Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Students strut their stuff before Board

Prescott's School Board was treated to readings of original sentences by students in Prescott Elementary School's kindergarten class.

Students from Linda Graham's class read sentences they had written, identifying the action words. They also displayed pictures they had drawn and wrote sentences for. This wasn't as easy as it sounds, as the students, for one of their projects, used "k" words.

"When I taught kindergarten 16 years ago," she said, "I thought we were challenging the students then. This is amazing."

The students, she said, first learn to write by drawing pictures, then doing sentences with them. They learn the alphabet and make lists. The kindergarten students are also learning the rules of spelling and capitalization, along with punctuation marks.

Graham said the students read "big books" tracking the words with their fingers. The also have take home readers they use in the same manner.

Each week the children learn two new sight words, which are words they learn to recognize by sight, and build them with magnetic letters.

"We stress listening to sounds," Graham said. "We work on getting them to be more descriptive and use adjectives."

Janet Gordon, PES principal, said Graham's class is not unique, as other kindergarten teachers are doing the same thing. "We have an excellent group of kindergarten teachers. They work harder than any group of teachers at PES."

The kindergarten teachers use differentiated instruction. This means some of the students are being taught one thing, while another group is being taught something else. This helps keep the children from getting bored and allows them to learn at their own pace and abilities.

Alvis Conway and Brandi Karlovec addressed the Board about the PACE and Gifted and Talented programs.

Conway said the GT program services students grades K-12. The GT students in K-2, she said, go through enrichment training, while those in grades 3-8 do what is called a "pull out". These students go to the resource room and work using the differentiated style.

Students in grades 9-12 also get GT services and can compete in both Quiz Bowl and Destination Imagination. They have the opportunity to go on field trips as well.

"We have an active parent's group," she said, "that helps meet the students's needs."

Billie Haynie oversees the high school DI teams, and there are three fully functional DI squads, Conway said.

Karlovec said the third and fourth grade Quiz Bowl team competed with 10-12 other schools recently and did well. The team brought back trophies from contests in Murfreesboro and Delight prior to the Christmas break.

Karlovec, president of PACE, said the group first met in November and represents students from all three campuses.

One of the group's goals, she said, is to expose the students to Arkansas history, arts and literature. Peggy Lloyd, curator of the Prescott Depot Museum and Joyce Gibson, librarian, want to get involved with the students and help out.

The PACE program, she said, has applied for a $1,000 grant to help purchase supplies.

In talking about the PES DI team, Karlovec said the squad did well last year, finishing third in the regional contest, and going to state. However, the team missed going to the global event. This year's DI theme is "Live  Radio DI", and the teams are required to create their own live radio program, sound effects and all.

Willie Wilson gave the progress report for Prescott High School. Students, he said, have been signing up for the Success Challenge Program, but must meet the criteria. Behavior is stressed more in this program than academics.

In December the Board addressed complaints levied about the school lunch situation. There were complaints about the quality and quantity of food being served. A committee made up of Student Council members and class officers met with the director of food services.

The students expressed their concerns and were told of the guidelines the lunch staff must follow, along with what can and can't be served. The groups reached an agreement, with reports of improvement in the food made.

There are 10 students who are at-risk of not meeting graduation requirements at this time, he said. The students are enrolling in correspondence courses through the University of Arkansas, at a cost of $102 for their parents. The majority of those in trouble have failed a math course.

Jamie Barnes, McRae Middle School principal, said the focus is primarily on the Benchmark exams at this time, with the tutoring program going well.

For PES, Gordon said teachers are using the differentiated instruction method, and have undergone professional development on it.

In addition, several teachers learned about a free service available over the Internet the school can use to administer Benchmark practice tests and get quick, reliable results back. This will allow the teachers to know which areas students need work in for the actual test.

The Prescott District Educational Association hosted the district council meeting at MMS on Jan. 11, with about 40 people attending from surrounding areas. Those attending heard reports and were told of upcoming events

Agnes Morrow, PDEA president, said the Arkansas Education Association has posted a Director's Memo on its web site with instruction to teachers and administrators for determining who is "highly qualified". This process, she said, is required under No Child Left Behind.