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Gen. George A. McCall Elementary

325 S 7th St, Philadelphia, PA

(215) 351-7350

Green Apple Day of Service

$1.00 - Any donation amount or help providing catering for our working volunteers

A local design firm, The Nelson Group, has stepped up with a very organized day of service. They are fronting all theplanning, implementation, and much of the fundraising. On Saturday, October 4, the team of engineers and designers will

be on hand to transform our school grounds with powerwashing, painting, playground repair, outdoor seating bench

building. This will be a community-wide event and our school is going to look amazing. A rendering is attached to give

you an idea of what it will look like, and all participating organizations will be displayed on our "Green Apple Thank You

Banner" that will hang in front of our school for weeks after this exciting transformation. More and more local

organizations are becoming involved in this day including staff from the 76ers Organization.

Play Works

$28,000 (but can be paid monthly at $2,800 and wed love to add even one more month than the few we have now)

Playworks is a program in which a dedicated coach organizes games and structured play during recess, teaches

complementary physical education classes, and coordinates intramural sports teams as extracurricular activities.Playworks has created an environment at McCall focused on healthy, respectful play rooted in fun not necessarily

competition. Students are more inclusive, excited for recess and have even come up with their own games. With

Playworks, we are coaches, kids, teachers, parents and supporters who believe in the power of play to make kids,

schools and communities stronger. Everyone plays, everyone belongs, everyone contributes to the game. Playworks

encourages kids to bring out the best in themselves and each other, and kids learn the value of fair play, compassion and

respect. McCall is given very limited funding for physical education in the PSD budget, and recess and lunch is overall less

monitored by adults simply because there is less staff. Principals often say that nearly all discipline-related problems in

school occur during lunch and recess. With the Playworks program, kids return to class energized and ready to learn

instead of upset and unable to focus. When recess becomes a healthy, integral part of the school day, kids carry that

positive experience with them beyond the playground.

Library

$68,000

Our Library consists of K-8 books on the shelves and computers for the students to receive healthy and monitored

instruction to technology. Last school year, the Library remained closed until November, the shelves and computers

covered in blue tarps. It was at that point in the school year that the Home and School Association run by parents raised

barely enough money from McCall families and donations from local businesses to re-hire our Librarian Mrs. Phillips. The

Kindergarteners (and all upper grades) first visited their school library in November last year, and we are unsure of

when and if we will reach that goal for Fall of 2014.

The roles that Mrs. Phillips fills for McCall:

Maintains the current books.

Repairs damaged books.

Logs in, checks, and covers all donated books.

Handles all book check outs.

Follows up on all books that needed to be returned.

Re-shelves all returned books.

Teaches the Dewey Decimal System, card catalogue searching, and online catalog searching.

Holds weekly lessons regarding current events.

Maintains a Chinese-written book section of the library.

Helps all children develop a love of books.

Suggests series for appropriate learners.

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Assists staff and students in research projects.

Provides research studies and websites for student work.

Runs our Reading Olympics Programs (where McCall placed 1st in 2013).

Supports our students to participate in the Spelling Bee (2013 our 8th grader came in 3rd place).

Coordinates with our Reading Stars Program.

Assists in our 100 Book Challenge Program.

Writes Grants (including the Pepsi & Cole Hamels Grant) for financial support.

Researches book donation programs to support our school.Lends a helping hand to all teachers and staff.

Was Scenery Lead for our Drama club performances.

Books

$11,250

Textbooks at McCall are out of date and too few for the number of students. We would love for our students to have the

experience of learning with materials that interest, stimulate, and meet their needs. This is a problem across the board of

the Philadelphia School District.

Subscription Needs $6,800

Our teachers choose pertinent scholastic subscriptions to our urban classrooms. This would provide children updated

publications on timely and focused subjects relevant to their lives and urban culture. Teachers believe these are strong

tools and purchase these every year themselves because of their value, and students and their families are requested to

reimburse this fee. Not all are able and this leaves a large deficit to our educators. From experience, one great benefit is

that these materials are engaging to both children and their parents and help build home learning relationships..

Printer/Toner Needs

$5,000

Printing updated teaching materials, curriculum, correspondence with parents (especially at a school with a diverse

population and languages).

Promethean Board Needs

$3,500

Washington Square West Association has pledged to purchase.

Computer Needs

$69,755

The HSA has funded $28,600 of this for Chromebooks, and University of the Arts made a recent very generous donation

of used Apple desktop computers.

Foreign Language Teacher

$110,000

This is at the bottom as to not prevent you from reading the rest of the list. The cost is exorbitant. The Mandarin language

program was a given at McCall for many years, and the percentage of Chinese students at our school made the program

a huge success for every student. It is no longer a marker for the school as it loses more and more every year. McCall

would be interested in discussing any partnership for an after school program as a starting place to reduce the cost or

Rosetta Stone as an alternative, but details on implementation would be a process.

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Donation, Sponsorship, and Internship Programs

We would also like for you to consider any role you can play in coordinating these types of programs through your

various Hospital and University Departments. I would be happy to serve as a contact with any Supervisor that would like

to participate in donating the following items, time, or intern programs to strengthen our school.

Computer Reuse ProgramDonating any used but usable Mac-based technology that can be put to use throughout the school. Some items that are

helpful: Chromebooks, Promethean projector bulbs, Batteries for Macbooks, Carts for chrome and Mac books. IT help:

could be on-site or remote, but if there are staff willing to donate just one hour of their time to help support the computer

needs of these students (in conjunction with Mr. Jacobs).

Office Supplies

Used, new, working, partially working; we will take it.

Student Classroom Volunteers

The lack of adult supervision, conversation, and modeling of proper behavior could be boosted by a reliable troop of

volunteers. Morning Schoolyard Buddies, Lunch Leaders, Recess Play Leaders, Reading Tutors, an Instructional Class on

Health Careers once a month. Even as little as 45 minutes before the bell rings at 8:30 could make a difference.

Playground/Landscaping Sponsor

Help beautify the students' surroundings and neighborhood.

All donations would be to the McCall Home & School Association which is a 501c3, and your donation tax deductible.