GREENWOOD SCHOOL CENTENNIAL PROJECT

GREENWOOD SCHOOL CENTENNIAL PROJECT

2. Connections
How does the project connect with our theme of people, history, and place?
How does the project interact with the community?
How does the project connect with other NCRCN members/ sites?
How does the project invite student planning/student choice?

As community and school work together on this event new energy will be available to revitalize both.

This project will allow children to create more intimate connections with the past. Very young children, grades K-3, have a beginning sense of chronological time. This project will enable them to make distinctions between different eras as they begin to have concrete images to draw upon.

DATA COLLECTION

Students will:

use reading, writing, listening and speaking to develop strong communication skills

take notes or draw pictures in conjunction with interviews to capture and reflect what they've learned and heard

read and collate information from questionnaires

use mathematics and art in graphic displays of data

visit different sites in town to learn about change over time

visit one or more local museums and write and draw as they collect data, look at

evidence, draw conclusions and make connections

use interviews as source material for creative writing

involve their parents in the discussion of the school's history

work on long term history projects involving individual community members.

continue the "Elk Poems" that Kate Dougherty and the school children did years ago.

learn and perform songs and dances from different historical decades

Throughout the research, there will be opportunities for reflective thinking. There will be discussions and some writing and collecting of group reflecting and questioning.

EVALUATION

4. Support
What kind of support would you like from the coordinator/TSA?
What kinds of funds will you need for the project? Please supply a general budget.(staff development, release time for planning, transportation, materials..)
What other sources might provide additional funding for the project?

Budget $650

$200 (2 sub days) to visit museums, do historical research and general organization

$100 sub time for Judy Minkus, (teacher at MGS, former Greenwood school teacher, Elk resident, docent at visitor's center) to assist with historical research

$100 mailings-several during the year-can probably use school or local inn's bulk permit

$250 photographic and other supplies, seed money for commemorative and cookbook.

(Additional funds will come from community organizations or individual donors.)

Back to Project List

GREENWOOD SCHOOL CENTENNIAL PROJECT

Applicant and/or teacher sponsor:
Jane Corey
Student Groups /Teachers/ Community Members/Partnerships:
Greenwood School, Greenwood Civic Club, Visitor Center, Greenwood Community Center
Number of students affected:
13 currently enrolled Greenwood School students
30+ alumni students in our district from fourth to twelfth grade
Length of project:
One year with the final weekend celebration September 26, 27 1998

The project will be part of a local history study with a focus on Greenwood School's history in particular. Students will interview alumni from representative decades and work with partner organizations in the community to put together an exhibit and possible multimedia presentation in honor of the school's centennial. Students will perform songs and dances at the centennial event as well as work with community groups to assemble a commemorative pamphlet and make a local cookbook. The school will coordinate with community groups in planning the more social aspect of an alumni reunion. This project will represent a collaboration between school and community in recognition of an important event in the town's history.

2. Connections
How does the project connect with our theme of people, history, and place?
How does the project interact with the community?
How does the project connect with other NCRCN members/ sites?
How does the project invite student planning/student choice?

Many community members are alumni or parents of alumni of Greenwood School. Many are involved in one or several of the targeted organizations. Elk has a strong sense of community and people are delighted and excited about the school's birthday celebration. New ideas and information continue to be generated as locals visit school and students interview them. Student's visits to historical sites and museums offer additional opportunities for school community interactions. Adults in the community are eager to connect with children and help be their teachers. Contact with kids infuses energy into the lives of elders.

There will no doubt be alumni at the other NCRCN districts who may want to be involved in the planning as well as coming for the big day. This project will be shared with other NCRCN sites via the web and at future network collaboration days. Other sites will be invited to visit the exhibit close to the time of the centennial. The centennial display can move out of the Elk community, after an appropriate exhibition time, and be on display in Mendocino to afford more people the opportunity to learn about Greenwood school and its history.

This project will help the entire school district to feel more involved with the small schools. Elk and Comptche are often "forgotten" when people think about the elementary school. This project will be a highly visible reminder of the vibrancy and sense of community that the small schools bring to the larger district. For current alumni enrolled in the district this project will provide a link between their past and present school experience.

As community and school work together on this event new energy will be available to revitalize both.

3. Student Learning
How will the project improve student learning?
How will you evaluate or assess what students have learned? What kind of data will you collect? Action Research question?
How will you evaluate or assess the community impact?
How will students share their project and learning with others at their own site, other sites or within the community?
How will students be involved in the evaluation of the project?
Will your project have a service learning component? If so please describe.

