Monday, June 2, 2014

Welcome to Hillside Elementary



Pictured (in alphabetic order): Jeremy Bielski, Scott Crawford, Dr. Davis (Hillside Principal) Chris Darr, Jayme Fry, Charlie Kiesling, Karen Ligas, (Executive Director) Sara Mitchell, Caleb Pearson, Corey Weeklund


Everybody Wins! Iowa has been working with the West Des Moines Leadership Academy of the West Des Moines Chamber of Commerce to start a Power Breakfast program at Hillside Elementary in West Des Moines starting in the fall. This will be a new school district for Everybody Wins! Iowa and we are excited to welcome the school and the district into the Everybody Wins! Iowa family. 

One of the Hillside teachers and a few of his students made this wonderful video for us.





West Des Moines Leadership Academy received funding from the following sponsors:
3E Electrical Engineering & Equipment Co
HyVee
Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines (West Des Moines Community Enrichment
Foundation Enrichment Pass-through Fund)
ITA Group Foundation
RDG Planning & Design
West Bancorporation Foundation
Hillside PTO
Animal Doctors Veterinary Clinic, PC
LPL Financial
McGowen, Hurst,Clark,and Smith, P.C.
Merit Resources, Inc.
Jeremy & Shannon Bielski
Stephan & Janet Fry
David & Lori Sanders
Caleb Pearson

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Make Reading Fun!


Reading with a child is only as fun as you make it. Be excited to read aloud with your student and they will be excited to read. Here are a few steps to make reading more exciting for everyone!

  • As you read, follow the text with your finger.
  • Read with expression.
    • Children need to hear changes in your voice to indicate when you are reading dialogue
  • Vary your pace.
    • Slow down to build up suspense.
    • Speed up during exciting scenes.
  • Create voices for different characters.
    • If you are reading about that silly character in the story don’t be afraid to use your silly voice.
  • Be enthusiastic.
    • If you are bored, your student will be bored
  • Discuss the book.
    • Ask questions!
  • Enjoy the illustrations.
    • Take the time to really understand the pictures.
  • Change books.
    • If the student isn’t enjoying the story pick a new one.  
  • Change the story.
    • Change a part of a familiar story and see if they notice. Also, change a new story by swapping in a word that is wrong and let them correct you. 
Showing kids that reading can be fun will inspire them to read on their own in the future!

Thursday, May 1, 2014

April Showers bring May Flowers!





Hello, 


April was an exciting month for Everybody Wins! Iowa. Here are a few updates:


Everybody Wins! Iowa 



1. has almost 500 mentors signed up this school year. We have already surpassed last school year's (2012-2013) numbers and hope to reach our goal of 500 by the end of May. 



2. was awarded the Experiential Learning Community Partner Award from Drake University on April 15. This is a great honor for Everybody Wins! Iowa. Thank you, Drake University, for your tremendous support of our program. 


3. had two mentors recognized at the LIVE UNITED awards on April 22nd through United Way of Central Iowa: Hal Rusk, mentor with Children and Family Urban Movement and Kate Allen Jones mentor with Edmunds. This was a great honor for EWI and the nominees. The LIVE UNITED Recognition is United Way of Central Iowa’s tribute to philanthropic efforts and measurable community impact. This event honors the exceptional commitment of organizations and individuals.  


 4. received funding  from Warren County Philanthropic Partnership on April 24th to help grow our Indianola & Norwalk elementary schools. Norwalk and Indianola have only been a part of the EWI family for two years and with this grant, we will to reach out to attract more mentors to better serve Indianola and Norwalk and provide more books to their respective bookcarts. 


Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Make a Pledge to Help Kids Read!

        Make a Pledge to Help Kids Read!

Birdies for Charities is a multi-level fundraising program designed to give 
charity organizations the opportunity to receive contributions based on the 
number of Birdies that Champion Tour players make during the
 Principal Charity Classic golf tournament.

           Click here to see where YOU can help Everybody Wins! Iowa:

  
You can give a one-time donation to Birdies for Charities, selecting Everybody 
Wins! Iowa as the charity of choice, so students can continue to receive the help 
with their reading skills from a caring adult. 

Make a pledge for the tournament, based on the number of Birdies scored. For 
example, if you pledge $0.05 per Birdie, for 500 Birdies, you would donate $25 
to Everybody Wins! Iowa. Pledging $0.10 per Birdie for 500 Birdies would get 
Everybody Wins! Iowa a donation of $50! 


 If Everybody Wins! Iowa reaches at least $1500 in flat donations, we will qualify 
for Bonus Bucks, which means that we would receive an additional 25% match. 

Copy and Paste the link to donate: https://events.r2it.com/birdies/DefaultPage/BirdiesDefault/Default.aspx?site=principalcharityclassic&siteId=55&charity=RebuildingTogetherGreaterDesMoines&charityId=56972



COLOR VIBE 5K RUN

COLOR VIBE 5K RUN


The Color Vibe 5K Run is coming to Des Moines on June 28th and is partnering with 
Everybody Wins! Iowa! 
For every runner that signs up, the Color Vibe will donate $1 to 

Everybody Wins! Iowa. 
Click HERE to register now!