by Nancy Martorelli | photos by Megan Hirsch and Cynthia Smalley

For our first and second grade students the concept of fractions is being introduced and/or reinforced in dance class. And they are having fun.

What might a dance class that integrates math look like?

As in most dance classes, students begin with a warm-up activity to stretch and strengthen their muscles and to pump up the blood. The warm-up to prepare students for the Circle Dance begins with a practice of movements in 8 beats, then beats of 4 + 4, 2 + 2 + 2 + 2, and finally 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1. Students discover that all of the above are equal to 8 (the math concept of equivalency). Next, students practice moving “across the floor” in counts of 8, 4, and 2. Anyone who has studied dance formally knows the value of the “across the floor” segment of the dance class, in which students learn to synchronize their movements with a partner, observe other students performing, and move up in their line and get ready for their turn.

The Circle Dance is introduced through a visual – a chart of a circle divided in halves and quarters. The circle is also marked with hours of the clock, so that the symbols for time – another math concept – can be related to the fractional pieces. Students perform the dance by visualizing a circle around themselves on the floor, then jumping “quarter turns,” “half turns,” and “whole turns” in beats of 4. The “whole turn” is the most challenging because one must jump in the air and make a complete turn. You should see them having fun trying to do that one!

Ms. Pardo’s kindergarteners now have second grade reading buddies from Ms. Marcy’s class.

Every other Friday, the second graders come to the kindergarten class for 20 minutes to read with their new reading pals.

Each second grade student has an assigned kindergarten reading partner to whom they read books. The first meeting on October 27 was a great success.

Both Ms. Marcy and Ms. Pardo agree that this literacy activity is a great way to build community AND create a reading partnership that is mutually beneficial to both students.

by Audrey Fann | photo by Joel Sigerson

Cool Tools vividly teaches strategies for handling all forms of conflict and promotes healthy conflict resolution at LFCSA. Cool Tools was created to ensure a caring community in which all students feel safe to learn and play without threats of physical, verbal, or non-verbal harassment of any type. Our goal is to provide students with an internal “toolbox” they can choose from when conflict arises, not just now, but for the rest of their lives. Practice is essential not only for reinforcing the skills they are learning, but also for retention and transfer to new situations at school and at home. This is where you, the parents, can help. Your child is becoming familiar with the terms and concepts outlined below and will benefit from you talking about them.

Put Ups vs. Put Downs

Put Ups are affirmations, kind words, compliments, smiles, or thumbs-up. In contrast, Put Downs are insults, rumors, threats, unkind words, smirking, or laughing at someone. Put Downs are not okay anywhere at school, and they shouldn’t be okay at home either. Cool Tools teach the 5:1 rule: it takes at least 5 Put Ups to repair 1 Put Down. Squeezing toothpaste from a tube is a good visual that we use at school to explain the concept of a Put Down. Anytime someone says a Put Down, squeeze out some toothpaste. Then ask the person to put ALL of the toothpaste back in the tube. It’s impossible! The children are told to think of a Put Down as the paste—it hangs around with a sticky residue and you can never completely take it back.

Bubble of Space

Cool Tools teach children that everybody has a Bubble of Space as the basic principle of being considerate. Keeping their bodies in check and keeping their hands, feet, and other objects to themselves also makes them aware of their own bubbles and how they should be respected by others. Awareness of their own Bubble of Space allows them to situate themselves to anticipate and avoid conflict whenever possible.

Exit Shoes

Using Exit Shoes are a way to get out of a situation that is not right for you. It is a way to give your child permission to just walk away. When conflict heats up and the chance of compromise goes down, use your Exit Shoes and walk away. It is a cool way to deflate a situation. This tool can be used at home, at school and at the playground. Exit Shoes are a cue to help people stop and think about what they are doing before they act. They allow the person to make a choice and change the situation.

Choice of Voice

Your child has been taught that there are Cool Blue Voices and Red Voices. The Cool Blue Voice is the one used when communicating calmly and speaking normally. If your voice and tone are Cool Blue, then you’re likely going to deflate a situation and help keep it calm. A Red Voice inflates a situation. Cool Tools suggest that when a Red Voice is coming, take deep breathes—and use those Exit Shoes to walk away and chill out until a Cool Blue Voice is ready to speak.

