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2005 Southern San Joaquin
Valley (Kings, Tulare, and Kern Counties)
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| ELEMENTARY |
The Wacky and Wise Weather Watchers of E1
In January and February of the school year, the time
where the weather conditions in the Valley vary the
most, an interdisciplinary unit on weather and writing
will be used to inspire and encourage a first-grade
class of English language learners. As English language
learners, it is difficult for them as they work to not
only learn to speak a new language, but also write complete
sentences. By relating their work to the weather and
incorporating graphs, pictures, art, music, and literature,
the students will be able to bring the words of a new
language to life.
Nikki Escobar
Bear Mountain Elementary School |
Doin' the Math-Magic! Takin' the Groan out of Math
The currently-used state-adopted math curriculum for
third-grade is extremely difficult for English language
learners at Buttonwillow Union Elementary School. In
order to invigorate the math program and make it exciting
for students, materials such as Hot Dots Self-Correcting
Facts Cards, Unifix Cubes, Flash Cards, and an array
of unique learning tools will be purchased as the students
learn the math concepts of the multiplication table,
division, fractions, decimals, polygons, and geometry.
Louise Cooper
Buttonwillow Union Elementary School |
Shake, Rattle, and Roll
The program is entitled "Shake, Rattle, and Roll"
because students with Scotopic Sensitivity/Irlen Syndrome
(SSS) describe printed words on the page as shaking,
blurry, disappearing, and/or moving around. Because
of distortions on the printed page, reading becomes
difficult and slow, comprehension is reduced, and reading
is uncomfortable and tiring. It is estimated that SSS
affects 46% of those with reading, learning, or attention
problems and therefore many students are frustrated
and struggling due to an unidentified medical condition.
This project is aimed at training teachers to identify
and work with students with such a condition to improve
their reading and learning success.
Lois Lee
Frazier Park School |
Music with the Mind in Mind
It is a well-documented fact that music, when encouraged
on a regular basis in children, results in higher math
and spatial reasoning skills. The Music with the Mind
in Mind is an after school program designed to expose
and educate children to music at an early age. Cultural
music, as well as recognized classics, will be taught
with both voice and musical instruments. Subjects taught
in language arts, social science, and history areas
will be reinforced through song.
Kristi Blatner
Golden Oak Elementary School |
Access for All
The belief that all students, including those with disabilities,
should have the opportunity to participate in general
education classes fuels the Access for All program.
While this blending of learners is a positive atmosphere
for students, it creates a challenge for teachers. Access
for All involves acquiring six 6-person listening centers
that will help teachers differentiate instruction. The
listening centers, which will be available for teachers
to check out, will expose students who are fragile readers
and the visually impaired students to the grade level
language arts curriculum, and enable them to feel confident
participating in literature discussions with their grade
level peers.
Elizabeth Harlan
Oak Grove Elementary School |
Planting the Seeds
The Planting the Seeds program aims to provide an outlet
for creating a sense of school and community pride in
a school where a major portion of the students do not
have many experiences outside of their school or home.
The after school program began as a tutorial program
at a mobile home park twice a week, but as it grew,
the program needed more space. Consequently, it was
moved to the school and provided buses home afterward.
During this school term, the students in grades one
through six will be building and maintaining a school
garden, with teachers incorporating the activity into
their curriculum.
Robin Jones
PW Engvall Elementary School |
Catching Success
With a diminishing budget, teachers are becoming more
resourceful as they work to create engaging and imaginative
lesson plans for their students. With the Catching Success
program, the students will read the Time for Kids weekly
magazine that includes a variety of articles on current
events, science, and social studies that follow national
curriculum standards. Students will also read additional
books to aid in their decoding, comprehension, and critical
thinking skills. Another element of the program will
be to use picture writing, a dynamic art and literature
based approach to writing developed to help them learn
the components of literature, language, writing, and
art styles.
Elena Roth
Washington Elementary School |
| JUNIOR HIGH/MIDDLE SCHOOL |
Literature Arts Club
The Literature Arts Club will be an after school program
to encourage students to read literature written about
situations they can relate to culturally. The school's
population is largely Mexican-American, African-American,
and Filipino-American, and therefore the literature
would be chosen to reflect the diversity of the area.
Students will read and discuss the books, and create
an artistic piece demonstrating what they retained from
the book or how they could relate it to their own life.
At the end of the year, students will also present a
piece of their favorite story through drama, poetry,
or another creative outlet to immediate administration
and parents. It is the hope of the Club to also be able
to invite one of the authors to speak at the school.
Joann Cramer, Lucia Alvarado
Almond Tree Middle School |
College...I Can Do That!
Initiated in the school year of 2003-2004, the College
Club has been taking middle school students on day trips
to college campuses. Approximately 40% of the school's
student population comes from farm labor families, and
the idea of college is often not considered as part
of their future plans. School discretionary funding
has dwindled over the years however, and the school
is seeking funding to continue the College Club and
take their students to visit campuses such as the University
of Southern California, Cal-Poly San Luis Obispo, and
the University of California, Los Angeles to enhance
college intent.
Raylene Graham
Edison Middle School |
| SENIOR HIGH |
LAB (Live Action Biology)
The Live Action Biology project is a creative way of
being able to bring biology to life on a limited budget.
With only one microscope available in the science lab,
it is challenging for all the students to be able to
use and see up close what the microscope can reveal.
By purchasing a tool called a Digital Blue, students
are able to diversify their experiments and projects
to include taking photos of specimens, making time lapse
movies, and creating digital project portfolios of their
experiments and discoveries. Using this technology will
allow the students to not only see their work at the
moment in time, but keep a record and track their progress
in a digital and image-based way.
Gerald Sherman
Hanford West High School |
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