Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! Oh, wait, it's next week. What the heck, let's start early! I appreciate all you do to support students.

Head's Up

Today is National Kids and Pets Day. It's also National Carpet Cleaning Professionals Day (not really).

Wednesday, April 27th is National Administrative Professionals Day and National Tell A Story Day.

Thursday, April 28th is National Take Our Daughter and Sons to Work Day. It's also National Bravehearts Day. Not sure if that means to wear a kilt to work (not suggested), or if its a good day to antagonize an enemy (also not suggested).

Friday, April 29th is National Zipper Day, National Arbor Day, and, most importantly, National Teach a Child to Save Day. Always my favorite day to do the compound interest lesson. It's easy, just find a compound interest calculator on line and get kids to enter the variables.

May starts with Teacher appreciation week May 2 - 6. Again, thank you.

May is also National Mental Health Awareness Month. I'll let you draw your on conclusions - coincidence or not?

May is the awareness month for brain and skin cancer, high blood pressure and stroke, and ALS.

Next week is also the Bentonville Film Festival. Make sure and share your celebrity sighting selfies.

@bpscommunity

The Fulbright and Washington Vex IQ robotics teams placed in the top 3% of approximately 4400 teams that completed world wide.
Governor Asa Hutchinson declared last week Arkansas Robotics Education Week.















It seems like every week Mary Mae Jones students and staff are doing something for the community. Last week they hosted Make-A-Wish to celebrate granting Jimi's wish to go to Sea World and the Everglades in Florida. Several MMJ students took leadership and synergized with students at Washington Junior High and BHS to make this possible. Mary Mae Jones is truly a school greater than the sum of its parts.

And on Saturday, they were out at the Bentonville Farmers' Market still working to raise money for Make A Wish. These kids are superheros in the community. (Hence the capes)

Going to have to give them an A+ for this job done well.







Meanwhile over at Lawrence Plaza, Central Park Gators and Cooper Broncos were raising awareness about Autism as part of Diversabilities Awareness Festival 2016. These kids along with students from Bright Field, Lincoln, and BHS all were teaching our community about the diverse abilities that make us all uniquely special.

It was a beautiful day for a walk, and thanks to many Bentonville Schools, the Best Buddies Friendship walk raised over half of the $75,000 needed to bring a chapter of this program to support students with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Last night the Centerton Chamber of Commerce unveiled their new logo designed by students at BHS. Talk about collaboration and community building! Bentonville West Pride is evident in the Centerton and they are getting excited about the opening of BWHS next August. Sophomore Mallory Braswell created the winning design.




Keep sending those leads to khelm@bentonvillek12.org and pstolt@bentonvillek12.org. A new issue of Bentonville Beats should be coming to Facebook soon.

Grants and Pd

Slim pickin's this week.

Are you missing some state required trainings? Here's an opportunity to get those taken care of before the end of the year.
School Safety course - Wednesday, April 27, 4:00 - 4:30 pm Kalpa #618172
Smart Core course - Wednesday, April 27, 4:30 - 5:00 pm Kalpa #618173
Anti-bullying & Sexual Harassment course Wednesday, May 4, 4:00 - 4:30 pm Kalpa #618170
Code of Ethics course - Wednesday, May 4, 4:30 - 5:00 pm Kalpa #618171
Suicide Awareness and Prevention - available as a IDEAS course(s)

Here's something for kids in 1st - 5th grades.

Video of the Week

Oh, never mind. Maybe YouTube will play nice next week.I appreciate all the efforts our technology department is putting into finding a solution.

April 19, 2016

Going to start this week by including a link to an editorial by Mr. Poore that ran in Saturday's Arkansas Democrat Gazette. Our hope is that it will add much needed context to the discussion on grades given schools under the Arkansas State School Performance Report Cards. There was a great article in Sunday's paper by Cynthia Howell as well.

Head's Up

Wednesday, April 19 is National Hanging Out Day and National Garlic Day. Kind of mutually exclusive if you ask me, unless your friends are all garlic lovers.

Thursday, April 21 is National Kindergarten Day and National High 5 Day. Now there's two things that definitely go together! Kindergartners love High 5's and Kindergarten teachers deserve a High 5 on a regular basis.

Friday, April 22, is Earth Day. We're aware of some events in the district, but let us know if there are any great photo ops.

Saturday, April 23 is the Diversabilities Awareness Festival and Best Buddies Friendship Walk. Thanks to all who participated in preparing for this event, and I hope you will stop by Lawrence Plaza to check out student projects.

