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Show Page 5 Far-flung science excursions winning fans at Mountain View KgBMtfg WW NEWS AND IDEAS FROM CLASSROOMS AND EDUCATORS Thursday, June 7, 2007 SUMMIT HIGH ummit High Jennifer and received as a IMorthridge Reva Bowen NORTH COUNTY STAFF As the 2006-07 school year drew to an end, hundreds of parents and patrons attended a large-scale art show at Northridge Elementary School that showcased not only the talents of the students, but also the teaching abilities and techniques of their instructors Monique deWitt and Berni Mortensen! Principal Kimberly Bird said the art -teaching duo is "one of a kind," andlhat as she walked through the exhibit, she frequently heard from patrons pa-trons comments such as, "I've never seen such artwork in an elementary school," and, "We came to Northridge because of the great art program." DeWitt works with first, second, and third graders; Sharon Elementary School students soak Melissa Mayntz NORTH COUNTY STAFF Water balloon tosses are a fun summer activity, but at Sharon Sha-ron Elementary they are also a great incentive for students to read. Successful readers, in fact, got to toss hundreds of water balloons at their teachers last Friday at the annual "Soak the Teacher" event. Since January, Sharon Dementary has emphasized regular nightly reading to encourage en-courage students to develop a reading habit and to help them improve their literacy skills. Individual teachers set reading requirements according to each grade level's reading expectations, expecta-tions, and srudentsneeded to read between 15 and 30 minutes each day at home. Students ' who brought back their completed com-pleted reading logs were eli Looking for a close f'7 W 7 types of Metals, Steel, Autos, Appliances, Aluminum, Copper, Brass, Radiators, Stainless, Batteries. We offer CompetitK'e Prices, Fast Friendly Senice, and a True our Customers, Stop by andGKre Us A Try! SCHOOL CLASS OF 2007 School's senior Steve Smith right shows his sister her fiance, Andy Thomson, the laptop computer that he graduation present on May 31. showcases talents at Mortensen teaches fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students. "My husband thinks I'm crazy," cra-zy," said deWitt, who enlisted him and the couple's children in a five-day, family project to set up 3,000 different pieces of artwork in the halls and lobbies lob-bies of the school. Mortensen's students' pieces were on display dis-play in the library. "I like to teach the children that this is step one, step two, and step three, then let them 'Do their thing,'" said Mortensen, an art minor at Brigham Young University who has taught the subject for 15 years at Northridge, and, before that, the upper grades in Jordan School District. "It surprises me what they do, all the time." Besides allowing her students stu-dents creative freedom in their work, Mortensen enjoys gible to participate in the water balloon toss. According to Susann Wagner, Wag-ner, the school's assistant principal, prin-cipal, daily reading practice is essential for students to develop stronger reading skills. "Reading daily helps students progress in their reading," she said. "If they're practicing, their reading improves." At the same time, she said that regular reading helps students stu-dents develop a love of reading that will last long after elementary elemen-tary school. Many elementary schools establish incentives to encourage reading by letting students earn prizes. While the water balloon toss may not include individual prizes, it has the same motivational effect on the students as earning earn-ing trinkets. "The purpose is to have something fun to motivate the kids and get them to read," DOLLARS HOLLARS convenient place to turn your scrap into MCR RIGIOLIM 550 North Geneva Road Orem ((801)225-0001) framing the art, and doling out generous measures of praise. DeWitt said Mortensen is also good at having the students blend writing in with their artwork. DeWitt was born in South Korea, but left that country when she was three years old. Her father was an ambassador to France, and she grew up immersed in European culture, visiting many art museums. Consequently, she believes culture cul-ture and history are important components of her art teaching. The two teachers set learning learn-ing goals every year, and coordinate their teaching with the state's core curriculum subjects sub-jects such as math and English. "Some people ask, 'Why have fine art and music in the schools?' But if kids can see visually, and picture things, they can do well in math and Wagner said. The annual Soak the Teacher day has become a favorite event at Sharon Elementary even without individual prizes, and according to Wagner, the majority of the school's 500 students were eligible for this year's toss. In addition to water balloons, however, Wagner said they also used sponge balls that had been purchased on sale and could easily reused each year. Each student was given three sponge balls or balloons to toss at their teacher, and they had to stand up to 15 feet away depending on their grade level. Teachers brought changes chang-es of clothes, but everyone participated with a positive attitude. at-titude. To toss so many sponge balls, Wagner said the school had to work out a tight schedule sched-ule so no one would miss their turn. The tosses began at 9:30 cask We buy all Aluminum Cans, Commitment to k I JERONIMO NISADaily Herald art show English, too. It is a foundation for achieving their goals," said deWitt. who obtained her art degree from BYU for teaching grades K-12, and has taught art for six years at Northridge. DeWitt believes children are "like sponges" in their ability to absorb knowledge and talent, and to use what they learn. "Good teachers can define, shape, and mold what (students) (stu-dents) have in them," she said. The art show consisted of a variety of different art forms drawings, paintings, sculpture, sculp-ture, mixed media, pottery, and even jewelry. Students who may struggle in other subjects are often able to enhance their self-esteem by doing well in art, Mortensen said. As students participate