This project will allow children to create more intimate connections with the past. Very young children, grades K-3, have a beginning sense of chronological time. This project will enable them to make distinctions between different eras as they begin to have concrete images to draw upon.

An ongoing project based on a high interest topic that includes discussion at home, in town and school generates spontaneous extensions. Students and families will have opportunities to make choices in projects and interviews they want to take on. As collective memories and myths are stirred there's bound to be a mushroom effect.

Children benefit from presenting their work to the larger community. They become credible and responsible and rise to the occasion. Children will learn to think about audience. Without losing the spontaneous child's voice, work will be refined and clarified so that work presented to the public effectively communicates students' findings. Work for public display will contain more revisions and condensations than is usual for primary grade work.

Students will compare schoolwork from the past with the current curriculum and reflect on the differences. Included may be, reading, writing, math, the arts and sciences and social studies. We will ask questions that involve higher level thinking We will reflect on why some things have changed greatly, others less so. ie. Why universal education? What was deemed important 50 years ago? Now? Why? Were girls and boys treated differently then? Are they now? What surprises you about what you are learning? What did you expect? What surprised you? Children will practice appropriate behavior with guests including polite interviewing techniques and learning to show visitors our classroom and
share our work.

DATA COLLECTION

Students will:

use reading, writing, listening and speaking to develop strong communication skills

take notes or draw pictures in conjunction with interviews to capture and reflect what they've learned and heard

read and collate information from questionnaires

use mathematics and art in graphic displays of data

visit different sites in town to learn about change over time

visit one or more local museums and write and draw as they collect data, look at

evidence, draw conclusions and make connections

use interviews as source material for creative writing

involve their parents in the discussion of the school's history

work on long term history projects involving individual community members.

continue the "Elk Poems" that Kate Dougherty and the school children did years ago.

learn and perform songs and dances from different historical decades

Throughout the research, there will be opportunities for reflective thinking. There will be discussions and some writing and collecting of group reflecting and questioning.

EVALUATION

Each child's work will increase in complexity of thought and expression as s/he becomes a more skilled writer and listener. Multiple and varied experiences will provide a basis for comparison and the child will begin to have an inner picture about the history of our school that is colored with real stories. Dates on student work will enable academic progression to be assessed.

4. Support
What kind of support would you like from the coordinator/TSA?
What kinds of funds will you need for the project? Please supply a general budget.(staff development, release time for planning, transportation, materials..)
What other sources might provide additional funding for the project?

The coordinator/TSA will help make relevant links to other NCRCN sites as well as help with research in Ukiah and Willits. The coordinator will provide a link to the larger educational community as Elk is somewhat isolated from the main educational community of the district. The coordinator will be a companion for brainstorming tactics, PR, problem solving with production-exhibit-pamphlet-cookbook.

Budget $650

$200 (2 sub days) to visit museums, do historical research and general organization

$100 sub time for Judy Minkus, (teacher at MGS, former Greenwood school teacher, Elk resident, docent at visitor's center) to assist with historical research

$100 mailings-several during the year-can probably use school or local inn's bulk permit

$250 photographic and other supplies, seed money for commemorative and cookbook.

(Additional funds will come from community organizations or individual donors.)

Back to Project List

Back to Project List

GREENWOOD SCHOOL CENTENNIAL PROJECT

Applicant and/or teacher sponsor:
Jane Corey
Student Groups /Teachers/ Community Members/Partnerships:
Greenwood School, Greenwood Civic Club, Visitor Center, Greenwood Community Center
Number of students affected:
13 currently enrolled Greenwood School students
30+ alumni students in our district from fourth to twelfth grade
Length of project:
One year with the final weekend celebration September 26, 27 1998

The project will be part of a local history study with a focus on Greenwood School's history in particular. Students will interview alumni from representative decades and work with partner organizations in the community to put together an exhibit and possible multimedia presentation in honor of the school's centennial. Students will perform songs and dances at the centennial event as well as work with community groups to assemble a commemorative pamphlet and make a local cookbook. The school will coordinate with community groups in planning the more social aspect of an alumni reunion. This project will represent a collaboration between school and community in recognition of an important event in the town's history.

2. Connections
How does the project connect with our theme of people, history, and place?
How does the project interact with the community?
How does the project connect with other NCRCN members/ sites?
How does the project invite student planning/student choice?