A special shout out to Erin Phelps. Her class raised over $2,800 for Best Buddies, and to celebrate they turned her into a sundae. Sweet!

This Saturday is also the Youth Literature Festival at the Bentonville Public Library. (Probably won't be any human sundaes there.) It's also the first
Downtown Bentonville Farmer's Market of the season.

Next Tuesday, April 26th is the Global Day of Design. The U of  A has released a collection of STEM Design Challenges.

Thursday, April 28th is the 21 Century Technology Showcase from 5:00 to 7:00 pm at Fulbright Junior High. Don't miss this one-of-a-kind event.

@bpscommunity

At last Thursday's Teacher Recognition Awards, Apple Glen Caitlyn Knight was named Bentonville Schools Teacher of the Year. Teacher appreciation week is May 5 - 9. But why wait? We're going to be tweeting with the #ARTeacherImpact like others across the state to let people know how much you impact students each day.







Bentonville Mayor Bob McCaslin and Parks and Recreation Director David Wright recognized BHS Civics classes last week for their work to clean up and plant trees at Orchard's Park last fall. According to Mayor McCaslin, the 300 students logged a total of 875 community service hours at the park, saved the city $18,000, and 21 1/2 weeks of work for an employee.







Ignite IT Solutions students spoke about their experiences in the program to the NWA Tech Council last Wednesday. These kids are all looking at college and careers in a whole new way after participating in Ignite.










Saturday, the 2nd annual Fulbright 5k took place. Perfect day for a run. Thanks to all Fulbright students and community members who participated in the run to help fund the maintenance of Wolf Park. What's Wolf Park? It's a multipurpose cycling and running park between Central Park and Fulbright.








Another $2,000 was donated to Sugar Creek Elementary by McLarty Daniel Automotive Managing Partner Russ Daniel for hands-on science supplies. Thankful for the support for student projects that has been given this year. The photo might not show it but these kids were whooping it up.








BHS Girl's golf team attended an event at Sam's Club Corporate offices where LPGA players Natalie Gulbis and Morgan Pressell spoke to 9th and 10th graders about success.










The new elementary and middle schools have names! Osage Creek Elementary and Creekside Middle School. I was out to the site this week, and the foundation work is beginning.

Grants & PD

Economics Arkansas always has some great professional development opportunities. Check their website.

Economics Arkansas Teacher grants are also available to support learning in classrooms.

Submissions for the Economics Arkansas Calendar Contest are due May 15.

Bentonville Public Library has an opportunity coming up this weekend to spend time with author Janet Wong about teaching poetry.














No video this week. I need to share the Haiku poems that were submitted. Thanks to 2nd graders in Stacey Jenna's class at Mary Mae Jones for these exceptional examples.

I Like My Dog

I like my good dog,

He is good but sometimes bad,

He is wonderful!

--Dakota

Vanilla

I like vanilla,

I like it on my ice cream,

It is delicious!

--Neil

Cars

I have a fast car,

it works on the bumpy road,

it is the coolest!

Bikes

My bike is the best,

it is blue, red, black, and white,

I love my cool bike!

Have an awesome week,

Appreciate all you do,

High 5 & Fondue

April 12, 2016

It was a huge week in Bentonville Schools. Over half our schools were rewarded for academic growth and achievement, and Business Insider listed Bentonville as the Best School District in Arkansas. Congratulations to you all for your efforts to make Bentonville excellent.

Head's Up

Missed this last week. Yesterday was National 8-Track Tape Day and National Cheese Fondue Day, Kids, grab your fondue pot, some Sterno, a little Gruyere and cheddar, a baguette and some long forks and celebrate.



April is Stress Awareness Month, so take some time to relax. You know a great way to de-stress? Cheese fondue.

It's National Assistant Principal's Week. Take time to thank them for all their support.

Wednesday, April 13, is National Thomas Jefferson Day and National Scrabble Day.

Sunday, April 17, is National Haiku Poetry Day. Send your submissions Monday, April 18th for inclusion here on Tuesday the 19th.

It's National Library Week! School and public libraries are still your best resource for information. Bentonville Public Library's Youth Literature Festival is Saturday, April 23. Find the full program on school websites in the Peachjar section. As we've all come to expect, they have a great day of literacy activities planned and an exceptional slate of authors available.

The Farmers' Market opens the 23rd as well, and remember to head over to Lawrence Plaza to visit Diversabilities Awareness Festival and cheer participants in the Best Buddies Friendship Walk.

