Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Back to School Night

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our school community for attending the Back to School Night sessions this week.

As I indicated in my opening speech, we are committed to providing a safe environment for your children this year. The Harding Township Board of Education is taking a proactive stance in prevention strategies against the spread of influenza. In addition to classroom hand sanitizers, the District is implementing a plan to clean all desks, doorknobs, phones, keyboards and mice on a daily basis. We plan to install hands-free automatic foam dispensers in the hallway. Your child's teacher will discuss ways to practice good hand hygiene, proper etiquette when sneezing and coughing and other ways to prevent the spread of germs. However, no matter what proactive measures and precautions we institute at school, we will not be successful without your assistance. Do NOT send your child to school if s/he has a fever or is exhibiting flu-like symptoms. Please be advised that a letter will be sent home with more information in the upcoming days.

Technology is at the forefront of change this school year. In addition to SmartBoards, Document Cameras, Airliners and Senteo clickers, the District will be purchasing SmartTables for lower elementary classrooms. This is possible thanks to a generous grant from an anonymous donor! Equipped with the latest technology, our District is preparing students to navigate this technological world.

Finally, I leave you with a question for discussion. Gandhi is quoted, "be the change that you wish to see in the world." What can we do, collectively, to make this world a better place? Please blog your ideas/thoughts and thanks for tuning in!!!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

With regards to technology, are there any plans to integrate technology into student projects and assignments? Such as using software programs like Movie Maker to create projects for Spanish or French. We are lucky that HTS is a small school so maybe times can be given to MS students to use the computer lab or media center during class time for instruction and/or work time for technology based projects?

Thanks!

Superintendent's Corner said...

Mrs. Norris uses Adobe Photoshop Elements software for several assignments in Art (Grade 8 Personality painting/Grade 7 Printmaking/Grade 7 Unit on Computer Art). She also uses it for the famous Caricature project with Grade 6 Computer classes.

Last year, Mr. Driscoll and Mrs. Norris completed a Digital Storytelling project with the 8th Grade Language Arts classes. The students took digital pictures of a storybook, edited them and used MovieMaker to make a mini-movie reading a voiceover of the story!!!

Ms. Alexander is presently videotaping the 2nd grade students dressed as their favorite story characters. The children discuss the book and will ultimately create a DVD.