December Has Started

It is really hard to believe that it is December 6th. Time has gotten away from me and I have not posted since before Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving week off and got right back in the swing of things. On Tuesday the 29th, we hosted a community day and our 4th Grade did their Literacy Day by performing The Legend of Slappy Hooper a tall-tale. It was a great day. This week is also filled with excitement. Sonic night is Tuesday, December 6th. The Santa Shop is open Tuesday through Friday. Our 4th Graders do their holiday performance on Thursday the 8th, and the Dragon Dollar store will deliver product this Friday. That does not even take into account what the teachers and students are doing in the classroom to prepare for the benchmark assessments and writing samples. It is a crazy, busy week and next week will be even more exciting.

Bags & Turkey Ready

The bags are all packed full of stuffing, potatoes, sweet potatoes, veggies and cranberry sauce, and the turkeys have all been delivered. Now it just time for them to be picked up. Thank you Ms. Bachman, PTO, teachers, students, STEPAN and Publix at Winder Crossing for working together to supply Thanksgiving Dinner to over 45 families. It was truly KES being Ready, Respectful, and Responsible!

Kennedy Gives Thanks by Giving Back

This week we have started our Thanksgiving meal drive. Our Habit from the book 7 Habits of Happy Kids by Sean Covey this week is: Begin with the end in mind or have a plan. At Kennedy, we decided to look at how many families we have that will need some assistance over the Thanksgiving holiday and have identified 45 different families that will need help. By beginning with that number, we knew just what our goal was and then we took the next step. That next step was to have a plan to get to our goal. Our plan was to assign each grade level a different food to bring in to help us reach our goal.

• Pre-k brought in Gravy




• Kindergarten brought in Mashed potato mix




• 1st grade brought in Stuffing




• 2nd grade brought in Corn bread/muffin mix




• 3rd grade brought in Canned veggies (green beans or carrots)




• 4th grade brought in Canned yams




• 5th grade brought in Marshmallows




• teachers brought in cranberry sauce




• Our business partners are helping with the turkeys

With our plan in place, we have already provided enough meals for over 50 families and we have not even gotten to our November 11th deadline.

I guess beginning with the end in mind and creating a plan really works! Great Job Kennedy

Vocabulary Parade 2011

Monday, Halloween Day, KES did its 3rd annual vocabulary parade. Students and teachers were encouraged to dress as their favorite vocabulary word. The parade had to be moved inside due to some cold temperatures, but it did not simmer the heat from the competition for the best vocabulary word costume. The winners were Cayden as "Scrumptious" in Pre-K, Ella as "Monochromatic" in Kindergarten, Dayla as "Neon" in 1st Grade, Anna as "Historical" in 2nd Grade, Luke as "Monumental" in 3rd Grade, Brett as "Asymmetrical" in 4th Grade, Ariel as "Flashback" in 5th Grade, Eddy as "Love" in our Special Friends, and Ms. Liptak as "Country Bumpkin" for the teachers. It was a lot of fun and we enjoyed having our parents and our new business partner, Chick-fil-a, here. The Chick-fil-a cow came as "Mascot" and "Bovine". Thanks for participating.

Red Ribbon Week

This week is Red Ribbon Week for Barrow County. Red Ribbon Week is the nation's largest and most successful drug awareness and prevention program done in educational facilities. Students will be educated on the dangers of drugs and encouraged to make healthy choices that will help them be successful. We will celebrate each day in a different way.
Monday is wear Red Day
Tuesday we will sock it to drugs by wearing crazy socks.
Wednesday is use your head and don't do drugs crazy hair day.
Thursday is give drugs the boot and wear boots and western wear.
Friday we will follow our dreams and not use drugs by wearing pajamas.

Friday will also be our costume dance from 5:00-7:00 pm and then we encourage everyone to cheer on the Chee as they battle Winder Barrow at 7:30pm.
It should be a great week.

Thank You Barrow County Fire Department

I would like to thank the BCFD for coming out and doing a fire safety presentation with our Pre-K through 3rd graders. Our students were given a chance to talk about what to do when the smoke detector goes off in their house, how firefighters use tools to protect people, and the importance of having a fire safety plan for their homes. They also got to see all the really "COOL" firefighter equipment. Thank you to Scott Dakin of Barrow County Fire Department for coming out and sharing with our kids.

Fabulously Fun Figurative language Fridays!!!

