October 27, 2011
VOL. 125, ISSUE 36• 50¢
Ramona Sentinel
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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2011
Inside
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30 years
For 30 years, many pet owners in Ramona have come to rely on Adobe Animal Hospital to take care of their furriest companions.................22
Pink all over Alex Nastre sports pink hair as Ramona Soccer League shows support for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.....................38
Index Red Ribbon Week......25 Our Town....................5 Business News.............7 Opinion......................8 Classifieds.................27 Obituaries.................36 Between Bookends....39
Technology in the classroom By PIXIE SULSER
teracted with their lessons via a computer. Teachers in front of the classroom were a thing of the past as students received instruction from a computer
program and responded in kind. That futuristic media Years ago movies and view is part of today’s edtelevision shows depicted ucational reality, but the classrooms of the future as devices are being used to a place where students insupplement and support education in the classroom rather than replace the human element. In six different classrooms across the Ramona Unified School District, students are experiencing the application of mobile technology as a tool for problem solving and application in their daily work. Randy Schimpf‘s fourth-graders at Barnett Elementary, Leslie Wilson‘s sixthgraders at Mt. Jesse Worsham, Mount Woodson Elementary sixth-grader Woodson, the in Leslie Wilson’s class, works with her Apple iPad II.
Presorted Standard US Postage PAID Ramona CA Permit No 136
Residents, county share ideas at flood workshop By KAREN BRAINARD The turnout was light at the Ramona Community Planning Group’s (RCPG) flood workshop last Thursday, but the few who attended had the full attention of San Diego County flood control staff. Jerry Berman said that when it rains, Kelly Street badly floods Letton and Hunter Streets and the Denny’s Restaurant parking lot. “The county puts signs out every time it rains
P.O. Box 367 Ramona, CA 92065
See WORKSHOP on page 14
Ramona High School math classes of Cori McDonald and the Montecito students of Christine Hill are all piloting the use of the Apple iPad II. Each classroom is equipped with an iPad II for every student. Two teachers at Hanson Elementary, Sherry Torpin and Teri Burns, are also piloting educational support through mobile technology with the use of iPod Touches. Both classrooms have an iPod Touch for each of their students. The two iPad pilots at the elementary level (Barnett and Mt. Woodson) are funded by the district through “a very restrictive budget source, Economic Impact Aid Funding,” explained RUSD Superintendent, Dr. Bob Graeff. “Montecito, Ramona High and Hanson Elementary are funding their own pilots via their federal after school grants. “We (RUSD) are trying to begin moving toward
“They think they are playing games, but they are really learning.” Sherry Torpin second-grade teacher Hanson Elementary
the teaching of 21st Century skills. Some of these skills include what are becoming known as the Four Cs -— communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity. Another component is the inclusion of mobile technology as a way to improve student achievement and for teaching important new skills for the very survival of our local students in the future.” Because of the cost involved in the devices themselves, “pilots are few,” Graeff continued. “As we learn more from the pilot programs, howevSee TECHNOLOGY on page 9
Halloween Happenings
By MAUREEN ROBERTSON
Costumed trick-or-treaters will line Main Street from Third to Ramona streets for Halloween on Main Street, Ramona merchants’ Safe Trick or Treating from 3 to 6 p.m. on Oct. 31. Sponsored by Ramona Chamber of Commerce, the annual event serves two purposes, said chamber President Jason DeLeo:
to give back to the community and to give merchants an opportunity to showcase their businesses. Saying that up to 5,000 pieces of candy or other treats will be given away is not an exaggeration, said DeLeo. “We (the chamber) go through a shopping cart full of candy,” he said. “It’s a safe alternative for children and their families,” said Barbara Wor-
den in the chamber office. “We encourage every business on Main Street to participate. Just open your doors and have goodies for the children as they go through.” An opportunity to see “The Thing” at Town and Country Real Estate at 976 Main St. and “The Escape” on the Freeman property at 855 Rancho Bullard Lane See HALLOWEEN on page 16