Prime Time; Denver Museum of Natural History

[Kids singing.] ? Guess what? What makes me happy inside? What makes me Makes ... [End singing.] [moderator 1] Hello, I'm Ed Sardella, host for Prime Time, a weekly series of programs about education that emphasizes activities in the Denver Public Schools. This week, we join the students from Amesse, Bromwell, and Traylor for a field trip to the Museum of Natural History. At Cory School, we'll view the artwork submitted for the Parents Teachers Students Association Reflections Project. Lois

Wharry from the Department of Special Education of the Denver Public Schools describes the Child Find program. And Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Joseph Brzeinski, interviews the new president of Arapahoe Community College, Dr. Nancy Goodwin. And in our last segment, we'll visit Moore and Fairview schools for Early Bird Physical Fitness. Have you ever taken your children to the zoo or museum and noticed how it sparked their interest and increased their power of observation. Prime Time visited the Museum of Natural History with 5th graders from Amesse School to learn about ecology and the food chain. We joined the 3rd and 4th grade Bromwell students to see the exhibit of confiscated products from endangered species being imported to the United States, and then to the Touch Room with the Traylor kindergarten class for an adventure in seeing and feeling. [Kristy Ledgerwood - Asst. Curator of Education] Now right behind me are some little short trees. They do

not grow very tall; this is about it. The snow in the wintertime covers them up completely, and protects them that way from the harsh winds and the blowing snow. Now, let me get up so you can see better. We kind of nicknamed this window, Nature's Cafeteria. What do you do in a cafeteria? Sure, you eat. Well, we have some animals getting ready to eat in here. And we have a complete food chain. Do you know what a food chain is? It has to do with, this animal poking his head out from the tree; it's called a Pine Martin. Up in the little gnarled, twisted, snaggle, dead-looking tree, we have Clark's Nutcracker. Yeah, that's a bird ? you're ? right. There is a little bird there, but there's a little chipmunk here. And he's eating something. Can you see what he's eating? Yes, a little grass, a little weed down there. And that's where it starts. Of course, we had to

have the sun and the water and the dirt for the plant to grow, and this little chipmunk's eating. And the Pine Martin's got his eye on the chipmunk. He wants to catch it, I think, for his dinner." [Dorothy Hodgkins - Curator of Education] I'm so glad you're here today, because you're going to be able to see this special exhibit that's called "Confiscated." Have you ever heard that word before? It means to take away. You know? Every year, people that leave this country and go on trips and what have you, they buy things when they're away from this country and bring it back here. They have to go through a special place that's called the Customs office. And there are agents at this Customs office and they

have a list there that tells you what things you can bring into this country, and what things you're not allowed to bring in. Everything in life, boys and girls, depends upon something else. And people all over the world are concerned about plants and about animals that are almost all gone - they've almost become extinct. And that's why this exhibit is traveling around the country - because there are lots of animals, there are lots of plants that are becoming extinct - and extinct means all gone. Once they're gone, there's nothing you can do about it. They're gone. So, boys and girls, when we go in and we look at this exhibit, I want you to keep all of these things in mind. That's a wolf over there. [Student] Why do people want to kill them when there's hardly no more? To make good money? [Hodgkins] That's it exactly - to make good money. You hit it right on the head. That's good. Exactly. They kill the animals to make money because they can sell things that are made

from these animals." [Jeff Waters - Education Assistant] Good. I'd like to welcome you all to the Touch Room. This is our special room, and we're going to allow you to come around and touch everything in the room. We have a lot of neat animals here, and let you touch those, some of the birds over here. And also we have some shells, you can pick those up. Maybe you can see if you hear the ocean roar in there. And also you might want to try on some of these antlers over here, look in the mirror and see what you look like with antlers. So we're just going to kind of let you spread out, touch the animals here, feel them. And I'll be here to answer any questions you might have about animal names or some of the things they do. Okay? So why don't we let you go. [Child: "What do the shells look like?"] What do the shells...? These are some of the shells right over here, we have

some rocks. [music and kids talking] [music and kids talking] [Waters] Do you see the nice hawk down there? I think maybe we ought to sit down for just a minute and see what you guys like. Shall we sit down and chitchat a little bit about what you've seen here in the room? Why don't we just sit down in a group here for just a minute? What was your favorite thing? [Child: Bear.]

