 Yosemite
& Coarsegold Districts 
School
News
September
24 ,2004
Coarsegold’s
Reading Lab addresses all students’ needs
The
Marble Champ inspires contest at Rivergold School
Coarsegold
Home School studying history of area and election process
Cougar
Club has after-school activities
Good
school attendance
Rivergold
technology
GATE
offers special technology class
Seventh
grade science class
Coarsegold
Union School District News
Coarsegold’s
Reading Lab addresses all students’ needs
Paraeducators
at Coarsegold School are shown working with students in the Reading
Lab. They are (front to back) Susan Tempesta, Sherri Dominici, Rachel
Boswell and Eileen Lapschies.
Reading
is the basis for all future school success. At Coarsegold School, a
new program has been implemented to address the needs of all readers,
whether they are struggling or need acceleration.
The Reading Lab is new program housed in a new building above the play
area. Karen Fruth coordinates activities in the lab along with four
specially trained paraeducators: Rachel Boswell, Sher-ri Dominici, Eileen
Lapschies and Susan Tempesta.
Students have been identified to receive additional assistance through
the Reading Lab and work with the paraeducators in small groups for
a half hour of targeted instruction.
Children will receive extra support for activities from the Reading
Language Arts curriculum as well as receiving pre-teaching of important
concepts to help them gain confidence and become more successful. A
new computer mini-lab will provide students with practice to reinforce
the skills they are gaining. This specific instruction to meet students'
needs in a supportive environment will help children to become more
proficient as readers, a spokesman said.
One of the benefits of this program is that it will not pull children
out of instruction, but will support all learners during a Universal
Access Time of one half hour per day in grades 1-5. The Reading Lab
will supplement activities in the classroom, not replace them.
This intervention will take place at a time when students are re-grouped
for Reading /Language Art instruction which targets their current proficiency.
Students reading at grade level will work with an instructor to reinforce
concepts being taught by their regular classroom teacher. Students reading
above grade level will receive accelerated instruction to meet their
need for a challenge. At the end of Universal Access Time, students
will return to their own classroom to continue instruction with their
regular teach-er.
Teachers are excited about the program since it supports the instruction
going on in their classrooms. Students are excited about the "newness"
of the Reading Lab with the new computer mini-lab, and especially the
caring instruction by a great staff, the spokes-man said.
For more information about Universal Access Time or the Reading Lab,
parents can contact their child's classroom teacher, or Fruth at 683-4842,
extension 247.
The
Marble Champ inspires contest at Rivergold School
TERRY
RICH
Pictured
are Rivergold marble champs (left to right) Matthew Thompson, Joe Steinmetz,
Robert Mascola and Riley Cooks.
At archeological sites around the world, spheres made of baked clay
and flint rocks have been discovered. The history of marbles can be
dated back to Ancient Egypt. It is also know that the Roman Empire used
them because of the literature that they left behind. Centuries after
this, marbles were made of stone and real marble.
It wasn’t until 1846 that a German glassblower started to create
marbles out of glass. Between 1940 and 1960 marbles became extremely
popular. Several types of games were invented. Today, the inventions
of video games and more interests in sports have made marbles lose their
appeal. Far fewer kids are outside or even inside playing the ancient
games.
At Rivergold Elementary the marbles were dusted and taken off the shelf.
The fifth grade class read a story called The Marble Champ by Garry
Soto. The Marble Champ is about a fifth grade girl who had won many
awards for academics and had never won an award for sports. She tried
to play sports but she wasn't blessed with any athletic abilities. She
then decided to try marbles. She was not very good at first, but after
squeezing an eraser a hundred times and doing push-ups on her fingertips
she strengthened her thumb to fling a marble with power. She ended up
winning a marble tournament in Fresno.
The inspiration of the story created a Rivergold Marble Tournament.
A total 69 fifth graders from Terry Rich's and Kay Emmert's class took
part in the tournament. Circles were drawn in the ground and five marbles
were placed in the middle. The first person to knock out three marbles
was the winner. In the two final games 15 marbles were placed in the
middle and the one who knocked out eight marbles was declared the winner.
