Monday Memo: Conferences and Field Trip

During the week of March 7, we will conduct parent conferences here at Hixson. This year, we will run student-led conferences. We will have four conferences running simultaneously and each conference will last thirty minutes. This conference will give you a good picture of your child's learning this year. Since we will have four conferences going on at the same time, it is only necessary to sign up for ONE conference strand (A, B, C, or D). We should have enough conference slots so that all parents can have a conference. The link to sign up for conferences is here. Please just sign up for Harmony Team "A" or "B" or "C" or "D". We look forward to seeing you during your conference.

Permission slips for the pig dissection field trip on March 23 are HERE. Please open the forms, print them and sign all of them before turning them in. The trip will be from 9-11 am and if any parents are interested in chaperoning, please let us know. Please do not send forms or money to school until Thursday of this week at the earliest.

This week, Melissa and I will be presenting about "20% Time" at the RCET Southwest Regional Technology Conference in Springfield, MO. There will be substitutes in both of our classes on Tuesday and Wednesday. We have coached the kids on behavior and hopefully they will rise to the expectation. There will be no morning or afternoon study sessions for the kids on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Monday Memo: Conferences & Field Trip

During the week of March 7, we will conduct parent conferences here at Hixson. This year, we will run student-led conferences. We will have four conferences running simultaneously and each conference will last thirty minutes. This conference will give you a good picture of your child's learning this year. Since we will have four conferences going on at the same time, it is only necessary to sign up for ONE conference strand (A, B, C, or D). We should have enough conference slots so that all parents can have a conference. The link to sign up for conferences is here. Please just sign up for Harmony Team "A" or "B" or "C" or "D". We look forward to seeing you during your conference.

We are sending out permission slips for the pig dissection field trip on March 23. The trip will be from 9-11 am and if any parents are interested in chaperoning, please let us know.

The parent night for incoming sixth graders is at Hixson tomorrow evening. Festivities begin at 6:30pm and go until about 8:30.

Come to the Idea Showcase!

The Idea Showcase is a gallery walk of Harmony Team 20% Time projects. We will be set up in the Hixson library on Tuesday, February 16 from 8:45-11:15. The showcase is an excellent chance to see the work these kiddos have put into their projects so far and the course they have charted for the next few months. This day represents one of the "high-stakes" events during 20% Time and we are hoping for an authentic audience what will ask good questions and provide good feedback. Each student will be looking for a mentor as well. If you have an area of expertise that matches up with one of the projects, please considering being their mentor. We hope to see you on Tuesday, February 16 between 8:45-11:15.

Monday Memo: Career Fair, Spring Conferences and Idea Showcase

Today, the items that we asked for on our Donors Choose grant arrived. Our grant was funded by Merck Pharmaceuticals last week and our things arrived today. The kids are very excited about getting to work with these new tools. Here is a link to our Harmonized Learning blog post about this grant.

Tomorrow we are out of the building for a Career Fair field trip. We return about 12:30 and we will have lunch on team. Regular schedule resumes when we get back.

For any students who want to reassess on the Scale Factor assessment, they can arrange a time with Mrs. Hellwig by February 11. Kids must request a reassessment and all of the necessary prep work must be done by then.

Spring conferences will be student led conferences this year. Conferences will be a half hour long and will be conducted by the students. We teachers will be on hand to answer any questions we can, but the kids will be responsible for highlighting their learning and talking about their grades. A letter which goes into a detailed explanation of student led conferences can be found here (Student led conference link). We will have conference sign-ups like we have in the past and time slots will be publicised in February. There should be ample time slots available. Over the next couple of months, we will be periodically talking to the kids about conferences and preparing them for this experience.

On February 16 from 8:45-11:10 in the Hixson Library, we will have our 20% Time Idea Showcase. This is a chance for kids to show the progress they've made on their 20% Time projects. The event is open to all Hixson students and staff as well as district staff, parents and community members. Come by the library to see some amazing projects. We hope many of you are able to attend.

Digital volunteers are needed! As part of our 20% Time projects, kids are keeping blogs. If you have time, please read a couple of the kids' blog posts and leave a comment or two. The blogs can be found on the right-hand side of our 20% Time blog, harmonizedlearning.blogspot.com. Kids really light up when they see that they have a real audience. Thanks in advance for taking the time to offer feedback to the kids.

Monday Memo: Student Led Conferences & Idea Showcase

Spring conferences will be student led conferences this year. Conferences will be a half hour long and will be conducted by the students. We teachers will be on hand to answer any questions we can, but the kids will be responsible for highlighting their learning and talking about their grades. A letter which goes into a detailed explanation of student led conferences can be found here (Student led conference link). We will have conference sign-ups like we have in the past and time slots will be publicised in February. There should be ample time slots available. Over the next couple of months, we will be periodically talking to the kids about conferences and preparing them for this experience.

Next Tuesday, February 2, we are out of the building for a Career Fair field trip. We return about 12:30 and we will have lunch on team. Planet Sub orders are due this Friday. For $7.00, kids get an 8" sub, chips, drink and cookie.

On February 16 from 8:45-11:10 in the Hixson Library, we will have our 20% Time Idea Showcase. This is a chance for kids to show the progress they've made on their 20% Time projects. The event is open to all Hixson students and staff as well as district staff, parents and community members. Come by the library to see some amazing projects. We hope many of you are able to attend.

Digital volunteers are needed! As part of our 20% Time projects, kids are keeping blogs. If you have time, please read a couple of the kids' blog posts and leave a comment or two. The blogs can be found on the right-hand side of our 20% Time blog, harmonizedlearning.blogspot.com. Kids really light up when they see that they have a real audience. Thanks in advance for taking the time to offer feedback to the kids.

JA Field Trip Information

On Tuesday, February 2, we will be going on a field trip, the Junior Achievement Career Fair. We will leave Hixson at 9:55am and be at the career fair until 12:15pm. We will be making arrangements to eat on team when we get back to school. If you do NOT want your child to go on the field trip, then please sign the form linked here.

For lunch this day, we students can bring their own lunch, get a sack lunch from the cafeteria or order from Planet Sub.  The Planet Sub box lunch includes an 8-inch sub, chips, cookie and drink for $7.00 per student.  It is a choice to order.  If your student decides to order from Planet Sub, we will need money by January 29th to turn the order in by the weekend.  When students bring in their money, I will have them fill out an order form. Click here to view the menu.

Let us know if you have any questions!

Monday Memo: Career Fair and Digital Volunteers

On Tuesday, February 2, we will be going on a field trip, the Junior Achievement Career Fair. We will leave Hixson at 9:55am and be at the career fair until 12:15pm. We will be making arrangements to eat on team when we get back to school. Look for more information about lunch later this month. If you do NOT want your child to go on the field trip, then please sign the form linked here.

We are looking for Digital Volunteers. As you know, we have been working on our 20% Time projects for a couple of months now. One of the things that we ask kids to do is blog about their learning. We would like some of you to take a look at the kids' blogs, read a few posts, and leave a comment or two. Kids are very excited when they see how many views their blogs are getting and closely track where those views are coming from. It will be even more exciting and relevant for them when they see comments on their blogs. To see the list of student blogs, go to harmonizedlearning.blogspot.com and look at Must Read Student Blogs on the right side of the page. Each blog title is a link to that blog. Thanks for helping out.