Celebrating Homecoming at Columbia!

It is that time of year again: Homecoming!  Homecoming is a special time of year where our alumni families gather with current students to cheer Columbia on to Victory over their foe!  It is enjoyable to see friends and family and watch the students take part in the week’s activities, ride in the parade and compete in sports.

The Columbia School District celebrates Homecoming at all levels. The Student Councils at all of our schools independently work with their advisors to specify what they will wear on which day.  This gives the students an opportunity to take on a leadership role at their school.  For the youngest students at Columbia Elementary School they began the week by dressing up in gear from their favorite sports team, and culminated the week with our favorite colors: Blue & Gold Day! 

Columbia Middle School students celebrate Homecoming in a somewhat more flashy way beginning with Clash Day, where students wear clothes that are mismatched and then ending with Blue & Gold Day.  This year Columbia Middle School they have added a new day: Scrabble Day.  During the day they will collaborate with each other to create academic specific words or phrases as classes.  The students may spell out robotics in their engineering classroom, exponent in math class or genetics in biology.

Sometimes our students assign a deeper meaning to their daily choices: In support of our troops abroad, the Columbia Central High School student wore red, white and blue for Monday’s America Day and in support of finding a cure for Breast Cancer, Tuesday at CCHS was a Pink Out, where everyone wore pink.

Many of the activities during Homecoming Week focus on bonding our students and staff members together.  There are competitions between classes at CCHS and sometimes the teachers play the students in basketball or volleyball.  Both Columbia Middle and Columbia Central will end their week with a pep assembly celebrating their athletic teams.

The day culminates with a Homecoming Parade featuring floats and our Columbia Central High School representatives.  This year’s Homecoming Court is made up of: Freshmen  Mackenzee Whipple and Jeff Perry; Sophomores Hailey Dickens and Hunter Martin; Juniors Courtney Hill and Noah Raby and Seniors Garrett Hotchkiss,  Austin Witt, Noah Stump,  Ariel Miller, Jackie Ali and Jordan Diefenthaler.

 

Be sure a join in the Homecoming Festivities with our Columbia Central High School teams!  The Homecoming Parade begins at 5 pm and the Football Game begins at 7 pm.  If you are interested in learning more about Columbia School District and our programs, call me at 5175926641 or email me at Pamela.campbell@myeagles.org.

Creating a Strong Successful Learning Environment

Over the past decade, educational researchers have reviewed practices in various school districts to determine what programs have yielded the most positive results.  One of the practices that has produced increases in test scores and successful acquisition of learning is differentiation.  Differentiation is not just a trendy idea or a slick word, it includes many positive aspects of wonderful learning environments including respecting each other, developing a learning community, encouraging student success, creating various opportunities for learning, and involving everyone in the teaching and learning community.   When speaking about the importance of a positive culture when using differentiation, University of Virginia Professor Cindy A. Strickland commented that “Kids have to feel that they can take a risk, they can fail and it’s going to be okay, that growth will be rewarded and is expected.” 

In the Columbia School District our teachers use differentiation methods to help all of their students learn. Faced with the daunting task of meeting the learning needs of each student our teachers strive to make their classrooms safe and welcoming.  We focus on using educational best practices to enhance teaching and learning. One of the aspects of differentiation that teachers at Columbia embrace is to ask themselves: “Will what is happening in my classroom support student success?”  Teachers at Columbia use various differentiation strategies including academic games, practice, and inventive techniques to yield a higher level of effectiveness in their classroom. 

Our teachers provide the basis for student learning and for establishing an environment that uses differentiation to adapt various activities to the different levels of student readiness.  Although educators have known about the need for differentiation for years, many districts have not embraced this powerful learning strategy. However, Columbia District teachers have firmly grasped the fact that children enter the classroom with various levels of readiness and that we must use strategies and techniques to help all students succeed.

As Columbia School District teachers and staff members continue to improve our effectiveness, we are working adapt lessons and use differentiation to give our students the best opportunity for success.  If you are interested in learning more about Columbia School District and our programs, email me at Pamela.campbell@myeagles.org or call 517-592-6641.