Friday, April 22 is Earth Day.

Thursday, April 28 is the date for this year's annual celebration of technology integration - The 21st Century Showcase! The event will again be at Fulbright Junior High from 5:00 to 7:00 pm.

@bentonvillecommunity

The Be Pro Be Proud professional skilled workforce development trailer came to BHS last Tuesday. This travelling exhibit gave students the opportunity to safely explore some of Arkansas' most in demand jobs. Highlight of the day was Josiah Leas' speech about how Ignite lit a passion in him to explore a career in technology.

Arkansas Treasurer Dennis Milligan presented certificates to Ruth Barker students who completed Ar Finance AR Future financial literacy program. Great to hear students talk about saving, investing and the difference between needs and wants. Dr. Ming would have been so proud.

Economics Arkansas has some exceptional resources for teaching financial literacy and economic concepts as well. www.economicsarkansas.org.

Superintendent Poore and I completed the United Way NWA Poverty Challenge last week by living off of $5 per day. I have never thought about food so much in my life. I truly wish I'd taken this challenge years ago, I would have understood the effects of chronic hunger better. You can help fight hunger this week by participating in our virtual food drive. All proceeds go to The Pack Shack. Donate here. Make sure to type "Bentonville Schools Virtual Food Drive" in the comments.

Grants and PD

Frankly, if you're not taking advantage of the programs offered by Crystal Bridges, well, you're missing out on some of the best professional development (and student engagement) available at any price. And, it's FREE. Get those kids to the museum, and sign up for some very inexpensive classes. Check out this link to learning opportunities for teachers http://learn.crystalbridges.edc.org/.

Belk Stores have a program to support student projects called Charity Days. The elevator pitch is this: a group wanting to raise money sells a ticket for $5, the group keeps the $5, and the purchaser of the ticket gets $5 off their purchase during charity days. I've attached information from the Rogers Belk store for you to read carefully.

Video of the Week

I thought this was an interesting perspective. As a kid who grew up within 2 blocks of the public library and a lumberyard, I always was a reader and a tinkerer. Someday I'll tell you all about the time I decided to figure out how a tube radio worked while it was plugged into a power source. Let's just say it didn't end well, but I lived to tell the story.


Have a great week.

April 5, 2016

It's beginning to look a lot like April. Very few activities during the day, more and more activities at night.

Head's Up

Today is National Go for Broke day. I believe this is meant metaphorically; but what the heck, if you've got a great idea, go for it. 

April is Autism Awareness Month. Check out the Autism Involves Me website for information on how you can get involved. 

Today and tomorrow the Be Pro, Be Proud mobile workshop will be at Bentonville High School. This travelling exhibition introduces kids to career opportunities in professional skilled trades. 

Thursday, April 7, is Arkansas Gives Day. Child Care Aware is now participating in Arkansas Gives. Building Bridges is participating and asking for help raising money for resources to support their parenting classes.Go to ArkansasGives.org to make a gift to Child Care Aware of Northwest Arkansas between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. on April 7th.  You'll be able to search for us in the list of participating nonprofits and indicate that you want your gift to support us.

Next Saturday, April 9th, is the Take Steps for Crohn's and Colitis 2016 walk. This takes place at Village on the Creeks and raises awareness and funds for research into these diseases. Info here.

April 11 - 15, 2016 is National Assistant Principals week. Let's all make a point to say "thank you" to these individuals who do so much to support children in Bentonville Schools. 

And don't forget Diversabilties Awareness Festival and Best Buddies Friendship Walk on Saturday, April 23rd at Lawrence Plaza. It's also the first Farmers' Market of the year.

@bentonvillecommunity

Washington Junior High Odyssey of the Mind team finished 2nd in their division and 2nd in solving their problem "Furs, Fins, Feathers and Friends" this past Saturday. This result nets them an invite to the World Finals in May. 

Washington and Fulbright Junior High School Vex Robotics teams are gearing up for their World Competition in Kentucky in a couple of weeks. 

Northwest Medical System is looking for suggestions to name their new surgical robot. The promotional video below gives an overview of this new high tech machine to help orthopedic surgeons with joint replacements. If you're interested in having kids help name this machine, take a look at the video. But be aware it does have footage of ACTUAL SURGICAL PROCEDURES. My suggestion for the contest would be to have junior high age kids suggest names. Kids interested in medical professions might find this interesting. Obviously, you're catching on that I don't have a really great idea on how to do this, but I know that Northwest is really interested in supporting our schools and the medical professions strand of our Ignite Professional Studies Center. (quid pro quo)

Keep sending in those story ideas to pstolt@bentonvillek12.org and khelm@bentonvillek12,org. 

