by: Ted Hamm
ESAA PTO Summary
On Tuesday, April 15th, I had the opportunity to meet with over 40 parents and teachers from ESAA. The first purpose of the meeting was to share my reflections on the 2013-2014 school year and lay out the plan for the 2014-2015 school year. The second purpose of the meeting was to invite parents into a dialogue about the plan for the 2014-2015 school year via the upcoming Parent Coffees on April 21st, 25th and 29th. These parent coffees are about getting staffing and leadership plans for next year and addressing concerns about the school culture. Additionally, my purpose in meeting with parents is to get feedback on how we engage our school community through our PTO. For those who were unable to make it to the meeting, I have put together brief overview of what we discussed. If you are interested in signing up for one of the coffees, please do so at: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F4CA8AD2DA1F94-esaa.
School Culture
Over the past few months, I have opened my door to ESAA parents to share their perspectives on the school. Many have come in to share their thoughts and have enjoyed the conversations. One recurring issue through these conversations is the concern over the school culture since our move to a shared facility with Pigeon River. In many respects the lunchroom and some classroom behaviors have not been what we envision for school. In December, a few teachers came to me and expressed concerns over this. After taking some time to observe, we gathered our staff together and have been working to improve our culture. A few of the steps are as follows:
- Next school year we will be dividing our lunches into two lunch periods to help reduce the number of students in the lunchroom and the amount of time students are standing in line.
- Our office at our old facility was set up to help students be successful. Often students were allowed to come down to the office to “cool down”. Within the office there were places for students to go and materials for students to use to cool down. As we head into spring, we are setting our office up for success once again.
- Procedures and space need to be setup for disruptive students. As a staff, we have worked on this since late winter putting together common expectations for how disruptive students will be handled - defining procedures and expectations for how the office will handle disruptive students. All of this is set and being implemented this spring.
Staffing/Leadership
This time of year always bring with it conjecture about staffing for the following year. As we look ahead to next school year, the school leader is a topic many are interested in. As I stated at the meeting, I am committed to a full time leader at ESAA to help us smooth out many of the wrinkles experienced this year with the move. Currently we have a committee formed to review the leadership position. We are drafting a job description that will be reviewed by parents and teachers on the committee. Once that job description is finalized we will move ahead with a hiring process. It is my hope that we will have our new school leader in place before the end of the school year.
In regards to teacher staffing, a common issue that has come up is the role of specialists in our curriculum. As we look to 2014-2015, we will reestablish the role of specialists in integrating classroom content. As a school, we see the benefits of students expressing their ideas through the arts and will continue with that.
Classroom staffing is planned as follows:
- Kindergarten - 1 classroom
- 1st Grade - 2 classrooms
- 2nd grade - 2 classrooms
- 3rd grade - 2 classrooms
- 4th grade - 1 classroom
- 4th/5th grade - 1 classroom
Currently we are running a waiting list at the Kindergarten level, but do not have enough to run an additional kindergarten section.
Specific placements have not been determined yet. Once they are, they will be announced. One point of note, Kara Pasche and Nik Scharebroch are both limited term employees meaning that they were hired late in August and therefore will reapply for their positions. We are currently in the middle of the application process.
School Community/PTO
Another common thread throughout conversations I have had with parents is focused around our school community and the need to engage people in our community. As I see it, the PTO is set up to be that main point of engagement. We no longer share a PTO with another school and therefore have the ability to reimagine it. The follow up coffees are a time gather feedback. At that meeting, a vision for the PTO will be laid out and feedback (positive and negative) will be taken. I sincerely hope you participate.
Over the course of the next few weeks, I will be putting out a few additional blogs about the content from the meeting. If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
459-3504
by: Kimberly Johnson
Learning Spaces: ESAA's second and third graders map new campus
Challenged with the task of creating a tool for new students and families to navigate the Pigeon River Elementary School campus, students in ESAA’s second and third grade classes engaged in an in-depth exploration of their physical learning spaces and an authentic, collaborative map design process.
by: E. A. Brown
School Report Card
We are excited to share that this past school year has been critical as we worked to prepare our students for a world that requires academic knowledge along with critical thinking skills, creative thinking skills, collaboration skills and communication skills. The development of a well-rounded curriculum requires a balance between learning and applying knowledge. We were able to take this step forward with our projects as a tool to have students synthesize the content they are learning.
by: E. A. Brown
Presentation of Learning
Children learn in many different ways and every child learns through varied and multiple paths. ESAA engages children with innovative, team-based teaching and the seamless integration of the arts with academics. At ESAA, children learn to see the world in new ways, are encouraged to think deeply about it and wonder at its endeless possibilities.
by: Leah Morgan
Opportunities for Improvements on the Farm
In the days after spending a day at Higher Ground Farm, kindergarteners identified 12 things that were either problems during farm chores or chores that could be made easier/more efficient.
by: Leah Morgan
Henning's Cheese Factory Tour
ESAA kindergarteners spent the morning at Henning’s Cheese Factory learning about how cheese is made and the variety of cheeses that are made while touring the...
by: Leah Morgan
Kindergarten at the farm
ESAA’s kindergartners spent today learning at Higher Ground Farm in Plymouth.
by: Leah Morgan
Lead, Soil, Sawdust Exhibition of Learning
This Project-Based Learning unit focused on three of Wisconsin's Industries. The unit started of with a Feel - Think - Wonder prompting students to consider the...
by: Elizabeth Beattie
Culture of Thinking, part 2 - Evenings at ESAA
ESAA families gathered in the Rush to Rest gallery at the JMKAC to participate in an observation of art with the use of thinking routines.
by: Elizabeth Beattie
Evenings at ESAA: Part 2
Join us at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center to observe art through thinking routines.
