Read more on PRF CA, East Palo Alto Go to SPRIDD collection Go to Fabric ottomansImagine everything you could wish for in a mural! Math Resource Teacher, Bob Batten, spent countless hours during assemblies, free periods, after school and on weekends to make the bulk of the mural and the results were phenomenal! Others who assisted included various staff, teachers and a local Girl Scout Troop. His idea of drawing the students’ attention with people, artifacts and animals to illustrate a particular subject matter and organizing the books accordingly really paid off! Below the fantasy mural section of the room were books of that genre. In the history section of the room the wall was painted with patriots and other historical figures overseeing the books in bins below. Football players in action on the field run over shelves of books in the sports section! A segment of wall between the cabinets and the counter displayed local varieties of fish swimming by and below were books about fishing.
The usual comfy bean bag chairs found in these rooms were overshadowed by their huge big brother bean bag sofas in soft, burgundy velour! However, the sofas were not filled with beans; they were stuffed with foam chunks that were soft and cozy! And there were two of them! Some of the normal sized bean bag seats were in special designs such as a pear and sports balls! Colorful, stuffed cubic ottomans, Adirondack chairs and other wooden seats rounded out the choices for relaxing to discover your adventures! The mural also revealed smaller, internationally-historical geographic sites amongst the genre paintings for children who might be interested in a scavenger hunt! The geographic sites included the Eiffel Tower, Easter Island statues, the Golden Gate Bridge, Big Ben of London, and more! A kid can travel the world via scavenger hunt! Mr. Batten’s sense of humor comes to light in the mural as well, for in the fantasy section there’s a lion reading the book, Chronicles of Narnia, and a giraffe reading Giraffes Can’t Dance, as well as a wart hog trying to discover how to get rid of warts!
The painting of Dr. Carson has him reading Neurosurgery for Geniuses! The room is filled with books in blue bins with covers begging you to check them out. Brightly colored rugs, one with each letter of the alphabet on the cover of a book, are laid out around the room. Next to a castle, the corner tree-house that goes from the floor to the ceiling takes the viewer’s imagination soaring! When the mural tells you “Let’s Go on a Reading Safari,” no one can refuse!! Special thanks to Richard Lumsden Foundation for sponsoring the reading room.Editor’s note: For nearly 30 years, The Sacramento Bee’s Book of Dreams has helped people and organizations in our community realize their dreams.The seven boys and girls in Melody Swars’ class are busy composing letters to Santa Claus to practice their writing skills.“Dear Santa,” they write, slowly and deliberately, “I have been very good this year. I would like …”But the ol’ Saint Nick on their worksheets isn’t in a jolly red suit, nor is he surrounded by cheerful elves in green.
The children in the River Oaks Elementary school program for learning handicaps and special education in Galt get their class handouts, certificates and other printed materials all without color, because the only printer available to their teacher uses black ink. “It’s a little discouraging, to see them all excited about doing a good job and then just get a black-and-white certificate to take home,” the teacher said.It would be sad enough for any kindergarten through fourth-grade student to receive such a colorless prize, but Swars’ students have speech and language delays and other learning disabilities. Her class size is listed as seven students, but the number varies throughout the day as students needing extra help in certain subjects, such as reading and math, drop in.“They have many different learning styles and needs, but they always try their hardest to be the best students they can be,” she said. A colorful certificate would mean a lot to them.To this end, she says a color printer – as well as bouncy bands, colorful exercise balls and timers – would greatly enhance their experience.
), “If a picture is worth a thousand words, a picture with natural colors may be worth a million, memory-wise. Color helps us to process and store images more efficiently than colorless (black-and-white) scenes, and to remember them better, too.” Swars and the other teachers at River Oaks do their best to make their classrooms attractive, such as painting the walls, coloring flashcards by hand, and using different colored construction paper as backgrounds for similar phonetic sounds. Instructional assistant for special education Lauren Blake has been coloring cards that go with “The BFG” reading the students have been working though.A few classrooms away, the fourth-grade area got a totally new look; teacher Krista Dawley threw out the traditional desks in favor of a few tables, some stand-up desks/bookcases/work areas, colorful bean bag chairs, exercise balls and bobble boards.“Studies have shown that movement helps learning, and I think it has really helped the students,” Dawley said.
, a community of 4 million educators who share their work, insights and inspiration with one another.“There are so many interesting worksheets out there,” she said, showing off a series on dinosaurs, brilliant in their color on her computer screen. The copies she had to give to the students, in black and white, weren’t nearly as eye-catching. Swars said some teachers have bought their own color printers, but it’s beyond her budget.Before she proposed getting a color printer, she had talks with the students about whether the class really needed one.“Why should we ask for a color printer? Why do we need color?”“It would be FUN!” they shouted. All Book of Dreams donations are tax-deductible, and none of the money received will be used for administrative costs.▪ Print out a donation form The request Needed: Samsung color laser multifunction printer and cartridges, four bouncy bands, seven exercise balls and two time-tracker timers. BECK'S FURNITURE - SACRAMENTO, RANCHO CORDOVA, ROSEVILLE, CALIFORNIA FURNITURE STORE
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