Outcomes Linked to High-Quality Programs - A new study at the University of California, Irvine, the University of Wisconsin Madison and Policy Studies Associates, Inc. finds that regular participation in high-quality afterschool programs is linked to significant gains in standardized test scores and work habits as well as reductions in behavior problems among disadvantaged students.

Art in Afterschool - A speech on the role arts play in afterschool programming. (12 pages)

Hand Sanitizer vs. Soap and Water - Handout on Cleaning, Sanitizing and Disinfecting

Calendar - This is a great way to inform parents about what activities you are doing while also informing them of the snack menu.

Spring Calendar - Another example of a Calendar.

Manners -

Project Runway - Learn about Color; Fashion Design; Fashion Relay; Paper Models; Ensemble Design, Fashion Show

Game Shows - Are you smarter than....;
Deal or No Deal; Family Fued; Who want's to be a Millionare; So you think you can dance?; The Price is Right;

Challenge to Survive - Team Flags; Survival Hunt; Shelter Building

K-12 School Enrichment/After School Programs Activity Sheets - This is a comprehensive list of activity ideas complete with supply lists and time requirements. Most of the activities are for Science and Nutrition.

Recipes for Clay - This is a file that Logan Parks and Rec submitted with many, many recipes for clay and other fun GOO!

FREE afterschool curriculum -

This curriculum is used to teach children across the U.S. about eating healthy, regular exercise, and eradicating tobacco use. Road of Life: Cancer Prevention for Kids offers a free and easy to use elementary health education curriculum geared towards 3rd-5th graders.

Multicultural Games - This is a packet of about 10 games from different cultures around the world provided by Logan Parks and Rec.

Parachute Activities - Over 20 activities and games that you can do with a Parachute, brought to you by Logan Parks and Rec.

Bingo Card Maker!! - Go to this site and custom make your own bingo cards to teach whatever you like!

Research on Evaluations - This publication summarizes key themes from the Exploring Quality Standards for Middle School After School Programs Summit, hosted by the Harvard Family Research Project and the National Institute for Out-of-School Time. This summit brought together after school staff, administrators, researchers, and funders to discuss how quality assessment looks and feels different for after school programs that serve middle school youth. (4 pages)

Inside SACERS - This Power Point to give inside information on how to improve your score on SACERS

Passive Games -

This is a file of about 100 games that Logan Parks and Rec has put together for staff to have ideas for quieter games that can be played inside. These are great for rainy days or surprise down time that might come up.

For Example: Zip Zap

It points to a person in the circle repeating the word “zip” or “zap” and counting to five. If they say “zip” the person must reply with the name of the person on his right, “zap” he must reply with the name on his left. If he is wrong then he goes into the centre of the circle.

Active Games -

This is a file that Logan Parks and Rec has put together for staff to have ideas for active games. Close to 200 games that are designed to employ gross motor skills.

For Example: Dracula

One player is chosen (secretly) by the leader to be Dracula. When the game starts, everyone starts to mingle with their eyes closed. (Make sure that there are people watching to make sure no one gets hurt.) Dracula keeps their eyes open. Dracula picks their victim, goes up to them and screams. This caught person, opens their eyes and becomes a Dracula as well. The game continues and the Dracula’s move around together. The game is over when all of the Draculas surround the last human.

Jump Rope Rhymes -

This list of Jump Rope Rhymes came from Logan Parks and Rec. This is a good idea for a whole club or just to teach your kids for free time.

Bus Games - Are field trips wearing you out? Do you find it difficult to grab the kids attention while going places. Here is a list of fun games to play on the bus. It will help with the noise level so you always have control. Thanks to Logan Parks and Rec. for submitting these games that work so well for them.

Modifieds Sports Games -

This is about 20 games that are variations of other sports provided by Logan Parks and Rec. These are great if your program is in a rut with a certain sport and you're looking to try and expand to other games.

