Introduction
Dear Friends,
As another fall comes to a close, I invite you to join me as we celebrate all the wonderful things that happened over the past several months. Our team of undergraduates joined young colearners at our university-housed McEnroe Reading and Language Arts Clinic and our partnering sites, Harding Elementary and the Goleta Boys and Girls Club. We talked about our natural world, read about real and imaginary beings, and wrote stories about our experiences and future possibilities. Within this issue, readers will learn about all such creative work from our instructional team.
I am grateful to all who support our fall programming. Big thanks to the teachers at Harding Elementary, particularly Dru Frick, Anna Clark and Jorge Valle. I also want to thank Kristina Horn, assistant director of the Goleta Boys and Girls Club, for all of her efforts in supporting volunteers. I want to express my deepest appreciation for my colleagues who helped lead activities and creative projects–I could not do this work without Valerie Meier (Assistant Director of the McEnroe Clinic), Marcela Alvarez (Lead Coordinator of the McEnroe Clinic), and Sarah Hirsch, our Director of Writing.
I wish you all a wonderful holiday season. See you next year!
–Dr. D
Channeling Growth: Adventures in Reading and Connection
By: Lanie Allen, Lucia Giancinto, Sway Castillo, & Emma Buehring
Fourth Grade Power Hour is a program that fosters a love for reading, creativity, and critical thinking in young learners. This fall, students delved into Island Visions, exploring themes of sustainability and the challenges faced by Channel Islands wildlife. Alongside Harding Undergraduates (HUGS) volunteers, colearners participated in reading sessions and critical thinking games that enhanced comprehension and engagement, as well as an outdoor field trip to UCSB’s garden to further their knowledge on the environment and sustainable practices. A standout moment was the students final project with the HUGS, where students created their own board games inspired by what they learned. They used their creativity to design question cards, illustrate challenges like animal endangerment, and incorporate lessons about sustainability. These projects allowed students to showcase their understanding while having fun, and using their creativity.
We also had HUGS volunteers that worked closely with the SPED program. Volunteers highlighted the resilience of the students and found joy in witnessing their confidence and sense of community grow. In small groups, the HUGS made sure to engage with the children on a more personal level which proved invaluable. It allowed each child to feel seen and heard, fostering a sense of inclusion and excitement in our reading activities. By reading from slideshows about animals they were interested in, such as dolphins, cats, and dogs, we were able to create a tailored learning experience that captivated their attention. Exploring topics they loved not only made the sessions engaging but also encouraged them to tackle challenging words, which they learned to pronounce with confidence. The children's curiosity and growing vocabulary were inspiring, and we look forward to continuing Oxalis, further enriching their learning journey.
In the future, we’ll focus on building confidence and exploring new ways to learn. We’ll set fun goals, like creating a group project, improving reading fluency, or solving real-world problems. We will introduce hands-on activities, like experiments or creative writing projects, to keep learning exciting and fresh. We’ll also work on developing teamwork and communication skills through group games and discussions. Every step forward, we will celebrate to show how much progress they are making. Most importantly, we’ll continue supporting each other, asking questions, and staying curious.
Exploring Texts, Sharing Stories
By: Hannah Headlee, Lynsie Banh, & Lauren Wagener
Throughout our time with our 4th grade colearners, we shared our experiences, opinions, and insights. As HUGS, we created text-based activities and guided co-learners through selected readings. Some of our main goals as HUGS were to connect with the students, engage in literature, and learn from each other by exploring a variety of texts. Some activities we did with our young colearners included drawing pictures of animals, writing creative stories about nature and playing games related to the text. The texts we read included Island Visions, stories about sports, and stories about nature. Things we noticed while reading these texts is that our colearners would often pause and reflect from their own experiences when presented with new information. For instance, when reading about jellyfish, one colearner shared their encounter with one at a beach. The first day of getting to know our colearners, we found that we had many things in common. This led us to build connections and have a better understanding of each other. Building these connections helped create a sense of community where learning felt collaborative and enjoyable.
Throughout our classroom meetings, the young colearners preferred texts from the text repository, which featured shorter and more grade appropriate readings. Colearners really enjoyed having a digital text from the Island Visions website and the interactive features helped keep students engaged and asking questions. We came up with games, which allowed the colearners to have fun and connect with each other while learning.