October marked KES's Love of Literacy push for the school year. Each Friday in October, teachers will be dressing up to represent different examples of figurative language. This week we had representation of idioms (an expression, word, or phrase that has a figurative meaning that is comprehended in regard to a common use of that expression that is separate from the literal meaning or definition of the words of which it is made.); similes (a figure of speech that directly compares two different things, usually by employing the words "like", "as", or "than".); metaphors (literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea); Onomatopoeia (refers to the property of such words. Common occurrences of onomatopoeias include animal noises, such as "oink" or "meow" or "roar".) and alliteration (the repetition of a particular sound in the first syllables of a series of words and/or phrases.) Look at the following pictures to see if you can come up with each one?

Using Video Conferencing To do Book Reports

Fourth and fifth grade SCOPE students at Kennedy, Holsenbeck, and Yargo Elementary schools met using video conferencing technology as a getting to know you activity for their upcoming collaboration project. The book project focuses on the classic work entitled, From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankwieler, by E.L. Knoigsburg. The classes will work together using Web 2.0 tools, specifically Edmodo, WallWisher, Animoto, and Voicethread. The setting of the story is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and the students are looking forward to studying many artists and recreating their works of art. All in all, the first meeting was a hit with the students. SCOPE teachers Kellie Ouzts, Jodi Sorrells, Tiffany Pilgrim, and Megaan McNally are all excited to begin this fabulous project!

Fundraiser extenstion

The fundraiser money was due today. If you have not sent it in to the school, please do so NO LATER than Wednesday. We have already collected $7,000. Our goal is $10,000. If we meet our goal, we will have an ice-cream party for all classes and the highest sellers will get to turn Mr. Butcher into a human banana split. Make sure your money is in by Wednesday, September 28th.

Tumble Books Subscription

One of the big focuses of KES this year is to attempt to create a love of literature. We want our students to want to read, read, and read. Our media center has thousands of books of all ranges and levels, and Mr. Frame has just gotten more new books from the Target Books grant that are ready to be checked out of the media center. Our PTO has also helped us to purchase 10 ipads that are available in the media center. These ipads are slowly but surely being filled up with some e-books and applications that encourage a love for reading. Another thing that we have available for students (We have had this for many years!) is a subscription to TumbleBooks ( www.tumblebooks.com ) is a site that has hundreds of animated books that children can read or have read to them. The books range in reading level (grade level and lexile level) as well as interest level. Students can also take practice quizzes on the book or write a book report on it using the book report template. This is a great site to have your students go to if they want a book to read that will also allow them to hear it and possible see the pictures come to life. Kennedy's login is kennedyga and the password is books.
Happy Reading

Grandparents' Breakfast

Last week we had over 400 grandparents and students eat breakfast with us. It was a fantastic turnout. It was great to see so many people enjoying breakfast and then spending time in our book fair. The book fair will run until Monday; so if you have not purchased a book you can still do it tomorrow.

School Governance Teams

Now that we have been in school for 20 days, some questions about Kennedy's Charter have been coming up. Questions like what is a School Governance team?; When do they meet?; and What is the team's authority? have been heard. Well I guess it is now time to answer some of those questions in the blog.
The School Governance Team is a group of 9 individuals (3 teachers, 4 parents, 1 business partner, and myself) who follow the Open Records Act to "steer the ship". That means that this team meets regularly (once a month) to discuss the direction of the school and make decisions that will improve the educational process at the school.
The team will meet on the second Monday of each month at 5:00pm in the media center of the school. These meetings are open to the public and are advertised on the website, school marquee, and the Kennedy Connection.
This year the team will be doing mostly training on effective school governance, but will also make decisions on approval of fundraisers and field trips. The team could also discuss discipline above and beyond the county's policy. As years go on, the authority of the School Governance Team will be broadened.
This just a quick answer to some of the most pressing questions. If you are still wondering about it, you can go to the following sites and find out more: http://charterexploration.barrow.wikispaces.net/home or http://www.barrow.k12.ga.us/html/charter_faq.html both of these sites have great information.

Pre-K and Kindergarten Family Fun Night

Friday night was a great night to be a Pre-K or Kindergarten Dragon. For the 5th consecutive year Kennedy Kindergarten and Pre-k teachers put on a Family Fun night for all the new dragons (Classes of 2024 and 2025). It is always great to see all the new faces having fun with the parents and teachers. A big thanks goes out to Jungle Jumpers in Winder for donating the bounce house; Apalachee JV cheerleaders for their face painting and cheers, Stephanie Waters and the rest of the PTO, Chris Greene of Liberty Mutual, and the Kennedy Pre-K and Kindergarten teachers and instructional assistants for putting on a great night. I also would like to thank all the parents and students who came out and had fun. It was a great time for all. Pictures coming soon!

