Washington Elementary School

I volunteered for Ms. Talbott’s class a few years back and I had the most wonderful experience ever. Ms. Talbott is one of the leading teachers at Washington Elementary in equity, forward thinking and compassionate teaching. The school board should model their philosophy after her teaching standards and practices.
My work schedule does not permit me to volunteer anymore but for all of the parents out there looking for a stellar Kindergarten teacher at Washington, try to get into Ms. Talbott’s class.

We have 2 kids at Washington for the last 2 years. Similar to a previous reviewer, we also tried for the school closest to our house, but it was full. I feel that was a total blessing in disguise! Being large and close to Berkeley High, we have access to amazing resources, like the team of teen reading aids that come and sit one-​on-​one with our kids to help them learn how to read! They go see symphony performances downtown and do lots of cool field trips because they can walk to busses and BART. All the teachers have been AMAZING, and fun! Our kids are doing great and having a wonderful time — bigger is better and has a lot more opportunities!

I’ve been DJ-​ing the Walkathon for 6 years running and run sound at the Spring Fair Talent show most of those years as well. The parents and teachers are committed to their students here and everyone is very appreciative of the old school funk and hip-​hop Jamie and I mix in to the current pop hits all the kids know. This is some of most gratifying work I do. I wish I could do this everyday.

We’d gone the private school route previously, and were disappointed. We were worried, before we started to experience what it’s like to have your kid in Washington. This school, its teachers, and its principal were excellent.
Our child’s entering 7^th grade now. He’s just had a great 6^th grade year, thanks to the preparation he got at Washington.

As public schools go, this is a good one to consider despite the less-​than-​attractive architecture that greets prospective parents when visiting. We originally were disappointed with our assignment here (let’s put it this way: Berkeley asked us to make our top 3 choices for schools where our kids would go. We did not get choice #1, #2, or #3. Welcome to Berkeley…)
The school has an amazing garden which has been up and running since before 1908 (they have photos which document the life of this garden). The gardening teacher is cool! Her name is Tara and she is swell! The cooking classes use food grown in the garden and the lunches are all 100% ORGANIC!!! No weird stuff, no hormones in the milk, no growth hormones/​antibiotics, etc. Every single kid gets a 100% organic Universal Breakfast at 10:00 each morning regardless of family income. It’s a given, like PE (duh! Kids need exercise and good food in order to learn… we can’t count on the government to figure that out. Remember Reagan telling us all that ketchup counted as a vegetable…) Anyway, sorry about the tangent, I just think this is such a cool arrangement.
Here’s the greatest part of the whole thing (for me, anyway). Every Monday morning there is an assembly welcoming the kids back to school and encouraging parents to stay. There is a teacher, Mr. Ted Watson, who is AMAZING!!! He leads the kids in campy songs that make me laugh so hard I almost pee my pants (imagine the average 3^rd grader). My all-​time favorite song is «The Weeny Man». Here’s some lyrics and you decide:
I know a weeny man
He runs a weeny stand
He sells most everything from hot dogs on down.
Someday I’ll join his life
I’ll be his weeny-​wife.
Hot Dog! I love the Weeny Man!!!
Well, there’s more but you get the gist… Who wouldn’t love this?! This teacher gives me faith that teachers can be fun, cool, get kids’ attention, and have fun learning. Hot Dog! I love the teachers at this school! The principal is cool, too. If you live in Berkeley, and you’re bummed you didn’t get into the fancy school on the hill (you know which one…), please give Washington a chance. It has a lot to offer. 4 Stars b/​c some of the teachers need to retire or just quit teaching, most are good tho’. The cafeteria ladies remain humorless despite the high quality food offered.