After several years' hiatus, Seeds of Health Elementary is re-launching SCORES, a youth development program combining writing poetry with playing soccer. The program helps students explore various activities while developing well-rounded life skills. Participants in the program attend five days of afterschool programming each week: two writing workshops and three soccer sessions, each led by specially trained teachers. First Grade Teacher Shal Peterson has worked with the SCORES program for over twenty years, collaborating with staff from other cities to write the poetry and service learning curricula the program uses nationally for grades 3-5, and creating and writing a new Junior SEL-based program for 1st through 2nd graders.
SCORES focuses on developing well-rounded youth who are confident in their writing and public speaking skills, interested in community engagement, and physically active through soccer practices and games. The fall programming starts by emphasizing basic ELA skills such as similes, alliteration, rhyme, and onomatopoeia, and then transitions into writing poetry using the skills they learn. The first half of SCORES culminates with a slam poetry event in which every student performs their original poem on stage before their peers. Spring programming is dedicated to service-learning, with students working in groups to design their own community service projects. The student "changemakers" start by identifying strengths and weaknesses within the community before designing and executing a plan to make change.
Through SCORES, students develop their voices through writing workshops that connect reading and writing to real-life experiences and service-learning. Students build teamwork, confidence, and skills they can carry into their classroom and community.