Principal's Blog

Japanese Fair Arrives!

2012-03-09T09:31:00.000-06:00

Konnichiwa! Second grade’s Japanese Fair, as part of their study of communities, took place this week. The student created Japanese Gardens were on full display in our halls, a parade of costumed second graders took place one morning down our halls, and parents were treated to a special musical/storytelling student performance in the cafeteria. Artwork, Haiku poetry, a Taiko drummer performance, and more are all a part of this yearly unit of study. A very special arigatoh to the teachers and students for keeping the tradition alive.

Pollyanna Theater has been on campus with 5^th grade language arts classes all week; I can honestly say I’ve loved what I’ve seen each day! Playwright Katherine “Pepperoni” Perrone is helping our students breathe new life into the tried and true Greek Plays that are performed each May as part of the culminating Greek Mythology Unit. The traditional scripts were well loved, but it’s been inspiring to see kids work through the process with a real life writer. Students have studied story elements, connected those elements to playwriting terminology, worked in cooperative groups on individual scenes, brainstormed dialogue, performed dialogue for audience feedback, all with an eye toward the final scripts. I was able to see the process over the week with The Story of Theseus and The Story of Hermes. Impressive and we should have some top-notch scripts and performances in May.

Our last Blanton Museum field experience in fourth grade took place this week as well. Students re-visited some tried and true favorite pieces (the Meireles installation for example), reviewed museum careers, then worked in small groups to design their own art exhibits. Mrs. Snell’s class really seemed to get into the process, leaned mostly toward the abstract pieces, and came away with some good thoughts on how to design and display their exhibits, everything from wall colors to arrangements of paintings to naming the exhibits.

Pup Camp, for the incoming 12-13 Kindergarten class, was a blast on Tuesday; a most excellent crop of Kinders headed our way! I had fun reading the book The Kindergarten Cat to about 40 eager boys and girls before they headed off for treats and a play date in Perry Park. It's always great to meet our new little ones and hear their thoughts on school; one incoming boy was able to share (as I read) that “those are rhyming words”. Cool. This yearly camp certainly goes a long way in easing anxieties about starting school, so thanks Scottie Moms for arranging this once again for our school.

Finally, our last Any Given Child community arts event will take place on Thursday, March 29, 6:30-7:30. We are hosting our first ever Fine Arts Open House in and around our cafeteria area, with Scottie Singers performing, a couple of after school programs showcasing their work through student performances, and booths with displays about in school and after school arts opportunities. This FREE event is open to all Scotties, so mark your calendars and come help us continue our year long celebration of the arts and the creative classroom.

Have a joyful break everyone!

Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop. ~ Ovid

The week before FLING

2012-03-01T15:27:00.002-06:00

If you've been into school this week, you know we have lots of Pre-Fling activity happening all over the place. The PTA Spring Fling school fundraiser happens Saturday night and I hope to see all Scottie adults there; check out the artwork below slated for the Silent Auction portion of the evening. Always popular and couldn’t happen without all the many, many parents up here all hours of the day and night working on these projects with individual students and classrooms. I’m particularly impressed with the fourth grade class selections this year…they’re 3-D and they light up! Of course, all the artwork is terrific and creative and student-centered. Very special pieces leading up to a very special night.

Zach Scott visited first grade classrooms over 2 days to share the book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, a pre-performance activity before students saw the actual Zach production of the book on Tuesday. When I visited Mrs. Powers’ classroom on Monday, I was impressed with the enthusiasm and life the actor brought to the book. Students were able to actively participate in the reading, with some called to the front to be actors themselves. Best of all was the emphasis on vocabulary as it related to theater terms, such words as props, improvised, dialogue, script; one of my seatmates at the play told me, “Hey, Ms. Workman, that milk carton is a prop”. Kids could see it in action, therefore it was much more relatable and understandable. Super way to build prior knowledge before the performance and another way to make text and vocabulary come to life. Enjoyed it!

Gilbert Tuhabonye of the Gazelle Foundation spoke to our C.L.A.S.S. service club students after school on Wednesday. Peter Rauch, Scottie dad and Gazelle Foundation President, coordinated the visit with our C.L.A.S.S. sponsors and the presentation was very informative and especially eye-opening for students. Mr. Tuhabonye spoke of the need for clean water in our world, specifically as it relates to his experiences in his home country of Burnundi Africa. He demonstrated and talked about his personal experiences of walking miles to find clean water for his family, then carrying the full water container on his head for the journey home. Students were able to get a feel for how difficult this would be as Mr. Tuhabonye brought examples of water containers still being used today; the ones our students tried to lift weighed 48 pounds, so it really hit home what some kids have to do in order to have something many of us take for granted - clean water. Mr. Tuhabonye also spoke of living with joy and the pleasure of running and his spirit for life was inspiring considering the great odds he has personally overcome. As part of our C.L.A.S.S. second semester service focus on water conservation and to support the Gazelle Foundation efforts, our HP students will gear up in the near future to help Mr. Rauch and others design a kid friendly page on the Gazelle Foundation website, something our school is most happy to support. The Gazelle Foundation is committed to bringing clean water access to those in need. Great cause and a great way for our students to connect with what is happening in our world at large.

We hear a lot about wellness and fitness in our schools these days and rightly so. Building healthy lifestyles for our kids now will hopefully equate to healthier adults later; build those habits as soon as possible always seems to be the mantra. I appreciate the new display board our PE teachers, along with HP Mom Stephanie Wilson, have put in place highlighting how and why our own Scottie Moms are staying fit. The Fit Moms board shows various Scottie Moms engaged in activities they not only love, but the ones that keep them healthy in mind, body, and spirit. Stop by the gym hallway to check it out when you have time, but who knew we have Moms participating in everything from horseback riding to the flying trapeze! Moms are out there running marathons, rolling the rinks in the Roller Derby (yep!), playing water polo, hiking mountains, tap dancing, and more. We would love you to share your own personal fitness story as well, so check the sign-up forms next to the display board. Thanks Moms (and Dads I’m sure) for being the best role model kids can have – you. I'm inspired!

Latest and greatest picture of our newly installed Aquarena Springs bus shelter. Much work to go, including painting, landscaping, but Oh, How Excited we are to see it in place!

Days, Nights, and Diavolo Too!

2012-02-24T23:25:00.006-06:00

Schools are dynamic, breathing, living places. Flexibility is key, hundreds of decisions are made in the moment, and no two days are ever alike. Honestly, ask any principal or teacher and they’ll tell you that the love of kids and sheer variety of the days is why we do what we do. Case in point this week.

Spring parent conferences happened on Monday, grades 3 & 4 took their middle of the year district assessments, our final New Parent Orientation took place Tuesday, and staff came together around a truly fabulous PTA provided luncheon on Wednesday. But there was so much more...

Second grade enjoyed a beautiful field experience to Zilker Botanical Gardens on Tuesday; it was a great tie-in to their yearly Japan Unit as part of their SS TEKS. I tagged along with Mrs. Guenther’s group that day and had a lovely stroll with the kids as we learned about "The Bridge to Walk Over the Moon", heard details on the garden's creator Mr. Taniguchi, as well as oohed and awed over the fact that the front area ponds in the garden spell the word AUSTIN. Pretty neat. The students came away with many ideas for elements in their own Japanese Garden creations, all of which will be on display during the annual Fair in March.

Beth Finkle and Lisa Bachman's Fractured Fairy Tale Play also took place on Friday for parents and it was extremely well done. Mrs. Finkle tells me this is one of the best productions she’s ever had and attributes it to the great actors she has in class. The play served as a culminating activity to her Fairy Tale Unit, with students actually creating sets, props, and some costumes. They also wrote their own fractured fairy tales and pop-up books based on the original stories for the unit and will use them to read to our Kinder and 1^st grade classes during library
time. Per Mrs. Finkle, “ This gives us an authentic audience. Many of my students were here in K or 1^st and had one of my students read to them way back then!” Love that connection.

I think you can tell from the picture below, that Coach Deline enjoyed his moment in the spotlight at Monday night’s Zarrow Outstanding Teacher Lecture on UT’s campus. It was a great evening, full of bright Teachers of Tomorrow and many representatives from UT’s College of Education honoring five AISD Outstanding teachers in various areas. Wow, that spirit is catching – gotta’ love the vibe of a college campus! An award, reception, and break-out session where the recipients answered questions posted by teachers in training were part of the evening, but the highlight for me were the winner speeches. All were moving, all made me proud to be a part of this profession, none more so than Coach’s heartfelt speech. Seriously, many of us had a few tears as Coach talked about what it means to teach and to care. Each winner was asked the following question for print in the keepsake program - “What would you like your students to say about you long after they leave your classroom?” Jim simply wrote, “He noticed me”. And he does in the best way. Thanks Coach!

George Llewellyn, Lamar Middle School principal, delivered another informative parent presentation at Tuesday evening’s PTA general meeting in our cafeteria. Once again, he provided relevant information on the upcoming Fine Arts Academy, the re-tooled academic delivery model in math, plans for the remainder of the year, and plans going forward. There are so many cool partnerships with community providers and McCallum HS that I can’t mention them all here, but look at the offerings in place now or happening next year:

Rockestra/Fiddle Group                     9 music offerings, including guitar instruction
3 theatre offerings                                Plans for an outdoor performance center
A unique new scrolling marquee          DANCE!
French, Spanish, Japanese                    Robotics, Graphic Design, and Digital Photography Radio                                                    Creative writing incl. songwriting & screenplays

Advanced Math track High School credit courses

That evening, Mr. Llewellyn told the audience, “We are working closely with McCallum to align our programs. We want kids to go to school in their neighborhoods…we will provide interventions for those who need them, but not for everyone. We will customize for each student”. Thanks for reminding us Mr. Llewellyn that we have a strong vertical team, not only in the area of the arts, but in academics as well. And we are getting stronger and more aligned each year. Great second HP visit – together, as Coach likes to say, we are Scottie Strong!

Finally, Diavolo, Diavolo! Tonight was beyond fun. We came, we saw, we were filmed. Not to mention we were thrilled with the cubes, the galleon, the jumps, the moves. Trajectoire was given 2 Big Thumbs Up by Beck and Geffen! Thanks to all Scotties for attending this second arts event as part of our Any Given Child initiative, thanks to TPA for your hospitality, and thanks everyone for continuing to build community through the arts.

Building empathy and understanding

2012-02-17T17:25:00.047-06:00

Monday was an event-filled day at HP. Katie Dawson, director of UT's Drama for Schools program, along with Lara Dossett and film crew, were on hand to film a model lesson taught by Kennedy Center Master Teaching Artist and published author Dan Kelin. Fifth grade teacher Pam Kolodziej and one of her classes graciously hosted the lesson and came away with some really cool new ways to think about "power and point of view using tableaux as an activating strategy." The finished arts integration instruction video is one of several being created to support the program's work, per Katie and Lara. During part of the lesson I observed, students, through movement, demonstrated body traits connected to characters in the fairy tale Rumpelstiltskin; traits included shapes, space, action, and attitude. All then tied specifically to how words hold power over people, a concept with direct connections to Mrs. Kolodziej's Social Studies TEKS. New strategies learned by the teacher and new ways of thinking about text by students.