2 weeks in and 2 new things

We have now been in school for 2 whole weeks. The students are doing a wonderful of learning the ropes and getting into the swing of things. Our teachers have done a great job of establishing rules and procedures to help students to make good choices that will help them to be ready, respectful, and responsible leaders. Our Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) program has also started and students are earning Dragon Dollars for being ready, respectful or responsible. We also had our first PBIS hero drawings with Alena, Preston, Ryan, Anijah, Tony, Scott and Sierra. Sierra was the Super Hero (Luck number 7) and gets her picture on the school website and name on the school Marquee. You can see the other Heroes pictures on the bulletin board outside the media center.
We also spent our first week in the book, 7 Habits of Happy Kids, by Sean Covey. Last week's habit was Be Proactive- You are in charge. We talked with our students about how they are in charge of their decisions each and every day. They choose to be ready by having their books and homework; they choose to be respectful by being quiet in the hall and listening to their teacher; and they choose to be responsible by completing their work and cleaning up after themselves. Being Proactive means that THEY make the choice to do right or wrong and no one can control themselves but themselves. The story talked about Sammy the Squirrel choosing to find his own fun. When he chose to make a present for his sick friend, he was no longer bored! The same hold true for KES students, they choose how their day is going to go. They are in charge of their choices! We hope parents can reinforce this at home. I know I am trying to do the same with my own personal children. That is me being proactive!!!

Title I information and Curriculum Night

Tonight is our annual Title I information and Curriculum night. This is a great opportunity for parents to learn about Title funding, our parental engagement plan, and the standards that your child will be learning this year. It is also a night to join PTO and purchase spirit wear. We hope to see you on this very important night.

Great Start to a New Year

On Monday, August 8th, Kennedy Elementary School welcomed 757 students into the building. It was so exciting to see all the new faces and to welcome back some very familiar faces. This year promises to be a fantastic year. We will continue to strive to be the best elementary school in Barrow County academically, but we are also really going to work on teaching our students skills to be leaders. Our goal at KES is to reach ALL students so they can be Ready, Respectful, and Responsible leaders in the future. This year, along with every grade level GPS, we will be teaching your children the 7 Habits of Happy Kids by Sean Covey. These are an elementary version of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective people by Stephen Covey. We feel that if we can continue to teach our students the GPS and incorporate these 7 Habits, that we will reach our goal.
I am really looking forward to the 2011-2012, and I hope to see you in our school!

Hooray for Books!

Today was a very cool day for Kennedy Elementary School. Today Mr. Frame and myself met with Jayme Carrere from Target in Bethlehem to receive our Target Books for Students packet. This is a $500 donation from Target in Bethlehem in conjunction with First Books to be used to purchase books for our media center. We really appreciate Target in Bethlehem reaching out to Kennedy Elementary School and helping us upgrade our media center. This is another cool addition to our media center that was made this summer. When you come back to school, you will see new furniture, a new electronic cafe, and new laptops. Kennedy is really looking to push a love for Literature in our students! These changes and additions should really make a difference. I cant wait to see our students in the media center engaged with these new items!

It has ONLY been 2 Months!

I know that all 21 of my hard-core followers of the Mr. B's Dragon Page have been saying, "I just can't truly enjoy this summer weather without my fix of Mr. B's blog! When is he going to post again so I can have my joy back?"
Well today is the day! I am ready to blog again. I have been enjoying my summer activities, but have also worked to get ready for the 2011-2012 school year. We are almost ready, and we have some exciting things coming this year. I will share them with you soon, so you will just have to keep checking the blog for updates!
One thing I can give you is a copy of the school supply list for next year. Below is a link to it:
http://www.barrow.k12.ga.us/parentinfo/Kennedy_Elementary_School.pdf

I hope you are enjoying your summer!! I miss you!

FIELD DAY!!!

Field day is a success. Another field day is done; it is hard to believe that we have finished another field day. I have always loved field day, and it has not changed. I love seeing the kids trying their best and cheering each other on. It was great seeing our pre-k - First graders in their field day shirts that were all a different colors. I love seeing the teachers get into it screaming their class along. and of course, TUG-OF-WAR!!!!!
Thanks Mr. Thompson for another great year!

Appreciation Week

It seems like I do this every year around this time, but it is still an honor to do it. Last week was teacher appreciation week, and it was nice to see our students make cards, bring flowers, and candy to their teachers to say thanks for all they do. Dr. Jordan and I tried to appreciate them each day with a special treat and a lunch on Friday. I hope they enjoyed it. I know I did.
As we appreciate the teachers, we also must appreciate our wonderful business partners who do so much for KES. CBT, Stepan, Oak Grove Landfill, Zaxby's, River Hills Community Church, Liberty Mutual, Publix, Winder Housing Authority, and Winder Eye Care. All of these do so much to help KES. Whether it is giving of time through mentoring or giving supplies for our awards ceremony or money to help with field trips; we can always count on these wonderful Barrow County businesses to help us out. We really do appreciate it.
I also need to give a special thank you to Mitsubishi Electric for partnering with our Special Needs program to become an Inclusion Champion Award winner. We were honored last Friday to receive this award. Thanks Mitsubishi and Chuck Painter and Peggy Bray for all you have meant to our program.

