Summer 2007

Snelling Connection Newsletter of the Hancock-Hamline University Collaboration

Students Piece Together Ideas

College Begins in Kindergarten (CBiK) From: Preparing your Child For College: 2000 Edition http://www.ed.gov/pubs/Prepare/pt1.html

Why Attend College?

Whitney Klein

• Greater Knowledge: A college education will increase your child’s ability to think abstractly and critically, to express thoughts clearly in speech and in writing, and to make wise decisions. These skills are useful both on and off the job.

• More Money: A person who attends college generally earns more than a person who does not. For example, in 1997, a person with a college degree from a four-year college earned approximately $18,000 more in that year than a person who did not go to college.

• More Job Opportunities: Many jobs rely on new technology and already require more brain power than muscle power. In your child’s working life, more and more jobs will require education beyond high school. With a college education, your child will have more jobs from which to choose.

•

In This Issue: Bench Mosaics

1

Outstanding Awards

2

Wolfe Thank You

2

Collaboration Logo

3

Summer Word Find

3

From the Desk of...

4

Volunteer Feature

4

Speak Out!

5

Neighborhood News

6

Volume 10, Issue 4

Fifth grade students work with artist Laurie Watson to piece together broken tiles into a mosaic design that will adorn three benches.

By Jason Allen, Issam Himmi, and Phoua Thao Hancock Student Editors

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ith the help of community artist Laurie Watson, the 5th-graders in Ms. Smith, Mrs. Saari, and Mr. Bergthold’s classes are working on mosaics for the benches in front of Hancock. Mosaics are designs on a surface, made by fitting and cementing together small pieces of hard material, such as colored glass or tile. The bench mosaics will have three themes: earth, wind, and water.

Ms. Smith, one of the 5th grade teachers working on the project, explained how they chose the themes: “We have three benches so we thought it was a good idea.

It connects with the garden. The earth theme bench will include im-

ages like trees, grass, animals, etc.

The wind bench will include sky, clouds, birds, sun, and moon. The water bench will have water, fish, and seaweed.”

The bench mosaic project started in the fall when Hancock students broke tiles donated by Tile by Design. The tiles are a variety of different colors, from aqua blue to lemon yellow. Students worked in small groups to break the tiles into small pieces with hammers while wearing safety goggles and aprons.

After they broke the tiles, the 5thgraders went to work designing the mosaics. They looked through books and magazines to find pictures of things that fit the theme they were assigned to. Students compiled pictures of trees, clouds, fish, and other things that fit their theme of earth, wind, or water.

From these ideas, they drew pic-

tures that Laurie compiled into the final drawings to be used for the mosaics. She drew the designs on pieces of special wide-spaced netting. Laurie and the students are now working in the rec center art room to fit and glue the broken tile pieces into the designs on the netting.

The 5th-graders are hopefully going to cement the netting with the tile pieces on one or two of the benches this May or June. They also hope to have a ceremony to celebrate the completion of the benches.

This has been a great experience for all involved. The students really enjoy it. Ms. Smith wanted to especially acknowledge the great number of hours the artist is giving to this project. “We want to give a big thank you to our artist, Laurie,” Smith said.

Summer 2007

Congratulations to Award Winners!

By Whitney Klein Editor

E

since January and with 4th graders since October. She has been a very responsible volunteer, coming consistently, pleasantly working with students and following directions from the teaching staff at Hancock. She is a great addition to our school.” Congratulations Ho!

Thank You John and Dorothy Wolfe

By Samantha Henningson Collaboration Coordinator

A

ny working organization has periods of change and growth, and the Hancock-Hamline Collaboration is no different. Since its official start in 1991, the Collaboration has worked to strengthen relationships and the vision that College Begins in Kindergarten (CBiK). Many people at Hancock, Hamline, and in the community, have contributed their talents and energies to numerous daily shared successes.

An important milestone in the history of the Collaboration was the contribution of $25,000 over a period of ten years by John and Dorothy Wolfe. This contribution, which is matched by John’s employer, IBM, is in its last year.

The Wolfe’s generosity is particularly notable because they do not live in Minnesota. They knew that the work of the Hancock-HamPage

line Collaboration is unique and important for Hancock, Hamline, and the larger community.

In their original letter of intent to contribute, John and Dorothy Wolfe said, “It seems that providing a rich educational experience for children can result in a lifelong impact that at a minimum will impact the child’s life but could even extend to their family, community and beyond.” They were correct in their thinking about the impact of our work, where learners of all ages come together to experience new things and reflect on the future.

