Lanai Road Elementary - Developmental Learning for Kindergarten
Our Mission
For this project, TIIP Team Leader Jessica Mustard and the Lanai Road kindergarten team's goal is to create and implement a developmental learning environment for all Lanai kinder students. We have learned techniques that will help students master social skills and develop critical thinking. We developed new lesson plans that will incorporate technologies, such as the SMART board, and to reintroduce art, music and play to the academic curriculum. Our team has learned new skills that will allow us to more fully engage our young students.
Team Bio/ Information
Jessica Mustard, our TIIP Team Leader, has been teaching for 11 years; 8 years of kindergarten and 2 years of Transitional Kindergarten (TK) at Lanai, and 1 year teaching 5th grade in the Newhall School District. She helped write the LAUSD's TK curriculum, and is a strong believer in a developmental approach to teaching, that encompasses the "whole" child. Last year her peers voted her "Teacher of the Year" at Lanai Road Elementary, and she was honored at an awards dinner hosted by the Encino Chamber of Commerce. She is married and has 3 children.
Allison Ramsey has been teaching a total of 8 years, the last three years as a kindergarten teacher at Lanai Road. Before that she taught grades 1, 2 and 4. She is married and has two children.
Eugenia de la Rama has been teaching for 23 years. She has taught first grade, second grade, and kindergarten at Lanai Road for many years. In fact, she says this project will be like teaching kindergarten "the way it was taught years ago" -- but with SMART board technology! She is married and enjoys spending time with her family
Team Contact Information
For information, please contact Lanai Road TIIP Team Leader Jessica Mustard at: j-mustard@hotmail.com
School Information
Lanai Road Elementary School
Developing the whole child in Kindergarten
The following pages include information about the professional development activities we participated in and how we changed our classroom practices as a result.
- Social Skills: We received a Developmental Assets training along with Imagination Playground equipment to develop our students' social skills. We also developed "The Talk Spot", a place where children learn the tools to support problem solving.
- Academic activities: We attended the Pasadena Kindergarten Conference to get ideas on how to make academic content fun and engaging in both Language Arts and Math. We were able to take these activities back to our classroom and combine them with the SmartBoard we received.
- Artistic Development: Our classroom activities in music and visual arts were implemented after attending ORFF and MonArt trainings.
