Pictures from today's Veterans Day Assembly

Pictures from today's Veterans Day Assembly

Pictures from today's Veterans Day Assembly

Busy Time of Year

Things are really happening around here during the early part of November. Here is a list of "things" keeping our kids busy outside of the daily academic schedule:

• Parent - Teacher Conferences are scheduled for Thursday and Friday.  I hope to see all of you here.
• Scholastic Book Fair at both building Wednesday and Thursday
• PTO Fundraiser - The elementary kids are selling products and treats to fund the PTO which in turn provides needed funds and resources for the elementary school.  
• High School classes are having fundraisers of their own.
• Race Into Reading Program is winding down. The reward day is scheduled for Thursday and the kids are excited. We had about 100 kids meet their reading goal. We will have a fun-filled day for those who met and those who did not. Each year we will try to get more and more students involved in the reading incentive programs.
• Winter Sports are Heating up
• Fall Sports Banquets for HS sports is 11/15
• Family StarLab Night and Hot Dog Supper is scheduled for 11/21
• Learning Farm is being rolled out for all students to use at school and at home. 

Mr. Schmersahl entertaining the students at the PTO Fundraiser Kick -off

8 Things We cannot Accept in Education

While I normally try to put my own thoughts into this blog, today I have simply copied another
person's work. I read this blog post yesterday and could not agree more with it.
I hope you take a few minutes to read Justin Tarte's views on our current state of education:

Saturday, October 12, 2013

8 things we can't accept in education

We can't accept what's been done 
in the past as the 
only way to do things in the future.
 Obviously changing just for the sake 
of changing is not appropriate, but we
 can't ignore the changes that are
 happening all around us, and as such
 there must be corresponding changes
 in education.

We can't accept not teaching
 the 'whole' child. More and more 
frequently our students are entering our
schools with needs that extend far 
beyond just 'learning.' In order
 for education to be successful,
 we can't ignore the external
 factors that play a critical role
 in what we do in education.

We can't accept working in 
isolation and working in silos.
The world is rich with opportunities
for collaboration and
there is no possible way
to argue that we aren't stronger
as a team and stronger working together.

http://goo.gl/ot8rUW

We can't accept that our content is more important than 
the relationships we establish with our students. It is with
 almost absolute certainty that students won't care about your
 content if they don't care about you. Develop strong relationships
 to truly bring your content to life for your students.

We can't accept and continue to allow educators to believe
 that integrating technology into instruction is optional.
As individuals, we can choose to ignore the influence of
technology in society, but as educators we are robbing our
students of experiences they will need to be successful.

We can't accept and continue to think that learning is 
limited to what happens within the four walls of a classroom.
 Learning can't be contained and learning can't be defined
by man-made structures. Learning is everywhere and
learning is all around us... education needs to acknowledge it.

We can't accept and continue to believe we have 
an achievement gap. In reality, we are facing an 'opportunity gap'
that continues to divide the 'haves' and the 'have-nots' between
equitable and equal access to educational materials and resources.

We can't accept and can't allow ourselves not to be
 held accountable. We as the educators are responsible for
 what happens in our schools, and it's that responsibility that
 makes working in education awesome.

JUSTIN's Link: http://www.justintarte.com/2013/10/8-things-we-cant-accept-in-education.html

Eating Lunch At School!

I just wanted to say "Thank You" to all the parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and other relatives who took advantage of our National Take Your Parents to Lunch Week Program. We had approximately 90 adults eat at school over the course of four days. Our staff  and students appreciated having you all in the building. We hope to have even more the next time we make such an offer. A few GIANT  “Thank Yous” to those who assisted me in organizing and implementing the entire event: The Kitchen Staff for preparing many extra meals. Mrs. Curry and Mrs. Snowden for comprising and organizing the requests and sending out the notices. And finally, the lunchroom aides for dealing with the chaos and excitement each of the 12 lunch periods during the event.

Thanks again,

Have a great day!