So you know you have 60 volunteer hours to complete, but not too sure how to get started? The wild success that has become LFSCA is owed in no small part to the diverse skills and dedication of the parent volunteer community. Writing down and turning in your hours is just as important as performing them—a motivated parent body on paper is an asset to the school. Dig out your Fall Volunteer Timesheet (sent home in the Thursday Packets) and read on.

Contacting your Classroom Volunteer Coordinator is the quickest route to find volunteering needs when there is a big event requiring many volunteers—such as the upcoming Harvest Arts and Crafts Festival. Several “Work Days” are scheduled throughout the year, and your Classroom Volunteer Coordinator can tell you what’s available and sign you up. Every classroom has a Classroom Volunteer Coordinator.

LFCSA has great committees that do a wide range of important tasks and grow stronger with numbers. LFCSA’s current committees are: Fundraising, Family Support, Volunteer, Communications, Site, Safety, Green Team, and Garden. Contacting a committee and letting them know you are interested in volunteering is another way to hear about volunteer opportunities as they arise.

Need some specific ideas to get your volunteer ball rolling? Here are ten more ways, some obvious, some not so obvious, to get involved:

• Public Relations. If you have PR skills, we could definitely use you. Let the fundraising committee know, fundraising@losfelizarts.org, or George Abrams, site@losfelizarts.org.
• Spanish Translation. Help out translating for Thursday Packets and the office. This is a huge need at our school and an excellent way to fulfill your commitment on your own schedule. Contact Christie Thomas, thursdaypackets@losfelizarts.org.
• Public Liaison. We need a volunteer who can field calls from people interested in becoming Community Partners. Contact George Abrams, site@losfelizarts.org.
• Community Partners Committee. We’re looking for somebody to head this new committee, which will oversee applications from parents who want to get into LFCSA via the Community Partners. For more information about this opportunity contact George Abrams, site@losfelizarts.org.
• Organize Volunteers. Work directly with the Volunteer Coordinator making phone calls from home or work setting up work day schedules. Contact Ellise Taylor-Brebes, volunteer@losfelizarts.org.
• Work in the School’s Garden. Fulfill hours in the garden! Help assisting students with guided lessons, apply for grants, and more. Contact Michele East at garden@losfelizarts.org.
• Indoor Plant Committee. We are getting a bunch of new indoor plants that will need caring for, so jump on this one if you’re interested. We are currently looking for somebody with a green thumb to head up this new committee, as well as about 5 more volunteers to help work it. This is an easy 30 minutes at school after drop-off or before pick-up once a week. Contact George Abrams, site@losfelizarts.org.
• Writers/Photographers. Join the Communications Committee as a writer or photographer for the newsletter and website. Earn hours by taking assignments as they become available. Contact Megan or Ross Hirsch, communications@losfelizarts.org.
• Data Entry. This can be done anytime from your home/office. Knowledge of Excel is helpful, but not necessary. This opportunity is great for parents who find it difficult to get to the school. Contact Michelle Jones, michelle@losfelizarts.org.
• Volunteer in the Front Office. Michelle and the administration can always use your help. Contact Michelle Jones, michelle@losfelizarts.org.

The list doesn’t stop there. We all have skills that are valuable to a growing school like ours. With a little effort and thought, together we can find satisfying ways to contribute our time.

Photos by Cynthia Smalley & Aladino Debert

By Cecily Harrison

When LFCSA parent Sherrell Cuneo saw a quilt being auctioned at Wagon Wheel, the preschool her daughter, Apple, attended, she though, “I could do that.” So when Apple was accepted to LFCSA, Cuneo proposed to create a quilt for the next fundraiser. “It made sense for a new school,” she said. With a mere three-month deadline to get the quilt finished by the time of the upcoming auction fundraiser, she focused on what would make the quilt unique and what would motivate a parent to want to own it.

Cuneo by trade is a costumer, and she gained inspiration for the quilt project from the women of Gee’s Bend, whose distinctive quilting style is based on traditional American and African-American patterns. This gave her the idea of a quilt made up of the handprints of each student with their names embroidered and sewn together. Cuneo also enlisted other parents of the School’s community to work on the collaboration.

