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