Those of us on hand for the continuation of our Book Fair week got a special treat during the Poetry Slam Monday evening. Safe to say we were slamboozled! Students (along with Mrs. Land, Mrs. McDaniel, and myself) performed original poetry to a packed house of students and parents. We heard poetry about fluffy bunnies, gummy bears, cars, orks (ask 4th grader Bennett for clarification), and quite a few about science topics - one or two specifically written and performed in honor of 5th grade science teacher Mrs. Matetich. Sweet. I must say our own Mrs. Land went out on a limb with hers - she wrote her poem on sentence strips, then silently held them up for the audience to read. It was pretty neat to hear the applause and affirmations for her silent poem as it detailed how it's okay to "be different" and to "be yourself". I also was impressed with our students reactions to each performer. They applauded and cheered as each poet headed to the stage, as well as when they exited. Hopefully recognizing the courage it takes to perform, especially if performing's not your thing. Thanks Scotties for showing that Scottie Spirit and special thanks to Christy, Ellen, and Stacy for another terrific Slam!

Alyssa Smith, third grade language arts teacher, also hosted parents on campus one day this week as a culminating activity to her James and the Giant Peach novel unit. Per Ms. Smith, in addition to the basics of annotating text written by the author Roald Dahl, studying literary elements, learning vocabulary, and making connections with other text (such as Dahl's biography), students had a variety of in-class and at-home projects to complete. In-class projects included a research paper, a critical-thinking paper, and a creative writing piece, with specific criteria given for succesful completion. A variety of sources, both online and through books, were used for the research; finished projects "ranged from research on glow-worms to magic potions to determining fair punishments for the antagonists of the story". Students were also given a list of 9 at-home project ideas and had to choose at least 3 to complete. Examples I saw during the open house were "Wanted Posters" for characters, multiple choice tests over the book, book cover designs, handmade puppets accompanied by biographies for two main characters, and some really neat dioramas. Mrs. Smith tells me several kids completed "more than 3...just for fun!" Thanks for hosting the parent open house, thanks for keeping the learning authentic, and thanks for providing multiple ways to make meaning of text.

Black History Month is always an important recognition time in our schools. Teachers prepare lessons and activities and celebrations tied to accomplishments of notable Black Americans. Some classrooms, such as our fifth grade Social Studies classes, are focusing on the study of important Black Americans tied to their TEKS (Rosa Parks and Colin Powell are two people who come to mind). These fifth graders have created poetry related to important facts, read connected text - My Dream of Martin Luther King by Faith Ringgold is one - and written about Dr. King's Dream. Has it been realized in our society? Purposefully done through the themes of change and peace and very relevant discussion for us all.

Mrs. K's Celebration Board

However, second grade's celebration of Black History Month included new activities this year that deserve special note. In their quest to further incorporate more creative teaching strategies within their classroom, they hosted Zach Scott theater in their Social Studies classes. This week, Zach teacher Mr. Frank taught students lessons on Black History through games, role play, and discussion on the lives of Ruby Bridges and Medgar Evers. "The kids viewed actual photos of Ruby Bridges and had a great discussion of the paintings of Norman Rockwell, specifically the well known 1963 painting The Problem We All Live With," shared teacher Mrs. Pappert. "New vocabulary was added, such as 'segregation', 'protesting', and 'equality'. The kids acted this out as they recreated the (Rockwell) painting depicting Ruby Bridges and her guards. They also created a protest and role played the Medgar Evers scene with passion. One student said, 'It felt like I was really there and having to defend myself'." Pretty powerful learning tool, but more importantly, one more way to help kids build empathy and understanding for others in the world they inhabit today.

The power of 6 words

2012-02-10T16:47:00.000-06:00

Monday mornings always begin with our broadcast announcements. Fifth grade student readers, as seen below, deliver the news to know for the day and week ahead, including Project Wisdom lessons. Scripts are prepared ahead of time by our technology teacher and parent volunteers with student and teacher input, so most Mondays we have pretty smooth sailing. This AM announcement time also gives us an opportunity for special skits, guest speakers, and more. We’d love to be able to grow the program where we have a dedicated anchor set on campus and more student written pieces, so the sky's the limit to the program. Thanks awesome Scottie Parents for keeping KHPS alive and well each week.

To say that Coach DeLine was more than pleasantly surprised on Monday would be an understatement. Three lovely representatives from UT’s College of Elementary Education presented Coach with a congratulatory letter notifying his selection as one of the 2012 Zarrow Outstanding Texas Teacher Award winners. I understand from the presenters Elexa Antweil, Bess Wirht, and Rachel Herold that our very own PE teacher was the only kinesiology department winner in the surrounding Austin area; the acceptance letter states that Coach was “nominated by University field-placement supervisors, and winners were selected by a committee of students in Teachers of Tomorrow”. He will be feted on Monday, February 20 at UT’s Activity Center ballroom and we couldn’t be prouder. Way to go Coach!

Our annual Book Fair has begun! Though there are many terrific activities for kids of all ages through the week-long event, the Dad’s Breakfast is one of the favorites around here. Today, the fair opened before school with students and dads arriving on campus, partaking of breakfast, conversation, and book buying galore It’s one more opportunity for our school to connect with parents and we love that so many dads have embraced the event and show up to spend some morning time with their sons and daughters. Thanks Dads and breakfast organizers - one more meaningful way to connect over books.

Ms. Guimbarda, our wonderful fifth grade language arts teacher, always does her best to keep students motivated, interested, and engaged in high quality assignments. Her students have recently been reading the Lois Lowry novel Number the Stars along with creating time capsules and analyzing poetry/other relevant text connected to the Holocaust time period. One very meaningful addition to the unit this year is Ms. Guimbarda’s inclusion of The Butterfly Project into the unit. Per the project's website, “1,500,000 innocent children perished in the Holocaust. In an effort to remember them, Holocaust Museum Houston is collecting 1.5 million handmade butterflies. The butterflies will eventually comprise a breath-taking exhibition, currently scheduled for Spring 2014, for all to remember." Beth McDaniel of the Jewish Community Relations Council further states that the butterflies will be part of a "spectacular exhibit at the city-wide Holocaust Remembrance Day (April 19^th) and also at the exhibit at the Umlauf Sculpture Garden the month of April" before reaching their final destination in Houston. We are glad our children's artwork will be a part of these remembrances.

For this project, each fifth grader was given a short, age-appropriate biography of a child who died during the Holocaust. From that biography, students created colorful butterflies they felt best represented their assigned child, as well as a 6 word memoir written on the back of the artwork, both of which they presented in an Honoring Ceremony today. The very act of summing up, in only 6 words, something so unimaginable for most of our children may seem impossible. But they did. And they did so beautifully and respectfully. Sometimes a few words are all that is needed. On the back of Will's, simply written, was the following memoir -

You deserve more than 6 words.

Thank you Ms. Guimbarda, Will, and our fifth grade students for reminding us that words not only have the power to help us remember, but also can inspire the future good in us all.

Beyond the Text

2012-02-03T16:30:00.017-06:00

Lia Nudelman's second grade language arts students recently studied fractured fairy tales. In addition to reading and discussing the attributes of fractured fairy tales, they wrote their own tales, then participated in reader's theater surrounding some of the favorites they had read. I was fortunate to catch their renditions one day this week, as student groups read their parts from such selections as Spiderella and The Brementown Rappers, before enjoying a tea party as a culminating activity. Hearing those second graders, with much voice, chant "Who let the donkey out...bray, bray, bray. Who let the cat out...meow, meow, meow" was worth the visit alone. Not to mention a great way to make meaning of text. Priceless.

Mrs. Hunter's fourth grade language arts students were also busy finishing their Shakespeare unit this week and gave a first-rate performance for parents on Wednesday. Loved it! Students had seen Julius Ceasar, Macbeth, and A Midsummer Nights Dream,created Playbills, then worked with UT Shakespeare at Winedale outreach coordinator Clayton Stromberger as he went through the process of adding more "oomph" to the performances of all three plays. Per Mrs. Hunter, "Clayton put more of the original language in the simplified scripts we had been using. Once completed and parts assigned, he read through all 3 scripts with the kids, then worked with them on the scenes. He helped us better use movement to energize the actors and their voices". Staying true to the staging used during Shakespeare's time, giving direction in kid friendly language (ask one of the actors to explain a Scooby-Doo moment to you), helped bring these classic plays alive for students. In the words of William Shakespeare, "Action is eloquence". Indeed it is.

Waiting in the Wings

Be sure to check out Mrs. Leibick's "Birth Order" bulletin board if you get a chance. Her fourth graders have been reading The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, along with connected poetry and informational text, as part of her annual Mystery Unit;if you have never seen the opening crime scene, you really should next year as it's very well done. As a further connection to the characters and plot of the novel, not to mention their own written compositions, Mrs. Leibick's students have also been studying the affect of birth order on personality and used their own "family ranking" -youngest, middle, eldest - to see if the current hypotheses/research rings true for them. Mrs. Leibick tells me that in the 5 or 6 years she has been doing this activity, many of the characteristics often associated with birth order (eldest being responsible and youngest being highly social, for example) do indeed seem accurate when she looks at her class make-up. However, as she also states on the display board, "Personality is much too complex to be controlled by just one variable". Check it out. High interest topic for anyone, but most especially for students.

Wrapping up our week, note a scene from a typical Friday afternoon down the fourth grade hallway. Every Friday, this tradition that started many moons ago, fourth grade teachers bring all fourth grade students to the hallway for the last 10 minutes of the day. Once done, out come the tried and true folk songs many of us older Scotties grew up with; words to songs are displayed on laminated poster board as a guide - songs like Country Roads, This Land is Your Land, Going to the Zoo to name a few. Mrs. Leibick straps on her guitar, and all engage in a sing-along before the weekend goodbyes begin. I have to admit I find myself down that hallway many a late afternoon when I need a respite from something or simply want a moment where I can feel more connected and inspired. I love singing with the kids, giving a knowing nod as the words pour out of each of us. It is a great way to end our week and a great way for each of us to take a calming breath and find our center before we all scatter. Those few minutes always make me feel a part of something often too good to put into words and I hope that's how the kids feel as well. And sometimes that's enough.

No Place for Hate

2012-01-27T16:55:00.004-06:00

As many of you know, counselor Cari Land has been the force behind our new homeroom addition, Face Time. Once per week, Face Time provides an opportunity for students and teacher to ponder a thought provoking question or to share out concerns or kudos. A really awesome chance for kids to connect with each other, problem solve together, and to ultimately discover that we are all more alike than we sometimes realize.

