schools
FOCUS
on
News for the
community
Richland
School
District
spring 2015
Inside:
• Levy Dollars at Work
• Classroom Support
Teachers
• Capitol Concert
• Science Mentoring
• Summer Camps
Your local levy
dollars at work
Voters’ support of the 2014 operations
levy has enabled the Richland School
District to offer a complete
education program
including access to music,
art, and technology. Local
levy dollars make up
about 18% of the District’s
operating budget.
Carmichael eighth grader
Kaila Brown practices
the violin with the school
orchestra.
HomeLink student Luke
Lu works on a watercolor
art project.
Tapteal Elementary
student Keiahra Carroll
improves her math skills
with the FASTT Math
software program.
2
student
honored
for
robotics
knowledge
Samuel McKinnon,
Hanford High School
junior, has been
named a “2015
Members of the HHS Engineering Club are shown at the
FIRST Tech Challenge
state competition with their robot Bogg (l to r) Nathan Mars, National Dean’s List
Brad Nelson, Ryan Warren, Samuel McKinnon, Matthew Roohr, Finalist”. McKinnon is
Adriana Iturbe, and Animesh Pattanayak.
a founding member
of the HHS Engineering Club which formed last year. Club members built and
programmed a robot and took it to district and state competitions.
engineering
careers
Engineers from AREVA
Hanford visited with
students in Sonia
Moursund’s classes at
Hanford High School. The
engineers spoke about
STEM and engineering
careers, and the
importance of engineering
to society. The culminating
activity was a hands-on
STEM exercise called
“The Spaghetti Tower
Challenge”.
keep up with the latest bond issue
updates at: www.rsd.edu
3
The Kid Calypso Steel Drum Band from Tapteal Elementary School performed this
spring at the Capitol in Olympia. “The students interacted with state legislators
and toured the Senate and House chambers,” said Rachael Clayton, Kid Calypso
director. “It was an excellent educational experience for our students.”
popular
author visits
Richland HS
Young-Adult author
Alexander Gordon Smith
visited the Richland High
School library and spoke to
students about the art of
writing. The award-winning
British author encouraged
the students to consider
writing as a career whether it’s writing for books, video games, or movies. Smith is
the author of the popular “Escape from Furnace” series.
You can follow the richland school
district on our facebook page
4
middle schoolers thinking about college
You can’t miss the hundreds of college pennants that line the main hallway of
Carmichael Middle School. The pennants are colorful and eye catching. Universities,
technical schools, and community colleges from all over the U.S. are represented.
“It’s one of the ways we’re building a career readiness and college-going culture at
Carmichael,” says counselor Becky Thomas.
Thomas has received posters and pennants from schools as diverse as Bellingham
Technical College to Pepperdine University. Plus, there’s a Wall of Fame celebrity
graduates bulletin board to catch the middle schoolers’ attention.
“It’s surprising how many celebrities actually stayed in school,” shared 8th grader
Jada Van Winkle. “Even if they were super busy, they made time for college.”
Student selected for
presidential Conference
Kyler Mortensen, 7th grader at Chief Joseph Middle
School, recently attended the Presidential Conference
for Future Leaders. The top one-half percent of
students in the United States are selected based on
academics, leadership, sports, and music. Kyler is an
honor roll student, plays the cello for the Chief Joseph
Orchestra and Mid-Columbia Youth Symphony, and
participates in multiple sports.
5
learn
Understanding
air pressure
Hanford High School chemistry
students learned about the Kinetic
Molecular Theory as part of a unit
on the Gas Laws. The students
began by studying the movement
of air. At this station, students blew
air between two ping pong balls
and observed that the balls collide
rather than fly apart.
“This happens because the quick moving air between the ping pong balls is
creating low pressure in an outward direction,” explains teacher Evan Woodward.
“The atmospheric air pressure around the ping pong balls is greater than the air
pressure between the balls so they collide.”
QR codes bring stories alive
Some Badger Mountain Elementary kindergarten students wrote
and illustrated stories about gingerbread man books they had
read. But that was just the
beginning. After the students
finished writing, teacher
Michelle Fickle recorded
them reading their stories and
created QR codes that linked
to the audio recordings. QR
codes affixed to the writing
posters allowed parents and
other students to read and
listen to the stories.
“It was an excellent project
as we combined reading,
writing, and speaking skills with
technology,” said Fickle.
6
A Badger Mountain kindergarten student listens to
a classmate’s story by scanning the QR code.
ning in action
High school
students mentor
fifth graders
Students from Audra Richter’s
and Paul Staley’s science classes
at Richland High School used
their science expertise to help
some Sacajawea Elementary
fifth graders prepare projects for
their school science fair. The high
schoolers helped the fifth graders
think through their projects and
assisted in planning experiments
and writing up conclusions.
