Welcome Back Scotties!

What a week!  Activities during the day and after school were in high gear as we got back in the swing of things with kids.  Teaching and learning protocols and procedures are being introduced, practiced, and reinforced; beginning of year Dibels is happening, as well as other grade level assessments on most days.  Many classrooms even used some of their DBI strategies as part of get to know you activities.  Fun!  Much happening in the fall as you know, but don't forget that next up is HP night at Beauty and the Beast.  McCallum Fine Arts Center, Friday, September 7, 7:00 pm.  Check the HPPTA website for purchase link.  I'll be there and hope to see you as well.  More to come on lots of great happenings, but here are some images from our week and a few words about The Taco Shack Bowl.  It was a good one.

First Day of SEL - Being Respectful Learners in 3rd grade

 

Mr. Robenhorst going over procedures on Monday



Mrs. Land at one of four grade level BTS presentations




Some cool student art in Ms. Collin's class



Ms. Snell's Research Ready Board!





So, what to say about The Taco Shack Bowl?  It rounded out our week in a big way on Thursday night.  We had approximately 350 screaming, excited Scottie-Knight fans at the game so it definitely felt like home.  Half time was surreal, with kids and adults meeting on the end field, then waiting for Principal Garrison to give us last minute instructions on procedures for lining up with cheerleaders and drill team on the field.  Beyond fun to welcome the Knights back onto the field after half-time; even better was the Knight's big win!  Special thanks to Mike, Lou, Chastity and others for making our vertical team Scottie-Knight Strong.  Your future Knights thank you.



PTA President & Principal are just as excited about the game!



Leading up to opening day!

We had quite a bit of campus activity leading up to our big opener on Monday, August 27.  Here are some images from those very busy days.  Read all the way to the end as there are some upcoming Dates to Know you won't want to miss. 

Cute Crew!

Landscape Day took place last Saturday morning, with committee chair/parent Brian Yarbrough heading the crew.  They mulched, they pulled weeds, they cleaned up brush, and more.
Kids were out helping moms and dads with all things grounds work.  You can't put a price on that!  Dedication to the cause even in this hot weather.  Thanks all!

 

As we moved through the weekend into the week, bulletin board displays caught my eye.  It's always fun to see what themes are being planned and how teachers approach the opening days in classrooms.  Lots of work behind the scenes!

 

 

And of course, Preservice Week itself happened.  Monday-Wednesday saw us in training all day, with some time reserved for teams to meet, plan, and tackle beginning of the year team to-do lists. 

We began our week with a fabulous PTA provided breakfast, then the annual all staff picture, review of nuts and bolts to running the school, a short training connected to Reading Portrait Biographies (DAR) presented by Sally Hunter, and a broad overview of yearly goals and action plans! Thankfully, we did manage a puzzle brain break so we could connect all those pieces!  Full Day!

 

 

Monday afternoon, Maplewood teachers joined us as trainers from TAP conducted break-out sessions on all things DBI (drama based instruction).  I liked what I saw and heard from participants, with many saying they knew what they were going to use with their own kids the first days of school.  Relevant PD always makes for a good day.

 

Dr. Hasty kicking off the afternoon

Other activities abounded Tuesday and Wednesday.  We participated in our SEL training, trained on K-2 Math TEKS and TEMI math screeners, further reviewed STAAR data, listened to the Superintendent's Convocation (after a few technical difficulties!), met with members of our new PTA board - valuable information and they facilitated a wonderful Roll On Sushi lunch for us to boot! -  had team time, plus prepped and planned before, in between, and after into the evening hours.  Probably one of my favorite activities was the training Laine and I provided connected to the Matsumura book Creating High Quality Classroom Assignments.  We were able to connect to our goal of Process/Product displays as part of each teacher's work this year (meaningful idea from the DC arts conference as you may remember), but best of all, teachers were able to use some of their DBI strategies from Monday's AGC training; it was neat to see their created PSA's from the book chapters.  Loved their enthusisasm for the work!  Really easy to use information connected to planning high quality assignments with the foundation always laid with appropriate, rich, varied text. We're already rolling on it...

 

And we did manage to squeeze in some fun.  About 30 staff members (some of us seen below) travelled to Zach Scott for their Teacher Preview Party. We were able to see scenes performed from 2012-2013 school offerings; all were engaging, well done, and left all of us thinking about connections to the classroom.  We'll keep you posted on what's on tap for grade level enrichment experiences at Zach.  Thanks Nat and ZS!

 

HP teachers and newest Scottie Natalie too!

 

 

A truly busy week, but a good week.  Rally Day, as always, saw most of you on campus, and we couldn't be more excited about the year ahead.  As promised, some dates below to plan for as we head into our new year.  Can't wait!

