Committee Members:
Shawn Andersen
Pam Anderson
Cynthia Clay
Dominic Gomez
Shelly Gossard
Darren Gray
Sheila Gray
Julie Johnson
Cynthia Kerns
Ana Beltran
Peggy Schiller
Mark Oliver
M3 Sweatt
Diane Tomhave
John Chambers
Karen Voorhees
Linda Zeis

Special Recognition For Gifts of Time and Talent
Paulette Eickman, Layout for Invitation
Jillian's Billiards, Seattle Party for 20 for New Parent Social
Rebecca Lefferts, Photographer
Josh Rawlings, Performer
Hope Oliver, Graphic Design

Event Administration:
Dawn Oliver, Director of Development
Devon Kelly, Auction Chair
Rebecca Ortega, Auction Chair
Ann Simons, Procurement Chair
Charlene Souriano, Alumni Association President
Shelly Gillmann, Art Projects Coordinator
Hope Oliver, Creative Director, Logo Creator, PowerPoint Presentation,
Display Model, and Back Up Singer
Cameron Randall and Steve, Head Cashiers
Leigh Anderson, Cashier

Our Event Staff and Volunteers
Sarah Swihart
Tom Miller
Michelle Madrigal
Vignesh Raghunath
Alaina Dyrness
Christie Johnson
Kenya Fredie
The Umpqua Bank Team:
McKenzie Chambers
John Chambers
George Wang
Alex Allamano
Ashley Fagan
Jeff Leslie
Stacey Krynsley

Student Art Project Production
Our Art Teacher for his gift of time and talent: Paul Conrad
Our After School Arts/Crafts/Photography Teachers: Tim Smith and Dave Foerstel
Artist Creative Design/Layout: Shelly Gillmann

Special Recognition to our Alumni Association Parents and Students
Peter and Michelle Kline
Evan Kline
Dawn and Mark Oliver
Blue Lazarou
Mia Lazarou
Charlene Souriano and Greg Eisen
Marc Simon and Jacqui Cohen
Syndney Simon
Sharon Silverstone and Jim Burnett
Rachel Burnett
Jodi Jessen
Duncan Elloway

To RSVP, please click here, or go to our auction website here!

Audition Information
Our fundraiser, a talent show, gala & auction on March 23, 2012, brings together our neighbors, and Morningside friends and families, for a fun event to raise money for our school and its programs. We'd love to have you attend and participate! Do you have musical talent? If you live or work in the local area or are affiliated with Morningside, please audition for the show.

Save the Date - Celebrate Morningside Gala Dinner/Auction
Friday March 23, 2012 to be held at "415 Westlake," a distinctive northwest venue for music, receptions, corporate and cultural events, 415 Westlake provides a fresh canvas for our special event.

Getting Donations/Procurement
Interested in helping us get donations for the big event in 2012? Here's what you'll need: (Forms in .PDF format)

• 2012 Letter to Sponsor Donor
• 2012 Sponsorship form
• 2012 Comments from parents and alumni about Morningside Academy
• 2012 Auction Fact Sheet
• 2012 Procurement Form (This form can be filled out and printed, or saved and transmitted electronically)

Talent Search
Interested in helping us find talent for our Talent Gala?
Do you have talent? Here is what you need:

• Talent Search Flyer
• SLU Talent Gala Audition
• Talent Search Poster

Would you like to buy tickets?
Would you like to view the Catalogue?
Here's our link to the full Auction Website.

Three day pre-convention seminar on the Morningside Model of Generative Instruction!

(Registration for this seminar is now closed.)

You will learn how behavior analysis guides direct instruction, fluency building, real-world applications, and educational decision making from placement in curriculum to moment-to-moment interventions that lead to long-lasting academic growth.

The seminar includes workshops, hands-on practice with our students in our classrooms, and guidance in how to bridge and extend this model to your own needs.

Dr. Kent Johnson, Kris Melroe, Jenni Reilly, and Dr. Joanne Robbins will lead the workshops and coach you when you practice in our classrooms.

Hotel accommodations can be arranged at the Holiday Inn - Seattle
(211 Dexter Ave North - 206-728-8123)
2 blocks from Morningside Academy and in the shadow of the Space Needle:
Single or Double occupancy for $99. Make reservations online with the group code MSM or call the hotel. These rates are available for check-in on Monday, May 21st, check-out by noon on Friday, May 25th. Please call the hotel directly at 206-694-0073 about rates for additional dates.

