for scholarships for graduating seniors. Above, San Lorenzo Superintendent Dr. Dennis Byas (center) received the check from Matthew Sun and Ingrid Escalante of Wells Fargo.

PHOTO COURTESY OF SLZUSD

San Leandro High is having its Annual Advanced Placement Art Show in the gallery at the San Leandro Performing Arts Center, 2200 Bancroft Ave. with an artists’ reception open to the public on Thursday, May 16, from 4 to 6:30 p.m.

Sumedh Vedanthi received top prize at “An Artistic Discovery,” the Congressional Art Awards, hosted by Congresswoman Barbara Lee at the Officer’s Club in Alameda on Saturday.

Vedanthi’s prize includes two Southwest Airline tickets to Washington, D.C. for a luncheon with Congress and his artwork will hang in the White House for a year. His teacher is Audrey Brown said the SLHS art department is delighted.

Rachel Yu won the District Award for her drawing. Diane Dove is her teacher.

Juan Pablo Gonzales won second runner up for his digital photography.

CAPTION: San Leandro High student Sumedh Vedanthi drew “Pictures of India #7” in colored pencil. He also  won the Congressional Art Award for one of his pieces.

PHOTO COURTESY OF SUSAN DIONISIO

The St. Felicitas school choir sang the National Anthem at the Oakland A’s game on April 17. The school’s sixth, seventh and eighth graders also came out to support the choir and watch the game. They had fun at the game and did some learning at the same time because they were assigned to take down statistics for three players as part of the school’s “Mathletics” program. The St. Felcitas kids saw the A’s beat the Astros 7-5, completeing a sweep of that series.

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times

The “Mighty, Mighty Lions” of the  KIPP charter school in San Lorenzo recently got new stomping grounds, as their new gym opened this semester.

During the grand opening, hundreds of kids poured into the 9,000-square-foot gym as student musicians played.

The gym is just one part of the $11-million year-long construction project that was just completed at the school.

The improvement project also includes a new library and computer lab, two new science labs, an art room, a college counseling center, and a new administrative building.

KIPP has charter schools all over the Bay Area, including Oakland and San Francisco, and they say their mission is to be in “under-served” areas.

The KIPP King Collegiate High School and a KIPP school for younger students are both housed on the site of the old Barrett Elementary School on Via Barrett.

The San Lorenzo School District still owns the property, but they rent it to the charter school and were partners in this new project.

At the San Lorenzo location, most of the students are from San Leandro and San Lorenzo, said Principal Kate Belden.

Over 70 percent qualify for free or reduced lunch, Belden said. Last year, 100 percent of graduating seniors went on to further education – 80 percent to a four-year university.

When a charter school is in a public school district, the charter school receives some of its funding from the district and also a portion of any bonds that are passed by voters. Part of the new KIPP construction is funded by the 2008 Measure O bond, said San Lorenzo Superintendent Dennis Byas

“This has been a great experience,” Byas said of working with the charter school and watching it expand.

“Schools are there to serve the community, the entire community, and part of that is recognizing that all students aren’t the same and some need something other than a traditional public school experience,” said Byas.

Student Daryle Allums,  a senior, said he was happy to see the school finally get a gym.

“It’s great,” said Allums. “It’s exciting to see all of this happen here.”

CAPTION: Students held a rally at the KIPP charter school earlier this semester to celebrate their new gym, part of an $11-million expansion at the school.

PHOTO BY AMY SYLVESTRI

PHOTO BY AMY SYLVESTRI

John Muir students, Diane Nguyen, Hanny Quach, Valarie Vuong, Esther Okeke, Lilian Ngyen, Emily Lo, Liza Leung, Slena Tran, Wen Ma, Sally Nguyen, Cindy Mai, Brianna Mguyen, Kriste Quiray, John Christobal, Carlo Amurao, and Timothy Chong are raising money for cancer research.

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times

The students in John Muir Middle School’s “Character Counts Club” are once again collecting donations for the National Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

For the third year in a row, the kids are doing the “Pennies for Patients” national fundraising drive held each spring.

