Programs

Everywhere you look at Brittan Acres, you’ll find rich and diverse programs that make life in the classroom and on the playground that much better. In addition to our innovative and comprehensive STEAM program we have multiple after school options, student support programs such as Counseling and Literacy, and of course traditional favorites like Safety Patrol and Green Team that offer leadership opportunities.

Healthy Cities Tutoring Program
Healthy Cities Tutoring is a non-profit organization that matches community volunteers with students to provide one-on-one mentoring to increase the academic success and self–esteem of our youth. No experience is necessary to become a tutor. Volunteers work just one hour per week at times convenient for them Approximately 40 BA students benefit from this program every year. To learn more, visit the Healthy Cities website at http://www.healthycitiestutoring.org or email [email protected].

Hot Lunch

SCSD offers breakfast and lunch at no cost to all preschool-8th grade students, regardless of family income. All students have the opportunity to participate in the District’s meal program, but participation is not required.

Beginning in the 2023-24 school year, meals will be ordered by school sites based on student preference and participation. A variety of options will be available for breakfast and lunch for any student who would like a meal. Parents will no longer place orders.

School sites will be ordering meals based on consumption patterns and in amounts that allow all students access to California’s Universal Meal Program for breakfast and lunch every school day. There will be no need for families to place orders as it will be done as a site. There will be cold items served for breakfast such as cereals, muffins alongside the fruits/vegetable options and two hot options for lunch. In addition, there will be at least one cold item offered as well for lunch. Vegetarian options will be available at each meal time and allergies will be accommodated.

Our Brittan Acres Monthly Menu Is Here, along with the allergen list.

Library
The Library Media Center is open every school day from 8:00am until 3:15pm, except Wednesdays when it is open from 8:00am until 12:00pm. The Library is now open at lunch time for reading and playing games!

E-books and interactive books (that read themselves to you) that are a part of the BA library are now available for our students’ use outside of school. No matter where you find yourselves, if you are able to get online, your children can enjoy these books. Just log on to the library researcher at brittanacres.goalexandria.com and click on Researcher. Then, in the Explore bar, click on the e-books icon to bring up a list of all our e-books and interactive books.Stop by for a visit during school hours – visitors are welcome and volunteers are always appreciated!

The Peninsula Library System has a searchable web catalog you can use to help locate books for research projects. To ask a question or volunteer to work in the library, email Karen Ha, who will be happy to respond just as soon as she finishes her reading…

Shop on Amazon.com & Support the Library

The Brittan Acres School Library has joined the Amazon SchoolRewards Associates program, an effortless way for you to help us continue growing and improving our library, simply by shopping at Amazon.com. When ordering on Amazon just make sure to use our SchoolRewards link. When doing so we receive up to 10 percent of every Amazon purchase.

Remember to bookmark this link in your Internet browser!

Literacy
The Literacy Associates Program at Brittan Acres:
Early Intervention for Reading Support

All of the schools in San Carlos maintain programs to address the needs of struggling readers, with the goal of supporting every child’s academic success. Here at Brittan Acres, our Literacy Associates provide that valuable service.

The program consists of pull out instruction for students who have been identified as performing below grade level in reading, providing immediate additional support when it is required. The goal is to eliminate gaps in student learning that might otherwise grow into more challenging reading difficulties. Students enter and exit the flexible program as their performance dictates; at any given time, our Literacy Associates serve approximately ten percent of our student population.

Our Literacy Associates work with selected students four days a week for 30-minute sessions, providing two hours of individualized reading remediation per week. They communicate regularly with classroom teachers about their pupils, are available to attend Student Success Team (SST) meetings, and provide data for parents and teachers to measure student progress.

Emphasizing earliest intervention, BA’s Literacy Associates focus first on struggling Kindergarten and First Grade students. Identification of students in need of Literacy support is determined by classroom teacher referral and by school-wide Kindergarten and First Grade “DIBELS Benchmark” assessments (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) conducted in September, January, and May.

Once in the program, each student’s progress is regularly monitored using specific DIBELS assessments. This makes the program flexible and efficient, capable of serving and releasing many students over the course of each year. Children who are shown to be performing at grade level are exited, making room for students newly identified as needing support to be entered into the program.

The focus of each Literacy session is determined by the needs of the students being served. Emerging readers are taught segmenting and blending skills, sound-symbol relationships (phonics), word attack skills, and accuracy and fluency in reading text. Developing readers learn to observe punctuation, develop their vocabulary, and improve their reading comprehension. Students are taught to read and spell high frequency words for their grade levels. Research-based materials are used, including the interventions materials newly adopted by the district in 2009-10 for use in classrooms, Literacy Associates programs, and Special Education settings.

On an as-needed basis, students identified as “Beginning” English Language Learners by the California Early Language Development Test (CELDT) may also work with our Literacy Associates using Language For Learning, a district-adopted structured language program addressing concepts important to both oral and written language.

Nature Park
What is a Nature Park?
The Nature Park is a place where children can co-create a new form of play space that is dedicated to creativity and play in nature. They differ from parks and playgrounds because they offer opportunities to interact with the environment, doing practical and adventurous things, rather than leaving it untouched.

For example:

Create sculptures from natural materials
Construct shelters from plants, branches and rocks
Build fairy houses, gnome homes and elf dwellings
Making trails
Weave fantasy play, stories and games into their activities
Other types of free and creative play

A Nature Park is an outdoor laboratory of creativity with open-ended possibilities for self-designed play, creativity, learning and socializing. If you are interested in volunteering, please email [email protected].

Staff Appreciation
We have a team of volunteers who will be focused on making sure the staff at BA is appreciated for all they do for our children. This may include meals or treats throughout the year.