Partnering With Our Community

Approximately 150 Columbia School District teachers, staff and administrators appreciate the opportunity to assist in developing and increasing learning activities to benefit your child’s education. Our goal is to partner with you to provide your child an outstanding educational experience in a safe, positive and dynamic environment.   

At the schools in the Columbia District, we work on being intentional regarding our students’ learning opportunities.  Teachers develop plans which include activities designed to enhance student achievement.  Our terrific teachers use detours and “teachable moments” to allow random events to become learning filled occasions.   The other day I ventured into a classroom where a visiting spider had given the teacher an opportunity to help the students learn a bit about the rather large arachnid.

Increasingly, teachers are integrating technology into their learning activities in their classroom. Our teachers engage their learners by unfolding their lesson by intentionally using technology to boost student interest and understanding.  The teachers are coming up with creative ideas to improve student achievement and to increase the capability of students to be successful problem solvers.  We are empowering our teachers to work with students to harness technology to gather information and to communicate efficiently and effectively.  Our teachers, using best practices, are striving to increase literacy and integration of technology while incorporating digital and blended learning activities into the educational environment in their classrooms.

As a member of the Columbia School District community you may support the teachers’ intentional focus on enhancing the students’ achievement by encouraging your child or grandchild to fully complete their school projects or assignments.  You may encourage your child to take the next step and learn more about topics they are covering in school by conducting web-quests.  You may also support our wonderful teachers by engaging in positive verbal support as you speak with others in the community.  Your enthusiasm for learning at Columbia Schools may also include volunteering to serve on a committee or read a book to a child or cheer our sports teams on to victory.

As we work together side-by-side leading the children of the community to become lifelong learners, our support of education will have an enduring effect on our children! I am deeply proud of the critical and immeasurable community support for the Columbia School District. Thanks to your help, Columbia School District has become one of Michigan’s premier school districts.

If you have questions about how you may partner with the Columbia School District or to register your child for school, please email me at Pamela.Campbell@myeagles.org or call me at 517.592.6641.

Firmly Rooted in Education

Over the weekend I was pruning bushes and pulling weeds.  As I pulled the weeds with prickly spines, I noticed that while they had large leaves, their roots were small.  They were easily pulled out as I grabbed them with my gloved hand.  I compared the root system of the weeds to that of other small plants and bushes; I realized that the plants we value have intricate root systems that reach far into the soil to give them a strong base to grow from. 

In much the same way our children need extensive support systems to grow and mature.  Columbia School District focuses on supporting our students academically and nutritionally.  Our students have the opportunity to take advanced courses that will get them ready for their future.  Last week as I spoke to various students at Columbia Central High School I heard many positive comments.  One student exclaimed excitedly that she loves science and was taking Anatomy and Physiology, Forensic Science and Sports Medicine.  Another student told me on Friday that she loved her teachers and her classes, especially Chemistry and Algebra II.  Still another student mentioned that he is taking college courses through our dual enrollment program.  Several students told me that they are excited to be taking Advanced Placement classes so they may earn college credits.  Our teachers make an effort to give their students educational learning opportunities to help them grow and mature into life-long learners.

At the middle school level our students develop their educational root systems by learning and collaborating.  Over the past two years we have focused much energy on introducing our students to Chromebooks and integrating technology into all of our courses.  Students at the middle school have the opportunity to earn high school credits in mathematics, Spanish and history.  This past summer thirteen of our middle school students participated in advanced math courses that resulted in high school credit.  Other middle school students opted to participate in the Leaders In Training program that gave them an opportunity to work collaboratively building their teamwork skills.

This fall we are introducing a new program that will provide support for our third through eighth grade students and will increase their understanding of mathematics and language arts.  We are joining the Michigan League of Academic Games.  Students learn the games of Equations, On Words and On Sets.  In a fun and challenging game setting our students will learn aspects of Algebra II such as set theory, square roots, exponents, imaginary numbers and will use the basic operations of addition, subtraction, division and multiplication.

