Amazing EAs: Angie Dill
School employees get a front-row seat in education on every child’s knowledge journey. It’s easy to see student progress, happy art projects, tales of friendships,…
Read moreNew Meeker Principal Named
The Ames Community School District is excited to announce Lisa Clayberg as the new principal of Meeker Elementary School. Clayberg is currently the Director of…
Read moreWelcome Back From Dr. Lawson
It brings me great joy to welcome all of our Ames Community School District students and families to the 2022-23 school year! The opening of…
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Free Summer Meals 2022
The Ames Community School District is pleased to offer a free breakfast and lunch each day to every child in our community through the summer…
Read moreHealthiest Ames, Mary Greeley Foundation Provide Area Third and Fourth Graders with Helmets
After a pandemic-related interruption, Healthiest Ames has again partnered with Mary Greeley Medical Foundation and Skunk River Cycles to provide area third and fourth graders…
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Warren H. Meeker: Longest-Serving School Board Member
In March 1912, Warren H. Meeker was sworn in as an Ames School board member for the first time. For the next 33 years, he continuously served the Ames board, 16 of those as president, until his retirement in March 1945. He is the longest-serving member in the history of the Ames School Board.
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Masked Hero: Charles Grim
Superpower: Making students smile through their masks. “I am much happier trying to make sure the kids are happier,” said Charles Grim when asked what he has learned about himself during this pandemic. It is this approach to teaching that has allowed Grim to teach elementary music for 32 years, 22 of which have been in the Ames district.
Read moreSpecially Designed Instruction
Entering the world of special education can be a challenging endeavor as a parent. You’ve witnessed your child struggle in a particular area and the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) process is full of educational jargon and acronyms. But through that process, our students get to work with amazing special education teachers across the District who specialize in learning disabilities. Alyssa Peiffer, a special education teacher at Meeker Elementary, is one of those amazing teachers and makes what seems impossible for many students and parents possible.
Read moreCreating an Art Studio at Meeker Elementary w/ Michelle Mathias
Michelle Mathias runs her art classroom at Meeker Elementary like an art studio; full of student-choice with the ability to simply create. This means that students come to art class and get to make and create whatever they envision and desire from a number of centers, called “studios,” that are open that day. To begin the year, studios are rolled out individually starting with drawing. Each studio sets high expectations for cleanliness and safe use of tools, and provides best practice techniques and ideas. More studios are opened following the same pattern as the first and eventually students have an opportunity to work in painting, collage, paper sculpture, modeling clay, printmaking, and sewing and weaving studios, among others. “With the opportunity to use and choose from so many of the studios, students are given the choice to create almost anything. With this freedom of choice comes great responsibility and freedom,” said Mathias.
Read moreCollaborative Proactive Solutions
If a student is having difficulties in the area of math, no teacher would ever attribute that to the student not wanting to understand the subject. They would simply need additional resources to help them learn the concepts and to practice it. Principal Steve Flynn and his staff at Meeker Elementary are applying that principle to behavior as well based on the book Lost and Found: Helping Behaviorally Challenging Students (and, While You're At It, All the Others) by Ross W. Greene. “It really is a paradigm shift to how we address behavior within our school. It goes away from the traditional notion that students will do well if they want to do well, and instead suggests that students will do well if they can,” says Flynn. Last year, Flynn saw that traditional discipline was having a limited impact on students because they were being punished without a gameplan on how to equip students to manage their behavior. “We often assume that behavior is a student choice, so we think we need to come up with a bigger punishment.” Without educating students, the behavior and frustration only continues.
Read moreDiscover More from Ames CSD
