Our School is a tract of modest housing and is the most densely populated area of the Ojai Valley. The demographics of the school are reflective of the working class neighborhood with 73% of the students qualifying for free and reduced lunch and 50% of families classify themselves as Hispanic/Latino (highest percentage in the school district). Teachers understand the challenges faced by many families and the values this community holds dear. Many families walk to school. The school is accessible by foot because many families lack access to cars. Other families moved into the area because of the proximity to a neighborhood school and the ability to walk their children to school was an added benefit.
A community group, Food for Thought Ojai (FFTO), works with the school about serving healthier lunches and raising awareness about food, nutrition, and local agriculture.
The Ojai Valley Meadow Preserve borders the school on the south and contributes to environmental awareness and literacy. Students participate in programs offered by the community.Teachers use the meadow for language arts, fine art, Science and physical education. Last year the school won the Silver Award for
Green Ribbon Schools by the California Department of Education.
My Project
As we embrace technology as a school, we realize that this method is essential in teaching our students with the best available tools.
Students respond to lessons delivered in a visual and interactive manner.
We need to provide our children with the same visual and interactive methods students receive across the nation.
Our school culture is built on environmental concepts that involve sustainability and literacy. With these practices our students thrive on learning and with this knowledge earned a silver award in the California Green Ribbon Schools competition.
We want each classroom to bridge the digital divide. With a new document camera and TV to project the Internet or student work we feel our students will benefit from this kind of delivery. Our present document camera is old and does not consistently stay on during our lessons. Our screen does not produce a clear picture. When I teach I use visual lessons often. My students will also be able to use the chromebook as a touch screen. With this added hands on learning my students will increase their motivation in daily lessons.
Each teacher at our school wants to create a project with a document camera and a home theater system to bring our environmental sciences alive and continue to teach lessons about food chains, composting, native plants and animals. To ensure interest and mastery of standards a document camera and home theater display system will help with our goals. We continue to build on our technology and last year funded 4 desktop chrome base computers for each classroom. We were so grateful and want to continue to provide the latest materials for our population. We believe that our students deserve to learn about their passion for the environment with the latest technology.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Duncan and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