BODY WALK A SUCCESS

An innovative new way to learn about the importance of good nutrition and physical fitness came to the students at Kennedy Elementary School! On April 27th & 28th the Body Walk exhibit will visited our school. This exciting learning experience is provided by HealthMPowers as a part of a Health Care Georgia Foundation and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia initiative. Student had the opportunity to explore the human body with the Organ Wise Guys as their guide.

The tour began when students walk through a giant ear and into the brain. Inside the brain, students experienced “brain waves” as they learned how to take care of their brain. After the students left the brain, they stepped into the exhibit’s larger-than-life mouth, were “swallowed” through the esophagus tunnel and moved into the stomach. From the stomach, the students traveled through the small intestine where they were “absorbed” into the blood. Then they followed the path of the nutrients to the heart, lungs, bones, muscles and skin stations. At each station students were given knowledge and skills to keep their organs healthy.

Students left the body through a cut in the skin and proceeded through the pathway to life. This final station recapped key concepts from each of the ten previous stations. Throughout the exhibit, students learned how to apply HealthMPowers’ slogan, “Power of Choice”. At each of the Body Walk’s ten stations, a volunteer presenter engaged the students in a 4:30 minute activity focused on healthy choices.

The traveling Body Walk exhibit is operated by HealthMPowers in Atlanta, Georgia.

What a great Carnival!!!

The PTO went all out today to put on a fantastic Luau carnival. Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time on all the games and jumpies. It was a lot of fun for everyone. Thank you PTO, you guys are awesome!

Way to Go Sam!!

It is my honor to recognize Kennedy's own Sam Houston as Barrow County's winner of the Yes, I Can Award. Of over 1,500 eligle students, Sam was the winner of the first ever award presented by the county. The award was presented at the Winder Community Center on Friday night. It was amazing to hear the loud cheers that came from the Kennedy tables as Sam was named. I was so proud of him, his family, and his Kennedy Family of teachers. It was an amazing night. Way to go Sam!!!

Spring Break!!!

YES, YES, YES!!! It is finally Spring Break time. I love having a week off to recover from the hectic pace of testing week. That is right Spring Break could not have come at a better time. We finished testing on Tuesday of last week and those tests were out of the building on Wednesday. It was a good feeling to have them out of here and know that are students did a great job. Now we just sit and wait to hear HOW good of a job they did. Last week we also celebrated "Proud to be an American" day. Each class did a two week unit on America and Friday was the day where everyone showed off what they learned. Each grade level traveled around the school to see what the other grade levels had done. This was a great way of letting our students teach each other. Our kindergarten students taught us about different American symbols; first graders broke down some Patriotic songs and taught us what the words really meant; second grade taught us everything you need to know about Georgia; third grade did the "Fifty Nifty United States" in their state shirts; fourth grade "trucked" us through the US; and the fifth grade brought life-size presidents to our halls. Everyone played baseball for PE, sang a patriotic song, and saw American art work. Parents, students, and teachers were also treated to an American style picnic complete with hamburgers, hotdogs, and apple pie!!

CRCT Testing Week

This week got off to a great start. Our 3rd-5th Grade students started testing on Monday, and the students and teachers all feel that it went really, really well. The students said that they felt confident that they "HAMMER'ED IT!". We ended Monday with a guest performance of the New KNERDS (KNowledgeable-Educated-Relentlessly-Driven-Scholars) that really encouraged our students to Believe in themselves, to work hard, and to Stop Bullying. It was very good!!Tuesday was a little hectic though as bad storms caused power outages across the county. Those power outages also caused the county to make the decision to delay testing for the day. So now the testing will go into next week. The new testing schedule will be as follows: Language Arts on Wednesday, April 6th, Math on Thursday, April 7th, Science on Friday, April 8th, and Social Studies on Monday, April 11th. This change in the testing schedule also caused a change in two other events (Body Walk, and end of CRCT cookout). The Body Walk will now be April 27th and 28th and the cookout will be April 15th.