“We were impressed with the
intellectual curiosity of the fifth
graders and proud of the way our
high school students stepped up
to mentor and encourage these
kids,” said Staley and Richter.
7
Art
Awards
Richland School District
students earned two
of 15 major awards at
the 2015 Washington
State High School Art
Show in Olympia. The
winning students are
Yebel Mosqueda, Hanford
High School, for an ink
drawing “Nature’s Fire”,
and Chancelor Perez,
Richland High School, for
a photograph “Structure”.
The winning entries are
now a permanent part of
the Old Capitol Building
art collection.
8
Real world
business skills
RHS students Caitlin Gallivan (freshman), Darby Miller
(sophomore), and Trevor Morrow (senior) holding their
Microsoft Office Specialist certificates.
Hundreds of Richland High
School students are earning
Microsoft Office Specialist
(MOS) certifications in
Word, PowerPoint, Excel
and Outlook. Currently,
there are 163 certifications
in Word, 176 in PowerPoint,
125 in Excel, and 106
certified in all three.
“These are corporate level
certifications highly respected in the business world,” says Annie See, MOS teacher.
“Students with MOS skills set themselves apart when applying for jobs.”
Some colleges waive the computer applications prerequisite and award credits if
students certify in all four areas.
“Former students tell us their MOS skills enable them to complete college
assignments more easily than their peers,” adds See.
The Richland School District has
compiled a list of athletic and
academic camps which will take place
this summer. You can access the list by going to the
District web site at: www.rsd.edu/camps
Have a question or Suggestion?
e-mail the district at: [email protected]
9
Classroom
Support
Teachers
have
positive
impact
Mentoring, coaching,
collaboration,
Classroom Support Teacher Katey Bryan (r) works with first
support. The Richland
grade teacher Kristen Good.
School District this
year implemented Classroom Support Teachers, a student-centered coaching
model designed to improve instruction. It’s all about teachers helping fellow
teachers improve their craft.
The five Classroom Support Teachers (CST) are Katey Bryan, Sacajawea; Jill Loftus,
Chief Joseph; Amy McLaughlin, Marcus Whitman; Linda Stairet, Hanford High; and
Tina Wutzke, Jason Lee.
“Teaching is rigorous. Teachers need support. Doing it alone is incredibly difficult,”
emphasizes Stairet. “Classroom Support Teachers is one tool that provides
teachers with ongoing professional growth in the classroom.”
“Being a CST has allowed me to provide immediate responses to teachers’
questions and help them meet the needs of their students,” explains Bryan.
“Improving student learning is the guiding focus.”
Developmental
Preschool
The Richland School District’s
Developmental Preschool is
making a positive impact on
young children who have learning disabilities. The District now offers ten
sections of this specialized preschool. “It’s all about getting children to where
they can live independently as adults,” says Sharon Bradley, Assistant Director
of Special Programs.
10
Congratulations
Congratulations to 12 Richland School District teachers who earned certification
this year from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, the highest
credential in the teaching profession. These teachers are:
Kelly Casto
Sonia Cross
Breanna Day
Tania
Guaman-Covert
Heather Hadler
Chandra Markel
Chris Newbury
Marcie Rader
Kristin Rodriguez
Tami Simundson
Kristin Smith
Paul Staley
11
new state test
The new state test, the Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBA),
measures student mastery of the Common Core State Standards.
The SBA is designed to let teachers and parents know whether students are on
track to be college and career ready by the time they graduate.
“Think of the standards and the SBA as new targets with new results,” explains
Assistant Superintendent Mike Hansen. “The scores cannot be compared to test
scores of the past. This year’s scores will represent a new baseline as students try
to meet the rigorous demands of college and career readiness.”
“It’s important to put the Smarter Balanced Assessment into a larger perspective
and a broader context,” says Superintendent Rick Schulte. “This is a better test
than some we’ve had in the past, with the focus on more rigorous skills. However,
the SBA doesn’t test everything we value or teach in the Richland School District.
We need to find the right balance between doing our best on the SBA while not
losing those things we
teach that aren’t on the
Attention Golfers!
test. Student engagement
You
can support RSD students by playing
in meaningful work must
in
the
Richland Education Foundation’s
continue without allowing
Scholar Scramble Golf Tournament on
the SBA to push out other
Friday,
June 12, at Horn Rapids Golf Course.
learning we value.”
More info at: [email protected]
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Richland, WA 99352
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Focus on Schools is published by the Richland
School District Communications Office as a community service to citizens of the area.
***ECRWSS***
Board of Directors
Phyllis Strickler, President
Heather Cleary, Vice President
Rick Donahoe, Mary Guay, Rick Jansons
POSTAL OCCUPANT
RICHLAND, WA 99352
Rick Schulte, Superintendent
Steve Aagaard, Editor