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December 2021 • ALAMO TODAY & DANVILLE TODAY NEWS • PAGE 1
& DECEMBER 2021
STUDENTS’ FAVORITE FIELD TRIP RETURNS TO TASSAJARA ONE ROOM SCHOOLHOUSE By Jody Morgan
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!
Be a part of the Tassajara One Room School House experience! Once again, in 2022, the Tassajara One Room Schoolhouse (ORS) on Danville’s Finley Help third graders enjoy a day in a simulated 1888 Danville classroom. Road is scheduled to welcome San Ramon Valley third graders for, what many students • Teacher Docent ~ Lead the class in provided 1888 lessons. characterize in their thank you letters as, “a magical time.” The program which immerses • Assistant Docent ~ Help in class and oversee students during children in an 1888 school life experience, was piloted in 1995 and briefly suspended due outdoor play of vintage games. to COVID-19 concerns. Now recently refurbished, the schoolhouse is ready to welcome • Superintendent ~ Oversee parking, open schoolhouse, facilitate children back to a time when they would have arrived on foot, horseback, or in pony carts. setting up for outdoor games. With some of the original volunteers reluctantly retiring, new docent trainees are essential Training will be held January 13, 2022, at 1PM at The to ensuring that every scheduled class can enjoy what one participant proclaimed: “Next Museum of the San Ramon Valley (MSRV). Volunteer times are to Disneyland this was the favorite day in my life.” weekday mornings from January 31 – May 27, 2022. If you are interested or need more information, contact MSRV at The schoolhouse opened in August 1889 and closed in 1946 when student enrollment 925-837-3750, museumsrv.org/contact,, or email info@museumsrv.org museumsrv.org/contact info@museumsrv.org.. dwindled to 16. However, when long-time Danville resident Joan Kurtz proposed developing the field trip, she was given 1888 as the inaugural date -- a year filled with interesting events to share with students including the opening of the Washington Monument and the introduction of the first portable Kodak box camera. After thoroughly researching historical documents, Kurtz visited sites offering the type of one room schoolhouse program she envisioned. She traveled to Dallas and Delaware with her husband, Don, and went to see a Modesto schoolhouse with friends. Positive evaluations from the first few lucky classes involved in trialing the ORS experience soon led to expansion of the program. For example, an April 14,1997 response to an ORS teacher survey question “What did the students not care for?” reads: “Nothing! Comments from the children were this was the best field trip they'd ever had!” The survey response continued: “The material covered and pacing was perfect!” and “Our parents raved!” A May 2018 note to Joan and Don Kurtz indicated the program, then available to all third graders in SRVUSD as well as some private and home-school pupils, had become a perennial favorite. “Thank you so much for making 1888 come alive for my students once again. It was by far the most memorable field trip of the year and the children will remember it all their lives.” A touch of costuming helps students imagine themselves transported to 1888. Boys may don a hat or sport suspenders. Girls often choose a bonnet and pinafore or a Victorian frock. The docent teacher and assistant teacher wear full-length skirts with white blouses suggestive of the era. Wrap skirts are available at the schoolhouse for docents to wear over their contemporary clothing. Each child chooses a first name commonly used in 1888 such as Abigail or Noah to help transport them back in time. The Assistant-Teacher gathers the children at the gate -- girls in one row, boys in the other. Facing the 38-star flag current from 1877-1890, students recite the pledge of allegiance used in 1888: “We give our heads; We give our hearts; We give our hands; To God and our country; One God, one country, one flag.” For Marilyn Holcomb, being an ORS teacher is endlessly engaging. Awestruck by being immersed Don and Joan Kurtz have welcomed area third graders to the in a totally different time frame, students invariably process quietly into the schoolhouse. “For Tassajara One Room Schoolhouse since 1995. Photo courtesy children,” she explains, “their day at the One Room Schoolhouse is much like their first day of of Joan Kurtz.
See ORS continued on page 15
DANVILLE COMMUNITY BAND BACK IN TIME FOR THE HOLIDAYS
After having rehearsals and performances put on hold for over a year and a half, the Danville Community Band (DCB) is back in time to present its annual Christmas concert. As was true for virtually every performing group, March 2020 was a line drawn in the sand when everything stopped. The DCB had just completed the dress rehearsal for its scheduled concert when the brakes were put on. Concert… canceled. Rehearsals… canceled. Band members were hopeful that things might improve enough to complete the season, but they quickly realized that would not 3000F Danville Blvd. #117
See Band continued on page 6
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