A New Kind of Classroom Safety By susan Tatsui-D’Arcy Whether we’re talking about guns on elementary, middle school, high school, or college campuses, we’re opening doors to more carnage. As teachers prepare for the new school year, besides books and class supplies, some teachers are stocking their classrooms with military-grade devices to protect their students. One Bay Area teacher purchased a metal bat and the Barracuda, a metal bar that prevents entry, for her classroom. She also plans to run drills for her elementary school students to teach them how to stay quiet and to listen to her directions when there is an intruder who can harm them.It seems to…
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The End of an Era
Great America is Closing: What Can You Expect? By Erik Chalhoub The news of California’s Great America’s eventual closure sent shockwaves through the Bay Area and the theme park community. We haven’t experienced such a loss in our region since Santa’s Village in Scotts Valley shut down for good in 1979. So what might this mean for Great America visitors? Let’s take a look.Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, which has owned Great America since 2006 and the land it sits on since 2019, announced in late June that it had sold the land to real estate developer Prologis for $310 million, and would wind down operations of the Santa Clara park…
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Breastfeeding Month
Lactation: Educate & Support by Laura Maxson, LM If it’s August, we must be talking about breastfeeding/chestfeeding/providing babies with human milk. National Breastfeeding Awareness Month includes:Week 1: World Breastfeeding WeekEducate & SupportWeek 2: Indigenous Milk Medicine WeekStrengthening Our Traditions from Birth and BeyondWeek 3: Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander WeekEducate & SupportWeek 4: Black Breastfeeding WeekBBW 2022: 10 Years, A New FoundationOn Thursday, August 4, from 10 am-1 pm, families in Santa Cruz County can swing by the Watsonville Hospital parking lot for a drive-through World Breastfeeding Week event. People will learn about breastfeeding and the local support provided by event co-sponsors: Salud Para La Gente, Community Bridges…
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Morning Routines
Don’t Forget Your Lunch! Back-to-School Health Tips From a School Nurse By Sandra Fong, RN Nobody can get it all done and be the perfect parent. Pick one or two goals for a healthier school year and take a baby step in the right direction As the back-to-school season is in full swing, parents are busy filling backpacks and teacher wish lists and squeezing into that last spot on the after-school care roster. Among all the activities and supplies, parents should also make sure to do a quick health check-in! Fueling Your Body with foodSnacks and meals are an important part of the “fuel” children need to get through their…
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School Begins
Rocks By Lisa Catterall Today, I finally remembered the rocks. Then I looked at my classroom and the way I had suddenly made my messy creative space neat as a pin, and I reflected on how I’d never stressed neatness so much with my students as I had in these first few days. This world’s anguish is no different from the love we insist on holding back.-Aberjhani Getting my classroom ready It’s almost there; the posters are up and supplies organized, but there is one thing I haven’t done yet. Do you know what it is? I haven’t placed a basket of fist-sized rocks in the front by where I…
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Learning by Immersion
Lisset Orozco: Plants Seeds in Spanish by suki wessling She has to believe in immersion to do her job. Lisset runs Spanish Nature Club, which offers preschool, afterschool, summer, and adult programs. The concept is simple: get out in nature, speak Spanish. Teaching Spanish to children in Santa Cruz was possibly the last place Lisset Orozco thought she’d end up. With her degree in political science and work in rural Mexico on literacy, Lisset planned to go to Italy for graduate school.But then she fell in love surfing in Puerto Escondido with a man from Santa Cruz, a town she couldn’t even find on the map. When she arrived, she…
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Growing Healthy
Generations: Nourished By Suki Wessling The stakes for teen foster youth are high. Once they reach eighteen, they leave the system. Unless they were lucky to be placed with families who taught them solid life skills like cooking, they enter adult life knowing little about food. “To your stations!”The children come into the room full of playground energy and loud voices. They chatter as they don their aprons and wash their hands. But as soon as they’re assigned to their stations they become as focused on their tasks as a chef in a restaurant. Because these kids are chefs Their Live Oak classroom has been turned into a kitchen where…
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Vaccinations
COVID Vaccines for Our Youngest Kids by Nicole M. Young, MSW Last month, COVID vaccines were approved for children between 6 months and 5 years of age. For some parents, this was a long-awaited moment, when their youngest family members could also be more protected against COVID. Others are feeling cautious and want to wait and see. And there are many strong opinions about whether COVID (and other) vaccines are helpful or harmful, leaving many families wondering what to do. This month, I’m sharing information I’ve learned from local pediatricians, pediatric nurse practitioners, and public health leaders (many of whom have young children) about the COVID vaccines for this age…
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Missing Van
Editor’s Note By Brad Kava The school year is starting out sadly at Watsonville’s Pajaro Valley High School. The school’s only van—a beloved seven-passenger Ford, nicknamed “Grizzly Van” — was stolen from the campus in July.he white van was a fixture for the 1,650-student school, transporting classes, special ed students and athletes to events. It was last used on a Saturday to take members of the football team to Monterey for training. The next day it was gone. “At first I felt disbelief,” says Athletic Director Joe Manfre. “Nobody is going to steal a van from a high school. We’re across the freeway from most people and you have to…
