Fall 2011

SNELLING CONNECTION Newsletter of the Hancock-Hamline Collaboration New Job Opening: S.C. Co-Editor Hamline students: Apply today to be the next Snelling Connection Co-Editor! Snelling Connection Co-Editors teach a bi-weekly class of 4th, 5th, and 6th grade Hancock students.

Together, they create this newsletter, the Snelling Connection.* An academic background in education, English, and/or journalism is preferred.

Note: Interested students could have this count as an internship. *To apply and learn more visit: http://www.hamline. edu/snellingconnection

By Khalaya Cummings and Joy Iwaszko Hancock Student Journalist and Hamline Journalism Student Margot Howard

New H-H Members

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Music Pairings

Peace Projects

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Feature: Marc Anderson

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Chemistry Collaboration

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Swimming Comic Snelling Connection Staff

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As a Hamline student, Margot Howard started working with the Collaboration in 2006. After graduation she missed working with the Collaboration. Howard heard about an opportunity to be the Coordinator for the Hancock-Hamline Collaboration and Catalyst Programs, so she applied for the job and got it.

“When I heard that the job as the Coordinator for the Collaboration was opening I was very excited at the idea that I could be a part of it again. I see such great potential for the Collaboration.”

Howard has many ideas about what she would like to see happen with the Collaboration. She wants to strengthen the programs that already exist and start new ones that will benefit students from both schools.

Photo credit: Tallese Graham

Jane Turk Jane Turk started working with the Collaboration in September of 2011 as the Staff Liaison to the Collaboration. She assists with academic pairings and serves as a resource for teachers and professors who wish to develop pairings with Hancock.

Turk’s future hopes for the direction of the Collaboration are: “to increase faculty awareness of and participation in the Hancock-Hamline Collaboration and create more opportunities to connect Hamline University's academic course content to the work of the Collaboration.”

Photo credit: Amanda Skeivik

Craig Anderson

In This Issue:

Volume 15, Issue 1

New Hancock-Hamline Collaboration Members

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Craig Anderson began working with the Collaboration in 2007 as the Staff Liaison. He oversaw collaborative activities such as the tutor program and academic parings. As the Hancock liaison he acted as a go-between for both sides of the Collaboration.

Anderson is currently the principal of Hancock and he serves on the advisory board for the Collaboration. He promotes the Collaboration in the community, on the school website, and in all the school literature.

“Under the St. Paul Public School new strategic plan, Strong Schools, Strong Communities, I can see the collaborative increasing its out-reach services as all of the Hancock students will attend the same middle and high schools,” Anderson stated.

Photo credit: Tallese Graham

Fall 2011

Hancock-Hamline Each grade-level at Hancock pairs with a department at Hamline Universtiy. These Academic pairings provide both Hancock and Hamline students, staff and faculty with

Hamline Music Pairing with 1st and 2nd Grade

By Keleenah Yang and Eric Decker Hancock Student Journalist and Hamline Journalism Student

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My goal for the students is not that they should be performers, but it is that they should be participators and that they learn to be musicians, singers mostly.

”

- Rita Juhl Photo credit: Rayan Dhamuke and Taw Bee

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Mrs. Ricky’s first grade class meets with Rita Juhl in their weekly music session.

here’s music in the air, coming from the 1st and 2nd graders, as they play music in the Hancock Recreation Center. Hamline professor Kathy Thomsen and retired Hamline professor Rita Juhl each lead their own music class at Hancock. Thomsen teaches the 2nd graders on Wednesdays, and Juhl teaches the 1st graders on Tuesdays.

In the 1st grade music class, Juhl teaches the students how to sing by singing to them first and having them imitate her.

“They have wonderful ears and they can imitate anything I say to them and then they learn the songs very quickly that way,” said Juhl.

One day in Mrs. Juhl’s class, a student hit a piano key while Mrs. Juhl played the other keys. The class had fun and everybody was smiling big, broad smiles.

The music was in harmony and so were the voices.

“My goal for the students is not that they should be performers, but it is that they Page 2

should be participators and that they learn to be musicians, singers mostly. They have learned lots of songs since September,” says Juhl.