Riley Cooks took fourth place and was the only girl to make it to the
final four. Riley had to beat four students in a row to make it to the
final four. She was beaten by Robert Mascola who took third place.
Two students beat five other students in a row and ended up playing
for the championship match. They were Joe Steinmetz and Matthew Thompson.
It was close to the end, but Matthew knocked out the eighth marble first
and was declared the Marble Champ. Joe took second place.
Coarsegold
Home School studying history of area and election process
The
Coarsegold Union School District Home School program is underway. A
local history elective class starts this month. The classes will cover
the early settlement of the local area.
Students will first be learning about Coarsegold and then taking a walking
tour of Coarsegold with Marjorie Jackson of the Willow Glen Museum.
They will then travel to the museum for a guided tour. The second class
will cover Oakhurst and students will take a field trip to the Fresno
Flats Historical Park.
Students will then learn about the early history of Mariposa and travel
to the Mariposa History Museum. A side trip to the California State
Gem and Mineral Museum is also planned. The final class will cover Raymond
with a local walking tour as well.
Following the local history classes, students will begin learning about
the election process through another class offering. Students will begin
by learning about the process of the elections including the selection
of candidates, the campaign process, and the Electoral College. The
students will then examine each candidate through research and finally
vote on the candidate of their choice.
Classes such as these, along with field trips, help to enhance the curriculum
taught at home and give the students opportunities to both learn and
socialize together.
Cougar
Club has after-school activities
The
Cougar Club, Coarsegold School’s after-school program, has activities
for kindergarten through eighth graders.
Rene’e Medley is the club’s director and she is assisted
by Jennifer Mearse.
During September, some of the activities for the students were marble
painting, letter sound bingo, citizenship day, reading stories, drama
and a scavenger hunt.
Plans for October include tree fall painting, plaster of paris leaf
print, crayon melt stained glass windows, addition bingo, creative writing,
a special guest, friendship stories, a movie with popcorn and a spooky
oak tree drawing and story.
There is also homework time.
The monthly calendar of events for Cougar Club is posted on the district’s
Web site: www.coarsegoldusd.com or for more information, call Rene’e
Medley at 683-2344.
Good
school attendance
“Good
school attendance is the first key to school success. We recognize good
attendance throughout the year at Coarsegold School with incentives
for classes and individual students,” says Principal Randy Haggard.
Each year the Coarsegold Kiwanis Club also presents Coarsegold School
with two bicycles for students with perfect attendance. For the 2003-04
school year the bicycles were won by McKay Glines (4th grade) and Jackson
Glines (7th grade). They are shown above with Principal Haggard. “All
students should be encouraged to make school attendance a priority to
ensure their continued school success,” Haggard says.
Rivergold
technology
This year Rivergold’s upper grade students are sharing their knowledge
of technology with primary students. JoAnne Steffke’s Technology
Research Class helps students with their research projects using the
Big Six model of educational research.
GATE
offers special technology class
The
GATE program at Coarsegold School is gearing up for another year. In
addition to the accelerated Reading/Language Arts activities in grades
1-5 during the Universal Access Time, GATE students will be participating
in activities which supplement the core curriculum in mathematics, science,
and history/social science. Kick-off the activities for students will
be a series of after school workshops in technology.
Jon Corippo, computer expert and sixth grade teacher, is offering a
series of after school PowerPoint workshops for students in second grade
through fourth grade. This course will expand students' presentation
skills while providing increased exposure to technology.
Workshops will be after school on Mondays. They started September 13
and will conclude on October 2. Classes run from 2:45-4 p.m. in room
403.
Seventh
grade science class
Holly
Fowler’s seventh grade science class found out that the California
State Standards can be fun. They researched and created different types
of cell models using many strange and unusual materials such as gelatin
dessert, potatoes, sour dough bread and bananas to name a few.
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