Principal's Blog: What a HOOT!

Leading up to HOOT, here are some images of learning moments (and feel good moments) I saw this week.

First up, big thanks to our SEL coach Angela Cardenas who left me the nicest note when she visited first grade classrooms one day this week. In fact, she left individual notes for every first grade teacher. Social Emotional Learning, thinking about how we try to fill each other's buckets with good thoughts and words and deeds...this was SEL in action. Glad to hear Ms. Cardenas was impressed by what she saw in those classrooms and that teachers are ensuring their own practice is what they preach. Kudos to them all and truly loved my Happy Note!

Henri Matisse's The Sorrows of the King

Kinder teacher Ms. Nazar teaching all things the letter C to her young students. When I say connected learning, I mean everything from her learning centers (writing C's, sculpting C's, creating art loosely patterned after the collages of Henri Matisse to math candy and coin game activities and more) connected to the upper and lower case letter C. Most impressive was both teacher and student consistent emphasis and use of words that had the hard C sound throughout the entire lesson...including an impressive DBI role play where students quickly demonstrated a crawl, a climb, a cat...you get the picture. Concrete and cool connections. Love the letter C..and Ms. Nazar's class!

Second grade teacher Ms. Marques jumping in with a bit of creative teaching strategies around the objectives of character traits, sequencing, and summary. Students had read the selection My Name is Yoon before using DAR (connected to photos from the story) and a bit of DBI "freeze frame" to underscore story meaning. I loved that students wrote reflections at the end of this activity. Can't wait to see where she and they take the learning next!

Mrs. Satterwhite and Mr. Briones giving it their all in Music...as always. My friend Janie calls these special area teachers "essential areas" and she's right. They are essential to a child's education. Mrs. Satterwhite was facilitating a bit of rehearsal time with a few fifth graders before her third grade class arrived (thanks for that extra devotion Mrs. S!), while next door students had earned a reward musical game with Mr. Briones. Lots of movement as they sang and as he played the piano. Fun classes with teachers who are always engaged with their students, and yes, I'm always appreciative of that!

Also, in our Special Areas, Mrs. Levine and 2nd graders working with slabs of clay, making their own Owl Hangings this week. Students were using tools, learning vocab, and supporting their inner creativity. Loved the teacher modeling and seeing how each student made their own owls unique, even in small ways!

Safe place to share with each other!

Spanish teacher Mr. Ayres and fifth grade teacher Mrs. Dean at their very first after school Writing Club of the year. I hear there are 16 students registered for the first semester class and when I visited Tuesday, students were free writing about various pictures they had selected from a pile...anything that first caught their eye was the direction given. I most loved the class rule, as writing can be such a difficult thing to share with others; the good news is that final student writings should be posted on our HiPark website at the end of the semester. For now, just know students in the club are working on their craft.

And of course, our much loved school regulars have been in grades 3 and 4 classrooms over the past several weeks. Talkin' about Chad and company from Paramount's Story Wranglers and T5 programs. Kids love 'em, teachers love 'em, and most importantly, they help our students solidify their learning across many content areas. Thanks once again and we are glad you are back with us this year! Looking forward to upcoming 3rd grade Story Wrangler's first performance in December!

Working with students in 4th grade!

Finally, it was a HOOT kind of week...all week. As you can see from the pics below, staff got in the spirit early and the evening brought great weather, tons of families, and a good vibe all the way around. This annual school fundraiser is a true hallmark of our PTA, so special props to this year's HOOT queens Elizabeth Rose and Lisa Tully, as well as the sheer masses of volunteers it takes to pull off this event each year. BIG thanks as well to all the incredible sponsors, including Scott Felder Homes and Austin Aeronauts - we all loved the hot air balloon demo on Thursday! There's No Place Like HOOT 'cause there's No Place Like Highland Park!