Exploration program a cure for the Mondays

Mondays are often the most dreaded day of the week, but students at Jacks Valley Elementary School look forward to the start of the week thanks to Exploration Monday.

Exploration Monday is a day where teachers pick their passions and something they’re interested in, create lesson plans, and activities then share it with the students.

The program launched last semester and has been a hit among teachers and students from pre-kindergarteners to fifth-graders.

“We’ve seen an increase in attendance and decrease in behavior problems on Mondays because of it,” said Jacks Valley Elementary School Principal Pam Gilmartin.

Gilmartin said the idea came from Design 39, a school in Poway, near San Diego.

“How it works is teachers pick a craft or skill they know how to do or enjoying doing, something that is outside of their school day and they teach it to the kids,” said Gilmartin.

There are 26 exploration activities students can choose from including drawing, theatre, special effects make-up, cake decorating, rocket building, Lego Lab, origami, amigurumi, storytelling, space, world of colors, coding, crafts, games and more.

“It’s been really neat to see all the different things teachers are interested in, because sometimes you don’t know they used to design cakes and that they have these different skills and talents,” said Gilmartin. “Everyone gets to display their knowledge, and students learn something new and have fun.”

The program is funded through donations such as Donors Choose, a partnership the Douglas County School District has with the Nevada Department of Education.

Donors Choose allows community members, businesses, and more the opportunity to provide resources, materials, and supplies to classrooms to keep students learning, supported, engaged and safe at school.

As of Feb. 15, 175 teachers in Douglas County have received $108,809 in new classroom resources since being introduced at the beginning of the school year.

Other donors to Jacks Valley Elementary School’s Exploration Monday include a $500 for the Rotary Club, and $5,000 from the Volunteer Genoa Fire Department.

“The hardest part is the funding, some of the material are consumable and need to be replaced each class, so we rely a lot on donations and grants,” said Gilmartin.

Gilmartin said over all Exploration Mondays has been a successful project.

“We’re happy to have implemented it here and the feedback from the students is always positive, we hope to see it expand to other schools in the district,” she said.