We all want our children to become successful, productive members of society who are rooted in a solid educational foundation.  Our students are continually building their root systems and our teachers and staff members work diligently to assist and support them as they grow and mature into wonderful adults.  If you are interested in learning more about the programs at Columbia School District, please email me at Pamela.Campbell@myeagles.org or call me at 5175926641.

Assessment In Our Lives

Most of us have to mow our lawn once a week, pull weeds and prune bushes at our homes.  We also have to keep our vehicles working properly so we can get from place to place.  Each time we begin to work on our landscaping or check over our vehicles, we must go through a process of assessment and evaluation.  The assessment and evaluation of our environment whether our landscaping, or the vehicles we drive, keeps us on track. Columbia School District also uses a system of assessment and evaluation for our students' learning environment.

This year the Columbia School District has adopted the iReady assessment program for our students in kindergarten through eighth grade and students who attend Options High School.  The program is designed to assess an individual student’s skills across multiple grade levels to pinpoint strengths and gaps in their learning in mathematics and English language arts.  The assessment may be given to students up to four times per year and will allow teachers to target areas where there students may need additional work.  

The iReady is a computerized adaptive assessment which uses a dynamic mode based on student response patterns to derive large amounts of information from the test items.  For example, a second grade student who has strong math skills may begin at the second grade level and end up in some strength areas at fifth or sixth grade.  The iReady will also give teachers information on the areas where that student may need additional assistance.  This is a different ideology compared to the old bubble in traditional fixed-form tests.  The adaptive tests give students an opportunity to push the limits of their knowledge base and efficiently pinpoints the student’s educational needs.

This type of assessment program is beneficial for providing differentiated instruction based upon strengths and for identifying gaps spanning back multiple years.  Columbia teachers will use this information to individualize next steps for instruction for each student.  One of the strengths of the iReady assessment program is that student results are tracked from year to year.  Based upon the results of the adaptive diagnostic, the program will provide individualized online and teacher-led instruction which is appropriate and targeted to each student’s unique needs.  Teachers are able to print out reports and action plans for groups of students or individual children.  The reports also include the tools to present the information in the most appropriate way for each student’s learning needs.

Next time you check your vehicle’s oil, fill up the gas tank, or strategize a plan for your landscaping, think about the iReady assessment program used by Columbia School District to help support our students as they learn and increase their knowledge base in mathematics and English language arts.  If you have any questions regarding the Columbia School District, email me at pamela.campbell@myeagles.org or call at 5175926641.​

Updated Columbia Elementary and Middle School Campus

In any environment there are right and left-brained individuals.  This combination of the two types of people helps to make school a rich learning environment.  The so called “right-brained” thinkers are said to be creative, thoughtful and intuitive.  “Left-brained” thinkers give us the logical, analytical and sequential way of approaching a problem or a concern.  Strengths of right-brained and left-brained combine to make the school environment rich during learning activities.  Classrooms in the Columbia School District often use grouping to solicit various solutions and problem-solving approaches by complementing right-brained people with students who are left-brained.

As we have worked with our construction projects we also have included right and left-brained individuals in the process.  Some of us look at things in square boxes, very sequentially, while others view the area in question with a creative approach.  Some of our contributors use charts, graphs and organizational utilitarian strategies, while other participants go by their experience and feelings.  As we have proceeded through the process we have discussed, designed, and redesigned areas, then kept, delayed or deleted individual items. 

This summer our projects included new roofs at all four schools.  The roofing projects included new metal trim around the edge, upgraded and improved soffits and soffit lighting and new downspouts.  The roofs received new insulation and are warrantied.  So far we have had very few leaks throughout this process.  Unfortunately, one leak emerged after the antenna on the Columbia Central High School was placed directly above the CC logo in center court in the gymnasium.  The slight rip in the seam of the roof during a short down pour, resulted in some damage at center court.  The roofing contractor is paying for the damage to the court.

