A first grader kind of way

Mrs. Nudelman's students giving thanks to others

There is much in a school that makes a principal thankful.  I'm thankful, as always, for great students, staff, and parents.  I'm thankful for wonderful district and community partners who care enough to work (sometimes day and night!) to make our school and all schools great places for kids and families.  I'm beyond thankful for the relevant teaching and learning I see each day, the sense of joy and possibility that permeates our building, everyone's general well-being, and, yes, all things creative learning in action.  These things and so much more make me thankful to be a part of this school community.

As I've roamed the building the last couple of weeks, I've seen some pretty nifty Thanksgiving displays that sum up my thankfulness in fun and creative ways.  None more so than our first graders' writings and artwork currently decorating our halls.  I love to see the way they see the world.  Simple, but with a lot of heart. 

Enjoy your upcoming days away with family and friends, near or far, and I hope you can unplug (for a bit!), unwind, and connect with people and places which also make you thankful.  And if you can do it in a first grader kind of way, even that much better.

Moments

Art teacher Robin Maca's fifth graders were making Advanced Crazy Coil Pots this week.  Ms. Maca, as we know, does a first rate job of ensuring her lessons are scaffolded in order for students to be successful - that's her, seated left, in a typical beginning of lesson spot at the table, with students grouped around ready for the demo.  Students had made simpler coiled pots in 4th grade, were readily able to connect the lesson to the previous year, and worked on furthering their skills through use of zigzags, spirals, pebbles, and other design elements.  Several of these new works were beginning to take shape when I visited, with drying, kiln firing, and a bit of painting still to go.  I especially loved the student intensity and focus on the work.  John even told me he wished he could work with clay everyday...and, who knows, maybe he will in the future.  Thanks as always Ms. Maca, for ensuring the learning is rigorous, relevant, and engaging for our students! 

Amy Martin manning the booth on Wednesday

There were two separate days of Thanksgiving lunches for student families again this year and this well run event (kudos to Lizanne and Mae) saw almost 300 family members in attendance.  I love that so many families turn out for these meals each year.  Cool extra family time. At those same events, our Scottie Brick Road paver sales were well under way outside the cafeteria, with many a special dedication brick sold. Gotta get mine soon...







Lizanne and I were able to get in on a bit of filming action this week as the first PTA Boosterthon fun run gears up.  This new event for our school, tied to healthy initiatives we all support, is coming in January.  After our short get 'em excited clip was filmed, co-chair Christa Staub and Boosterthon rep Justus Murimi took over the filming.  Thanks for including us!

Mrs. Leibick at one of the shows 

The sound effects crew

Fourth grade teacher Laine Leibick is finishing up this year's Communication Unit (tied to the Great Depression topics you have read about in previous blogs) and as I have said before, it's one of my favorite units of study she does throughout the year.  She incorporates so many topics, varied rich texts, projects, and connected ideas and themes that students come away with a first rate inter-disciplinary learning experience.  Always.  And Laine also always reviews the unit lessons and changes it up/keeps it fresh...year after year.  I was able to catch both radio shows, Wing Walker and The Ovaltine Comedy Hour, two concrete culminating activities where students brought it all together.

"Abbott & Costello" with their Who's on First Routine

Another great parent night was had on Wednesday, this time for presentation on Advanced Academics.  Laine Leibick, our GT campus advocate co-chair, gave a very interesting overview of Sandra Kaplan's Habits of the Scholarly Mind, covering such topics as pondering big ideas, setting goals, and bringing necessary tools - still important executive functioning skills all children need. The brief AISD video on asynchronous development was affirming for our work as well. Though these high performing students may be advanced intellectually and do quite well in school, as we also know, these same students may also face challenges in their social, emotional, or physical

proficiency.  It further connected for me when I participated in an ASCD focus group around whole child learning the very next day. How true that we need to address these four areas within our schools, and how true that we should be striving to ensure these important components are in sync.  Creative Classroom, SEL, arts, athletics, and more...so important for our students' development.

Thanks as well to parent sponsors Jeannine Ripp and Alison Guckenberger for a solid overview of all things FPS, as well as our other campus GT Parent-Teacher Advisory committee members for their participation - Lia Nudelman (GT advocate co-chair), Kati Dean, Alyssa Absher, and Shannon Ratcliff.  Always worth our time to meet with parents and give information to better serve our students and families.