Many community members are alumni or parents of alumni of Greenwood School. Many are involved in one or several of the targeted organizations. Elk has a strong sense of community and people are delighted and excited about the school's birthday celebration. New ideas and information continue to be generated as locals visit school and students interview them. Student's visits to historical sites and museums offer additional opportunities for school community interactions. Adults in the community are eager to connect with children and help be their teachers. Contact with kids infuses energy into the lives of elders.

There will no doubt be alumni at the other NCRCN districts who may want to be involved in the planning as well as coming for the big day. This project will be shared with other NCRCN sites via the web and at future network collaboration days. Other sites will be invited to visit the exhibit close to the time of the centennial. The centennial display can move out of the Elk community, after an appropriate exhibition time, and be on display in Mendocino to afford more people the opportunity to learn about Greenwood school and its history.

This project will help the entire school district to feel more involved with the small schools. Elk and Comptche are often "forgotten" when people think about the elementary school. This project will be a highly visible reminder of the vibrancy and sense of community that the small schools bring to the larger district. For current alumni enrolled in the district this project will provide a link between their past and present school experience.

As community and school work together on this event new energy will be available to revitalize both.

3. Student Learning
How will the project improve student learning?
How will you evaluate or assess what students have learned? What kind of data will you collect? Action Research question?
How will you evaluate or assess the community impact?
How will students share their project and learning with others at their own site, other sites or within the community?
How will students be involved in the evaluation of the project?
Will your project have a service learning component? If so please describe.

This project will allow children to create more intimate connections with the past. Very young children, grades K-3, have a beginning sense of chronological time. This project will enable them to make distinctions between different eras as they begin to have concrete images to draw upon.

An ongoing project based on a high interest topic that includes discussion at home, in town and school generates spontaneous extensions. Students and families will have opportunities to make choices in projects and interviews they want to take on. As collective memories and myths are stirred there's bound to be a mushroom effect.

Children benefit from presenting their work to the larger community. They become credible and responsible and rise to the occasion. Children will learn to think about audience. Without losing the spontaneous child's voice, work will be refined and clarified so that work presented to the public effectively communicates students' findings. Work for public display will contain more revisions and condensations than is usual for primary grade work.

Students will compare schoolwork from the past with the current curriculum and reflect on the differences. Included may be, reading, writing, math, the arts and sciences and social studies. We will ask questions that involve higher level thinking We will reflect on why some things have changed greatly, others less so. ie. Why universal education? What was deemed important 50 years ago? Now? Why? Were girls and boys treated differently then? Are they now? What surprises you about what you are learning? What did you expect? What surprised you? Children will practice appropriate behavior with guests including polite interviewing techniques and learning to show visitors our classroom and
share our work.

DATA COLLECTION

Students will:

use reading, writing, listening and speaking to develop strong communication skills

take notes or draw pictures in conjunction with interviews to capture and reflect what they've learned and heard

read and collate information from questionnaires

use mathematics and art in graphic displays of data

visit different sites in town to learn about change over time

visit one or more local museums and write and draw as they collect data, look at

evidence, draw conclusions and make connections

use interviews as source material for creative writing

involve their parents in the discussion of the school's history

work on long term history projects involving individual community members.

continue the "Elk Poems" that Kate Dougherty and the school children did years ago.

learn and perform songs and dances from different historical decades

Throughout the research, there will be opportunities for reflective thinking. There will be discussions and some writing and collecting of group reflecting and questioning.

EVALUATION

Each child's work will increase in complexity of thought and expression as s/he becomes a more skilled writer and listener. Multiple and varied experiences will provide a basis for comparison and the child will begin to have an inner picture about the history of our school that is colored with real stories. Dates on student work will enable academic progression to be assessed.

4. Support
What kind of support would you like from the coordinator/TSA?
What kinds of funds will you need for the project? Please supply a general budget.(staff development, release time for planning, transportation, materials..)
What other sources might provide additional funding for the project?

The coordinator/TSA will help make relevant links to other NCRCN sites as well as help with research in Ukiah and Willits. The coordinator will provide a link to the larger educational community as Elk is somewhat isolated from the main educational community of the district. The coordinator will be a companion for brainstorming tactics, PR, problem solving with production-exhibit-pamphlet-cookbook.

Budget $650

$200 (2 sub days) to visit museums, do historical research and general organization

$100 sub time for Judy Minkus, (teacher at MGS, former Greenwood school teacher, Elk resident, docent at visitor's center) to assist with historical research

$100 mailings-several during the year-can probably use school or local inn's bulk permit

$250 photographic and other supplies, seed money for commemorative and cookbook.

(Additional funds will come from community organizations or individual donors.)