Amazing Learning Opportunities!

On the first day of preschool this year, one of our new four-year-olds told his teacher that, “This is the best day of my whole life!”  Education can be magical, and for this young man, school opened an incredible learning portal.  As students grow and mature they can still feel excited about learning opportunities. Last Saturday some students from U of M came and worked with twenty of our middle and high school students opening up the world of exploration and development of space.  This group, called Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS), is a worldwide student run organization whose mission is to enable progress in space exploration.  The occasion gave our students an opportunity to have a very amazing day of learning.

On Saturday some of our students presented information from their forensic science course to the Jackson County School Boards Association.  Similarly to the exuberance of the four-year-old, the students were excited to present the things they have been learning.  In cooperation with the Columbia Fire Department, the students had set up crime scenes and then challenged their peers to figure out the solution.  The students presented the scenarios and the solutions, and these educational leaders were also excited about forensic science.  This class gives students an opportunity to use the basic biology, anatomy and chemistry foundational elements in a practical hands-on real-world setting.  Columbia School District is dedicated to provide our students with a solid foundation for a bright future.

At Columbia Middle School we have students who are excited about learning the fundamentals of engineering.  They are learning while they are using hands-on activities and investigation techniques to complete projects and solve assigned tasks.  Some of the engineering students are also part of the two robotics teams at Columbia Middle School.  The students not only learn about engineering, they also use collaborative team based strategies to learn about robotics and how to program a robot.

These are just a few of Columbia School District’s courses that focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).  Our students have an opportunity to learn STEM through inquiry and project based educational activities.  These activities are helping all of our students to be enthusiastic about learning, just like our new preschool four-year-old student.  If you are interested in learning more about Columbia School District and our STEM activities, please call me or email me at pamela.campbell@myeagles.org.

Building Your Child's Critical Thinking Skills

Each week when I receive the newspaper there are advertisements for appliances from Sears, Lowes, Home Depot, ABC and other stores.  They advertise many models of refrigerators; there are side-by-side with or without ice in the door, French Door refrigerators with one or two drawers and regular basic no-frills one door refrigerators.  This week I looked at a low cost refrigerator that was advertised for $367, while another more expensive model was on sale at $2898.  Although all of the refrigerators keep our food cold, some have more options than others.  As you shop for a refrigerator, you would actively collect data and choices for your comparison.   As you compare and contrast the prices and options for the refrigerators, you would use the skill of critical thinking. 

In each classroom in the Columbia School District, students use critical thinking in their daily assignments.  Critical thinking is an important skill that will help our students be successful in all of their school subjects.  Let me offer some examples for you to work with your child on his or her critical thinking skills.

The first example is: Finding similarities in our daily lives.  Take a look around a room and find two things that do not seem to have anything in common.  You may say a lamp and couch.  Challenge your child to use his critical thinking skills to find a minimum of one thing that is similar in the lamp and the couch.  She may tell you that they both sit on the floor or that the lamp shade has a pattern with material and so does the couch.  You may repeat this in other rooms in your house or in outdoor settings.

A second try at increasing your child’s proficiency of their critical thinking skills is to play games.  You may choose word games to play in the car.  You may mix and match comparing and contrasting words like; river is to ocean like plant is to what?  You might choose games that your child can look ahead to predict the outcome like checkers or chess.  You may ask them, if you move there, then I might move here and where would you move next?

Finally, you may help your child and his or her friends make up a story or rewrite one they already know.  To write a new story together, have one of them begin something like, “I was walking in the woods one day and”, then the next person takes over, and each person puts in a sentence as they write their new story.  You may tell them what the last sentence should be, or let them write in a freestyle way.  Not only will they end up with an intriguing story, they will have fun!  When using their critical thinking skills to rewrite a story, you could choose a traditional children’s story like “Little Red Riding Hood” or one of my favorite, “Horton Hears A Who.” You could have them think about writing their story from the wolf’s point of view in “Little Red Riding Hood” or describe what happens to Horton or the Who in the next chapter.

Just like we use critical thinking in our daily lives to make large purchases like a refrigerator, our children use critical thinking skills to make decisions and complete their school work.  Your encouragement of their ability to think critically and assist them as they practice these skills, will help to make them more successful students.

If you are interested in learning more about Columbia School District or our programs, please email me at pamela.campbell@myeagles.org or call me at 5175926641.

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.​