Vintage Video

Video viewing tip: pause the video until its fully loaded, then click play.

Mr. White at the 2001 SVE 3rd Grade Christmas Bowling Party

Brianna Sings

Brianna S., who moved into CPE midway through the 2016-17 school year, surprised us all with her amazing rendition of “I’m a Lady,” and then followed that up with a Talent Show performance of “Wings.”

 

Juju on that Beat

in 2016, Rubie and Abby S. choreographed a flash mob to an edited version of Juju on that Beat. Here it is (with apologies for the poor quality recording). Be sure to check out how Principal Davenport is caught by surprise.

Proof We Need Music Education

2013-14 CPE kids singing Halloween songs to familiar tunes.

Snippets from 4th Grade Math in 2005

1993 Tuck Box Project

Tuckboxes, 1993-94This one goes way back to my first year at Sams Valley Elementary. We had a problem with our desks. The pull-out drawers didn’t always fit correctly, so when students opened them, the entire contents of their desks would often spill out all over the floor. You can imagine the disruption, and being a first year teacher, I was already having a hard enough time with behavior management to have to put up with this. The answer came while reading aloud Roald Dahl’s book, Boy: Tales of Childhood. When we got to the section about tuck boxes, a student raised his hand and suggested we make tuck boxes to replace our desk drawers. Again, being a naive first year teacher, I jumped at the chance. (And not only did this class build tuckboxes, we repeated the project in two of the next three years.) The video is the two minute newscast by then-Channel 10 reporter Matt Conens. Being a copy of a twenty-year old video tape, the quality is poor, but the images are priceless. It includes a brief interview with Amee, my “first student” and the girl I wrote about in “A Single Smile.”

Larry Shearer 93-94Here’s another picture from the tuck box project in which my first principal Larry Shearer is offering some encouragement to Colin Schoonover. Larry was a wonderful man. Colin later played shortstop for the first freshman baseball team I coached at Crater.

We did the project the next year, and this time Ron Brown came out and did a story on it.

Velociraptor & Bigfoot

Raptor 96-97In 1996-97, thanks largely to Jurrasic Park and Dinotopia, dinosaur-mania was sweeping the world. So when my exceptionally-exceptional class of third graders went looking for a science faire project, we quite naturally settled on the velociraptor. The students came up with a bank of questions they had about raptors and used the then-new Internet to research the answers (thanks to a grant from Qwest, SVE had one of the first Internet-ready labs in the valley). Meanwhile, I built a wood and chickenwire structure of a life-sized raptor and the kids used their “what to do when finished time” to apply paper mache (it took weeks). The end result was a knock-your-socks-off science fair exhibit and a memorable elementary school event for a great bunch of kids. The raptor, incidentally, was later put on display at the District Office, at a movie theater for the premier of The Lost World, and in my skate shop in downtown Central Point. It’s last known location was in a hay field on South Stage Road where it made a habit of surprising passers-by.

Bigfoot Encounters coverClasses were smaller back then–I think I had just twenty-six kids roll into my 4th grade class the following year–and there was less emphasis on test-scores and testing, so we had the time and freedom to integrate interesting projects into our instruction. The next year the same group of kids created a life-sized Bigfoot. Their research was foremost aimed at examining the evidence and arriving at a conclusion as to whether or not the Big Fella could be real. When they came across a website asking people to report sightings, our writing component was suddenly obvious. Each student wrote their own “encounter,” which we bound into a book. A couple students even went so far as to post their encounter on the sightings website (which tells you what their research led them to believe about Bigfoot). You can read a page from “Bigfoot Encounters” by clicking here. Like the Raptor before him, Bigfoot spent is waning years scaring motorists. And you can view a gallery of Bigfoot photos by clicking here. Longtime SVE instructional-assistant Dorothy Smith took him home and positioned him in the woods near her house. She often told me of the good times she had sitting on her front porch watching motorists slam on their brakes to get a second look, though I think she felt a little remorse when a hay truck nearly lost its load.

2012 OMSI Bus Trip

Road trips with kids are simultaneously exhausting and entertaining. In this video, a group of my 2012 5th graders got their groove on while returning from Portland during our OMSI trip. 

Emily & Chowder provide special entertainment from our 2013 Valentine’s Day party:

The Mount Ashland Ski Program

In 2010, we kicked off the After-School Ski and Snowboard Program (which wasn’t after-school but on Sundays). Eighteen students from Central Point Schools, including three from CPE, participated. Each student got a lesson every Sunday from one of Mt. A’s professional instructors. Following the lesson, students were free to enjoy the runs under the supervision of numerous chaperones. (Click here to watch video of Tanner V.and Luke M. in the terrain park.) The program lasted five weeks. Current students can join the fun by visiting the Mount Ashland page.

We resumed the program in 2018, but a shortage of snow cancelled it. As you can see from this picture of the 2020 group (which had four excellent Friday nights before the Covid-19 shitdown), A LOT more students are participating and having a good time on our local mountain!

Chief Sam Day 1993

Here’s a quick clip of the 4×100 meter relay and the tug-of-way on Chief Sam Day at SVE in 1993. Back in those days you had to be TOUGH to play in that dirt patch. Note that Mr. Richey still has a bit of hair!

KOBI Student of the Month (or Week) Awards

KOBI’s Jeff Heaton used to come out and interview kids in class and then have them come to the studio for a live presentation of their award. Natalie would have been 2005-06, Hailey 2008-09, and Ethan 2011-12

Nightmare the Spider

Back in 2014, when a Kara’s mom refused to have a tarantula as a pet, she pawned it off on Room 15. Rayden adopted it, but then sent it back to class the next fall. When no one wanted to take poor “Nightmare” home the following summer, we gave it to the Mr. Paradela’s class at Crater. Hopefully, now that the kids from those two years are at Crater, they’re remembering to give ol’ Nightmare a hug!

 

Silly Girls Singing on Table Rock

https://youtu.be/iLzdb4x0WwA

Dog Waste Stations – 2021

Here are Hailee H. and Kara B., who were Room 15 kids back in 2013-2015. They put together a special project benefitting their old school: dog waste stations! Check out this video from the Mail Tribune.

 

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