Great Night to Be a Principal at KES

Tonight was a great night to be the principal at KES. We have successfully celebrated 4 days of spirit week with only tomorrow's PINK OUT pep rally left this week. It should be a lot of fun as teachers, administrators, and students will perform songs that should hopefully get them pumped up to take the test next week. We also have over 100 students who have taken all of the practice tests and passed. All of them will get to throw a water balloon at me tomorrow at the pep rally. Those were all great, but the best thing was getting the email that let me know that 3 of the 6 elementary Young Georgia Author winners for the county came from Kennedy Elementary School. Levi Jones is the county Kindergarten winner; Anna Bagwell is the county 3rd Grade winner; and Kate Thompson is the county 5th Grade winner. I am so proud of each of these students and all the teachers. It does not surprise me that we have that many winners though because they have all worked so hard to improve their writing. It was just a great night to be the principal at Kennedy Elementary. I love me job!

CRCT Only 1 Week Away!!

The CRCT Is Coming! By Ryan Butcher Principal The time of year is here that most of our students will take the CRCT (Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests – grades 3 through 5). Below are the answers to some questions that you may have about it. When will these tests be administered? April 4th -8th (3rd, 4th and 5th Grades Only) What subjects will be tested? Reading, English/Language Arts, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies Why do the students need to take these tests? Georgia law requires a comprehensive assessment program of students’ educational achievement. Both norm-referenced and criterion-referenced tests are necessary in order to determine educational effectiveness since these tests provide different types of information about student achievement. What is the purpose of the CRCT? It is designed to measure student acquisition of the skills and knowledge described in Georgia’s Performance Standards (GPS). The information yielded on the CRCT serves the dual purpose of giving a diagnosis of individual student strengths and weaknesses as related to the instruction of the GPS and program evaluation to gauge the quality of education throughout Georgia. Can standardized tests alone determine a child’s placement in a classroom? NO! Paper and pencil tests give teachers only part of the picture of a child’s strengths and weaknesses. Teachers combine the results of many methods of assessments, such as observing students in the classroom and evaluating their day-to-day class work, to gain insights into the skills, abilities, and knowledge of a child. Standardized tests have limitations and are not perfect measures of what a student can or cannot do or of everything a student learns. Also, a child’s scores on a particular test may vary from day to day, depending on whether the child guesses, follows the directions carefully, takes the test seriously, and is comfortable in taking the test. How can I help my child do well on tests? It is important that you communicate with your child’s teacher often to monitor your child’s progress and find out what activities you can do at home to help your child. · Make sure your child does his/her homework. · Make sure your child is well rested and eats a well-balanced diet each day. · Have a variety of books and magazines at home to encourage your child’s curiosity. · Do not be overly anxious about test scores, but encourage your child to take tests seriously. · Do not judge your child on the basis of a simple test score.

Tips for Getting Ready for the CRCT

As we get closer and closer to the CRCT on April 4th, I wanted to give you some hints that I found online http://www.ehow.com/how_2118577_help-child-ready-standardized-test.html to help prepare your children for the CRCT:

1. Motivate your child to study for the standardized test. Give encouragement to do better each time. Tell your child how important studying is to pass and get a good score on standardized tests. Continue to motivate, no matter what the results maybe, by giving your child praises. A child that feels loved would want to return that love by continuing to succeed in his studies.
2. Make time for study time. Make it a habit to check up on your child's studies regularly. Parental involvement as well as guidance is crucial to a child's success. Devote your time to teach your child. Do this after dinner or after doing the regular homework.
Track your child's progress in a time chart that you can log dates that you helped your child to study and what subjects you have studied. Divide the chart by the number of subjects then have a column for each one. Mark the calendar leading towards the actual testing day to know how much time you have left to get your child ready.
3 . Gather all the study materials that can help with your child's studies. Visit the library and borrow some books specifically for preparing for standardized tests. You can also buy some books if your library doesn't have the latest version. Gather other reference materials about the subjects that are being tested on.
4 .Find out your child's weakness and create a game plan to help your child improve on those. It maybe a good idea to focus your child's attention on his weak points or have your child spend extra time and effort to learn more about those that he has difficulty understanding.
5 .Offer help and explain the subjects to your child by giving practice samples. For example, in math, give more problem solving scenarios. Do them in a series and repeat them until your child understands the whole concept.
6 . Go online and sign up for review forums. There are also sites that offer sample tests which your child can practice on. You can also buy a DVD or audio CD that can offer practice reviews for standardized tests.
7 .Teach good study habits and techniques. Teach your child not to just memorize the answers. It is more important that your child really learns how to get to the answer to ensure that he gets the answers right no matter what the scenarios are.
8 .Ask pointers from teachers and other parents. Organize study sessions with other children's parents; they may have some information that would be beneficial to your child. Being in a study group will also teach your child to interact with other children.
9 .Hire a tutor for your child. There may come a time that you cannot provide adequate study pointers to your child, whether you are too busy or you also do not understand the subjects to be an effective tutor to your child. It is important to know when to ask for help. There are tutors that you can hire to teach your child after school. Don't forget to ask for references and do background checks. Check for referrals from your child's school. They may give a teacher's name that does this as a part-time job. There may also be available tutoring programs in schools that your child can participate in.
10 .Make sure that your child gets enough sleep so that your child is well rested and more alert when studying. Limit the hours of TV watching or playing videos. Feed your child healthy food, particularly those that are rich in protein.Read more: How to Help a Child Get Ready for a Standardized Test eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_2118577_help-child-ready-standardized-test.html#ixzz1HBfsxJr1

