2nd Week of February

Intervention Quote of the Week

Eggy-Word App in 1st Grade
for learning sight-words

Instead of asking, 

"What is wrong with this child, and how do we stop it?" 

We need to be asking, 

"What happened to this child, and how do we help them?"

~Jennifer Ng'Andu~

New FAQ about the STAAR Test.
Growth Mindset - Carol Dweck
I encourage you to watch this video called "The Power of Not Yet".  It is great mindset to teach kids how to look at their learning through the lens of mastery vs. not quite there instead of through the battle of passing vs. failing.

DOK Engagement

Get out Your Cell Phone
Check out www.mentimeter.com.  It is a great tool to engage your kids with their cell phones.

Here is a mentimeter poll for you.  You can access it from your computer, but try it with your phone.

www. govote.at

enter code 84 44 64

Results can be seen here.



Valentine Cards Never Get Old
Engagement in learning is all about students finding relevance in the learning tasks that they are given.  Mrs. Ojeda and Mrs. Risner's students are making Valentines for Kids in the hospital and seniors in assisted living (nursing homes).  This is one of Mrs. Ojeda's favorite service projects  of the year because most of the students actually love to 'go back to their roots,' get their hands glittery and be a kid again. In both classes, they have made over 500 Valentine cards.  Some of the people in nursing homes may not get any cards, except for these, during the year, and the project makes her students more aware of the people around them, and, for a few minutes, think about how they can make someone else's life a little brighter - even if only for the day.

Here's the link again if you are wondering exactly where these go, and how they get to the kids and seniors.  http://kvne.com/valentinesforkidsandseniors2015/


Web Resource for Engagement

edutopia @edutopia  3h3 hours ago

Our BIG list of resources for student engagement: http://edut.to/1Et3vF1 . #k12

College & Career
Last week was National Signing Day.  If your students were asked where they are committing to go to college what would they say?  Would they say Texas or A&M?  Would they say, "I don't know", or would they say, "I'm not going to college."  Many students don't know what college is all about.  Even more think that they can't go to college, while a huge majority don't think they need to go to college or technical school after graduation.

Students in Mrs. Asaff's biology classes are simulating the 

digestive system in this messy but engaging lab.

College enrollment is down before kids even graduate from high school.  That is because college is a foreign concept to them, but if you think about it, that is something that we can fix.  In our work, we must inspire kids to believe that they are college material and that they have what it takes to pursue a college & career future.  So how can you promote a college-going mindset in your role?

• Tell students your college story.
• Share statistics about the benefits of getting a college degree or technical school degree.
• Talk about careers connected to your content and encourage students to research them.
• Explain that job opportunities are fewer and wages are less for students who choose not to go to college.
• Tell students about the potential you see in them to go to college.  Kids need to hear that we see their potential.

College is a long way off even for our seniors, but it is never too early to talk about the importance of pursuing an education after high school.  If we conditioned our kids to pursue college every year beginning with kindergarten, I am confident that National Signing Day would reach even more kids than it does today.



Congratulations to THS CX Debate Team 

THS Debate Team
From L-R:  Malik Allen, Damian Lopez, Nathan McBride,
Kevin Boatman, Chris Starling, Jason McBride

This past weekend was the district CX Debate District Meet.  THS students competed against 4 schools with a total of 11 teams.  Having 'buried the lead' a little bit...Nathan McBride and Kevin Boatman brought home 2nd place and top speaker points, and are HEADED TO STATE!! THS also had one other team (Damian Lopez and Jason McBride) only 1 speaker point away from being 3rd/4th place (and alternate to state). We are so proud of Mrs. Ojeda and her students for their work in taking Eagle Excellence to state.  

Congratulations to our THS Band Members

The following students have advanced to UIL State Solo and Ensemble. Twenty-four total including twirlers advance, and some of the students are going on more than one event.   The students came home with 32 first division medals.  Congratulations to Mr. Applegate, Mrs. Machado and Mr. Wells for their work in leading our students to excellence.

Zack Arbegast, Madison Baker, Kevin Boatman, Taylor Burch, Ania Centers, Brayden Fleming, Ryan Gibson, Destiny Hicks, Breanna Hill, Remington Hill, Nicholas Jackson, Taylor Majors, Joshua Martin,  Lexie McAlister, Jonathan Mock,  Allen Morrison, James Nesbitt,  Matthew O'Dea, Tylar Phillips, Keanna Pipkin,  Breanna Tatum,  Nathan Trichel,  Matthew Vickers,  Amanda Zahn 

TIP (Tech Integration Pic) of the Week

Nathan McBride, Kevin Boatman and Lauren Scarborough from Mr. Miller's class submitted this animation to the UIL film festival. Check out Beep, Boop, Bop

Do you want Smore Technology Integration Ideas?

By Cristi Whiddon:  8th Grade Social Studies students are using smore.com to 

create an advertisement about an invention from the industrial revolution.