Gonzaga Program Brings High-Tech Tools Into Schools

The instruction in the fifth-grade technology class at Seth Woodard Elementary School occasionally sounds pretty low-tech.

“You gotta double click on that thing-a-ma-jigger,” Derek Larson told his friend Parker Green.

Green was seated at one of the class’s four McIntosh computers, trying to resize a picture of the Statue of Liberty for a travel brochure he’s working on.

A few moves later, the two fifth-graders were satisfied that Green was on his way.

“You know how to do it now?” Larson asked, and he was on his way back to his own work.

Tony Richardson, working on a poster of the Bunker Hill battlefield in the American Revolution, got help from classmate Erin Paulson.

This is all part of a Gonzaga University program called First Links.

Seth Woodard, in the West Valley district, is one of four elementary schools in Eastern Washington participating in the two-year program. Its purpose is to see how regular work with computers affects students’ learning, said teacher Bonnie Keenan.

Keenan has already seen some of her students rocket ahead.

“Sometimes I can’t keep up with them. I have to say, ‘Time out,”’ Keenan said, with a soft smile.

So far this fall, she’s led her students through projects designed to both pique their interest and teach math and writing.

For instance, they’ve done graphs showing which color M&M candy shows up most often.

Students created a bar graph and a pie chart, in color, with a text explaining their results.

Here’s part of Larson’s explanation:

“These are Dirk’s M&M graphs. They are quite good. I had 56 M&Ms in my bag. Most of the M&Ms were brown - which I had 17. Blue I had the least of. Red and yellow had a tie with 13. Poor old green was down with the blues, which in fact is Parker Green’s favorite color.”

A fourth-grade and fifth-grade class in each school are involved in Gonzaga’s First Links project.

The fourth-graders in Seth Woodard’s technology class this year will move into Keenan’s class next year.

Once the initial glitches are worked out, each school will be linked with the other three. Each student will have an e-mail pen pal in each of the other schools and they will even do e-mail interviews as part of their research.

One-day hotline

Today is your chance to call an elementary school principal and ask the tough questions you always wanted answered.

A principals hotline, 1-800-404-9993, is open only today from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. It is offered via the annual meeting of the Washington Elementary School Principals.

The hotline is confidential and free. About 45 principals from across the state take turn fielding the calls.

Commendations at EVHS

Megan Brannan and Sean Barker, seniors at East Valley High School, have received notice they are commended students in the National Merit Scholarship program.

Rinaldi scholarship

Last week, the Central Valley School District accepted a $20,000 perpetual scholarship in memory of Mike Rinaldi, a University High School senior who died last spring.

The fund will provide a $1,440 scholarship each year, said Dr. Robert Numada, a physician who works with Dr. Pete Rinaldi, Mike’s father.

The recipient must be a U-Hi student who is in choir or DECA (Distributive Education Club of America) and who is academically eligible for a four-year college or university.

Numada said contributions from community members, particularly physicians, helped make the memorial scholarship possible.

Siblings win with essays

St. Paschal’s School students Clancy and Darby Bundy won first and second place for essays entered in the Family-a-Fair essay contest.

Clancy, a fourth-grader, won first place. Darby, his sister and a third-grader, won second place.

The essay topic was: “What can families learn from kids?”

West Valley kudos

Barbara Pruitt, a fifth-grade teacher at Seth Woodward School, recently received West Valley School District’s You Make a Difference Award.

The award is presented three times a year to someone in West Valley. Since 1986, recipients have included a payroll clerk, a nurse, a custodian, as well as volunteers, teachers and aides.

Pruitt is known among her colleagues for her quiet way of setting high standards, even among students with behavior problems.

“One parent … pointed out that his daughter had been in Mrs. Pruitt’s class and that year had just turned her whole life around,” said Tom Adams, a Centennial Middle School teacher and member of the district’s recognition committee.

Other honors at CV

Along with Autumn Reed, who was mentioned last week in the Valley Voice, three other Central Valley School District elementary school counselors were honored at a SCAN conference earlier this fall.

They are Kitty Brudos of Ponderosa and McDonald elementaries, Darcy Banta of Opportunity Elementary and Virginia Elkington, who works in Central Valley’s central offices. SCAN is the Spokane Child Abuse Network Prevention Center.

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MEMO: If you have news about an interesting program or activity at a Valley school or about the achievements of Valley students, teachers or school staff, please let us know at the Valley Voice, 13208 E. Sprague, Spokane, WA 99216. Call: 927-2166. Fax: 927-2175.