Please visit our website to register. The non-refundable fee for this seminar is $600 for all three days.

Questions? Email Kris Melroe or phone her at 206-709-9500

Date: Wednesday September 28, 2011
Time: 2:00 PM EDT

What does it mean to understand what one reads? How can instruction be designed to systematically teach the skills, strategies, and knowledge necessary for reading comprehension? In this presentation, we will examine two repertoires related to reading comprehension:

The intellectual skills and strategies necessary to comprehend text

Vocabulary knowledge

You will hear from Chad High, Principal, Cole Elementary School in Tennessee who will share his success story on boosting student literacy with effective reading comprehension. We'll then discuss how these can serve as a foundation for designing effective strategy-based instruction for four major types of comprehension--factual or literal, inferential, main idea, and derived meaning--as well as word meanings. Dr. Robbins and Dr. Leon are also presenters.

Sign up here!

We're holding a fundraising talent show/auction on March 23, 2012, to bring together our neighbors and friends of the academy in a fun event to raise money for our school and its programs. We'd love to have you attend and participate! Do you have musical talent? If you live or work in the local area or are affiliated with Morningside, please compete.

For more information, please visit our annual gala page

http://westseattleblog.com/2011/08/west-seattles-restita-dejesus-now-in-masters-hall-of-fame

Boosting Literacy with Effective Reading Comprehension
Wednesday, June 15, 3 p.m. EDT
Also available "on demand" any time 24 hours after the event.

Teaching students how to comprehend text remains a challenge in our nation's school systems. Many of the efforts directed toward teaching reading comprehension focus on providing practice at answering questions, while neglecting to teach learners how to reliably answer those questions. In this presentation, we will describe a program that systematically teaches the fundamental strategies for reading success: inferential comprehension, literal comprehension, main idea comprehension, and derived meaning comprehension. These fundamental strategies comprise the core of reading comprehension as it is assessed in standardized tests. More importantly, they provide learners with flexible tools that can be used to comprehend any text regardless of subject matter or reading level.

All Education Week webinars are archived and accessible "on demand" for up to six months after the original live-streaming date.

Doubletree Arctic Club Hotel
Northern Lights Dome Room

Here's your invitation to join us on Friday, March 25th, 2011 at 6:00-10:30 PM for for Seventh Annual Gala Dinner and Auction! Come join us at the legendary Northern Lights Dome Room at the Doubletree Arctic Club Hotel for an evening of food, entertainment, and fundraising to benefit Morningside Academy and the programs we offer our students.

Invitation to Celebrate Morningside 2011

The award was presented at the South Lake Union Chamber of Commerce Awards Breakfast held at the Pan Pacific Hotel. Dr. Kent Johnson accepted the award and was accompanied to the breakfast by Dr. Joanne Robbins, Principal/Associate Director and Dawn Oliver, Director of Development and Chamber Liaison.

The award is prominently displayed in the school's lobby.

Arctic Club Hotel
Northern Lights Dome Room

Enter the room that made the Arctic Club legendary and witness the breathtaking, filtered, natural light and original carved motifs. With two walls of stained glass showcasing exceptional beauty, this is the space for which you've been looking. The Northern Lights Dome Room is renowned for its Rococo gilding, original artistic frescos, ornamental cornices and stained glass dome.

Getting Donations

Interested in helping us get donations for the big event in 2011? Here's what you'll need:

(Forms in .PDF format)

• 2011 Letter to Repeat Sponsor-Donor
• 2011 Sponsorship Form
• 2011 Comments from parents and alumni about Morningside Academy
• 2010 Auction Fact Sheet
• 2011 Display Ads Form
• 2011 Procurement Form (This form can be filled out and printed, or saved and transmitted electronically)
• Letter to Potential Donors and Sponsors for 2011 Invitation to Celebrate Morningside 2011

Dear Parents, Guardians, Family Members and Friends,

This year's event marked the celebration of thirty years of this school's success in changing lives. The event incorporated all the magic of the ambience of the Dome Room at the Arctic Club Hotel with some new surprises selected especially for this evening. We found ourselves enthralled by the antics of auctioneer, John Curley, and his cohort, Jim Dever, King 5. We were thrilled to honor our administration and teachers for their service while being entertained by our very own parent, Ernie Bracco, and his jazz trio.

