On Thursday, November 10th, the Laconia School District offered its staff members a full day of professional learning throughout the district's five schools.
Your Woodland Heights classroom teachers spent the day on their home turf while hosting their colleagues from Elm and Pleasant Street Schools while collaborating in cross-district grade level curriculum and program development in Science, Social Studies, mathematics, and literacy. Teachers also invested time in improving our electronic portfolio process for students, and participating in discussions about best practices in our district for technology integration.
WHS also hosted the district's guidance counselor training and media generalist / technology teacher training. Our arts teachers went across town to meet with their district counterparts, as did our school's paraprofessional staff.
There has been a theme growing amongst the staff of our district's three elementary schools, we call it: "We Are One!" Perhaps seeming a bit corny in the beginning of last year, our district's "We Are One!" campaign is really getting a head of steam. We are observing that gains in our schools' improvement initiatives are occurring at an exponential rate here in Laconia. The energy and enthusiasm is absolutely fabulous to see and feel. As some of our city's social service organizations noted a while back, that they were "Better Together", so are we. Your Laconia elementary schools continue to build upon and share strengths, and work collaboratively, effectively, and efficiently in meeting areas of relative weakness with focused effort and a relentless drive for improvement.
The Laconia school system is a dynamic and exciting place to work and to learn, and our inservice day this past Thursday proved to be a marvelous example of this. Many thanks to you all for 'taking the kids' on the 10th so that your teachers and staff could continue their work to get our district and the education that it delivers "to the next level".
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Saturday, November 12, 2011
WHS Buzzes with Activity During Fall Parent Conferences
Woodland teachers were thrilled with the turnout for our annual Fall Parent Conferences on the afternoon and evening of Wednesday, November 9th. Most all teachers reported the highest parent attendance rate in recent years. We are absolutely delighted that our partnership with parents continues to strengthen at WHS.
There is little doubt, and an abundance of research suggests, that the quality of a student's education is impacted as much by the level of interest and involvement of the child's parents as it is by the 'quality' of the school the child attends. Our school's success, that of your child, and the future that s/he will one day enjoy, depends heavily the commitment you make to support your student in their learning at Woodland Heights. There is a direct correlation between parent involvement and student achievement: when parents value education, students do better in school. For all of our work at WHS, you are and will always be your child's greatest and most powerful teacher. Without parent commitment to create a stable and loving home, and actively support their child's education, a child's likelihood for enjoying a successful, happy, and fulfilling life are greatly reduced.
Other evidence of our growing partnership with parents includes the record number of attendees to school and WHS-PTO events this fall such as the Warm Woodland Welcome, Fall Open House, Halloween Party, Harvest Festival, and more (our annual WHS Turkey Dinner will be serves this coming week -- you won't want to miss it, check our school website for details). The attendance and activity of our parent organization, the WHS-PTO, also grows in number and influence. Everything related to our parent partnership is trending in the right direction at WHS. Thank you.
Be part of your child's education. Be part of the magic that will help make your child's life all that it can be now and in the many years ahead. Start now by becoming a Woodland Heights parent partner!
We hope that you will be able to join us on Thursday for our annual WHS Turkey Dinner -- I guarantee that it would make your child's day. Gobble-gobble!!
There is little doubt, and an abundance of research suggests, that the quality of a student's education is impacted as much by the level of interest and involvement of the child's parents as it is by the 'quality' of the school the child attends. Our school's success, that of your child, and the future that s/he will one day enjoy, depends heavily the commitment you make to support your student in their learning at Woodland Heights. There is a direct correlation between parent involvement and student achievement: when parents value education, students do better in school. For all of our work at WHS, you are and will always be your child's greatest and most powerful teacher. Without parent commitment to create a stable and loving home, and actively support their child's education, a child's likelihood for enjoying a successful, happy, and fulfilling life are greatly reduced.
