Peralta Broadcast: Contest, Weeds VS. Garden workers, DDoS - There, I Said It, Art Gifts, Contest

The fast and loose play-by-play, for those of you who missed it.

Weeds Lose First Round to Garden Workerbees

Despite a fierce last minute drive from the hugelmound, the Garden Workerbees pulled a narrow victory from the jaws of defeat over perennial in-state rivals the Weeds at Peralta Elementary on Saturday morning, February 11th.

The Workerbee starters paced the team with fruit tree pruning and mulching, scoring the season’s first double-double, while a slate of newer players chipped in with a mulch assist along North Street, shooting to protect the baby edibles and increase production for school lunches (the kids who eat salad, admittedly a narrow subset of the general kid population, are now eating what they grow).

The full team effort by this significantly supportive bench was too much for the Weeds, as the Workerbees dominated the Garden Workday’s tempo with their methodical divide-and-conquer offense, rebounding with a new late-blooming apple tree.

In the end, a small group of dedicated Workerbees put the game away, delighting would-be little kickers by rescuing hordes of desperate balls being held hostage by the tops of fences and roofs. 

“Given this season's biblical-style rainfall, I was concerned that their (the Weeds’) effort would be too much for us,” a source said off-the-record. “They were very tenacious, but in the end, we prevailed under bright, cloudless skies, amidst a passel of happy kids running around. The parents we fielded, both new and experienced, deserve all the credit. If even more showed up, we’d be unstoppable.”

Workerbees 1; Weeds 0. The rematch: March 11th, 9am-1pm, sponsored by the second grade. All welcome.

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Now look what you've done

Parent Frenzy Sparks Massive Internet Outage

If you live on the West Coast and had trouble accessing Google, Google Docs, YouTube, Waze, Nest or dammit Ramen Shop’s online ordering page last Monday evening, you were not alone.

In the wake of Peralta Elementary School’s call for volunteers for its 2017 Auction, many of your favorite websites (and some pretty freakin tasty food) were unavailable for hours. However, as of Tuesday morning, all parties under assault had finally restored their services. It was, however, a long night. 

At 6:17 a.m. PT Tuesday, Google Docs updated its website to say it had resolved the large-scale distributed denial of service attack (DDoS) and service had been restored.

DDoS attacks flood servers with so many offers of support and sponsorship that they cannot respond to track them all, often crashing under the barrage. It's unclear who orchestrated the attack, though suspicions are gathering around Auction organizer Stacy Kozakavich and her band of miscreant acolytes. 

“It’s a very smart attack. We start to mitigate, they react. It keeps on happening every time. We’re learning though,” said Lea Rodriguez, Google’s chief strategy officer, on a conference call Tuesday afternoon. “Revenge, blackmail, activism, or just too damn many people rushing to help out can motivate these attacks,” she added. “It’s like a dog pile.”

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Gifts of Art

When Flax Art closed their San Francisco store, they gave Peralta a big donation of materials. Ellen and our students have been having a great time with them ever since. Thanks, Flax Art. 

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FULL CALENDAR

• Feb 11, 9am-1pm: This is the Garden Work Day you're looking for. Come for whatever time you can, especially if you're a second grade family, cause you're sponsoring this bad boy. All welcome. 
• March 1: 6pm, dinner; 6:30 pm PPTG meeting. Because you can't sit in your house and eat ice cream and chips night after night.
• March 3: Get outta that car and get to school the old fashioned way — uphill in the snow, both ways. Walk & Roll to School Day. Trinkets and swag for those who do. 
• March 7-8-9-10: early (1:30pm) dismissal. WTH? Almost an entire week of minimum days? Whose bright idea was this? Must be spring report card conference time or something. 
• March 18: 2017 World's Fair, AKA Peralta Auction. Your tickets are not going to buy themselves. 

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Rihanna: the only musical artist to produce Hot 100 #1 singles from seven consecutive albums.

