Recognitions and Accomplishments of staff doing great things in the Beaverton School District

StaffDistrict Goal

(2010-2015):

All students will show continuous progress toward their personal learning goals, developed in collaboration with teachers and parents, and will be prepared for post-secondary education and career success.

WE want every student to graduate with many options and be prepared to:

THINK:Creatively & CriticallyKNOW:Master ContentACT:Self Direct & CollaborateGO:Navigate Locally & Globally.

March 2014

Westview HS takes first place at BPA Regional Science Bowl

Westview High School Team 1, coached by Bradley Helsel, Chemistry teacher, took first place in the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) Regional Science Bowl, the nation’s largest regional science bowl last month.

Westview’s Team 1 emerged to take the top spot in the 17th round. The team has won an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., in April to compete in the Department of Energy National

Science Bowl, as well as $85,000 in scholarships to colleges and universities throughout the Northwest.

For 23 straight years, BPA has hosted the Regional Science Bowl as part of its commitment to encouraging young minds to engage in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

From left to right: Coach Bradley Helsel, Abhijit Mudigonda, Eddie Wang, Vincent Zhuang, Chris Younkins, David Wang

Mountain View MS technology students support Outdoor SchoolStudents in Mrs. Peterson-Terjeson’s 7th and 8th grade second semester technology classes at Mountain View Middle School put their economics and technology skills into an authentic learning project.

The students used vinyl cutters from a 2013 BEF Classroom Innovation Grant: Digital Fabrication, to cut out hearts which they made into valentines which were sold during lunch and at parent

teacher conferences. The profits from the project were donated to the 6th grade Outdoor School fund. The students earned $68.53 which is enough to assist one camper attend the educational camp.

Springville K-8 students show characterSpringville K-8 staff have been working on fostering character this school year, using best practices and integrating with the Beaverton School District behavior targets that are on the K-8 report cards.

Last spring, a staff committee began working on a plan to implement best practices of character development. The team drew upon research completed by the Expeditionary Learning Network and behavior targets designed by District teams, and developed five character targets, three performance character traits and two relational character traits that are aligned with District targets. The performance character traits are responsibility, perseverance, and collaboration. The relational traits are compassion and integrity. All five traits can be explicitly fostered in school, and evidence can be gathered regarding student progress. The five traits are accompanied by supporting learning targets, modeled after the 6th-8th grade targets and interpreted developmentally for each grade level.

Research demonstrates that embedding character trait work in academic instruction is effective and enhances academic achievement. At Springville, strategies include making the five traits visible around the school, all staff using common language to recognize the traits in student behavior, teaching about traits during morning meetings, celebrating the traits at assemblies, supporting students in working on these characteristics and evaluating their own personal progress, using rubrics and indicator lists.

First graders are also working on character at home. Parents have been invited to send a photo of their child showing character, in this activity called: “I got caught showing character!”

McKay ES reads “Because of Winn-Dixie”

McKay Elementary School students, parents, and staff members spent the month of January reading Because of Winn-Dixie, by Kate DiCamillo together for their One School, One Book event.

Students and families brought in books ahead of time for the Herman W. Block memorial book swap and photo stand, had a picnic celebration in Gloria Dump’s yard, played Winn-Dixie Trivia Bingo, spent time thinking and writing like a dog, and even created their own Worry Tree (pictured left). Each bottle was decorated by a child and parent, they decided what their worries were, then put them in the bottles to hang from the tree.

One School, One Book is a program designed to create a shared reading experience within a single elementary school community. A chapter book is chosen, every family in the elementary school receives a copy, and every family reads that book at home over the course of a single month. Activities at school coordinate, promote and enrich the shared reading experience.

Mountain View MS, Five Oaks MS and AHS team up to play the day away!

The Mountain View Middle School, Five Oaks Middle School and Aloha High School bands teamed up for a fundraiser play-a-thon last month.

Students from all bands gathered pledges then played music all day long on a Saturday. High school students helped to teach, guide and have fun with the middle school students while mastering their skills as well. Great way to collaborate!

Andrew Beckham - artist, teacher, vigneron

Beaverton High School ceramics teacher, Andrew Beckham brings new meaning to love what you do and do what you love.

Beckham, an artist with a passion for history merged his three passions: history, pottery and education, into a fulfilling career as a teacher by day and a fermentor of Pinot noir wine by night, and early morning.

For the two months it takes to harvest and crush his grapes, Beckham works at the vineyard from 3:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m., teaches from 7:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and returns to the field from 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. He only sleeps for three to four hours, but the opportunity to unite his passions makes it all worthwhile.

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BHS parents organize career day for seniors

A trio of parents at Beaverton High School organized career presentations for seniors to learn about a multitude of career opportunities and what it takes to get to those careers.

The speakers included an author, a lawyer, a pediatric nurse, a mortgage finance broker, a television anchor, an engineer, a website designer, a chef, a medical scientist and a civil and structural engineer.

