OMVNA Newsletter

April 2005
Volume 17, Number 3

From the Chair: Spring Bike Rodeo is Coming

Family Focus: PACT Alternative School

OMVNA Spring General Meeting and Bike Safety Fair

In the Garden: Simple Ways to Care for Your Fruit Trees

Future Topics

From the Chair: Spring Bike Rodeo is Coming
By Velva Rowell

Spring has sprung, and that can only mean one thing: time to get outside and get moving! That means riding bikes and trikes. In the spirit of community, your Old Mountain View Neighborhood Association is proud to sponsor a Bike Safety Fair on Sunday, May 15th from 1-3 in the afternoon on the Landels School blacktop.

The events include:

• The Mountain View Police Department will offer safety training and cone courses (for both children & adults)
• Helmet fittings
• Free helmets for children who need them - donated by the MVPD
• Bicycle repair demonstrations by neighborhood experts
• An opportunity to donate your outgrown children’s bicycle to another child in the neighborhood and possibly replace it with one that has been outgrown by someone else.
• Cookies and ice cream (because we like them)
• And more!

Bicycles, tricycles and unicycles are all welcome. This event promises to be fun for kids and parents alike and we’re expecting it to be well attended. We kindly ask that children not attend without an adult. Participation in cone courses requires a properly fitted helmet.

At this point, the planning committee, Aaron Grossman, Ken Rosenberg and I, are looking for volunteers to help make this event come together. Specifically, we need helpers in the following areas:

• People to register children/parents and make sure that everyone gets a chance to participate in every activity
• Bicycle repair experts to demonstrate things like emergency repairs, tire replacement, adjusting a bicycle to fit a growing child, chain maintenance, etc.
• People to manage the bicycle donation area
• Cookie and ice cream servers

If you are interested in volunteering for this event in any capacity, please contact me by phone at (650) 938-0389 or via email.

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Family Focus: PACT Alternative School
By Sandy Bartlett (and other PACT Parents)

Standing in the schoolyard garden, a parent asks a small group of 2nd and 3rd grade students, "how many rows of 5 plants each will we need if we want to plant 20 heads of lettuce?" The children look to each other and talk amongst themselves. "Four," shouts out Anton. Math in the garden is one of the many ways that PACT Alternative School encourages children to evolve and grow their natural curiosity and love of learning.

PACT Alternative School is part of the Mountain View - Whisman public school district and is currently housed at Slater School near the intersection of Middlefield and Whisman. PACT is a K through 5th elementary school that isbased on a specific educational model of discovery-based, experiential and developmental learning. Educational challenges are based on a child's readiness, not just grade or age, and teaching methods are innovative and address multiple learning styles. PACT highly values cooperation and community.

PACT Philosophy and Goals

Parent involvement in a child's education is increasingly viewed as a cornerstone of academic success. In PACT, parents and teachers collaborate on a regular basis and in novel ways that promote our central educational goals. .

Developmental Learning Opportunities

Innovative Teaching Methods and Curriculum

In acknowledgement of individual learning styles, PACT teachers and parents use a variety of teaching methods to engage all children. Material is frequently presented in an experiential, hands-on manner that allows children to gain knowledge through research and guided discovery. To achieve differentiated instruction and to allow small child-to-adult ratios, PACT classrooms may have several learning centers running simultaneously. PACT parents are encouraged to bring their own expertise into the classroom. Enrichment activities have included an extensive arts program, gardening, carpentry, electricity, engineering, dance and unique field trips. .

A Strong Community

A sense of community is naturally established in each classroom as teachers, parents and children regularly work together. We also strive to create a greater sense of community by holding family outings throughout the year. These activities, combined with school-wide events like family game night, help to build community at all levels. .

Who Are PACT Families?

PACT families come from all sorts of backgrounds yet hold a shared philosophy about how important it is to the child to provide a developmental and innovative learning environment that involves parents. Approximately 30% of PACT families are from the Slater neighborhood; 45% are from the school district at large and the remaining 15% come from outside the Mountain View-Whisman school district. .

