July 1, 2005

School Scenes

Shallenberger celebrates American heritage

Each year as it has for the past 11 years, Shallenberger Ele-mentary School celebrates our American heritage with a festival. This year was no exception.

Some of the students wave flags during the singing of “You’re a Grand Old Flag.”

The students gathered on the playground danced and sang songs before presenting their donated pennies to InnVision’s Georgia Travis Center and to Heifer International.

The outdoor assembly celebrates the various cultures making up the school and the city of San Jose and how these cultures meld together into a group of Americans.

The penny collection is a fifth grade project held and run by the students. The fifth graders collect, count and roll the pennies for the entire school. They are assigned to a particular classroom and once a month update the students in that class the monthly amount and a running total of pennies throughout the year.

Fifth-grade curriculum drives the Heritage Festival. All students are asked to attend two cultural activities about two other countries. The students determine what to attend on their own. This year the fifth graders danced the Watermelon Crawl, the Redneck Stomp, the Teton Mountain Stomp and the Achy Breaky. The entire school and its guests, sang “You’re a Grand Old Flag” and “God Bless the USA.”

Fammatre Elementary’s readers soar like high-flying birds

By Carol Rosen
Editor

It isn’t often you get to be in a room with sparrows, falcons, owls and even a Ruppell’s griffin, the highest flying bird in the world.

All these birds are quite special, but at Fammatre Elementary School they are even more special because the birds represent the school’s Accelerated Reader program—and they would be as numerous as the books they read, but the school couldn’t hold that many students.

At the back of the multi-purpose room is a large bulletin board, called the Magic Kingdom, that was created by a parent. On the board are a number of birds from sparrows to eagles and other raptors. Throughout the year, as each student reads a number of books, a bird is pinned on the board representing the number of books read.

In fact, the students were quite excited on a recent Thursday afternoon in June, because their efforts had earned them an assembly—with actual birds. Karen Hoyt from Skyhunters, an environmental education group, brought three beautiful birds to the assembly. She walked around among the students allowing them to get fairly close to a falcon, great horned owl and a hawk.

The students were exceptionally quiet in the darkened auditorium, ensuring that they wouldn’t scare the beautiful raptors.

Karen Hoyt poses with fifth-grader Carolyn Knight, who is quite a prolific reader.

Once the birds had been safely returned to their cages, awards were given to the exceptional readers. A special bird had to be found for Carolyn White, a fifth grader, who has read the most books and amassed the highest number of points. According to Fammatre Principal Midge Jambor, Carolyn has read thousands of books. According to the “Guinness Book of Records,” Ruppell’s Griffin is the highest-flying bird in the world. Carolyn’s griffin now soars high in the Magic Kingdom.

The next awards were presented to the top three readers from each grade. These students included second graders Emma Rocheville, Samantha Yoshino and Alexander Hall; third graders Nathaniel Enriquez, Roni Kohn and Alex Frank; fourth graders Alyssa Chung, Zachary Lovett and Austin Stannard; and fifth graders Christina Phan, Antoinette Diaz and Gwen Eden.

A special award was presented to Daniel Florez, who came to Fammatre from Guatemala in December speaking no English. In the short few months to June, Daniel amassed 152 points and significantly improved his English.

Karen Chung, a parent volunteer and Cambrian School District board member, coordinates the program. She finds the experience very satisfying and “it’s a real treat for the kids who read.”

Congratulations to all the students at Fammatre, may you continue to travel the Magic Kingdom through books.

Fourth grade Ribbon winners are, from left, Brian Sweeney-Exemplary for Scientific Method, Geary Anderson-Most Creative, Richard Robinson-Best Effort, and in the back, Brian Netzel-fourth grade science teacher.

Science-O-Rama joins Farnham’s open house

Open house at Farnham Elementary School this year had a new addition. A school wide science fair was added to the yearly tradition of inviting parents to visit their children’s classrooms and tour the Art Vista Show in the multi-purpose room.

All students in fourth and fifth grades completed an individual science project. Students in kindergarten through third grade worked as a class to complete their projects. Synopsis has supported Farnham’s efforts to make science learning an integral part of their elementary program by supplying the school with the Science-O-Rama promotion and display materials.

“This was the first all school Science-O-Rama we have had at Farnham and we want to make it a yearly event,” said fourth grade science teacher, Brian Netzel. “Having all the children’s art and science projects displayed made it a night to celebrate the learning achievements of all of our students.”