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Building an Intellectual Community
Adapted from a Letter from Principal Cathy Howard, Barron Park Buzz, September 26, 2003
The first six weeks of each school year sets a tone that supports critical thinking and analysis by asking questions, posing problems, and seeking to answer and solve them together.
In classrooms this week, I have observed teachers reading books aloud and asking second and third graders to reflect on the issues raised in the book. I have watched first graders and fourth graders tackling math problems that required them to consider various strategies, solve the problem, and explain or show how they solved it. I have seen kinders analyzing and comparing the attributes of different shapes, and fifth graders developing and asking thoughtful interview questions. In our Special Day Class, I have watched the establishment of Circle Time routines that set expectations for learning in school. And across the school I have seen teachers, aides, and specialists conducting beginning of the year assessments in reading, writing, and math to get to know the strengths and needs of each child so they can tailor instruction appropriately.
As in all PAUSD schools, we consider the curricula “basics” to include much more than just the three “R”s. For instance, the arts are a crucial part of the intellectual community we are building.
A District-wide team of teachers provides music instruction to first through fifth graders. Primary students have music instruction once a week, fourth graders have general music twice a week, and fifth graders study a musical instrument twice a week. First through fifth graders also have physical education classes with PAUSD teachers, and all grade levels have a library class once a week with our school librarian. Our Special Day Class students are mainstreamed into regular education classes for these subjects and others as appropriate.
Classroom teachers teach the visual arts. New teachers learn the Spectra Art curriculum by watching our trained art teacher teach the weekly lessons in their classroom. Teachers in their first or second year in the District, and teachers who have changed grade levels, receive this support whatever the grade level and whether they are regular or Special Education teachers.
In music, art, physical education, and library, just as in the core curriculum, we are teaching students to observe, to listen, and to think more thoughtfully and analytically.