Only 3 More Weeks

It is hard to believe, but we are only 3 more weeks away from the CRCT. This year, we have set a very lofty goal of more than 94! That means more than 94% of our students will meet or exceed on the CRCT. While this goal is a lofty one, we really do feel that it is one that we can achieve will lots of hard work, dedication and belief! Our students are working hard each day. Not only are they paying attention to their teachers Essential Questions and standards, they are working hard on really focusing on the skills needed to be successful. They are also working hard to be prepared for the format of the questions that they will see on the CRCT in April. Kennedy students have taken over 5700 practice tests on georgiaoas.org and have spent thousands of hours on Classworks and over 700 hours on brainchild.com. They are really working hard to be ready. With this type of goal and the pressure to pass this test, your child might be dealing with some stress caused by this test. I encourage you to check out our newsletter found on our website: www.barrow.k12.ga.us/kes . It has strategies for students as well as parents to prepare your child for the test.

Storybook Night

This past Thursday night marked KES's third annual Storybook night. Storybook night is always done in conjunction with Mr. Frame's Spring Book Fair. This year we had around 100 people attend and it was a lot of fun. Kindergarten presented A Very Hungry Caterpillar, First Grade did Five Little Monkeys, Second Grade presented The Hat, Third Grade did Reading, Writing, and Little Red Riding Hood, Fourth and Fifth Grade presented their own version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and administration presented Cookies from Frog and Toad Together. It was a lot of fun.

Special Friends Program

Last night was Kennedy Elementary school's opportunity to recognize students at the monthly school board meeting. Below is what I said to recognize the students that work in our "Special Friends" Program.

Dr. Creel and members of the board, it is my honor to stand up here tonight and recognize some of Kennedy Elementary’s stand out students. The students we will be recognizing tonight are a part of a program that I am probably the most proud of at KES. My wife says I am so proud of this program because it was my idea. It was my idea and I did model it after a school that I previously worked at, but the reason why I am so proud of it is because of what the Kennedy Elementary teachers and these students have made out of that idea I had.
At KES, we have a higher population of students with special physical needs. These needs may be with walking, communicating, eating, or seeing, but these students still all CAN succeed in their own way with a little bit and sometimes a lot of patience, assistance and encouragement. That is where the students of the “Special Friends” program come into place. We have 22 typical aged peers that work with these students throughout the day. It may be helping them get from the bus to the classroom, or getting their morning routine of putting up their book bag and making their lunch choices through a communication switch, or reading to them when they need some comfort during the day.
This program was designed and created to give the students with the special physical needs the love and support that they needed to be successful, but this program has become much more for these “Special Friends”.
Everyone thinks that to be a success in life, you must be smart, dedicated, hardworking, and committed to being a success. Those are all important, but if you cannot be a person who appreciates differences in others and gets along with others no matter what, you will never be a true success. Truly successful people appreciate and respect people no matter what. That is what these students are learning as they work each day with our students and teachers. These students are learning to put others first and care about people. That is why I am so proud of them.
At KES, we teach on a daily basis to be Ready, Respectful and Responsible. I cannot think of any other students who exemplify that more than these. They have to be ready every day because someone is counting on them to make sure their daily routine is established. They have to be respectful because they see the struggles that these students face and now stand up for these students like they were their best friend or sibling. They also have to be responsible because while they are working in these classes in the morning or afternoon (and some of them even give up their own recess time to help) they still have to do the morning work that all the others are doing. That is why I am so proud!!!

