Focus on TUSD - March 2007

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Kindergarten Open House Week
In a kindergarten classroom at Wheeler Elementary School, a preschooler carefully colored in six spots on her paper ladybug's wing. It had to be six, she explained, because that was the number in the ladybug poem she had just learned.

Aaliyah Fountain wasn't a kindergarten student, but she was finding out what it would be like to be in kindergarten next fall. Her mother, Danica, had brought her to the school for TUSD's annual kindergarten promotion. Together, the pair explored the school that will soon become Aaliyah's new world.

Aaliyah sat at a child-sized table with Danna Celaya's kindergarten students, absorbing ladybug tidbits. She listened to Celaya read Eric Carle's "The Grouchy Ladybug," and learned science facts about the red-and-black insect.

"We tried hard to get ladybugs," Celaya said. "We called all over but we couldn't find any. It's a bit too early for them to be out. In another week, they'll be out. It was really close."

So Aaliyah bent over her paper ladybug, hoping hers would look like the real thing. She finished coloring, counted the spots she'd made and looked up.

"Oops, I made seven spots on this wing," she said.
That didn't bother her, though. "It's OK," she observed. "Now I have 13 spots instead of 12." And she went on to glue the ladybug's head and pipe cleaner antennae in place.

Celaya helped students finish the project, saying she liked her smaller class size this year. "Eighteen is wonderful," she said. "What a difference it makes. I can spend more time with interventions and enrichments for students when I need to."

While Aaliyah worked, her mother met with parents of other prospective kindergarteners, learning about the school's policies from Principal Stacie Emert, Health Assistant Gracie Skaggs, Attendance Clerk Marie Wickhorst and PTA President Stacy Skamson.

Crystal Corlew, whose daughter, Jordan, will join Aaliyah in school next fall, said she had attended Wheeler and wanted her child to go there. "I really, really love the school," Corlew said. "It's in a good neighborhood and some of the same teachers are still here from when I went. Jordan will like it. I have no doubt she will have a good education here."

Mothers collected their children after the session. Aaliyah showed off her paper ladybug, explaining that she'd meant to draw only 12 spots instead of 13. The pink flowers on her skirt swirled as she walked down the hall beside her mother. A "Hello, Kitty" pink T-shirt and matching headband completed her outfit. She'd picked out the clothes herself that morning, her mother explained.

The pair stopped to talk to Emert on the way out. "I wish I had written down my questions before I came," Fountain said. "I need to know everything about everything. I'm a detail person." She asked when the PTA met because she wanted to join.

Emert answered her questions and then handed her a business card, newsletter and lunch menu. "You can e-mail as often as you want," she said. "You can come and have her experience lunch before she starts school if you want."
Fountain said school staff members were very nice, helpful and friendly. As she left the school hand-in-hand with her mother, Aaliya said, "I had so much fun at school today."

-- By Sharon Dunham
Communications & Media Relations

TUSD - Proud Supporter of Small Classes

Unless otherwise noted, all photos in the March issue by Jes Ruvalcaba of Communications & Media Relations.

The deadline to submit material for the April Focus is Friday, April 6. The Focus will be published Friday, April 13. Email submissions to Chyrl Hill Lander or Sharon Dunham in the Communications & Media Relations Department or use the Focus Online Submission Form.