Roses are red. Violets are blue. Class is fun when poetry is our view!

Ms. Strickland’s 3rd grade class at Spradley Elementary may not be writing such corny poetry as this, but they are learning how poetry allows us to see common objects through different “eyes.”

As an introduction to the unit for writing poetry using the Lucy Calkins Session 1, students were asked to explore how poets look at things in different ways. Students were given a common object and special "poetry glasses" to decorate.  They had to look at the object with fresh eyes and see it in different ways. As students considered how common objects could be seen and written about in different ways, their eyes were opened to the symbolism prevalent in poetry. Students made many comparisons such as comparing a seashell to a mountain with a secret passageway, a ribbon to a lizards long tongue and a twisty ribbon was compared to a giant squid in the ocean. The students had lots of fun and found some creative ways to express their thoughts.

Many Americans, young and old alike, struggle with spelling and use spell check on our computers and on our phones to ensure that we are spelling everything correctly. Meanwhile, there are some students who find spelling to be a passion.

Reynolds 8th grader, Naysa Modi, is one of those students. A finalist at the National Spelling Bee last year, Naysa began this year determined to return to Nationals and bring home the big prize. To get there, Naysa won her campus spelling bee and then moved on to the district bee which she won. She then headed to the Collin County Spelling Bee in February. After around 20 rounds of competition and spelling the word “extrapolation” for the judges, Naysa was awarded the Championship at the Collin County Spelling Bee.

When asked about her preparation for competition, Naysa said that her plans include “Studying! I mark words for review so that I can study them before a spelling bee. I also make sure to get plenty of sleep so that I'm alert on stage.” Naysa will move on the the National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. in May to compete for the National title representing Prosper ISD.

Ms. Viars’ and Ms. Alexander’s, Forensics and Law Enforcement teachers at Prosper ISD, are always looking for ways to make learning come to life for their students. Prosper ISD Chief of Security, Officer Jody Woolverton came to teach students about explosives. After the lesson, Prosper ISD Officer Steven Antommarchi set up crime scenes for students to master their processing skills.  Students involved worked as crime scene teams.

Each team was assigned an area along with roles within their teams.  They were required to complete all steps within their scenes and then work on communication with other 'agencies' at the site. Students learned how to assess situations for all safety hazards and then complete their processing steps.  They worked on communication skills with the public and other teams along with technical writing.

Students were amazed at how suspects can use ordinary items as explosives and distractions at scenes.  Students were able to see how all the roles and responsibilities of the team affected each other. They also saw how different agencies worked together for the same cause.  It was an event that gave students hands-on experience and built positive relationships among officers and students as well.

In sixth grade at Reynolds Middle School, students had the unique opportunity to combine a persuasive lesson in English with a real world marketing campaign.  Ms. Withers students engaged in a persuasive unit where the students must use persuasive techniques to create advertisements for a product. In the past, students have done advertisements for a new candy bar. This year, though, Ms. Wither worked with Mega Moto, a mini bike company where her husband is VP of Sales for the chance to make it more real life so they could create ads for a company that actually exists. Mr. Withers came and spoke on career day and wanted to do a contest for a bike giveaway. It evolved into a new performance task where all the students participated.

Students had to create a new, creative slogan, t-shirt design, or advertisement that utilized the persuasive techniques that they learned. He looked through each of them and chose the two that were the most creative and showed the most effort. Amanda Whitehurst and Maddox Wagoner were the first and second place winners. They both were awarded gas powered Mega Moto, 105 CC mini bikes.  Mr. Withers also created a 25% off discount code for Prosper ISD students. The code is REYNOLDSEAGLES.

Last week the focus in Ms. Meg Steven’s Kindergarten class at Hughes Elementary was on Science Fair Data and Analysis.  As a class the students formed the question "What would happen to a gummy bear in liquid?" Students formed their hypothesis based on what they thought would happen to a gummy bear in water, salt water, and lemon lime soda (7-UP).  

Once the hypothesis was formed, the students conducted the experiment and observed/recorded the changes over three days.  At the end of the experiment it was time to develop a conclusion! The class came to the conclusion that if you put a gummy bear in liquid it WILL change!  

Ms. Stevens’ students really enjoy digging into Science. This activity allowed them the opportunity to participate in the Science Fair in a creative way with students demonstrating learning about the world through scientific investigation.  The students will show their families the Science Fair board during Open House on March 7th

A program that is only in its 4th year in Prosper ISD, PHS Chamber & Symphonic Orchestra students found success recently receiving Sweepstakes Trophies at the Region 24 UIL Concert & Sightreading Contest.  

All six judges gave the Chamber Orchestra a 1st division Superior rating while five of the judges gave the Symphonic Orchestra a 1st division rating and one judge gave them a 2nd division Excellent rating which still earned the orchestra a Sweepstakes recognition.

The program is led by Director of Orchestras, Mr. Ron Planks.

Saturday, February 16, Prosper High School took 174 artworks to compete in the Visual Arts Scholastic Event, also known as VASE.  The mission of the TAEA Visual Arts Scholastic Event (VASE) is to recognize exemplary student achievement in the Visual Arts by providing art students and programs a standard of excellence in which to achieve. Events are divided in to TEA regions.  Prosper is in Region 10. Region 10 is so large that it is divided into sub regions. The region 10N event took place at Prosper High School and this year there were 2224 student entries from our region which serves 37 schools and 88 teachers. Works are divided into four divisions based on the artistic experience of the artist.  Artists only compete against other artists in the same division. The divisions are divided based on the students number of art credits. Students taking an AP art course are automatically placed in Div IV. Over 36,000 students in Texas participate in VASE each year.

Students must attend the Regional Event and have their original artwork with them at the time of their adjudication. All student artworks are "qualified" by a qualification panel prior to being juried. Artwork not meeting the qualification standards will be disqualified.  Jurors interview each artist, then evaluate artwork using a numeric rating system based on an established rubric. Artworks receiving an Excellent Rating (IV) are presented a Regional Medal. From the Regional medalists, works are chosen to advance to the State competition.   Eleven of our Prosper ISD students, under the direction of our four Art teachers (Keith Grissom, Gina Mock, Judy Seay and Amy Semifero) will be representing Region 10N at the state competition in April.  

Josh Watkins, PHS Instructional Technology Coach, was one of three finalists for the TCEA Instructional Technology Specialist of the Year Award. He is a Google Certified Educator and Trainer as well as a Microsoft Innovative Educator. He is also responsible for the creation of Talon Tech, an accredited CTE course at Prosper High School. Talon Tech students act as first responders for Prosper High School teachers when they need technology support. Talon Tech students also lead professional learning for teachers throughout the district including staff training at Prosper High School, Lunch and Learns at the middle school level, and district summer professional learning. As the class advisor, Josh empowers his students to effectively communicate and problem solve with their peers, teachers and other educators as they become district leaders of effective technology integration. 

Prosper educators are committed to going to “infinity and beyond” to gain the requisite knowledge and skills to help grow their students in the classroom. Mrs. Frances Rivera & Mrs. Addie Thornton, both from Rogers Middle School, were two of only 35 educators selected from around the United States by the National Council for History Education to receive professional development about Technology's Impact on American History from NASA personnel at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. While there, the educators were able to meet a Rocket Scientist, a former NASA Cape Canaveral Director, and Astronaut Mark Lee.