…and support the Micheltorena School and Community Garden!  CANELÉ restaurant, located at 3219 Glendale Blvd in Atwater Village, will be serving a prix fixe dinner for $35 from 5 – 9 PM, with proceeds going to support the construction of the Micheltorena School and Community Garden.  Takeout is available for $12, and a vegetarian option is available as well.

Closed on Mondays is a recurring dinner event designed to support local food initiatives.  At each dinner, a three course, fixed price menu is served with monies raised going to sustain creative, food-related community projects.  Closed on Mondays takes place during typically closed-for-business hours, allowing the hosts to make use of the restaurant’s space & equipment, and and free them to donate their superb cooking skills to support a fundraiser!   Closed on Mondays is hosted by Aliza Miner, Savita Ostendorf and Marjory Garrison. Thank you also to SEE LA and the Atwater Farmer’s Market for donating vegetables to our dinner!

The school year was officially ushered in with our Back to School night on September 28.  Students and their families mingled and met with teachers on this balmy fall evening.  Principal Furfari gave a presentation in the auditorium detailing the many exciting changes coming this year to Micheltorena.  Here they are, in no particular order!

New school library: Micheltorena will have a new library built in rooms 20 and 21, in the Primary Building.  This library is the product of many years of fundraising and grantwriting, and is made possible by the organization Wonder of Reading and generous support from LAUSD boardmember Yolie Flores.  Our new library will boast new computers, media equipment, a “story steps” mini-amphitheatre, and an updated book collection, featuring books donated by the Friends of Silverlake Library.  Planned groundbreaking on the library is scheduled for October, with the finished library set to open its doors in December.  The Friends of Micheltorena continue to host their “Adopt the Library” fundraiser; click here for more information on how to participate.  Would you like to volunteer at the new library?  Volunteer positions include reading books to children, tutoring children in reading, and assisting the librarian with library and book organization.  Please send an email to Marilyn Missoni, School Coordinator, at mmissoni@lausd.net to apply.

New school and community garden: Starting later this fall, construction will begin on the corner of Micheltorena Street and Sunset to turn the parking lot into a garden that will serve both the school and community.  As noted in previous posts on this website, the Silverlake Neighborhood Council generously donated $10,000 to our effort in a gesture towards promoting education, sustainability, the ‘greening’ of our neighborhood, and community involvement. Please see the Garden page of this website for more information.  Fundraising also continues for the garden!  In particular, the Atwater Village restaurant Canele will be hosting a fundraiser for the Micheltorena School and Community Garden on October 18 as part of their “Closed on Mondays” fundraiser series; read more about this event here.  Please click here for more information about contributing to our school garden.

New fruit tree orchard on campus: The organization Treepeople has made the Micheltorena campus a target for a fruit tree orchard planting as part of their Trees for a Green LA program!    This very exciting program includes training school and community volunteers on the basics of tree care as part of their “Citizen Forester” training, digging up asphalt, and planting dozens of fruit trees on our campus.  The program will involve the volunteer participation of students and their families to help plant and then care for the trees.   Our tree planting event is scheduled for the middle of January, and will see close to 40 trees go into the ground, with Treepeople also donating 150 bare root fruit trees to be given to student families. The trees on campus will provide fruit for the students during their school day, as well as the community as they pass by the school.  The following teachers have signed up to receive training help act as stewards for the new orchard: Charles Kimzey, Geralyn Buschelman, and Lisa Lewis.

Micheltorena Arts Community: Since the arts are such a part vital part of the Silver Lake community and an important part of our school, Micheltorena is partnering with Blue Palm Art Culture Education, a Silver Lake-based nonprofit arts education organization, to design a sustainable, comprehensive arts plan for Micheltorena Elementary School, called the Micheltorena Arts Community (MAC).  This plan will include not only Theater, Dance, Visual Arts, and Music, but also Culinary Arts, Media Arts, and other Creative Professions.   MAC will draw on the participation of creative individuals from the local neighborhood who will share their expertise to prepare local students for the creative workplace.  Would you like to be a part of MAC?  Send Principal Furfari an email at susanna.furfari@lausd.net!