A hands-on inferencing activity for parents (and me!)

Finally, as schools everywhere did this week, we took moments out of our Friday to remember the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's death.  A most notably sad day for our nation.  Some of our school activities included Mrs. Koldziej's 5th graders analyzing the Dallas Morning News articles written on 11/23, reviewing JFK's life with the White House website, and creating a collage of JFK quotes.  Fourth graders in Mrs. Finkle's and Mrs. Hunter's classes watched clips of President Kennedy's  inaugural call to service and made connections to the work they sponsor with our CLASS service club.  My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.

Certainly an important component of this man's legacy and a message that still resonates and holds promise today. 

Staff and Student Learning

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the new organic garden now planted behind our school.  Thanks to
Julie Danehy, The Green Corn Project, and the UT and HP student volunteers who helped plant the new space last Saturday.  Looking forward to seeing it grow and definitely ask Julie for all the details!


We began our work week with staff professional development.  Teachers and admin traveled to Travis High School for a morning workshop around all things creative learning.  Kicked off by guest speaker and education arts leader Eric Booth, teachers then participated in a variety of workshops in either drama based instruction or visual arts.  It was cool to hear Eric Booth speak and describe how the work we do directly supports the yearning students have to be engaged, motivated, and inspired. 

The afternoon saw all staff back at HP, participating in a workshop called Courageous Conversations About Race.  It was a birds eye view of data related to race in Texas, and we all took away our own perspectives and questions regarding the data. It was interesting to process this information organically in conversations with each other over the next couple of days and I even hear some staff took the conversation to their family dinner tables later that evening.  Having those conversations is, well, courageous.  We will formally debrief in December and thanks to Cari Land and Melonee Carter for spearheading this afternoon for staff as part of the district and school SEL and No Place for Hate initiatives.  Additionally, thanks to Texas Health and Human Services Center for the Elimination of Disproportionality and Disparities Sheila Craig, Virginia Flores, Becky Kerst, as well as AISD's Angela Ward, for leading the presentation.


A really first rate Math Parent Presentation Night happened this week as well.  It was a long night, but very well delivered by our K-5 math committee reps.  Big kudos to Susan Olson, Katie Ferguson, Ilene Pappert, David Robenhorst, Beth Finkle, Tiffany Perkins, and Melissa O'Donnell for showing and presenting all things math alignment at our school.  Loved the hands-on activities around problem solving models, invented (alternative) strategies to solve algorithms, as well as the common vocabulary we should all be using, home and school.  Many good parent questions and really, the idea of giving tools to our kids to solve problems in different ways, is so powerful.  I had two big take-aways.  First, I thought immediately of our Monday creative learning presenter Eric Booth and his points about giving students the opportunities to develop ideational fluency (capacity to generate many ideas about concepts, problems, etcetera) vs satisficing (reaching for the first plausible or workable answer without going further).  When we talk about needing those 21st century citizens to think, create, solve increasingly complex problems...generating different ways and strategies to find the correct answer becomes important.  And second?  Our math teachers know and are passionate about math learning and as a school, we need to build in the opportunities to show these important processes to parents earlier in the year, as well as at different points (and different formats) throughout the school year.  Ideas to do so are percolating already!

Mrs. K pre-show

Friday saw a very well done Social Studies event in 5th grade.  Developed by SS teacher Pam Kolodziej, with support from the other 5th grade teachers and parent volunteers, students researched and wrote papers about important individuals in American history, created some really cool art (based on Picasso techniques and developed in art classes - thanks Robin and Andrea!), and strutted the runway Friday for parents and guest "judges" as their historical character - all were winners as noted by MC Noah at the end.  I truly appreciated that students were given the task to use re-purposed or recyclable materials to create their costumes and that we were celebrating accomplishments, rather than physical beauty.  These students had fun, it was an engaging way to hook them into a love of history - hopefully lifelong love! - and I appreciate the enormous efforts of those involved to pull this first time event together.  Thanks Mrs. K and team for "History Project" Runway.

"Judges" Katie Dawson, Beth Hudson, Brent Hasty

 

Thank You to Our Veterans!

