HCPS Superintendent's Highlights: February 2018

Comparison and construction

Kindergarten students at Axton Elementary recently completed a Gingerbread Man unit. Within this unit, students compared several gingerbread stories and shared a story with parents when they came to build gingerbread houses. While parents were there, teachers used the opportunity to discuss how important it is to read to their children and possible reading strategies they could use at home.

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

Real world learning

Students in Ms. Herring's class at Campbell Court practiced real world skills by purchasing items in their classroom this month. The students were given a set amount of play money and had to budget between what they needed versus what they wanted. The students learned how to count money, make change, and how to shop on a budget.

Goal 1: High Quality Instruction

“steam-y” night

Families were invited to come to Drewry Mason Elementary for a "STEAM-y” night of fun recently. Each grade level planned fun activities for the students and their families, including a Tree Cup Challenge, Snow Painting, Paper Plate Marble Maze, Lighted Circuit Cards, Snowball Launchers, and Coding on the Computer.

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

Young Gentlemen

Several young gentlemen at GW Carver participate in the Young Leaders of Character QUE School Partnership. The group has weekly meetings during which mentors and young gentlemen in grades 3-5 discuss the importance of positive character traits such as responsibility, honesty, and accountability. Students complete various activities around the school such as helping with car rider, reading to Kindergarten classes, and helping with other building duties.

Goal 1: High Quality Instruction

Daisy the Dinosaur

Students at John Redd Smith and Collinsville Primary have been coding during the month of January and kindergartners are using an app called Daisy the Dinosaur to code. They have enjoyed seeing how big or small they can make Daisy as they collaborate with their peers to program the app’s features.

Goals 1, 3 & 4: High Quality Instruction, Safe & Orderly Learning Environment, Innovative & Cutting-Edge Technology

Mt. Olivet museum of art

Elementary school or art gallery? Displays of student artwork throughout Mt. Olivet Elementary greeted students when they returned from winter break. The hallway gallery was left by their art teacher to remind students of their talent and of the power of art to inspire us all.

Goal 1: High Quality Instruction

Learning strategies

During a STEM lesson at Sanville Elementary, students were asked to construct a LEGO car that will move using a balloon to serve as the force to push the car forward. Students experimented with their cars and worked together to solve the problem before measuring the distance their cars traveled and recording data on a graph. While analyzing the data, children discussed why some cars moved further than others.

Goals 1 & 2: High Quality Instruction & High Quality Professionals

Lines of Symmetry

To complete a unit on symmetry, students in Autumn Smith’s class at Stanleytown created pieces of art. Students worked with partners to plan and design a symmetrical picture. Using pattern blocks, they implemented their design plan to produce their masterpieces.

Goal 1: High Quality Instruction

New experiences

Ms. Kolinski recently gave her 7th grade Agroscience students a tour of FC Middle School’s new greenhouse as part of their orientation to the class at the start of the new semester. She introduced them to new processes and safety measures to keep in mind as the semester progresses and they begin to work with spring plants in the space.

Goals 1, 3 & 4: High Quality Instruction, Safe & Orderly Learning Environment, Innovative & Cutting-Edge Technology

Going the extra mile

Students at Laurel Park Middle School look forward to Tuesdays and Thursday.... Running Club days. Students top off their school days racing around the track on their way to becoming well-rounded students. The runners also exhibited excellent community citizenship by sponsoring their first 5K in uptown Martinsville recently.

Goal 5: Family & Community Engagement

Out of the box

Bassett High School’s Beth Jones implemented new strategies from January's teaching and learning conference in her classroom to engage her students on day one of the new semester by creating a "break-out" activity to allow her students to manipulate the class syllabus in order to familiarize themselves with its content. Each student received a puzzle piece that belonged to one of six different puzzles. They had to determine their groups based on these puzzle pieces and complete five additional tasks, which eventually revealed the final word of their course description.

Goal 1: High Quality Instruction

“Grandma came to dinner”

Students in The Language of Life English/Ecology Warrior Tech class completed a project before winter break that was designed to experience what it is like to plan on limited resources. Groups were given $6.00, which is the maximum food assistance provided for a family of 4, per meal. With their $6.00, they had to plan a holiday meal for a family of 4, which included actually purchasing and preparing the ingredients. Students then shared their meals with each other in a dinner event during class. Some groups had additional limitations such as gluten intolerance, peanut allergies, and even an extra member because "grandma came to dinner.” Students remarked it was an outstanding experience to see what it was like living and planning meals on a reduced budget, and expressed empathy toward others who deal with the issue on a daily basis.

Goal 1: High Quality Instruction

Sweet surprise

I had the honor last week to surprise each of our principals at their schools for Principal Appreciation Week so that I could thank them for all they do for our students.

Goal 2: High Quality Professionals

CONGRATULATIONS!