For example: Forever Soccer
One fun way to play soccer is to add more balls to the action. (Again, we recommend nice soft sponge balls because they are so people-friendly). Three balls really increase the excitement, and if you use five, almost everyone scores a bunch of goals during the game. You’ll actually have people trying to keep track of the score, but unless the game is video taped, there is no way to accurately keep track.

Multicultural Games - This is a packet of about 10 games from different cultures around the world provided by Logan Parks and Rec.

Parachute Activities - Over 20 activities and games that you can do with a Parachute, brought to you by Logan Parks and Rec.

Parent Handbook Example - Parent Handbook sample from the Health and Safety Standards Guide for school-based extended day programs.

Staff Handbook Example - Staff handbook sample from the Health and Safety Standards Guide for school-based extended day programs.

Homework Ideas - An outline of ideas to make homework an afterschool program in the schools. (2 pages)

Attendance - An article outlining the blueprint on the future of afterschool programs. (5 pages)

Report on Involving Community - A report presenting ways school boards can promote student success and community engagement by supporting extended learning opportunities. (38 pages)

Host a Lights On Event - This link takes you to the online form to host a Lights On event. If you are already doing something for Light's On we highly recommend that you submit your program If you have more than one event then you can go to http://www.afterschoolalliance.org/lights_on/get_involved_pri.cfm If you have questions about the form or would like me to walk you through it please give me a call at 801-355-3087

Tips on Increasing Parental Involvement - This brief article highlighting the results of a recent national survey that gathered the opinions of 21st Century Community Learning Center coordinators and gives tips on how to increase parental involvement in afterschool program and community learning centers. (2 pages)

Parent Involvement Brochure - A brochure calling for parent involvement and to support of healthy food, quality physical education and hands-on nutrition education in their children's school, afterschool and summer programs. (2 pages)

Newsletter about Parent Involvement - A newsletter compiling articles about increasing parent involvement in afterschool programs including varied case studies, strategies and tools. (12 pages)

Newsletter - This is a great example of how to keep parents involved through a newsletter.

Why Hip Hop? - An essay on the importance of incorporating mainstream culture, such as hip hop, in urban afterschool programs. (8 pages)

CHEER - Peanut Butter Reeses Cup Stick with us we'll cheer you up
Bang Bang Choo Choo Train Come On __________ Do your Thing
(Child) I can't
(Everyone) Why NOT?
(Child) I can't
(Everyone) Why NOT?
(Child) Cuz my backs been achin my belts too tight My booties been shaking from the Left to the Right
(Everyone) To the Left To the Right To the Left To the Right
(Repeat whole cheer using different childrens names)

CHEER - Elevate your body (clap) Elevate your mind (clap) Get yourself together (clap) When I say three, do this with me. One, Two, Three, do this with me.

CHEER - (Staff) Hey, Afterschool Club?
(Children) YEAH?
(Staff) Hey Afterschool Club
(Children) YEAH?
(Staff) How do you feel?
(Children) We feel GOOD, oh we feel so GOOD, uh.

CHEER - Clap your Hands, Stomp your Feet, Afterschool Club Can't Be BEAT!

BEAVER SONG -

(Make sure to dry your teeth and push your upper lip up to form your Beaver face for this song!!)
Beaver 1 Beaver All Let's all do the Beaver Crawl (crawl with hands)
Beaver 2 Beaver 3 Let's all climb the beaver tree (climb tree with hands)
Beaver 4 Beaver 5 Let's all do the Beaver Jive (Saturday night fever point to ground then sky)
Beaver 6 Beaver 7 Let's all go to Beaver Heaven (Form hands as if in prayer and then sway back and forth)
Beaver 8 Beaver 9 (Yell) STOP! It's Beaver Time! (Do some rapper move that you know)

Fun Songs - This is a file with some more fun songs to sing in afterschool. Thanks to Logan Parks and Rec. for putting it together.

Transitions - Thanks to Salt Lake City School District for providing this doc of a ton of transition ideas!!!

Sample Schedules - These are several different ideas of how to split your schedule up

Daily Schedule Example - Here's another example of how to split up your day to fit everything in.