Great Time at the Dance

Last night was a blast. PTO put on the 2nd dance of the year. Close to 300 came out to enjoy a wonderful DJ, good food, and lots of fun. This was the first dance the PTO has done all by themselves and it was a lot of fun. Thank you Ms. Merrill, Ms. Wingfield, Ms. Fudali, Ms.Childs, Ms. Roberts, Ms. Jones, and Ms. Bagwell for leading the rest of the PTO in this dance. I know from experience that they are a lot of work, and you cannot control everything (like having enough $1's) but the reason why we have dances is to provide our families a safe and fun night at the school. THAT IS WHAT HAPPENED last night, and I thank you all for it. It was great to see our students and their families dancing and enjoying themselves. It made it even more special to see the teachers enjoying it along side of them. Thanks KES PTO for a great night!!

Wax Museum

Today our 4th Graders brought to life some of our country's history by putting on their annual Wax Museum. Students researched some of America's most influential historical figures. George Washington, Paul Revere, Betsy Ross, and Abigail Adams to name a few were represented. The students researched these historical characters, wrote a report, dressed the character, and memorized a 1-2 minute speech about their historical character. Every other student in the building were able to come and learn. It was neat to hear our 5th Graders say, "I was Betsy Ross last year!" and our kindergarten students say, "I hope that I get to be Ben Franklin!" It sure was a good project. Great Job Mrs. Ballard, Ms. Bagnasco, Mrs. Marsee, Mrs. Ouzts, and Mrs. Paramore.

2 Weeks without a post

I have gone two weeks without a post on the blog. I know that you have all missed it. Sorry, I guess I just got caught up in stuff. Over the last two weeks much has happened. We have continued with our 4 Wonderful Weeks of Writing and HAMMER Time. The kids are still working hard and doing really well to get prepared for the State Writing Test on March 2nd and the CRCT on April 4-8. Our Pre-k through 2nd graders have also been working extremely hard on mastering GPS at each grade level. It is amazing to see the fantastic writing and math being displayed outside of the classrooms each week. All of our students are also working hard to meet their Accelerated Reader goal as well. Keep reading and working hard KES students.

HAMMER TIME week 1

We started HAMMER (High Achievement Means More Enrichment and Remediation)Time last week with our 3rd-5th Graders. It really went well. I love my small group of 9 students. We worked really hard on numbers and operations especially decimals and fractions. Everyone of my students scored a 79 or higher on the Friday assessment. I was very pleased. It was also good to see the 3rd- 5th Graders really work on the OAS tests from www.georgiaoas.org . The 5th graders averaged 4 tests per student with an average score of 71% while the 4th grade averaged 3 tests per student with a 61% and the 3rd grade averaged 2.5 tests per student with a 66% average. We need to keep taking those tests because they will really help get used to the format of the CRCT. Being comfortable with the format is worth a lot. If you are a parent of a 3rd-5th grader and you are reading this, I am really asking you to make sure that you and your child carve out 30 minutes a night to do a test on www.georgiaoas.org and a section on www.brainchild.com . Taking that 30 minutes will do wonders in preparing your child for the CRCT in April. It is something that is easy to do and does not take that long. Please do it! Congratulations to Igrid U. in 5th grade for taking the most tests and having the highest average.

CRCT Information Dinner

Last night we had over 220 people come out to hear about the CRCT and how to help prepare their students for this test.
Parents and students enjoyed spaghetti, salad, and bread cooked by KES staff and then were able to hear information about the state mandated CRCT that the students will take in April. Each parent that attended received a study guide along with information from two online sites that they can use to help prepare their child for the CRCT.
Georgia Online Assessment System www.georgiaoas.org is a site that provides practice tests that are similar in format to what the students will see in April. KES has put 45 tests per grade level that are between 10-12 questions and are specific to each domain that will be tested. If students take and pass all 45, they will be able to throw a water balloon at me when we have our CRCT pep rally.
Brain Child, www.brainchild.com is the other site. This site provides pre-test, instructional lessons, study practice and post-tests. This site only tests and instructs on the domains and sub domains that will be tested on the CRCT.
Both of these sites are free and will really help your child be prepared to HAMMER the CRCT in April. We are asking that ALL parents make it a point to allow your child to do one georgiaoas test and one Brain Child activity a night. That will be around 30 minutes on the computer and will be time that is well spent. We also ask that you don't just let them do it without checking it with them. That is the part that is so important. Please take the time to sit down and see what they are doing and how you can help them. It will be time that your child will really appreciate.
Thanks for helping us HAMMER the CRCT in 41 school days.