Find the lyrics to a line in a well-known Rihanna song cleverly hidden in this issue. Less cleverly than last issue — lesson learned. Bragging rights and a Peralta mug to the first to send the correct answer to this address. This contest unfairly favors Rihanna fans. Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it.

Last issue's contest Answer: Bob Dylan lyric and song title "You're gonna make me lonesome when you go" hidden in the unsubscribe line at the very bottom of the page. 
Winner: split decision. Props and Peralta mugs to Peter Stemwedel, who got it first, with a little help from P-Broad + Bonnie Lockhart, beloved Peralta music teacher, who got it first without any hints.

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If you've got school or class announcements, or interesting community events that you'd like me to share with your fellow Peralta-ites in my special Peralta Broadcast-y way, contact me. I publish every two weeks or so, depending on how much progress I've made beating back my kudzu-like idleness. Kudos, complaints and your bright ideas for future posts can go to the same address.

Peralta Broadcast: Mr. Davis' Neighborhood, The Shortage, Reading Partners, Shiny New Contest

It took me weeks to sit down with Peralta first grade teacher Stephen Davis. I was beset by bouts of extreme laziness. I got better.

The Quiet Magic of Stephen Davis

On his first day as a substitute teacher, Stephen Davis, who had majored in Philosophy, confidently walked into a high school English class in Pinole with the highest of hopes for deep, intellectual conversations. 

It did not go well. 

Lucky for us, day two proved more satisfying. He was assigned a Kindergarten class in El Sobrante, team taught with another teacher. Mr. Davis knew immediately knew that elementary school was the place for him. “They listened to me, and it was fun hanging out with them.” 

By that time, Mr. Davis had already been searching for the epiphany of what to do with his life for several years. After college, he spent a year backpacking around Europe and the Middle East, waiting for his professional path to become clearer. It didn’t. 

Following his stint abroad, he worked in Yosemite for nine months, thinking that perhaps some solitary time in the back country would make things clearer. Didn’t happen — at least not in the way he intended. But he did meet his wife, so no complaints there.  

Next, he turned to graduate school to clear things up, waiting tables to support himself while studying (even more) Philosophy. During that time, he had a friend who turned him on to substitute teaching, and … you already know where that went.

Not that it was ever obvious that he would become a teacher. “All the way through school, I was the quietest kid,” he shared. “I won an award for being the shyest student. I never raised my hand. In high school, I played basketball, but I was too shy to walk to the bleachers before or after my game. I would wait until halftime in order to easily blend in with the crowd.” 

Traces of that childhood shyness are not hard to imagine in the present day Mr. Davis. He’s still a quiet person, though it’s more philosophical than pathological. “In class, I find that the less I talk, the less the students talk.” First graders, it turns out, do take behavioral cues from the teacher. 

“The best thing about them,” he offered, “is that they’re always entertaining, and bundles of energy. And they have a certain gullible innocence — they believe my magic. They’re not jaded. Even if I’m feeling tired, they wake me up. Days go by so fast. I want and need just another hour with them every day.” 

Up and coming for the first grade are two signature projects. First up: the Underground Railroad Unit. “The students learn about this project and they dive right in. They're never too young to learn about even these painful periods in our history and how people like Harriet Tubman fought injustice and persevered.” 

After that comes the perennial favorite Rainforest Unit and Project, which most of them already know about from older siblings. “I’ve already told my students that we’ll be “flying” to the rainforest, on Air Davis.” Some of them, perhaps, do believe him. The magic is there, either way.

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As though the bacon shortage weren't bad enough. This just in.

The Babysitter Shortage

A babysitter shortage looms in your near future. It looks to hit right around the night of March 18th, 2017. 

It is estimated that the total amount of babysitting available in the middle of next month could be as much as 20% less than expected. Furthermore, there is talk of a near doubling of the cost of babysitting, squeezing hopeful parents and making the overall cost of Child-FreeTime (CFT) skyrocket. 

Presumably, this will mean a shortage of nearly all babysitting hours, including Babysitters Too Young To Stay Past Midnight and Sitters with Driver’s Licenses, but not the cherished Free Grandparental Babysitters (hi, Mom — love you). 

