Art and other moments

Student recognitions abounded this week and we couldn't be prouder of their accomplishments.  For starters, Alistair Sharp, a student in Ms. Proffer's classroom, recently won an art contest sponsored by HEB.  His parents sent me a pic of the winning entry, there may be an opportunity for him to win a prize, and I hear he was super excited.  Way to go Alistair!  Additionally, Ms. Pappert and Ms. Collins received notification that 2 of their second grade students from the 11-12 school year were selected by the Austin Poetry Society to have their original poems honored at a special ceremony on May 18.  Jackson Cox's Hot Colors and Luke Murphy's Dancing in Massachusetts were selected from hundreds of poems by poet Gloria Amescua and were written in collaboration with the Badgerdog Program last year on our campus.  The arts, in many forms, are alive and well at school and at home!

Our Campus Green Team finished up all things Earth Week celebrations with a trip to HDI Plastics in Taylor.  Per committee member Diana Wheeler, the group dorpped off "all the styrofoam that the Green Team collected at HP during

Earth Week.  We filled the 5 bins in this photo as well as a 6th bin, which equates to roughly 125lbs. of polystyrene.  It will be melted down to produce about 5 lbs of pea-sized plastic pellets (called nurdles), which will be sold to distributers to use as raw material for other durable good."  The Green Team has plans to sponsor 2 polystyrene collections next year, as well as implementing a 'no more styrofoam' campaign with the students.

Juli, Tina, and Diana at HDI Plastics

Cathy McHorse and her FPS team headed to State Competition last weekend and came away with not only a great experience for kids, but a win to boot!  Team 55, comprised of Ethan Ripp, Trevor Anderson, Jeanine Bradsby, and Allison Rauch, placed in the Top 10 for the state and we couldn't be prouder.  It was especially fitting for this year to end with the recogntion as this will be Cathy's last year as our FPS sponsor.  Way to Go!

Tamra Snell's 4th Grade language arts students were in the middle of their newest novel unit when I popped in one day this week.  She has been pumped about starting this unit all year long as the book's themes and connections (think immigration, refugees, traditions, culture, importance of animals to people, change, friendship, and more) are rich and authentic and highly engaging for kids.  Students have been reading the novel Home of the Brave, along with other related text, working on the all important TEKS along the way.  Per a book overview, "Kek comes from Africa where he lived with his mother, father, and brother. But only he and his mother have survived. Now she’s missing, and Kek has been sent to a new home. In America, he sees snow for the first time, and feels its sting. He wonders if the people in this new place will be like the winter—cold and unkind. But slowly he makes friends: a girl in foster care, an old woman with a rundown farm, and a sweet, sad cow that reminds Kek of home. As he waits for word of his mother’s fate, Kek weathers the tough Minnesota winter by finding warmth in his new friendships, strength in his memories, and belief in his new country."

On the day of my visit, I heard students connecting their own experiences of moving to a new place or visiting a new place for the first time.  And what that feels like when you are the newbie and possibly don't even speak the language.  Honest responses ranged from fearfulness to anxiousness to even helplessness.  And ultimately, hopefully, gladness and joy.   I also liked the phrase "tossed salad" Ms. Snell used when talking to students about America's diversity rather than melting pot. A much truer depiction of where we are today.  Ms. Snell was kind enough to let me borrow a copy of Home of the Brave, and my goal is to dive in this weekend!



I'll end with three arts connected/creative classroom activities that happened on Thursday.  First grade has just begun their work with Creative Action and refinement of their tried and true Ocean Odyssey Unit.  Yesterday, two CA artists, were brainstorming with Ms. Brunello's students about their chosen performance topic of sea turtles (the performance this year will center around all first graders showing what they know about ocean life) and it was a hoot seeing Ms. Brunello and kids coming up with body movements and voices for some of the leatherback sea turtle's fave foods.  Namely, shrimp, crab, and jellyfish.  What a great way to emphasize the learning for kids in a fun and engaging way.  Really, truly looking forward to this year's annual performance in May.

