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Menchaca Early Childhood Center

CONNECTING WITH THE COMMUNITY TO ENGAGE STUDENTS

Menchaca Early Childhood Center has been immensely supported by over 298 supporters
worldwide through the DonorsChoose platform! MECC has had 26 staff members post projects
which were fully funded for a total amount of $21,708! Supporters like Kleenex ®, Google, Craig
Newmark Philanthropies, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Kaplan Early Learning Company,
3M, PNC Foundation, and more recognize to be innovative we at times have unique requests
that go beyond the traditional school budget and limited vendors.
By using a platform like DonorsChoose, Menchaca staff have only supplemented the engage-
ment each and every child experiences. Counselor Dr. Melanie Morgan shared with donors,
“Not only have I been able to bring some of our stories to life, but I have also been able to use the
puppets to perform social stories with students I individually counsel.”
Dual language kinder teacher, Mrs. Nancy Urbina proclaimed, “My students were absolutely
excited to know that we were receiving these science materials!” DonorsChoose connects the
public with public schools and have a mission to make it easy for anyone to help a teacher in
need to move us closer to a nation where students in every community have the tools and ex-
periences they need for a great education! Several of our Menchaca staff posted projects when
the pandemic hit to ensure students had learning materials to use at home. Teachers like Mrs.
Dawn Vontur posted a project for playdough, journals, writing paper, crayons, pencils, glue, and
Puppet Theatre purchased with funds.member.
scissors so her students could continue learning at home with ease. Mrs. Vontur shared, “My
students and their families will have an easier time working at home and in the classroom this year because of your generosity.”

AN INNOVATIVE YEAR FOR MENCHACA’S YOUNG CARDINALS

If you could reimagine school would you? mastery by using additional time to pro-
Well that is exactly what the folks at Men- vide support for students who are behind
chaca Early Childhood Center are hard while creating greater, deeper, and more
at work doing for the 2021-2022 school enriching learning opportunities for all
year. The Texas Education Agency select- students. Assistant Principal, Mrs. Blanca
ed 12 schools statewide after a rigorous Cisneros, shared, “It’s about re-imagining
application process. Menchaca principal, the teaching job to use additional time to
Mrs. Rebecca Herrera, stated “We have no enable our teachers to collaborate, more
time to waste. We need to maximize stu- deeply understand competencies, and
dent learning and reimagine what school have more breaks throughout the day to
can look like!” The program is called The enable them to better engage with stu-
Additional Days School Year (ADSY) op- dents.” Menchaca was selected for the Full
portunity, but the title can be misleading. Year Redesign where they will revamp
It isn’t about merely adding more days. It their school calendar, change daily sched-
is about strengthening and focusing on the ules to decrease instruction time daily to
whole child by using additional time to de- include student brain breaks, and create
velop social emotional skills, build stron- more experiential opportunities such as
ger relationships between students, and field trips and project-based learning. As
teachers. Its about having more opportu- Principal Herrera is known for, “At Men-
nities for free play and brain breaks. It also chaca we go big or we go bigger!”
allows for staff to deepen engagement and

Menchaca students play in Stemnasium.

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