February 2010:

Agents of Change

In honor of Black History, Robert Fulton's middle grade students have been encouraged to participate in an essay contest that challenges them to be reflective about there contribution to their community through math and science.  Fulton's Math & Science coach, Mr. Chezare Warren, created a bulletin board in honor of Black History Month paying homage to prominent African-American Mathematicians, Scientists, Inventors, and Entrepreneurs.  The coach intentionally chose a smattering of men and women with varying age ranges from persons living in the 18th century to professionals in the present day. 

The icons chosen span the fields of medicine, academia, business, and aeronautics.  Additionally, the board has a space where students are invited to imagine their place among the names of the chosen change agents with a frame conveniently and appropriately marked, "Your Face Here".  Finally, students are asked as part of the essay contest to peruse the names, faces, and biographies of these great Americans and be thoughtful about how math & science helped these individuals to impact their communities.  The purpose of the board and the contest is to persuade students to draw inspiration from these individuals and articulate how they too can do the same work as change agents in their communities through the hard sciences. 

Good News from the Primary Building!

Fulton's primary team is working hard!  Six primary teachers, the assistant principal, and Fulton's Erikson coaches took a two-day trip to a school to Milwaukee during the winter intersession to observe early childhood and primary classrooms. They came away with some excellent ideas to use in their own classrooms.  At one of the early morning preK-2 meetings (most teachers have been rising early in order to attend these!) the teachers decided to start integrating a monthly theme into their instruction and environment in the primary building.  February's theme is "Classic Children's Books," and all teachers are creating fun, engaging lessons for their students and to share with each other! 

The primary teachers are also working on using data for differentiated instruction, and each grade level has created a data wall that shows student progress with various reading and pre-reading skills.  The Dibels data shows tremendous growth in our kindergarten students from the beginning of the year- Congratulations to the kindergarten teachers! 

Primary team, keep up all the great work!