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John's combined Kindergarten and 1st Grade:
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In John's active classroom, the students study animals and our interdependence with them. The class will study pets and working animals (ie: aide dogs, farm animals) with each student giving a presentation as an "expert" on their favorite animal. This year, the kindergarteners and first graders will plant and tend a flower garden, learning about the importance of flowers and gardening in the process.
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Vanessa S.'s Kindergarten:
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This year, Vanessa's class will learn 'The Most Important Thing to Learn in Kindergarten' - How to articulate our needs, give words to the many emotions we feel, and ways to keep our bodies healthy. The students will also explore their thoughts and feelings through art in a unit on understanding what we are like artistically.
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Staci's 1st Grade:
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Exploring our Community Service Organizations is one theme in Stacie's first grade classroom. The students learn about the inner-workings of hospitals, the fire department, and the police. The study of how people celebrate and how these celebrations differ culturally and geographically will also be examined. This class leads the OCS recycling program and will help to run it throughout the year, collecting recyclables from the school and encouraging the other students to get involved!
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Vanessa G.'s 2nd and 3rd Grade:
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The students in Vanessa's 2nd and 3rd grade class will take a look at Los Angeles and The San Fernando Valley: Now and Then. Their studies will include conducting interviews with people who have lived in the areas for many years and discussing the myriad changes that have occurred. The Chumash Indians will also be examined and the unit will culminate with a field trip to the Chumash Indian Site in the Santa Monica Mountains and a lecture on the life and traditions of the native people.
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Hilary's 2nd Grade:
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An in depth study of the diversity of family will be covered this year in Hilary's 2nd grade classroom. The students will explore the many ways we live together as a family, how family can be defined as people who come together to love and care for one another, and the way in which families nurture and support each other throughout time and through generations.
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Suzy's 3rd Grade:
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Suzy comes to OCS with a background in Child Development from California State University, LA then earning her Credentials and Masters at Pacific Oaks in Pasadena. OCS is the perfect place to practice developmental ideologies and she is very excited to be here. Suzy enjoys traveling to different parts of the world in the summers with her husband.
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Danielle's 4th Grade:
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California History is studied in Danielle's 4th grade class. The class visits Sacramento and will meet our local assembly person. The students then write letters to their local congressmen and congresswomen about matters in which each student wishes to affect change. The class will also conduct a mock trial as part of a culmination of a study about the impact of immigration on California.
A letter from the 4th grade students:
Dear all parents,
Our 4th grade thought they were scary, but when we heard their unbearable stories, we knew we were wrong. We're talking about when we went to see the Day Laborers at the Los Angles Day Laborer Program. That's where the unbearable stories came from. For example, one man cried saying, "I have been deported 4 times!"
We interviewed the Day Laborers, and found out they don't do what many people think they would. Actually, they were more afraid of us then we were of them. Plus, about 100 people sign in each morning, and not all of them get jobs. If you help us, we guarantee you won't regret making a difference in their lives.
We would like to help the Los Angles Day Laborer Program, but we need help. What we need you to do is send your donations to Our Community School at 16514 Nordoff St., North Hills, CA 91343. Checks can be made payable to Our Community School. Please write the following on the memo line: "4th grade Day Laborer Program." We will accept donations until Friday, June 13th. The week after that, we will use the money to buy the tools the workers need to improve their center and get jobs.
Thank You for donating,
Esme & Samantha
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Jude's 5th Grade:
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The OCS Times is created by the students in Jude's 5th grade classroom and is written entirely by the students and distributed to the whole school. The students will be writing newspaper accounts from the point of view of an Indigenous Person walking the "Trail of Tears." In their study of Colonial America, the class took a field trip to the Tall Ships and kept diaries written from the point of view of a prospective colonists.
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Cat's 6th Grade:
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Early Civilizations are explored in Cat's 6th grade class. Mythology and religion of ancient cultures is examined, after which, the students will write and perform a play based on their studies. Each student creates a mask which represents a god or goddess they imagine. Each student will create topographical maps and discuss how the geography of land or a region impacts its society. The year will culminate in a class trip to Arizona, where the class will see ancient sites of Indigenous People and view the Grand Canyon. All students have a voice at OCS! Cat's class establishes and maintains the student government as our community service and all students are represented in the meetings, K-6.
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