Thursday, May 22, 2014

Keeping it real

I'd be remiss if I didn't highlight the important work of our 5th grade Safety Patrol.  Teacher sponsor Mrs. Matetich, along with parent Amy Inman, hosted a celebration lunch last Friday and I was honored to say a few words of thanks to our student volunteers.  These young leaders help keep our traffic flowing in the afternoon and I can't thank them enough for their service. Keep up the leadership in middle school and beyond!





Practicing for the performances
It's all things 5th grade Greek Week here at Highland Park (and a bit of gearing up for fourth grade Pioneer Fair) and the projects tied to readings/research tied to the student created mythology dramatic scripts tied to performance are well under way.  Love the creativity and critical thinking demonstrated in these type of activities, but most importantly I love knowing our students are learning at deep, engaging, and thoughtful levels.  It's truly hard to beat performance assessments of this type (what I believe are truer, more real-life measures of knowledge application) and I hope HP keeps a focus on project/performance based learning for many years to come. We all know this type of learning helps set the foundational skills that give all students a leg-up with those sought after life skills - think confidence and sense of belonging as two examples - in college, career, and life.  Thanks Scotties for always keeping it real for the children we serve.




Andra's impressive Athena

Aidan's use of varied techniques to highlight Greek wrestlers