Many of the new experiences had by Hamline and Hancock community members have been possible because of the Wolfe’s vision and generosity. The Collaborative Mini-Grants, which are offered each year by the Advisory Committee, have allowed Hamline community members to explore their passions by teaching Hancock students and working

with the school’s amazing staff.

Hancock students’ learning has been supplemented by having experiences each year that might involve collaboratively writing a book, creating public art, writing pen pals in South Africa, exploring crime scenes, or learning about plants in the garden right outside the science room door. The minigrants have allowed fresh ideas and relationships to flourish.

The Wolfe’s donation has also allowed us to educate our community about the Collaboration via the Snelling Connection and to better document our success stories – this year with the purchase of a high-quality digital camera.

Recording our stories is a very important part of building on and sharing our successes.

At Hancock-Hamline University Collaborative Magnet School, 94% of the students want to go to college. This community of learners has succeeded in working together to instill the idea that

college truly does begin in kindergarten. Our work is not done, though. By expanding our work to include more parts of Hamline University, as well as learning from and with Hancock families, CBiK can move from a dream to a reality for many students. As a first step in this important process, kindergarten and sixth grade families will be invited to join their students on tours of Hamline University in May. The kindness of John and Dorothy Wolfe will support these family tours, representing an expansion of the vision of the HancockHamline Collaboration. We know that no individual learner can do the work alone. We are all tied to families and communities who we depend on for support and guidance. We look forward to expanding the collaborative community to better include Hancock families, Hamline alumni, and others invested in the idea the College Begins in Kindergarten.

Summer 2007

Whitney Klein

Susan Koziolek, Outstanding Student Worker, reads with Woessner’s 1st graders.

Susan Koziolek is a third year patiently with the students and political science major at Ham- teachers. She quickly picks up on line. Her nominator said, “She is a whatever I need her to do and highly dedicated worker who has follows through without a hitch. been devoted to Hancock stu- I can always depend on Susan to dents and staff for three years. finish a task and to finish it well.

Susan is easygoing and has a Furthermore, Susan is always on positive attitude about being at time and consistently at her job.”

Hancock. Additionally, she works Congratulations Susan!

Whitney Klein

very year, the HancockHamline Collaboration recognizes two deserving Hamline students for the work they do at Hancock. The awards for Outstanding Volunteer and Outstanding Student Worker were announced at the Hamline Leadership Gala on May 2. This year, the Collaboration would like to congratulate Ho Nguyen, winner of the Outstanding Volunteer Award, and Susan Koziolek, winner of Outstanding Student Worker Award.

Ho Nguyen is a third year political science and sociology double major at Hamline. Her nominator said, “Ho has been volunteering with a kindergarten student Nguyen is recognized as Outstanding Volunteer.

Collaboration Chooses New Logo

By Whitney Klein Editor

T

he Hancock-Hamline Collaboration has been without a logo since the Collaboration’s creation. This year, the Advisory Committee decided that it was time to change that. An artist, Susan Carr, was hired to come up with some possible ideas, and the Committee voted on their favorites at the March meeting.

The chosen logo (pictured on right) features many things that the Collaboration stands for. The words “College Begins in Kindergarten” at the top left of the logo are not only the Collaboration’s slogan, but also their mission. The two H’s are connected by one line, a bridge between Hancock and Hamline. This logo will be used in Collaboration communications, in the Snelling Connection, and someday maybe even on t-shirts!

P L A Y F O O T B A L L S H R M L L T B G O F I S H I N G A C L A S A E S K I I N G V I H V R W Y S K Y C B R I D E B I K E J K T T E Y P L A Y B A S E B A L L E A A N L I R H S Y I H F P U L N R W I A L N I H V N D S A C A N T A K N P R G O F G P U R H B I A L R T C M L P G I L M T A T S G K A T N R W O O H A M Y V E K A S P R E I A B T N Y E I E K V R K R E A D T J O S G R E S S T D O E E V A C U L N A S T L A H E B T S D N N M I O M C D E B C N H A N M C A P B C E H I E Y T H S W I M E M R R I S O C P A A C R O P I A O O A S I O N O L W R I T E C L R P R K S L I V P V P R O O G H L E Y C S S C E I P L E G A P L E C D R I L S R I W C G A G A R A G E S A L E S B V I S I T R E L A T I V E S G L Page

SUMMER WORD FIND Created by Dominique Thompson Hancock Student Editor

1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) 10) 11) 12) 13) 14) 15) 16) 17) 18) 19) 20) 21) 22) 23) 24) 25) 26) 27) 28) 29) 30)

Play ping pong Play football Go to library Watch a movie Read Take a walk Watch TV Write Swim Jump rope Ski Start a garden Go to water park Play basketball Ride a bike Play Tennis Plant a tree Sing Shop Play games Rap Have a party Dance Summer school Have a sleep over Picnic Visit relatives Go fishing Garage sales Play baseball Snelling Connection

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From the Desk of...