Yesterday, I was also able to join some of our 2nd and 3rd grade moms at the Blanton Museum for a tour of the alumni collection exhibit.  Though I had been fortunate enough to see the exhibit previously, I loved this guided activity centered on a few selected pieces.  It gave parents an understanding of  the experience our students have when they visit a museum with teachers.  Much rich discussion with my group around the Vic Muniz piece Milan, The Last Supper (from Pictures of Chocolate)which was a series of three photographs depicting da Vinci's famous painting.  All the more intriguing to our group because the photographed scenes were made entirely with chocolate syrup.  Thanks to Christy and Ellen for arranging this visit for us (great idea ladies!) and to Ed Director Ray Williams and other staff for giving all of us the opportunity to explore similiar themes that our kids get to explore when they interact with art.  Ideas such as art as social commentary and the multiple meanings within one piece.   Don't know where they will go with this idea, but what a great experience if expanded...





Finally, last night's Fine Arts Showcase.  Though we're all a bit spent today, I think it was a big success, with parents and students hearing our Scottie Singers in fine form, experiencing a great overview video from Austin Film Kids (truly showing a behind the scenes look at what our kids are doing and learning in the after school offering), and in my mind, a much needed chance to see what arts integration in a regular classroom looks like in action.  Though nothing can ever take the place of the real classroom setting (a bit more chaotic when you pull volunteers from the audience!), I nonetheless am grateful to our own Sally Hunter and her demo/explanation of the DBI strategies Role on the Wall - with Santa Anna - and Hot Seat, with the very engaging Noah.  Not to mention The Story Wranglers and their story/scene creation with some of our Scottie Singers.  It was fun, it was exhausting, it was a great way to end a Thursday evening.  Big 'ol thank you to Ms. Satterwhite and Ms. Maca for their help with pulling this night together and to the special areas team as a whole.  You all rock!





Great Start to the Day

As we celebrate staff and their contributions to our school, we can't forget those parent and community members who also do many good things for our campus.  Highland Park's Mentor of the Year is Rick Shumacher.  Nominated by Cari Land, Rick is an awesome Partners In Ed mentor, who tutors a first grader every week.  That's true commitment.  Hand in hand with mentoring, our PTA board also nominated fifth grade parent Sean Compton as our Volunteer of the Year.  Sean was one of the original driving forces behind many of our biggest landscape projects, such as the Kinder courtyard and the recent bus shelter installation project.  Gentlemen, hats off to both of you and your very well deserved recognitions. 

I'm equally proud of second grade teacher Kalene Guenther and her selection to attend June's Arts Integration Training, to be held at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.  It was a first rate experience for those of us who attended last year and I know she and the other teachers selected will bring back solid strategies to use in their classrooms and to share with their schools.  Way to go Kalene and all other attendees!

Even though this was the week leading up to all things STAAR for grades 3-5 (see the pic of counselor Cari Land and AP Lizanne McDaniel busily prepping materials this week), there were lots of creative units and activities planned with kids.  I'm always looking for those integrated units of study as they truly bring so many opportunities for kids to learn, to connect ideas, themes, or other content...and to be motivated and engaged in school.  In other words, those units can be powerful educational tools and can be fun for kids as well.

Third grade language arts teacher Marcie Golliher hosted a Parent Visiting Day this week, I hate to say I missed it, but I was able to see the final product her students produced.  She decided to connect her Process and Product Display to the unit's novel The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary, with individual students creating a mouse house, mouse poetry, mouse research papers using internet tools, letter writing and more.    Very cool Mrs. Golliher.





Mrs. Leibick's fourth grade LA students were doing the same thing this week, hosting parents as part of their annual Survival and Interdependence Unit.  The work can speak for itself, but those of us who visited were impressed as always with the connectedness of the varied projects.  Noah explained to me that students were given ten independent project choices, narrowing to one or more.  He also explained and showed me, along with some other students, that all students completed poetry connected to an Arctic Animal, created Ocean Creature fact flip books based on research, wrote essays connected to a Maya Angelou poem and the theme of "being alone", created Karana/Shackleton Venn Diagrams - even a field visit to an archeolgoical dig is slated for the near future as a further extension to the learning. I was truly impressed with Paco's independent journal entries, including a couple of very realistic blood stained and aged pages, as well as his inclusion of an original folk tale he decided was the final journal touch needed.  Good stuff.