What you may not know, is that Cari has also been working behind the scences for the last few months in helping our school become a No Place for Hate campus by the end of the year. Per the program's website, sponsored by the Anti Defamation League (ADL), No Place for Hate is "an anti-bullying, anti-bias awareness program currently in over 170 Central Texas schools helping to create and sustain inclusive school environments where all students feel valued and accepted despite individual differences". Inclusivity and respect for others is not only a goal for HP, but the district as well. I believe we are well on our way.

As part of efforts to reach the goal of becoming an official No Place for Hate school, this week our campus participated in daily activities highlighting positive and inclusive practices. Monday through Friday, Mrs. Land, with the help of the campus Character Committee, implemented activities underscoring positive messages, both through student and staff actions, as well as through clothing that underscored each day's message. So, Monday became "Mix It Up Monday" where students were encouraged to wear mis-matched clothing, but also encouraged to sit or play with someone new during the day. Tuesday became "Turn It Around Tuesday", where we all wore shirts backwards to symbolize "backing away from bullying behaviors". Each day had something unique, each day was fun, and each day saw more and more kids getting it. A real positive week for all! We wrapped up the week with Freestyle Friday with everyone (yes, even staff) wearing something that best expressed who we are as individuals. Cool.

Let's keep the positive and inclusive vibes going Scotties! Awesome job everyone, most especially Mrs. Land.

Margaret's Mix It Up Monday

Mrs. Land and Turn It Around Tuesday crew

Mix It Up Monday to
Turn It Around Tuesday to Way Back Wednesday to Thankful Thursday to Freestyle Friday - Scotties Rock!

No Place for Hate is where it's at!

Many other cool happenings in our school this week as well. Zach Scott's very first after school theater class began on Monday and I was able to catch the initial get to know you activity facilitated by teacher Rog Wall. Kids seemed very excited to be there so looking forward to seeing this program grow!

Who wants to act?

Ms. McDaniel and I had the honor of walking to Fluency Center co-coordinator Jeannine Ripp's lovely home early this morning to attend the parent fluency center volunteer "thank you for your service" breakfast. Both she and compadre Maria Raper are passing the torch this year to Heidi Murphy and Leslie Donovan in all things fluency practice, so it was a special morning for us to thank these ladies for their amazing talents and time devoted to the program. More good things ahead I have no doubt.

THANK YOU VOLUNTEERS!

Finally, I had the pleasure of attending the third Blanton Museum Art Central program today with two fourth grade classes. On tap today was a discussion of museum careers, student freestyle sketching in the Go West exhibit space (very appropriate on the Freestyle Friday!), as well as some written analysis around individual paintings in another area of the museum. I think the most thought provoking piece for my group was the Robert Wilson video portrait entitled Princess Caroline of Monaco, 2006. Students, when prompted, thought the piece was "eerie", "like an epic tale...with some mystery about to unfold", and "kind of gloomy". Hmmm... Lots of good conversation brought to the fore by Blanton school and family program manager Jennifer Garner. Any day at the Blanton is a good day and a good way for our kids to foster learning through art.

Gabby sketching Tom Lea's The Lead Steer

A week of diverse activity

2012-01-20T12:32:00.007-06:00

It was very fitting that the ACPTA city-wide Reflections Art Fair was held the weekend leading up to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. Winning entries surrounding the aptly titled theme, “Diversity Is…” were in full abundance Saturday at the new Vuka Co-op on West Monroe in South Austin. It was great seeing all the entries around the walls and on tables, as well as our own 2 Scottie entries now headed to state competition. Third grader Lenny Chen’s musical composition International Sonatina was available for recorded play in one area of the upstairs section. His proud parents tell me that though Lenny is able to read music, he also has the gift of being able to play a piece from memory after hearing it 2-3 times. Quite impressive. Fifth grader George Guckenberger’s poem about diversity was also on display and one of many artistic bents George demonstrates – I hear he is also quite the film director. The last line of his poem summed up the meaning of the day most aptly – “We are who we are, we are different, yet we are alike”. Dr. King would concur I have no doubt.

Lenny and his Sonatina playing in the background

George and Ms. Workman in front of his winning poem

Extremely busy week at HP. Various staff and/or I were involved in several activities related to the creative classroom, both on and off campus. Tuesday, our Any Given Child Leadership team met with other pilot school teams at the Bob Bullock museum for a full day training on arts integration within content areas. We participated in a very engaging activity with a CEDFA rep related to movement/expressions and a science lesson on magnets. Along with my partner Mrs. Guenther and other participant pairs, we learned about and then demonstrated properties of attract and repel; all with some fun body movements and facial expressions showing such things as surprise, happiness, and sadness. I know I will certainly remember the old adage "opposites attract, likes repel" as it relates to science concepts and I also know students who participate in this type of creative teaching activity would as well - that’s the point! These creative strategies give teachers another tool in their toolbox to engage students in the learning and to further their understanding of content concepts. 'Cause we all learn in different ways. Fun and powerful.

Wrapping up arts planning this week, just have to mention the meeting on Thursday with The Kennedy Center reps and Any Given Child arts steering committee. Listening to the in-depth thinking produced by this varied group from across our community at large, not to mention their passion for the arts and its importance to all AISD kids, never fails to impress me. I always come away humbled by my time with them. Great things ahead for this initiative and for our district’s students as they look at next year and the years beyond.

After school on Thursday, Grade 2-5 teachers participated in an overview of the new expository writing component on the 4^th grade STAAR writing test this year. The takeaways from the training centered on a few key points – consistent use of the “4 Square” planning protocol at all grades (ask a teacher for specifics if interested!), the importance of students knowing and using concise, effective language in their writing, as well as the value in having teachers score compositions besides their own student pieces in order to help build inter-rater reliability among scorers. Good, solid training materials provided from our district and some great conversation surrounding all things writing at HP.

In case you didn’t know, children’s singer/songwriter Ben Gundersheimer, aka Mr. G, was on campus Thursday as well, entertaining our K-1 students and staff. Thanks to music teacher Maria Satterwhite and parent Julie Berwald for arranging this musical performance. Mr. G sang songs, played the guitar, and engaged kids through hand and body movements to build active participation - loved the section where all Scottie bullfrogs jumped! He managed to also get in a few lessons as well (discussion of his songwriting process and the performance of a really cool song about cleaning up pollution to name a couple). Great reviews from those in attendance, me most especially. Check out the event on our HP website or Mr. G’s website at the following link. http://www.mistergsongs.com/index.html

Mr. G rockin' the house!

Finally, look below for something we’ve been waiting for a long time. Yes, the staging for the Aquarena Springs shade structure installation has finally happened! Exciting, exciting, exciting - did I mention it’s exciting? Be on the lookout for future developments as we improve the front of our school. Can’t wait.

Many ways to get moving!

2012-01-13T13:09:00.002-06:00

Be sure to check out the newest addition to our upper track area as it winds its way around Perry Park. Parent Julie Buchanan, her daughter Bridget, and some enthusiastic volunteers have installed a Story Walk to the area for all to enjoy. In Julie's own words, " Beginning January 9, 2012, members of Brownie Troop 2380 will be sponsoring a StoryWalk installation on the HP playground. The StoryWalk project combines physical activity with literacy and is an innovative way to get people of all ages to enjoy nature and exercise while reading children’s picture books. Pages of selected books will be posted at various points along the walking path around the playground so people of all ages can follow the story as they walk the route. This week’s story, "I Want My Hat Back" by Jon Klassen, is sponsored by Julie, Britt, Bennett and Bridget Buchanan. Look for new stories in the coming weeks!". Thanks Buchanan family and Brownie Troop 2380 for this extra boost to literacy on campus.

Julie and Bridget

Though we don't have the ticket price details yet (those are coming next week), our 2nd community arts event (including staff!) will be the Friday, Februray 24, 8:00 pm dance performance of Diavolo at Bass Concert Hall. Per the promotional materials, "Diavolo reinvents dance, re-imagines theater, and redefines thrills. Dancers, gymnasts, and actors take movement, athletics, and daring to the extreme, creating abstract narratives through surreal tableaux...utilizing everyday items such as doors, chairs, and stairways to provide the backdrop for an evening of dramatic movment." I'm told this event will be thrilling for the entire family (boys and girls, young and old!), so we hope to see you there as we come together around the arts. Feel free to do some "pre-event" checking on the performance at the TX Performing Arts website. Again, details for tickets, with a special link to order, should be available next week in our Scottie Informer. FUN!

Finally, speaking of fun, just have to give some special props to Coach DeLine and Coach Supak of the HP PE program. Those guys, as a team, have created some wonderful programming around physical education. Though many, many of you have volunteered in your child's PE class this year and have seen some of the incredible motivators these guys have put into place, look below for pictures of Coach DeLine's buckets of inspiration if you haven't yet seen them. Put together over the last couple of years with some current and former Scotties, these buckets serve as instant motivation to move past an issue a student may be having and to turn the situation into a positive outcome. For example, if someone is not feeling very sportsman-like and needs some inspiration to win or lose positively, the Sportsmanship Spice bucket filled with "sportsmanship magic dust" can be brought out, sprinkled on the student having a hard time, and, like magic, can turn a negative emotion into a positive. Cool! As you can see below, Coach has lots of buckets for lots of different things that can crop up in a PE period (and beyond); one more avenue for kids to turn their day around so that teaching and learning can still take place, as well as a tool to let kids know they indeed have the power to handle their own emotions and reactions. Stop in to see these buckets if you haven't and also be sure to check out Coach's newest endeavor, the Waka-Waka videos, on the HP website. You'll be glad you did! http://www.hipark.austin.isd.tenet.edu/HPhome/Recent_Events.html

Buckets of Inspiration

Former Scottie Scarlett with her Sportsmanship Spice Creation

Hitting the Ground Running

2012-01-06T09:53:00.002-06:00

While we are still waiting on those elusive Aquarena Shade structures (just some minor glitches, they are now at the contractor's site, so give Therese Baer a big hug when you see her as she so deserves it!), Wednesday saw staff back on campus, engaging in staff development for most of the day. In the morning, Laine Leibick provided teachers with 3 of the required 6 hours training related to their GT certification; additionally, Melissa O’Donnell and Beth Finkle gave all K-5 teachers a refresher on math invented strategies and model drawing (lots of good questions and clarifications). In the afternoon, grades 3-5 reviewed STAAR updates, 2^nd grade teachers met with Nat Miller on the upcoming Zach Scott workshops in their classes, and K-1/Special Area planned together and worked getting ready for the next day. A truly busy and productive day, not to mention how nice it was to see staff together once again. Also, thanks to Jodi Leach and PTA for providing those yummy, welcome back tacos for staff as well. Appreciated!

Of course, the first day back for students is also very special. Lots of smiles and hugs up and down the hallways Thursday morning. Students missed their teachers, missed their friends, and missed their routines. And you know what? We missed them. As you can see from our office staff below, everyone hit the ground running, registering new students, ordering supplies, and checking in parents. A good first student day.

CC enrolling new students

Sara adding up the totals!

