Learning to Write and Tell Stories

Thank you, Julia and all AEF members, for your generous support to our grade level and my class with all that you do for our students and our special community. In these tricky times, I am especially appreciative of the timely and very teacher-friendly grants you provided this 2024-’25 school year. AEF’s fundraising and grant writing allowed all three of our classes to experience Berkeley Rep’s award winning Storybuilders program where over a 10-week period an artist visited our classrooms to develop a play from scratch. It not only met often tricky art standards but exposed students to the importance of plot, character development, dialog, public speaking with expression, and new vocabulary through doing and purpose. The result is growth, exposure to the fine arts (new to most of our population), and immense pride by students and parents alike. In fact, they now want to put on a musical! Maybe next year…

Needless to say, none of this could have happened without the Alameda Education Foundation’s grants. On behalf of my wonderfully diverse and enthusiastic class and their families, we thank you! Your tireless work is inspiring and makes our community stronger. You all deserve the most restorative of summers!

Scott Hixon, Love Elementary School