Cuneo created a grid—approximately 120 student hands worked out to an eleven by eleven grid pattern. She sought out fellow costumers and LFCSA moms Candice Cain and Nikii Henry to help devise a color scheme. She and Maggie Goldman, a neighbor and LFCSA founding parent, journeyed downtown for fabrics. Jenny Werndorf traced her son Oliver’s impressive hand to provide a template, from which the 11″ x 11″ square patch measurement was derived. The individual patches would then be sewn together to make the quilt.

Elise Brebes hosted the first quilt meeting at her home. “We were looking for whoever showed up,” said Cuneo, noting that embroiderers were hard to find. Goldman asked the Room Mothers (the teacher-to-parent liaisons in each class) to help obtain children’s handprints and signatures, and Reg Jones provided invaluable organization. The group arranged to have finished patches dropped off at a designated area at the School.
Quilting groups gathered in homes, over twenty quilters in all. Cuneo said that watching the busy mothers (and one dad, David Buik) quietly working together on a quilt reminded her of a Shakespeare Festival, where actors living otherwise gypsy lives from theatre-to-theatre, comfortably utilized traditional skills of sewing and embroidery. “Handwork gives a sense of peace,” said Cuneo, adding, “except, of course, when thread gets snarled.”

With the fundraiser deadline fast approaching, Cuneo said, “The quilt was all over the place, it took on a life of its own.” She took to calling herself the “Quilt Wrangler,” since completing the quilt required a multitude of logistics. Patches were coming in at intervals—at one point, there were too many red squares and the configuration had to be reworked. But everything eventually got coordinated, and the quilt was finished on schedule.

Once the quilt was in the pipeline and slated to be auctioned off at the fundraiser, though, Cuneo & Co. realized that perhaps this was not the time to auction off an item that represents in so emotional a way the beginning of LFCSA. As Marta Alcumbrac put it, “The quilt symbolizes each child’s first year, and their parents’ trust and faith in our school.” Instead of being auctioned off, they proposed that the handprint quilt be displayed in the School’s entry, as an ongoing fundraiser. The proposal was widely accepted. Squares are available for sponsorship purchase of $10 or more, and Cuneo believes that one day the quilt will indeed be auctioned for the benefit of the School. But just as a quilt is a collaborative work, so is LFCSA. The handprint quilt proudly displayed near Principal Karen Newlin’s office serves as a testament to the community’s creativity and commitment and a symbol of how parents, children, and staff join together to make LFCSA happen, every day.

You may have noticed some newly framed hexagons, triangles, circles and squares hanging in the East stairwell under the quilt. These are the result of an exploration of shapes and counting done by Ms. Pardo’s class near the beginning of the school year. The project is actually two-sided. On one side the children drew and counted shapes. On the other, they overlapped the shapes and then counted them.

By: Kaumudi Marathé

“Every child CAN!” say Linda McManus and Nancy Simpson, the founders of E3, Enrichment Educational Experiences (www.enrichmentkids.com). The women whose company provides after-school or integrated-day enrichment programs to 12 Los Angeles area schools, believe “every child is a scientist, an artist, a musician, a composer…”

Their after-school program got underway at LFCSA in April. The founders who aim to “inspire students by presenting programs that encourage investigating, discovering and creating” are positive about its success. They assure parents their kids will be “safe, taken care of and nurtured.”

Linda says, “We loved your school. We are very like-minded in terms of our visions for kids.” Nancy adds, “Kindergarten and first grade is our strength. They still believe, they still have imagination, there’s no cap on what they can achieve. It’s part of our job to make sure they have that power instilled in them.”

They see E3 not as a teaching program but as one that exposes children to different facets of the world. Their classes include art, science, geography, sports, pottery, and dance. The company was started in 1993 after their own experiences with their kids’ school. The idea was Nancy’s and Linda who had experience “finding solutions” as a compliance executive at CBS, developed the curriculum.

These warm, enthusiastic women balance friendship and business partnership with a positive, happy attitude to life and work. I talked with them about their program for LFCSA.

