A busy week

The week brought many good things post HOOT (including the All City Choral Music Festival on Tuesday!) and, as always, we are busy with all things teaching and learning...with some fun too!

Student Council sponsored Twin Day once again.  Teachers and students got into the act and had a fun time with this unique celebration.  I always look forward to seeing what they come up with in order to show their "twinness". 

Thanks bunches  to Howard Martin, AISD tech guru, for coming to campus last Monday for a bit of training on Google docs and IPad apps.  We had several HP teachers in attendance, as well as a small contingent from Lee Elementary.  Thanks Howard, love that cool bandana and the humor you brought to the afternoon...you rock!



A couple more P & P boards went up this week, both in 3rd grade and both related to Science.  Mr.

Robenhorst's lesson display was connected to the study of matter, specifically an experiment related to an oobleck (combination of cornstarch and water) and discussion related to whether the
mixture was a liquid or a solid.  I hear Gavin thought it was really a "hybrid" and that there was much oobleck making at home later that evening.  Fun culminating activity, with a bit of DBI thrown in as well ( the strategy called Donkey).  Check it out!

Up the hallway, Mrs. Gates' students did some fun things with landforms, explored the world of 3-D art and use of DBI to solidify vocabulary, and had fun in the process.  Mrs. Gates tells me the

students really had to think about where their landforms would fit naturally on their maps (think plateau, mountain..).  I liked seeing their visual images for the vocab and how they used their creativity to ensure the attributes were correctly done.  Good job third graders!

In the meantime, 3rd grade teacher Alyssa Absher hosted a Parent Visiting Day all around picture books, story element bags, spider research, and some very creative pumpkins tied to their chosen books.  Fun and timely unit of study and those students in her LA class were super excited to share with all visitors that day. Students love talking  about the details of their work with others when given the chance, a good skill that will serve them well in future grades and beyond.  Keep those opportunities to share in place! Love it!

Can you guess the book?

 

Mr. Purkiss, our campus Social Behavior Skills teacher, was caught implementing some DBI strategies with a student one day as well.  He jumped in with two engaging activities -  artifact bag and narrative pantomime, both related to a story about ants.  I applaud this valued member of our special ed team for planning a very motivating academic lesson, while also always focusing on the emotional/social health for his students.  These teaching  strategies support both.  Appreciate you!





Finally, we wrapped up our last DBI Intensive Training Day for all HP teachers on Friday.  A great experience, with our last 11 teachers receiving training around the power of story and a more in-depth use of DBI strategies.  What was really cool about the day was the participation of three of our parent volunteers (they head up the campus Fluency Center and FPS programs) and the take aways they had from this experience.  They shared that what they saw in action (and briefly participated in at the beginning) was critical thinking, teachers engaged and glad to be there, and how motivating and powerful this work can be with our students.   Our plan is to do a shortened version of this training with parents at large during early second semester (planning it now), with strategies shown for furthering understanding of what happens in a classroom, but also empowering our parents with similar strategies to use at home.  Way cool.  Thanks Katie, Sarah, Lara and the whole team at UT's Drama for Schools.  I learned something new every time I attended these full day trainings and most importantly, teachers are using what they learn with kids.

Use of "machine" to make The Paperbag Princess dragon

Our very own Mrs. Hunter was a facilitator for the day!

Thanks to our parents who attended!

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!

Loved it!

HOOT Queens Elizabeth and Lisa

 

Teacher Balloon ride winners Coach DeLine and Ms. Davidson

Former Scotties!

Ms. Maca, aka Dorothy

Thank You to Our Sponsors!

Ms. Zabilka getting dunked LOTS!

Soon to be Scottie!

Our week

Short instructional week at our campus. I participated in a couple of good district meetings over the last few days and enjoyed my involvement, so I make mention of it here. One was our AISD Expanded Cabinet meeting, where I, along with everyone else in attendance, reflected further on our Gallup Strengths Finder assessments. Though I won't go into detail here about my Top 5 strengths, I will gladly share if you ask when I see you on campus.  Quite an enlightening experience for me as a school leader and person.  For me, it's all about the journey.  Far from perfect and really not the goal...but I keep at it.

Additionally, on Thursday, I participated in a day long District Advisory Council (DAC) retreat.  District admin, several AISD Board of Trustees, and current DAC members from all parts of AISD were in attendance to discuss ideas related to the work of the district.  Really honest conversations happening at my table and afternoon break-out group and truly, I came away thinking how many people we have in Austin who care about our district kids, teachers, and families.  It's never easy being off campus, but I am glad I participated as a stakeholder...important that we all do in some capacity.  I always come away from these type of things with different perspectives to reflect upon and a renewed sense of energy for the work I do. 

That said, in between the above off campus activities and most certainly sad news from one of our AISD high schools, our students and teachers rolled along.
 

An art appreciation night at Roll On Sushi, one of our school's Partners In Ed.  Thanks bunches 'cause we had delicious food, it was a packed house with good conversation, and best of all, first rate student created art was displayed on the walls.  You can still check out these pieces through January, so I hope you stop by to see our art and McCallum HS student art as well. Big thank you to Roll On Sushi, our student artists, and art teachers Robin Maca and Andrea Levine.

Many more Process and Product displays goin' up and good conversations around these creations continue.  I really enjoyed talking with first grade teacher Mrs. Goldsmith this week about her Nocturnal Animals unit, especially her statement that "I was honest on my reflection about how I felt when I started."  She was hesitant to try the DAR activity around art by artist/poet Douglas Florian, but jumped on board with the help of our Any Given Child coach Sloan McLain (thank you!); it was cool to hear her enthusiasm for using visual arts in a different way than she has before.  Strategies included the DAR around Florian's artwork, expository text readings, poetry, music, movement, finishing with student created art and poetry based on all they had learned.  Thanks Mrs. Goldsmith for keepin' it real with me and thanks for the Big Thumbs Up on the creative strategies you used to enhance motivation, engagement, and learning.

I also visited Mrs. Dean's fifth grade classroom.  Students are in the throes of writing Greek mythology plays, with small groups reading different cultural myths to further their understanding of these traditional stories (such as the African tale How the Animals Came and the Chinese tale The Archer and the Suns).  They also were using their Summary Graphic Organizers to get thoughts on paper, then finishing with a group tableau to give the audience (other students in the class) information on the story read by each group.  It was especially cool that students were able to tell me and show me all things annotation on the myths they were reading and to see her array of posted learning tools to help support their understanding.  I was able to catch the model tableau based on the Greek mythological character Dionysus and also saw a practice run in the breezeway by the group who read the South American myth How the Stars Came.  Both groups nailed it!

A dolphin, per chance?

All things HOOT happening this week as well.  As you can see, the HOOT t-shirts are out in full force this week (I wore mine today!) and anticipation is in the air.







Finally, I leave you with a picture of my office mate for the morning.  His name is Tucker, he is first grade teacher Ms. Brunello's newest puppy addition to her family, and he was just what the doctor ordered on a busy Friday.  Tucker and I made the rounds in several classrooms, many oohs and aahs from kids and adults alike, and I have to say, a stress buster if ever there was one.  Hope he visits again.  Tucker definitely topped off my week!