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Her integrated
teaching and gardening ideas began with a butterfly garden put
together by her 1999-2000 class. In 2001 her dream of an 1850s-style
garden with book-themed plots landed the school a $6,800 grant from
Barnes and Noble through the Illinois Literacy Foundation.
Now the garden,
across Sixth Street from Jefferson School, boasts several
book-themed plots, such as the "Petunia Goose" and the "Charlotte’s
Web" plots, as well as a sunflower house where classes gather for
special outdoor book-readings, a prairie garden, a butterfly bush, a
rainbow garden and several raised gardens surrounded by even more
flower beds. Also in the garden, a log cabin built by Pete
Fredericks houses the Tin Man from "The Wizard of Oz" and gardening
tools. For the supplies, Hawkinson found many generous donors within
the Lincoln community.
She approached the
Lincoln Public Library about bringing their summer reading program
to the Jefferson School Children’s Garden. As a result, children and
parents gather on Wednesday mornings to sit and read for an hour in
the shade of the garden.
[Photo by Trisha Youngquist]
[Debby Simpson takes time out of her day to
sit and read with her daughter Katie. Katie has read more than 400
books this summer!]
Assistant children’s
librarian Linda Harmon brings a box full of books from the library
and spreads them out on the grass. Kids glance over the books and
hurriedly find a square of carpet to sit on and read. And when they
have finished one book, they quickly find and devour another. The
entire hour is spent reading one book after another. Parents who
accompany their children sit while their children read aloud to
them.
State Farm Insurance
sponsors a midhour drink break. Agent Rick Hamm also brings safety
programs to the school during the year.
[to top of second column in
this article]
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The library program
extension allows children who live in the neighborhoods near
Jefferson to participate in the reading program, since the school
lies within walking distance. Already this summer 15 kids have
participated at the location and filled out reading logs.
Kids write down in
their reading logs all the books that they read and use it to keep
track of their reading goals. Children set their own reading goals
in this program that has over 500 participants.
[Linda Harmon awards Amanda McCray a "Reading Rocks"
T-shirt for meeting her reading goal.]
Rewards encourage
them toward their personal goals. When a child reaches his or her
reading goal, the reward is a red "Reading Rocks" T-shirt. Weekly
prizes for children who have read the most during the week are also
given out. Area merchants have donated hundreds of prizes for the
weekly honors. An anonymous donor supplied the prizes for the
summer’s top readers.
At the library,
charts on the walls reflect individual progress as well as progress
by school. Schools compete in most books read for a trophy.
Jefferson has never won the trophy, but this year they appear to be
strong competitors, vying closely with Washington-Monroe for first
place.
As Linda Harmon was quick to point out,
though, it would not be possible without Cathy Hawkinson. "She’s the
impetus behind the whole thing. I just bring the books." [Trisha
Youngquist]
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Brennan Boss, James Cosby, John and
Kelsey Dallas, Brittany Dickson, Andrew Dugan, John Martina, Ryan
Miller and Christopher Sandborn attended from Lincoln. Bianca and
Logan Ramos and Alex Sellers made the daily commute from Mason City,
while Kyle Farmer came in from Middletown. Sangamon County was
represented by Aaron Bender of Springfield and Aaron McGee of
Chatham, and Neal Reed and Keith Underkoffler came from Bloomington.
After welcoming the students to
Heritage in Flight Museum, Milt Underkoffler pointed out that there
are careers in aircraft manufacturing, aircraft maintenance,
aircraft operations, aircraft safety enforcement, and the design and
operation of aviation facilities. He stressed that while some of
these require only a high school education, many of them require a
college degree.
Curtis Fox then discussed the
categories of flight and the rules and privileges of the various
Federal Aviation Administration certificates. The three-hour session
included a discussion of airframe and power plant mechanics
certification and the training and function of flight controllers.
The requirements for positions at airports, airlines and aircraft
manufactures were also discussed. The first afternoon concluded with
a discussion and a listing of the pay for the various aviation
careers.
Tuesday was military day, and the
arrival of an Army Black Hawk helicopter started an afternoon of
discussion of full-time military aviation careers, part-time
military careers and how the military experience can advance
civilian aviation careers. The Black Hawk departure brought cheers
as the pilots demonstrated their capabilities. After the Black Hawk
departed, pilot Curtis Fox was able to give most of the cadets an
orientation flight in a fixed-wing aircraft.
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this article]
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Wednesday, United Airlines Captain
Scott Blickenstaff, who had just returned from a six-day trip to
Hong Kong as a pilot on a Boeing 747, answered questions in three
one-hour sessions. Scott told the cadets how he advanced from a
charter pilot for the fixed base operator at the Bloomington Airport
to a captain for United Airlines. Scott also told them about changes
that had taken place at United Airlines since Sept. 11.
On Thursday airport designer and
manager Neil Ralston told the cadets how he had prepared to be an
airline pilot and then decided to redirect his career toward airport
management, design and construction. The three-hour session ended
when parents arrived to take home their recently trained
computer-generated airport plan designers.
On Friday Jim Cunningham, a certified
ground school instructor, brought his Cub Arrow from Bloomington to
serve as the centerpiece for a mini ground school course. He talked
about and then showed the systems of his airplane.
Ryan Wells acted as HIF
sergeant-at-arms throughout the week. He gave rides in the jeep, led
students through the Huey and Corsair II, and provided general
assistance and direction for the cadets and instructors.
The 18
cadets who started and finished the Aviation Careers Week included
students with ambitions to become a pilot of Air Force One, an
astronaut, an engineer and one intending to become an airline owner.
"We will
preserve the picture board of the class of 2002 pictures at the
Heritage in Flight Museum so we can follow their careers," stated
Underkoffler.
[Milt Underkoffler,
educational coordinator,
Heritage in Flight Museum] |