 

Highland Park Night at The Taco Shack Bowl!  Thursday, August 30, 7:30 pm, House Park.  Special cheer to learn first week of school and kids on the field at Halftime!  See Tammie for Free tickets.  First come, first served!

 

Highland Park Night at MAC's Beauty and the Beast.  Friday, September 7, 7:00 pm.  Flyer and information on the PTA website and sent by Tammie through School Messenger - check your email.  One time only special adult pricing!  Great way to show your support for our Knight family and the arts!  Thanks MAC and thanks Kerren Campa for making it happen!

 

 

 

 



Celebrating 60 Years!

You may not know it, but Highland Park will be celebrating its 60th birthday in 2012-2013.  Wow!  Sixty years of service to children and families living in Central Austin.  We have several Scotties who have parents, uncles, and aunts, even grandparents who have also attended HP over the years and it never fails to amaze me how they still radiate that Scottie Pride when talking about their elementary years. While Highland Park has changed much since 1952, there are a few traditions (such as the Scottie Dog!) that remains a part of who we are today.  This year's student design t-shirt celebrates the occassion so be sure to pick one up at the PTA table on Rally Day.

Shay with the student designed t-shirt.  ARF!



Facilities Review Committee

Lots and lots happening on campus this week.  We had meetings and planning groups in and out most days; all productive and all very worthwhile.  SEL committee met Monday to plan our training next week, The DBI trainers used a couple of HP spaces to get ready for their big roll-out presentations to MAC schools, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation met with me and staff to plan an upcoming fundraising walk during Coach's Fall Fitness Festival (Ellen Ray is an organizing champ!), and our newly formed Facilities Review committee met with district rep Marc Brewster to look at our deficiencies notebook and the impact our current space has on student learning, especially in core areas.  Thanks bunches to parents Wendy Dunham-Tita and Juliee Beyt, as well as librarian Cheryl Mullins for their time and expertise. Of course, we are also in the throes of setting up the cafeteria for our own kick-off Monday morning.  Textbooks rolling out, bulletin boards gettin' there, lessons being planned, and students being enrolled.  Our numbers at this point sit around 675, we are definitely full with many new families having moved into our area, and we couldn't be more excited about the coming year.  Our curriculum is in place and our staff continues to build their own instructional skill levels through trainings, reflection, and collaboration with others.  

SEL committee planning, planning!

Monday brought our newest teachers to campus to begin their first full week of training.  Though I formally introduced them to you a couple of weeks ago,  here's a cute pic of all of them, including their campus mentor Margaret Williams. 

We also have two other new hires that you may not have heard about in recent days.  Long time ASCC staff member Diana Estrada has taken a teaching assistant position closer to her home.  Though we are truly sad to see her go, we are equally thrilled to have Veronica Lilly join our staff.  She will work with the second and third grade children after school and help us with many other things as well.  Veronica holds her Bachelor of Science in Geography from Texas State, has worked with Crenshaw's Athletic Club childcare programming, and has also subbed for us in the classroom and after school.  Welcome Veronica!

Ms. Lilly



Rounding out our recent hiring is Kristina Carmona in the new teacher assistant position for our SBS program; she will be working with teacher Chris Purkiss and SBS TA Charles King.  Kristina is a graduate of St. Edward's University with a BA in Psychology, holds her teacher certification, and was most recently a TA at Kiker Elementary in Southwest Austin.  We're equally glad to have her join our team. 

Ms. Carmona

Finally, check out the updated Lamar Info Board Elaine Castro just finished; we'll keep current news posted as we get it. Together, continuing to be Scottie Strong!



It's all about the C's!

I think about connections quite a bit. How things we have in place connect to things we're thinking about putting in place or how things we have in place connect to things that need refinement.  Educators typically groan when new initiatives and programs come around and suddenly drop from the radar without just cause.  Of course, if it ain't working, let it go.  But if it is, how can you connect those things to other ideas that will keep a campus moving forward with the ever rolling changes happening in our world and with our students?  This year, connections will remain at the core of what we do at Highland Park.  In fact, It's All About the C's.  Think continued focus on creativity, community, critical thinking, college/career/life readiness, and collaboration, with the goal of all connected to what we've built and what we will build.  I believe it's another exciting, successful, connected year ahead for us as we work together to achieve our goals on behalf of our kids.