In the 2nd grade music class, Thomsen teaches the 2nd graders how to sing new songs and learn new rhythms and words.

“Everyone brings his or her own voice to music class, and we do a lot of moving to music, so the main musical instrument is the human body,” says Thomsen.

The students also get to play instruments.

Angel, a second grade student in Thomsen’s music class said if he were to choose his favorite instrument, he “would choose the xylophone because it sounds a little bit cool.”

Currently, the 1st graders are learning all about the instruments in the opera and are learning a piece on the piano. “It goes year round,” said Juhl, “They learned a lot of songs in September.”

Hancock 2nd grade teacher, Carol Woodbury, sees the benefits of the

music class for her students: “Everyone benefits from our music classes. It helps our classroom community when we create music together. Students make connections between music and other curriculum areas. They ‘read’ music and have noticed that counting beats is like fractions. They have learned songs in other languages and enjoy partner activities.”

Thomsen and Juhl volunteer because they enjoy bringing music into the kids’ lives. Thomsen, herself, enjoyed playing the piano and singing as a child. The students have fun, learn music and learn about instruments. There is a special bond between the professors, teachers and students.

“I enjoy teaching music to the 2nd graders,” said Thomsen. When asked what she most enjoys about this collaboration, Juhl says, “The connection I have with the students. The students are very, very special – every one of them.”

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Academic Pairings

academic pairings serve as one component of the Hancock-Hamline Collaboration. the opportunity to participate in a variety of unique academic experiences together.

Hamline and Hancock Collaborate for Peace

By Selene Mohammed and Joy Iwaszko Hancock Student Journalist and Hamline Journalism Student

Photo credit: Aydyrus Abdirahman Professor Jean Strait with 6th grade students.

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eace is wonderful, beautiful, and happy. There have been many peaceful people throughout history that have helped make the world a better place with their actions and words. These people and their actions are what students from Hancock Elementary and Hamline University took the time to look at.

Susan McNamara’s 6th grade class, Scott Johnson’s 4th grade class, and Hamline students in Professor Jean

Strait’s Educational Psychology courses all collaborated in a project about peace.

The peace project was about students working together on peace, meditating, researching, and writing about peaceful people, such as Martin Luther King Jr., Ghandi, Mohammed Ali, Nelson Mandela, Theodore Roosevelt, and Rosa Parks to name a few. The Hancock and Hamline students met once a week for four weeks in Hancock classrooms.

“They researched different people that put forth the idea of peace and presented what they had learned to their classmates at the end of our research. We also put together a peace quilt and talked about the symbols behind the idea of peace,” said Johnson, 4th grade Hancock teacher.

This project helped different groups of people through involving national and international communities by looking at world leaders. McNamara explains that the peace project helps increase students’ “awareness of people in the world who have been instrumental in creating peace in the world.”

Photo credit: Emma Luchsinger

This project also helps students be peaceful within themselves, towards other students and helps them practice to be peaceful when they are grown up. The project got students thinking about peace, which will “help them carry over some of the examples of ideas of how to be peaceful with one another, their classmates, and people they run into in everyday life,” explained Johnson.

The teachers and students that were involved in the peace projects said that they would all do it again if they could.

They also said that they would have liked to have had more time to spend looking at peaceful individuals and how they influenced others to be understanding and compassionate.

Peace is important in our lives and the world would be a different place without it. There are so many people in the world that it’s important to be peaceful to others because you never know how your actions might change someone else’s thoughts or actions.

Photo credit: Emma Luchsinger

4th grade student Sophia and her Hamline partner work on a peace project on Martin Luther King Jr. in her class (left). Sophia and her Hamline partner then present their peace project to the class (right). The peace project has been going on in Mr. Johnson’s class throughout the fall semester.

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Snelling Connection

Featuring...Marc Anderson

A Hamline Anthropology Professor collaborates with Hancock in unique ways.

Did you know? Reverend Raisei Marc Anderson is the Zen Meditation Leader at Hamline University. Anderson is also an adjunct professor in the Anthropology department at Hamline, where he leads an African drum ensemble and co-teaches an African Cultures class.

