Elementary Science Team

scharffc@sfusd.edu 

Claudia was a Spanish bilingual science resource teacher and a third through fifth grade teacher at Alvarado for eight years. She co-lead a 4th and 5th grade girls science club with UCSF scientists and the support of the Science and Health Education Partnership (SEP) for three years and taught City Science to third grade teachers.  Claudia was a coordinator at SEP for five years and particularly enjoyed working with teachers and scientists to address the needs of English Language Learners through science, as well as working with high school interns placed in UCSF science labs.  She thinks that hands-on science and engineering investigations make the best springboard for developing language and math.  There is no better way to get an otherwise shy child to talk, or an otherwise active child to focus, than to observe how a snail behaves when faced with an obstacle, or what happens when you squeeze lemons into red cabbage juice, or discover how to build a circuit with two lights! In her free time, Claudia likes to play in the water and the mountains, and with her two young children.

She is very happy to be part of the science team with its breadth of experience, interests and fun-loving personalities, and is especially excited to begin implementing the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and to educate our most curious and creative minds to marvel at the world and solve the problems we all face.

pickensa@sfusd.edu

Anastasia is returning to SFUSD after 8 years of teaching math and science to 5th graders in Half Moon Bay where she rooted her curriculum in elephant seals, Princeton Harbor, and beach clean-ups. Prior to teaching on the coast, Anastasia earned National Board Certification while teaching a 4-5 combination class at Alvarado. Her interest in science education began when she participated in science-teacher partnerships at UCSF through which she discovered how scientists actually do science. She also participated in the Academy of Sciences Teaching for Science and Sustainability (TISS) program and the San Mateo Environmental Literacy (SMELC) Institute, which further grounded her in the direct connection between teaching science and environmental stewardship.

Anastasia is delighted to apply all she gleaned from both teaching and learning to become part of the Elementary Science Team. She’s especially interested in the intersection of NGSS with environmental advocacy, believing we only protect what we love, so getting kids out in nature should be part of every science classroom.