Spell genius!

Can I have the definition, please?

Genius: a person of exceptional intellectual or creative power or other natural ability. Genius

Thank you, Genius G-E-N-I-U-S Genius.

That is correct!

For many of us who count on our phones or computers to spell-check for us, the thought of participating in a spelling bee is worse than public speaking fears. Dozens of students from Prosper ISD overcome this fear and find their inner spelling genius to compete. The Prosper District Spelling Bee was held on Wednesday, January 16th, 2019. Student who had placed at the top of their campus bees competed. The championship round was the 50th round with the winning word being “segue.”

The following students were our District Spelling Bee winners who will be advancing to compete in the Collin County Spelling Bee on February 7th in addition to our Campus Champions listed below.

PISD Spelling Bee Winners

1st Place: Naysa Modi, 8th grade at Reynolds MS

2nd Place: Krish Hariharan, 5th grade at Boyer Elem.

3rd Place: Matthew Domingo, 4th grade at Spradley Elem.

 

Campus Champions

Carson Cooley- 5th Grade at Baker Elem.

Ava Kim- 4th Grade at Cockrell Elem.

Sia Srivastava- 5th Grade at Folsom Elem.

Iffah Afsar- 5th Grade at Hughes Elem.

Jacskson Roberts- 4th Grade at Light Farms Elem.

Rebekah Gomez- 5th grade at Rucker Elem.

Bahar Ramezani- 5th grade at Windsong Elem.

Samuelle Carnelio- 7th Grade at Rogers MS

 

Best of luck to all of these spelling geniuses!

On Saturday, Feb. 2, Prosper students from Reynolds and Rogers Choirs as well as students from Baker Elementary and Boyer Elementary will be among the 225 voices performing with the North Texas Children's Choir at the world-renowned Meyerson Symphony Hall!!  These students auditioned to be in this group of 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students back in September. The students have practiced every Thursday after school for an hour to learn seven difficult songs. Guest Conductor Dr. Julie Yu-Oppenheim will be conducting the students at this spectacular event.

The concert is open to the public and tickets can be purchased at www.NTChoirs.com for $30 and $40.

Prosper High School offers students many opportunities to explore potential career paths. One such program at PHS is the Small Animal Management and Veterinary Technician classes. Prosper is excited to have this program that provides students with the opportunity to explore career paths relating to caring for animals.

The Pampered Paws Grooming program allows district employees to bring their animals to the school for the students to groom them while learning about proper grooming procedures and processes. Employees pay a small fee for the service that benefits the program.

Before students can take the Veterinarian Tech classes, they take Small Animal Management. After learning about the nutrients required for a healthy diet in canines, students in Miss Loving’s Small Animal Management researched recipes and worked together to make nutritious dog treats.

Prosper Middle Schools and the High School are competing in two events this season. The first will take place at Austin College on Wednesday, January 23rd and the second will be an Area competition in Frisco on  Monday, February 25th. The Austin College event will see our athletes competing with eleven other schools and over 200 athletes.

Our elementary students will compete in Lovejoy ISD on Thursday, January 31st and in Van Alstyne ISD on Friday, February 15th.  Both the Van Alstyne meet and the Lovejoy meet will involve over 150 athletes from several school districts.

Athletes participate in three events to test their basketball skills in dribbling, shooting, and passing.  Each event is scored and athletes earn their medals based on their cumulative scores from all three events.

We wish all our athletes luck as they begin this new season!

Physics can often be a terrifying subject for high school students, but in Ms. Marshall’s 4th grade class at Cockrell Elementary, students are learning to LOVE physics before they learn to fear it.

Mr. Frensley, the AP Physics teacher at Prosper High School, visited Ms. Marshall’s class to help the 4th grade students understand what physics is all about.  In addition to giving instruction, Mr. Frensley brought supplies and guided the students in a force and motion lab. Ms. Marshall was so excited that her students “have never been so attentive.” Mr. Frensley also brought PHS AP Physics student, Peyton Marshall, along to help in the lesson and with the lab.

The PHS Law Enforcement Practicum students were invited by Justice Rita Noel as special guests at the Grayson County Courthouse for the Veteran's Court Graduation ceremony. This is a new program that's been implemented in North Texas, and only a few of its kind exist in the nation.

The program is designed for veterans facing a wide range of criminal offenses. In order to qualify, the veterans must have been generally or honorably discharged from the military. Additionally, there must be documentation of a mental illness tied to the nature of the crime. Crimes such as aggravated assault and sex crime are not eligible for the program. Upon entering the program, coordinators work with the veterans to create a detailed plan for treatment that they must follow exactly. At the end of the program, if successful, the veteran “graduates” from Veteran Court and his/her charges are expunged.