In 2010, Anderson introduced his mindfulness teaching at the Hancock Learning Center and still continues this collaborative effort today. This year, Anderson began a drum ensemble at Hancock, in which students meet once a week to play music using bucket drums. Read the following two articles to learn more about these programs!

Anderson leads Meditation in the Hancock Learning Center By: Najma Ali and Katie Conover Hancock Student Journalist and Hamline Journalism Student

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n a Tuesday afternoon in a 6th grade classroom all you can hear is the breath of calm students.

The room is as quiet as if no one was there.

Hamline professor Marc Anderson is the man responsible for this sense of serenity.

“He has a calming voice,” said Jeff, a 6th grade Hancock student who regularly meditates with Anderson.

Marc Anderson leads meditation in the Hancock Learning Center for 4th, 5th, and 6th graders twice a week. These collaborative meditation sessions between

Anderson and the Hancock Learning Center started last year.

Jeff explained to us what happens in a typical meditation session: “Marc comes in, we turn off the lights and we sit on the rug. A kid gets to ring the bell. We sit and meditate and focus on listening to our breathing for five or ten minutes.”

Afterwards, the students partake in a discussion for the last five minutes.

“I think the kids are starting to appreciate it and understand the importance

of mindfulness meditation and are developing some tools to be more calm,” says Anderson.

Meditation has proven to be a lifechanging experience for the learning center students.

“I’ve never really meditated before,” says Jeff. “When I was little, I thought meditation was sitting around with your eyes closed, but now I can meditate outside of school and when I get mad, it calms me down.” Rylann, a fellow 6th grader agrees, “I feel so peaceful.”

A Day in the Life of a Hancock-Hamline Collaborative Drum Ensemble By: Najma Ali Hancock Student Journalist

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group of about 25 Hancock students in the Hancock Cafeteria were sitting down in a circle of red chairs. Their eyes were closed while they practiced breathing to calm down and get ready for their class to begin. This was their second time participating in the Drum Ensemble, led by Marc Anderson in the Hancock cafeteria.

Anderson asked the students to repeat the following song phrase after him, “Zaminamina-ya qua-bo ay-ya-qua-bo.”

He taught the students not to be shy and to let their voices out, “It’s okay if you aren’t a good singer. I’m not a good singer but this is about having fun,” said Anderson.

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After singing, Anderson divided his class into two groups. He gave each student a bucket and two drum sticks.

Each group learned a special rhythm and then played their rhythms through a “call and response” method. One group called with their rhythm and the other group responded with theirs back. At the end of the hour, all the students were full of joy as they raced to their buses.

When Anderson was asked how he benefits from the drumming class, he stated, “I’m meeting new students and any group provides a new opportunity for me to develop and get better at my teaching skills.”

Photo credit: Aydyrus Abdirahman

Anderson’s Drum Ensemble of 4th, 5th, 6th graders and Hamline students meets in the Hancock cafeteria every Thursday afternoon from 2:00-3:00 p.m. to practice drumming.

Anyone from the Hamline and Hancock community is welcome to join.

Snelling Connection

Chemistry Collaboration at Hancock Photo credit: Marisa Gonzalez (Hamline Student)

Photo credit: Marisa Gonzalez (Hamline Student)

Photo credit: Tallese Graham

Hamline students lead a variety of chemistry experiments at different stations spread throughout the Hancock cafeteria (left, center).

Melissa Fierke does an experiment for the large group during the Chemistry collaboration (right).

By Mai Lee Xiong and Eric Decker Hancock Student Journalist and Hamline Journalism Student

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cience is everything around us. Science is important to everyone, but some students at Hancock in the Learning Center don’t get to learn much about science. Melissa Fierke, a Hamline Chemistry professor, decided to team up with the Hancock Learning Center to have a “Science Day.” The “Science Day” was on December 2 and was held in the Hancock Elementary Cafeteria. There were five different stations. Volunteers from Hamline lead the stations, and altogether 11 Hamline students participated.