Other evidence of our growing partnership with parents includes the record number of attendees to school and WHS-PTO events this fall such as the Warm Woodland Welcome, Fall Open House, Halloween Party, Harvest Festival, and more (our annual WHS Turkey Dinner will be serves this coming week -- you won't want to miss it, check our school website for details). The attendance and activity of our parent organization, the WHS-PTO, also grows in number and influence. Everything related to our parent partnership is trending in the right direction at WHS. Thank you.
Be part of your child's education. Be part of the magic that will help make your child's life all that it can be now and in the many years ahead. Start now by becoming a Woodland Heights parent partner!
We hope that you will be able to join us on Thursday for our annual WHS Turkey Dinner -- I guarantee that it would make your child's day. Gobble-gobble!!
WHS Honors Veterans in a Student-Centered Ceremony
On Wednesday morning, November 9th, our WHS Community gathered in front of our school for a very special Veterans Day observance.
For two weeks prior, students and teachers had been discussing and planning ways to commemorate this year's Veterans Day in appropriate fashion. Some of the opportunities offered to learn about and honor our nation's veterans included: a letter/card writing campaign, a recognition display in which school community members put the name of a friend or family member who is serving or has served in the armed forces on a star which was then affixed to a centrally located wall display, student video interviews of veterans which were placed in a shared folder on one of our servers so that teachers and students can access them to integrate into upcoming instruction, and a visit to a local veterans home to meet with and get to know local veterans.
The centerpiece of our observance was our school-wide assembly on Wednesday morning. The assembly featured our Grade 5 students performing a skit to educate their younger schoolmates about what it is to be a veteran, why our veterans are so important to us, and why we should honor them. Fifth Graders also led us in a flag folding ceremony as our former school flag was retired that day. A new and beautiful U.S. flag was presented to Mr. Ryan Marsh, Director of Student Services for WHS, who then took it through our building and onto the roof for raising. The students followed the raising with a recital of the Pledge of Allegiance. The flag was presented to our school by veteran Paul Boore (father of Grade 5 teacher Monica Boore) during the ceremony who, along with four friends, represented the Patriot Guard who rode to WHS on their motorcycles and trikes. One of the members spoke for some time about the sacrifices of veterans and a homeless shelter for veterans with which she is associated. The weather was amazing for our assembly, as was the reverence of our students throughout the entire assembly.
At Woodland Heights, we are proud of our students, our school, our veterans, and our country.
We have pictures and video from our Veterans Day observance activities, some of which I will look to post on this blog early this coming week.
Thanks for reading!
For two weeks prior, students and teachers had been discussing and planning ways to commemorate this year's Veterans Day in appropriate fashion. Some of the opportunities offered to learn about and honor our nation's veterans included: a letter/card writing campaign, a recognition display in which school community members put the name of a friend or family member who is serving or has served in the armed forces on a star which was then affixed to a centrally located wall display, student video interviews of veterans which were placed in a shared folder on one of our servers so that teachers and students can access them to integrate into upcoming instruction, and a visit to a local veterans home to meet with and get to know local veterans.
The centerpiece of our observance was our school-wide assembly on Wednesday morning. The assembly featured our Grade 5 students performing a skit to educate their younger schoolmates about what it is to be a veteran, why our veterans are so important to us, and why we should honor them. Fifth Graders also led us in a flag folding ceremony as our former school flag was retired that day. A new and beautiful U.S. flag was presented to Mr. Ryan Marsh, Director of Student Services for WHS, who then took it through our building and onto the roof for raising. The students followed the raising with a recital of the Pledge of Allegiance. The flag was presented to our school by veteran Paul Boore (father of Grade 5 teacher Monica Boore) during the ceremony who, along with four friends, represented the Patriot Guard who rode to WHS on their motorcycles and trikes. One of the members spoke for some time about the sacrifices of veterans and a homeless shelter for veterans with which she is associated. The weather was amazing for our assembly, as was the reverence of our students throughout the entire assembly.
At Woodland Heights, we are proud of our students, our school, our veterans, and our country.
We have pictures and video from our Veterans Day observance activities, some of which I will look to post on this blog early this coming week.
Thanks for reading!
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