On Friday, October 9, Mayor Mark Nuaimi made a special visit to the first graders at West Randall Elementary School.  It was all part of the unit opener for their English/Language Arts program, Open Court.  In Unit 4, “Our Neighborhood at Work,” students will learn about a variety of occupations, such as being mayor of a city, and develop a vocabulary to describe them.

For the unit kick-off, students rotated through four classrooms for a variety of activities.  In one room, Mayor Nuaimi lead a discussion with students using picture cards of City Hall, Lewis Library, West Randall Elementary School, Jack Bulik Park, and even one of Police Chief Rodney Jones.  He used the cards to prompt discussion about public buildings and community occupations, such as police officers and firefighters.

It was the first opportunity many of the students have had to meet our Mayor and they greeted him warmly and enthusiastically.  As Mayor Nuaimi told his young audience about some of the public buildings and occupations in the City of Fontana, the first graders could barely contain their excitement when asking him questions, as well as sharing their own stories.  "They wanted to know whether I was married and had kids, how old they were and did I enjoy my job," said the Mayor.  "I was really moved by the expressions of the kids when I told them that everything in the community - like the library, park and school - is their's and their family's," he continued.  "I could tell that many of them had never thought about that when they go to a public facility that it is actually their facility."

When they rotated through the other three classrooms, students:  participated in picture walks where they discussed the occupations depicted in the various pictures and used their new vocabulary words to describe them; participated in teacher-led discussion about neighborhood workers using a Tree map; and after being introduced to some concept-related vocabulary stories, were read the story “Wake up, City” and led in a handing-off discussion.

This special event was organized by Teachers-on-Assignment, Rhonda Lewis and Tammy Fleming, in an effort to re-energize both students and staff - and it did.  The kick-off was a great success and thoroughly enjoyed by all.  Concluded Principal Eva Fritsch, "It was wonderful to see the community and the school working together for the benefit of students at West Randall."

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