PTA: The PTA is not new, but it’s always exciting!  This year the PTA will continue to sponsor our annual Haunted House, Leprechaun Leap Dance, and Cinco de Mayo Festival, and publication of the school yearbook.  New events planned for the 2010-2011 school year include a Pancake Breakfast with the Fire Department, Micheltorena Fun Run/Walk, and Healthy Food Family Cookoff Contest.  Our meetings will be held on the first Wednesday of the month at 5pm in Room 4, just inside the school entrance.  Membership in the PTA is open to all stakeholders of Micheltorena, including future student families and community members, and is $6 for the year.  Please contact Rebecca Crane at r.h.crane@gmail.com for more information.

School lunch reform: Micheltorena is a Title 1 school, which means all students receive free lunch during the school day.  While LAUSD makes attempts to serve lunches that follow USDA nutritional guidelines, many people feel that the school lunches could be much healthier, particularly in serving more unprocessed, locally sourced foods for lunch.  A few parents at Micheltorena are working to impact long-term change in the healthfulness of lunches served in the LAUSD school system, as well as more immediate change in the school lunch served at Micheltorena.  Stay tuned for more updates!  If you would like to be involved in LAUSD school lunch reform, please visit the Food for Lunch website for more information.

Thank you so much for flexing your voting muscles in support of the recent Nature’s Path community garden grant challenge; we rocketed up the ranks of proposals swiftly, and in the end garnered 1100 votes (!) but missed securing a position in the top 5 qualifying positions by 66 votes.

HOWEVER, our team views this as not a defeat, but just the beginning in a very wonderful process, that of creating a garden for Micheltorena Street Elementary and the community of Silverlake.  What this challenge did was galvanize our effort, make our plans known to the community, and allowed YOU to communicate your enthusiasm for this project.  Thank you all so much.

To celebrate the official birth of this project, jumpstart the fundraising process, and to allow us to all come together as garden supporters, we cordially invite you to join us at Gobi Restaurant, located at 2827 West Sunset Boulevard (cross street: Parkman) on Thursday June 24 from 6pm to 11pm, for a Micheltorena School / Community Garden fundraiser.  Gobi will donate 20% of the proceeds from the evening’s food sales to our garden cause.  Visit gobimongolianbbq.com for more information about the restaurant.

Community businesses and organizations now have the opportunity to show their support for Micheltorena by sponsoring a banner that will be displayed on Sunset Boulevard.

Banners are printed in high impact colors, and donated graphic design services will give each business the opportunity to have a custom banner made.

For this introductory year, banners will cost $750 for a 3’ by 10’ banner that will remain up on our perimeter fence for 12 months.

Thanks to Micaela Cardona, Micheltorena mom, for sponsoring our first banner!  Please pass by and admire her banner on the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Golden Gate Street.

If you are interested in sponsoring a banner, please call us at 323-666-2377, or email us at friendsofmicheltorena@earthlink.com.

Join us in our celebration of reading!

Click here for an adoption form.

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This fall, Micheltorena Street Elementary School will build a new library in the northern-most building on its campus. The new library will more than double the number of books it is currently lending and will give students a spacious, quiet, well-lit place to read. Principal Furfari plans to start construction when the children leave for summer vacation this June, and have it ready in September for the start of the 2010-11 school year.

English fluency, in the densely multicultural environment of Los Angeles, is the first challenge that many of its children face when starting school. Principal Susanna Furfari is meeting that challenge by focusing Micheltorena’s resources on creating an environment that builds and nurtures her students’ relationship with the English language. In addition, our school is host to a number of programs for students with special education needs. Students come from many different areas in Los Angeles to Micheltorena to learn with teachers with the expertise to meet their special education requirements.

The new library will help our challenged students reach their goals of English fluency, reading proficiency, and start them on the path to a life-long love of reading.

The library project began when Micheltorena was awarded a grant from the Wonder of Reading Foundation, a literacy organization in Los Angeles that seeks to improve the rates of literacy in school children by helping schools renovate their libraries. The grant will provide substantial funds for both the construction of the new library and new books for its collection.