As you know, the flooding in the Dove Springs/Onion Creek community was quite devastating to the many families living in that area.  Including many children enrolled in our school district.  Please check Sunday's Scottie Informer for ways you can individually help those affected by the flood.  Additionally, Highland Park is collecting blankets and towels through next week, with donation boxes located in our main hallway - thanks Lizanne and Cari.  Our thoughts are certainly with those who are still in need of support. 

Two other items I want to highlight here, though they will also be featured in the upcoming Scottie Informer blasts.  There will be a Math Parent Presentation Night at the November 13th PTA General Meeting.  It begins at 6:30 pm and it promises to be a very informative look at our K-5 math processes (think all things problem solving).  A rep from each grade level will be on hand to present or answer questions, so you will want to be here to learn all about math at Highland Park.

Additionally, there will be an Advanced Academics Night for any interested K-5 HP parent on Wednesday, November 20, 6:30 pm in our cafeteria.  Our GT Parent/Teacher Advisory is hosting this interactive presentation, featuring topics such as Habits of the Scholarly Mind, GT nomination processes, and more.  Hope to see you there!

Wrapping up, it truly was one of those weeks of variety, including a feel good Friday assembly.

Here are some additional images from the week. 

In Mrs. Finkle's 4th grade class, students reviewing matter/mass and very ably demonstrating the concept of "weight" from Earth to Jupiter and points in between.  Great in the moment use of DBI.

First graders in Ms. Davis' classroom showing what they know at the beginning of the day, doing a bit of reader's theatre around The Little Red Hen (I hear Mrs. Davis was in costume the day before...sure sorry I missed that!).  At this short performance, her students read their scripts with much fluency.  Especially loved that she had parents in attendance.  When I left, students were very happily talking about their connected work with their special guests, including written stories, graphic organizers tied to the teacher use of DAR, and some very cute story illustrations.

On another day and over in first grade teacher Ms. Ferguson's room, those students also were also showing their parents the recent work they had completed for their Author's Celebration.  I received a hand delivered  invitation from two very special students, and again, it was great to see parents in attendance, moving from student to student so these young learners could explain their learning.  Talking about the books they chose and the personal narratives they wrote connected to this memoir writing unit of study.

And if you haven't been to our upper playground lately, you have to check out our brand new Ga-ga Pit.   Though I don't have a picture of it with kids actually in it, trust me when I tell you that this is one high energy kid magnet.  The day I visited 4th grade recess, many students were cheering and chanting those playing the game in the pit (rules posted on the side!) and I loved the energy level even on that drizzly day.  HP parent and Girl Scout leader Destina Olivares tells me, "It was a combined effort by Catherine Salazar's previous 5th grade GS Troop #1529 and our Troop #1090. Catherine passed the project to us when her girls graduated HP. We raised funds by selling cookies and saving our money. It was a Girl Scout Bronze Award project".  From what I have seen so far, this new game is a big hit with the students.   Way cool addition.

Finally, on Friday, Highland Park once again recognized Veterans Day at our school.  November typically brings us this well planned and well implemented fourth grade assembly and I must say this year was no exception - another moving experience for those of us in attendance, as students sang patriotic songs for the audience.  Most of all, it was an afternoon of recognition for those who have served our country through military service.  Some were parents, some were grandparents (including former Marine Ted Whatley, pictured left with his step-daughter Hellen), and some honored family guests.  We were glad to have each of them join us.

Below, I highlight two of the afternoon's special visitors who proudly wore their uniforms to our assembly.  I think you'll agree with me that the short bios of each of these men certainly speak for the enormous contributions (and sacrifices) they have individually made and are still making today.  And most certainly serve as a representative sample of the many men and women whose contributions cannot all be detailed here...though I wish I could do so. Highland Park salutes all of you.

Naval Reserves Officer, Todd Bisang, Commander, Surface Warfare, USN.  Has served 23 years, 8 being active duty.   Recipient of several military honors, including the Joint Services Commendation Medal, Navy & Marine Corps Commendation and Achievement Medals, and many more. Duty assignments have included USS Racine, USS Princeton, Defense Language Institute, Italian Amphibious Forces, and Afghanistan.

LCDR Gerald Delk.  Reserves:
4th Med Battalion, Shock Trauma Platoon Leader.  Emergency Medicine Physician.  Recent deployment was to Kandahar Afghanistan.  Just completed 3rd deployment.  Trauma Team Leader for Role 3 Combat Hospital.