They are selling raffle tickets and “paper pennies” to classmates all month long. For a dollar, a student can buy a penny with his or her name on it to put up in the halls.

Then the big fundraiser is the teachers vs. students basketball game on Thursday, May 2, at 2:30 p.m. in the John Muir gym. The game is open to the public and tickets are $2.

The students in the club are interested in all sorts of charity and do good works throughout the year, but raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society is a cause that is close to their hearts because John Muir student Emily Teo passed away from cancer two years ago.

Last year, schools in the Bay Area raised nearly $300,000 during the Pennies for Patients drive and the John Muir kids raised about $5,000.

Students were manning the raffle tickets table during their lunch hour Monday. Items up for grabs in the raffle include A’s, Giants, and Raider’s tickets and basketball memorabilia, all of which was donated.

“We made phone calls and saw who was interested in donating the jerseys,” explained club member Wen Ma.

Over the past few weeks, the club even arranged with P.E. teachers to let their fellow students buy their way out running a mile or wearing their uniforms in gym class by making a donation to the charity.

Anyone interested in donating to the program can contact John Muir Middle School at 618-4400.

The Golden Sneaker Award is accepted on behalf of McKinley School by San Leandro City Councilmember Pauline Cutter, TransForm Safe Routes to School Coordinator Jessica Cruz, McKinley Elementary’s Golden Sneaker Parent Champion Darlene Lee, McKinley Elementary Principal Cher Situm and San Leandro City Councilman Michael Gregory.

Students across Alameda County walked, biked, and carpooled as much as possible during the first two weeks in March, competing in the annual “Pollution Solution Golden Sneaker Contest” as part of the Alameda County Safe Routes to Schools Program.

The contest challenged students to increase their walking, biking, carpooling, and transit use to reduce emissions and increase physical activity. Contest participation has increased from 12 schools in 2011 to 58 schools this year.

After tallying the results, McKinley Elementary School in San Leandro showed the greatest increase in the number of students using active and shared transportation during the 2013 Golden Sneaker Contest, earning it the Platinum Sneaker Award.

On a typical day 48 percent of McKinley’s students walk, bike, or carpool to school, and during the Golden Sneaker Contest --69 percent percent did. This was the highest change countywide, and represents 65 students making the shift to healthier transportation, and a total of 4,277 trips over the two week contest.

In addition to the county-wide competition, classes in each school competed with each other to have the greatest increase in green transportation modes, and the class with the greatest participation in each school received a Golden Sneaker trophy.

The contest was sponsored by the Alameda County Safe Routes to Schools Program, funded by the Alameda County Transportation Commission and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

PHOTO COURTESY OF CHINESE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL

Chinese Christian Schools students Rianna Kwong, Latisha Sumardy, Annie Lai, Lawrence Lee, Victor Lei and Anson Lee built a balsa wood structure weighing just 15 grams that supported 625 pounds.

The middle school team of Chinese Christian Schools’ San Leandro campus, placed first in their division at the Odyssey of the Mind State Tournament in Brentwood.

The students built a 15 gram balsa wood structure that sustained a weight of 625 pounds.  They will now compete in the World Tournament in May to be held at Michigan State University.

Odyssey of the Mind (OM) Program is an international educational program for kindergarten to college students.

Student teams use their creative problem-solving capabilities to solve a variety of problems, from building mechanical devices to literary critique.

Their solutions are then brought to local, state and international competitions.

Chinese Christian Schools started their first OM team in 2009-10. The 2011-12 middle school team placed second in last year’s state tournament and went to the World Tournament in Iowa.

With a big overhaul planned for the SAT, a survey finds parents are more likely than high school students to think the College Admissions Test needs a shake-up.

It’s no surprise that teens and their parents have differing views, but on the topic of shaking up the SAT, high school students are decidedly — and surprisingly — more “old school” than their parents.