Brief Babysitter Shortage Q & A
So You Won’t be Caught Unprepared

Why will there be a babysitter shortage? 
The reason for the shortage is that it was easier to accept a misogynist than a woman in the White House the surge in demand due to the Peralta Auction. 

Did global warming cause the babysitter shortage? 
No. That's silly. 

Is the babysitter shortage a good thing? 
Of course not. Staying home all the time is baaaaaad for your soul. The Broadcast cares about your soul. 

What are the broader implications of the babysitter shortage? 
A pronounced upswing in stir craziness and spousal sniping obvious to even passing observers. 

But you, readers, are forewarned about the predicted mid-March babysitter-pocalypse, so you can lock in your supply now. 

Why am I joking about this? 
This is the Peralta Broadcast. What did you expect?

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Reading Partners @ Sankofa

Psst. Wanna to double a kid’s rate of learning?  

What if you knew that all it would take was one hour of your week, one-on-one with a kid in our community, as a Reading Partner?  Last year, nearly nine in ten of Reading Partners’ K-2 students brought their reading skills up to grade level. It’s hard to argue with results like that.

A link in School Board member Jody London’s website introduced Ken Rice both to the Reading Partners program and the idea of volunteering at Sankofa. 

Ken, currently heading the leaderboard for ‘Longest Time as a Peralta Parent,’ has been volunteering at Sankofa for the past year, where demand for tutors far outstrips supply. He sees his involvement there as a basic equity issue. “Unlike Peralta, most of Sankofa kids are reading below grade level. I hoped I could help a few of those kids.” 

“Their program is highly structured which I appreciate since I have no experience teaching kids how to read.  Reading Partners has a specific lesson plan for each session. There is a site coordinator at Sankofa to handle any problems and coordinate the sessions,” he shared. 

If you are interested in volunteering contact either Shelby Ashbaugh or Kenna Williams, the site coordinator at Sankofa.

You can also ask Ken more about his experience.

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FULL CALENDAR

• Feb 17: Chewing community. Stewing community. Suing community. There are a lot worse things you could do with community. Brewing Community: A Love Affair. After drop-off by the 63rd St entrance to the school. Coffee, morning treats, gab. 
• Feb 20: In honor of former presidents and also in recognition of some people's need for a 3-day weekend to blow us out of the February doldrums, no school.
• March 18: 2017 World's Fair, AKA Peralta Auction. This is just a warning shot across the bow. More info to follow, over and over, inexorably.  

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SHINY NEW CONTEST

Bob Dylan, American songwriter, singer, artist, writer, and winner of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature.  

Find the lyrics to a line in a well known Dylan song cleverly hidden in this issue. Hopefully, not too cleverly, but time will tell. Bragging rights and a Peralta mug to the first to send the correct answer to this address. I know this contest unfairly favors Dylan fans. Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it. 

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Look Who Wants Your Two Cents

Your School Board is looking for a new Superintendent, ideally one who will stay here and do good for a long time. They're also hoping you will share your opinion on the qualities, experience, and other factors that are important to you in the next Superintendent. If you have already taken this survey, wow, you're quite the overachiever. And thank you for that. If this is news to you, then by all means, go for it. Superintendent search news + the survey in languages other than English available here. 

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If you've got school or class announcements, or interesting community events that you'd like me to share with your fellow Peralta-ites in my special Peralta Broadcast-y way, contact me. I publish every two weeks or so, depending on how my near-monastic vow of sloth is going at that time. Kudos, complaints and your bright ideas for future posts can go to the same address. 

Peralta Broadcast: To E or not to E, Salad days, African American Lit Read-in

To E or not to E?  That is the question, but not always the most interesting one.

Hands On with Anne Larsen, Lead Scientist

She wasn’t always Anne.  