KES 5TH GRADERS START 4 WONDERFUL WEEKS OF WRITING

On March 2nd, all 5th Grade students will take the Georgia Writing Assessment. This test is a 2 hour writing session. Students will be given a writing prompt that will either be a persuasive essay, narrative, or informational essay. Kennedy 5th Grade teacher have given students 2 mock writing tests (Narrative and Persuasive) already this year to prepare them for this type of writing assessment, and this week will start the Four Wonderful Weeks of Writing. Over the next 4 weeks, 5th Grade students complete 5 more writing samples (2 Narrative, 2 Persuasive, and 1 informational). As the weeks go along, the amount of time that they have to complete the writing sample will be shortened until the students are close to the 2 hour time limit they will have on the actually Georgia Writing Assessment. Each week the samples will be scored (by a variety of teachers and administrators at the school) on the same writing rubric that the state uses. Teachers will use these scores to conference with the students to better prepare them for what the state will be looking for on their assessment in March. Each week a winner from each class will be awarded a lunch with Dr. Jordan and myself. Last year this program really pushed our 5th Grade students to perform higher than any other Kennedy 5th Grade class. We feel this year we have a very good shot of improving on last year's score as well.

HAMMER Time

We have been working really hard all year to make sure that ALL students are given every opportunity to master their grade level Georgia Performance Standards while modeling the Ready, Respectful, and Responsible character traits. We believe that those traits along with the quality GPS instruction will give each child at KES the ability to be successful in life and have the ability to get into college when they graduate from high school. While that is our focus on a daily basis, we do not get judged through the media by that but rather on our scores on State mandated tests. I don't feel that those tests show a true picture of what we really do, but I do understand their purpose. That is why we have put in place things each day to prepare our students for these test, and as we get closer to these tests (28 Days until the 5th Grade Writing Test and 50 days until the CRCT for 3rd-5th) we will be starting a new program caller HAMMER (High Achievement Means More Enrichment and Remediation) Time. Each of our 3rd - 5th graders will spend 35 minutes each day working in small groups on the specific skills they need to either meet or exceed expectations on these tests. This time will allow our teachers to differentiate instruction for our students and pinpoint their specific strengths and weaknesses while also working on test-taking skills. We will also be having a parent informational dinner on February 3rd from 6:00-7:30 to discuss what we are doing as well as what parents can be doing to help prepare their students for the CRCT in April.

Make up dates

Last night the Barrow County Board of education approved the following make-up days for the days missed last week. They are as followed:

• Friday, February 18 (previously a furlough day) will NOW be a school day (ALL Students report)
• Monday, February 21 (previously vacation day) will NOW be a school day (All students report)
• Friday, March 11 (previously a teacher work day) will NOW be a school day (All students report)
• Saturday, March 12 will be a teacher work day.

This plan allows for 3 instructional days missed to be made up before the CRCT in April without having days taken away from Spring Break or added to the end of the school year. This will allow us to maximize instruction for all students and have them prepared for the CRCT.

Snow Week 2011

I have been in education in Georgia for 17 years, and I have never seen a storm that wipes out an entire week of instruction. While it was fun for a day or two to play in the snow and ice , it has really taken away some vital instruction. Before this week, we had 35 more days until our 5th Graders take the Georgia Writing Assessment and 57 more days until the 3rd -5th Graders take the CRCT. Those 5 days we missed have really hit hard as we work to prepare them for those assessments. While it has taken away those days from our teachers, it was good to see our teachers yesterday coming up with strategies to make sure these days don't hinder the amazing progress they have made this year. While we don't know when these days will be made up (My hope is before the CRCT), we do have plans in place to make sure ALL students are Ready to meet or exceed on those assessments and more importantly in life. We will need everyone (students, teachers, parents, and administration) working together to make sure it will happen, but that is what we have been doing all year. Now it is just time to "Rise Up" and really hit it hard!~!!!!!

2011 Here we Come!

Today was the start of the NEW CALENDAR year for KES. We have arrived at 2011, and we have lots of work to do! We have only 38 more days (March 2nd)until our 5th Grade takes the statewide Georgia Writing Assessment and 59 more days (April 4th -8th) until our 3rd-5th Grade takes the CRCT. I challenged my teachers today to give their best each day because our kids deserve that. Even though it may get difficult, we need to push through and give EACH kid the best educational opportunity each day. I challenged them to not only believe that our kids will be successful with a surface-level type of belief, but to have a deeper kind of belief. "A belief that gets inside you and actually changes you. The kind of belief that changes your behavior, your attitude, and your outlook on life, and the people around you can't help but notice." Drew Brees.
I challenged them like the Atlanta Falcons to "RISE UP"!

I want my teachers to Rise Up and give the kids that come to Kennedy everything they got because these kids deserve it. I will also ask the kids to Rise Up and give these teachers everything they got, because the teachers deserve it. I know that they will and we WILL be successful.

I have that belief that has gotten inside me and changed me. It has changed my behavior, my attitude, and outlook on life; and I hope that the teachers and students can't help but notice!