Our district community at work...
Korematsu Jumps for Joy!
Korematsu Elementary took advantage of the extra Leap Year Day, Wednesday, Feb. 29, by holding two assemblies to kick off its ten-day Jump Rope for Heart Fundraiser for the American Heart Association. Packets with more information about the fundraiser were sent home at the end of February.
Principal Mary Ponce is especially excited by the enthusiastic support coming from the North Davis Elementary Jump Rope Club.
The school is looking for a donated CD player with speakers that can project onto the playground for recess practice and playtime. If you can help, please email teacher coordinator Cathy Bucher.
Beyond Clifford – Tails for Tales at MME
In partnership with the Yolo County Library, Marguerite Montgomery Elementary is offering the “Tails for Tales” program on the first and second Saturdays of each month from 10:30 a.m. to 12 noon at the MME school library. Begun in September 2011, the program allows students to practice reading aloud to trained therapy dogs, whose non-judgmental, calm, patient demeanor can put even the most reluctant reader at ease. Teacher/librarian Nora Brazil notes, “Sometimes students just want to sit with the dogs.”
Participants sign up for 15-minute sessions; advance appointments cannot be taken. Interested students and families should come to the Montgomery branch on the first and second Saturdays of each month to sign up and participate. The library is open from 10-2 on Saturdays.
“We feel very fortunate to have been chosen for the start of this program,” says Brazil. It has now expanded to West Sacramento. Fliers on “Tails for Tales” are available at the Yolo County Library on 14th Street, or contact either Nora Brazil, or Librarian Peggy Rollins.
Independent…and Very, Very Busy
As most people know, Davis School for Independent Study students benefit from personal weekly meetings with their supervising teacher, but the opportunities go far beyond that.
Secondary students may take math, biology, art, leadership, yearbook, writing, and computer classes on campus. Elementary students have opportunities to attend a variety of enrichment workshops and field trips throughout the week. Junior high and high school students may also take up to three classes at their neighborhood schools while remaining full-time at DSIS.
Said Principal Kim Wallace, “The district is in the beginning stages of launching online learning as an option, and we’re excited that students may have hybrid independent study courses available as early as next fall.”
DSIS continues to offer options that allow students to enroll in multiple subjects, while providing flexibility to also pursue outside interests. “Currently, we have a professional video gamer, two students preparing for future Olympics, several students involved in Davis musical theater and the arts, and students working in the community,” Wallace proudly reports. “We welcome visitors, so feel free to stop by our school office at 526 B Street if you’d like to learn more.”
February Celebration of “Lift Every Voice”
Reminding us that every voice counts, the 2011-12 Oral Language Competition engaged students across the district. Teacher/coordinator Nikki Smith, who first originated this competition locally at the former Valley Oak Elementary School, encouraged students to focus on people “whose voices made a difference, speaking up for what is right.”
Original speeches, poetry, prose readings, and choral performances took place during February, Black History Month. While the Fair honors the oratory achievements of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Smith noted that at the heart of the event is Dr. King’s desire to see all people living in harmony and treated equitably and fairly.
“He wanted all people to actively work toward this goal,” Smith said. “Every year, this competition provides an excellent opportunity for students to experience success and recognition beyond the realm of academics. It also serves to remind us that when many voices join together, they can send a powerful message that can change the world.”
Throughout the district, teachers coached and supported student participants, helping them learn their pieces and providing time and room for practice. Source material was wide-ranging, from the library to song lyrics to parents’ oral histories. The students were judged by a panel of district and community members and had the opportunity to perform their pieces several times.
“One can never tell which school experience will motivate a child to excel in the future,” said Smith. “As a child, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. participated in similar events and went on to become one of the most important and influential people in history.”
Willett Students Help Kids Read in Kenya
“Cooperation” was January’s character word of the month at Robert E. Willett Elementary School. Intermediate students at Willett took that character trait to heart when, in cooperation with the local Sunset Rotary Group of Davis and a Kenyan organization called FOTO (Friends of the Old), they supplied grandparents with reading glasses.
In their efforts to improve education in the Lower Nyakach region, FOTO found that many of the students had been orphaned by AIDS, and were being raised by their grandparents. Aging eyes are less forgiving of the fine print in donated newspapers, the primary reading material available, and grandparents couldn’t help their grandchildren learn to read. At the cost of $2 per pair, FOTO has been able to supply reading glasses to these devoted village elders, thus improving the literacy of the youth.
Several Willett students made cookies on consecutive weekends, which they sold on their street corners, earning as much as $42 in a single weekend. Others solicited their neighbors, trading chores such as mowing lawns, raking leaves, and sweeping for donations to the project. Two students who run their own “dog walking” business donated substantial funds from their holiday work. Many students cooperated with their families, offering to do dishes for the month of January, in return for a family contribution.
Working together, the Willett students far surpassed the $500 goal, and earned over $1,000, supplying the Lower Nyakach grandparents with more than 500 pairs of reading glasses! Principal Heidi Perry proudly announced that this is not the end of the cooperative relationship, however.
“When Willett students learned that old newspapers were the primary source of reading material for young and old alike, they asked Davis Sunset Rotary to help them supply appropriate reading materials to the Lower Nyakach schools. FOTO and Rotary are currently working together to figure out how to ship the expensive books Willett students want to donate!” she said. Additionally, it is the hope of many Willett students that they will soon be able to share more than money and books, when they write to their new-found Kenyan pen pals.