Fourteen year old Ann Larsen decided to add a silent ‘e’ to the end of her name. ‘Anne’ seemed more elegant than plain ‘Ann’. Now, she wishes she hadn’t, as she prefers the simpler spelling (cue nods of knowing relief from parents whose children decide to change the ending of their names to ‘ie,’ dotting the ‘i’ with a heart.) 

The impulse to return to basics carries through to one of her great passions:  gardening. Though obsessed with native plants, she admits to allowing a sprinkling of non-natives in her gardens — bamboo (contained in a pot, but still regrettable), a clutch of violas, rosemary, iris…  “Rosemary?” I question. “I thought that one was a native.”

She shakes her head firmly.  “Native to the Mediterranean.  It does thrive here, though.”  [Anne Larsen]

Ms. Larsen, also a Bay Area native, attended girls-only schools through the second year of high school. Teachers there might have described her as quiet, introverted and artistic. It was there, in 5th grade, that a teacher kindled a fire under her interest in science.  “Shetaught ‘hands-on’ science — we examined rocks and insect collections, we looked inside of chicken eggs.” 

Now a Lead science teacher in our district, she admits that hand-on methods require a lot of prep work on the part of the teacher, “but the payback is incredible.” Looking around her classroom, I see evidence of that payback — students’ vividly colored, precise drawings of favorite spiders (no shortage of Black Widows there) cover an entire wall. 

Up and coming for Ms. Larsen’s budding second grade scientists are more life science work with words and spiders, physics (studies of balance and motion), geology, a study of dinosaurs and the cretaceous period, and a lot of work with plants. 

Why does she teach second grade? “Second graders are sweet and eager to learn. You can still influence their behavior. There is a lot of learning and growth for them, especially in reading.” 

Though she has taught K-4th grade (at Peralta full time since the Fall of 1990, though before that still in Oakland), she also loves the second grade curriculum, in particular the science, the math, and the books they read. That’s where we bump into another of Anne Larsen’s passions:  reading. 

“I read all the time. I have to stop myself,” she confesses. “I also likere-reading. When I re-read something, I’m not so anxious to get through and figure out what’s going to happen. I have time to appreciate the mechanics and clues in the text.” Currently, she’s re-reading two books: The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman, and Wallace Stegner’s Angle of Repose.  “I suggest to my students that they re-read books as well. Some actually do.” 

When I ask her to share one of the most interesting things she has learned in her many years of teaching), she has to think about it for a moment.  Then she smiles wryly and shares, “Much of adult behavior is recognizable from child behavior. When I meet adults, I have a pretty good idea of what they were like as kids.”
 

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Breaking news about what your kids actually consume in the mysterious time called 'lunch recess'

Salad Days

One of the least traumatic ways of thinking about school lunch involves Peralta’s salad bar.  How great that our kids have the option of eating nice healthy salad right at school (which will not be sustainable unless we can get a more regular volunteers). 

But, do they actually eat it? And if so, how much? 

Just before lunch time, I spoke with longtime salad bar volunteer Anthony Pulsipher, now in his first year as salad bar coordinator, to get the scoop. 

Care to guess what the most popular items are?  (3…2…1…).  Ok, I’ll tell you: croutons with ranch dressing. Second most popular: corn. Third place goes to our old friend, lettuce. So, yes, they are children. 

The hardest sell?  Cucumbers and red bell pepper strips. 
 

“Starting today (1/31), we are integrating produce from Peralta's gardens. Pantaleon, the Edible Garden Manager, and I are developing a seasonal planting plan that will bring some variety of organic goodness to the salad bar,” Anthony added. Peralta Broadcast profile of Pantaleon here, in case you somehow missed it. 

All told, I wondered, how much produce did Peralta kids go through in a week?  Quite a bit, it turns out — four large bags of chopped lettuce (about 12 heads of romaine), around 100 little wrapped packs of baby cut carrots, and about 12 pints of grape tomatoes per week. And lots and lots of croutons, corn and ranch dressing. Way to go, Peralta school lunch eaters. 

“It’s a nice way for kids to experiment,” Anthony offered. “They see what their friends are doing, then they try stuff.” 

