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Ask Nancy D. Waters, principal of John Muir Elementary School, how much her school focuses on music and “beep be diddly do wop wop wop” will be her reply. Or she might break out a riff on her baritone saxophone as she has been known to do at the school’s Monday-morning “singing and signing assemblies.”  

But a scat-singing, sax-playing principal is only one of the school’s unusual features. Muir, on Claremont Avenue in southeast Berkeley, houses the district’s only Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program. It also boasts a program in so-called life skills and, this year began making food a part of the curriculum with the backing of the Chez Panisse Foundation. 

Muir and Le Conte Elementary were the only elementary schools in the Berkeley Unified School District chosen by Chez Panisse to launch a program that incorporates food into the coursework. 

Alice Waters, founder of Chez Panisse, conceived the idea of integrating lunch with learning a decade ago and has been changing the way schools look at food ever since. 

It is part of Waters’ well-publicized crusade to bring healthier food to schools and foster a sense of community by engaging students in every aspect of food preparation.  

Through this program, children will tend garden beds, plant seeds and help cook the food that will eventually appear on their lunch trays. Teachers will reinforce key concepts by creating lessons that bring facets of gardening and cooking into the classroom. Students might learn science by studying soil and growing seasons. Subsequently, children might strengthen their writing skills by recording their observations in a journal. 

Principal Waters, known to most as “Nancy D.,” says she is thrilled the school will be able to better serve the health and nutrition needs of its students. 

“We’re very excited,” she says. “We already have a very strong gardening and cooking program, so this will tie in really well.” 

When the Muir students aren’t busy planting, cooking, or expanding their taste buds to include chard, they’re winning awards and practicing good citizenship. 

John Muir received a national citation in November of 2002 for its incorporation of singing and signing into assemblies. Principal Waters, who was a music teacher in Florida for 12 years before she became an administrator, leads the assemblies, during which students receive praise and peer recognition for embodying one or more of a variety of so-called life skills including cooperation, integrity, patience, problem-solving, respect and responsibility. 

“We think that emphasizing [the importance of music] strengthens academics,” says Waters. 

The singing and signing assemblies are also part of the school’s effort to serve the needs of Muir’s deaf and hard-of-hearing students. 

“The assemblies promote a positive attitude toward signing,” says Pam Ormsby, teacher for the Deaf Program, grades 3-5. “Our philosophy is to sign everything that is said … We have a strong group of interpreters [who] bring support to all the students. They are on the yard, in the cafeteria, at the buses, and in the classrooms.” 

The Deaf Program, noted for its emphasis on speech and listening skills, began with just five students in 1986 and currently has 18 enrolled from areas as close as Albany and as far away as Livermore. To date, 100 percent of the deaf and hard-of-hearing students who graduated from Muir have gone to college. 

John Muir prides itself on offering students a peaceful environment with emphasis on all aspects of child development. 

“It is a place of great beauty, great serenity and great activity,” says PTA President Valerie Gutwirth.  

This is the fifth in a series profiling the Berkeley elementary schools. The reports are written by students of the UC Berkeley Journalism School.