Sunrise School gives kids a jump on academics

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October 12, 2009

Rachel Brown The Dalton Daily Citizen Mon Oct 12, 2009, 08:40 PM EDT

Fourth-grader David Aguilar gets a kick out of his orienteering class.

“We get to use compasses,” the Blue Ridge School student explained. “I like that.”

David is participating in one of 14 different programs offered through the school’s new Sunrise School program, made possible with a $3,575 grant this year from the Dalton Education Foundation. The money goes toward

Assistant principal Alan Martineau said dozens of students who arrived extra early in the morning last year were “sitting in here doing nothing.”

“It was basically just dead time,” he said.

So the school applied for a grant from DEF, the nonprofit agency that raises money from private sources and distributes it for special projects in the city school system. Some of the Sunrise School activities are academic, but many of them — while educational — are “just fun,” Martineau said. They include a DC Jaguars drama club, ballet lessons, a school pep club, orienteering classes, and practice delivering a morning school-wide televised news cast.

High school students from Morris Innovative High School tutor children in the mornings on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Mondays and Wednesdays, there are club meetings and extracurricular classes. The school doors open at 6:30 a.m., and Sunrise School classes begin at 7:10 a.m.

Parent Maria Adame said her fourth-grade daughter, Johanna Chavez, used to sit and read in the hallway while waiting for the bell to ring. Johanna would arrive at 7 a.m. because of her bus schedule, she said. Now, she participates in cheerleading and song-writing during Sunrise School.

Jose Guadalupe Acosta said his four children attend several Sunrise School activities including DC Jaguars and math tutoring. One son, who is in fifth grade, wants to learn to play guitar and hopes to take lessons during the next nine weeks.

“I think it is very good,” Acosta said. “It’s like in your house — if kids don’t have something to do, they’ll do something they shouldn’t. It gives them something to do, and they learn.”

Kindergarten teacher Jesmarie Vazquez coaches the DC Jaguars, and she said the drama program helps students build confidence. They also participate in several community service projects each year.

“It’s a drama club, but we’ve also learned to work together as a family,” she said.

Principal Lisa Goode said she’s seeking people in the community with different skills to teach children. Some of the students produce a weekly news show from the school media center. A history club for fifth-graders will involve an in-depth study of World War II and production of a World War II museum. “Geo Kids” open to fourth- and fifth-graders engages students in compass and map-reading skills as well as orienteering. “Chef Works” combines cooking and math.

“It is an impressive undertaking, for certain, but most importantly it provides opportunities these children would never have otherwise,” said Jean Lowrey, executive director of the DEF. “Many of these children do not have the enrichment opportunities available to some. Sunrise School is designed to create these opportunities.”

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Sunrise School gives kids a jump on academics

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