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.