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Hi my na me is Ad ria 5th grad er at Ha nne Adams and I ncock Ele ’m a teacher’s mentary name is M and my great te r s .

S a ari and s acher an he’s dg Snelling Connectio ood at explaining a n is fun things. can be h but ard name is C . I have one bes sometimes it t ourtney Clark. Fif friend and her of hard th grade but math is kind is assistan n’t so ha t pr rd nice. Our incipal, Mrs. Leh to me. Our ma principal, too, and Ms. Abra n, is really they’re b ms is rea ot lly nice, Mary, th e secret h good problem s ary, is re olvers. helpful. ally nice All of th an e teache Hancock rs and st d are nice. udents a t

Samantha Henningson

My name is Samantha Henningson, and I coordinate programs for the Hancock-Hamline Collaboration. This is my third year in this job and I love it! I get to work with many fabulous people at both Hancock and Hamline every day. My office is at Hamline in the Office of Service-Learning and Volunteerism, but on Tuesdays, Craig Anderson is kind enough to share his office with me.

The end of the semester is always a busy time, because it is when most of the pairing activities between Hancock grade levels and Hamline University departments take place. It is exciting to have conversations about what to continue from past years and what new ideas people have. This year, for example, the families of kindergarten and 6th-grade students are invited to attend Hamline campus tours.

I have also been meeting with other educators and organizations in the community who do work to help students get ready for college. We are trying to make sure that we do everything we can to make the idea that College Begins in Kindergarten a reality.

I love talking with everyone about their ideas for the Hancock-Hamline Collaboration, so please let me know what works and what could be better about this fabulous community collaboration. Contact me at shenningson01@hamline.edu or 651-523-2483.

Summer 2007

Program Connects Students with Mentors

By Vanessa Tieman Hamline Student

ancock’s Mentor Program has a brand new start this year under the direction of Hancock’s librarian, Lynn Blumthal, with help from me, her student liaison.

The program is different from the HOSTS program that had been Hancock’s mentor program for almost ten years before the current program started. In past years, students met their mentors in the HOSTS room.

This year is a little bit different; mentors come directly into the

H

classrooms of the students with which they work. One advantage of the new program is that our terrific mentors are now able to engage students in a wider variety of learning opportunities, including math, small group vocabulary, story response, and one-on-one reading.

Even though the program is in transition this year, the impact that volunteers are making on the students is still strong.

Eh Ya Tu, from Ms. Nguyen’s 3rd-grade class, has been working with her mentor, Jim O’Meara, reading one-on-one.

“Jim helps me with words I don’t

Speak Out!

know,” says Eh Ya about her mentor. “At first, I didn’t know him, but now I know him better and I can read really hard words.”

Eh Ya also says that having the chance to read out loud to someone helps her understand what she is reading better. Eh Ya Tu looks forward to working with Jim once a week.

Jim, a retired attorney and Minneapolis resident, feels the same way about working with Eh Ya. “I’m always glad to be there and I always feel good afterwards. I very much enjoy working with kids, so that’s basically why I do it. It is, for me anyway, very rewarding

and a lot of fun,” Jim said.

Hancock’s Mentor Program will again be in transition next year.

Ms. Blumthal will be passing her torch as Mentor Coordinator to Craig Anderson, Hancock-Hamline’s current Curriculum Coordinator and Hamline Liaison.

Watch for changes to the mentor program and more opportunities for the students of Hancock to learn from the wonderful mentors in their community.

If you’d like to volunteer next year as a mentor at Hancock, please contact Craig Anderson at craig.anderson@spps.org or call 651-292-3499.

By Eddie Henderson and Mai See Moua

Earth Day is celebrated every year on April 22 and one of this year’s focuses has been global warming. Using the Five R’s: Reduce, Reuse, React, Reject, and Recycle”, how can we help the earth?

“There is little doubt in the science com“Don’t pollute or put chemicals in lakes munity that human actions are helping cause because it will hurt fish and wildlife. Don’t global warming and other environmental damdestroy the environment.” age. Even seemingly small choices by indi- Mohamed Ismail, Hancock 2nd-grader vidual people make a difference and can help improve the health of our home. So REACT! “By reusing materials, we have to make less Use compact fluorescent light bulbs instead stuff to use. It takes effort from everyone of incandescent ones. Grow your own food. to make a difference. By reacting to the Ms. Gibson Compost. Recycle. Take the bus or light rail. current situations and rejecting the ideas If you pack your lunch, use reusable containthat we always need new things we can all ers. These actions reduce energy consumption and work together to conserve our resources for the pollution and reuse precious resources. There are so benefit of all.” many ways to make a difference right where you are.” - Megan Lindstrom, Hamline 2nd-Year - Ms. Gibson, Hancock Science Specialist “Recycle all that we can and try to use as little mate“I think we can help the earth by picking up pop cans rials and resources as possible.” in our yards and putting them in the recycling bin - Stacie Calkins, Hamline 2nd-Year instead of the trash can and the other way is recycle papers and not throw them away.”

