Read-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…
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New Fountas & Pinnell Reading Benchmarks
What is the benchmarking assessment that my child takes? Fountas & Pinnell have developed a Benchmarking Assessment System (BAS) in order to help teachers determine what reading skills your child has mastered and which she/he still needs to learn. In Ames, all K-5 students read aloud all or portions of a text and then engage in a comprehension conversation with the teacher to allow the teacher to better understand how to help the student in a variety of areas, including reading with accuracy and expression, and understanding the meaning of the text. This assessment is administered to all students twice per year. Fountas & Pinnell have created a 3rd edition of the benchmarking materials which include revised rubrics, texts, teacher prompts, and online capabilities. ACSD purchased this 3rd edition for all elementary buildings as these improvements will allow teachers to more clearly target instruction with each student. Your child’s level may be lower than in the past as the 3rd edition materials are much more rigorous. This drop in levels has been predicted by the publisher and does not indicate that your child’s skills in reading have decreased.
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Black Hawk lands at Mitchell School to spur STEM learning
A Black Hawk Army helicopter swooped onto the grounds at Mitchell Elementary School, Thursday, June 1, marking the last day of school and inspiring students to keep engaged with science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) learning over the summer—and also spurring questions. "Why does it have so many buttons?" "What is a co-pilot?" And a serious question from kindergarten student Max Nordman. "What happens if you forget how to do something?" Chief Warrant Officer 4 Jim Funk, a Black Hawk instructor pilot with the Army National Guard Charlie 147 Aviation Company based in Boone, arranged with Mitchell Principal Justin Jeffs to provide the larger-than-life learning event.
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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District seeks proposals for school-based mental health services
The District is seeking proposals in order to provide access to a full array of mental health services to students in each of its five elementary schools…
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Give feedback on Literacy Pilot materials
Materials on display through March 27 Now is your chance to peruse teacher and student resources and hands-on learning accessories for the three sets of…
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Fifth graders will display inventiveness at annual Invention Convention
This photo of a boy showing his science project is from the 2015 Invention Convention. Fifth grade inventors in the Ames Community School…
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