Speaking of peer pressure, HEY, adults:  the salad bar is seeking regular volunteers, preferably 2-4x/month, from 11:15-1pm. “If you want a taste of school, and to get to know the staff better, it’s a great gig,” affirms Anthony.  “And, you can spy on your kids a little bit.” Contact him for more information, or to sign up.
 

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Perhaps you thought of the Oakland Education Fund only as that organization spearheading the drive to fingerprint and TB test us all to death in exchange for the privilege of driving our own kids and their peers on field trips? That's simply not true. It's a vicious lie, spread by their enemies, who want to discredit them. They do other stuff, too, like this: 

African American Literature Read-In

A citywide reading celebration, February 6 – 10

Peralta parents/guardians/grandparents are invited to volunteer to read a book out loud to children in the classroom. You can contact librarian Sonia Kreit-Spindt if you're interested in volunteering at Peralta.

You can also sign up to volunteer to help out at another OUSD school. More info here.

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FULL CALENDAR

• Feb 1: 6pm: dinner. What's for dinner? Not your problem. All you have to do is show up and eat it; 6:30pm: movie: Creating Gender Inclusive Schools; free child care for littles and people who act like them. 

• Feb 2: Go ahead. Make my day.
• Feb 3: Go ahead. Make your day. Sashay, Sidestep & Sprint-bike to School day. Small treats for those who arrive via human-powered means. 
• Also Feb 3 (we're double booked): Lice check. And you thought the lice preferred PayPal. Professionals from Nitwits will check your kids' heads for free. They'll send a note home letting you (and only you) know if your child needs to be treated for lice. Permission forms for this have gone home. More available in the office. Sign and return (with a YES or a NO, it's totally up to you).
• Feb 11: 9am-1pm. The mother of all Garden Work Days. Sponsored by Mother Nature with an assist from the 3rd grade. 

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Previous answer: The Tale of Despereaux, by Kate DiCamillo
Winner: Hadas Wimbish
Number of entrants: one. It's a sign.
Time it took Hadas to win: eleven days. Also a sign.  

'Don't Read Me' seems more apt. All things run their courses. This contest has done likewise. Next edition, we'll move smartly along to something new. 

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If you've got school or class announcements, or interesting community events you'd like to share with your fellow Peralta-ites, or if you just feel like it, please do contact me. We publish every two weeks or so. Kudos, complaints and scintillating ideas for future posts can go to the same. 

Peralta Broadcast: Love for us Parents, Dinner and a Movie, contest

She loves us AND our kids. Plus, she taught my kid to dab. 

Dancing with Feet, Ideas, Words and Sherice Tyler

Like pretty much everyone in high school, she was just looking for an alternative to standard high school P.E.

In 1996, Berkeley High School junior Sherice Tyler discovered the West African dance troupe Diomano Coura. She decided to give it a try in lieu of P.E. Fast forward twenty years: she has deepened that simple introduction into a lifetime passion that has taken her to Taiwan, Washington D.C., New York and beyond.

Pursuing her dance interest with gusto meant that Sherice took extra time to get through college. But when it came time to decide what to do with her life, her West African dance practice also pointed her toward her eventual vocation: teaching. She worked in West and East Oakland, and North Richmond through Destiny Arts Center, Opera Picola and Sports4Kids (now Playworks), which she loved, but also, found restrictive. “I wanted my own program, where I could emphasize my own values.”

Soon, she got her chance through Aspiranet, who was looking for an after-school coordinator. They got that and so much more with Sherice, who landed happily at Peralta in 2008. Here, she found the culture and values she was seeking already in progress. 

“It was a little but of culture shock for me coming here from other programs,” she admits. “At Peralta, the students were already playing with one another, and respecting each other.” She saw her job at Peralta as more reinforcing values and making small adjustments, without changing too much of the structure.  

My fellow parents, here’s something we don’t hear everyday: “I love the parents,” Sherice, herself mother to Peralta 3rd grader Jayla, volunteers. “At other sites, I had to hunt and chase down the parents if I wanted to talk to them. Here, the parents initiate communication.” 