Marine Veteran Judge John Roach of the Collin County Courthouse is the sitting Judge on the Veteran's Court. The students were able to observe the ceremony from the jury box and were recognized as special guests by the court. After the ceremony was over, students met with graduates of the court, the founding members of the Veteran's Court, and Judge Roach.

Because of this experience and the interactions they were able to have, Judge Roach has invited the practicum students to intern in his courtroom during the spring semester.

Whether singing Jingle Bells, looking at Christmas lights or baking lots of sugary goodness for family and friends, the holidays often brings a sense of warmth and happiness. For some, though, the holidays can be a very difficult time especially during a time replete with materialistic exchanges.

At Cockrell Elementary, the 4th grade team made it their mission and service to bring happiness to some who would normally have to do without gifts this Christmas.  Adopting a family of five and two Senior Citizens, the students and teachers donated gifts for all of their adoptees. The group had the best time wrapping each of the donated items in preparation for their Christmas delivery! 

During a time in which we are often focused on “what we are getting for Christmas,” these students demonstrated that the greatest gifts in life are those in which you give away!

Twelve Texas school districts receive recognition for innovative programs

AUSTIN, TEXAS (Dec. 7, 2018) —Twelve Texas school districts have been recognized for their outstanding programs with the release of Texas School Business magazine’s 12th Annual Bragging Rights 2018-2019 special issue. Bragging Rights, which calls for nominations and is published every December, recognizes school districts that have implemented programs that are bettering the lives of students, schools and communities.

 This year’s 12 honored districts and their brag-worthy programs include:

• Bastrop ISD, Christian’s Closet
• Brenham ISD, Champion Drive
• Burleson ISD, Student Spaceflight Experiments Program
• Dripping Springs ISD, Real Estate Course
• Galveston ISD, Ball 4 All
• Grapevine-Colleyville ISD, Student Voice Initiative
• Hillsboro ISD, Military Wall of Honor
• Laredo ISD, STEM Curriculum
• Northside ISD, Project ACORN
• Prosper ISD, RISE Program
• Spring Hill ISD, SRO Student Leadership Program
• Tyler ISD, Students Who Advocate Technology

 “Nominations for school district programs across Texas poured in this year, and each one deserves to be recognized,” says Texas School Business Editorial Director Dacia Rivers. “We hope that the 12 districts we chose inspire others to follow in their footsteps. The mission of Texas School Business is to share the good news happening in Texas public schools, and there’s never a shortage of news-worthy school programs for us to cover.”

For 44 years, Texas School Business has served as the news magazine for public education in Texas. Since 2014, it has been produced by the Texas Association of School Administrators (www.tasanet.org). To read the 12th Annual Bragging Rights issue online, visit www.texasschoolbusiness.com.

The elementary Gifted and Talented department had special guests recently when the Town of Prosper officials came to share their time and talents with PISD 3rd Grade GT students. Their presentation on city planning gave the students a much deeper understanding of their current project. The Town of Prosper staff provided an engaging hands on activity that helped the 3rd grade students put their knowledge into practice. The students are working on a performance task where they are developing a sustainable city on a habitable exoplanet. The city planners gave the students insight on what they might need to include in their city for sustainability.

 

A special thank you to the Town of Prosper staff who participated in the event:

 

John Webb, Director of Development Services

Robyn Battle, Town Secretary

Alex Glushko, Planning Manager

Scott Ingalls, Senior Planner

Pamela Clark, Planning/GIS Specialist

Evelyn Mendez, Planning Technician

Dan Heischman, Senior Engineer

Emily Busby, Engineer

Paul Naughton, Landscape Architect

PHS Ready, Set, Teach and Human Growth and Development students competed in multiple events as well as volunteered their time at the Region X North Texas Association of Future Educators event last Saturday in Richardson. The following students will be advancing to TAFE State in February/March.

Job Interview

1st: Brooke Blackstock

2nd: Julia Helmi

 

Lesson Plan: Humanities

1st: Molly Ring

2nd: Tabbi Scoggins

 

Inside Our Schools (Team Event)

2nd: Hope Rasberry

2nd: Hailie Tackman

 

Educators Rising Moment

2nd Emma Andersen

 

Impromptu Speaking

1st: Tyler Thomas

 

Additionally, the Ready, Set, Teach students are working alongside current PISD teachers as they explore the education career path.

Students such as PHS senior, Marie Rodriguez, are working hand in hand with PISD teachers learning the ins and out of the educational field. Marie is conducting a science investigation station in Ms. Howeth's 3rd grade classroom at Light Farms Elementary.

PHS Senior, Emma Andersen, had the opportunity to conduct her internship students at the Reynolds' Band Concert on Tuesday, December 4th.

Through the internship program offered through Ready, Set, Teach, students are afforded the opportunity to explore the educational pathway to determine if it is their chosen lifepath and, if so, at what grade level they would be most productive. Meanwhile, PISD students benefit from the insight and assistance these talented students offer in the classroom.