Megan helping an HP Dad check-in at the office

I met Wednesday afternoon with some delightful representatives of UT's Texas Performing Arts organization. Thanks to HP parent Shannon Ratcliff for arranging this get-together, and special appreciation to TPA Development Officer and Manager Ann Stafford and Donor and Member Relations coordinator Mindy Graves for coming out to meet with me, plan with me, and brainstorm next steps for our school. Working with these folks, I can officially say we are honing in on our second HP community arts event (another component to our Any Given Child year one action plan) and it promises to be worthwhile for the whole family. More details to come next week on this newest partnership, but start thinking some awesome night performances, field experiences for our kids, and more. This will be our opportunity to show our continued support for the arts, so look for the info and let's enjoy this great community together. I want as many Scotties to participate as possible in the upcoming family events -get your calendars ready. Really cool stuff y'all!

Finally, Kathy Sederholm has shared our recent middle of the year Dibels scores and I have to say Scotties are showing great strides in all things fluency. For example, did you know that at 2nd grade 91 students are already at end of the year (EOY) benchmark in reading fluency and that 9 have met middle of the year (MOY) benchmark? That's awesome and leaves only a small number in need. Or that at first grade 49 students are at EOY benchmark, 37 have met their MOY benchmark, with only 5 now needing extra fluency support? I can list the numbers for every grade level (still working on Kinder assessments), but fluency is looking good at grades 1-5. It can't be stressed enough the value in those parent and volunteer staffed fluency centers, nor the value in the early intervention model; fluency is only one piece of the puzzle in literacy skills - think phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, and comprehension - and teachers are working diligently on interventions in those areas as well, but fluency is a crucial piece. We are beginning to see the fruits of our labor, the foundation is there, and kids are developing skills they will take with them beyond HP. Not test taking skills, but foundational reading skills they need for more rigorous content reading as they enter those intermediate and middle years. Thanks to Kathy, Maria, Jeannine for all you have done to keep fluency alive and well at our school. We all have much work to do, we're not there yet as we know the district benchmarks and state STAAR assessments are just around the corner, but fluency at HP is lookin' good.

So really, it's been a good first week back at HP. I must confess, by the end of last week, I was missing my routine and all of you. Though we all need rest and relaxation, it was a nice personal reminder that if you miss your work and the people you work with, then you must really like what you do. And I did and I do. Welcome back Scotties.

Wrapping it up!

2011-12-20T10:10:00.001-06:00

Third grade’s Social Studies Medieval unit concluded Monday with the annual procession and production of the Medieval Fair. Many serfs, knights, and royals participated in the production; what a colorful parade through our halls! In addition to the musical and story recitation in our cafeteria for parents, student projects were on display on tables of purple velvet. Projects included in-depth study of stained glass traditions in art classrooms (and recreated in vividly decorated bottles), a further study and creation of personal shields, as well as a research paper (either straight research or creative journal entries chosen by some students) tied to the Big 6 research model components. Loved the morning, loved the recessional around our halls following the performance for audience members, and loved the extra rigor shown in the written projects this year. Let us then rejoice, While we are young. After the pleasures of youth And the tiresomeness of old age Earth will hold us. – Student’s song (anonymous).

After school Math Pentathlon Club for current second graders is an extremely popular offering this year. Sponsored by teacher (and last year’s Teacher of Promise) Harrison Gay, this club gives students much practice in critical math skills. Per the official website, “The Mathematics Pentathlon is a program of interactive problem-solving games, supportive curricular and instructional activities, and assessment tools for students in grades K-7. This motivational program strengthens basic math concepts and skills, aligns with National and State Mathematics Standards, and stimulates creative thinking while developing problem-solving skills through games and cooperative learning.” When I checked in on Monday, students were intent on a Hexacross game, discovering patterns and developing problem solving strategies. Mr. Gay shared that the program also gives these students an opportunity to become more observant and detail oriented. Currently he has 20-25 girls involved in the session I, next session will be all boys (though, as you can see from the picture below, Jamie got a jump start on Monday); Session III will be a co-educational offering for all interested second graders. We’ve discussed the possibility of rolling this down to first grade next year, so spread the word! Thanks Mr. Gay!

Second graders hard at work on Hexacross

Zach Scott is coming, Zach Scott is coming! The brochures have arrived and they are ready to enroll students in the K-2 and 3-5 after school Acting Classes to be hosted at HP next semester. Primary students will be involved in Creative Drama (Story Tellers), while our intermediate students will put on an actual play - none other than the classic Peter Pan! Rog Wall, the instructor for both classes, has more than 20 years of experience in teaching acting, creative drama and movement (13 being at Zach Scott). We are more than excited to host this new endeavor at our school, so don’t forget to stop by the front office to pick up an informational flyer and registration packet. Special thanks to Nat Miller for getting this on track for our school. Truly, we can’t wait!

Finally, a special nod to our second grade students, teachers, and parents for having a winter party with a purpose. While enjoying parent provided breakfast goodies today, students heard Cathyleen Requejo, AISD Community Ed Project Supervisor/Homeless Liaison, discuss the many services of Project Help. Students had gathered various toiletry/other items, stuffed socks with the items, then gave them to Ms. Requejo to distribute later today. Thanks second graders for caring enough to give back to others.

Ms. Requejo and Ms. Marques' 2nd grade students

The time is upon us and our holiday break is just around the corner. If I don’t see you, know I carry continued gratitude for your grace, wisdom, and all you do for our school, our community, and most importantly, for our kids. You, my friends, are the best gift I could receive. Peace and Love to all.

Something for everyone

2011-12-16T08:51:00.006-06:00

Rewind to last weekend and you get a sense of high gear activity in the Highland Park community. Saturday night HP staff travelled to the Golliher residence for our annual holiday get-together. What a great evening for those who attended – who doesn't love a White Elephant game! Sunday saw the MAC performance of the holiday music and dance spectacle What-cracka?! While I enjoyed this student created, unique performance, I only mention it here as several current Scotties hit the stage at intermission for a dance-off (seriously, there were tons of HP’ers there!). If I’m not mistaken, the Dowd /Mendelsen trio took top honors! What a way to get kids pumped around the arts! Thanks MAC, thanks to fluency volunteers Alice Van Zant and Frances Cerbins for the company, and thanks to some top-notch high school performers to boot.

Monday afternoon Austin Film Kids did indeed roll out the red carpet in our library for their first semester film festival. We were treated to student created “shorts”, with Brian Cox giving us the ins and outs of what the kids had accomplished. Camera angles, cut-aways, special effects, directing, and producing credits were noted, as were the actual storyboards used to create the films. There were even out-takes shown with assistant Traviss Thomas being the good natured bearer of the inside joke. I hear that students will move on to more in-depth editing processes in the spring and that many a kid has movie making gear high on their holiday wish lists now. Thanks Brian for inspiring our kids in the love of story telling, for such a creative outlet for this high energy group, and for brainstorming with me the other day on where the program can grow from here.

Mr. Cox rolling the credits

The year just wouldn’t be the same without Pajama Day. One of a handful of “special days” sponsored by our Student Council officers, this fun day had most students and staff all cozy and warm in our PJ’s. I saw LOTS of Scottie Dogs on LOTS of pajamas as I roamed the halls and classrooms, with teachers keeping the learning going (what better way to kick back and read than in your PJ’s?) while lounging in ultimate comfort. Check out some of the pics below. Fun!

Kinder teachers travelled to San Antonio one day this week to attend the professional development workshop led by Dr. Jean. Dr. Jean is known far and wide in early learning circles for creative, musical ways to make learning fun – takeaways for the day included teaching writing/spelling with karate chops – which we all practiced at Thursday’s staff meeting - and additional ways to teach language development through music.

Scottie Singers came out in full force on Thursday evening. Maria Satterwhite and Brion Briones led the group in their winter concert performance. I think my favorite musical number was It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing) by Duke Ellington and Irving Mills. Not only were all the right notes hit, but the choreography was very well done. Special props to Marcus and Benjamin on having that swing down pat. Our fourth and fifth graders looked quite nice in their Scottie Singers black and tan; what a wonderful addition to holiday happenings on such a wet, chilly evening.

Just have to say - George Lewellyn at Lamar Middle School, his support team of staff and parents, rock! I was able to pop over to the Lamar Open House Thursday morning and caught the third group of interested parents and students in the library before the tour (heard the earlier ones were even more packed than the one I attended – some former HP parents tell me they had over 100 parents attend – woohoo!); yep, I continue to be impressed by George’s low key, “we’re going to get it done” approach to school change. And you know what? He’s doing it. George shared with me his most recent performance on the district benchmark assessments, with Lamar Middle School falling in the top 5 AISD middle schools in most tested areas (7^th grade writing was ranked 3rd overall!). It takes a village and great leadership. Thanks George and team for all you are doing for our kids and our community.

Many Ways to Care

2011-12-09T12:56:00.003-06:00

Our PTA board kicked off the week with a festive dinner at Parkside Restaurant in downtown Austin Monday evening. This incredibly hard-working, caring group of parents (plus one teacher and one principal!) came together for a bit of fellowship, a bit of work, and a bit of reflection on the year so far. PTA activities and events slated for the year are on target or have exceeded expectations; this simply wouldn't happen without the organization, talents, time, and resources of our parent board, committee members, and parents at large. Period. It was a fun evening and special thanks to Parkside owner and HP parent Shawn Cirkiel for providing such a delightful, relaxing space for us to be together. Good food, good drinks, good company equals an incredibly good evening.

Thinking of "good eats", parent Julie Danehy continues her instruction to second grade classes on all things healthy eating. I happened to catch one of her classes this week, sampled some yummy sugar free "noggin", as well as some honest to goodness sugar cane. This week's lesson was geared toward the facts behind sugar in foods; Julie really stresses "go foods" with kids (and adults) and always prepares recipes that are far healthier than the original ones most of us are used to eating - this is a person who really cares what we all put into our bodies and is on a mission to change our habits. These classes, part of an ABC grant Julie and Coach DeLine wrote last year, are informative, tasty, and per Julie, her hope for the start of more healthy eating initiatives on our campus and beyond. With Julie leading the way, I have no doubt about it.

Good, solid planning (rather than eating) was the norm around here the last few days as well. Four of our language arts teachers, Laine Leibick, Lia Nudelman, Kati Guimbarda, and Alyssa Smith, met in a day-long retreat, planning grade 2-5 aligned historical fiction units of study, with each grade level tackling a different time period in history, from pre-WWII years in the 1930's through the civil rights movement of the 1960's . The take-aways from their retreat included historical novel selections (several selected for each unit of study), arts primary resource materials researched and ordered (think WPA posters, Louis Jordan's song "Ration Blues" tied to a 3rd grade unit around Victory Gardens for example), and some concrete inter-disciplinary projects and activities nailed down around essential skills and questions of the TEKS - the ultimate goal being an aligned thread tied to skills/arts/theme/other concept. Teachers plan to pilot the unit this year in one class per grade level, with the units then being rolled out to all others in the future. I even heard talk of a History Fair at some point, so we will definitely keep you posted on that. Kudos ladies for caring enough to take the day to plan together!

