Cause for celebration
Posted on Saturday, September 13, 2008
ROGERS — Sometimes you just need to celebrate.
On Friday, Grace Hill Elementary School was in celebration mode. Every student at the school had the chance to build a book, courtesy of Scholastic Books; then there was a special sack lunch which many students enjoyed outside. Later, the entire student body walked to nearby Oakdale Middle School for a celebratory pep rally that included former Grace Hill students.
Last year was a good year at Grace Hill Elementary School, Principal Jennie Rehl said. When the scores for the state-mandated ACTAAP tests were released recently, Grace Hill first-graders had the best scores in the district for both math and literacy. Third-graders had the third highest scores in the district, and every grade level showed significant improvement, Rehl said.
In addition, when the district compiled a list of the 20 elementary teachers whose students showed the most growth, the list included four Grace Hill Elementary School teachers. With 14 elementary schools in the district, having four teachers on the top-20 list is phenomenal, Rehl said.
Grace Hill hasn’t always been at the top of the district’s lists. Located on Dixieland Road with just less than 500 students, the school has a high percentage of students who receive free and reducedprice lunches, as well as a high number of English Language Learners.
Last year, Rehl and her staff took the time to examine everything they do.
“ We completely redesigned the way we do business, ” Rehl said. “ We looked at what worked and what didn’t. ”
The schedule was redesigned to give teachers at each grade level a common planning time so they could work together. Special time for students at each grade level to spend with literacy and math coaches was added. In the spring, the entire school participated in Benchmark Boot Camp to get ready for the ACTAAP tests.
A military theme was chosen for the three weeks prior to the tests. Teachers dressed in camouflage, and the announcements that began each day included a special cadence. Teachers at each grade level chose one subject, and the classes rotated between them. Students practiced with questions gleaned from old tests. “ The kids loved it, ” Rehl said. Each grade level developed built-in rewards for students who worked hard.
Fourth-graders earned beads to wear on their dog tags for each time they scored proficient or advanced on the practice questions.
“ I had about 16 beads, ” fourth-grader Garon Cogbill said. If students forgot their dog tags at home, they couldn’t earn any new beads. “ I brought mine every day, ” he said.
Cogbill enjoyed switching classrooms and working with the other teachers. When the students were working in the Benchmark Boot Camp, they used a special cadence to get their teacher’s attention rather than simply raising a hand, he said.
When the Grace Hill staff realized how well their strategy had worked, they decided to celebrate. Coincidentally, they learned they had won in a national competition sponsored by Scholastic Books at the same time. Every student at the school was to be given the materials to build a book, so that became part of the celebration.
Later, Rehl discovered that the regional manager of Scholastic is former Grace Hill student Daniel Harr. Both Harr and the local Scholastic representative who entered Grace Hill in the contest, Sue McEvoy, attended the celebration, along with the company’s mascot, Clifford the Big Red Dog.
When they weren’t building books and traveling to Oakdale, Grace Hill students spent Friday working on fun learning projects, Rehl said. For example, fifth-graders built their own sedimentary rocks out of chocolate pudding, crushed Oreo cookies and marshmallows, then ate them.
“ We don’t ever take a day off from learning, ” Rehl said. She agrees with the kindergartner who told her, “ We’re the luckiest school in the world. ”
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