DUSD Officials and Teachers Thrilled With Plans for DECA

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DUSD Logo

Submitted by Denair Unified School District

Denair schools trustees and the public will have their first chance Thursday night to publicly review plans for a revamped elementary charter school.

The proposal calls for Denair Elementary School and the adjacent Denair Academic Avenues to form a new school known as Denair Elementary Charter Academy, or DECA, for the 2015-16 school year.  Together, the two campuses now have about 500 kindergarten through fifth-grade students from Denair and surrounding areas.

DECA’s mission, according to the proposed new charter, “is to provide students with an engaging, nurturing, equitable learning environment that promotes the development of skills necessary for the 21st century.”

The curriculum will be rich with core subjects such as language arts, math, science, social science and physical education. Electives will include world/foreign languages, drama, music, art, dance and computer instruction.

Already, DECA’s dual immersion English/Spanish class for kindergartens is proving to be popular, with 26 students signed up and five on a waiting list, said Principal Sara Michelena. A second class could be added if there at least 40 students.

The class will follow the 90% Spanish and 10% English dual immersion model, Michelena said. The goal is to have a 50/50 mix of English and Spanish speakers. The intent, she said, is to add a dual immersion class at successive grade levels each year as the first group of kindergartners gets older.

All other DECA students also will have regular Spanish instruction, Michelena said. In addition, the new charter school will have two 30-station computer labs to teach tech skills and will continue to focus on arts enrichment for all students. Even at the elementary level, there will be an emphasis on building a college-going culture among children. Continue reading “DUSD Officials and Teachers Thrilled With Plans for DECA” »

DMS Team Ready for Annual Math Blast

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Front row(l to r): Ayla Monte, Isabella Libby, Jocelyn Gauthier, Brielle Prock, Allison Neal, Amy Schmit, Back row: Anthony Tullio, Eric Aguilar, Jadyn LoBue, Madison Ainslie, Dena Gabriel, Linda Richardson (coach)

Submitted by Denair Unified School District

A team from Denair Middle School will compete in the annual Sixth Grade Math Blast on Saturday at Modesto Junior College.

The competition pits students representing about a dozen schools from districts throughout Stanislaus County. There are categories for individuals as well as two-member teams.

Denair’s team – coached by Linda Richardson – was chosen in January and has been practicing during the students’ lunch period.

“I like the practice because it helps make me better in class,” said Jocelyn Gauthier.

“I like to solve problems that are hard, like three-digit exponents,” added Dena Gabriel.

“It’s fun,” said Brielle Prock.

Other members of the Denair team are Madison Ainslie, Ayla Monte, Allison Neal, Amy Schmit, Isabella Libby, Eric Aguilar and Anthony Tullio.

The Math Blast tests students in division, multiplication, geometry, fractions and basic algebra. The top three individuals and top three teams are recognized.

The competition is 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Science Community Center on the MJC West Campus, 2201 Blue Gum Ave. The event is sponsored by the Stanislaus Math Council.

DMS Students Share Science With Elementary Classes

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Cell "Farm"

Submitted by Denair Unified School District

Denair Middle School science students became the teachers for a few minutes Friday morning, explaining the concepts of cellular structure to their elementary counterparts.

Seventh-graders from two of Barry Cole’s biology classes built elaborate replicas of farms, military bases, an Old West town and even a futuristic community to help with their 15-minute presentations.

A farmhouse became the cell’s “nucleus,” a silo was the “cell wall,” cattle and pigs were “ribosomes” and “lysosomes,” farmland became “cytoplasm” and the barn substituted as a “vacuole.”

The point, Cole explained, was to find “real-life applications for what these students are expected to know” as part of their life sciences instruction.

“On the very first day of class, I told them science is part of their everyday lives,” Cole said. “What we did today is part of Common Core. They are expected to not just understand what an organelle is, but what an organelle does.”

The seventh-graders spent most of the past month working on their projects and constructing their models. Friday morning, 12 teams of four or five students carried their work across the street to the elementary campus, ready to impart all they have learned in classes of first- to fifth-graders.

The older students already had made oral presentations in front of each other in their own classes, but Cole required them to come up with a different way of explaining cell structure to their younger peers.

“If forces them to be more serious,” he said. “This helps them show me that they understand the subject matter.” Continue reading “DMS Students Share Science With Elementary Classes” »

DHS Students Help Lay Sod For Monte Vista Project

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DHS Students Help Lay Sod

Submitted by Denair Unified School District

A dusty strip of land has an emerald green carpet of grass today, the final part of a collaborative community effort to boost pedestrian safety while also beautifying a busy intersection.

Denair High School students worked with district’s maintenance Thursday to lay down sod alongside 700 feet of concrete sidewalk poured in early January on the north side of Monte Vista Avenue. The irrigation system previously had been installed.

The new sidewalk will improve safety and access to and from nearby Jack W. Lytton Stadium, the scene of football games in the fall as well as community events at other times of the year. It also benefits students attending any of the Denair Unified School District campuses around the corner on Lester Road.

The grass makes a much better visual impression to visitors driving into Denair’s western entrance.

Donations worth about $5,000 paid for the sod and associated sprinkler system. The Denair Lions Club, the Education Foundation and the Farm and Family Festival made the largest donations, but individual community members also contributed. Stanislaus County Supervisor Vito Chiesa, who represents the area, arranged for Central Valley Concrete of Denair to donate the sidewalk work.

“I couldn’t be happier about the project. I think it’s another positive example of the commitment of the people who live here and go to school here to our community,” said Denair schools Superintendent Aaron Rosander.