Several experiments at the stations involved chemistry, but not all of them

did. There were many different topics such as Physics, Biology, Density, DNA, and Chromatography.

Aside from having hands-on stations, Fierke explained that they had, “a few demonstrations for the students to watch, mostly dealing with what happens when we freeze things.”

When I visited this collaboration during their “Science Day”, I saw many different frozen objects. Many of the frozen objects were being dropped on the floor like hail falling down from the sky.

Fierke thinks that science is important to everyone. Fierke likes science; she wants to understand how things work and wants to

be able to explain science to other people.

This is part of why she taught science to the Learning Center. “I like teaching chemistry because I like sharing my love of chemistry with other people,” said Fierke Later on in the future, Fierke wants to continue working with the Learning Center. Her plan is to do several smaller events during the school year where she teaches science in individual classrooms instead of having an event with the entire Learning Center.

Bringing science to elementary students is very important, especially when they do not get a chance to learn much of it.

Update: Hand in Hand Large Group Event On December 6, 2011, over 75 Hamline and Hancock students filled the Kay Federicks Ballroom on the Hamline campus. These students were participating in their first Hand in Hand Large Group Event, a tri-annual celebration of the Hand in Hand mentorship program. Hand in Hand “buddies” discussed college related topics, played a large group game of Bingo, and ate Jimmy Johns for lunch.

View a slideshow of the event, visit: https://sites.google.com/site/hamlinehih Currently, there are 91 active Hamline students who serve as mentors for Hancock students. That means there are over 180 individuals from both Hancock and Hamline who participate in this organization! To get involved with Hand in Hand, contact hamlinehih@gmail.com. - Tessa Mortenson, Co-Editor Page 5

Photo credit: Amanda Skeivik

Danaro and his Hamline buddy Jahvaughn Mcleod

Snelling Connection

Hancock Students Swim at Hamline By: Jeffrey Otis Hancock Student Illustrator

4th, 5th, and 6th grade Hancock students use the Hamline swimming pool once a month to enjoy swimming, learn about water safety, and take swimming lessons. Frank Vaccarro, as seen in the above illustration, is the head women’s and men’s swimming and diving coach at Hamline University.

Snelling Connection Update In the past, a group of Hancock students worked solely as Journalists to write the articles for the Snelling Connection newsletter. For the first time, our students were given the opportunity to contribute in a variety of ways. Five student journalists wrote the articles, four students served as layout designers to design the look of the newsletter, four student photographers took photographs for the newsletter, two student website designers began creating the first Snelling Connection website, and one student served as our S.C. student leader and blogger to manage the class and record everything we do. Finally, one student illustrator created a graphic representation of a Hancock-Hamline collaborative activity. -Tessa Mortenson, Co-Editor

Snelling Connection Staff Illustrator Jeffrey Otis | 6th Grade Journalists Keleenah Yang | 6th Grade Khalaya Cummings | 6th Grade Mai Lee Xiong | 6th Grade Najma Ali | 6th Grade Selene Mohammed | 6th Grade Layout Designers Alyssa Xiong | 5th Grade Deka Abdi | 6th Grade Malee Yang | 6th Grade Newal Mohamed | 6th Grade

Photographers Aydyrus Abdirahman | 4th Grade Emma Luchsinger | 4th Grade Rayan Dhamuke | 5th Grade Tallese Graham | 6th Grade Taw Bee | 5th Grade SC Co-Editors Amanda Skeivik | Hamline Student Tessa Mortenson | Hamline Student SC Student Leader & Blogger Yee Thao | 6th Grade Website Designers Ana Caballero | 6th Grade Dimitri Clauser | 6th Grade

Snelling Connection Contacts: E-mail | snellingconnection17@gmail.com Website | http://www.hamline.edu/snellingconnection Co-Editors: Amanda Skeivik and Tessa Mortenson Hamline University Students Hancock Student Advisor: Glynis Grostephan Hancock-Hamline University Collaborative Magnet School glynis.grostephan@spps.org Coordinator for the Hancock-Hamline Collaboration: Margot Howard mhoward03@hamline.edu Page 6

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