Live Oak Outreach

By Tamra Taylor, Superintendent Live Oak School District

As an educational leader, part of my responsibility is to reflect upon what we are doing well and what can use improvement. I would like to highlight some of the Live Oak School District’s accomplishments so far in the 2014-15 school year.

We are very proud of our students’ accomplishments in reading. So far this school year, our students have read 18,393 books. Standout readers include: Noah Rowe (Del Mar Elementary) with 1,178,445 words read; Heaven Smith (Green Acres Elementary) with 1,717,365 words read; Catherine Ellis (Live Oak Elementary) with 2,132,971 words read; and Tatiana Reyes Torres (Shoreline Middle School) with 2,079,252 words read. Each school held assemblies celebrating their collective accomplishments.

We continue to be grateful to the Live Oak community for passing a parcel tax in 2008, which has allowed us to continue offering art, music, and physical education to elementary students. Fourth and fifth graders receive art, music, and P.E. on a weekly basis, while K-3rd grades receive one of these enrichment activities weekly, rotating every trimester. With our belief in educating the whole child, we are proud to still be able to provide our students with these experiences.

In an example of true community partnership, the Kindergarten classes at Live Oak Elementary School have benefitted from the Artist-Teacher Partnership, collaboratively organized by the Arts Council Santa Cruz County and County Office of Education. The 16-week program integrated creative movement and dance with English language development and writing. Teaching Artist Laurel Shastri and Kindergarten teacher Cynthia Clancy collaborated to design and implement lessons connecting writing concepts (letter formation, word formation, narrative, telling stories) with elements of dance (including body parts and spatial awareness) that develop confidence in self-expression (using words and movement vocabulary) and a sense of community within the classroom.

Many of our teachers, like Cynthia Clancy, go above and beyond for our students. They seek out opportunities to enhance their teaching and provide students with engaging educational experiences. We recognize the hard work of learning and teaching the new Common Core State Standards and want to commend our teachers for their commitment to doing more and better things for our students. We look forward to sharing with the community about more of our exciting work and plans for the future.