Book Character Day Is a Hit!

Each year, our media specialist holds our fall book fair the final week of October and every year on the final day of the book fair, we have a book character day.  We dress as our favorite fiction or nonfiction characters and we hold a book character parade.  Today we played book character bingo after the parade in competition to win 10 bonus minutes of recess!  We had the MOST students ever participate this year and it was so fun to guess their characters and to hear why each of them chose the character they chose to dress up as..  Thanks for a great day, Longhorns!

Esperanza Rising Theme Posters in 5th Grade

 

Today I had the opportunity to talk to the scholars in  Mrs. Larison's homeroom.  Today in Ms. Piatt's class, they created theme posters from the book Esperanza Rising.  The students report they wrote 3.8 paragraphs (an introduction, three supports, three explanations of the supports, and a concluding sentence) to explain the theme of the book.  According to the students, the theme is a life lesson.  Many themes were listed by the students.  1.  You can't go back to the past.  2.  Life is not complete without struggles.

Reading Lab Open for Business

We operate a full lab each morning for a multitude of purposes.  Some of the students you see are learning English as a second language through the use of a program called Imagine Learning.  Some of the students are retraining their brains to hear sounds correctly and put them together correctly using Fast ForWord and other students are learning to read more fluently and comprehend well using Reading Assistant.  We are blessed to be able to use three very costly but very effective reading interventions at our school in the reading lab.

Innovation Luncheon Highlights Some Awesome Longbranch Kids

Jonathan and Jesse represented Longbranch well at the 2014 Boone County Schools innovation luncheon at Receptions in October.  These scholars demonstrated the use of Schoology, Doceri, and Google Docs in their paperless classroom.  Mrs. Bowles had the opportunity to visit a paperless SCHOOL last weekend.  Pretty amazing and mind blowing.  No copy machines.  No teacher mailboxes.  A step into the future.

Fifth Grade Mathematics Problem Solving

Fifth grade students in Mrs. Larison's class work through some very difficult word problems with their shoulder partners.

Superhero SpectaculA.R. Accelerated Reader Goals and Totals October 27 Update

A Morning With the Symphony

This morning our 2nd and 4th grade students had the opportunity to spend a morning with members of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for Schoolhouse Symphony.  We thank our generous PTA for making this an "every other year" event for our students.  Last week, our 1st and 3rd grade students were visited by the University of Kentucky Opera Theater and our 5th graders attended music hall and the art museum.  Our unified arts team works tenaciously to expose our children to the world of fine arts and encourage development of music, art, and drama.  Thank you to Mrs. Melvin and Mr. Steele for these wonderful opportunities.

On Display at the District Office

4th Graders Connecting Their Reading and Writing Skills

Fourth grade students in Mrs. Michels' and Ms. Baumann's 212 Reading class hard at work extending their standards into writing and with a project.  Students in top photo are focused on a reading standard in which they are developing their ability to ask and answer questions about a text using the information given in the text.  Students in the bottom photo are creating their own characters for a story they will write. They are extending their standard of determining character traits based on information presented in the text.

Mrs. Kegely Receives Highest Acclaim as Kentucky Teacher

Mrs. Kegley poses with Dr. Randy Poe, superintendent, Victoria Yeomansen, English teacher at Cooper High School, Governor Steve Beshear, and Dr. Terry Holliday, Commissioner of Education in Frankfort on October 21, 2014.  Mrs. Kegley and Mrs. Yeomansen were two of the top 9 finalists for the Kentucky Teacher of the Year award.

What did you guys do to 212 this year?

Well first let me catch people up who are saying, "What's 212?".  212 is the period of our day when we re-mediate, differentiate, accelerate, and enrich.  We have a Reading 212 class and a Math 212 class. 

Why 212?  Because a few years ago we learned of the 212 degree philosophy.  At 211 degrees, water is hot, but at 212 degrees it boils.  That one extra degree can create steam, which can power a locomotive.  If we all gave one extra degree in everything we did, can you imagine how powerful we would all be?  As powerful as a locomotive?

Our 212 classes are where our kids get one extra degree of personalized instruction based on their needs.  In the past, this was based on Star (or going 2 years back...Scantron) scores.  Kids testing at the top were grouped together, in the middle grouped together, and so on.  What we discovered is that even at each level, the skills needed to fill in the holes or gaps that needed to be filled with knowledge were VAST.  So this year we restructured 212 class.  Students are now grouped by like skill that needs development and each class knows what their skill or focus standard is for each quarter.  The class works on nothing but this standard for the quarter as a means of "filling that knowledge hole" so deeper learning can take place.

After this round of Star Reading assessment (happening this week), we'll reevaluate our groups, resort the kids based on needed standard focus, and get to work filling another "hole".  So far the kids can speak about their learning so much more fluently than they could in the past.  They appear to see a real purpose behind their 212 time.

Our Math 212 started recently.  All kids participate in a standards group focusing on a math standard that needs improvement.  There's NO paper pencil during this short block of time.  Instead, we perform Number Talks and engage in connected math games that build UNDERSTANDING of numbers.  Want to learn more about Number Talks and their impact on mathematical reasoning and problem solving?  Click here:  http://www.insidemathematics.org/classroom-videos/number-talks  We will not be resorting our math groups until after the winter break since we just started them recently.

A Morning in 212 Reading

Do you remember 2nd grade?  I do.  Mrs. Brown was my teacher.  She had a short, brunette bob and she wore pink with burgundy (obviously this was the early 80s).  She was sweet, she encouraged me, and she knew I could achieve.  She had a very high bar and I WANTED to exceed it daily.  She made me want to achieve daily and as a result, I did.

Today I had the opportunity to visit Ms. Mindel's 2nd grade Reading 212 class and although she looks nor sounds anything like Mrs. Brown, if I close my eyes I get that warm fuzzy feeling I got in Mrs. Brown's class some (e-gads!) 30+ years ago.  Kindof that odd mix of  "oooooo this is my place and oooooo I better get on my game."  Ms. Mindel guides the students through their learning target of the day which stems from their focus standard.  During the lesson the kids work collaboratively and individually, they share ideas with one another openly, they are all (100%...all...every one of them) actively engaged in the learning for the duration of the lesson).  Ms. Mindel walks the room, asks probing questions, and keeps kids focused on the mission of the day, learning.

We all need a Mrs. Brown in our school life.  We need a Ms. Mindel.  We need someone to set us up for success and support us every moment of every day.  Teachers like Mrs. Brown and Ms. Mindel are a blessing to our field and to your kids.  Celebrate a teacher and a learner today!   Celebrate your Mrs. Brown.  Your Ms. Mindel.