Diagonal Class
Diagonal Cubs (Diagonal) Class @ Diagonal Court Community Center, Boulder
The Diagonal Class launched in 2018 with 55 Dreamer Scholars. These students live at Boulder Housing Partners’ Diagonal Court and northern housing sites and attend elementary schools in the 2nd-4th grades in the Boulder Valley School District. They are set to graduate from high school in May 2028-2030. This site is also a Health Equity-focused site, in partnership with the City of Boulder’s Health Equity Fund.
Program Director Natalia Luna describes a typical week at the site, “Our standard weekly layout goes like this:
- Monday, we have Unplugged for 30 minutes with Boulder City Parks & Rec. staff. This is followed by a math activity of some sort.
- Tuesdays are Community Building and Anti-Bullying curriculum/activities. Community building usually entails kids working together through games, art, non-verbal cue activities, etc. Anti-bullying is the second-step curriculum
- Wednesdays are much like Mondays with Unplugged for another rotation of 30 minutes, only instead of math, we have ‘Lit Wednesdays’ and engage them in storytelling, writing, and/or mad libs. Sight words for little ones and challenging the older kids with chapter books.
- Thursdays we have Teach Engineering Club (through CU Boulder) at site working with 2nd and 4th graders, while STEMREV works with the 3rd graders. All is STEM-related.
- Friday we have small group field trips and parent date nights where families are allowed to drop off all kids in their home and enjoy a night out. Many go out to dinner, a movie, or simply get chores done at home. During this time, the center is filled with Dreamer Scholars/ Dreamer Scholar siblings, and we have food, movies, Nintendo Switch, Jenga, art, and many other activities for them to participate in.
- **Monday- Thursday all begin with quiet reading (20 mins) and then Social-emotional Circle for 15 mins.”
When asked what makes his site unique, Francisco said, “What’s unique about the Diagonal class is how diverse is. We have students from 8 different schools, 4+ different neighborhoods, across 3 different grade levels. Every day brings different challenges and opportunities for better community building with children who aren’t very familiar with one another. I also believe that the culture in our Dreamer cohort is very unique in that 50/55 students speak Spanish as their first language. This comes with challenges at times, but also provides a beautiful dynamic that is felt around our center.
Lastly, we are very geared towards healthy lifestyles through exercise and healthy eating. Because we are pivotal in the Healthy Together partnership, our programming is structured with respect to movement, exercise, yoga, healthy foods, and an overall healthy body. Kids seem to like this composition.”
Diagonal has a number of needs including:
- Desktop computers for computer lab
- Drawers for storage/shelves
- Easels (kid size, 8)
- Office chairs (3)
- Laminator
- Water bottles for kids (40)
- Digital Cameras for Photography activities
To learn more, email Francisco at natalia.luna@ihaveadreamboulder.org
In addition, they can always use more Spanish-speaking volunteers as more than 90% of their students speak Spanish as their first language. To learn more about volunteering, click here.
Site Team
Natalia Luna | Program Director
Diagonal Court Community Housing Site | 303-323-5422 | natalia.luna@ihaveadreamboulder.org