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The Lafayette
family offers
nurturing environment
The Lafayette family looks
after each other. It’s a common theme you’re likely to hear
from every staff member. They’ll also acknowledge that compassion
and caring for students, staff and parents has been a part of the school’s
culture forever.
Fifth grade teacher Joan
Crandell knows that parents take notice. “Parents feel really comfortable
on campus and they feel like a part of what goes on at Lafayette. It’s
a feeling we strive to nurture every year.”
Former students also come
back to the Lafayette family. “A lot of our former students who
go to middle and high school and catch the bus here, they always
come by and say hi and talk to us,” said Crandell.
Lafayette teachers also talk
about the legacy of those who have retired but still stay involved.
“Peggy Kirkpatrick is truly a saint walking on this earth,”
said Crandell. “ You look at Leila Schneider and Kay Green, our
spark of light, it’s a really hard act to follow. We all talk a
lot about the Lafayette legacy and make sure we keep it alive.”
They
learn to pay real compliments
Lafayette has been educating
and caring for the children of Eureka since 1952. The eight-acre school
features an expansive campus, a large grassy field and a new kindergarten
playground. Under the recently passed Eureka school bond measure, Lafayette
classrooms will receive modernization and a new library/media center
will be added.
Beginning in September 2001,
Eureka’s elementary schools went through a cultural transformation
when its sixth-graders started the school year at Winship and Zane middle
schools.
Like many of the Lafayette
staff, Crandell noticed a change to the school climate. “We have
less problems on the playground. My fifth-graders are much sweeter to
each other and I feel it’s benefited the sixth-graders to be in
a middle school environment because they have access to so many more
programs. It’s a more appropriate place for them.”
Crandell also pointed out
the school’s Healthy Play program has contributed to a much more
friendly climate on Lafayette’s large playground and fields.
“We just love Healthy Play,” remarks Crandell. “The basic
tenets are to have fun and take care of each other. We have support
from AmeriCorps, and everyone has been trained including our playground
monitors. It has really helped to enrich the positive attitudes on the
playground.”
According to Crandell, in
Healthy Play kids play games that feature “team building, cooperation,
caring—all those important life skills. The focus is not on winning
or aggression. We don’t keep score most of the time. We give points
for working together. They learn to pay real compliments.”
Teaching
kindergarten is her love
Michelle Leftridge has taught
all grades in Eureka elementary schools for 25 years but it’s her
first year teaching all-day kindergarten at Lafayette. All Eureka City
elementary schools feature an all-day kindergarten program.
Leftridge is pleased with the all-day program this year. “All three
kindergarten teachers feel that we have more time with the kids. And
the kids have adjusted remarkably well. They don't get that tired during
the school day.”
Like all California teachers,
Leftridge has had to work with higher expectations from the State…
even in kindergarten. “All the standards have been bumped down
a grade or two. Kindergarten is now what first grade used to be. We
are teaching the children to read in kindergarten. By the time they
reach first grade they need to be reading and they need to be writing.
Earlier kindergarten curricula focused on developmental skills of students.
Today we integrate both developmental and academic but the push is definitely
toward academics.”
Leftridge said it’s
more important than ever for parents to provide their children with
a foundation before kindergarten. “It’s almost mandatory that
they go to a preschool or Head Start program before kindergarten. Some
of the children who come to school as four-year-olds have never been
to school and yet are expected to sit down and start writing.”
All-day kindergarten provides
teachers the extra time they need with students and also leaves plenty
of time for classroom socialization. “The majority of the children
right now are rising to the occasion. That’s why the all-day kindergarten
is so great because you can still provide the developmental program
that is so crucial to those small children but there’s enough time
to offer academics.”
Having extra time to spend
with her students means Leftridge can provide more in-depth lessons.
“We’ve been studying the ecosystems; the changing of the seasons.
I know that kindergartners are fascinated to learn about the seasons.
We’ve done a lot of observation in our school garden and watching
things change.”
Of all the grades Leftridge
has taught, she lights up when asked about her current class of students.
“Teaching kindergarten is my love,” she smiles.
A
positive voice for kids
Surrounded by an ever-growing
collection of books, stuffed animals and technology, school librarian
Carol Skaggs has been serving students and staff at Lafayette for 18
years. The school’s library boasts almost 20,000 books—the
largest collection in Eureka’s elementary schools.
