On Oct. 22, Lights On Afterschool was celebrated around the nation. Organized by the Afterschool Alliance, the 21st annual Lights On Afterschool was unlike previous national rallies for afterschool, with many events held virtually this year that focused on science, music and dance, sport and fitness, academics, community service, social and emotional wellness, and more.
Three-part webinar series by Technovation | Oct. 29, Nov. 19 and Dec. 10 at 3 p.m. EST
Are looking for a way to step up your STEAM game in a fun and active way with your kids? Join Technovation for their three-part webinar series and become an expert in leading virtual engineering design challenges. Get ready for hands-on building and help your students think like engineers to build solutions to any sort of problem.
T-minus seven days to launch of Lights On Afterschool, the nation’s celebration of afterschool programs! Remember to register your own event.
Join us virtually for a week of Light On Afterschool events. Sign up at Afterschool Alliance for one or all events below.
Engineer for the Week: Coding Activity Led by Facebook Engineers
Monday, Oct. 19 at 6 p.m. EDT
Wings for Kids: Bring SEL to Life — Virtual Field Trip Watch and Play Party
Tuesday, Oct. 20 at 5:30 p.m. EDT
Young Entrepreneurs: Invention Activity and Live Panel
Wednesday, Oct. 21 at 5 p.m. EDT
Young Rembrandts: Draw With Young Rembrandts Art Activity
Wednesday, Oct. 21 at 6 p.m. EDT
LOA Youth Town Hall
Thursday, Oct. 22 at 6 p.m. EDT
NASA and Million Girls Moonshot: Speak Live With Astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli
Friday, Oct. 23 at 3 p.m. EDT
The STEM Next Opportunity Fund, Million Girls Moonshot and NASA are collaborating with the Afterschool Alliance to provide afterschool youth with an out-of-this-world LOA celebration. Students can speak live with astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli to talk about her journey to becoming an astronaut and the Artemis mission to land on the moon.
Mindfulness: Session With Committee for Children
Friday, Oct. 23 at 5 p.m. EDT
The purpose of this short survey is to collect stories about how mentoring relationships have personally impacted people. These stories will inform an upcoming research paper from STEMconnector and Million Women Mentors on the topic of mentoring.
Afterschool supporters led by the Afterschool Alliance, the National League of Cities, and the National Summer Learning Association are joining with Clear Channel Outdoor to launch a campaign across more than 1,000 digital billboards nationwide as part of the nationwide Lights On Afterschool celebration. The ads recognize afterschool programs for “rising to the moment” to support youth and families during the pandemic, from providing care while schools are closed, to supporting the learning and well-being of children, to offering meals to those in need. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, displays 90 digital billboards.
The threat of COVID-19 has disrupted lives across the globe, with education one of the hardest hit areas. To help you think through the current reality and adapt your programs to continue to best serve your beneficiaries, Overdeck Family Foundation has designed a financial analysis tool that will support you in creating multiple scenarios to evaluate financial sustainability in a fast-changing environment. This tool, along with others here curated by Afterschool Alliance, will help your organization as you plan, fundraise and execute during this uncertain time.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is extending flexibilities to allow free meals to continue to be available to all children throughout the entire 2020-2021 school year. This unprecedented move is part of USDA’s unwavering commitment to ensuring all children across America have access to nutritious food as the nation recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.
As millions of students start the school year remotely, many of them have never met educators in person. Teachers need to find ways to form connections with their students via the computer screen. Here are some tips from teachers who are figuring out how to make this work: relationships come before content, get to know students’ interests outside of academics, give personal feedback and notes, and inject some fun into class time.
A new brief looks at how schools can best serve students from immigrant families during the coronavirus pandemic. The researchers suggest schools should use culturally relevant communications, provide extracurricular support, provide assignments that do not require as much computer use or parent involvement. They also recommend schools provide information and guidance for families about immigrants’ legal and educational rights and available services and address concerns around privacy and immigration status that may arise because of distance learning.
School librarian professionals representing all 50 states responded, revealing their concerns about their role inside schools, student learning, reprioritized budgets and how they plan to adapt. “School librarians are at the forefront of teaching and learning. We possess the expertise to help students, parents and educators adapt and thrive within our current digital environment while continuing to fulfill our role as educators,” said American Association of School Librarians President Kathy Carroll.
