Hub Schools

FMCI embraces the Hub Schools approach with a focus on alignment across programs and organizational partners. The Hub approach strives for educational success and the physical, social and emotional well-being of students, families and the community. This is achieved through intentional partnerships with a range of community stakeholders designed to provide opportunities, optimize assets, and address the identified needs of the students, family and community in an equitable and culturally responsive way. The Santee Community Center and Educare are key resources within this broader strategy that allow for integration of programming across early education, elementary school and the broader community. Together, needs are addressed comprehensively. Whenever possible, opportunities and services are embedded in the fabric of daily school life and the landscape of the community.

Key Programming

Bridge to Kinder
This two-week summer program for incoming students with no prior early education experience completed its eighth year in 2019. Test data and observations from teachers demonstrate that students that participate in the program cope very successfully with their first year of education. FMCI staff have also noted that parents of these students become much more engaged in school activities and remain involved throughout the years. Teachers have documented that over 86% of students who participated in Bridge to Kinder clearly improved in their ability to sit for circle time reading, self-regulate, such as raise their hand to ask for permission to use the restroom, to know their names and recognize the letters in their name. In addition, teachers report this program as making a significant difference on the first day of school, like eliminating the crying that is usually experienced.

Educare Family Resource Center
FIRST 5’s vision for the Family Resource Center Initiative is that families in Santa Clara County have the skills and capacity to promote their children’s development, ensure their children are ready for school, build strong family relationships, and create a connected community.
FIRST 5 has established Family Resource Centers (FRCs) throughout Santa Clara County that increase access to services and provide opportunities for parents/caregivers to become more engaged in their children’s healthy development, school readiness, and other collaborative efforts to improve their lives and the communities in which they live.

To learn more visit: http://www.first5kids.org/parent-resources/educare

Raising a Reader – Baby and Me and Summer Book Bags and Learning Packets
Raising a Reader, a national organization with evidence-based programming, has a mission to engage caregivers in a routine of book sharing with their children from birth through age eight to foster healthy brain development, healthy relationships, a love of reading, and the literacy skills critical for school success. FMCI partners with FIRST 5 Santa Clara County to offer two programs:

1) Baby and Me, a 10-week program for parents and children age 0-18 months that is offered 4 times per year.

2) With the Summer Book Bags and Learning Packets program, each week children bring home a bright red book bag filled with award-winning books. Children are encouraged to share a book with a loved one each day. Every week each child brings home a different bag of books so that, on average, more than 100 high quality books are rotated through the children’s homes over the course of a typical rotation cycle.

San Jose Jazz Progressions
This program is all about changing lives by helping low-income, at-risk youth identify, cultivate and celebrate their gifts through music education and performance. Using music to connect with these students, Progressions challenges them with a rigorous music education program, and helps them build a pro-social community. The program’s mission is to help keep participants in school, out of gangs, and on the road to becoming better students and contributing citizens. With Santee Elementary as the flagship site, Progressions has served more than 1,000 students at four schools in the Santee neighborhood of the Franklin-McKinley School District since it was launched in 2011.

Service Learning
FMCI facilitates San Jose State and Santa Clara University students to conduct tutoring and mentoring (15-25 per semester). University students are screened, fingerprinted, and trained to support students during the school day and after-school programs, including enrichment activities designed by the college students.

Summer Literacy Camp
Since 2015 FMCI provides a 4 week summer program for 40 rising 5th and 6th grade Santee students, including field trips. Students falling behind in literacy have the opportunity to learn over the summer, engage with others, and have access to academic excursions that are exciting and challenging. Teachers work strategically with the summer program staff for training, sharing and the alignment of curriculum.

Summer Reading Book Bags
In order to address summer reading loss, FMCI provides the necessary reading and practice tools to students for the summer. Books bags contain a combination of a reading log, books, and a grade appropriate summer packet.