Poem in Your Pocket Day went very well on Thursday.  In fact, we had so much fun sharing in the halls and classrooms that we decided to have an impromptu slam during lunch on Thursday and Friday, just so kids had more opportunities to share.  Even some adults got involved in the action as they dropped their kids off in the cafeteria.  I have to say, it was lots of fun!

Of course, it was a celebration of Earth Day all week long.  There were displays on boards, spots for recycling drop-offs, and the annual Walk to School Day.  Held this morning, our numbers were not as large as in years' past, but it was still cool to be outside, meeting and greeting kids and parents as they arrived from their neighborhoods.  The group of boys to the left were particularly happy as their parents let them walk on their own to school in honor of the occasion (they did quite well parents!).  I must say however, one of my favorite images of the event had to be of the Murphy clan walking to school, with their youngest, beginning in a stroller, then walking into school on his own with big brother and sister on each side of him.  Sweet and cool to see one of our littlest Scotties heading down the hall, ready to start his day.  Not to mention, a great way to start my day as well.

Mid Week News

Fourth grade teacher Felicia Collins is diligently working on her Masters with an Ed Administration specialization this spring; I believe she finishes in December and I'm always glad when teachers continue their own learning.  She is gearing up for her intern hours on campus starting next year, so in anticipation of her semester long research project, I met with her this week to discuss her ideas so that the work she does has actual application to our campus - and her chosen topic certainly will be very meaningful.  Much food for thought, with Ms. Collins

choosing the topic of "direct teaching of executive function skills to increase on-task behaviors for positive student achievement".  Reads like a mouthful, but basically she will be looking at some of our average learners and their possible executive functioning skill needs (think organization, attention, resilience, etcetera) in order to "get off the dime" and be all they can be.  It was a great conversation in that the more we chatted, the more questions we had related to the average learner, their needs, how do we push, what is developmentally appropriate, and more.  She has agreed to share out her research (done with a few chosen HP students) next semester and I know it will spark much conversation among our teachers.  Love it!  We explored the book Smart, But Scattered a few years back, so it's a good time to revisit and see if we are doing all we can do for every child.  Thanks Ms. Collins for the conversation!

George Ayres, Maria Satterwhite, and Brion Briones hosted Kinder students for their annual Kinder Spanish performance Tuesday evening.  Held before our general PTA meeting, the students sang three songs in Spanish, complete with some cool movements.  They followed that up with a special birthday song for Mrs. Ayres.  Nice touch and always good to see our Kinders perform.

Be on the lookout for news in our FPS program next school year.  Our longtime and much loved sponsor Cathy McHorse is taking a well deserved break from the program at HP.  Jeannine Ripp and Alison Guckenburger are stepping up to the plate for next year and will be meeting with Cathy to learn about the program, get in gear for any training needs, thinking about scheduling, and more.  I met with Jeannine and Alison recently and they have some great ideas to keep the program going strong, as well as re-visit some other related components for everything advanced academics.  Thanks ladies, none more so than Cathy.  We will miss you!

Two special events are happening on campus next week.  First up, I hope you encourage your child to participate in Poem in Your Pocket Day on Thursday, April 18.  Mrs. Mullins initiated this fun event on campus for the first time last year and as a way to honor National Poetry Month.  Students have been given the template with instructions (template on the back!), we encourage you, if you are on campus that day, to also write a poem, put it in your pocket, and share a favorite poem with other Scotties.   Should be a fun day for all of us.

We will also celebrate all things Earth Week beginning Monday.  The campus Green Team has devised a week long schedule of events, they are all doable, and the daily activities will give students the opportunity to contribute to the care of our world, in big and small ways.  Thanks for keeping it green!