Arts Focus Program

The PACT School has an intensive arts program called "Arts Focus" that is designed to help students explore art indepth in five subject areas: clay, drawing and painting, paper arts, textiles, and 3- dimensional art. In this program, each child rotates through all the disciplines over a two-year period. The program concludes each year with a professionalgrade art exhibit during the last month of school. Last year, the exhibition was held at Mountain View City Hall.

The enhanced arts curriculum is designed to; (1) substantially increase the number of hours the children participate in creative exploration, (2) expose them to a much greater variety of art media than what the schools are able to provide, and (3) contribute enormously to the children's cognitive, academic, and social development. The goal of this program is for the children to experience all phases of the creative process, with emphasis on the free expression of ideas (rather than on simply creating facsimiles of preestablished end products).

This program was conceived, designed and implemented by PACT parents who volunteer their time extensively to make it happen. It is funded by a grant from the Christensen Fund. .

Love of Learning

Two of my three children currently attend PACT. My son has been at PACT since kindergarten and is currently in 4th grade. My daughter is in her second year at PACT and is currently in 1st grade. Rare is the day that my children do not want to go to school. They see each day as a new way to explore the world and fulfill their love of learning.

If you would like more information about PACT, feel free to email me. Or you can contact the PACT program directly: Principal, Dr. Nicki Smith (650) 526-3530 or at www.pactprogram.net

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In the Garden: Simple Ways to Care for Your Fruit Trees
By Gina Thelen, MasterGardener in training

Walking through the neighborhood I see a lot of citrus and stone fruit. Many people are unsure of how to care for these trees or what to do with all the fruit. Maybe the trees came with the house, or owners planted them for beauty but didn't realize just how many oranges there would really be. Whatever the case, they now have a tree that can be both beautiful and productive.

In Mountain View we generally have good soil for fruit tree productions. So the most important thing you need to supply is the correct amount of water. .

How can you tell if your tree is over or under watered? You generally don't need to water established trees in the rainy season. The rest of the year you may need to add water, but how much? Look at the tree and the ground under it. If the leaves are puckered or curled and the ground is dry or cracked, add more water. Then check the leaves again in a few days. If the leaves are yellow and the ground is soggy, hold off on the water and let the ground dry out a bit. Check the leaves every few days. If they are greening up after a week or so, too much water was likely the problem. .

Fruit trees are pruned for a few reasons: to control size, control shape and control disease. Pruning demonstrations are given through garden centers and clubs. .

Fertilizer is used to supplement nutrition that the soil is not providing natively. If you are happy with the fruit production and the tree looks healthy, you do not need to fertilize. If you would like to increase production or if you have an unhealthy tree, the master gardener hotline provides free, research-based troubleshooting advise. They can be reached at (408) 282-3105 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday to Friday or on the web at http://www.mastergardeners.org/email.html.

There are two more simple things you can do to keep trees healthy. Pick up downed fruit. Rotten fruit is a great place for tree diseases to get a foothold. If you pick up under your trees you'll remove that problem source. Also take five minutes when you're outdoors to look at your trees. You'll catch problems earlier and see when the fruit is on the way.

If you find your trees are producing more fruit than you know how to handle http://www.villageharvest.org coordinates giving fruit for the hungry and might even come pick some fruit thus helping you help your tree.

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Future Topics

• The Dual Immersion Program
• Growing a Healthy Window Box
• Tell us what you want to hear

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The OMVNA Newsletter
is published by a volunteer editorial committee & distributed to some 2400 homes and businesses by volunteers.

To get in touch with us:

• Write to P.O.Box 391328, Mtn. View, CA 94039
• E-mail the editor editor@omvna.org
• Find us on the Web at http://www.omvna.org

The opinions printed in this newsletter are not necessarily those of the OMVNA Steering Committee.