Love Denair Scheduled for April 29

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It’s that time of year again and we are looking for your help! Come show some community spirit and help with our Love Denair clean up project. The event will take place, rain or shine, on April 29, 2017, at 9:00 am.  We will meet on Sante Fe Avenue, at the Amtrak Staition. Bring gloves, rakes, and cordless weed eaters, if you have them. Let’s clean up to make our town beautiful! We will also have two large dumpsters located at Connecting Points Church on Waring and Monte Vista, where you can do some spring cleaning of your own! Dumpsters will be available on Saturday morning starting at 9:00 am. Please remember they cannot accept the certain items, like toxic chemicals, paint, oils, weed killers, tires and such. A big thank you goes out to Turlock Scavenger for their wonderful donation again this year!

Our main project this year was to team up with our amazing Lions Club to purchase a couple items to make Denair a little more inviting. A bench for outside of our Library, and a picnic table in the grassy triangle across from Library as well, to enjoy some shade. And yes, the WiFi reaches there!

Thanks in advance for stepping up and making this happen!

Denair City Wide Yard Sale May 6

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Looking for a great way to get rid of your household clutter and make some extra cash at the same time? Join your Denair neighbors on Saturday, May 6, 2017, and have a garage sale! It’s a great way to recycle all of those items around your house that are collecting dust, but may have along life ahead of them, for someone else.

Grandma’s Treasures is sponsoring the city-wide yard sale. You can contact Grandma’s Treasures to get put on the map for the event.

Innovative Assessment Program Approved for All Denair Unified Students

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Submitted by Denair Unified School District

Denair Unified School District trustees Thursday night enthusiastically approved the introduction of a sweeping assessment program for all grade levels that will provide greater clarity about students’ strengths and weaknesses.

Trustees heard a presentation by principals Kara Principal of Denair Charter Academy, Kelly Beard of Denair Middle School and Brian LaFountain of Denair Charter Academy in support of a program called Measures of Academic Progress, or MAP.

MAP measures student growth over time in English, math and science via computerized achievement assessments. Backman said MAP assessments provide detailed, actionable data about where each child is on his or her unique learning path.

“It allows teachers to identify areas of deficiency and proficiency and accelerate learning through both of those areas. It identifies where students are ready to learn,” she said.

Backman said MAP assessments differ from other data sources to inform instruction by being nationally normed, by tracking student progress throughout a year and across school years, and by being linked to software tools that can assist teachers and administrators in planning instruction.

“The whole idea is to provide real-time data that allows us to make course corrections now, not in May when state tests scores are released,” Superintendent Aaron Rosander said. “Our teachers need this data. We’re trying to better understand our students so we can better target our instruction.”

The tests are available in English and Spanish. LaFountain said the exams are adaptive – meaning they get harder as students provide more correct answers and slightly easier for those struggling. Teachers can follow the results in real time. Students at all grade levels will take the tests three times a year.

Color-coded reports are generated that can be shared between teachers, parents, administrators and students. Continue reading “Innovative Assessment Program Approved for All Denair Unified Students” »

DHS’s 2016 Grad Rate Continues to Exceed State and County Averages

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Submitted by Denair High School

Denair High School long has been a leader among all Stanislaus County campuses when it comes to graduating its students. That trend continued with the Class of 2016.

Denair compiled a 97.1% graduation rate – 66 of its 68 seniors earned a diploma last spring. That compares with an 83.8% rate among all schools in Stanislaus County and 83.2% in California.

In the past seven years, graduation rates at Denair High have been as high as 100% (2010-11) and never lower than 93.7% (2013-14). By comparison, Stanislaus has fluctuated between 74.9% and 84.6% while  the state was as low as 74.7% as recently as 2010-11.

“Student graduation rates reflect the dedication of our community and schools to the education and success of our students,” said Aaron Rosander, superintendent of the Denair Unified School District. “We are proud as well of our teachers and staff who continue to raise the academic rigor that best prepares today’s students for their challenges that await them in college and their professional careers.”

Many of Denair’s graduates attended public and private universities in California, while others have been accepted at prestigious colleges out of state.

College attendance is emphasized and encouraged at all grade levels, there are college application workshops, presentations from schools from the UC and CSU systems, and Denair High School’s counselor works with students and their families on enrollment, grant and scholarship applications.

“Going to college improves students’ job opportunities,” said Cherie Gresham, the counselor and college advisor at Denair. Continue reading “DHS’s 2016 Grad Rate Continues to Exceed State and County Averages” »

Denair Lion Easter Egg Hunt

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Submitted by Denair Lions Club
It’s time for the Denair Lions Club Annual Easter Egg Hunt! This tradition has been put on by the Lions for over 25 years. Almost 3000 eggs are boiled, colored then hidden in the grassy fields of Denair Elementary Charter Academy on Lester Road. The event is open to all children ages 10 and under and is free. There are five designated egg hunting areas, divided by age. Parents may only aid their child in the two lower age groups. There are major prize eggs for each group, which are either gold or silver, and regular colored eggs that are marked for smaller prizes such as candy fruity’s. It take the Lions Club about ten hours to prepare for this event, but from start to finish, only about fifteen minutes for the kids to hunt and find all the eggs.  According to event chairman Lion Glenn Deorksen, “It is the funnest event that we do all year for the community.”  This event continues to grow not only in popularity but in the number of children who attend.  It is estimated between 350-400 kids will show up this year!  The event starts at 8:50 am this Saturday.  Don’t be late, and be sure to bring your baskets!