Grants & PD

If you have kids doing projects that might be marketable, you may want to check out Wings of Love Inc. They are a program that specifically seeks to fund young entrepreneurs under 21 to support their development as business leaders and agents of social change. 

Here's one for all my media specialist and literacy teacher friends. The National Storytelling Network is providing $5,000 awards for model storytelling projects. 

Video of the Week

Want to drop something like a bad habit? Found this interesting, hope you will as well.

Have a great week.

March 29, 2016

Hard to believe Friday is April Fools' Day.

Head's Up

Friday, April 1st is the first, First Friday of the season. Bentonville Schools will have booth space at every first Friday for students and staff to connect with the community. This space should be used for community engagement, so let me know if you have ideas.

Saturday, April 2nd is the Bentonville Half Marathon. A great place to cheer the runners is at Tennie Russell, Sugar Creek, and Thomas Jefferson.

I know it's a whole summer away, but August First Friday theme is "Back-to-School." Downtown Bentonville Inc. is giving us a street, yep, a street - quite possibly Main Street in front of  Walton's 5 & 10 this year - for us to use. Start thinking about what you might want to do with the space. Last year we had the first ever competition between BHS and BWHS, and Old High brought in a mobile makerspace.

Monday, April 4th is National School Librarian Day. Where would we be without librarians! I for one wouldn't have anyone to point out my misstakes.

Tuesday, April 5th the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce and the Governor's Workforce Development Campaign bring their mobile Be Pro Be Proud trailer to BHS to promote skilled trades as a career option.

Tuesday, April 5th is National Deep Dish Pizza Day. Deliver my Ditka to 500 Tiger Boulevard.

Thanks to all who are participating in the Best Buddies Friendship Walk on Saturday, April 23rd. This is truly a great cause and will impact so many in our community. While you're there, make sure to visit the Diversabiities Awareness activities at Lawrence Plaza. It's probably time for someone to start a Diversabilities Club. (hint, hint) It's also the first Farmers' Market of the Year.

@bpscommunity

While you were away, I made sure that the downtown restaurants kept their quality up.

Remember to send news items and information on the awesomeness that's happening in your classrooms on a daily basis to pstolt@bentonvillek12.org and khelm@bentonvillek12.org.

Wait a minute, kids 9 - 13 can go to college? They can at NWACC from June 6th to July 28th. NWACC Kid's College engages children ages 9 - 13 in fun, educational short-courses on campus. Learn more and register at nwacc.edu/kidscollege.

Crystal Bridges summer camp registration is open. This year, Crystal Bridges and the Scott Family Amazeum are partnering to present How It's Made as one of the offerings. Details http://crystalbridges.org/events/category/summer-camp/list/

And now for something completely different. Washington Junior High is hosting S.E.R.E. Camp Jr. for 5 weeks starting Monday, April 4th to teach reading survival skills. Check this link for details. First person to get the reference in the first sentence wins a Subway sandwich.

Grants and PD

Check out Economics Arkansas for some great programs for educators. http://www.economicsarkansas.org/our_supporters/event_calendar.html/calendar/2016/4

Video of the Week

April is National Humor Month. I guarantee a chuckle out of this talk.



Have a great week.

March 15, 2016

Final week before Spring Break!

Head's Up

In case you forgot, next week March 21 - 25, 2016 is SPRING BREAK!

Not sure, but April might be the most aware month of the year.
It's Autism Awareness Month, National Child Abuse Prevention Month, Food Health Awareness Month, National Youth Sports Safety Month, Sexual Abuse Awareness Month, and National Humor Month. There's nothing funny about any of these. But a sense of humor will help make the world a better place.

The Bentonville 1/2 Marathon in Saturday, April 2, 2016. Get out and support those runners. If you want to do something special and unique, like, say, have a collaborative art project along the route, let Josh Stacey at Bentonville Parks and Recreations know.

Last meeting for Diversabilities Awareness Festival is Thursday, March 17, 2016 from 4:15 to 5:15 pm. Thanks to all who filled out the google form last week to sign up and have students participate on Saturday, April 23. Need more information on Best Buddies Walk? Find it here.

@bpscommunity

AT&T brought their "It Can Wait" anti-texting and driving campaign to BHS last Monday and Tuesday. I was able to get into the simulator, and it was quite an interactive experience. BHS Assistant Principal Ben Lewis didn't survive his drive.

