Generations of learning

Harbour View Elementary invites grandparents into the classroom to add to learning experience.Harbour View Elementary School gave its students an opportunity to show grandparents what they’ve been learning and working on in class last Wednesday during Grandparents and Special Persons Day.

More than 700 attended the event, which kicked off with a school-wide recital featuring kindergarten through fifth-grade students singing Thanksgiving-related songs, reciting poems and dancing.

Many of the children were costumed for the occasion, and one grandparent showed up in traditional pilgrim attire.

Gary Smith of Camarillo, grandfather of 5-year-old Jeremy and 8-year-old Dylan Wiegman, said after retiring he began researching his genealogy only to discover that he is a descendant of William Bradford, who came over on the Mayflower.

“So naturally, we had to get an outfit,” Smith said, adding that his grandchildren were quite embarrassed.

In between numbers, Harbour View Principal Roni Ellis gave out awards to the grandparent with the most grandchildren, the visitor who traveled farthest to be there and the grandparent with the most grandchildren at Harbour View.

After the performance, visitors were invited to visit with their student’s teacher and learn more what’s been going on in the classroom this year.

Third-graders in Cindy Osterhout’s class took advantage of the opportunity to show off their manners, history knowledge and multiplication skills to grandparents and special visitors.

“We’ve been working on making introductions,” Osterhout said, adding that each student was instructed to introduce his visitor to the teacher to learn to be polite in a social setting.

After introductions, students sat down with their guests to interview them with questions such as “Who was president the year you were born?” and “What was your first job and how much did it pay?”

This allowed students to learn about their grandparents’ lives and to relate that knowledge to the history covered in class.

“It’s a little bit exciting,” said Grant Vis, whose mother, two grandmothers and great-grandfather all came to visit. “We’re going to be playing multiplication games and showing them around the room.”

Vis and the other students gave tours of the classroom, showing their guests what they’ve been working on.

Long Beach resident Barbara O’Connor, grandmother of Diego Segundo, said she was impressed with Diego’s knowledge and what he’s been learning in Osterhout’s class. O’Connor, a high school principal, said what’s most important to her is that her grandson can not only show her what he’s been doing, but explain why they have been learning about these things.

“Diego can tell me all the things he’s been doing, and he can really explain it,” she said. O’Connor also said Grandparents Day is a good opportunity for people to check in and see how their tax dollars are being spent and what kind of education the children are getting.

“We so desperately need public support and understanding of what we do at schools and in the classroom,” she said.

Osterhout said she was pleased with the Grandparents Day turnout.

“It’s fun to meet the people they write about in their journals,” she said. “It’s been a great turnout. The kids have all done a nice job. Everyone’s smiling -- that’s what’s important.”

* LINDSAY SANDHAM covers education. She can be reached at (714) 966-4618 or [email protected].

20051201iqqu8bknDOUGLAS ZIMMERMAN / INDEPENDENT(LA)Harbour View Elementary School student Grant Vis gets help from his great-grandfather, Vince Nelson, left, and grandmothers, Pat Addis and Janna Vis, as he fills out a worksheet during Grandparents Day.