Grade 3-5 teachers also had half-day retreat days in our conference room this week. Teachers, using the district Schoolnet data system, pulled up middle of the year (MOY) benchmark data from recent assessments on reading, math, science, and writing, drilled down to standards mastery and item analysis reports, and made intervention plans for specific students in need and/or students who are now ready to go beyond. Much work was accomplished, with refinements being made to current after school tutoring groups that have been happening since early November and instructional plans within individual classes. Though all teachers have much on their plates these days, special "hugs" to those at our testing grades as they truly carry a lot on their shoulders and care enough to dig deep into the data on these important days each year. Check out 3rd grade in action one day this week.

Finally, a word about the Henson-Wheat family. I was incredibly privileged to spend a portion of my afternoon Thursday with Ryanna Henson. As you know, the family was featured recently in the American Statesman's annual Season of Caring, with Ryanna's ongoing health issues a major concern. A former Scottie and now a student at the Ann Richards School, this poised young lady bowls me over with her spirit, her intelligence, her attitude, and her kindness. We reminisced about her first year on campus, and how, even though she was the new kid on the block coming in at fourth grade, she still managed to win students over with her student council speech and became an elected Stu Co officer that year! Thanks to those in our Scottie community who are giving support in many, many ways to the family; for further information on how you can help, please contact the Statesman at seasonforcaring@statesman.com or by calling Any Baby Can at 512-454-3743.

A Sea of Science Fair Projects

2011-12-02T12:42:00.003-06:00

Merrell Anne and Eileen setting up

You can't walk into the cafeteria this week without coming into contact with a Science Fair project. The trifold boards, 265 of them to be exact, are on table after table, as seen in the picture below. Can I just say impressive? The annual event, traditionally held this time of year at HP, continues to grow from year to year, with many projects now spilling onto tables set up in our hallways. All fourth and fifth grade students are required to participate, with many others at K-3 joining in due to their love of science or through the encouragement of their teacher or parent -couldn't do it without 'ya! I love looking at all of them, but what's really cool to see are the Kinder students making their first attempts at idea development, presentation, and reporting on project outcomes - as seen in two examples below. Today, I also had the privilege of announcing the fourth and fifth grade campus finalists; these students are now waiting in the wings, projects in hand, ready to give their oral defense/explanation of their project to a very knowledgable panel of advanced science students from Vista Ridge High School in Cedar Park - thanks Vista Ridge! This panel's scoring, along with other scoring criteria, then determine the students who will advance to the city-wide science fair in the spring. All to be announced by end of day. Phew! As you can imagine, we absolutely could not pull this off without the help from some pretty terrific parent volunteers, Susan Hillman chief among them (seen below), as well as some dedicated teachers getting students ready to roll, scoring projects late into the evening, and more. Check out some pictures from this most marvelous event at our school.

Julie, Tina, and Susan

Kinder Project

Another Kinder Example

Vista Ridge HS students

5th Grade Project on Display

Finally, check out our hard-working staff and students in a couple of pics below. After school tutoring in content areas is just getting geared up at grades 3-5. Additionally, our second year of Scottie Homework Club, for 2-5 students who need extra support in organization, prioritizing, planning and more, is now taking place a couple of days per week as well. With clubs and fitness and night events and academic supports happening, you can imagine what a busy place we are around here on a daily basis, including the weekends. Thanks to our teachers who tutor and thanks to our HW Club staff Ms. Camarillo and Ms. Bucknall for working on those executive skill supports when and where needed.

Ms. O'Donnell helping with math

Ms. Bucknall at HW Club

Being Thankful

2011-11-18T14:07:00.003-06:00

Many reasons to be thankful this week as we head into our holiday season...

Pink Scotties came out in full force early last Sunday morning for the Komen Race for the Cure. It was a day to be thankful for as we walked in honor or memory of those who have been affected by cancer. Our own Mrs. Olson led the charge in her fluffy, hot pink cowboy hat and even made it on air at one point. Great day and a great cause with Scottie parents, kids, and staff coming out to show support.

I also continue to be thankful for my visits to classrooms. In Mrs. Finkle's 4th grade Science class this week, students were involved in learning about the relationship and patterns between the sun, earth, and moon as part of their Science TEKS; there were a variety of aligned activities to keep the engagement high. I saw partner reading and the intro to student created Phases of the Moon flip books, as well as a model demonstration by Mrs. Finkle on the tilt of the earth and the relationship to the sun (think seasons), with students making inferences and self-reflecting on their learning. I enjoyed speaking with Mac and Trevor following the teacher demonstration and hearing their thinking about how our natural world is connected. Per Mac, "without the tilt of the earth, people in areas without sun would not be as healthy or as evolved. It would affect crops, livestock, everything". Trevor further decided if this was the case he could take his "NASA spacecraft out of the darkness..." and this led us to briefly discuss what our earth would be like if we were indeed forced to live in smaller areas of livable space. Hmmmm....big ideas and no easy answers. Before I left, Mrs. Finkle did manage to pump up the volume with a Phases of the Moon rap video, with all (yes, including teacher!) joining in a truly rap-tastic dance. Fun!

There were a variety of other things taking place this week in and around campus. I visited Mrs. Kolodziej's fifth grade social studies class one day in order to see her graduate intern from UT's theater department leading a lesson. Mr. Williams had students charting their ideas on "What are Taxes?" as a part of the Revolutionary War unit of study. Students were discussing various acts, leading up to the use of a DBI (drama based instruction) strategy - role play between "a 12 year old boy and a colonist". Building empathy, becoming a character, real or imaginary, gives students a much deeper understanding of perspective and the "why" behind the history they read. Thanks Mr. Williams for working with HP!

Our after school Lego Club was in full swing this week as well. Steve and Michelle Bohls are the club sponsors, there were truly a "passel" of kids when I stopped in on Monday, and student groups were very enthusiastically engaged in the creative process. Two groups were in play - ones with predesigned frameworks and one freestyle. Roan, Jamie, and Benjamin's group had some pretty cool figures and tools in their Lego land model, including a "hybrid troll, ninja, knight" character - just in case one is needed. Thanks for the visit boys!

Finally, we had a very informative math presentation at our PTA general meeting on Tuesday evening, courtesy of fourth grade teacher Mrs. Finkle and fifth grade teacher Mrs. O'Donnell. This presentation was designed to give parents information about our school's implementation of Ms. Math and Singapore Math computation methods in our classrooms, methods we've incorporated into our math program for some time now. These research-based whole-number computation strategies give our students other math tools to use besides traditional algorithm methods; students, through their use, are forming the foundations of learning and understanding of math concepts (think numbers rather than digits) through problem solving, justifying their answers, and explanation by using different methods of computation. Both teachers talked about three important concepts: use of strategies that are number oriented rather than digit oriented, strategies that are left-handed rather than right-handed, and strategies that are flexible rather than rigid. Our take-away from the evening was that more of these events need to take place on our campus and we still have need to share information about Model Drawing (also Singapore Math) as it relates to problem solving. Students learn in a variety of ways as we all know and as Mrs. Finkle stated, "the traditional algorithms are there for use, but it's sort of like stepping back a bit, keeping the training wheels on, so students have a firm grasp of the concrete concept of numbers before moving to the abstract of digits". Those of us there were truly thankful for both Mrs. Finkle and Mrs. O'Donnell and their presentation on behalf of our campus.

One last picture which will make you thankful you took a look. Below are student created turkeys on display outside Mrs. Goldsmith's first grade classroom. They are creative and unusual turkeys as you can see and always draw me in for a moment as I head down that hallway. Think King Pig turkey and Princess turkey to name two. Check them out if you are need of a smile. Works for me every time!

Lots of good to be thankful for this week, especially the staff, students, parents, and community of Highland Park. Thank you for making HP a really cool school for all of us to enjoy.

A good week indeed

2011-11-11T16:34:00.001-06:00

Good things continue to happen in around our school, as evidenced this week. Please take the time to pull up fourth grade teacher Ms. Snell's language arts blog when you have a chance (http://tsnell.edublogs.org/). It's also posted on the fourth grade WIKI at the Highland Park website. Ms. Snell, finishing her master's in library science, began this blog last year and utilizes the tool for student responses to literature currently being read in her class. The prompts require students to have an understanding of the text, make inferences, and make personal connections to people and events in the story, which are important for those "text to self" and "text to world" connections. Currently, Ms. Snells's students are in process of posting responses to the novel The Secret School by Avi. Students are required to respond to 4 of 9 given prompts; the teacher then scores their responses on such components as text evidence cited, vocabulary, and conventions of writing. Ms. Snell has become a passionate proponent for integrating technology into her classroom, telling me that this forum "lets kids write for a wider audience (than just the teacher or classmates). It's preparing them for working in an online environment which is a 21st century learning skill. Even reluctant speakers in class now have a voice and use it". Pretty powerful.

I was also fortunate to visit a fifth grade Future Problem Solvers class this week, taught by Mrs. McHorse. This once per week pull-out for our identified gifted and talented students continues to shine and I was impressed with the level of critical thinking, time management, collaboration, creativity, and more I saw in action. This particular group of students were working in small teams on a future scene about the re-establishment of coral reefs in the year 2038; completed booklets will be sent away for scoring, returned with feedback, then processed with student reflection; this "practice" helps prepare the students for the actual competition in January.
If you haven't seen an FPS problem solving model, let me tell you it is very involved and requires a level of thinking that would stump many of us. The model follows a six-prong approach: Identify 16 (yes, 16!) challenges related to the given future scene overview, Select an Underlying Problem, Produce Solution Ideas, Select Criteria, Apply Criteria, then Develop an Action Plan. Keep in mind that the 16 challenges have to relate to 16 different global issues categories (there are 18 total and they include such broad topics as defense, law & justice, ethics & religion, and technology) and student teams only have TWO hours to complete the entire booklet. Pretty impressive. Mrs. McHorse tells me that though she sees much critical and creative thinking in action, the collaboration piece these kids engage in (true teamwork) is the big takeaway. Listening in on one group I heard Javier discuss everything shark skins (kids tell me he is an expert on sharks and I believe it!) as well as Daniel stating, "we know there will be one animal in this challenge that is a danger to coral reefs...". This conversation between team members brought home how important it is for our students to have opportunities for collaboration. Can't wait to see how these Scotties did on their practice booklets. On to January!

Great training today also with all teachers and teaching assistants. We travelled over to Lamar Middle School with the other Creative Classroom pilot elementary schools for a half day staff development on creativity in the classroom. The breakout sessions, by grade level and specialty area, comprised of 2 geared toward actual models and instruction on creativity (think dance/movement, narrative pantomine, art therapy, and more), with one room devoted to a showcase of community arts providers. We are all so fortunate to have access to these resources in our community. Thanks Brent, Christy, and everyone for furthering our understanding of what creatvity in the classroom is all about. Good stuff.