“The heart of our school
is Carol Skaggs,” remarks Crandell. “She is a positive voice
for the kids. You mention a book that you think would be a great classroom
book and she’s got it on order. She finds money where there is
no money. She spends hours compiling the classroom reading sheets for
the Governor’s Reading Award… we’ve received the Award
three years in a row. She always has something up her sleeve and it’s
all for the school.”
Qualifying for the Governor’s
Reading Award program has meant a total of $15,000 over the past three
years for the school’s library. No small feat in an era of shrinking
school budgets.
Lafayette principal Jim Sanders
knows the library is a great resource for students and a big selling
point for parents. “The library is a huge influence in the school.
Carol is really good about having a strong library program and she maintains
our school’s Web page.”
Working
together to help each other
Sanders is most appreciative
of all the time his staff gives to children. “They put in a tremendous
amount of time and energy to meet the needs of kids. Our staff collaborates
twice a month so we can talk about standards and assessments… all
the things that are coming down from the State. Everybody’s really
working hard. Our school motto is ‘Working together to help each
other.‘”
Leftridge and Crandell have
noticed this caring attitude from other staff members. “We have
these wonderful cooks in the cafeteria that take care of us and our
kids. Donna and Laura offer us homemade hot soup lunches. They make
sure we’re taken care of,” said Leftridge.
Crandell points out, “they
know all the kids by name. They’ll come and talk with us if they’re
worried about a child who seems down or depressed. They are as important
a part of our staff as anybody. “
“You know Hillary Clinton’s
famous quote about it takes a village?,” mentioned Leftridge. “This
school really exemplifies that.”
Meeting
high expectations
Every school day, teachers
all over the state deliver lessons that teach to the California State
Standards. Crandell knows how challenging the state standards can be
for both teachers and students. “I was just talking with my fifth-graders
this morning during a math lesson, and I told them I struggled through
this when I was in seventh grade, and I was a good math student; you’re
now having to learn this in fifth grade.“
Crandell has learned to integrate
her classroom lessons because “there are literally not enough hours
in the day to cover everything I’m supposed to. If you have to
have so many hours of language arts, so many hours of social science,
so many hours of math… when you add all those hours up, something
has to give. It’s a challenge.”
Sanders notes that “most
of the standards are equivalent to taking the curriculum down a year-and-a-half
to two years. The state has especially placed heavy emphasis on all
areas of math in order for our children to get ready for the high school
exit exam.”
Encouraging
the cycle of reading
Lafayette’s Reading
At Home (RAH) program has been credited with helping young readers become
more proficient by including a home reading component.
Jim Sanders credits longtime Lafayette teacher Peggy Kirkpatrick with
the creation of the RAH program. “RAH currently has 120 kids in
it,” remarks Sanders. “We use Title 1 funding to pay for instructional
assistants to work with students, and we have a huge cadre of community
volunteers. We’ve been providing reading intervention for kids
for years before it was even something that had to be done.”
Crandell has seen the success
of the RAH program firsthand. “RAH rewards parents as well as kids.
At school the program gives them 20 to 30 minutes of undivided attention
reading with an adult. The kids get that attention and motivation to
go home and read with their parents. It’s a cycle. When you become
a better reader, you like to read more. When you like to read more,
you pick out more books. When you pick more books out, you become a
better reader. I have six students in the RAH program and it works.
I’ve seen those kids’ self-esteem rise with their reading
level.”
Lafayette
welcomes families
Lafayette encourages interested
parents and community members to take a personal tour of the school
and its classrooms. Contact principal Jim Sanders at 441-2482 during
school hours to arrange a tour. Lafayette is located at 3100 Park Street
off Myrtle Avenue in Eureka.
Information about Lafayette
can also be found on the school’s Web site.
Web designer Carol Skaggs has posted pictures and information on classroom
events, the Musical Theater Club, the school’s partnership with
Alder Bay Senior Center and much more.
- Sheldon J. Reber, Director
of School and Community Relations
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Lafayette
kindergarten teacher Michelle Leftridge works with cross-age buddies
on making peanut butter pine cones… a holiday gift for the birds.
A
fifth-grader shares a favorite book with Lafayette teacher Joan Crandell.
