Written by:
Travis Horton
AVID Coordinator
Lamar HS

Over 150 freshmen students have taken part in the Arbuckle Field Lab. These are students that, in most cases, have never been out of an urban environment. The created and identified their own rock collection, studied and climbed fault lines, explored caves, and studied environmental issues. These students now have a first hand connection to what they are learning in the classroom.

40 of our seniors have now taken part in the AVID Senior Challenge, a project that we created with the help of Guadalupe Mountains National Park. These soon to be graduates, lived in primitive desert conditions for four days. Each student was responsible for setting up their own living conditions and preparing meals, while following the concepts of No Trace Camping. The defining moment for these students was summiting the 8,749 ft Guadalupe Peak, the tallest point in Texas. Overall, this experience was to serve as a metaphor for what they have accomplished to date and what they are capable of in the future.

Our faculty have been given the opportunity to reconnect with students and learn new methods of instruction through this process, a process that has received national attention from various schools that are interested in what we are now doing.

Again, thank you for having the vision and commitment to allow us to find new frontiers in education.

Written by:
Hildelisa Diaz
1st Grade Team Leader
Goodman Elementary

The evening started with families coming in and visiting each of the Math stations. Students worked together  with their families by showing them the strategies learned in the classroom. We met one of our main goals, which was to get families to interact with each other and create a fun and friendly atmosphere filled with Math concepts. A great night added fun to great subject - Math! The result: SUCCESS!

ARLINGTON -- General Motors broke ground on a $200 million stamping facility Friday that will bring nearly 200 new jobs to the Arlington Truck Assembly Plant, officials said.

Shortly before the groundbreaking, the General Motors Foundation announced $82,050 in grant contributions to six nonprofit agencies, including the Arlington school district, Community Food Bank and the United Way of Tarrant County. Those contributions are just one example of how General Motors is the kind of community partner worth supporting, officials said.

"This is what America is all about. We have a private company that's providing a product that does great things for our country, provides transportation and mobility to literally millions of Americans, and as the workers and management team have recovered from what we've been through the last two to three years, they are giving back to the community," said U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Ennis. 

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/04/13/3882600/gm-breaks-ground-on-new-facility.html#storylink=cpy 

GM Plant Manager Paul Graham, EF Exec. Director Kathy Jackson and UAW representatives

GM Plant Manager Paul Graham, EF President Elizabeth Calvo and UAW representatives

Written by:
Chad Forkner
Kindergarten Team Leader
Burgin Elementary School

• Take-home learning packs that my students could check out and use at home with their parents and reinforce skills taught in the classroom.
• Math and Science Centers that allowed my students the opportunity to learn important concepts, but in
  a fun and hands-on way!
• A Teaching Center styled easel and large classroom carpet that has helped calendar time and whole group meetings flow smoothly.

These grants have made a huge impact on my classroom and my students. They were able to experience so much more that if we had been without these materials. I also feel the support of the community being behind me as a teacher by providing these materials through the Education Foundation.

I highly recommend to my fellow teachers to give the idea of applying for a grant a try.  The process is not intimidating and help is always available.  The Education Foundation office is very supportive.

Written by:
Michael Wyant
Gateway to Technology, PAP Science Teacher
Bailey Junior High

The grant received from the Education Foundation for the above project has provided a real life experience to the Gateway students. The students have had the opportunity to test their skills driving the radio controlled vehicles around a student-designed course. Additionally, they engaged in a reverse engineering project in which specific components of the vehicles were made available for computer-aided design (CAD).  The students used the CAD program to draw the vehicle parts and experienced the difficulties and intricacies of component design. 

We, of course, ran times trials to identify top notch drivers and used the data to compute average speeds and then looked at pinion gear to spur gear ratios to determine optimum performance possibilities.

The Education Foundation grant has opened up additional areas in the curriculum that could only be talked about before. Now there are hands-on activities and demonstrations. 

Assistance from the staff was exceptional in the development of the grant application.

Dear Friends and Families of Arlington ISD Education Foundation:

The Arlington ISD Education Foundation has been chosen to be among the first to participate in an exciting new program called Create Excitement for Public Schools (CE4PS). It's the easy fundraising effort that we’ve been searching for -- and it found us! Now you can contribute to us simply by redirecting your online shopping through the CE4PS Initiative.

This letter offers you special access to great bargains at Amazon, Groupon and a growing list of other well-known companies. Here’s how:

1. Register by going to ce4psdeals.com. Follow the prompts and be sure to scroll down and choose Arlington ISD Education Foundation.  Once you register you will receive a daily email with the Groupon deal of the day, and links to get special deals from Amazon and other great companies. These are the same deals that you get elsewhere, at the same price, but often have specials available only here. You are under no obligation and you may unsubscribe at any time.
2. You may also see premier deals from local companies specifically for our Foundation, so check your email every day.
3. If you already have an Amazon or Groupon account, please be sure to buy through our link rather than the one you are currently using.  The deals are the same, but we receive 4 to 15 percent or more of your purchase only if you click through our email link.

Thank you for helping us raise the funds we need to improve our schools and provide grants to teachers and students.

Sincerely,

Kathy Jackson, Executive Director

Written by:
Shanda Trevino
AVID Coordinator/Teacher
Bailey JH

My favorite use of these articles was philosophical chairs and Socratic seminars. My AVID students absolutely love any opportunity they have to voice their opinions! Opinions are great, but having facts to back up what they believe (based on the articles) and why they believe it empowers them.

I am SO grateful to the Education Foundation for having a desire to meet the educational needs of students of Arlington ISD. Without this foundation, many great ideas would never come to fruition and many available resources would never be tapped. I am just very appreciative of the opportunity we had last year to have access to AVID Weekly. We have many articles that we will be able to use over the next few years. With the state of our economy and educational funding what it is today, it’s great to know that there are still organizations that see the value of the educational system and the needs of teachers and students.

Watch on YouTube here.