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Educational programs make an impact
The program- a partnership between the county's Office of Education and local businesses- is part of a nationwide program to recognize kindergarten through 12th-grade teachers for developing novel curriculum. The teachers receive as much as $500 for an individual program or up to $750 for collaborative ones. John Tarkany, coordinator of student competition for the Ventura County Office of Education, said instead of being daunted or overwhelmed by having to meet state academic standards, the teachers rose to the challenge and developed creative programs.
Many of the Camarillo teachers have integrated several subjects in hands-on projects. The following is a brief summary of their award-winning programs. Rancho Rosal Elementary School The third grade students of Kathleen Spane, Brynn Stotko and Donna Togueri are learning a variety of concepts in Community Building Unit, a two-month long program they developed. Working in two-person teams, the students design and build a city out of milk cartons. They map out city blocks and plan the services their community needs. The students interview workers in the buildings they will construct; for instance, when building city hall, they may interview a city councilmember or the mayor. Students learn about local history, government structure, the features of the physical environment and the importance of paying taxes to provide public services, Spane said. "It really creates a bridge between the academic standards and real-world expectations." said Spane, an eightyear teaching veteran. When the project is completed, each student gives their partner a life-skill award based on one of 14 character traits. In explaining to their classmates why their partner deserves the award, the student demonstrates mastery not only of the academic standards the project supports but a rich understanding of the attributes we are trying to instill, Spane said. "It's very powerful; it's a really neat experience for the kids," Spane said. Camarillo Heights Elementary School Geography, math and other subjects have new meaning in Debbie Moore's second and third grade class. In Pinky Phone Home!, Moore's second graders mailed in November a small stuffed animal named Pinky to friends and family across the United States, asking each recipient to mail back a postcard when Pinky arrived. They also asked each person to take Pinky somewhere representative of their state and record her adventures in an enclosed scrapbook. When the class receives a postcard, Moore said the students are excited. They research the state in the atlas and write about the geographical features they discover. Moore said the project sharpens math and language skills because students learn challenging new words and compute the mileage Pinky has traveled. As of last Friday, Pinky has trekked to 13 states, visiting New York's Times Square, fishing off the Florida coast and taking a Navy helicopter ride in Virginia, Moore said. Moore's class is in competition with a third-grade class at Brookside Elementary School in Oak Park for the number of states their toys visit by May 23. When Pinky returns to Camarillo, Moore said they'll celebrate the homecoming with parents. Moore's third-grade students participate in a similar project. For Where in the World is Mini Me, students paste a photo of themselves onto a small wooden disk they call mini-me. They also list information about California in a scrapbook and mail it and the disk to friends and relatives across the country. As with the other project, each recipient is asked to mail back a postcard to the student when the disk arrives, and take mini-me to a site or event in their state, record the adventure in the scrapbook and mail it and the disk to the next person on the accompanying list. "I can't believe the great facts and fun things they are telling these kids," Moore said. "It's great; this is one of the best projects we have ever done. . . . We always learn something wonderful." The minime disks are starting to trickle back to the classroom. So far, they've visited a statue of Abraham Lincoln in Illinois, Nebraska's Corn Palace, a Hawaiian volcano and coffee farm and the Alamo in Texas, Moore said. Also at Camarillo Heights, first-grade teacher Karen Allen won the Impact II award for her ScrumDiddly Umptious program, which blends cooking with curriculum. After Allen reads "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" to her students and they watch the 1971 movie based on the book, they get busy in the classroom's small kitchen. The students experience math, science and chemistry in action as they measure ingredients, melt chocolate in the microwave and bake goodies in the small oven, Allen said. The project not only encourages reading but students learn practical skills, such as chopping fruit, under Allen's close supervision. "I just feel children need to learn these practical life skills," said Allen, a teacher for more than 30 years. "It's fun." La Mariposa Elementary School La Mariposa second-graders are exploring self-discovery through their ancestry in a program developed by teachers Jeanette Hunting, Shannon Casanova, Christine Rudolph, Stacey Quiles, Gail Brockett and Christina Kyriacou. In Time Traveling Through Family Heritage, students create a look-alike poster and note milestones they've reached in their lives or trace their roots by sketching a family tree. The students build a milkcarton village populated with clothespin dolls that represent each one's heritage- some are dressed as Mayflower pilgrims, others as though from a Mexican village. Kyriacou said they develop oral language skills by interviewing family members, sharpen reading skills from reading history books and critical thinking in discussing what life was like for their ancestors, "It's so fun," said Kyriacou. "We want them to learn about our similarities and differences and develop not only tolerance . . . but celebrate our differences as well as our similarities." Adolfo Camarillo High School While studying art and advertising in Terry Arena's visual arts class, students are also learning to make healthy choices. In the program Arena developed, Super Size My Asparagus, ninth through12thgrade students study the psychological use of color in marketing campaigns and six common advertising techniques. They then design a campaign poster that encourages a healthy lifestyle or discourages unhealthy choices, incorporating what they learned. Their posters are displayed throughout the campus. The students also watch "Super Size Me," a film that bashes a popular fast food restaurant, and then discuss the food pyramid and how to read food labels. "They become more aware of what it is they're eating and how active they are," Arena said. "In all honesty, it just creates a more pleasant atmosphere in the classroom." |
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