It appears that the school year is off to an incredible start. Thanks for all you do to engage students in learning.
Head's Up
Decided to brand Wednesday visits to buildings - What's Up Wednesdays! Having a teen-aged daughter can affect your judgment. I'm heading out to Elm Tree and Ardis Ann this week.
First Friday's coming up on September 4 - this month's theme is Sugar Creek Days.
Mark your calendars for Tinkerfest at the Amazeum on October 10. Amazeum Field Trips start the week before Tinkerfest.
Start getting ready for EdcampNWA 2.0 October 17th.
@bps community
Check out our new app!
Download it from the Apple App Store on Google Play.
Send in those story ideas, newsworthy items, and special events here.
Grants and PD
Not sure if KNWA will be doing the Brightest Classroom grants this year, but click the link to register. It can mean $500 for you to use in your classroom. We received a number of these last year.
Don't forget about Donor's Choose when looking for items to add to your classroom. When you sign up the link can be easily shared with the community.
Thanks to all who participated in #bpseduchat last Tuesday. We had a great first day discussion. Next Tuesday, September 1st we're expecting a visit from AJ Juliani to discuss plans for innovation and student engagement. #bpseduchat is every other Tuesday at 8:30 pm
This is your digital Tuesday Folder. I had a number of requests to send my weekly blog to all staff, so here it is. I do my best to keep it short and informative. Most of the time there will be four sections: Head's up, Grants and Professional Learning, @bps community, and video of the week. Comments are always welcome on the content of this blog. Along the right side I share blogs, articles and book recommendations, feel free to suggest additions.
Head's up
In this section, I'll try to give you advance notice of events and happenings in the district. Use this google doc to share news tips.
Make a quick link to it in your tool bar and don't be shy about using it. If we don't tell our story, someone else will. And they might leave us out of the conversation altogether.
Grants and Professional Learning
You'll find grant opportunities to consider and explore in this section. Remember to fill out a grant request form before you get too involved in the process. I'm happy to help you get resources for your classroom. I'll also share opportunities for professional learning.
Our district Twitter chat - #bpseduchat - returns after hiatus tomorrow night at 8:30. Join in or lurk, it's a great way to connect with teachers across the district.
Mark your calendars for EdcampNWA2.0 on October 17, 2015 at BHS.
@bps community
This section will be used to share the great things that are happening in your classroom, buildings and across the district. I'm committed to spending Wednesday visiting buildings to document learning as it's happening. However, if you've got something amazing happening, don't wait for Wednesday. Share events on Twitter @Bentonville_ps or the #bpsmorethanascore hashtag. Make sure to tag @bentonvilleschools on Instagram as well. It takes us all to tell our story. Check out #bpsback2school for today's pictures.
Video of the week
Here's one to start the year off right. The late Rita Pierson laying down the purpose for doing what we do.
Enjoy your day. Enjoy your year. Be a kid's champion!
Not going to lie to you, it's going to be a little weird waking to an alarm clock on Thursday.
Heads up
I will be sending out an email district-wide to introduce Peachjar. We are set to go online June 4th. That said, RE Baker and Elm Tree will be the first to test out this new system. Parents at these schools will be the first to receive flyers via email from Peachjar. Thanks for supporting this initiative to make flyer distribution more economical, efficient, and effective. If you still haven't identified a point person in your building, please do so ASAP. The eflyer service from Peachjar is free to the district and PTO's.
The Diversability Aware Interactive 2015 event was well-received. The students and teachers involved did a great thing and did so much to change the perception of people with disabilities. The comments I've received have been very positive.
If anyone asks, the go-IT camps sponsored by TATA Consultancy are full and registration is closed.
No #bpseduchat this week, but next Tuesday is the first annual You Matter Chat. We'll be talking about how, what, and who mattered during the year.
Grants and PD
Interested in bringing computer coding into the classroom? Not sure how or where to begin? BPS technology will be hosting a code.org workshop on Wednesday, July 8 at the Tech Center for teacher in grades K - 5th.
While the go-IT camps are full of kids, there's still opportunity for teacher facilitators. Teachers interested in MIT app development camp on June 23 and 24 can sign up here. Those interested in Lego Mindstorm Robotics can sign up here. Professional development credit is available.
