Many Ways to Care

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.