in art and believe in themselves, it "completes them," deWitt said. their teachers a.m. and each grade level was able to participate before practicing prac-ticing for the dance festival. "It's an all day thing," Wagner Wag-ner said. The biggest challenge of the event has been filling hundreds of baUoons, which Wagner said begins several days before the toss. The secretary in charge of the balloons recruits aides to help, and the school PTA has also helped fill the balloons. "It's a big project to get them all filled," Wagner said. At the same time, seeing the students' excitement makes the event worthwhile. Wagner said that the students and teachers have good relationships, and the students enjoy the opportunity oppor-tunity to be in charge of the watery fun. "The students look forward to it every year," she said. "It's just a fun day." mm INSURANCE AGENCY home auto life business M1I teWI I Soft) GSfceO Wlf m Michael Rigert NOR1M ( OUNIV MAfl There's no location, no trip, no uber-cool geological formation for-mation that is too far away for Eugene Clark's intrepid group of advanced earth scientists. sci-entists. This month is was the geysers gey-sers and volcanic phenomena at Yellowstone National Park; next month, it's on to the rain forests of tropical Costa Rica. For years, students in Clark's honor geologyAP environmental en-vironmental science class two times each year have trekked up to the nation's first national na-tional park one semester, and the next, traveled to southern Utah to experience alien planets plan-ets on earth at Zion, Capitol Reef, Arches, and Bryce Canyon Can-yon National Parks. Despite the exotic locales, Clark said the trips, including includ-ing Yellowstone, are no joy ride. The excursions are part of the students' course work and there are at least 10 stops before even reaching the national park where students must take notes, refer to geological cross-sections and answer questions in a trip field book. "Part of the course work ... is listening to my boring lectures," said Clark. "Everywhere "Every-where they go they look like geeks with notebooks." Thirty -nine juniors and seniors participated in this year's Yellowstone trip and many of them are planning to head out Monday with Clark on the UVSC geological trek to Costa Rica. For Yellowstone, faculty rent a tour bus (it's cheaper than a school bus) and participants partici-pants camp out at Madison campground in the park. Years of trips have accumulated accumu-lated plenty of camping gear and students only have to fork over $100 to go to Yellowstone. Yel-lowstone. For Mary Anne Seeley, 16, it was her first time seeing see-ing the geysers including the famed Old Faithful. Yet her favorite geological site was Travertine Falls. "There were different colors col-ors and you could totally see the deposits and the new ones forming," she said. Seeley enrolled in Clark's class after getting a very positive thumbs up from her older sister Sarah who took the Mountain View class and is currently a geology major at Brigham Young Univer Timpanogos High School senior wins Utah business award NORTH COUNTY STAFF Timpanogos High School senior Joshua Miller is one of five Utah recipients of the annual National Federation of Independent Business Young Entrepreneur Awards. The award include $1,000 in tuition assistance at the school of the recipient's choice. The program, which encourages en-courages students to consider a career in small business, made its debut in 200.3 when it awarded a total of 1 10 Utah County News wmheraldextra.com www.footeinsurance.com 305 N. FREEDOM BLVD. PROVO sity. "She had him (Clark) at BYU," she said. "She said 'Take this class; it's a lot of fun,' and it really has been a lot of fun," Seeley said. Brandon Ezola, 17, heard Clark was taking students to Costa Rica and immediately signed up for his geology environmental en-vironmental science course. "I told my friend to sign up. He (Clark) only talks about rocks for a week," Ezola said. "He taught a lot about the death and destruction destruc-tion of geology. I've even been thinking about it as a career." Clark, a geophysicist with Esso Oil Corporation for 20 years before coming to Mountain View, isn't surprised. sur-prised. He's also a member of Brigham Young University's geology department and said he sees many of his former Bruin students in his BYU courses. "I have an abnormally high percentage of Mountain View students that come from this class," he said. "Out of 120 in the (BYU) program, 15 to 20 came through this classroom." Ezola said the Yellowstone trip was difficult constantly constant-ly taking notes and answering answer-ing tough questions wasn't fun but it was worth it. "I've been to Yellowstone before, but this time we really real-ly learned how it all works," he said. "It's cool to be at the caldera and really understand under-stand why it's beautiful." Clark said it's a shame more earth science instructors instruc-tors don't take advantage of Utah's amazing outdoor classrooms to really give their students an academic experience. "Geology and environmental environmen-tal science are best taught in the field," he said. "I've been to 104 countries on all seven continents and there's no place on earth like Yellowstone Yel-lowstone and (the national parks) in southern Utah. And yet we're timid about taking them out and seeing things in the real world." But most students agree the key to class's success is its instructor and the fact that he makes learning and exploring fun. "He's a really great lecturer, lec-turer, and at first he seems strict, but he's really funny and has a great sense of humor," hu-mor," said Marie OLsen, 15. "He's really smart too." scholarships nationwide This year, 423 scholarships will be awarded. Miller's award was sponsored spon-sored by Wells Fargo Bank. To earn a scholarship, students stu-dents were required to write an essay describing their entrepreneurial en-trepreneurial endeavors and future goals. Standardized test scores, GPA, and class rank were also considered. NFIB members around the country nominated applicants for the Young Entrepreneur Awards. Richard Foote Ross Schofield Copy |