Finally, our week took a more somber, reflective tone at yesterday's Veteran's Day assembly for fourth grade parents. The students sang a variety of patriotic songs in their red, white, and blue dress, with many of us in attendance singing along with them. It was hard not to get choked up during the traditional branch of service songs, with audience members (think parents and grandparents) standing when their branch of service was noted. Additionally, the red and blue Stars of Valor displayed in our main hallway were a reminder of those who proudly and valiantly give so much for all of us. For those who have served or are serving, we thank you.

Community

2011-11-04T13:22:00.000-05:00

I took a field trip one morning this week with a couple of third grade classes. If you haven't checked out the in-town Elisabet Ney Museum, you really should. This field experience is part of third grade's Social Studies TEKS, broadly noted as community, and is one of a handful they take to enhance student understanding of some notable members and places of our own community in Austin. This particular visit, with Mr. Robenhorst and Ms. Smith's classes, gave students information on Elisabet's early years, her unorthodox views (for the 1800's, women wearing pants or riding their horses astride, were both considered rebellious acts by women, something our students have a hard time grasping today), her work as a noted sculptor here and abroad, as well as a fascinating behind-the-scenes glimpse at the building itself (her studio/residence). We heard about and saw many of Elisabet's noted works and learned that she typically started "small", with a bust of some type before working on full body pieces. We also were able to take the spiral staircase to the study of Elisabet's husband, Dr. Edmund Montgomery, and discover the secret door that leads to the roof. That was pretty neat. The figures of notable Texans Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin were also on display (see below) and our docent very graciously gave us an overview of their accomplishments, which third graders will definitely hear more about in fourth grade and all things Texas history!

Soles4Souls is also happening on our campus this week through November 15. Sponsored by our CLASS after school student service club, this wonderful first semester project will provide shoes for those who need them. I plan to clean out my closets this weekend, bring in my $1 donation to cover shipping for each pair donated, and help a good cause. Thanks to our CLASS staff sponsors and students for coordinating a worthwhile endeavor. As the website at http://www.soles4souls.org/ states, "Shoes help prevent the spread of parasitic diseases that plague over 1.4 billion people worldwide, and they are a basic human necessity." Help a good cause for our community members at large and drop off your new or gently worn shoes in a designated hallway box at HP.

PTA Reflections art projects wrapped up this week and the entries were impressive. The theme this year was "Diversity Means" and students were to "Reflect on a Theme. Create an Original Work. Be Recognized". Originals works could include dance choreography, photography, film production, musical composition, visual arts, or literature. Several of the students will be advancing to the next level. Super work! I enjoyed stopping by for the culminating trip to Berry Austin after school yesterday - thanks! Check out two of the entries by Sophia and Sophia shown below. Truly thoughtful work as we think of the diversity in our own community (and what it truly means!). Special thanks to Stephanie Wilson for chairing this annual event for our school.

Finally, I'm posting this a bit early with the hopes that you come out to support our own vertical team community at Lamar Middle School's annual fall carnival, Lamarfest. Starts at 6:00 pm tonight, Friday, November 4. Promises to be a blast!

Celebrate the Good

2011-10-28T21:36:00.000-05:00

You often hear the word rigor thrown around in the world of education. Many teachers call it the "word du jour". But what are we really talking about when we mention rigor in the classroom? One meaningful definition is found in Teaching What Matters Most: Standards and Strategies for Raising Student Achievement by Richard W. Strong, Harvey F. Silver and Matthew J. Perini, ASCD, 2001. According to the authors, “Rigor is the goal of helping students develop the capacity to understand content that is complex, ambiguous, provocative, and personally or emotionally challenging.” Pretty tall task for a teacher, but in visiting classrooms this week I believe our teachers are on the right track with ensuring their instruction and outcomes not only remain rigorous, but are creative as well. We've got great things happening around our district in many classrooms and many schools, but here are a few examples from HP. Take a moment with me to celebrate what's good in our schools.

This week, Mrs. Guenther's second grade students were actively engaged in Puppet Theater. What a joy it was to visit her class, along with Mrs. Olson's kinder class, as the younger students sat enthralled with the performance related to the book Frog and Toad. The second graders had created their own puppets out of paper sacks (way cool!), put on the performance behind the curtain, and per Mrs. Guenther, "had a great opportunity for fluency practice in a fun way!". An authentic way for children to connect with text and practice a variety of skills.

I also found an example of rigorous thought in Mrs. Read's small group classroom. When I popped in, her class was engaged in defining/practicing closed versus open ended questions, an activity that then led to a connection/practice with Bloom's level of questions, which you can see on the "Bloom's Mountain" below. Lance and other "Discussion Directors" chose leveled questions from the Buckets of Blooms related to the book they were reading, Dinosaurs Before Dark; they then practiced the thinking process that goes into a "remember" question vs. a "create" question, and determined which were open and which were closed. Lance's bucket question "What would it be like to live in dinosaur land?" brought out some very creative answers, extended into the possibilities of how each student could create the world in their mind, through a written story, diorama, or more. Loved it and hear from Mrs. Read these Keys to Literacy strategies are helping her students practice their thinking in a way that doesn't seem like work for her students.

I've seen other additional lessons this week that I could connect to rigor in the classroom. From Mrs. Matetich's 5th grade scientists conducting hands-on research as it related to bending light (Caroline hard at work, direct right!)

to a whole group spider web creation in Mrs. Davidson's kinder classroom. This particular web activity served as a springboard for students to individually share fascinating facts they had learned about spiders, including body parts, uses of silk, and types of webs - did you know that tangle webs become known as cobwebs once the spiders are gone? Kinders do!

But I'd truly be remiss if I didn't mention the DAR creative strategies I saw in two separate fourth grade units of study this week. First, Mrs. Hunter's students, working on social studies TEKS related to origins and culture of Native American groups before the European Exploration, did some cool body interpretation of vocabulary words such as primitive, noble, and uncivilized. They transitioned to the George Catlin painting "Catlin Painting the Portrait of Mah-to-toh-pa", initially describing what they saw, then analyzing what they saw, with an eventual relating what they saw to self or prior knowledge (DAR). This activity led the class to a brief discussion on stereotypes, done through much "brainloading", and how the painting may have been a stereotypical portrait of the subjects. Julia Kay was right on when she said "I'm sure not all Indians had feathers or wore the same clothes as shown in the picture". Hmmm...these connections to the past, thinking about why we think what we do and how stereotypes in life are alive even today, are important for all of us to make. The follow-up was to be a writing assignment connected to this discussion, so I'll be sure to check back soon.

Final comment on rigor I saw in action this week, namely Mrs. Leibick's language arts students engaged in their unit of study, Voices of the Depression. I saw and heard students making connections between photos of the Dust Bowl (shown large screen, images incomprehensible to those of us in the room who did not live through it), to the review of previous discussion on differences found in the positive lens of Norman Rockwell and the Langston Hughes' African American male experiences to other ongoing unit topics - think Woodie Guthrie lyrics, children's literature set during the period, radio dramas, and even the one-room schoolhouse - all with anchors of support in and around the class. The heart of the lesson, however, surrounded the aforementioned DAR implemented with Dorothea Lange's iconic photograph, "Migrant Mother". As the student discussion unfolded, one question was posed by Mrs. Leibick on why this one photograph, out of the many taken during those years, became known as the Face of the Depression; I was anxious to hear the responses and came away sobered by the ones shared. One student Allison, in all her fourth grade wisdom, very solemnly stated that, in her opinion, the Lange photo "wasn't a picture of a soup kitchen, it wasn't a picture of a bread line, but it was a picture of one person living through this awful time..." This simple statement gave us all a moment to pause and think about the real people who experience hardships behind the headlines and why some images mean as much to us as they do. True rigorous connections between many mediums, many thoughts, and issues that, in many ways, are timely and relevant today.

Finally, Scotties always squeeze in some fun each week along with the learning. Fourth and fifth graders travelled over to MAC for a special fall performance by the high school's orchestra and choir entitled "The Ghoultide Scarols". Students and adults were fascinated by the accompanying tour of the arts spaces, complete with live models in the drawing room. Pretty inspiring! Carrying on the fun, Mr. Supak, one of our PE teachers, was the winner of the all staff drawing for Austin Ballet's upcoming performance of the Nutcracker (given very graciously by Dr. Carstarphen to schools in our district who had the highest attendance for the last reporting period; as an FYI, HP's was 98.7% -good work Scotties!). Mr. Supak tells me he and his wife Anna, also a teacher, attend every year, and they both will definitely look forward to the evening. And, of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention our current HOOT happenings. Check out Thursday's HOOT Rally pic below (thanks Mrs. Leach, HOOT Queens Mrs. Campa and Mrs. Peele, and all HOOT ladies who helped that day); this annual assembly held each year prior to our big fall carnival always gets the kids fired up for HOOT night. We cheered, we laughed at the silly hair color put on some of some adult "good sports", and we oohed and awed at the displayed games and prizes to be had at the carnival. As I finish this blog, let's just say the real deal HOOT was FUN for all who attended on this Friday evening, and yes, it was a good week to be a Scottie. Big or small, Scotties work hard, but play hard too.

Keep celebrating the good in our schools! I know I will.

Bats, Dads, and Hall Fun, OH MY!

2011-10-21T16:57:00.000-05:00

This has really been a crazy busy week around HP. Much happening across the district for all of us, but the learning keeps going in the classroom. Kinder teachers are in the throes of all things life cycle this week as it relates to Science TEKS. Think everything from Spiders to Pumpkins to Bats, seen below in Ms. Nazar's class one morning. Our kinder teachers consistently create centers aligned to current unit of study (for math, ABC, writing, other centers), post teaching tools aligned to current unit of study, and also display current vocabulary being taught. Walking in a room, you hear and see this vocabulary used in a variety of ways by both teacher and students. Mammals, non-mammals, traits, and echolocation was heard more than once during my visit. Check out one of our Kinder Scotties below aptly demonstrating his understanding of mammal/non-mammal. Do you know the characterisitics of a mammal? If not, ask an HP kinder!

Scottie Dads is off to a good start this week. The cool program, implemented by our counselor Mrs. Land and dad Kevin Golliher, got off the ground Wednesday evening, with an overview of the program presented to interested dads at the Golliher residence. I hear we have about 15-20 fathers ready to sign-up to give an entire day at school, doing everything from reading with students, doing math flash cards, helping at recess and on the playground, and just generally being visible. We have Super Dad participation as a rule around here, but it's a great program which will align us with Lamar's Scottie Dawgs program, as well as provide one more way for parents to be involved. Check out the official t-shirt (if you see it on a dad, you know he's a Scottie Dad!); thanks gentlemen for caring enough to give more of your time to our school.

