Student Advocacy at the Center of new Iowa Core Social Studies Standards
Student advocacy and developing a classroom where students can analyze current events, ask compelling questions, communicate their conclusions and take action is at the heart of new Iowa Core Social Studies standards being implemented at Ames Middle School. This inquiry cycle took center stage when 6th-grade teachers Michelle Andrews, Carissa Danielson, and Shawn Peterson began exploring the continent of Australia.
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An Eye on the Sky: Ames High Senior Pooja Kasiviswanathan Named a Top Science Scholar
“Ever since I looked up into the night sky, I have always wondered if there is another planet like Earth out there.” This is the inquisitive thinking that has driving Ames High senior Pooja Kasiviswanathan to be named a top 300 scholar in the 79th Regeneron Science Talent Search—the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science and mathematics competition for high school seniors.
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Better Together at Ames Middle School
In January 2019, Yonas Michael began his current role as the head principal of Ames Middle School, a position that allowed him to return to Ames after spending time in Maryland to be with his family. Superintendent Risner entrusted him with the mission of strengthening the culture and achievement at Ames Middle School at a time of great transition in the building. As a school leader, a top commitment is to improve student learning. But before jumping into student achievement data, examining the current culture of the building is paramount. “You can have all of the great structures in place. You can hire the best teachers, you can have the best materials and best programs, but if the culture isn’t right or healthy in the building, then none of those things are going to be successful,” said Michael.
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Two Ames High Teachers Earn Recognition from the Iowa Business Education Association
Two Ames High Teachers earned recognition from the Iowa Business Education Association (IBEA) this year at their annual conference. Ames High Business Teacher Vicki Hales was named the 2019 Outstanding Secondary Business Educator and Teacher on Special Assignment Vonda Junck awarded this year’s Distinguished Service to Business Award.
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Auto Repair: from DMACC to the Garage
For much of last summer, senior Matthew Blitvich’s rust damaged Mazda Miata took up the majority of his parents’ garage. With the clear coat starting to peel and fade, Blitvich was committed to fixing it up on his own. During his junior year, he enrolled in Auto Collison, a class offered to Ames High students through the Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC). His motivation was simple: “If I did a good job at DMACC, then I could just paint it myself.”
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What Does School Refusal Look Like? A Mental Health Story
Becca is from all accounts a very normal elementary school student who loves school. She is not what comes to mind when you think of mental health. In fact, she comes from a stable, middle-class family that has avoided many of the risk factors that are often associated with mental health. Her mom, Annie, has a specialist in education degree and her dad Andy works at the university in IT security. They have open lines of communication, promote Becca’s self-esteem, and are cognizant to help equip all three of their children for their future.
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The Ames High Experience
The high school experience is one that lasts with us forever. It is a formidable time in many of our lives where the experiences push us to become who we are. Values become established, personalities take hold, and it is a time when we contemplate our future and what we could become. There is no question that each high school experience is different, but the overall process remains the same: students gather together, they learn, and then they leave and make the world a better place. In Ames, our purpose is to empower every individual to reach their full personal and educational potential.
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Science Olympiad National Competition
To say that Ames has historically dominated the State Science OIympiad would be an understatement. The competition that includes chemistry, physics, biology, engineering, and general science categories, among others, has been won by Ames High 25/26 years and Ames Middle 24/27 years. That includes earlier this year when both teams won the Iowa Science Olympiad State Tournament at the University of Northern Iowa. Both teams beat the closest competitor by nearly 50 points and all but 4-5 of the 23 events in each division finished in the top three. Those wins earned them a trip to Ithaca, New York to the National Science Olympiad Tournament at Cornell University, May 31 to June 1.
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Sensory Path at Mitchell Elementary
Elementary students are full of energy and it is important for them to have an outlet for that energy throughout the day. For many students, recess and physical education classes serve this need, but there are times when additional breaks are needed. Teachers at Mitchell Elementary recently installed a sensory path down one of their main hallways, which is in many ways an indoor “obstacle course.” “The initiative started around conversations with staff about alternative ways to provide “brain breaks” to reduce our building-wide behavior referrals,” said special education teacher Angela Pardun. “During these conversations, we discussed multiple options including a puzzle break table, the sensory path, the addition of a trampoline, and others.”
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Safety Patrol at Edwards Elementary
If you visited Edwards Elementary School this year in the morning during student drop off time, you were likely greeted with a friendly smile and saw students high-fiving each other. This is the work of Safety Patrol, a rotating team of nearly 30 fifth graders who are taking the lead on establishing a positive environment in their building by greeting students at the front door and at designated points throughout the school. Principal Kristi Mixdorf saw this concept modeled at another school and approached fifth-grade teacher Chris Douglas about implementing it at Edwards. Douglas said, “I told her I wanted to continue looking for leadership opportunities for our 5th graders so I decided to take the lead on this and told the kids and parents what we envisioned this looking like.”
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