The team worked extremely hard in a "down time" to have an "upscale" experience. The results reflect this team effort. We raised $100,000 for our school and its scholarship fund. Alumni participated in an open microphone opportunity to give kudos for their experience here, and the surprise video produced by Evan Kline, videographer and alumni student, helped to boost our fund-a-need paddle raise.

John Curley made the evening lively and entertaining. Many of us moved downstairs to the hotel bar for an after party and all of us were aware of the powerful evening we had just shared. The success of the fundraising as well as the glorious evening of great food and wonderful company made all of us feel that the tireless hours of dedicated work on the part of the auction committee volunteers had been worth the effort.

Please read through this list of sponsors and donors and volunteers. Thank them, if you see them, and plan to join us next year on March 25 for our next Gala, and join us at our recognition party in May at Kent's house.

We love our school and are forever grateful for the changes it has made in the lives of the children it educates.

Thanks again,
Dawn Oliver
Director of Development

Special recognition of our 2010 Sponsors and Donors

The Wing Institute gave its 2009 Ernie Wing Award for Excellence in Evidence-based Education to two organizations and their founders in recognition of their work in developing, implementing, and sustaining a "data-based decision making organization and culture" designed to provide state-of-the-art educational services. The awards were given to:

Ken Traupmann Ph.D., Suzanne Fitch Ph.D., and The Institute for Effective Education
Kent Johnson Ph.D and Morningside Academy

The Institute for Effective Education is a world-class educational program, achieving unparalleled outcomes with student performance, staff development, and applied research. They have demonstrated that all students can learn, and that an educational culture can be built that is reinforcing, learner-centered, data based, and inclusive. They have continually exhibited a commitment to the community and dissemination of best practices through partnering with public schools, universities, and other community agencies. Their positive impact on student lives and their community has been dramatic.

Morningside Academy has an equally long list of achievements. They have gained international recognition for their work in researching, developing and implementing state-of-the-art reading curriculums: direct instruction and precision teaching. They have formal partnerships with schools and agencies throughout the United States, Canada, and South Africa, working in over 100 sites to implement instructional programs in reading, reasoning, math, writing, thinking, and study skills. The programs they operate in Seattle (Morningside Academy) produce extraordinary results for their students.

As much as this award recognizes the excellence of the Institute for Effective Education and Morningside Academy, it also highlights the sustainability of their efforts, outcomes and success over the past 25 years. "What is truly extraordinary is the length of time they both have maintained the highest levels of quality services, ethical standards, and community partnership," noted Randy Keyworth, Executive Director of the Wing Institute. "Their commitment to performance based outcomes, continuous improvement, and the advancement of the science of effective education has built a culture whose success will continue well into the future. They are truly a unique and exceptional organizations!"

The Ernie Wing Award, given annually by the Wing Institute, was named after Ernie Wing, an educator and special education advocate who championed the cause of evidence-based education in California. The award honors excellence in one or more of the critical areas necessary to build an evidence-based culture: efficacy research, effectiveness research, implementation, and progress monitoring. Nominations are accepted from the Wing Institute's knowledge network, an inter-disciplinary group of education stakeholders from across the nation.

The Wing Institute is a non-profit foundation dedicated to promoting evidence-based education. Its goal is to be a "catalyst" supporting individuals and organizations engaged in evidence-based education across disciplines, geographic regions, and in "real world settings. It offers professional forums, an information clearinghouse, research, publications and a knowledge network.

Arctic Club Hotel
Northern Lights Dome Room

Enter the room that made the Arctic Club legendary and witness the breathtaking, filtered, natural light and original carved motifs. With two walls of stained glass showcasing exceptional beauty, this is the space for which you've been looking. The Northern Lights Dome Room is renowned for its Rococo gilding, original artistic frescos, ornamental cornices and stained glass dome.

Getting Donations

Interested in helping us get donations for the big event in 2020? Here's what you'll need:

(Forms in .PDF format)

• 2010 Letter for the potential sponsor
• 2010 Sponsorship Form
• 2010 Display Ads Form
• 2010 Comments from parents and alumni about Morningside Academy

• 2010 Procurement Form (This form can be filled out and printed, or saved and transmitted electronically)