One of the important safety items we tackled this summer has been the separation of the parent drop-off and
bus loop at the Columbia Middle and Elementary School Campus.  Parents will find it convenient to drive east on School Street straight into the parent drop-off loop.  The loop goes to the right, so parents may drop their middle school students off first, then proceed around to the elementary school drop off area.  There will be two lanes: the right one for dropping your child off and the left one for passing.  Children should exit from the passenger side of their vehicle. Parents may not drop their child off from the left lane or they may be in peril of getting hit by a car.  To keep the drop-off lanes working to peak efficiency, please ask your child to have their shoes or boots on and their school supplies in hand when you pull up to the drop-off area.  There will be a small parking area in the center of the drop-off loop for preschool parents.  This area is reserved for preschool parents because they have to bring their little ones into the school to sign them in.

For parents who desire to park and bring their child into the building, they will find it convenient to park immediately west of either the elementary or middle school.  Parents with elementary aged children are asked to park in the “Parent/Staff” lot on the west end of the elementary school.  This lot is designed for parking only, not for drop-off.  All drop-offs must be made in the drop-off loop between the buildings.  Middle school parents who must accompany their children into the building are asked to park in the “Parent/Staff” lot immediately west of the middle school.  This lot is being transformed from a drop-off loop into a regular parking lot.  The formerly dirt and gravel lot may be used by either elementary or middle school parents.

A second safety element is the bus loop.  Children arriving by school bus will be dropped off in a separate area from the parent drop-off loop.  This area is accessed by the new bus driveway off of Monroe Street.  This drive may not be accessed by any automobile traffic. 

It is exciting to see this summer’s renovations coming to a close just in time for the next phase to go out for bid in October.  A heart felt “Thank You” goes out to all of you left or right-brained community members who have participated in the Facility Improvement Team or any of our other committees.  The improvements to our schools are a testament to your hard work and tenacity!

If you have questions regarding the traffic flow at the middle or elementary schools, please attend the Back-to-School Bash for Columbia Elementary students on Wednesday, August 27^th from 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm or the Open House for Columbia Middle School students also on Wednesday, August 27^th from 6 pm to 7:30 pm.  If you have questions regarding registering your child for Columbia Schools, please email me at Pamela.campbell@myeagles.org or call me at 5175926641.

Stuff the Bus!

Recently I was talking to a friend of mine regarding my concern for children who come from families who are struggling to provide back-to-school supplies.  As we talked about the opportunity for community members to donate notebooks, pens, pencils and backpacks, my friend launched into her own story.  She told me that her eldest daughter was ready to begin school when her situation changed at home.  Her husband left her with nothing, so she applied for a position back in Michigan to be closer to her parents.  However, it took all she had to get moved and she was worried that her daughter would not have everything she needed to start school.

She knew that her daughter had grown a lot during the summer and wouldn't fit into her clothes from the last fall, and she certainly didn't have funds to purchase a new backpack or other school supplies.  Being a woman of faith, she prayed that she would be able to provide for her daughter as she began school.  The next morning she opened the door and there was a big box filled with a mixture of gently used hand-me-down clothes and items that still had the price tags!  There was even a backpack filled with school supplies.  When she checked the return address, she noted it was from a friend.  When she phoned her friend to thank her, she learned that her friend had gone through her daughter’s closet pulled out items that no longer fit her.  When she mentioned the backpack, her friend told her that they had been at the store getting back-to-school items and her daughter had suggested they send the items along with the clothes.

At Columbia Schools, we too have families, who struggle just like my friend who was in need at that point of her life.  As you make trips to the store to purchase back-to-school items for your child or grandchild, you may want to pick up a couple extra notebooks, pencils, pens or even a backpack to donate to someone who is in need.  Donations of school supplies may be dropped off at any of the Columbia School District offices or put your donation in the school bus during “Stuff the Bus Week” August 25^th through September 2^nd; you never know…your generosity may just be the answer to a mother’s prayer.

If you are interested in registering your child for school or learning how you might volunteer at the Columbia School District, please email me at pam.campbell@myeagles.org or call 5175926641.