March 15, 2007

SCHOOL SCENEin Almaden Valley

How much is a million?

Author David Schwartz visits Graystone and brings new meanings to the three Rs

By Jeanne Carbone Lewis
Staff Writer

Author David Schwartz is known as the “math guy” but on a recent visit to Graystone Elementary School, he showcased not only arithmetic but science, literature and everyday life in his presentation to students.

Graystone Elementary School literacy events coordinator Michele Taylor had the students collecting sunflower seeds since the beginning of the school year to demonstrate how much a million is. From left: Schwartz, Taylor and Principal Dave Beymer.

“This is one of my favorite schools to visit,” said Schwartz who makes presentations to more than 60 schools a year and has just finished writing his 51st children’s book. “They value authors and it was one of the first schools I made a presentation to.”

Schwartz’ first book was “How Much is a Million?” a question he pondered when he was a small child. His presentation includes visual stimulation while including kids in problem solving. Graystone students already know that a million is a gargantuan number as literacy events coordinator Michele Taylor had students bring sunflower seeds since the first day of school in anticipation of Schwartz’ visit. The kids outdid themselves by filling a huge bag of kernels with a yellow flower has a sign that boasts 1,090,927 seeds. Later this year, they’ll take individual bags home to plant.

“Michele Taylor does an incredible job bringing current authors to Graystone that deliver educational and exciting assemblies to the students,” said Graystone Principal Dave Beymer. Dave Schwartz’ integration of literature and mathematics into his children’s books make him unique, and his presentations fun and interesting for every grade level.”

In fact, Taylor’s own child who is now a grown woman still remembers Schwartz’ visit to Graystone.

“It’s something that the children always remember,” said Taylor. “It starts with collecting and counting the sunflower seeds the first day of the school year in anticipation of Dave Schwartz’ presentation. We already had a million in December and kept going. And this year the Home and School Club paid for Schwartz’ two-day visit.”

Schwartz is known for his exciting presentations that offer windows into the world of numbers, literature, science and everyday life. He was an inquisitive lad and always asking “how many hairs are on my head?” or “how many blades of grass are in the lawn?” that adults couldn’t answer. By breaking the equation down, he learned how to come up with a figure. An example of riding his bicycle 25 miles with his father is broken down into five miles an hour but led to another question “what if I rode my bike the circumference of the earth?” At 25,000 miles you do the math.

The students learn that his first book “How Much is a Million?” was re-written and researched 12 times. But from that first book 50 others have followed with titles such as “If you Hopped like a Frog,” “Super Grandpa” and “If Dogs were Dinosaurs.”

His exploring habitat series are science books with titles like “Among the Flowers,” “In the Desert,” and “In the Forest.” He has also written Schwartz life cycle paperbacks with titles like “Monarch Butterfly,” “Wood Frog,” and “Maple Tree.”

PTA Reflections

Last Tuesday night the Los Alamitos cafeteria was packed with excited children and their parents as they proudly displayed their hard work and received certificates and award ribbons for participating in this year’s PTA Reflections Program.

Reflections is a yearly arts contest put on the PTA every year and this year there were 131 entries of either visual art, photography, music, video/film production, dance choreography or literature where the pre-selected theme of “My Favorite Place” had to be interpreted.

The walls of the cafeteria were adorned with 68 pieces of artwork, and 26 photography entries. Parents were busy also reading the 23 literary entries and watching some of the 11 video tapes, such as Nathan Wolf’s entry that showed off his favorite place filmed at the annual walk-a-thon at Los Alamitos.

Gloria Ashdown, the chairperson for this year’s PTA Reflections program, announced the winners who had advanced to Council and then 6th District. From 6th District two Los Alamitos students received first place awards and have advanced on to state and four other students received merit awards (second through fifth place).

- Sandra Soe - Intermediate photography 1st place
- Kohsuke Hirano – Intermediate visual arts 1st place
- Lilian Moreira – Intermediate dance 3rd place
- Sahreen Zaya – Intermediate dance 4th place
- Aaron Ng – Intermediate video 2nd place
- Tatiana Venegas Intermediate video 4th place

The awards party wrapped up after everyone had eaten cake, cookies and candy. After that sugar high, the students were ready to tackle next year’s theme, which is going to be “I can make a difference by...”

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