Page 7 - Reedley Exponent 1-18-18 E-editon

The Reedley Exponent BPanorama
Reedley Library holiday events included cookie decorating See B9
Section | Thursday, January 18, 2018 www.reedleyexponent.com Reedley (Fresno County) CA 93654 A global reach
The View From Here
Last week, I sat down for an interview with Karen Rubalcaba, the new preschool teacher at the Reedley Commu- nity Center. The story is in this week’s Panorama section.
Felicia Cousart Matlosz
By Felicia Cousart Matlosz
felicia@midvalleypublishing.com
To mark her 60th birthday last year, Karen Kreider Yoder wanted to do something special, something different.
She hit on the idea of making 60 comforters for the Mennonite Cen- tral Committee’s ongoing efforts to send supplies to those in need around the world. By the time she was done – and with help from her congregation in San Francisco and friends and others – Yoder had 65 to deliver to the West Coast MCC office in Reedley.
“There’s just a great, great need,” she said.
“It helps so many people."
– Gail Harder, volunteer for the West Coast Mennonite Central Committee
This month, Yoder recently made the trip from her San Fran- cisco home to the Reedley office on G Street to drop off 11 more com- forters. “I just couldn’t stop making them,” said Yoder, who is a quilter and whose family has longtime ties to MCC.
In Reedley, officials with the West Coast MCC welcome donations and specify items for the different kits that are packaged and then sent
Karen Kreider Yoder of
San Fran- cisco recently delivered comforters she madeto the West Coast Mennonite Central Com- mittee office in downtown Reedley. The office regu- larly sends do- nated materi- als to MCC's main offices for shipment overseas. Seen with her is Thomas Ad- lard, the Reed- ley office's administrative coordinator.
Photo Contributed
example, recently have been sent to countries that include Syria, Jordan, Ethiopia, Bosnia, Serbia and Iraq.
“The relief kits are more fo-
Toward the
end of our talk, I asked her about books she would recommend for parents of young children. (I never miss a chance to talk about books.)
The first one Rubalcaba men- tioned was “The Kissing Hand” by Audrey Penn and illustrators Ruth E. Harper and Nancy M. Leak.
It’s a book about a mother rac- coon comforting a child raccoon to help ease the anxiety of separa- tion. It’s an ideal book for parents whose children are about to enter the whole new world of a classroom, such as the preschool program at the community center.
When I got back to the office, I googled the 1993 book and discov- ered it’s highly regarded.
For example, a 2007 National Education Association online poll included the book on its “Teach- ers’ Top 100 Books for Children.” It came in at No. 49, between Roald Dahl’s “The BFG” (1982) at No. 48 and “The Secret Garden” by Fran- ces Hodgson Burnett, published in 1911, at No. 50.
What was No. 1? “Charlotte’s Web” by E.B White, from 1952.
Rubalcaba also said you can’t go wrong with the rhyming schemes in the books by Dr. Seuss, whose real name was Theodor Seuss “Ted” Geisel.
Dr. Seuss and his books, of course, are the inspiration for the annual Read Across America events that celebrate reading across the country, usually on or around Se- uss’ March 2 birthday. That includes schools in the Reedley area.
So, may I just add what Dr. Se- uss once wrote: “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”
At the Jan. 9 meeting of the Kings Canyon Unified School District governing board, Robert Takacs gave a report on the Kings Canyon Educational Partnership Foundation.
Takacs, president of the founda- tion, said the nonprofit was estab- lished in May 1991. Its focus was to enhance resources for teachers by providing grants for innovative and creative education ideas. Part of the criteria is that these ideas can be modeled and used by other teachers.
What was impressive was a number that Takacs shared at the meeting. He said that, as of last year, the amount raised in 27 years “pushed us over the top in excess of $200,000.”
Donations include contributions from KCUSD employees, teachers and non-teaching employees.
“You do great work,” said KCUSD Board President Noel Remick. “We appreciate it.”
See COLUMN page B2
KCUSD's history exhibit in new location in the ESC building
to MCC’s main warehouses in places like Pennsylvania. From there, tens of thousands of these items each year are sent overseas to people in need.
Thomas Adlard, administrative coordinator for West Coast MCC,
said they work with partners in oth- er countries to help meet requests for items. In addition to comforters and blankets, they provide different kits, such as school kits and relief kits.
The comforters and blankets for
See RELIEF page B9
West Coast MCC continues its efforts to help around the world
By Felicia Cousart Matlosz
felicia@midvalleypublishing.com
Karen Rubalcaba, the new pre- school teacher at the Reedley Com- munity Center, wasn’t sure how her students would be when they came back in January from the holiday vacation break. She began teach- ing the program in September, has thoroughly enjoyed it and was ea- ger to continue her work with the children.
“Would it be like the first day, getting to know the routine and rules?” Rubalcaba said during a Jan. 11 interview.
But she needn’t have worried – the youngsters returned with lots of smiles and big hugs. “They were just so happy to see one another,” she said.
Her first year in the job has flown by, said Rubalcaba, who is assisted by teacher aide Connie Rabino. She said she appreciates the “great families” she is in con- tact with.
Rubalcaba teaches a preschool class and a pre-kindergarten class. At 41, she has nearly 20 years of experience as a preschool teach- er, including operating at one time her own day care program called
Peace of Mind day care.
For the city’s preschool pro-
gram at the community center, she is combining academics with culti- vating social interaction skills and a
Felicia Cousart Matlosz / The Exponent
Karen Rubalcaba (center) in 2017-18 became the preschool teacher for the city's Community Services Department. She's seen here with student Josiah Johnson (left) and Matthew Torres in the program's classroom at the Reedley Community Center.
Meet Karen Rubalcaba
She is the Reedley Community Center's new preschool teacher
little bit of yoga. Her basic teaching philosophy is this:
“It is just for them to have a love of learning, to just set that foundation, that this is fun, this is
exciting. And, just to have that love for books, the love for reading. I think if you can set that foundation at that early age, that’s what’s going to help them through school.”
She teaches 3-year-olds on Tues- days and Thursdays, 9 to 11 a.m., in preschool. She teaches 4-year-olds
See KAREN page B5
The history exhibit about the Kings Canyon Unified School District has a new home in the district's Educational Support Center in downtown Reedley. The exhibit had been displayed on a wall of a long, wide hallway on the building’s west side.
Now, it can be seen in the more expansive main governing board meeting room. The 11 large information boards add a colorful dimension to the space.
“It provides a warmth to the room. We think it grounds us in the history we have,” said Sheila Wiebe, the district’s administrator of educational programs. She served as head of the district’s historic exhibit committee.
“It reminds us of why we’re here,” Wiebe said. “It’s all about the kids.”
The district’s official unification date is July 1, 1966. The boards, designed by the Bertz-Rosa/Strategy-Creative firm in Fresno, use visually appealing photos and graphics to tell the district’s story.
LEFT: Sheila Wiebe, KCUSD’s administrator of educational programs who headed the district’s historic exhibit committee, is seen with the history exhibit in its new space – the KCUSD trustees' main meeting room. The board in the center points out that KCUSD is 600 square miles, making it geographically one of the largest districts in California.
Felicia Cousart Matlosz / The Exponent