Harborview Elementary School

Location
Harborview Elementary School
1255 Glacier Avenue (building address)
10014 Crazy Horse Drive (mailing address)
Juneau, AK 99801

Contact
Kathleen Yanamura, Principal
Vivian Montoya, Teacher
Phone: 907-463-1875
E-mail: yanamurk@jsd.k12.ak.us
Web site: www.jsd.k12.ak.us/hbv

Description

Harborview is one of six elementary schools in the Juneau School District. The district has a diverse student population, with a high percentage of Alaska Native students. Along with a focus on using multiple assessments to ensure that all students meet standards, the district strives to develop successful programs to ensure that their Native and minority students achieve success. The district strongly believes that by honoring the students’ native culture and language throughout the schools, they will be engaged and motivated to succeed.

In keeping with these goals, Harborview offers several options for kindergarten students including a mixed-age K–1 class, a Tlingit cultural immersion K–1 class, a looping K–1 class (children have the same teacher for kindergarten and first grade), and a regular extended-day kindergarten. All kindergarten and first-grade classes last five hours per day.

NWREL talked with Harborview teacher Vivian Montoya about her experiences with extended-day scheduling and looping. Montoya, who has 20 years of teaching experience, is Alaska’s 2002 Teacher of the Year. Since 1997, she has taught an extended-day looping class in which she stays with a kindergarten class through first grade. Her kindergarten class last year had 20 students; one-third were of ethnic minority groups including Hispanic, Chinese/ Vietnamese, and Tlingit/Filipino.

Because there are many options for kindergarten, we asked Montoya how children get placed in their class. "We try not to recommend one program over another," she explains. "We have an elaborate equity plan for placing children to balance the classrooms for ethnicity, and gender, and then try to meet specific requests." Although the class is officially five hours a day, parents do have the option of having their child leave up to two hours early.

Montoya’s philosophy and influences come from the Bank Street early childhood education model, which uses developmentally appropriate learning activities, focusing on play and play space. She has strong academic expectations based on each child’s individual needs. Montoya teaches the children to care for each other, and promotes a responsive classroom where students develop rules of conduct. One way of doing this is by using a talking circle to help children discuss rules. "Rules come from the kids, they own them when they are part of developing their own rules," she explains.

Montoya offers some observations related to the benefits of looping, and the benefits and challenges of an extended-day curriculum:

Observed Outcomes/Benefits of Extended-Day/Looping

Looping helps the teacher focus on the needs of each child and have time to plan for two years to meet them. During the summer, Montoya is able to plan first grade more effectively because of having known the students. "They are not just blank faces," she says.

The teacher’s relationship with the child is critical to learning. Looping strengthens this relationship with the child and the child’s family.

Challenges of an Extended-Day Schedule

Staff members are beginning to feel greater pressure to incorporate more academic components in the curriculum. These pressures are in response to concerns about test scores and dropout rates. Says Montoya, "I am responding by looking at individual students more closely and working hard to meet each one’s needs. I also spend more time on record keeping and looking at myself as a teacher-researcher to determine what works for kids. We try to think of ways to teach skills that are incorporated into activities, play, and projects, rather than just rote training."

Tips for Success

• Encourage parent and community involvement in the classroom. "I have never taught without parents in my classroom," says Montoya. She has a student teacher assisting her with special needs children, and has other aides and many parent volunteers. Parents are an important reason for the success of classroom organization and student engagement. Montoya encourages the parents to plan and implement activities, especially when they are really invested in the topic. For example, one father who has an interest in ecology and nature did a "plant of the week" lesson. High school students volunteer in the classroom as part of their community service. Harborview is also in a partnership with Big Brothers/Big Sisters Organization for a reading buddies program.
• Make sure the curriculum for kindergarten is developmentally appropriate, respecting the needs of individual children.
• Examine your motivation for having a full- or extended-day program.
• Look at the needs of the community and solicit input from family members. Find out what they want for their children.
• Making the transition into first grade works better when the students in the kindergarten class visit the first-grade classroom several times during the school year.
• Have the first hour of the morning be the least structured part of the day, for children to adjust to the day and to accommodate parents who would like to spend time with their children.

For more information about Harborview’s kindergarten programs, visit the Web site of another Harborview kindergarten teacher, Jack Fontanella, at www.jsd.k12.ak.us/hbv/ classrooms/Fontanella/fontanejhbv.html