“Use fuel-efficient cars that use less oil and gas.”

- Emmanuel Gizaw, Hancock 6th-grader - James Yin, Hamline 3rd-Year “Plant trees and grass to help the earth grow. It cleans our air and produces oxygen.”

- Evan Douville, Hancock 2nd-grader “We can begin by refusing items that we don’t need; such as bring your own grocery bag from home and/or decline a bag for just a few products.”

- Mrs. Lehmann, Hancock Assistant Principal Page

Emmanuel Gizaw

Evan Douville

Mohamed Ismail Snelling Connection

Placemaking in Hamline Midway Neighborhood

By Jun-Li Wang Community Organizer Hamline Midway Coalition

T

hree cheers for the Hamline Midway neighborhood!

The neighborhood is creating a strong identity for itself as a caring and creative community.

This spring, several neighborhood groups and residents won SIX awards for their work greening the neighborhood—gardens in public spaces, planting trees, the community garden, and plants in the Snelling Avenue planters. Minnesota Parent magazine also selected this wonderful neighborhood as the winner of its first “Family Favorite Neighborhoods” contest, in part because of its unique intersectionpainting project, “Paint the Pavement.”

As a community organizer for the neighborhood organization, Hamline Midway Coalition, I work with residents, students, groups, and organizations to get organized to take care of issues that matter to them. These issues include traffic calming, problem properties, crime prevention, land use, transportation, use of public spaces, beautification, greening, and the creative arts.

As a member of the HancockHamline Advisory Committee, I bring my perspectives about the neighborhood to the table as we discuss matters related to the collaboration between Hancock School and Hamline University.

In recent years, much neighborhood energy has been focused around activities related to the concept of “placemaking.” We

define placemaking as people coming together and actively working to turn generic public spaces into community places where people can create connections with one another. By using elements such as art, sculpture, benches and plants, and by “activating” spaces by planning human activity, a bland space can be turned into a place where community gathers, interacts, and thrives.

One example of this is the Arts Alive event last spring, where Hancock and Hamline students and community members played together at the corner of Snelling and Englewood. For an afternoon, the usually “dead” corner was full of life, excitement, and noise.

More permanent examples are when people put benches on their boulevards or create beautiful gar-

Hamline Midway Coalition

Hancock students paint the sidewalk at last spring’s Arts Alive event, which was one of the placemaking activities in the area.

dens to look at— neighbors gather, take a breather, and stop to smell the roses.

Even the mural at the corner of Hubbard and Snelling that Hancock 3rd graders made last year creates “place”—instead of just seeing a parking lot behind a chain fence, people who walk or drive by on Snelling see a colorful mural that tells them there are young artists nearby who want to share their art work with everyone.

There are so many examples of placemaking, and so many ways to get involved in them. This can be as simple as talking to your neighbor when you are both out in your front yards or drawing a chalk hopscotch game on the sidewalk. Or you can participate with other people in organized activities related to specific topics. Some examples are: the Hamline Midway Environment Group that helps green the neighborhood; the Hamline Midway History Corps that researches neighborhood history and stories; the Mighty Midway 4-H group that focuses on whole-family learning and activities; and Paint the Pavement, an activity that promotes building community through neighborhood art.

I encourage you to give us at the Hamline Midway Coalition a call (651-646-1986) or see the website at www.hamlinemidwaycoalition. org to link up with these various groups. Take part in creating this great place!

Snelling Connection Contacts:

Hancock-Hamline Collaboration

Editor: Whitney Klein, Collaboration Assistant, Hamline University student wklein02@hamline.edu 651-523-4082

Our mission is to build and strengthen our collaborative community through shared learning, relationships and cultural diversity.

Hamline Liaison: David Hudson, Hamline University English Dept. dhudson@hamline.edu 651-523-2893 Hancock Liaison: Craig Anderson, Hancock-Hamline University Collaborative Magnet School craig.anderson@spps.org 651-292-3499 Hancock Student Advisor: Glynis Grostephan, Hancock-Hamline University Collaborative Magnet School glynis.grostephan@spps.org 651-293-8715 Visit the Collaboration website at www.hamline.edu/hancock

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