For those counting days, the number's 7. Heads Up I am excited for tomorrow's Diversability Aware Interactive event. Transportation has been arranged, the venues are set and I hope to see many of your students and teachers there to be a part of this one-of-a-kind event. Everyone I've spoken to outside of the district think this is a great idea with traction to move into it's next iteration. Teachers participating should have received a scheduled time last week. I'll be running around today getting everything in place at the Murry Room and HLM Building. Thank you all for your support. Please send the links to teachers for the go-IT camps. There is still a need for facilitators to work with TATA engineers. I can tell you from personal experience that it is not a bad way to spend a few summer days. Thanks to Jean Womack and Jack Loyd for the use of the TREC Center and BHS. TATA has been a huge supporter of programs in Bentonville Schools and an active and engaged community partner. There are still spaces available in the MIT App Inventor Camp https://goo.gl/AgJgpr and the Lego Mindstorm Robotics Camp https://goo.gl/AgJgprThank you to all who have named their Peachjar point of contact. If you haven't please send a name to be by the end of the week. Here's the overview video again on the process. I'll be sending a short survey to faculty this week to collect data on the impact of PBL projects. I know projects raised a substantial sum of money for charity. I plan to share the data to the board at the June meeting.
Grants and PD This really should be re-named the Matt Saferite Section at this time of year. There's a lot going on in the professional development world. Here's a great opportunity from Economics Arkansas.
Want to learn about entrepreneurship from real practicing people who are building their businesses?
·Want lessons to use in project based learning?
·Want to teach your students about the leaders who made Arkansas what it is today? And to empower them to do the same?
·Want to earn 6 ADE PD credits and earn a $50 stipend?
Got Field Day? Please send me the dates - we need some smiling happy kids pictures for the community report and the newspaper is always looking for happy kids.
Final Hat Day for Junior Highs and Middle Schools is this Friday, May 22nd. Thank you for supporting Kiwanis and Arkansas Children's Hospital.
Thursday night is 21st Century Showcase at Fulbright from 5:00 to 7:00 pm. Come out to celebrate the work of our 21C grant recipients and support this innovative program that has impacted students and teachers across the district. At last night's board meeting, the foundation contributed $125,000 to this program.
I'll be sending links to staff for them to use to sign up to facilitate/collaborate with TATA Consultancy Services in producing two great, free camps for students in June. Teachers who sign up should plan on attending the June 13th training session at TATA in Bentonville (across from Walmart home office). I helped last year and the training was helpful, the engineers from TATA will facilitate the programming. The main task for teachers is to facilitate the classroom management and learning for students. It's a fun time and a great way to earn PD hours. Yes, PD hours will be earned for facilitating this camp. Student enrollment is capped at 30 per camp, Here's the video my group produced at last year's camp. Good times, good times.
No #bpseduchat this week. Next week's topic is NEW! As in what new things did you implement this year in the classroom and/or building and how did they impact students.
Preparations for Diversability Aware Interactive are nearly complete. Chris Dewitt is working out transportation for those who need it.
We are preparing for our launch of Peachjar e-flyer distribution. The Scott Family Amazeum has already signed on to support the initial distribution. Each building will need to have a designated person to upload the flyers to Peachjar, so think about who might served this role in your buildings. It is much simpler than paper distribution, and will not require a huge time commitment. We will communicate this change to parents, community partners, etc.
I used say that May had 90 days, I might have miscounted.
Heads Up
There are so many classrooms doing projects for a cause that I think this is something to celebrate. I'd like to present to the school board the amount raised through student projects this school year. I will send a form out to all staff to collect the data and amounts. I think the dollar amount far greater than we think.
Bentonville Parks and Recreation dropped off literally thousands of Summer Program Guides last week that will begin making their way to your building. I have approved this distribution, but I am also working on a "greener" more efficient solution.
Paper flyers are a thing of the past with e-flyer management system from Peachjar! We have partnered with Peachjar to begin providing e-flyers to parents next month. This service takes flyer distribution out of your hands and into parent's smartphones. It also requires that flyers be approved prior to being sent. For more information on how Peachjar works, click this link.