When looking at all Highland Park has to offer - made a list, it's extensive - it's pretty clear we do have quite a bit for kids above and beyond the basics. Those things will remain in place.  Curricular items such as Scientific Spelling, Handwriting without Tears, Model Drawing Math, Acclerated Math/Excel Math as practice, Future Problem Solvers for our identified Gifted & Talented, Fluency Centers, Dibels assessments, inter-disciplinary language arts units connected to varied and rich text/projects/experiential experiences will remain and will grow as we work on making them deeper and more meaningful for kids.  The all important TEKS (our true core curriculum), the district Curriculum Road Maps, and so much more will remain and will be at the heart of what we do.  And of course, all of our wonderful extension and enrichment opportunities that we have during the day and after school will remain, with an eye toward expansion and refinement where appropriate. It's now simply about building upon what's there and connecting to the year ahead.

This year, as last, a major focus will be the Year II Any Given Child city-wide initiative.  We're fortunate to have been a part of the pilot year in 2011-2012, it will expand to other feeder schools in the McCallum Vertical Team this year, with the goal to expand to other schools in AISD in the future.  In fact, this expansion is beginning (embedded high yield strategies in the yearly curriculum documents for one thing), I know it's on the table with many great minds and hands working on the roll-out, and will eventually provide the venue for arts rich opportunities for all children in our community.  You will want to look for those details in the days ahead, but really good for our kids and good for Austin.

All Highland Park teachers, along with our MAC peer schools, will participate in 3 half-day DBI (drama based instruction) professional development opportunities beginning August 20.  UT's Drama for Schools, Zach Scott, TAP, and more will deliver this targeted PD to help us build creative capacities within our classrooms.  Pretty cool.  Additionally, through the work of the AGC initiative, selected teachers at our schools will have access to artist residents to further develop skills through a year long partnership, have the opportunity to receive individual modeling of lessons from such partners, receive some base support to continue our work with community arts providers in the gen ed setting, and further look ahead to late spring and summer creative classroom professional development opportunities as they arise.  Most exciting, outside of the AGC initiative but related to our MAC Vertical Team's signature program (think Advancing Academics through the Arts!), the four pilot schools, along with Blackshear Elementary, will have a year long partnership with a newly hired dance teacher at Lamar Middle School.  Though details are being worked out and will be finalized the week of teacher training, this partnership will provide an avenue for kids to connect dance TEKS, grade level TEKS, and more through creative movement.  All with the goal to enhance understanding of what students are learning in the classroom and to reach those varied learners.  Tools in the toolbox.


Finally,  Highland Park will look at process and reflection as a part of our final product displays, will endeavor to incorporate our DBI and DAR (tied to visual art) trainings with those displays, and we will, once again, continue to celebrate the arts through a variety of events throughout the year.  I  encourage you to check this weekly blog, read the weekly PTA Scottie Informer, and listen to any and all School Messenger calls/emails that come your way.  Creative, meaningful, fun.


So what else is going on in 2012-2013?   Cari Land and our newly formed SEL (Social Emotional Learning) team comprised of Sally Hunter, Lori Gates, Lizanne McDaniel, and myself, will be rolling out the Second Steps curriculum  to teachers on August 22. As I've mentioned before, the McCallum Vertical team will become an SEL VT, all with an eye toward giving our kids the tools to be emotionally healthy individuals.  Gotta have that along with the academics or it doesn't mean much.  More info at Back to School and special parent presentations, but know that SEL time will take the place of our weekly, 30 minute Face Time we put in place last year as a jumping off point for this program.  According to Casel's SEL website, SEL skills "include recognizing and managing our emotions, developing caring and concern for others, establishing positive relationships, making responsible decisions, and handling challenging situations constructively and ethically. They are the skills that allow children to calm themselves when angry, make friends, resolve conflicts respectfully, and make ethical and safe choices."  This is truly a positive step for our school and our vertical team, we are ensuring that those all important people connections are there, and we're so very excited to join the other AISD vertical teams already implementing this program.

We will also implement the Legacy of Giving program this year with our fifth graders as an extension to our after school CLASS service offerings, will have some parent ed coffee chats and evening presentations around a variety of topics of interest (cyberbullying, SEL, SCORES services, and more), implement the TEMI math screeners/progress monitoring tools under the guidance of Leah Read in K-2 classrooms, and all take a critical look on the creation and recognition of High Quality Assignments.  Building upon and connecting to what we have in place.

Of course, as with any school, the above list is only a snapshot of what truly goes on in a school any given day, any given year.  We have much we're working on and been working on over the end of last year and summer.  In fact, many teachers and support staff have actually been "back to work" for awhile, in and out, meeting in grade level and department teams, planning, creating, brainstorming with me and others.  Beginning of the year is always exciting and for some reason this year seems especially so.  Good vibes.

That's the overview.  Couldn't do it without such a dedicated staff (some pics below of a few at school today!).  Continued thanks for caring, for connecting, and for being you.  Just about ready to roll.