Following an announcement from the SAT administrator that major as-yet unspecified changes are in store for the test, Kaplan Test Prep surveyed high school students and parents about whether they think the SAT needs to be changed.

Teens showed an overwhelming resistance to moving the test from paper and pencil, with 81 percent of teen respondents* against the SAT going digital, while 65 percent of their parents supported a change to a computer-based format.**

Nearly half of parents responded they believe it does (45 percent), compared to 39 percent of surveyed high school SAT takers. In contrast, just 19 percent of surveyed parents think the exam should stay as is, versus a near double percentage (35 percent) of surveyed SAT takers who opted for no change.  Remaining survey respondents were “unsure.”

The most notable difference between student and parent views were in the responses to the question “Do you think the SAT should change from its current paper-and-pencil format to a computer-based test?”

A strong majority of parents (65 percent) would favor the change in format, while only 10 percent of students responded yes. Raised on computers and digital devices, today’s generation of teens expressed an overwhelming preference for sticking to a paper-and-pencil test, raising concerns about being able to do “scratch work” on math problems, lack of typing proficiency for essay writing, the challenges of looking at a computer screen for four hours and potential technical difficulties.

In contrast, parents believe their kids prefer computers, citing “quicker results” and noting “kids feel more confident at a computer screen these days,” “most kids are used to computers,” “kids are of the computer age and it is more relevant to them.”

The theme of modernization was common among parents in favor of the switch. Parents who opposed any change expressed concern that without a paper trail, answers and tests could get lost.

Aside from strong support for going to a computer-based format, parents in favor of changing the SAT vary widely in opinion on what exactly should change.

The strongest recurring theme was that the test content needs to be relevant with the times: “more relevant questions,” “more questions that reflect today’s society,” “should be changed every few years as the world progresses to update” were among the many comments.

Another recurring theme expressed by parents, but far more so by students in favor of SAT change, is the desire to see the test shortened.

Jeff Olson of Kaplan Test Prep noted that the earliest cohort to potentially be impacted by a new SAT would be the class of 2016, or today’s freshmen, who may see an SAT aligned to “Common Core Learning Standards.”

For more information about the upcoming changes to the SAT and Kaplan Test Prep’s survey, contact Russell Schaffer at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . For updates on the changes, visit www.kaptest.com/satchange.

*From a Kaplan March 2013 e-survey of 396 students who took a Kaplan SAT course and took the March SAT.

**From a Kaplan March 2013 e-survey of 302 parents whose high school children will take or have taken the SAT or ACT.

Editors Note: Kaplan is a subsidiary of The Washington Post Company.

State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson last week unveiled California’s new list of recommended books to help students prepare for a career, college and the challenges of a changing world.

“The books our students read help broaden their perspectives, enhance their knowledge, and fire their imaginations,” Torlakson said.

The new list is a collection of more than 7,800 titles of recommended reading for children and adolescents. It has been updated with appropriate contemporary titles that reflect rich cultural diversity written over the last decade.

The online list also reflects the quality and complexity of texts students should be reading both at school and outside of the classroom.

Works include fiction, nonfiction, poetry and drama to accommodate a variety of tastes, interests and abilities. Local school officials and teachers are encouraged to use this list as a resource in designing standards-based instructional programs.

The list was coordinated by the California Department of Education and developed with the assistance of teachers, library consultants from school and public libraries, administrators, curriculum planners, and college professors.

Visitors may search the interactive database by author, title, annotation, illustrator, translator, subject, grade span and language.

For more information, visit the California Department of Education’s Common Core State Standards at www.cde.ca.gov/re/cc/.

Being able to read well is more important than ever for young adults to achieve economic success. But more than 60 percent of middle and high school students score below “proficient” in reading achievement, according to a  report by the Alliance for Excellent Education.

“Teen literacy is a huge problem in the United States — its 15-year-olds rank 14th among developed nations in reading — behind Poland, Estonia and Iceland,” says Rhiannon Paille, an author and advocate for teen literacy.

