RCEF General Music Education Program

Countless studies have proven the value of music instruction in developing critical thinking skills and improving achievement in other subjects, such as math, as well as giving students the opportunity to develop their musical gifts during critical childhood years.

This program ensures that trained music educators reach 4,000 second through fifth grade students each year. The curriculum for each grade is based on the state’s Visual and Performing Arts Framework for California Public Schools.

The RCEF General Music program also prepares students for the district's instrumental program for sixth to eight graders and for opportunities such as the Peninsula Youth Orchestra.

This program is offered in partnership with Music for Minors and receives partial support from the Redwood City Civic Cultural Commission.

In 2010/11, the RCEF is contributing $157,000, or around $40 per student, for this program.

Instrumental Music Program

The RCEF is funding one of three teachers providing instrumental music instruction for sixth through eighth graders in 2010/11. To learn more, please visit our Music page.

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1,000 Redwood City fifth graders spend an action-filled week at Jones Gulch, near La Honda, exploring the natural environment and developing skills in science, mathematics, and language arts when they participate in the Outdoor Education program.

The RCEF helps to fund a coordinator who schedules all the fifth grade classrooms in the district and ensures that teachers and campers are ready for hands-on learning in the great outdoors. We also provide teacher stipends and pay for transportation.

We are grateful to the Tim Griffith Memorial Foundation for helping to support this program.

In 2010/11, the RCEF is contributing $8,000. The total program cost is around $60,000.

Well-nourished, physically fit children are ready and able to learn and achieve. From 2005 to 2008, The RCEF helped fund a Wellness Coordinator to work with all our schools to provide standards-based nutrition education and physical activity so all our students could do their best at school and at home.

This unique program was funded by the RCEF through an innovative partnership with Sequoia Hospital/Catholic Healthcare West and Kaiser Permanente.

In 2009/10, the RCEF is funded the rollout of the FitFun Guide, developed by members of the District Wellness Committee and the Wellness Coordinator. This guide gives kindergarten through 5th grade teachers an easy-to-use cookbook of physical activities to keep their students active and fit. This is especially critical for schools where parent organizations are unable to provide their own PE programs, as the district currently does not have the capacity to support PE for the lower grades.

Kaiser Permanente and Mills Peninsula Health Services are partnering with us for this stage of the FitFun Guide implementation, which includes teacher training and supplies. The cost of the program is $20,000.

We are also partnering this year with Serve the Peninsula to incorporate the FitFun Guide into a physical activity program being offered at Fair Oaks, Garfield, Hawes, Roosevelt and Taft.

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The RCEF, in partnership with Oracle and the Westly Foundation, provided $100,000 in grants in 2008/09 to bring innovation into the classroom in the areas of math, science, technology, and the arts. Information on 2010/11 SMART grants will be available in early 2011.

For more information about this program, visit our SMART grant page.

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In 2009, the RCEF funded for the first time a Summer Math Institute to prepare selected middle school students to study Algebra 1. Students who take Algebra I by eighth or ninth grade are far more likely to take calculus in high school and pursue higher education than those who do not. At the Institute, students developed mastery in fundamental concepts, improved study skills, and increased confidence in the area of mathematics.

With major program support from the Silicon Valley Community Foundation and support from Oracle, the RCEF was able to provide $43,000. The total cost of the program was $70,000.

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