What an excellent example of collaboration and community engagement! Together WE are stronger!

Shark day at Kinnaman ESSecond grade classes at Kinnaman Elementary School participated in an interactive shark presentation by the sister and brother duo Laura and Robert Sams of Sisbro Studios. The presentation, The Riddle Of The Shark, included a video and a one hour presentation about more than 20 shark species.

As part of the Sisbro program, founded in 2001 by the sister/brother creative team of Laura Sams and Robert Sams, whose dream was to create science-based films, books, music, educational media and curriculum that help people discover the natural world, students had the opportunity to blow up a scale replica of a basking shark.

Sisbro are well know for their books as well as videos. Their work has been honored with over 50 international awards, including a Wildscreen Panda Award (which is often called the “Green Oscars”), a KIDS FIRST! Best of the Year Award, a National Parenting Publications (NAPPA) Gold Award, Parents’ Choice GOLD and many more.

This presentation was made possible by Instructional Assistant Janette Gill.

Five Oaks MS 6th graders recreate maps from The Phantom Tollbooth

In preparation for reading the novel The Phantom Tollbooth, Ann Ezell’s Five Oaks Middle School 6th grade Humanities classes re-created the maps pictured in the book.

Each student took two or three of the 80 squares from the map grid (about a half inch in size) and enlarged them to 9 x 9 inches. Using extensive collaboration, the students chose colors, directions, and styles, and worked together to create beautiful maps (one for each Humanities class).

First, the squares were sketched out and colored, and then stapled to the walls. The road and coast land were then outlined in black. By working together, the students created glorious maps of the Land of Wisdom!

BSD teachers, counselors and admin share best practices at PBIS conference

Beaverton School District teachers, counselors, and administrators shared their practices around promoting positive and culturally inclusive environments to support social and academic success of all students at the annual Northwest Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports

(PBIS) conference last month.

More than 1,500 educators from across the Pacific Northwest attended the conference, and Beaverton staff ’s presentations dominated the Culturally Responsive PBIS strand. The following are the educators who represented the Beaverton School District and their session titles:

• Bonnie Heaton (Beaverton HS) & Danica Jensen (Westview HS): “Race is Not Neutral: Developing Racially Explicit Intervention Systems in Comprehensive High Schools”

• Claudia Ruf (Mountain View MS), David Nieslanik (Highland Park MS), Ken Struckmeier (Cedar Park MS): “The Power of Collective: Middle School Principals Working Together to Eliminate Racial Disparities in Student Discipline”

• Carol Droz,Gillian Dyall (McKay ES): “Training Teachers for culturally Responsive PBIS: One School’s Journey of Awareness”

• Selina Semon (Cedar Park MS), Wendy Bernard (William Walker ES): “Inclusive School, Intentional Efforts”

• Laurie Huntwork (Teaching & Learning): “PBIS & the ASCA National School Counseling Framework”

• Sho Shigeoka (Teaching & Learning): “What Does Culture Have to Do With PBIS? Eliminating Racial Disproportionality Through Culturally Responsive PBIS Framework,” “What’s Race Got to Do With It? PBIS Districts & Schools’ Efforts to Eliminate Racial Disproportionality,” and “What We Know And What We Need to Learn About Discipline Disparities”

The Beaverton School District recognizes the diversity and worth of all individuals and groups. It is the policy of the Beaverton School District that there will be no discrimination or harassment of individuals or groups based on race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, marital status, age, veterans’ status, genetic information or disability in any educational programs, activities or employment.

Mountain View MS 6th graders ecstatic

Students in Joan Park’s Mountain View Middle School science classes learned about static electricity using a Van De Graaff generator.

The students were excited to see principal Claudia Ruf be the first to demonstrate how our bodies gain positive charges with the generator. Our hair stands up because like charges repel.

They also learned how opposite charges attract. Shocking!

Cedar Park MS student art on display at Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art

Six student artists in Katie Gillard’s Cedar Park Middle School art class have been selected to display their artwork at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art (JSMA) K-12 art show at the University of Oregon in Eugene.

The NewArt Northwest Kids: Food for Thought will be on view until June 8, 2014.

The following student works were selected to be showcased:

• Food is on the Brain by McKenna Finley• Sugar Coated by Colby Goodrich• The Queen’s Discovery by Erin Horton• Persephone’s Pomegranate by Elena Humphrey• Dance of the Fruit by Samantha Stark• Your Choice by Sabrina Suminski

Sugar Coated

The Queen’s Discovery Dance of the Fruit Your Choice

The students will be honored at a public reception celebrating student artists on Saturday, May 3, 2014 from 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. at the museum, on the University of Oregon campus.

Congratulations, McKenna, Colby, Erin, Elena, Samantha and Sabrina!

Food is on the Brain

Persephone’s Pomegranate