Tuesday, May 24, 2016

To those of you on the traditional calendar . . .

enjoy your summer. 

To those of you on the non-traditional calendar . . . 

almost there.

Head's Up

Today's National Lucky Penny Day! It's also National Taffy Day. Why, back when I was a kid, you could still buy saltwater taffy for a penny. But, why would you spend your lucky penny on taffy?

Wednesday, May 25th, is National Missing Children's Day. One of those "days" that really should be thought about on the other 364 each year.

Thursday, May 26th, is . . . wait for it . . . National Red Nose Day. And you thought it was only the last day of school. Red Nose Day is a worldwide fundraising effort for kids in poverty. Yet another thing that should be thought of on the other 364.

Monday, May 30th, is Memorial Day. Great that it's not the last 3-day weekend of the school year.

Tuesday, May 31st, is National Speak in Sentences Day. This could be a challenge after a relaxing 3-day weekend.

June starts with National CPR and AED Awareness Week. It's also Heat Stoke Prevention Month.

Now, I don't know who decides on these things, but having National Fruits and Vegetables Month the same month as National Candy Month seems to cancel each other out. Both are in June.

Looking ahead to August, start thinking about Friday, August 5. It's Back to School First Friday, and schools are welcome to participate. I know Old High is planning something (rumors of its demise are premature). This is a great way to connect with the community. I'll work on getting the shady side of the street. (Those who participated last year know how much of an incentive this is,)

@bpscommunity

Want to know what's happening in Downtown Bentonville? Get the app.

It was great to see so many families at Ruth Barker and Old High for What's Next Night last Tuesday. There were some pretty excited kids (and families) making their way through the buildings.









BHS students from Mrs. Campbell's 10th grade pre-AP English class wrote non-fiction stories about people "living deliberately" and read their work at Barnes & Noble. Their work was compiled into a book that is for sale at http://bit.ly/bhsdeliberatestories for $6 each. All proceeds will be donated to Saving Grace NWA. 

Fourth Graders from Central Park and RE Baker competed in the first ever Battle of the Books. Students tested each other on their knowledge of books they had recently read.

BHS seniors were honored at the 2016 Senior Scholarship Awards ceremony on Thursday night. This year's class earned over $12 million in scholarship money. The top 25 students earned $4.2 million. Community scholarships awarded this group totaled over $700,000. Great support from the community for these outstanding graduates.

Representatives of Heifer International and some of their friends visited Willowbrook on Friday to accept a donation of $6,500 from students at the school. This is enough money to provide for an entire village and begin a sustainable economic system for its people. Another example of a student-driven project that makes the world a better place.

Lincoln blew it out last Friday afternoon when the 8th grade class celebrated the end of the year with a festival of teenage stress relieving activities. They also upped the competition between BHS and BWHS.









In the it's-my-blog-and-I-can-share-what-I-want-to category. The BHS girls' and boys' soccer team and the girls' softball team all won state championships on Friday. My niece Abby, a freshman, scored the second goal of the game. Think she's excited. I'm fairly sure that she was the most famous kid in Bentonville on Saturday.






BHS faculty and staff did a great job with graduation planning and the ceremony capped a great year for our Seniors. Pretty impressive sight in the tunnel, makes you realize why we're all important in preparing kids to become young adults.









Each week there are at least 20 other things that could be included in this blog. Every day there's something exceptional happening in Bentonville schools that should be shared with the world. One way to do this is to leverage social media as a tool for communicating with each other and the community. Ideally, we could create a social media network to share the story of the district.
The Bentonville School Board approved a Digital Communication and Social Media Policy to support you in using social media and avoid the pitfalls and false perceptions that sometimes arise. The policy requires that BPS staff maintain a professional accounts for interacting on social media in an official capacity. It does not mean that employees can not have personal social media accounts, nor does it mean the District is going to monitor your activity. There's plenty of people who will do that for us.

Bottom line - think before you post, be nice, and keep your personal and professional lives as separate as possible. So your world's don't collide - that's bad.



Here are three links with some tips for using social media to engage families
http://goo.gl/c4EvL5 , http://goo.gl/teCMFa , http://goo.gl/1edDAx

Grants and PD

Northrup Grumman Foundation is making 5 grants for up to $100,000 available to middle schools to develop Fab School Labs. I just found out about this today, and the deadline to enter is June 17th. So, if you're interested - get on it! Visit www.fabschoollabs.com for details.

Dr. Saferite wants you to get your PD on, here's how.

Video of the Week

A little perspective from down under. Since we're 1/6th of the way through the 21st Century, shouldn't we start talking about 22nd Century skills and learning just to try and get a head of the curve?

Wishing you a happy summer! Enjoy each day.