December 2017

Contraction construction

Second graders at Axton Elementary used their surgical skills when they acted as doctors in order learn about contractions this month. First, they had to remove part of the word and then place a band aid where the apostrophe would be. This process helped students understand the steps of converting words to contractions, an important grammatical skill.

Goal 1: High Quality Instruction

Adaptation exploration

During a recent visit to the Greensboro Science Center, third graders from Campbell Court explored the exhibits and observed animals of all types at the zoo. A science center employee also treated students to a hands-on lesson about animal adaptations. Students were given an opportunity to touch various animals and participate in games which enhanced their understanding of animal adaptations as well.

Goals 1 & 5: High Quality Instruction, Family & Community Engagement 

Selection of fall songs

Preschool classes presented a “Selection of Fall songs” at the monthly Collinsville Primary School PTO meeting. Students dressed in fall colors to represent leaves and sang songs to deliver a message of thanksgiving for their friends and families.

Goals 1 & 5: High Quality Instruction, Family & Community Engagement 

Read your way to the race

After having 100% participation in Read Your Way to the Race, Mrs. Cox’s class at Drewry Mason Elementary was allowed to be on the track during truck driver introductions at this fall’s Camping World Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway. The students were excited to be on the track as well as meet truck drivers, who signed autographs for the readers. We are very grateful to the Martinsville Speedway for this opportunity that they provide to our students each year as we work together to encourage reading.

Goals 1 & 5: High Quality Instruction,  Family & Community Engagement 

Littlebits, ozobots, and spheros

At GW Carver’s recent STEM Night, students and parents enjoyed working together on SOL-related design briefs at each grade level. Parents and students were able to interact with STEM items such as Lego We Do 2.0, LittleBits, Ozobots, Spheros, Makey Makeys, and Osmo Coding Kits. All involved had an interesting evening exploring how science, technology, engineering and mathematics are creatively taught in Henry County and how teachers involve students in the process of using critical thinking to solve problems.

Goals 1 & 5: High Quality Instruction, Family & Community Engagement

Multiple manipulatives

Fourth graders at John Redd Smith Elementary are using math manipulatives to help with division facts this fall. During one lesson last month, students collaboratively divided the math manipulatives to determine the answers to their problems and consulted peer experts to discuss a variety of ways to calculate the solution to a division problem.

Goal 1: High Quality Instruction

Honoring those who served

In recognition of Veterans Day, Mount Olivet students were treated to several guest readers who have served their country with honor. Each visitor read patriotic books and shared some of their experiences in the armed services. Thank you to Joseph Ellison, Jonathan Fulcher, Curtis Millner, David Penn, and Sherwood Philpott for your service and for your support of our schools.

Goals 1 & 5: High Quality Instruction, Family & Community Engagement

Running toward a healthy lifestyle

On November 4th, Rich Acres Elementary’s Go Far Club traveled to High Point, North Carolina to participate in the Triad Go Far 5K. The mission of Go Far is to empower children to make sustainable healthy lifestyle choices. The club’s participants, fourth and fifth grade students, trained at school and at home for 10 weeks leading up to the 5K race. Each practice at school consisted of a short lesson on nutrition and character, followed by a workout. 

Goal 5: Family & Community Engagement

Recipes for good writing

Sanville Elementary has launched a pilot program based on the writing program created by Lucy Calkins, the Founding Director of the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project (TCRWP). Calkins co-directs a literacy specialist program that trains teachers around the country to use ”Units of Study.” Sanville teachers are receiving this training. Throughout the year, Denise Trainor, a children’s literature and writing specialist, will observe lessons and offer support. Sanville students are using mentor texts to help them examine multiple genres of writing. Once they have identified key components, they then use their class generated “recipe” to write their own stories for others to read.  

Goal 1: High Quality Instruction

Culturally Inviting

November’s E L Night at Stanleytown Elementary was focused on celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month. Students created pieces of art while listening to traditional Latino music. All families brought a traditional dish to share. Important information regarding communication with the schools was shared with parents and all students were given a book to take home and read.

Goals 2 & 5: High Quality Professionals, Family & Community Engagement

Crime Scene Investigation

Sixth grade students were on the scene this month – the crime scene, that is! FC Middle School English students safely gathered together and used their investigative skills to make inferences about what they saw in a classroom crime scene this month. Using these skills in a thrilling case of "who did it," they drew several conclusions. The student detectives wrote about their inferences and conclusions in a crime scene/incident report after gathering as many clues as possible. This activity helped to solidify student understanding of what it means to make inferences as they read.

Goals 1 & 3: High Quality Instruction, Safe & Orderly Learning Environments 

Cross Curricular Activities

In order to show the importance of sequence in literature and life, Mrs. Davis had her seventh grade English students read and discuss the sequence of a story. In small groups, they created a secret message about the story, hid those messages for others to find, then recorded a video of themselves giving directions to find the message using their iPads. Once the message was found, they used the coding apps Tynker and Pyonkee to create code to represent the story they read and the message they discovered. 

Goals 1 & 4: High Quality Instruction, Innovative & Cutting-Edge Technology

Literary Pumpkins

Mrs. Decker’s AP Language and Composition class at Bassett High School celebrated pumpkin season in an innovative way – students were assigned a tone word for which they had to create a visual representation through pumpkin carving. Students also had to recreate a paragraph from Poe's short story "The Fall of the House of Usher," using their assigned tone word. Mrs. Decker also challenged each of her tenth grade English students to paint a symbol to represent a scene from the short story "The Cemetery Path” onto a pumpkin as well.

Goal 1: High Quality Instruction

Trunk-or-Treat

The total turnout for Magna Vista High School’s annual trunk or treat event continues to grow. This year’s visitor count was 1,500 trick or treaters and family members. Over 100 MVHS students worked diligently with many of teachers and staff members to make the fun community event a success by greeting children with candy, books, face painting, and a host of fun activities.

Goal 5: Family & Community Engagement