[Waters] You like the big bear? How about your favorite? [Child] The bear! You like the bear, too. How many like the bear the best of all? Yes. How many people like the nice kangaroo? Anybody like the kangaroo best? Yes. Yes. Isn't that kangaroo nice? How about, anybody like this old fish over here? Do you like the fish? [Child] I know, I know. I know which animal I like, that one. [Waters] Who put their head in the fish's mouth? [Child] When I put my head in the fish, I thought it was real. [Waters] You thought it was real? Did you feel the mouth closing? Oh, I hope not. [Child] No. [Waters] What was your favorite thing? Yeah. It's tough, isn't it? There are a lot of neat things in the room. You like the kangaroo the best? Well, I'd like to take you around the museum now and show you some other things. We'll see some dinosaurs, we're going to go to Africa and see some of those animals. So why don't you go pick up your coat, an we'll line up at the door and go see some other things. [Moderator 1] Federal and state laws mandate that all children, regardless of physical, emotional, or

mental handicaps, are entitled to free appropriate education and related services designed to meet their unique needs. To comply with the laws, the Denver Public Schools initiated the Child Find program. The purpose of Child Find is to locate, identify, and evaluate handicapped children between the ages of birth and 21 who reside in the Denver school district but are not enrolled in the public schools. Lois Wharry, a Child Find specialist with the Department of Special Education of the Denver schools, explains the program and demonstrates the evaluation process. "What is Child Find and why was it started?" "Child Find is the responsibility of the public schools to locate, identify, and evaluate all handicapped children between birth and 21. And we've been doing that for a long time with our school-aged children in the public schools, but due to legislation, both state and federal, it became our

responsibility to find those children who aren't in our schools, for the purpose of offering them services." "Now, Sandy, let's put them all over here. Can he jump like that? Sure! Can he ? ? like that?" "The screening involves checking several areas. One is vision and hearing, obviously; we want to make sure that they can see and hear well. But beyond that, we want to look at their gross motor skills, their fine motor skills, their speech and language skills, and their concepts or their cognitive abilities. We screen these children then to make sure that they do have the skills that they need to move on and then do well in a regular classroom." "Super. Can you give me five blocks? You've got it! Great. OK, where's your finger? Can you ? ? I

want you to point to your mouth. Point to your eye. Point to your nose. Point to your ears. Good!" "Rachel is a little girl who was referred to us through Denver General. She was identified as a child with a hearing impairment and we picked her up and began an evaluation for the purpose of placing her in a program so that she can begin to develop those skills that she'll be needing in school. "Rachel, watch! Watch, Rachel. Hmmm, you do that. ? ? you do that? [noise of paper] ? ? ? ? OK, Rachel. What's this? What have we got here? Can you count for me? Count. One..." "One, two, three..." "Good!

Good! One..." "One, two, three..." "Good girl!" ? ? "Now we do welcome referrals from private schools. We do welcome referrals from parents, from anyone, and if they will just get in touch with us, we'll be glad to work with the parents, schools, centers around children who may have special needs." [moderator 1] If you know a child who needs the services of Child Find, referrals can be made by calling Child Find at 629-9661. Research has shown that early identification and early intervention to ameliorate the problems can significantly improve the educational capabilities of the handicapped child. One of the goals of education is to discover and nurture creative talents. To emphasize the value of arts in education, the Reflections Project of the National

Congress of Parents Teachers Students Association encourages students to create original works in music, literature, and visual arts. This year, nearly a thousand Denver Public School students participated. Betty Arca, of the Denver PTSA, points out some of the outstanding entries. [Betty Arca - PTSA, Denver Council] National PTA, about 12 years ago, decided to create a project that would stimulate students to create in the area of art, literature, and music. And six or seven years, Denver Council picked up on it, and started with several schools entering a few pieces. And this year, I believe we have about a thousand pieces entered throughout the categories. Well, I picked a few pictures here. This is an example, first of all, the theme this year is "What Makes Me Smile". That's an excellent theme, because it seems that the entries are all very different from each

other, and all just really took off with it in the way of color and originality. This is an example of a junior high idea of what makes her smile. It's a candy store and she had a lot of fun with that. And I might mention the shadowing on the balloons. And this is a very talented girl who can do, use her art form very well. And then, as a really direct contrast, we have a 1st grader who says, 'Giving makes me smile.' And I'd just like to point out the colors in this and the lack of structure. But I think this is something that just hits you, just like that. And the little touch of orange right there, and just the way the flower is being shared. This one just tickled me, and I think it would tickle anybody who'd see it and may bring an automatic smile to everyone. But again the colors, so vivid. And again the

scene in his mind is so clear. And then this one you could spend probably an hour looking at, and it's just incredible. Again, a junior high student did this one. It's a wizard pouring all the ingredients into this machine, and in here he's got that he's working with, he's got friendship, he's got mother's home cooking, he's got glee, magic, and then he's got first grade romances. And he's putting them all in the machine, and they're coming out in smiles. And look at all of the lips, and the smiles, and the different lips. Four entries in each category can go on to the state level. And so the judges will pick which of those four; and they're not rated, they're just four. They don't have to be 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. And they will go on to state, and then state will judge them for national competition. [music played while art pieces displayed]

The main thing is that each student who enters, each one of these pieces here today, gets a certificate of recognition. And that's what we feel is the important part of the project.