Clearly, Sherice feels the love. She also returns it. “Students love us. We love the students. I have students who deeply enjoy our program. I have families who thank us out of the blue. We are not so separate from the school. Rosette has folded us in to the school program, with Dannese and Daniel working in the classrooms as aides. I’m really loving it here right now.”

All this love will not stop her from taking an eight week break, though, come the end of April. What? Congratulations are in order: Sherice is pregnant with her second child, to the delight of future big sister Jayla. Sherice will be pushing the PEACE Talent Show up a little earlier in order to hold it before the baby comes along.  “The Talent Show was one of our biggest hits — even staff performed.”

A desire for more creativity, with more outlets for it, directs Sherice’s dreams for PEACE’s future: field trips, presentations by artists excelling in their fields, more student performances, maybe even a YouTube channel to highlight student achievements. “I want everyone’s creativity to grow. I don’t want kids to look back and think it was all rules and structure.” 

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Dinner and a Movie

A few years ago, a group called Gender Spectrum trained your children’s teachers how to create classroom environments and curricula that support kids in exploring the full spectrum of gender expression. (That is a mouthful, I admit. Normally, I like to keep my writing shorter and quippier. I just couldn’t do it.)

Based on their work at Peralta, Gender Spectrum also created a short film, Creating Gender Inclusive Schools. At the February PPTG meeting, in addition to dinner, the PPTG will screen this film, and host a discussion with the filmmakers afterward.

February 1:  6pm, dinner; 6:30-8pm, meeting/movie/discussion.

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FULL CALENDAR

• Jan 20: So far, caffeine, pastry and chit chat addled parents and caregivers have raised some money for the PPTG, but come on, people, we can do better than this. Come together for our monthly ritualistic legal body chemistry-altering substance frenzy. Brewing Community, after drop off, outside the 63rd street entrance. 
• Jan 27: Absolutely positively no school, because our teachers and staff will all be developing professionally. 
• Feb 1: 6pm: dinner. The eternal question 'what is for dinner?' will be answered by someone who isn't you; 6:30pm: PPTG Meeting for grown ups and people who can act like grown ups; free childcare for littles and people who just can't handle it. 

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"This story begins within the walls of a castle, with the birth of a mouse."

Which classic children's story opens with this line? First person to send the correct answer to this address wins a personal reply — from me — and... a stylish Peralta mug that will make you the envy of your fellow caffeine lovers at Brewing Community this month.  

Previous answer: Alice in Wonderland, (of course) by the pseudonymous Lewis Carroll (of course)
Winner: Peter Stenwedel, a frequent player on former winner
Time it took Peter to win: One whole hour exactly. Now I have to go find the bumper stickers because Peter already won a mug, and he doesn't need a whole set of them now, does he? 

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If you've got school or class announcements, or interesting community events you'd like to share with your fellow Peralta-ites, or if you just feel like it, please do contact me. We publish every two weeks or so. Kudos, complaints and scintillating ideas for future posts can go to the same. 

Peralta Broadcast: Unicycles, Kindergarten Genius, Miracle on 63rd St, Contest

Those of you reading carefully as not to miss a single morsel of Broadcast goodness noticed that I unilaterally declared Dec 2 "Unicycle to school day." Whimsical, eh? Turns out I wasn't entirely joking.

The Real Unicycle Revolution  

Born in revolution and nurtured by struggle... Yep, we're talking about a Peralta student (and several alumni, now gracing Claremont Middle School with their single-wheeled style) who actually do often unicycle to school. I had no idea. Now I know, thanks to sharp-eyed unicycle-mother, Star Lightner, who let me know that my fiction was not so far from the truth, an experience I think we can all identify with as of late.

I was trying to think of a graceful way not just to plunge right in to the nuts and bolts. But why not let the unicycle story imitate what I would look like if I tried the activity? Let's all plunge (in) together. Here's the straight unicycle dope + photographic evidence of actual unicycling on our campus:

Alyssa, unicycle pioneer

How?

