Two things happened to sixth-grader Noelia Medina that have
never happened to her before – she was serenaded with
”
Happy Birthday
”
by her classmates and for the first time she talked about going
to college.
Two things happened to sixth-grader Noelia Medina that have never happened to her before – she was serenaded with “Happy Birthday” by her classmates and for the first time she talked about going to college.
See, for students who have a summertime birthday, the classroom celebrations that cause their peers to wear their favorite outfit to school are left amiss in the “too bad” category of life. If it wasn’t for the jump-start “university program” at P.A. Walsh Elementary – named for its focus on educating children early about college – Medina might have never spent Aug. 5 at school.
Her smile spread even broader when “college” was mentioned.
“It’s the first time I’ve ever talked about it. Now, I’m thinking, I want to go. It’s fun to think about it,” Medina said.
The new model could find its way into other Morgan Hill Unified School District schools, but will start with a test try this year at Walsh. The five-day program from Aug. 2 to Aug. 6 served 165 students in grades first through sixth who are just below grade-level proficiency. Students became accustomed to the classroom they will stay in through the school year – though fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders dedicated the time to learning the new rotating schedule. Students will move classes every two hours, three times a day and teachers will focus on either language arts, science or math, while intertwining nonfiction and reading intervention into each subject.
Principal Natalie Gioco and her staff, which in 2009 doubled in population when it combined with the now-closed Burnett Elementary, have been talking “university program” since last spring.
“We’ve been building a lot of momentum,” Gioco said. They had a week of preparation with staff, meetings with parents to coordinate and “find out what the community was ready for,” she said.
Walsh enters the 2010-2011 in safe harbor, a term coined by the California Department of Education, because the school moved out of Program Improvement due to its better scores on the annual standardized state test. Gioco and Walsh want to move completely out of Program Improvement and approached the challenge aggressively. University students will get stay an extra hour four days a week with their teacher to work on trouble areas and teachers will have more collaboration time to assess students’ progress more often.
Science enthusiast and Walsh teacher Sara Koepnick thought the extra five days got the hiccups out of the way for her new batch of fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade students. It gives Koepnick what she wants: More time to focus on science.
“I’m really excited about it. The children are a little easier to manage this way. I’ve noticed they’ve done better already,” she said. For the week, students also received free breakfast, a snack and lunch thanks to a partnership with the Mount Madonna YMCA; “to eliminate any speed bumps,” Gioco said.
“They have jumped right in. I’m excited for the new year, the new way,” Koepnick said.
In-between spoonfuls of cereal at break Aug. 4, sixth-grader Magdelena Pinon was certain she was already more astute.
“It’s nice because they explain it really well,” Pinon said. “And usually the first day I wake up really late … I’m getting used to early.”
Medina nodded. “I feel smarter. I’m doing better in math. Oh, and reading.”
Plus, the girls got to go back-to-school shopping two weeks earlier this year.
“That was really cool,” Medina said.
More minutes, more time to improve
P.A. Walsh Elementary “university” students – pupils just below grade-level proficiency – will get an extra push this school year with Walsh’s jump-start program.
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Five extra days of school
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60 additional minutes a day of class time
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10 minutes a day for one-on-one conferences
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100 additional minutes a week for science
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30 extra minutes of science for kindergarten students
