SCORES Stretches to El Salvador

This past week a handful of SCORES staff descended on El Salvador to run a week of programming at a school in Las Minas, a small village in the rural district of Chalatenango.

Roberto Gil, Director of Programs in West Contra Costa, organized the trip. Gil has returned to his native El Salvador to run soccer and writing classes for the last six years.

“This is not a trip of charity,” Gil announced on the first day in front of fifty eager Las Minas students, ages six through fifteen. “It is one of solidarity.”

Ernesto Efrain Menjivar Alas, the Vice-Principle of Escuela Canton Las Minas, shows a group of students what a "caballero" looks like.

Gil’s words echoed throughout the week as Las Minas students shared their stories, their food, their families, and their beautiful town with visiting SCORES staff. In turn, SCORES organized activities that involved sharing stories, identifying community problems, and creating solutions.

Soccer, Spelling and SCORES at Summer Learning Day

On Tuesday, June 21st, we gathered at the Civic Center for the Summer Learning Day!  

Summer Learning Day was established by the city to celebrate programs that continue kids’ learning during the summer. It was hosted by The Summer Learning Network, and coordinated by Mo’ Magic.  

SCORES was joined by many other organizations, including our friend the San Francisco Public Library Bookmobile, and about 800 kids enrolled in summer programs across the city.

Over at the SCORES booth, players of all ages joined us to play soccer and try their hand at word games.  While some dribbled and passed with our coaches, other players found words in a soccer ball and learned about healthy foods. For successfully completing the games, players got to spin our poetry wheel to win some great prizes!

 It was great to see some of our SCORES poet-athletes, and to meet some new faces!

-SCORES staff

Jrs. Are "Playmakers" in Training This Winter

In SCORES, Playmakers are students who make play fun and safe for themselves and for everyone around them. They play for fun, play fair, and play as a team.

A Junipero Serra Jr. reads from the "Playmaker" Curriculum

In the Winter Storytime Curriculum, Junior SCORES participants meet Playmakers from the familiar playground, faraway countries and cultures, and even the animal planet. Stories in the Winter curriculum are helping Juniors think about how they can become Playmakers on the soccer field, playground, and beyond.

Juniors Return Home From Outer Space

This Fall nearly 150 1^st and 2^nd grade Jr. SCORES participants discovered soccer and creative writing through an imaginary trip to play in the Space Soccer Jamboree. The Juniors were the main characters in a children’s story written and illustrated all about them and their SCORES season, but with an extraterrestrial twist. 

Characters from the Jr. SCORES curriculum blast off on the cover of a new book produced by our SCORES staff.

The story prompted students to work on a series of writing and drawing activities to complete their journey through space. Throughout their travels, students saved the Rhyme Rocket from running out of rhymes, created team flags, wrote letters home, and performed a poem to break a tie in the championship game.