By falling off a lot. 

Then, you ride while holding a fence. 

Next, you try riding but you let go of the fence.  

You fall over and over and over. You keep riding and falling, until you don’t.

I must not look convinced. “More people doing it makes you want to do it, too,” Alyssa Riddell (Peralta 4th grader, pictured at left), offers, though many clearly have yet to succumb to its charms. 

Who?

Alyssa, her brother, Ethan Riddell (Peralta, ‘15), Jack Klein (Claremont, 7th grade), Henry Kagiwada (Peralta, ’15) and several other Claremont 7th graders formerly at Chabot. 

Why?

Ethan’s friend, Jack, started doing it under the tutelage of Jim, the Unicycle Evangelist.  That would be Jim Sowers, basketball fanatic and lawyer by day, who helps would be unicyclists most Tuesday evenings at San Pablo Park. After a year, Ethan decided it looked pretty cool.  He got in on it.  Four months later, his sister, Alyssa, not one to be left behind, gave it a shot. “It seems like people who start more recently are learning faster and faster,” offers Ethan, by way of encouragement for the brave and curious. 

Where?

In 6th grade, Ethan and a group of other 6th graders rode most days to Claremont and back home on their unicycles. This year, Alyssa occasionally rides to Peralta on unicycle, but they’re both more likely to be found back at San Pablo Park, practicing Unicycle Basketball.

Unicycle Basketball

What???

Yep, I said, “Unicycle Basketball”, which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like:  regular basketball, but on one wheel. Dribbling happens while cycling, hopping or idling.  Traveling is called based on wheel revolutions. The youth team plays several exhibition games during halftimes at Cal Women’s Basketball games.  They’re ramping up to try out for the golden fleece of youth Unicycle Basketball:  a Warriors half time show.  

Injuries?

“We wear helmets,” both Riddells proclaim.  Yes, but what about the rest of you? 

“Just the other day, I got my middle finger caught in the moving spokes of the wheel,” Alyssa admits.  Did it get all black and blue? Was it sprained? “Nah. But it hurt when I played basketball, so I was careful with it.”

“Just bruises and scratches for me,” says Ethan, “Mostly on the shins.” 

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Camille Calica: Local Punk Sculptor Makes Good as Kindergarten Genius

The first thing I learned about Camille Calica was that she reads educational theory for pleasure. She knows that’s not everyone’s cup of tea. But it’s hers. She relishes the chance to learn more about how young minds work and learn. 

Now in her second year as half of Peralta’s Kindergarten teaching team, Ms. Camille feels like she’s teaching just the right age kids, an age that she feels attached to. 

As a beginning student at Rockridge Elementary, across from C.C.A.C. (now known as C.C.A.), she vividly remembers the joy of getting lost in a book, and the pride she felt at being a good reader. “I came in to Kindergarten already reading, so I was placed in the Tigers, an advanced group which was actually with the 1st graders. I felt so big.” 

Ms Camille and family

Feeling ‘big’ felt great to little Ms. Camille, who describes herself as a child who always wanted to do the right thing. “I was big on following directions.” The rules-oriented Kindergartener gave way to a punk rock sculptor, who worked with ceramics and bronze. 

Perhaps not the most obvious choice to become a teacher, you might think. But punk Ms. Camille found her way to teaching art at camps to children. That’s where she discovered she loved working with children. 

The best thing about Kindergarteners, Ms. Camille shared, was how excited they are to be in school. “They’re so open to new ideas.  Kindergarten is about using what you learn and know to make meaning. You can see their internal lightbulbs go off when they realize they are the meaning-makers, whether it’s through their art or writing.”

While she was raising her own children, Ms. Camille taught art at Oakland’s Museum of Children’s Art, and she also taught adults, but she couldn’t wait to get back to Kindergarteners. “They’re silly. And I’m a bit silly, too.”