MONDAY (4/15) – Marker Monday: everyone at school will receive bookmarks with all the below events.
TUESDAY (4/16) - Trashy / recycle Tuesday:  kids pick up trash around the school and their neighborhoods and recycle anything they can instead of just trash it.
WEDNESDAY (4/17) -  Water Wednesday:  students save water at home AND bring spare change from home and donate to protect water (donation container will be in 4th grade hall near the office)
THURSDAY (4/18) - No Throw-Away Thursday: bring in items for Specialty recycle bins outside the office for items that can't be recycled at home.
FRIDAY (4/19) - Walk over on Friday (WOOF): everyone should walk, bike or carpool to try to use as little fossil fuel energy as possible to get to school.  This is also the FINAL DAY to bring in styrofoam for recycling!
SATURDAY (4/20) - Simple Saturday:  turn off appliances at home and unplug them (plugged in many are still using energy)...Save electricity and spend time outside enjoying nature.
SUNDAY (4/21) - Service Project Sunday:  come work on the nature trail at Perry Park, 10-12pm.
MONDAY (4/22) -  EARTH DAY: wear green, bring no waste lunches/snacks to school and bring reusable water bottles.

I think I'll end today with how our week started.  Namely, last Saturday.  I was fortunate enough to tag along to the Council of Exceptional Children conference with some other AISD folks and though I only attended for the one day, I did come away with some interesting information.  Always good to think about our children who have special needs, be it through special education programming or gifted and talented programming.  My sessions ranged the gamut from tools to give our most vulnerable children when it comes to personal safety, to playground interactions and the TRACKS system for students on the spectrum, to a fascinating overview of the top ranked school system in Finland.  And their national system level of supports they build into all schools.  Fascinating.  My last session was on an art camp held at the Dallas Museum of Art, targeted specifically for children on the autism spectrum.  These day-long/week-long camp offerings seemed unique in that the behavioral specialist worked alongside the art providers (with Jr. League volunteers helping as well) to give kids the opportunity to enjoy the museum, create art, showcase their art, while working on social and language skills at the same time.  Think it's an idea I'll be sharing.

Finally, Saturday night's Spring Fling fundraiser was fun!  It was a successful event as always, but the costumes celebrating our 60th school anniversary were the true highlight.  The Pink Ladies, aka several parents, did it up right, along with their cool cat escorts, and it was a hoot seeing them hit the dance floor.  Good vibes, good times, much appreciated support for our school.  Thanks Fling co-chairs Bitsy Norwood and Kylie Calvert for a very nice evening.

Many Contributions

We are so very proud of PE teacher James Supak and his acceptance into the National Teacher Board program.  Those of us who know Coach Supak also know him to be one of the kindest, gentlest, anything it takes kind of teachers out there.  We know he will rock the program!









Susan Olson's Kinder class wrote a letter to President Obama in honor of President's Day.  The long awaited reply came in the mail and the kids were thrilled with the letter, the accompanying photo of our Commander in Chief, and the picture of First Dog Bo!  President Obama stressed the importance of school, doing good things for other people, and much more.  Very cool.

Mrs. McLelland invited me to her classroom yesterday to check out the newest activity with her much loved novel unit on The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.  Students were listening to clips of varied musical genres (hip hop, classical...), briefly discussed their attributes, then planned to connect all back to the lead character Edward and his metamorphosis as he journeyed from owner to owner.  Those who know the heartfelt story also know it is a rich, multi-layered text, aptly summed up by the book quote, "If you have no intention of loving or being loved, then the whole journey is pointless."  Couldn't agree more.


Finally, it is Spring Fling week at Highland Park, with Fling student artwork decorating our main halls.  Student work will be auctioned off Saturday night, bidding has started, and big thanks go out to our art teachers Mrs. Maca and Mrs. Levine, as well as to Fling artwork chair Kelly McGill.  Kelly tells me that parents/artists Andy Sharp, Maria Meinnert, Elizabeth McBride, Jay Shields, Moira Castanon, Bria Cirkiel, Elizabeth Rose, Baron Wilson, and Anna Munoz were invaluable with their time, energy, and resources.  Also, Jeannine Ripp, newly created sister school liason, is helping us target support for others with some of the proceeds from the sale.  Love that idea and love the fact that every student has contributed something to each homeroom art piece.  On to the Fling!