“Kids need strong reading skills if they hope to graduate from high school and they really need to plan for college; 59 percent of U.S. jobs today require some post-secondary education, compared to 28 percent in 1973.”

The best thing parents can do to help boost their 12- to 18-year-olds’ literacy is to get them reading… anything.

She offers these suggestions:

• Look for book-to-film novels. Chances are, if it was a great movie, they saw it, and that’s often enough to get a non-reader curious. This is an especially good hook for boys, Paille says.

• Tune into what they’re interested in. What kinds of video games do they play? Some popular games have spawned novels, including Halo, EverQuest, ElfQuest and Gears of War. Even gaming guides, which players read to unlock new clues to advancing in the game, can motivate a teen to crack a book.

• Read the same book your teen is reading. Book clubs are popular because people like talking to others who’ve read the same book. Your teen may not be ready for an evening of petit fours and grape juice while discussing the pacing of “Hunger Games,” but it can make for some interesting conversation on the way to soccer practice. And, you can always nudge them along with comments like, “Oh, you haven’t gotten to that part yet? It’s really good!”

“People tend to think their young adults aren’t reading if they’re not reading novels,” Paille says. “But novels aren’t for everyone, and whether it’s a comic book or a gaming guide, all reading helps build comprehension skills and vocabulary.”

Magazines, with shorter articles suited for distractible adolescents, might include Sports Illustrated, People, Seventeen or Mad.

“When you’re out shopping, think about what they’re interested in and pick up something just for them. Sometimes, it’s as simple as putting the right reading materials directly into their hands.”

Students age 6 to 13 competed in the Discovery Home-School Spelling Bee.

David Leong did not succumb to the pressure as he spelled that word correctly to win the championship in the Discovery Homeschool Spelling Bee on Jan. 19 at the San Leandro Main Library.  Eight home-schooled students, ages 6 to 13, competed in the bee.

Judah Iwawaki took second place in the bee, and Joshua Huang took third place. The other spellers were Mason Blum, Camden Daly, Erika Hazlett, Gabriel Vergara and Espie Vergara.

Leong will advance to the written phase of the San Francisco Chronicle Spelling Bee. The champion of the Chronicle Bee will advance to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.

Find learning moments in everyday life; Ask thought-provoking questions

Children spend five times as much time outside the classroom as they do in school. With all this time away from teachers, it’s important for parents to support their children’s learning.

In fact, children whose parents are involved with them in family literacy activities score 10 points higher on standardized reading tests, according to the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL).

“Learning can happen anywhere and at any time,” advises Emily Kirkpatrick, Vice President of NCFL. “Go beyond homework — help and find learning moments in everyday life that fit in with your schedule.”

Here are some tips for how you can take a more active role in your child’s education:

• It all starts with you. With some preparation on your part, you can be a better resource for your child. Make sure that you, and those who spend time with your child, are well-equipped to support learning.

• Turn a household shopping trip into a fun chance to do math. Take a walk outside to discuss nature or the community. Make a lesson plan out of the world around you.

• Develop a partnership with your child’s teachers. Talk with them about homework and be sure you understand what is expected.

• Some children need and want time to play when they get home, while others may want to get homework out of the way first thing. Set a schedule for your child that works for him or her, and make it a routine. Just be sure that your expectations are clear.

• Reinforce the idea that homework is not punishment, but a chance to practice new skills. You can help make it fun by rewarding progress.

• Ask your children thought-provoking questions, like what they might wonder about. For inspiration, you can turn to free online resources that emphasize fun in learning, such as www.Wonderopolis.org.

• Help set a timeline so that school assignments are not left until the last minute. Older children with assignments that will take several days or weeks to complete may need your help learning to manage their time.

• Checking to be sure assignments are complete is great, but don’t forget it is your child’s assignment, not yours. Do not do homework for your child.

• Read to your children or with them every night. Not only is this an enjoyable way to spend time together, it will benefit the child and help instill a love of learning.

—StatePoint