A new year

Flu season has officially arrived around HP with several students, staff, and parents feelin' a bit under the weather.  I hear there are a variety of ailments out there, including the ongoing battle with allergies, so we're trying to disinfect, encourage folks to stay home if they are sick, and keeping our fingers crossed that come Monday everyone is on the mend.

In and around all of this, fifth grade hosted Dan Lester, UT Astronomy professor, for an informative presentation on our solar system.  He seemed to have much energy and enthusiasm and Mrs. Matetich tells me he incorporated drama based instructional strategies into his presentation, all of which were just what the doctor ordered our first week back.  Thanks Dr. Lester.

The Edge of Peace

We are gearing up for our second semester community arts outing next month.  All fourth and fifth grade parents are invited to bring their children to a UT College of Fine Arts performance of The Edge of Peace, on an upcoming date in February at the B. Iden Payne Theatre.  Per the Fine Arts website overview, "Buddy, the younger brother of a soldier declared missing in action, refuses to believe what appears inevitable. Through the visual poetry of sign language, Tuc, the local deaf postman, leads patrons through the touching story of a small community struggling to make sense of a world at war.  The Edge of Peace, the final play in Suzan Zeder’s acclaimed trilogy, is produced in partnership with Seattle Children’s Theatre (SCT). SCT Artistic Director Linda Hartzell describes Zeder’s masterpiece as “a drama, mystery and adventure rolled into one. Audiences will fall in love with these characters and their stories. The play really demonstrates the interdependence of community members during times of crisis.”

In speaking with Katie Dawson of UT's Drama for Schools, the playwright recommends that fourth grade be the minimum grade level for attendance, though all parents should check out the information if interested; fourth and fifth grade teachers are additionally tying aspects of play themes to their language arts and social studies instruction in several of their classes.  Our HP date and time, ordering information, and a play synopsis will be coming your way in our Informer, School Messenger, and through language arts teachers at fourth and fifth grade in the next few days; once again, there will be a special Scottie ordering link and this time, we will have seats reserved for us in one section.  I plan to attend along with teachers to enjoy the performance with families.  Hope to see you there as it will be a wonderful opportunity to further our connections to what is happening in the classroom in a unique, authentic, and artistic way.

The McCallum Vertical Team hosted a very informative Principal PTA Roundtable today at Lamar Middle School. PTA representatives from campuses were on hand with principals, hearing both Lamar Middle School principal George Llewellyn and Kealing Middle School principal Robin Lowe present timely information about their programming.  In addition to future plans for both schools.  Lamar's Fine Arts Academy keeps gaining strength as everyone in this area knows, along with their core academics; Kealing's plans, which I had not heard about before, include blended learning and problem based learning opportunities and more for their comprehensive students.  It is great that our families have so many choices within our AISD and MAC VT and I continue to be impressed by the quality principals we have at our feeder middle schools.  George and Robin - you rock!

I love the If I Lived in a Snow Globe writing displays I saw outside Mrs. Absher's class this week.  She tells me, "We started with some winter themed mini-lessons on identifying and comparing similes, metaphors, onomatopoeia, and adjectives.  We discussed their importance:  they make our writing more interesting and fun!  We then brainstormed our own examples of each in our writer's notebooks before creating our own original stories about life in a snow globe."  Great job and no pun intended, but living in a Snow Globe could be pretty cool!
 

Finally, just have to share some of the New Years Resolutions just completed by Mrs. Golliher's students.  Not only did they and their teacher set some darn good personal goals for 2013, but they also made predictions on things they may be doing...or wish they were doing.  Some of those are high on my list as well.  Time to get in gear and make it the best year yet!