KM: What does the E 3 program consist of?

LM: Enriching and teaching are different things. In teaching you have an absolute that the kids have to know. In enriching you give them so much that they love to learn that product or investigate their love for it. Part of our mission is to help raise really well rounded people who want to be part of the community and understand it. This starts in kindergarten. You’ve got to look at the world through 5-year old eyes.

KM: How will our school space be used?

LM: You are very lucky. Your school has a great space. We see it being defined as studios so kids know exactly where they are going and what to do: an artists’ studio, a science area, comfy areas.

NS: To make that space feel not so big so we will have pockets of activities.

LM: We also believe in having the best and the proper tools and supplies. It’s all hands-on. We provide all the tools, whether they are violins or microscopes.

NS: For safety, we need more control, and a more inviting area for parents. They will enter from the front of the auditorium into a comfortable lobby, with the kids’ cubbies and artwork. Even though we will be working in one room, staff will have walkie-talkies for communication. Parents will sign kids out. Kids will use the front bathrooms and not go there alone. They won’t be by the back gate at all.

KM: How will their time be structured?

LM: They gather for Current Event Time, to tie them together, get them working together. Then we discuss what they will do at each station; there is a demonstration and Q&A before they go to their separate activities in groups (red, yellow, blue, etc.) for 15-20 minute rotations. They will have outdoor and snack time too.

NS: Beach Time is our relaxing time. We have mats; they can bring beach towels. We put on classical or beach music and we “go” places! After that, there is a Young Authors Time where we promote writing and doing book reports, assessing books. The program has a monthly theme; there are monthly performances or events like a Grandparents’ Tea, Art Show, etc.

KM: How will the program be customized for LFCSA?

LM: Every school has a personality. We try to match our staff and their skills with that. We survey teachers; tweak the curriculum according to what works and the kids’ needs.

NS: We offer some special classes within the program, taught by our staff or outside vendors. We are partnering with Urban Farming (www.urbanfarming.org) for a program where the kids grow a garden, harvest the produce and give it to the homeless or to someone needy in the community. You have sections of land that we can grow great produce in.

Part of our philosophy is to give back to the community. Each month, at all our schools, the kids do something for the community. It empowers them, they take pride in it.

KM: How will the program vary for kindergarteners and first graders?

NS: We want first graders to have age-appropriate enrichment. At Los Feliz, we are thinking of separate music and art classes. We’re working out the details.

KM: Will there be parent participation?

LM: In our BEAR (Be Excited About Reading) Program, parents share books. In Air Enrichment they share their culture. We set up chairs as if we are on a plane, the teachers are flight attendants, and the kids take a trip: to Greece, to Italy. It’s great! Parents wear traditional clothing, talk about dance, music, food. They can help with gardening too. And we have Career Week where parents talk about their professions.

NS: We just ask that for the first month of school, parents don’t come in because kids are adjusting. Once they are settled, everybody can get involved.

KM: Tell me about your staff.

NS: We take time to find the right people. They have an intense in-service training, a 3-hour training every month and a week’s training before the school year starts. They learn about the curriculum and about team building, creative thinking and positive communication. We are licensed under Social Services so it’s a pretty rigorous procedure before staff can work with the kids.

KM: What is your approach to “discipline” and conflict resolution?

LM: Discipline is part of growth. To have freedom to make discoveries, kids need some order. We believe in positive reinforcement. Kids are bombarded with instructions all day so we go the other way, we almost whisper because that really gets their attention. Again it’s about balancing their day. They have been saturated with information and they need to have fun.

NS: We believe in resolving conflict through finding out a child’s needs and meeting them. Usually when a child acts up, they need something. We find out what and talk it through to make sure they understand the situation.

KM: How will you use Cool Tools?

NS: We will all be training in Cool Tools. Words are our most important tools. They can make or break a child. Our words must be building words, not tear-down words. Our staff is trained in this. It is one our company’s 8 Keys of Excellence.

Remember when the students were asked to wear blue to school one day? Mrs. Newlin kicked off our Cool Tools program that day with an assembly/pep rally for the kids, reviewing with them all of the tools that they have available to them when they find themselves in a conflict.