LRSD Spotlight

Kay Jones and Charlotte Cook of Carver Magnet Elementary recently received a $2,000 grant from the Wal-Mart Foundation for a Litter-Free Zone at their school. Carver is the first school in the LRSD to become involved in this grant program. It is a student-centered program where students learn to be "litter scene investigators." The students begin their investigation by flagging trash around the building. Their investigation includes such methods as measuring how much trash was found per square foot, understanding perimeter and other forms of measurement and utilizing creative problem solving and scientific inquiry to figure out how to best solve the problem. Thanks to this grant Carver will not only become a cleaner place for students to learn, but it also will produce better problem solvers!

Mabelvale Elementary students Ryan Abrams, Preston Adams, Bradly Burfeind, Jasmine Jackson, Ciamara Schroeder, Andre Steplight and Kianna Steplight pulled together in true team spirit to win the Division II Quiz Bowl competition on May 12. The students have worked with coach Bonita Johnson all year to prepare for this "war of minds" competition, which was held at Pulaski Technical College.

The team competed in three other Quiz Bowl events earlier in the year, each time advancing through the brackets before winning the overall title of Champion! Mabelvale Elementary Principal Darian Smith expressed his appreciation for Ms. Johnson's time and dedication to the students who competed, and stated that he is very proud of each student who participated in Quiz Bowl. "These students could have been out playing with their friends," he said, "but chose to enrich their learning experience beyond what was required of them." Mr. Smith further stated that he is proud of these students and of all students who do their best to become educated individuals.

Mrs. Kathryn Thomas’ 1st grade class at Meadowcliff Elementary just celebrated a spectacular reading achievement: the class has read 3,247 books! At the beginning of the school year, Mrs. Thomas promised the students a pizza party when, as a class, they had read 1,000 books.  This was measured by students successfully completing the Accelerated Reading test for each book. The class reached their goal of 1,000 books around the end of February. At that time, Mrs. Thomas noticed that several students had almost reached 100 books, so she decided to start the “100 Book Club.” When students read 100 books, they were able to sign the “100 Book Club” poster, receive a balloon and a book for achieving this goal. As more students achieved this goal, Mrs. Thomas found that students needed to see their progress toward the 100 books and made 50-book and 75-book posters. Students who signed these posters knew they were getting closer to 100! Even after reaching 100 books, students continued to read. Several students reached 200 books and celebrated with a lunch “out”--an off-campus lunch to the restaurant of their choice.

While this initiative has had a definite effect on student achievement (the average oral reading fluency for Mrs. Thomas’ class is 54 words per minute), the effect on student confidence and motivation to learn is phenomenal. Conversations that once were “he took my pencil” or “do we have to?” turned to “do you have another book I can read?” and “may I have that book when you have finished reading it?”. Students began to come to school early so they could read in Mrs. Thomas’ class. Most of the classroom conversation was centered around books, the characters, the illustrations, the problems and the new concepts learned from the stories. The class celebrated their 3,247 book accomplishment with Happy Meals!

The class is no longer taking Accelerated Reading tests and counting the number of books read, but as photos were being taken for this story, they were all reading! The love of reading Mrs. Thomas teacher has instilled in her students cannot be measured!

Elliott Johnson (center), a counselor at Forest Heights Middle School, recently received the P.A.R.K. Educator of the Year Award. Keith Jackson and the P.A.R.K. Foundation presented the award to Mr. Johnson at the P.A.R.K. graduation ceremony held on May 20 at the Donald W. Reynolds Auditorium.

P.A.R.K. strives to to build confidence, self-esteem and spiritual awareness in at-risk youth in Central Arkansas to ensure their academic achievement, to expand their horizons and to instill in them the importance of helping others.

Gibbs Magnet edged out Williams Magnet for the LRSD Division I Elementary Quiz Bowl championship in an exciting final game on May 12. Pulaski Heights and Forest Park tied for 3rd place in this division.

Mabelvale defeated Western Hills in the Division II category, and Dodd and Brady placed 3rd. All 24 teams spent two days playing preliminary rounds, and the top eight teams from each day advanced to the finals. Other teams making it to the finals were Carver, M.L. King, Booker, Terry, Wilson, McDermott, Romine and Stephens.

Nine teams competed in the LRSD Middle School Quiz Bowl on April 29, with Pulaski Heights I outscoring Pulaski Heights II for the championship. Mann II and Dunbar I carried home 3rd place trophies. All the Quiz Bowl teams exhibited good sportsmanship and played to the best of their ability.