Role of Technology in Afterschool - This issue brief reviews the role of technology in OST programs, highlighting the evaluation methods and findings about implementation and youth outcomes. (8 pages)

Science - An article outlining the blueprint on the future of afterschool programs. (5 pages)

Solid, Liquid, Gas - One Idea that has worked very well to incorporate Science is to study dry ice. You can teach on the attributes of solid, liquid, gas and at the end you can let the kids help you make homemade rootbeer. Remember to have a separate bowl of water that they can blow on and see so they don't spill or ruin the rootbeer. I've used this on a Parent Night Day so we have our drinks ready for the Parents.

• The recipe for Rootbeer is:
• 5 gallons water
• 5 Lbs. Dry Ice
• 5 Lbs. Sugar
• With one container of Rootbeer flavoring found at any grocery store

Tree Pictures - See Tree Pictures and use the Tree Explanations to teach an activity about nature. This presentation was first given at Regional Recharge by Linda Ries, Conservation Education Coordinator, NFS Intermountain Region, US Forest Service.

Tree Picture Explanations - See Tree Pictures and use the Tree Explanations to teach an activity about nature. This presentation was first given at Regional Recharge by Linda Ries, Conservation Education Coordinator, NFS Intermountain Region, US Forest Service.

K-12 School Enrichment/After School Programs Activity Sheets - This is a comprehensive list of activity ideas complete with supply lists and time requirements. Most of the activities are for Science and Nutrition.

Snack on a Budget - A brochure addressing the challenge of feeding a family on a budget including ideas, resources, suggestions and tips. (2 pages)

Funding for Snack - Information on funding for snacks and other food programs

Cash Reimbursement for Snack - Step-by-Step guide to inform Extension Educators about After School SNACKS program so you can decide whether or not the program benefits out weigh the costs of seeking this funding.

Simplified Summer Food - Wondering how to get funding for food for your summer program? Go to www.utahafterschool.com/uploads/summerfoodprogram.pdf to read a power point about the new program or click the orange title link "Simplified Summer Food" to go directly to the website.

Start A Program -
This is a guide to Start a Program, made possible through support of the Utah Department of Workforce Services and Utah State University Extension 4-H. Additional copies are available by contacting the Utah Afterschool Network through the Contact Us page.

Sign IN/OUT Sheets - This example of a sign in/out sheet used in program that has to track what the children do through out the day. The children sign themselves in using the form and the leaders mark if they had snack, what club they did. This is a great way to track information all in one place to do reporting later.

Registration Form - This is an example of a registration form that can be used in programing.

Pilot Guide -

Be Safe -

Develop Meaningful Relationships -

Learn New Skills -

Administration -

Quality Tool Feedback Questionnaire -

Health and Safety Checklist -

Online Link to Complete Tool - Dear After School Colleague:

Thank you for participating in the statewide pilot of the Utah After School Network (UAN) Afterschool Program Quality Assessment and Improvement Tool (Quality Tool). This message is intended for the Program Coordinators responsible for implementing the quality tool assessment process at their site. Please forward accordingly.

All pilot results and feedback will be entered on-line through Survey Monkey. To access the Survey Monkey website, click on the link provided below. Information on the website includes: 1) The guide for facilitating the Quality Tool; and 2) instructions on how to input your assessment results on-line via Survey Monkey.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=FMcMzhJqxAfRqYPcvAypPw_3d_3d

Please cut and paste into your web browser if clicking on this link does not take you to the electronic tool.

The website is currently available and all electronic input must be completed by January 23, 2009. The first 40 sites to complete the entire electronic tool will receive a $50 gift certificate from Utah Idaho Supply.

Please note that all data being collected is confidential and will only be used for the purpose of tracking the information linked to your site. We will not share your mailing address or any other information outside of the standards pilot analysis team.

If you have any questions regarding the Quality Tool implementation process at your site please call Colleen Croudy (750-0306) or Ann Sasich (518-2528). For questions about utilizing Survey Monkey, contact Rachel Rudd at (801) 355-3087.