Just have to share what I saw happening in one of our hallways. As second graders from Mr. Gay's class walked to lunch today, they were engaged all the way as Mr. Gay read from the book If You Lived 100 Years Ago. He'd read a passage, stop, ask a couple of quick questions or make an interesting point, then all would continue down the hallway. One more creative way to keep our kids engaged with text throughout the day, not to mention a fun way to head to lunch.

Finally, I'll end this week with a short blurb on how I began my week. Last Sunday, I had the privilege and pleasure of attending the MAC Cabaret at the new arts center on McCallum's campus. Not only was I thrilled to see many former Scotties on the stage belting out tunes from the 50 states, but I got goose-bumps during the all-cast numbers. Wow, we have some talented kids! It's a shameless plug, but check out some of the upcoming performances through the Fine Arts Academy. Definitely worth your time and money.

Creativity on Display!

2011-10-14T16:20:00.000-05:00

Teachers have long displayed student work in the halls or in their rooms. Kind of the norm when you are at an elementary school. What's really changing is the level of thinking going into those displays. If you haven't walked around our building in awhile, I encourage you to check out some of the most recent postings in our hallways. Not only do we have some engaging, creative displays of critical thinking through writing and the arts, but we have teacher "descriptors" often posted directly beside the examples of student work - explanations of the TEK student expectation connected to the work, explanation of the process leading up to the final student product, and more. HP teachers are working diligently to ensure that students know the purpose to the activity, are motivated to learn, and that outcomes are connected in the best possible way to the true learning intentions. Check out Mrs. Goldsmith's first grade Nocturnal Animal poems connected to literature and science (with some cool animal art to boot!), Mrs. Pappert's " 6 trait word choice" acrostic poetry from her second graders, and Mrs. Kolodziej's 5th grade student migration posters connected to the SS unit on American Indian Cultural Regions. Our students learn so much more and make deeper connections when the products are authentic, the activities are engaging, and creativity is embedded. Pretty neat!

Wrapping up student work displays, I also have to share Mrs. Kolodziej's additional Geography Island posters. This activity was a "chance for 5th grade students to use their imagination to create an island that was uniquely their own. The island was required to have a theme based on the student's interests, a name that related to the theme, and examples of various landforms." Additionally, per the teacher, it was to be drawn from a "bird's eye view as a map with a legend, compass rose, geographic features, city symbols, and a capital city". We've heard from some former Scotties that this type of activity is also incorporated and expanded upon (think government, economic features, and island culture) in some of their middle and high school experiences. Hats off Mrs. K and her students for some work that is engaging and creative!

Taylor Swift Island

Musical Island

Finally, though this week has been chock-full of everything from walkthroughs in classrooms to a McCallum vertical team roundtable meeting with PTA presidents to Crazy Hat Friday (check out the pics on our website), I want to highlight the increased after school offerings happening on our campus. We still have our traditional offerings, such as Scottie Singers, Bits, Bytes, and Bots, Mad Science and more, but have made a special effort to "pump up" our options, expecially in the area of creativity. Currently on board this fall or coming soon, we have Math Pentathlon once again (thank you Mr. Gay!), an afterschool art club for our third grade students sponsored by Mrs. Maca, a very creative Lego Club that is growing by leaps and bounds, a slated theater class taught by the folks at Zach Scott, and a new film class now happening by Austin Film Kids. This popular class, 28+ strong on day ONE!, allows students to "learn how to use video cameras, create their own film ideas, then see them come to life!" Some of the Fall film projects include a Highland Park talk show, the McGuffin Mystery, and a chance for each participant to create their own film. How cool is that? In fact, just today, students were busy creating characters and learning some of the basics of camera use. Check out Sara below as her group works the camera under the tutelage of Brian Cox, as well as the character creation charts small groups were working on as I visited. Truly, the conversation overheard highlighted both the joy and the angst of the creative process in action. These films will premiere at an upcoming AFK Film Festival and can't wait to see them all. Consider the red carpet rolled out!

International Day and more

2011-10-07T16:56:00.000-05:00

Another busy week at Highland Park. Last Sunday saw much success with Coach DeLine's first annual Fall Fitness Festival. I stopped by at the beginning of the festival to see how it was going and now hear that by the time the afternoon ended at 5 pm, approximately 300 Scotties had partaken of the booths, the activities, and the wellness presentation. Coach plans to make this an annual event to showcase health and wellness providers in our community, as well as a way to promote fitness for all. Ties right in with the approximately 13 staff members we now have on board participating in late afternoon fitness class three times per week right here on campus. Our numbers seem to keep growing and it's the one de-stresser we all absolutely count on each week. Keep moving!

Third grade travelled to the Paramount Theater this week to see a production of Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters. This African tale, by John Steptoe, not only tied into the recent instruction I've observed with paired text/text evidence through fairy tales and folk tales, but also fit beautifully with our annual International Day potluck Wednesday evening. In fact, at the potluck, third grader Gustavo took me to a world map hanging on the wall in the cafeteria, pointed out Zimbabwe, told me that this country was the setting for the tale, then proceeded to tell me that the lesson learned was "that kindness is rewarded". Doesn't get much better than that!
Thanks to the International Day committee for always putting together an evening where families of varying nationalities, faiths, and perspectives can come together around the foods of their heritage. Also, many thanks to Debi Esterak for including the Lamar Scottie Singers as dinner entertainment, as well as everyone for the International Day performances and learning sessions the following day. Check out the German polka band below from Thursday's festivities. Mr. Smith and "Oma", our very own Alyssa Smith's father and grandmother. Lovely.

I ended my week today on a trip to McKinney Roughs with fourth grade students (alas, my last with this grade level until spring). The field experience, tied to their social studies and science TEKS, first provided my break-out group an opportunity to take a mile-long hike, something I personally love to do. Our very knowledgeable guide informed us about the red bark cedar, common to areas east of Austin, and also told us about the juniper berries. Did you know they were once used to make poultice for wounds? We also saw a "toothache" tree (who knew!), the bark of which Native Americans used to numb their mouths when they had a...you guessed it...toothache. Learning about the re-growth that has taken place since a fire burned 85 acres of the park in 2008 really gave us all hope as we thought of the recent Bastrop fires. Hopefully, we can look forward to a similar "re-birth" for the hard-hit Bastrop area.

The trip ended with each group, in one of the field rooms, using microscopes to identify macro invertebrates then recording their observations on a graphic organizer and a final activity (which I only got to hear about!) involving trees and keys. As you can tell from teacher assistant Mr. King below, it was a good learning day for all. Real-life connections help build deeper meaning for the work we do each day in school.

An Arts Week for All!

2011-09-30T17:09:00.000-05:00

As I write this blog, I'm anxiously awaiting the Grand Opening of the McCallum Arts Center (MAC for short) this evening. Long anticipated, this center will provide another venue for the McCallum Fine Arts Academy to expand its wonderful array of arts offerings to students. According to the official website, "...Austin voters approved bonds to build a new theater and art facility on the McCallum campus. After nearly three years of planning and construction, the state-of-the-art facility is now complete and includes a 500-seat theater, three visual arts classroom studios, gallery space, a scene shop, dressing rooms and costume storage areas." Can't wait to check it out!

In addtion to the MAC opening, Highland Park has been heavily engaged this week in the arts as well. Meetings over the past several days connected to the Kennedy Center's Any Given Child initiative included beginning survey work to stakeholders involved in the pilot (look for those this year!), as well as concrete planning tools for the Creative Classroom components. It's been fascinating to sit and listen to the ideas and yes, dare I say it, the creativity of those connected with mindPOP, AISD and community arts providers, parents, and the Kennedy Center.

In the spirit of all things arts this week, and as a component to the Any Given Child initial action plan this year, 44 HP staff members also travelled to the Long Center last evening to attend the dress rehearsal for Ballet Austin's The Mozart Project. The evening helped us kick off the year by building staff enthusiasm for the work ahead and truly provided us an avenue to show our support for the arts, as well as to strengthen our connections to each other. Pre-ballet began with a staff social at Threadgills, something we just don't get a chance to do often enough. This night was for all of us and it was great to see everyone from our teachers to our head custodian to our nurse to our teaching assistants to our front office in attendance. What a special evening for our staff and hopefully, the beginning of many more activities we can come together around the arts. Check out the pics of this staff event on the HP website.

Finally, just have to say a big thank you to the fourth grade team and our very own art teachers for letting me tag along on today's field trip to the Blanton Museum. One of four planned this year, this Art Central program helps students learn the role of a museum, gives opportunities for students to engage in higher critical thinking skills, as well as provides a forum for students to connect works of art and ideas. I, along with my small student group headed by Mrs. Finkle, were able to compare and contrast the varied mediums used in the Teresita Fernandez Stacked Waters tiles located near the museum entrance to the Cildo Meireles installation How to Build Cathedrals. Kids - and me too - were able to actually dip our fingers into the Meireles installation, feeling the pennies (representing wealth) that lay below the hanging cattle bones (representing death). If you haven't seen this last piece in recent years, you really should check it out as it's quite a show stopper and provides an interesting way for the artist to provide social commentary. Thanks to the Blanton for providing our students a hands on way to connect to the arts and to build those all important college, career, and life skills they need.

What a wonderful week of connections to the arts in the city we call home. Gotta love it!

Scottie Connections and more

2011-09-23T11:54:00.000-05:00

Do you know what's happening at Lamar these days? Have you seen the changes, heard about the changes, all the good things going on over there? Last night, the new Lamar principal George Llewellyn presented to HP parents at our school. Those of us in attendance were impressed by the message delivered. Mr. Llewellyn spoke of Japanese and French classes, an alignment with McCallum in various art specialties (dance, theater, possibly musical theater), rigorous pre-AP math classes designed to have students ready for high school offerings, and more. He shared with us his plans to beef up all content areas, spoke of a new assistant principal coming on board who is known for her work in the area of science, and he talked about the work his team is now doing with McCallum, UTeach, and mindPOP in all areas. Truly, so many good things that I simply cannot mention them all here. Former Scottie parent reps, Blake Stanford, Sandy Muir, and Jodi Leach were on hand as well to provide input on their experiences and to share how much their kids love the school. Mr. Llewellyn is personable, engaging, and, most importantly, knows the ins and outs of scheduling, school behavioral management systems, and the types of curricular changes it takes to make Lamar a school aligned to high school and a school that truly gets our kids on the path to college, career, and life. He stated more than once he has a 90% open door policy (the man must get some work done in his office I'm sure:), and that yes, he is a parent principal but really a kid principal above all. I have the impression he really gets the parent-school connection and the importance of us all working together.
My admin team was so impressed that this morning we drove over to Lamar to check it out first hand. Mrs. Land, Ms. McDaniel, and I were greeted by a fresh coat of purple paint, new plantings, and a clean and orderly building. We saw James in band, Skylar coming from orchestra, and Hannah, Addie, Makenzie and many other lovely former Scotties (how time flies!) headed outside with their teacher for a Socratic questioning activity. Seriously, check it out if you haven't lately. Mr. Lewellyn and his AP Mr. Bennett also graciously invited all HP parents to attend a special arts showcase with their current students on October 6, 9:30 am, at McCallum HS. This opportunity is open to their feeder elementary school parents, so you won't want to miss it. Go Dawgs!

