As we get ready to start the 4th quarter, I’m
positive you know your child’s classroom teacher and his/her daily
schedule. But I am curious to know if you are aware of the exciting things
taking place in our specialists’ classrooms.
Each day your child spends about one hour with
one of these teachers. Specials classes include Art, Music, PE, Library,
Computer, Spanish, and for older students, Special Chorus, Band and
Strings. Every one of our specialists is blessed with an
extraordinary amount of talent. That is exactly what makes this group so
remarkable. I am proud of the innovative teaching techniques used by our
specials teachers and would like to share some of my observations in
their classrooms.
I’m excited to see students’ engagement in
ILA increasing. By having Mrs. Mc Iff returning for a second year, there has
been a tremendous amount of consistency. The students understand her
expectations. Research demonstrates the benefits of
learning a second language in the early years: improved cognitive and problem
solving skills, and developing a lifelong ability to communicate with people
from other countries and backgrounds. Students are able to process information
in a variety of ways in order for it to make sense to them, giving them a head-start
in today’s world
Our Art teacher, Mrs. Amanda Burger, joined the
RW staff this year and has quickly become a part of the family. As you visit
our building, be sure to look at the 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional pieces
hanging throughout the building, including the clay pieces in our lobby display
case.
We are one of only a few schools that provide
the opportunity for each grade level to perform in a musical for their parents.
Ms. Whittle puts in countless hours preparing for the students’ shows, ensuring
each student is an integral part of the performance. Ms. Whittle was
presented with the Educator Excellence Award and, in collaboration with Regency
Place, the Ukulele Utopia grant. Students are provided with many musical
mediums so they can celebrate the joy of music.
Mrs. Fox understands the importance of reading
and getting books into students’ hands. All grade levels have the
opportunity to check out several books each week. There is an open door policy to check out books
and students can exchange their books whenever it is convenient with the
classroom teacher, as well as first thing in the morning during early in. Mrs. Fox has completed a project in the
library to make the books more accessible to students. She has put a genre
sticker on all of the fiction books. Students can quickly look for their
favorite genre or look for something entirely new by just looking at the book’s
spine. She also has rearranged the nonfiction section of the library. The
section is still arranged in basic Dewey order, but books have been pulled and
labeled into main topics within that order. An example would be the SPACE
section. It now includes books from the
500’s - natural science, as well as books from the 600’s - space technology,
900’s - space travel history and books from the biography section on famous
astronauts. All of these books are together so those students who are “space
enthusiasts” can find all the books in one location. This new method will help
our students discover books they may not have otherwise.
Mrs. Waddell is assisting students with
their typing skills. I’m always
impressed with the ease students navigate completed programs such as
Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint. Time is
also spent on the important topic of Internet safety and creating strong
passwords.
Mr. Pitcher strives to make PE so enjoyable for
each student that they often do not realize they are exercising. I get a kick out of the students excitement
when they get to interact with the parachute - I remember being just as excited
about sitting under the raised parachute in elementary school. This year Mr. Pitcher’s Heart Monitor
Motivation grant has helped show your students the effect of exercise
on their body. This allows Mr. Pitcher to educate students to
exercise in different heart rate zones which all give different benefits while
also providing accurate real-time feedback on their exercise intensity.
Band and strings teachers deserve special
recognition. Their ability to take a group of students who have never played an
instrument and mold them throughout the school year is truly a talent. The
first sign that progress is being made is Hot Cross Buns wafting throughout the
building. I know some serious progress has been made when I hear the students
working on this piece of music.
Finally, I want to give a special thank you to
our specialists who travel from Northview Elementary to work with our
kindergarten students. They overcome many challenges that come with traveling
between buildings and have provided tremendous learning experiences for kindergarten
students.
As you can see, we not only have outstanding
classroom teachers at Ravenwood, we also have talented specialists.
The fine arts programs in Olathe give students the opportunity to learn to work
with their hands and learn in new and different ways. Our specialists try to
integrate their curriculum with each grade level curriculum whenever possible,
creating a collaborative environment where all teachers strive to ensure that
students receive an excellent, well-rounded education.