#bpseduchat is talking about instructional materials tonight at 8:30 pm. If you haven't jumped into the Twitter stream yet, tonight is a good night to start.
Diversability Aware Interactive is coming together. I'll collect the data from the google forms tonight and send it to Chris Dewitt to develop a schedule. Thanks to all who supported this initiative and the students and teachers who took the risk to try and pull off an event of this size. Plans are already in the works for next year. There's still time to register classrooms to participate. Teachers at Central Park, Willowbrook, Bright Field,Centerton Gamble, Ardis Ann, and Elm Tree.
Teachers at Thomas Jefferson, Sugar Creek, Cooper, Apple Glen, RE Baker, Old High, Mary Mae Jones, and Ruth Barker use this link. Use this form.
Currently there are 18 classes signed up to visit Fulbright. And 10 signed up to visit Lincoln. Additional classes should sign up today whether transportation is needed or not. Thank you. I shifted Mary Mae and Ruth Barker to Lincoln to help with the numbers of sign-ups. Transportation will still be provided.
RE Baker and Elm Tree Kiwanis Hat Day will be this Friday, May 15th. Final Hat Day for junior high and middle school will be Friday, May 22nd.
We received an allotment of 750 tickets for Thursday's League of Their Own celebrity softball game and movie showing at Arvest Ballpark.Tickets will be "will call" at the District Office. All the seats are in the Jack Link's Grass Berm area, so bring a blanket to sit on. They're first come, first served until they're all gone. Should be a fun night at the old ball yard. Remember: "there's no crying in baseball."
I will never complain about the BFF organization again after trying to pull together the First Annual Diversability Awareness Event on Wednesday, May 27th. On one hand, it's been awesome to see the passion of a group of professional educators and their students take a small kernel of an idea and blow it into an event that is destined to impact the community for years to come. On the other hand, it's a challenge to keep up with a group of professional educators and their students when the explosion starts.
The plan is to move forward with student projects available to interact with and view at two locations - Fulbright Junior High and Lincoln Junior High. Activities will be available from 9:00 to 1:00 pm. Students in all grades from Thomas Jefferson, Sugar Creek and Lincoln are invited to walk to HLM Building; students at Central Park, Willowbrook and Bright Field are invited to walk to Fulbright. Students in all grades at Centerton Gamble, Ardis Ann, Elm Tree, Mary Mae Jones and Ruth Barker are invited to attend at Fulbright. Students at Cooper, Apple Glen, RE Baker, and Old High are invited to attend at Lincoln. Let me know what grades and number of classes from the buildings outside walking distance and I'll get that information to Chris Dewitt to plan transportation. As with the "League" tickets above, it's first come, first served until all the available seats are gone.
This truly is an opportunity to see some amazing work by dedicated teachers and students and I believe this is the inception of an event that will be uniquely Bentonville and show how much our students, teachers and community matters. Also, given the climate of divisiveness, an event that celebrates our differences and promotes inclusion is greatly needed - no matter what your personal feelings are. Diversity is the thread that binds a community together.
Traditional elementary schools Kiwanis Hat Day for Arkansas Children's Hospital is this Friday, May 8th.
National School Nurse Day is Wednesday, May 6th. They deserve a day off! Unfortunately, illness and the needs of our most vulnerable students won't allow that to happen.
Finally, it's teacher appreciate week. I have a whole new appreciation for the work that happens in classrooms across the district and for all your efforts to support it. Thank you.
Let teachers know about a unique opportunity to learn about PBL from BPS teachers on June 18, 2015 at 4:00 pm. Contact Matt Saferite for details, sign up on the BPS PD site.
There's some great offerings from Economics Arkansas this summer.
K-12 teachers can learn how to qualify for for a study tour of Germany on June 24 from 1 - 3 pm at Crystal Bridges.
The Economics of Sports, U of A Campus on June 25. Preferential registration for Secondary Teachers.
Entrepreneurship Education Conference for K-12 teachers on July 15.
Video of the week
What happens when one little change is made to something that's been mastered?