In one of these games, we played “Guess Who,” where each colearner gave details about their animal and others had to guess what animal it was. Young colearners were also encouraged to write a short story about nature and draw images of the animals and environment that they were learning about. Through these activities, the colearners took time to work independently and then they were able to share their work with their classmates. Creating activities that help everyone get to know each other better foster a sense of community and encourages everyone involved to share their ideas and collaborate.
The Impact of MTSS
By: Lizbeth Toro Medina & Ray Sebastian Gaspar
At Harding Elementary School, the Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) plays a role in enhancing the colearners’ social and literacy skills. This approach is based on tier two of the MTSS support system where we engage collectively in several activities to facilitate literacy skills such as reading out loud and understanding the fundamental rules in English such as grasping the doubling rule. Through a welcoming environment facilitated by teachers and staff, co-learners felt at ease as each activity was unique ensuring the inclusion of a diverse learning approach as there were times when games or drawings were included in the learning process. There were also some moments of discovery where colearners learned or enhanced their understanding of concepts discussed during the session highlighting the importance of this environment.
An important next step to take in the MTSS room is to continue fostering the welcoming and supportive environment of the MTSS classroom at Harding Elementary. This allows colearners to build their confidence academically, while also supporting them on a social-emotional level. Walking into the room as a HUG ready to interact and work with colearners is how we can uphold the CBL values of making learning an engaging and impactful experience for everyone. It is heartwarming to hear "I want to work with YOU!" as you walk into the classroom or "I'm going to miss you!" as you head out of the classroom. It is truly a rewarding experience to step into the MTSS room and form strong bonds as HUGS and co-learners in the learning environment. It also shows how valuable MTSS is to Harding Elementary.
Game Day!
By: Keely Ross and Megan Lazzarini
On Fridays, we joined Harding Elementary, fourth-grade students to teach them games and activities that correlated with the environment and nature around them. Our role as HUGS was facilitating discussions regarding the environment and collaborating in games like Apples-to-Apples, Hedbandz, and Uno. One of our favorite activities was playing Hedbandz, a board game that involved putting a headband on with a card attached. The group has to answer questions that the headband-wearer asks to help them try and guess what card they have attached to their head. This game was so exciting to watch with one HUG and five co-learners as they collaboratively worked to help each other out.
Additionally, we each created environment-inspired gratitude lists and made them into paper airplanes, incorporating broader themes of clean air, recycling, and appreciation for nature. The students flew the planes and were thrilled to be outside, creating a plane, and racing them with their peers.
While our activities have been designed to be fun, uplifting, and engaging for the fourth graders, we have observed deep personal reflection within the students and a growing awareness of their appreciation for the environment around them. In the future, we hope to start working with the students earlier in the quarter. We loved building these connections and truly being colearners with the Harding students. While we have the opportunity to continue working with these colearners, we can plan ahead by creating fun activities for the students. We can also get their input regarding the types of things they are interested in so that we can plan and prepare for the activities and lessons.
Emerging Technology in the Classroom
By: Crystal Le, Poppy Walden, Patricia Atmoko, Mary Reyes, Yahaira Venegas, Danielle Holguin, Izzy Markham, Caren Chua, Nat Acosta
In the MTSS program, HUGS work to provide extra support to MTSS teachers and colearners in completing their goals for the session. One of the activities that HUGs lead consists of a reading session with a smaller group, or leading the prefix/suffix lessons with the whole group. During free time, HUGS also spend time connecting with colearners through interactive activities like games or drawing. One of the main discoveries that we made while working with these colearners was identifying an AI-generated book about Cristiano Ronaldo. When reading this book, the colearners were immediately critical of the errors that AI can make in imaging, grammar, and spelling. From this discovery, we learned that young people are aware and critical of emerging technologies in their learning, and can help us assess book choices in the digital age.
Considering next steps, we’d love to see colearners focus on comprehension skills and decoding multisyllabic words, along with working through more books in general. We would also like them to read books that are more culturally relevant to their personal lives and to engage with the content more through writing their own stories to allow them to be creative while also growing their comprehension and reading application ability. For example, if a text is about the medieval times, they could take the information from that reading and write their own medieval themed story based off of that information they gathered from the text. Additionally, it would be interesting to see co-learners read AI books with the intention of being critical of them. Considering that they’re growing up with generative AI and are already aware of the AI books that they’re reading. It may be worth exploring their ability to analyze these texts more critically and trying to distinguish AI written texts versus human written texts.
