LUCERNE – Lucerne Elementary school, nestled in the eastern foothills of Lake County, is a small school of just under 300 students.
Mike Brown, Lucerne Elementary School Principal says, “We are lucky. We have terrific students and great teachers here at Lucerne Elementary.”
One area that Lucerne Elementary School greatly focuses on for its students and teachers is the Advancement Via Individual Determination, more commonly known as AVID.
This program emphasizes preparing students, from the first day they start kindergarten, to be in control and excited about their own education and learning.
In kindergarten, age-appropriate and simple study skills are introduced. In first grade, slightly more advanced study skills are introduced to build upon the earlier foundation. This continues through the 8th grade, when Lucerne Elementary students have had 9 years of consistent and increasingly sophisticated study-skills building, allowing them to enter high school ready and prepared for advanced thinking and learning.
AVID provides Lucerne Elementary teachers with teaching techniques and classroom activities that they can easily incorporate in their classrooms to become teachers that inspire and connect with their students.
Teachers are encouraged to invest in their relationship with their students, in order to recognize the unique circumstances that each student brings to the classroom. AVID helps teachers adjust their teaching approach so that they can challenge students to think critically, ask questions, and collaborate to create solutions. Teachers learn new activities to use in the classroom that engage students’ minds and bodies in learning. Students are not bored in an AVID classroom.
Lucerne Elementary School’s Teacher of the Year, Jennifer Wangberg is so skilled at AVID teaching, that she was recently appointed to take on the extra duty of an AVID Demonstration Teacher. In this position, Wangberg will become a role model for other California schools and teachers. Educators from around the state will come to this small school in Lake County, to observe how an experienced AVID teacher has implemented AVID techniques to create stronger more enthusiastic students!
Lucerne Elementary may be a small school. It is also a mighty school that engages and excites its students to become lifelong learners!