The good people at Arthrex Surgical Equipment and Dr. Brian Dougherty brought live surgery back to BHS last week when they performed an arthroscopic surgery on a cadaver shoulder. It was so quiet you would have thought you were in a (blank.) A little interactive piece for you.

Students from Ruth Barker and BHS collaborated on projects to teach the community about the Civil Rights Movement. The projects were exceptional and in a first, at least for me, included both a digital and good old-fashioned analog handmade project.

Hundreds of people came out for Arts and Academic Night at Old High Middle School last week. There were so many clever activities that visitors could engage in. It's amazing to see how many different ways academic content can be infused with the arts.







Dyslexia Specialist Kristen Kossover and Assistant Principals Tracey Wood, Leslie Lyons, and Angie Stafford presented on BPS RtI process to support Dyslexic students and support students. Word on the street says their presentation was packed!

The Tiger basketball team has to be congratulated for playing in what can only be described and challenging circumstances in Hot Springs at the state tournament. Huge crowds showed up and stayed for the Bentonville game vs. Cabot. This game could have made a dent in the capacity at Verizon Arena. Coach McMahon and his players showed a lot of class.



Fulbright and Washington Junior High robotics teams won a regional competion and are heading to world championships in Kentucky in April.

I'm a little jealous about not being invited to attend SXSW edu conference. BPS had a contingent of influencers in attendance for this conference known for innovative ideas.

Grants and PD

KEEN Footwear is providing up to $10,000 for outdoor projects. Interest click here.

Video of the Week

Starting to like these videos from John Spencer.


Enjoy your week. Have an excellent break!

March 8, 2016

Not going to jinx it. Not going to even mention that we haven't had a snow day this year. Nope not going to do it.

Head's Up

Do you know kids who are looking for volunteer hours, or just want to make a difference in the community? Diversabiities Awareness Festival and Best Buddies Friendship Walk could use their help on Saturday, April 23, 2016 from 8:00am to 12:00 at Lawrence Plaza in Downtown Bentonville.
For more information on Best Buddies, contact Sheila Munn, Kathy Breed, or Libby Shaller.

If you're having students create projects to raise
awareness of Diversabilities, fill out this form by Friday, March 11, 2016. Contact Paul Stolt for information on Diversabilities.

Friday is also the last day to suggest names for Elementary 11 and Middle School 5. Use this form.

Crohn's Disease or Colitis affect millions of Americans and many in our community suffer from the debilitating effects of these two often misunderstood diseases. You can help raise awareness and funds to support research by participating in Take Steps for Crohn's and Colitis April 9, 2016. It's also another great opportunity for students to get involved in a community event.

Some of you may know Ann Taylor. She's an exceptional Bentonville educator who battled through Leukemia and is now cancer free, but not cancer forgotten. Help her become the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Woman of the year.

Daylight savings ends this Sunday. Use those Starbucks cards you got in December Monday.

High School students are invited to enter the Congressional Art Competition. Winning entries are displayed in Washington, D.C.

@bentonvillecommunity

I was talking to a teacher this weekend and was asked about how best notify communications about upcoming events. He said: "You should have a form for that." Here it is. http://goo.gl/forms/YUbSe0iGfW Save it to your desktop. Or you can email khelm@bentonvillek12.org or pstolt@bentonvillek12.org. Done.

The collaboration between Apple Glen and Bentonville Schools, Crystal Bridges, Bentonville Public Library, and the Amazeum created an exceptional community event to celebrate this year's One District, One Book - The One and Only Ivan.

Maybe the most interesting part about this day was that it was nearly impossible to tell who was a Bentonville family and who was visiting the museum. We are so fortunate to have these community partners to help us create learning opportunities for all families.

Last Friday, RE Baker dedicated a new set of swings for students with special needs. The best part about this event was that students initiated and lead this celebration. The swings were one of the projects created as part of the McLarty Daniel School Support Program. In every elementary school that has participated, the student projects have all been targeted toward supporting peers and the community. 

Nice little news article can be viewed here http://www.nwahomepage.com/news/bentonville-school-unveils-accessible-swings

Grants & PD

Cox Communication's Innovation in Education program awards grants up to $2,500 to fund classroom and school-wide projects that encourage and promote students' innovation and imagination.

Video of the Week

Don't take this one personally, just thought it was a clever commentary on the times in which we live.



Now, get out there and take some selfies!