Ms. Camille’s fantasy classroom would include a large, dedicated space for a messy tinker lab. She now has a small area and some tools that her students can use, but if money were no object, she’d have a full-on organized maker space for kids to explore and use, limited only by the confines of their own imaginations. 

Coming up next for the Kindergarteners? Well, she can’t say, exactly.  Not because it’s a secret, but because Ms. Camille prefers to mold her class structure around the interests of her students. Students have expressed an interest in the ways they are different and the ways they are the same.“When I was a kid, everyone used to say, ‘We’re all the same’ but that’s not true, and kids know it.” She is planning a study looking at, acknowledging and appreciating both similarities and differences.

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"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed caffeinated citizens in rain slickers can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." — Margaret Mead & me

Garden Workday Miracle

Remember last Saturday? The heavens opened. It poured rain all morning. That was Garden Workday.

A small band of gluttons for punishment dedicated gardeners braved the torrential downpour to replant the area behind the mound with native, drought, and hopefully kid/foot tolerant grasses. We will soon know if such a thing truly exists.

Good news/bad news… First, the bad: they had to expand (and gate) the fenced-off area to allow the new plants to take root. Now, the good: the fence should come down around Spring Break, after which that area will once again be open to the local fauna, aka your kids. Heads up: the area under the fruit trees may be next in line for the fence treatment.

Next: the sodden gardeners helped the residual sod Escape from Alcatraz Avenue. They completed the de-sodding that began last year, replanting with natives and drought tolerant plants, along with some exceptional rocks. More rocks will probably be coming in the near future as well. I love rocks. Don’t you? Really low maintenance. Rocks rock.

Finally, the female Kiwi in the Kindergarten yard now has a potential mate, if she wants him: Mr. Tomuri (a variety of Kiwi). There may be little kiwifruits in the foreseeable future. We’ll just have to let nature take its course.

pecial Peralta love to these hardy gardeners, as well as to Cole Coffee for providing a much-needed boost to the morning. Special Peralta fingers crossed for the new plants. Your next chance to join the dirty fun will be February 11th (no work day in January).  

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FULL CALENDAR

• Dec 16: Peralta parents + caregivers are held in the thrall of a hauntingly addictive elixir that promises hours of concentration and attention, plus a welcome chatty good cheer to those who consume it. Bring it on, I say. Let's Brew us some Community, dang it, right after drop-off outside the 63rd st. entrance. 
• Dec 19-Jan 2: No school. Not for any reason. No matter how hard your kids beg.   If 20+ families sign up, P.E.A.C.E. available Jan 19-21, 26 & 27. For the rest of us, peace not likely to come until...
• Jan 3, 8:30am: Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Your faith was strong but you needed proof. Here it is: school starts up again. 
• Jan 4, I'm sorry for those of you who were really counting on it, but there's NO PPTG meeting. Try again in February. 
• Jan 6, Hop on One Foot to School Day. Tell you what, you can even switch feet half way there. Or, just come by human-powered means, if possible. Treats, goodies and a sticker for those who do. 

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"[redacted] was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, 'and what is the use of a book,' thought [redacted] 'without pictures or conversation?'"

I had to take out the name, because duh. Which classic children's story opens with this line? First person to send the correct answer to this address wins a personal reply — from me — and... a stylish Peralta mug that will make you the envy of your fellow caffeine lovers at Brewing Community this month.  

Previous answer: Miss Rumphius, by Barbara Cooney
Winner: Peter Jarausch, parent of Kinder kid, Anneliese. 
Time it took Peter to win: One hour and ten minutes, AKA forever. Note that even if you've already won once, you can win again. Like cheating. I would just swap out your prize for something that you don't already have. 
Note: We are all quite worried about Miss Rumphius' wanton spreading of a potentially invasive botanical species throughout the countryside in Maine. Can someone look in to this in their copious amounts of spare time? 

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If you've got school or class announcements, or interesting community events you'd like to share with your fellow Peralta-ites, or if you just need a friendly electronic ear, please do contact me. We publish every two weeks or so. Kudos, complaints and scintillating ideas for future posts can go to the same.