FOC

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on schoolsNews for the community

RiChlandSChOOldiStRiCtspring 2015

inside:•LevyDollarsatWork

•ClassroomSupportTeachers

•CapitolConcert• ScienceMentoring•SummerCamps

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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.

YOUR lOCal levY dOllaRS at wORkVoters’ 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.

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StUdent hOnORedFOR RObOtiCS knOwledge

Samuel McKinnon, Hanford High School junior, has been named a “2015 FIRST Tech Challenge National Dean’s List Finalist”. McKinnon is 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.

Members of the HHs engineering Club are shown at the state competition with their robot Bogg (l to r) Nathan Mars, Brad Nelson, Ryan warren, samuel McKinnon, Matthew Roohr, Adriana Iturbe, and Animesh Pattanayak.

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

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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.

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.”

YOU Can FOllOw the RiChland SChOOl diStRiCt On OUR FaCebOOk page

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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.

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leaRning in aCtiOnUndeRStanding 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.

A Badger Mountain kindergarten student listens to a classmate’s story by scanning the QR code.

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leaRning in aCtiOnhigh 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.

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aRt awaRdSRichland 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.

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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

Real wORld bUSineSS SkillS

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.

RHs students Caitlin Gallivan (freshman), Darby Miller (sophomore), and Trevor Morrow (senior) holding their Microsoft Office Specialist certificates.

have a QUeStiOn OR SUggeStiOn?e-mail the diStRiCt at: inFO@RSd.edU

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ClaSSROOm SUppORt teaCheRS have pOSitive impaCt

Mentoring, coaching, collaboration, support. The Richland 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.”

Classroom Support Teacher Katey Bryan (r) works with first grade teacher Kristen Good.

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.

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Kristin Rodriguez Tami Simundson Kristin Smith Paul Staley

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

COngRatUlatiOnS

Focus on schools is published by the Richland School District Communications Office as a community service to citizens of the area.

BoardofDirectorsPhyllis Strickler, PresidentHeather Cleary, Vice PresidentRick Donahoe, Mary Guay, Rick Jansons

Rick Schulte, SuperintendentSteve Aagaard, Editor

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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 test. Student engagement in meaningful work must continue without allowing the SBA to push out other learning we value.”

attentiOn gOlFeRS!You can support RSD students by playing in the RichlandeducationFoundation’sScholarScramblegolfTournamenton Friday,June12, at Horn Rapids Golf Course.

More info at: REFfoundation@gmail.com