By Kathleen Murphy — OAKHURST — “These picnic tables are huge!” exclaim dozens of kindergarten students at Oakhurst Elementary School. The students are enjoying their new playground picnic tables purchased by the Oakhurst Elementary Parent/Teacher Club (PTC). “We love our new picnic tables,” shares kindergarten teacher Karen Forbes. “The students use them for morning snack time and to chat with their ...

By CFC Collins and Cadet Webb —  OAKHURST — Oak Creek Intermediate school (OCI) welcomes the California Cadet Corps (CACC), in which participants learn about discipline, respect, commitment, problem solving, and teamwork. We are a military based program which helps build character, personal strength, and patriotism. The Cadet Corps motto is essayons, meaning “let us try.” The CACC has helped students improve ...

OAKHURST — Students at Oak Creek Intermediate school brought in just shy of 500 canned and non-perishable food items to benefit Manna House, says Principal Brad Barcus. “Classrooms were challenged to bring in items as part of a class competition,” he explains. “Mrs. Duckworth’s class brought in the most items with 174. Mrs. Bodine’s Class brought in the highest percentage ...

OAKHURST — What makes third graders so thankful? They are thankful for the incredible and fun activities going on at Oakhurst Elementary School (OES). The terrific third graders of OES have been busy with lessons on kindness, exploring learning through STEAM projects, and getting physical with PE. Mind-Up curriculum is designed to help students learn skills that help them focus ...

OAKHURST — Online and in person, parents and community members have been talking about a terrific field trip recently taken by about 75 lucky students from Oakhurst Elementary School (OES) to nearby Fresno Flats Historic Village and Park. The hours-long excursion was a celebration of their own pioneer day, as three 5th grade classes descended on the conveniently located landmark, ...

By Dawn Williams —  OAKHURST — Going on a field trip is always exciting. Sierra Tel recently rolled out the “red carpet” to arrange an informative field trip for Oakhurst Elementary School’s 59 fourth grade students. It was a great day to see their operations and meet some of their employees. Students learned about Spool Forest, fiber optics, cables, and ...

By Eileen Holladay —  OAKHURST — Laurel Duckworth says she became a teacher because she wanted to spend as much time as possible with her sons, Shane and Ian. Inspired by her own mother, also an educator, Mrs. Duckworth has been teaching for 20 years; this is her ninth year at Oak Creek Intermediate. She enjoys teaching math and PE, ...

OAKHURST — This week we are focusing on one of our 6th grade teachers, Ms. Amy Smith. She has been teaching for thirteen years in total, but has only taught for five years in Oakhurst, and loves it! When Ms. Smith graduated from high school she went to college to become a biologist. After completing two years toward her biology ...

By Barbara Irion — AHWAHNEE — Wasuma Elementary School’s PTA held its first Color Run to raise money for the activities it provides for students throughout the year. This includes assemblies, field trips, music instruction, family movie nights, academic pentathlon, spelling bee, and book fair — to name a few. Students collected pledges per lap, or flat donations, from family ...

By Paige Bartlett —  OAKHURST — We have a fabulous teacher at Oak Creek Intermediate (OCI); his name is Mr. Erik Peterson. We wanted to ask him a few questions about his teaching career and background. Mr. Peterson has taught for 28 years. Before his move to Oakhurst, he taught at Simi Valley High School, McKinley Elementary, Spencer V. Williams ...