Leaders at Avery School

Good evening,

Across our school system, caring adults work to support the development of our children as leaders. Following the study of Steven Covey's, The Leader in Me, the staff at Avery created a student leadership program that has grown in leaps in bounds over the course of the year.  Dr. Tony Arnold shared, "We want to foster leadership skills in our students in as many ways as possible.  If every student at Avery is in a leadership role, we will be helping cultivate confident, caring, high-achieving, and capable leaders for Avery and the future."

Avery Leaders, Silas Barry, Sidney Pearl, and Aubrey Ramsbottom take 

down the American Flag at dismissal.

Avery Leader, Eleanor Szevery, serves as a Speaker Leader for Kindergarten Open House.

What follows are Eleanor's heartfelt words of encouragement and wisdom she shared with the large crowd at Kindergarten Open House:

Hello, Avery KDG Parents and Guests!  

Welcome to our KDG Open House. My name is Eleanor Szevery. I am a 1^st grader and a proud Avery Speaker Leader.  I am happy to be here this evening to share with you a little bit about kindergarten and our wonderful school.

Before we begin, do we have any birthdays in the house?  Okay, then…

  

Not very long ago, I too was a kindergartner.  Now, looking back at kindergarten, my favorite memories are Art and recess.  In Art we made alligators using rectangles, squares, triangles, and circles.

One piece of advice I would give your Kindergartner is that it’s really fun because you get to have the 100^th Day of School.

Now, I will hand it over to our principal, Dr. Arnold. 

Thank you!

Dear Community,

I just wanted to remind you of the opportunity you have this Sunday to view this extraordinarily powerful and thought-provoking movie with others in our community!  The movie will begin at 2 pm in Knight Auditorium at Webster Groves High School.

Please click here to view the trailer.

Take care,

John

20% Time at Hixson Middle School

Good afternoon,

This semester, the students on Team Harmony at Hixson Middle School are being given the support and "space" to follow their passions and interest in new and different ways.  After much thought and planning, Don Eckert and Melissa Hellwig made the decision to allow students to engage in "20% time" during one class period each week.  Please check out the blog site below to see how the hands, hearts, and minds of the children and teachers are being engaged in new and beautiful ways.

http://harmonizedlearning.blogspot.com/

Take care...John

Calling All Upper Elementary and Middle School Students (and their families)....

Good afternoon,

Check out this learning experience being provided by Washington University on March 1 at 11:00 am.  I've been told that the experience, designed with upper elementary and middle school children in mind, involves demonstrations from graduate school students followed by hands-on activities for the children attending!

Take care....John

March 9 - American Promise

Dear Community,

We hope that you can join us for this special event on March 9, 2014.  Following the showing, we'll provide a structure for participants to briefly debrief the movie.  

Take care and see you on March 9th if not before...John

WGHS Students Help Fight Crime - Literally!

Good morning,

Did you know that the work of students in a forensics class at WGHS continues to help local and federal crime units solve a variety crimes across the country?

Click the link below...John

http://wgecho.org/2014/01/29/forensic-sciences-aids-law-enforcement/

Proposed Changes to State Assessments!

Good afternoon,

While not yet approved by state legislature, DESE is proposing some pretty significant changes to the state assessment plan.  The bullets below highlight some of the proposed changes which would commence with the 2014-15 school year.  Click here to view a 13 minute video which offers additional details of their proposal along with rationales for changes. 

Changes being proposed for the 14-15 school year:

• MAP in 3rd-8th grades:  
• 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 7th grade students would only be given a 30 minute ELA assessment and a 30 minute math assessment, both selected-response.  These significantly shorter tests would still be used for school and district accountability.
• 5th and 8th grades students would continue to take the science assessment and the more extensive ELA and math assessments (~4 hours/assessment).
• The ELA and math assessments would be aligned with the Common Core State Standards and administered online.
• School districts would be given full access to interim and formative web-based assessment resources for ELA and math for grades 3-8.  

• Changes to MAP in 8-12th grades:
• The number of required high school EOC exams would decrease from 11 to 4 and would include English II, Biology 1, Algebra (or Algebra II for students taking Algebra in middle school), and US Government.
• End of Course exams would be aligned with the Common Core State Standards and administered online.
• In lieu of the End of High School Exams which were scheduled to be administered at 11th grade, every 11th grade student would be given the ACT. 

We will keep you abreast of any proposed changes and please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions

John