Specially 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 moreAffirmation Stones at Meeker Elementary
Students and families at Meeker Elementary recently had an opportunity to write empowering words on pre-painted rocks during their open house event. In total, about 150 affirmation stones were created that students could either take home as a personal reminder, or hide them around Ames. “I was looking to increase interaction with students and their families during Open House -- meet more parents, introduce myself and put faces to names, initiate positive relationships,” said Meeker Elementary School Counselor Kari Deal. Anyone who found a stone around Ames was encouraged to post a photo to Meeker’s Facebook page. Deal felt like this activity would also encourage interaction on our social media space.
Read moreMeeker Little Cyclone Captains
Students at Meeker Elementary are using some of their free time to make an impact on the culture of their school through the building’s new Little Cyclone Captains initiative. The student leadership program provides students with opportunities throughout the day to have a positive platform to lead and be a captain for kindness. Each day, captains serve as greeters (who are called “morning sprinkles”) at the front door to provide a welcoming smile as students enter. Captains also take time during their day to write kind notes to other students. They often come in during their recess time, pick from a pile of student names from across all grade levels, and write notes of encouragement or inspiration. These notes are then placed in the student’s cubbies by School and Family Counselor Kari Deal to serve as a pleasant surprise. She has noticed that many notes remain in their cubbies for weeks at a time.
Read moreRead-a-Thon Celebration
In January, elementary schools across the District organized read-a-thon events in collaboration with their PTOs. “The goal is to get students to develop a passion…
Read moreMeeker Elementary Buddy Bench
Last year, a group of 5th graders at Meeker Elementary worked with the middle school builders club on a project to make their…
Read moreLinks to video presentations from pilot materials representatives
Thanks to everyone who came to view our video presentations from the representatives for each of our K-2 foundational skills materials pilot programs. For those…
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