The grant, however, comes with its own challenges. Micheltorena must raise funds for library furniture, media equipment, general upkeep and replacement costs for damaged or missing books. This amounts to Micheltorena raising twenty thousand of its own dollars, an impressive order for any public school, but an especially tall one in this depressed economic environment with its accompanying budget cuts and layoffs.

Principal Furfari is undaunted: “Micheltorena’s parent organizations are motivated and creative. We may have to work twice as hard, but we’re going to do it.”

To raise these crucial funds, Friends of Micheltorena and the Micheltorena Library Committee, both comprised of parents, school administrators, teachers and community members, have launched an outreach campaign called “Adopt the Library.” Donors may adopt individual shelves, shelf units, reading stations, furniture including chairs and tables, single books, and special, framed, shadowboxed books. An engraved plaque featuring the donor’s name and their dedication will accompany each acquisition.

The Silverlake community is also rising to meet Micheltorena’s challenge. Local store Home Ec adopted a crafting section of the library, and will be donating many fine books on the subject as well. Local artists Jordan Crane, Johnny Ryan, and Steven Weissman will design and paint murals on the library walls, tailoring them for donors who contribute a set amount. So far, our committees have raised almost $6,000 for the library.

As the Wonder of Reading organization states eloquently on their website: “In the end, it’s not just the school that gets a library – it’s the community. And when the community gathers to cut the ribbon, it’s not just an opening, it’s a celebration.”

Principal Furfari, the student body and staff of Micheltorena are eagerly awaiting the completion of the new library. It will be of inestimable value to Micheltorena’s students and will embody, via the plaques and dedications, the priorities and generosity of our Silverlake community.

Please fill out an adoption form and dedicate your portion of the library!  The students of Micheltorena thank you for your support!

We are happy you could join us, and invite you to participate in our fundraising efforts to enrich and beautify our school!

Banners!

Beginning in May 2010, community businesses and organizations will have the opportunity to show their support for Micheltorena by sponsoring a banner that will be displayed on Sunset Boulevard.

Banners will be printed in high impact colors.  Donated design services will give each business the opportunity to have a custom banner made. For this introductory year, banners will cost $750 for a 3’ by 10’ banner that will remain up on our perimeter fence for 12 months.

If you are interested in sponsoring a banner for your business or cause, please call us at 323-666-2377, or email us at friendsofmicheltorena@earthlink.com.

Adopt-the-Library

Our Adopt-the-Library fundraiser is going on now!  Micheltorena was recently awarded a grant to build a new library from Wonder of Reading, a Los Angeles organization intent on increasing literacy in elementary school children.

While much of the funds for basic construction and books are included in the grant, we must raise funds to buy special tables, chairs and other items that will make our library specially suited to our school. Funds raised will also go towards future upkeep of the library, and ensure that adequate monies exist to purchase and replace books and media in the future.

The Adopt-the-Library fundraiser is an invitation from Micheltorena to the community to become part of this “dream come true” for our students. Members of the community can dedicate or “adopt” a portion of the library, with donations going to library development and book purchasing.

The fundraiser will run from March 1, 2010 to May 30, 2010.

Join us, and be a part of Micheltorena history!

To participate, please review our donation form, available here.

Items of adoption will have plaques with engraved dedications.  For shelves, plaques will be approximately 2 inches high and 4-5 inches wide.  Plaques on furniture will be appropriately sized to match the pieces and are negotiable. Options also exist to have a local artist paint your dedication as a small mural on the wall of the library.

How you can participate:
1) You can mail in the form with your choice of item adoption.  You will be contacted immediately on receipt of the form to discuss your donation.

2) Send us an email to friendsofmicheltorena@earthlink.com with your preferences based on the form.

3) Or, if you would like to discuss other donation or participation options with us, please call us at 323-666-2377, or email us at friendsofmicheltorena@earthlink.net.

We do not yet have an online donation tab, but will soon.

All donations are tax deductible and go towards a great cause, READING!

Below are some photos of other Wonder of Reading libraries, to give you an idea of how your adopted library will look.