Of course, our week right over here on our own campus has been super busy as always. Classroom observations and walkthroughs are going well, Mrs. Hunter hosted some UT theater students who wanted to see creative strategies in action, Mrs. Read and Ms. Kilgore hosted a math parent night surrounding all things Making Math Real, and we're just now gearing up for the installation of the Aquarena Springs shade structure for the front of our school. This long standing project (those of us involved have been talking/working on this for a few years now) is finally around the corner, with Phase I (the structures) coming any day now. We'll keep you posted on specifics as it may relate to some minor traffic flow adjustments, but the team is super excited to see the dream come alive. Thanks to Therese Baer, Sean Compton, Wes Amberboy, all PTA boards and members past and present, as well as the many others who have given time, energy, talents, and funding to make this happen for our school and community.

Connections to our feeder school, connections to former Scotties, and connections to each other right now. Yep, a good week at HP!

Face Time and more

2011-09-16T15:20:00.000-05:00

Ms. McDaniel and I spent the first part of our work week meeting with each teacher on campus. This is typical for beginning of the year; in September, we meet with teachers to discuss upcoming observations, class goals, and campus initiatives. It's an invaluable opportunity for us to have a one on one conversation with staff members, as time to connect on a campus is very hard when the days get so busy. There are only so many hours...

Real conversation and connections with students happen to be one of our Campus Improvement Plan initiatives this year. Spearheaded by counselor Cari Land, Face Time is now a part of our weekly master schedule. This under 30 minute per week slot in classrooms, gives students and teacher a chance to connect over a variety of topics, either recommended by our counselor ("What does being bored mean?") or one that comes from a real-time sceanario ("At lunch, someone wanted my spot and I didn't think I should move, so what should I have done?"). In Face Time, everyone gets a voice and an opportunity to express an opinion on the topic or question of the week; students also find a place where sharing is safe (no name calling), the teacher can guide, and where connections can be made. During our teacher one on ones this week, when asked, the initial feedback for Face Time has been very positive. In fact, teachers have said they and the students "Love It!". As Mrs. Land has stressed to me before, sometimes it seems that we get so caught up with the gadgets of the day (yes, our smart phones are a bit addictive), that we often lose those valuable face time moments with others. I hope you get to experience some quality Face Time with your family this weekend! You couldn't spend your time in a better way.

Your fourth or fifth grade child may come home today with a letter asking him/her to take an online survey as part of my National Boards. Read through the letter with your child (randomly selected by show of hands expressing willingness to participate), follow the survey directions for online access, and thanks so much for helping me grow as a leader! I hope to receive honest student feedback on how I'm doing as HP's principal. Voluntary participation is appreciated as always.

All Roads Lead to Texas...

2011-09-10T19:26:00.000-05:00

If you're a parent of a fourth grader you are more than familiar with the online assignment students are to complete with their families. If not, I encourage you to check out the fourth grade WIKI/assignments section on the HP website (or through the HPPTA website). I was sucked in last weekend reading the many student responses about how they came to be in Texas. We have many, many families who can trace their Texas roots back several generations, and truly, everyone comes from everywhere. In the handful of questions posed by our fabulous fourth grade teachers, I have now learned that Alex's great, great, great, great grandfather is believed to have fired the first shot (from his wagon no less!) in the Texas Revolution. I've learned Kaden's great grandfather came from Sicily for a better life, that Ruby's great grandfather worked at NASA and helped cool the "original first 7 astronauts' space suits", that Bennett's great, great, great grandfather, by way of Tennessee, came to Texas because his crops and livestock were burned in the Civil War. I now know Avalon's great grandmother walked to Texas from Piedras Negras, Mexico and that Ashleigh's ancestor preached the first Protestant sermon in English the year of 1844. And I now know that many of our fourth graders have parents or grandparents who made their way to Texas more recently (such as I, five years and counting!) due to a job transfer, in search of an advanced degree, or simply a way to beat the cold and move somewhere warm. We all have a story and we're all connected around the common theme of that quest for the better life for ourselves and for our families, as well as the indomitable human spirit that manages to keep us going in the face of incredible odds. Hats off to fourth grade teachers for giving students a chance to connect over their Texas roots, regardless of how grand or humble, old or new. A great way to jumpstart your Texas SS TEKS!

In my continued goal of being a life-long learner (and model for staff and students), I am now involved in the pilot program of the National Board Certification for Principals, an initiative supported by AISD. This 18 month program, which I will complete with three other AISD elementary principals and two AISD high school principals (along with a couple of hundred other principals across the country), has many components to guide my growth as a school leader; one component requires a series of surveys for our communities at large. This initial PARENT ONLY survey, followed next year by an exit survey, comprises questions around parent engagement in our school; I will also be administering surveys to staff, a core group of students, my peers, and the community at large. Your answers will become a part of Highland Park's continued school improvement. Your responses will be anonymous and the system will ask for some personal information (i.e., name, e-mail address, phone) for the purposes of auditing and quality of data. However, this information will not be used to identify you and you may submit your responses free of this concern. Technical support is available if needed once you log-in to take the survey. Thanks in advance!
Your link is personal to your feedback group (CURRENT HP PARENTS) and must not be shared or forwarded. Please access the survey from the following address: http://login.chpd.com/login/pc4ut/56139
Please complete this survey by September 30, 2011. You must complete this survey in one sitting. You will not be able to close the survey and resume later. As your feedback is important to this initiative, please ensure you access the survey at a time and in an environment conducive to completing it.

Dibels Is Done

2011-09-02T17:13:00.000-05:00

All things beginning of year Dibels (Dynamic Indicator of Basic Early Literacy Skills) is wrapped up except for a few make-up assessments. Our very energetic team of "dibelers", consisting of special education teachers, reading specialist, the assistant principal, and myself, hit the ground running with our Dibels boxes in hands the very first day of school and haven't looked back since. All K-5 students receive this assessment at the beginning of the year (BOY), as one measure to tell us who may need extra support in fluency practice (grades 2-5), or who may need small group instruction on early reading skills, such as phonemic awareness, phoneme segmentation or letter naming (K-1). Having done Dibels for several years now, I can see the intervention with our upper classes coming to fruition. Those students who were Dibeled as kinders in 2007 (now fourth graders), are showing huge gains in fluency; great longitudinal data! We're also thrilled with what the standardized test data is showing us; if you look at last year's third grade reading commended scores at 82%, increased student fluency (rate, accuracy, prosody) seems to be impacting reading comprehension positively - along with other interventions/strategies, of course. Though there are many things that need attention in a school the first few weeks we're back, I can't tell you how much fun it is to sit with the kids one on one (and Kinders are a hoot 'cause they're just trying to figure out who the heck you are) or how important this time with them is in the scope of all things reading. There are many assessments our kids will take as they move through the grade levels, but Dibels will always be near and dear to my heart. Be sure to give a big thank you to Kathy Sederholm if you see her for gettting us going so early, to Leah Read for her extra support with the data spreadsheets, and to our fluency center volunteer coordinators Maria Raper and Jeannine Ripp for their data plan meeting this week.

Be on the lookout this weekend for an Eagle Scout Project around our school. ES candidate Pierce Fuller is set to work on the former SKIP play area and transform it for the benefit of our school. This area will consist of some really nice raised garden beds, with a long term goal of letting the A-Team and after school child care students plant, tend, and harvest over the next few months.

Try not to "labor" too intensely this weekend and enjoy the 3 days with your family and friends. We'll see you back at HP bright and early on Tuesday.

First Friday of the Year!

2011-08-26T15:39:00.000-05:00

Welcome back Scotties! And welcome to my first blog of the year. Yes, I'm going to attempt to give you much more real-time, ongoing information about all the great things happening around HP. Nothing too fancy, please don't critique my grammar (too much), but hopefully you'll find it a cool tool to stay connected with the latest and greatest! The blog will be updated at least once per week and the link should show up in the Informer and on the HP website. Bookmark it if so inclined. Our monthly Scottie Scoop newsletter will also continue to be posted to our school website, as well as the link mentioned in our PTA weekly INFORMER. The SCOOP will be more about upcoming dates, formal school and district information, health room news, counselor news, and more.

Can I tell 'ya how smooth our opening day was at school? Not only did we have the cleanest, shiniest facility in town (thanks Manuel, Alice, Maria, and Juana...not to mention Lizanne for monitoring progress daily!), but traffic flow was soooo much better. WooHoo! Thanks to those who parked away from Fairview and then walked, to those who used the AISD bus system, and to those who simply walked to school with their child. It went much better. Remember, patience is key in all things traffic, do not park close to the crosswalks, do not speed up as you travel on down Fairview, and absolutely, do NOT park in front of our neighbor's driveways. Thanks for helping us kick off a great year.

More to come on all things arts integration, but by the time you read this, the announcement about Austin being selected by the Kennedy Center for Any Given Child (one of only 7 citiies in the country) will have been made. Our very own McCallum Vertical Team will be working with their reps throughout the year and years to come, hoping to serve as models/the pilot for all other AISD schools. Specifically, the creative classroom initative (with community arts providers, our arts specialists, mindPOP, UT, and teachers) will take place initially at Highland Park, Gullett, Brentwood, and Reilly elementaries, as well as Lamar MS. McCallum will continue working on expansion of their fine arts programs as well. All very exciting, so make plans to come to the first PTA general meeting in September as I give you a look at what will happen Year One at HP.

Though this information would typically be reserved for our SCOOP newsletter, I feel it is so important it needs to be mentioned here as well. Please plan to come out to hear new Lamar MS principal George Lewellyn speak about all the new and wonderful things happening at Lamar. His presentation to all 3rd-5th grade parents will be held on Thursday, September 22, 6:00 pm in our cafeteria. Childwatch provided in Mrs. Hunter's room. Make plans to come out and I think you will leave very impressed.

Back to school nights were very successful - three of them this year - and we thank you for making your way to school to hear about your child's upcoming educational programming. Teachers have worked REALLY hard the last few weeks getting rooms prepared and curriculum studied and planned in order to teach. Thank you for your positive feedback on the presentations.

Finally, can we talk some football? Seriously, y'all, there had to be 200 Scotties at Thursday's Taco Shack Bowl game. It was amazing to see so many families come out to support our Knights. We love our vertical team and the sense of community I felt in those bleachers was almost palpable. Saying hi to former Scotties and their parents was also a real treat for me. Can 'ya feel the love? Thanks to McCallum principal Mike Garrison, Coach Todd Raymond, Booster Club President Bill Hemphill, and all the folks involved in the AISD athletic program for making this such a special night for our kids. When they hit the field at the end of half time, they were literally bursting with excitement. And so was I - though admittedly a bit nervous about trying to rope them back off the field:). Well done Scotties.

Have a wonderful week ahead!