Smorgasbord Schooling : Elementary Students Get to Choose From a Menu of Mini-Classes

It was Russian, not detention, that sent 11 students to the principal’s office at Ventura’s Lincoln Elementary School on Friday.

After an hour, the fourth- and fifth-grade students emerged, rattling off newly learned Russian words and phrases so smoothly that their teachers and classmates--and even instructor Tania Lang--were impressed.

Small groups of students like Lang’s took over every available room in the school Friday, including the principal’s office, and will do so for the next two Friday afternoons.

They will abandon their routines to choose one class from a smorgasbord of mini-courses in languages, arts and crafts, music, cooking and sports, taught by the school’s teachers, parents and volunteers from the community.

In Room 10, 11 students huddled over chessboards, learning the rudiments of chess from Point Mugu naval engineer Jim Black.

In the music room, half a dozen students hummed a Chumash song and sandpapered sticks of elderberry wood, making musical instruments under the tutelage of Chumash elder Vincent Tumamait.

And on the playground outside, karate instructor Tom Scott led about 10 energetic students through a strenuous warm-up before showing them some basic karate movements.

“The students love it,” Principal Jeffrey C. Nelsen said. In two weeks, a similar program will start at nearby Pierpont Elementary, where Nelsen is also principal.

The courses offer a chance for students at all grade levels to mingle, Nelsen said. In addition, about 10 students in a special class for emotionally disturbed children take the classes, he said.

Although most schools have parent volunteers who help out in the classroom, Lincoln parents and teachers said they wanted to take that concept a step further.

“The whole purpose is to give teachers a break and to involve parents and the whole community in what’s going on at the school,” PTA President Judy McCarthy said.

Lincoln’s 275 students were given a list of 26 course offerings and chose those that they were interested in. The classes included sign language, Mexican cooking, softball, jewelry-making and self-portraiture.

“It’s a great opportunity for the children to develop their independence and express their interests,” teacher Linda Rick said. “It may be something they know nothing about, but the title intrigued them.”

Fourth-grade student Katie Hendricks, 10, said she signed up for Tumamait’s course to learn more about the Chumash tribe.

“I spent the night on a mesa in Ojai last year and ate Indian food, and it was really fun,” Katie said. “I thought it would be neat to learn more about it.”

Tumamait is teaching the children to make a traditional Chumash rhythmic instrument called an askatata , also known as a clapper or talking stick. At the end of the three-week course, each student will have a handcrafted askatata decorated with paint and feathers and will be able to sing several Chumash songs, Tumamait said.

In Leon Copass’ leather crafts class, students enthusiastically wielded wooden mallets to pound their initials and designs into patches of leather. At the end of Friday’s class, each child had a small leather coin holder to take home.

“I was once a kid myself, and I never got over it,” said Copass, who manages an Oxnard leather goods shop and volunteers at schools countywide. “Nowadays, you worry about what kids might get into. This is one way kids can learn something new, so they might not get into the problems out there.”