[Dr. Joseph Brzeinski - Superintendent of Denver Public Schools] The community college system is about 80 years old. In recent years, its growth has been phenomenal. It has been the educational system which has contributed to the learning, the yearning, and self-renewal of an important segment of the population. With its open door policy of admitting anyone, 16 years or older, regardless of the level of education. It has given the young adult and the senior citizen a second chance. It has established more firmly the concept that educational opportunity is the right of all people. Arapahoe Community College in Littleton is one of seven state-supported community colleges. With me in the studio is Dr. Nancy Goodwin, the new President of Arapahoe. Welcome to Prime Time, Denver, and Colorado, Dr. Goodwin. [Dr. Nancy Goodwin] Thank you. [Brzeinski] Arapahoe's called a comprehensive community college.

What are the components that make it a comprehensive institution? [Goodwin] Comprehensive institution implies that there are variety of programs aimed at various educational and lifetime goals for people. And Arapahoe Community College meets or identifies those goals and tries to meet them. So, you have personal enrichment; you have degree programs; you have retraining, as well as upgrading in present jobs, and so that creates an interesting mix - which I think is both exciting and allows people to rub elbows with those that have differing aspirations from themselves, and sometimes you get a change in people's lifestyles as a result." [Brzeinski] How would you describe the composition of your student body? [Goodwin] Our student body is... the average age is 29. So we, obviously, to have an average of 29, you have a lot of students who are 18, 17, and in the younger ranges, as well as many students who are older. And since they attend these classes from 7:00 in the morning until

10:00 at night, we also get a variety of people from various walks of life who are working full-time; the majority of our students hold some type of employment. And they come from the entire Metro Denver area." [Brzeinski] You have some outstanding community service programs. How are these funded? [Goodwin] Every community service program has to be self-supporting. It's an interesting phenomena, to me, that you have a college that's called a community college, and then the word "community" is not supported through the tax dollars of the state. So as a result, all programs which are there to provide additional educational services to the community have to be self-supporting, and so each program has to therefore plot out how much money it would cost per attendee, if you will, in order for it to fly. And that makes it both challenging, but at the same time, sometimes disappointing, in that there are programs you would like to be able to bring to populations that really can't afford the kind of charge that we have to to give in order

to pay for the program." [Brzeinski] What are the goals a you've set for the college? [Goodwin] Arapahoe Community College will be, in three years, a premier community college in this country. We are currently requesting to switch to a semester system, from the quarter system, which is being done for both economical, as well as philosophical and educational reasons. And we have implemented a planning process which is unique in this country and will, I'm sure, be fully in place by June. And it's my intent to develop programs which will meet the needs of all the businesses and industry, as well as the population that we are designed to serve, within 3 years." [Brzeinski] What are some of the areas that a young man or woman could take courses in your institution? [Goodwin] A student could take the transfer track, which would essentially prepare them in general education to go on to a 4-year institution and on to undergraduate study, if they so

chose. They also could take any number of occupational programs in accounting, computer science, automotive, nursing, various allied health programs, or they can just come and retrain. I think the important thing is that I believe it is the responsibility of a community college to make the ties with the community that they serve as tight as possible. So it's important for our people, our faculty to be constantly renewing themselves by relating to the businesses and industries in the area to find out: 1) what they need, so that we can continually keep the educational programs current, but secondly, so that they get exposed to the field and keep themselves updated. And an important part, I think, of any educational institution in this day and age is to make sure that our faculty... we provide them with the opportunity to stay up-to-date and retrained in those instances where it's necessary." [Brzeinski] Well, once again, welcome to Colorado and thank you very much for being with us. [Goodwin] Thank you. [Sardella] Fitness fever. Everybody's doing it. Shaping up and getting into condition to look

good and feel great. In two of the Denver schools, the Early Bird Fitness programs are encouraging children to be active and physically fit by making exercise fun. The Fairview Gymnastics Club, composed of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade students, practices its routines before school, while at Dora Moore, school children, and their parents, exercise together on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. [videos of participants dancing/moving to music] [Bob Otto - Physical Education Teacher] The Early Bird Club started this year mainly consists of

dancing and gymnastics, at present. We meet at 8:15 in the morning until 9. On Monday we have dancing, and now we're doing disco dances, and Tuesday and Wednesday, we have gymnastics. It's mainly to develop skillful body movements in a wide range. It develops coordination, agility, flexability, balance, rhythmic skills. These are the things that, from the teacher's standpoint, that we want to work on. And we have a five or six moms, one girl from Metro, and they come and help with these different groups. So it's kind of an all-family affair, and it's all volunteer; everything is

volunteer: my time, the children's time, the aides' time. So none of us are really on duty till 9:00, so we just do it. We're kind of pleased. We have a lot of fun. [video showing kids doing gymnastics to music] For the children, it develops a tremendous amount of camaraderie, a feeling of belonging. This is the elite group. [Cheering] [Sardella] It's springtime and a season that brings new interests and activities. Visit the library

with your children, and check out a book on how to make a kite, play baseball or select a story about a famous athlete. And now with winter shedding its mantle of snow, illustrated books on birds, trees, flowers, and animals will round out your children's knowledge of the world they live in. Encourage your children to read and spend some of your prime time reading to them. Join us next week for Prime Time. I'm Ed Sardella. [closing music]