Science Program

Garden Program

The Felta Education supports the garden program as a living laboratory. The garden is being integrated into the educational curriculum to teach children not only about plants, nature, and the outdoors, but other subjects as well. The garden is used to teach students about history, economics, poetry, and math, but is still primarily used for science studies. The school garden provide an environment in which students can learn to work with teachers, parents and the community while growing plants and learning the relationship between people, plants, wildlife and their environment. The lessons that are taught at the garden site are limited only by one's creativity.

During the spring and fall, each class works in the garden once a week with a garden coordinator. The garden is an outdoor classroom for studies in life science, biology, ecology and nutrition studies. Students learn to view organic materials as a resource by making compost and managing the vermicomposting bins (composting with worms) that handle all applicable waste from the cafeteria. For more information on our composting, see details under School and the Recycling Program. Students sow seeds, transplant seedlings, weed, water, harvest, and most fun of all cook and eat the bounty from the garden. Some of the beds in the garden are used to provide the cafeteria with organic vegetables and herbs. There is also an effort to provide the salad bar with all of the salad greens needed in spring and fall.

The Garden Program offers a variety of benefits:
• Gardens offer a dynamic setting to integrate every discipline, including science, social studies, math, reading, environmental studies, nutrition, and health.
• Students develop confidence, self-esteem, and a sense of environmental stewardship through the hands-on learning experience of designing, cultivating, and harvesting school gardens.
• School garden projects nurture community spirit, common purpose, and cultural appreciation by building bridges among students, school staff, families, local businesses, and organizations.
• A garden is a wonderful way to beautify and revitalize school grounds.
• Participation and involvement in vegetable gardening may increase students’ fruit and vegetable consumption.
• By incorporating composting into the school garden, students actively participate in maintaining the soil health of their garden and learn about nutrient cycles and ecology while also decreasing the amount of school waste sent to landfills.
• School gardens may even help to improve standardized science test scores-California's Life Lab Program is presently cultivating outdoor gardens in over sixty schools. On standardized science achievement tests given six months after participating in Life Lab, students scored "significantly greater gains," compared to a comparable group involved in traditional science instruction.

Technology Program

Because technology continues to play an important role in modern industrial society, integrating technology into the school continues to be a goal of the Felta Education Foundation to help prepare students to succeed in a rapidly changing world. "Technology is transforming society, and schools do not have a choice as to whether they will incorporate technology but rather how well they use it to enhance learning" (North Central Regional Educational Laboratory & Illinois State Board of Education, 1995).

To ensure that technology is effectively integrated into the school, the staff closely works with the media instructor to blend curriculum standards into a technology plan. The foundation recognizes that using technology means more than providing for the acquisition of computers and software. To be successful, it is recognized that a formal technology plan must be implemented to promote meaningful learning and collaboration, provide for the needed professional development and support, and respond flexibly to change.

The foundation also enlists the support from a team that takes advantage of the expertise of community members and the input of parents and students. Planning partners may include the administrator/principal, teachers, district office representatives, parents, potential business partners, and a representative from the county office. Ultimately, the outcome of the committee work is the result of input from educators and community members with knowledge, experience, and expectations of the role of technology in the school.

The implementation of recent goals for internet installation and connection include the cautions that effective planning for equipment should be short-term. Technology is changing so quickly that it is imperative to evaluate the plan on an annual basis to incorporate recent advances in development.

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Science/Social Science

The science/social science programs are curriculum-based as well as popular among the student population at West Side School. The upper elementary school grades have an opportunity to an outdoor educational experience relating to the grade level curriculum in the related subject area. The fourth grade outdoor project involves a trip to a Russian settlement in Fort Ross, CA where students re-live California history while living at an actual fort. The students take on a character from the 1800’s living in a fort with a specific role to be carried out. Students learn what it is like to be a fur trader, learn to cook the foods of the time, and live in the forts in the Russian settlement.

The fifth grade project involves students in a Maritime Program exploration into the lives and ways of the 1900 sailors. The goals expand to place an emphasis on building self-esteem, a sense of responsibility, respect and cooperative learning skills. The children are on a vessel and learn about the basic requirements for a sustainable community.

The sixth grade attends the Pacific Environmental Education Center on the Mendocino coast. The program offers a coastal ecology program to supplement classroom study. Several tide pool areas rich in abundance and diversity provide an excellent environment to focus on the study of marine biology. First hand field experience provides a unique learning opportunity normally unobtainable ina standard school curriculum. The program’s emphasis is on the interdependence and interrelationship of human beings and the physical environment in which they live, taught with the hope of developing within students an environmental ethic and respect for the natural world.

Physical Education

Current research findings and recommendations, including the U.S. Surgeon General’s Report on Physical Activity, indicate consensus on the importance of regular, quality physical education and daily physical activity programs for all students, kindergarten though 12th grade. It is troubling to learn that the percentage of children who are overweight or obese has more than doubled in the last 30 years.

The staff and parent community has sought out the Felta Education Foundation to supplement the existing Physical Education Program at West Side School. The foundation has begun the process of recruiting a committee of experts along with staff members to offer guidance in gathering data and determining what the priorities will become for our children in the area of physical education.

The foundation has begun to study what experts report on the subject of physical education in schools. The National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE), a nonprofit membership organization is dedicated to strengthening basic knowledge about sport and physical education. They believe that putting knowledge into action in schools and communities across the nation is critical to improved academic performance and the overall health of children.

Some of the findings include:
• Children age 5 and older should participate in at least 30 minutes of enjoyable, moderate-intensity activities every day. Children should also perform at least 30 minutes of vigorous physical activities at least 3-4 days each week to achieve and maintain a good level of cardio respiratory (heart and lung) fitness.
• 81% of adults believe that daily physical education should be mandatory in schools. Nearly three quarters (71%) of children agree.
• Most adults and children strongly believe that participation in team sports helps children learn lessons about discipline and teamwork that are important and will help them in the future. (Adults- 67% children- 69%)

The goals of our physical education program include:
• Fitness education and assessment to help students understand, improve, or maintain their physical wellbeing;
• Instruction in a variety of motor skills and physical activities designed to enhance the physical, mental, and social or emotional development of every student;
• Development of, and instruction in, cognitive concepts about motor skills and physical fitness that support a lifelong healthy lifestyle;
• Opportunities to develop positive social and cooperative skills through physical activity participations;
• Instruction in healthy eating habits and good nutrition; and
• Opportunities for professional development for teachers of physical education to stay abreast of the latest research, issues, and trends in the field of physical education.
• To have a sound program in place during the 2004-05 school year.

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