THINK Early Literacy kids go on Heritage Museum field trip

On Tuesday, students and parents in THINK Together’s Early Literacy Program took a field trip to Santa Ana’s Heritage Museum.

Taking the parents and students along was site coordinator Joevanie Lopez, who took his Sepulveda class. Joevanie was joined by parent trainer Maria Jimenez, child care provider Martha and three AmeriCorps members, Abigail Aleman, Alondra Castorena and Anahi Cazales.

They led 22 children (3 ½ to 5 years old) and their parents on a tour of the historic Kellogg house, dubbed “Grandpa’s House “ by tour guide, Jasmine.

The children went on a nature trail and stood on the highest non-structural point in Santa Ana (a dirt mound) before going on the tour. Jasmine than led each group of 11 children through the tour of “Grandpa’s House,” beginning with a story book reading followed by a tour of the living quarters, where children were shown the origins of the telephone and other antique household items.

They next went upstairs and were shown the children’s room, complete with toys and clothes worn by children in the 1800’s. The children were able to play dress up  and  wear the fashions of the day. The tour concluded when Jasmine spoke how orange groves were important to everyday living.

“Grandpa’s House” is surrounded by orange trees, and Jasmine cut up a few oranges to feed the families.

The museum is located at 3101 West Harvard Street in Santa Ana. For more information call 714-540-0404 or go to the website at http://heritagemuseumoc.org

About The Heritage Museum

The Heritage Museum of Orange County is one of the most interesting cultural and natural history centers in Southern California. The centerpiece of the museum, which covers nearly 12 acres in all, is a historic plaza featuring several buildings from the 1890s set amid extensive floral gardens and citrus groves. Among these is the Kellogg House, familiar to teachers and students throughout Orange County as a favorite field trip destination for nearly 25 years.  Our programming offers school children the opportunity to partake in innovative hands-on programs designed to encourage exploratory and imaginative learning. Dedicated to enhancing education, the museum has helped preserve, promote and restore the heritage of Orange County and the surrounding regions since 1985. Over the past decade, the museum has sustained itself by developing a fee-based social service enterprise, and by offering a variety of other activities including public tours, tea parties, themed fundraisers, weddings and corporate events. We are also caretakers of Santa Ana's last surviving freshwater marsh, a tiny remnant of the extensive wetlands that once existed throughout the lowlands of Orange County.

Check out this slideshow of the PIMCO executives visit to THINK Together

PIMCO Visits THINK Together in Santa Ana

A PIMCO executive shares a fun tutoring moment with a THINK Together student

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THINK Together, California’s fastest-growing extended-learning program, recently partnered with PIMCO, a leading global investment management firm, to invest in the most precious commodity of all: children.

As participants in THINK Together’s “Royal Reader” program, PIMCO assigned more than 160 investment professionals to four elementary schools in Santa Ana to read to first-through-third-graders, and then presented the books they read to the children.

                   

“Our mission to provide extended learning academic enrichment to children in a fun and safe environment wouldn’t be possible without partnerships with esteemed companies like PIMCO,” said Randy Barth, Founder and CEO of THINK Together.   “We were thrilled to team up with PIMCO for this special afternoon, which is certain to be of great benefit to our students.”

                   

The PIMCO executives are part of the Newport Beach-based firm’s PIMCO Partners, an employee volunteer and community outreach program that since 2007 has logged more than 15,000 hours of donated time.

 

“Central to PIMCO’s mission is our firm’s commitment to investing in the future of the communities in which we live and work, and that starts with making sure our children are getting the best education possible,” said Jon Short, PIMCO managing director and head of PIMCO’s Global Wealth Management unit, which serves individual investors through financial intermediaries.

“THINK Together has shown how crucial it is to provide high-quality extended learning education programs, especially in disadvantaged communities,” Short said.

Each of the 160-plus PIMCO volunteers in the Royal Reader program were paired with students and more than 600 students participated across the four schools for about 30 minutes. The program was designed to have an adult share a good book with a child, then discuss the book  before giving the book to the child for his or her own library. 

The books were a gift from The PIMCO Foundation, the firm’s philanthropic arm that provides monetary contributions to non-profit organizations in Orange County and around the world. A key part of the program was getting each child to tap into his or her experiences to discuss the stories, and to make the reading experience as interactive as possible.

“It was wonderful to see our students and our PIMCO guests enjoy reading together across all four schools.  We are so grateful that PIMCO has chosen to invest in the future of the children in Santa Ana by spending time reading to them and then supporting that investment by sending a book home with every child,” said THINK Together’s Orange County Region General Manager, Tia Dwyer. 

The Royal Reader program was held at Diamond, Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Walker elementary schools in the Santa Ana Unified School District.