Magical Learning
By: Melissa Ruiz Cuevas, Sophia Arias Zarate, & Daniela Orozco
Expression and creativity go hand in hand when it comes to the development of learning in young students' minds. Younger students, specifically 1st-3rd grade, are still fascinated by the concept of learning, allowing them to view it as magical. They are very curious about the world beyond the classroom and seek for more as they learn. Using this as a tool for learning will create a positive and beneficial learning environment.
Activities allowed students to express themselves through colors, pictures, and using their imagination helped them connect with the material on a personal level, fostering passion and enthusiasm for learning. For example, when students worked on building sentences from a book, they were able to create their own sentences using a word bank as well as illustrate their ideas. One student, after working with a HUG, successfully completed his sentences and added his own drawings, which enhanced his understanding of the material. Colearners were encouraged to express themselves creatively. One colearner, after reading a book, suggested that more colors and pictures would make the story more engaging, reinforcing the idea that creative expression helps students connect more deeply with the material.
Furthermore, providing a safe space for artistic expression allowed students to demonstrate their personalities and interests, contributing to their overall growth. One HUG also noticed that when students were given the chance to work independently, their curiosity and hidden knowledge often emerged. For instance, one student, while reading a book about the ocean and the universe, would often veer off-topic to share his own insights. Additionally, activities like the CRA helped students challenge their reading skills and showed their progress, providing valuable insights into how to better support their development. In all, these experiences emphasized that creativity, engagement, and personalized learning are essential in fostering both academic growth and self-expression.
Some next steps and wonders from our groups could be how we could continue to foster and create learning environments that use creativity and expression as the main way to learn in a learning environment. Additionally, students are becoming more and more curious so we would like to see more students receive more opportunities to vocalize their ideas. At this stage, younger co-learners are developing their own sense of confidence so it is really important for them to have that space to express themselves. We aim to build the confidence of all readers by giving them books they are interested in, have easy access to, and books they can relate to in order to spark interest and engagement.
Field Trip Recap
By: Caroline Paskus, Christina Crocker, Kay Chung, and Paula Shannon
On a bright and chilly Monday we gathered at 9am to receive our buzzing colearners after their bus ride from Harding Elementary to the UCSB West Campus Gardens. It was a delight to walk through the gardens with the same group of students we work with at Harding, seeing them outside their school-world, welcoming them into our beautiful, natural learning environment, and inviting more sides of themselves to surface. We talked about flowers and vegetables and their family’s food cultures as we walked through the gardens and paused at many points to laugh and listen to their memories of the flora in Mexico. They asked a lot of questions and indulged in the impulses to touch and smell the fragrant and sometimes spiky, sometimes soft plants. It was wonderful to be part of an experience that engaged all the powerful senses, that they might not use in a classroom setting, and brought out a sense of wonder and synergy between their background knowledge and noticings in the moment. In a few special spots, they stopped to draw what they saw and connected with in their journals, which we revisited later when we wrote a survival story together.
The community gardens were the perfect setting to deviate from a typical day of learning with our young colearners. It was really beneficial to see how they interact outside of the classroom and gain more insight into their personalities and home lives. The field trip was valuable for creating lasting bonds with the colearners and assessing their learning styles in a low stakes environment. After the field trip they became way more comfortable colearning with us HUGS. Also being in an environment outside of the classroom gave colearners that don’t typically speak up as much in conversation, space to be themselves freely without anxiety or pressure. Overall it created a safe learning environment for all.
Coda
By: Sarah Hirsch, CBL Writing Director
When we write, we bring ourselves to the page. Our experiences, our languages, our cultures, and our observations. Our senses play a key role in the narratives we write so as to give the reader descriptions of what we see, hear, smell, feel, and taste. As Stephen King describes in his book On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, “Description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the readers.” Over the last 10 weeks it’s been my privilege to talk with the HUGS about writing and how to help them collaborate with their colearners to create their stories. It’s important for all young learners to see themselves as sources, narrating the world through their eyes and interpretations. Writing is the opportunity to say what we think about a topic or subject, ask questions and explore curiosities. This can sometimes be challenging, but the work is inherently important because it’s a way to exercise your voice, share ideas with one another and learn from each other. As King notes toward the end of his memoir, “What you know makes you unique in some other way. Be brave.”
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