It's great that we've been seeing so many creative classroom strategies in use already this year...and
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| A DBI strategy tied to the 4 types of sentences |
that our very first Product and Process display is up...with a second teacher's display not far behind. Thanks to Mrs. Pappert for being
first up! and I encourage you to stop by to check out the highlighted creative strategy under her "process" section. Not only her display, but other displays as they go up between now and spring break. Remember, this year, we are asking for each teacher to include at least two strategies within their displayed lesson and our hope is that you will begin to see the deeper and more powerful learning strategies in a full lesson arc; additionally we are encouraging each teacher to host one Parent Visiting Day at some point this year (many already have this activity in place) as an additional way for students to explain
their processes behind
their products. Cool things everywhere and really glad to see our latest professional development learning being used with students right away (see below). Made my week to say the least.
Other examples of creative strategies from around the building include...
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| Ms. Maca's art class |
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| A story quilt tied to a remembered moment... |
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| ...and a Faith Ringgold book from Ms. Perkins' students |
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| Symbol making discussion |
Additionally, it was nice to see Sally Hunter back in action this week as she hosted some special visitors to her class. I hear her guests left impressed with what they saw and heard (as was I when I popped in briefly), and we can't thank her enough for keeping the creativity and critical thinking alive and well in her classroom.
Can't tell you what a warm vibe we had the night Lamar Principal George Llewellyn presented at our
first PTA meeting this week. We had many HP parents in attendance to hear about his programs and initiatives...just keeps growing by leaps and bounds y'all. Fine Arts offerings and
strong academics aligned to McCallum HS (not to mention the alignment efforts to the feeder elementary schools) is spot on! In fact, I had a moment in the presentation where it just struck me how far
we've all come since the
Any Given Child efforts began. Of course, AGC is only
one reason why Lamar is a rockin' middle school...big kudos to the efforts of all those folks (most especially G.L.!), including staff, parents, students, district and community partners...everyone who showed what is possible when a community comes together around a common vision. Makes me very proud to be a part of this school community with all of you. Thanks Principal Llewellyn for another great presentation. Student presentations up next!
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| SGT's Diana Wheeler |
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| President Ratcliff |
Of course, that same evening, PTA president Shannon Ratcliff got us going with a great overview of yearly initiatives - lots of cool things on the horizon - and Diana Wheeler announced the news that
our school and the Scottie Green Team have received one of 41 Green Ribbon School Awards. Wow! Their efforts around all things recycling, especially the pumpkin recycling I hear, were noticed and yep, appreciated. I'm sure more info is to come from this team, but it's cool our school is making efforts to be green!
Finally, big thanks to Mrs. Golliher's students who "filled my bucket" one day when I was down in third grade visiting classrooms. Her students were brainstorming a list of good things to say and do in order to fill someone's bucket, after having read the children's book
Have You Filled a Bucket Today? So when I popped in, it was my turn to receive a bucket of compliments as they practiced their bucket filling skills. I left the class on such a high...everything from my hair to my shoes were complimented. Not to mention the best bucket fillers of all. Those kudos for the things you do for someone and the type of person you are or try to be. Such things as "I think you are nice" and "I thank you for helping us at our school". Filling buckets makes you feel good (imagine how students feel when their buckets are filled!) and really emphasizes how much we all need our buckets filled every day. Thanks Mrs. Golliher's class for not only filling my bucket, but giving me a reminder that I need to do the same for others. Because of you, my bucket truly runneth over.
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Finally, big thanks to Mrs. Golliher's students who "filled my bucket" one day when I was down in third grade visiting classrooms. Her students were brainstorming a list of good things to say and do in order to fill someone's bucket, after having read the children's book Have You Filled a Bucket Today? So when I popped in, it was my turn to receive a bucket of compliments as they practiced their bucket filling skills. I left the class on such a high...everything from my hair to my shoes were complimented. Not to mention the best bucket fillers of all. Those kudos for the things you do for someone and the type of person you are or try to be. Such things as "I think you are nice" and "I thank you for helping us at our school". Filling buckets makes you feel good (imagine how students feel when their buckets are filled!) and really emphasizes how much we all need our buckets filled every day. Thanks Mrs. Golliher's class for not only filling my bucket, but giving me a reminder that I need to do the same for others. Because of you, my bucket truly runneth over.
