HURON — The Huron School Board of Education held its only meeting for the month of December on Monday evening, with students and teachers gathered to share the progress being made in different classes. Some important issues were also touched upon as the district prepares for Christmas break.
Information on new exploratory classes was presented to the board, starting with Colleen Jensen, ESL staff member, who introduced nine STEM students at the middle school, outlining recent projects that focused on learning about multiple intelligences, working together and understanding individuals for their unique attributes.
“These are some of the high ability kids at the middle school that go above and beyond, not just in my class but in every class,” Jensen explained. “This fall we learned about multiple intelligences, which teaches the students how to work together on a team. We learned a little bit about the scientific method, then we started talking about STEM. I assigned their projects, which the students then carried out.”
Colorful displays were shown to the board in each group project, while students gave a brief description of what their project was. They began discussing the Project Based Learning (PBL), which was introduced in September and then researched before Jensen assigned the students into groups.
The class worked out their own multiple intelligence’s, to gain understanding that everyone has different capabilities which make them individual. This kicked off the projects with the assignment of building a safe and fun manipulative for a special needs student, and each group was assigned a student to work with, they explained.
Then the groups came up with questions to ask the students they were assigned; for example, their favorite color, likes and dislikes. After questions were established, the groups conducted interviews where they learned about the individual students, and incorporated that into the projects to make the best outcome specific to them.
A budget of $50 was developed by the groups to complete the projects. Once they had the materials needed, the building process began. One group explained that their student likes to bowl, to go fishing with his dad, and the color green. They incorporated all of those elements together and created a mini bowling ally over the course of about two months.
Once all of the projects were complete, a full class period was dedicated to groups presenting the final outcome to their students, to whom they were able to examine and give feedback on how they liked the product.
The students also shared that they added an “A” for artistic value to the Science Technology Engineering and Math components, because they wanted to acknowledge the important use of arts in the projects that were created.
Jessica Rodacker gave a presentation of the Family and Consumer Science (FACS) classes that she teaches at the middle school, which outlines the importance of life skills and gives students in sixth through eighth grade the ability to incorporate these skills into their own life.
“The things that we need to know for life, like how to do our laundry, how to cook for ourselves, how to manage money, and get into good habits early,” Rodacker said. “One of my favorite parts of this class is the bonds the students are creating and learning how to do things together.”
Each grade has focus areas, which include relationships, kitchen safety, food preparation, sewing, character building, clothing care, career and college readiness, child development and care, plus much more.
During the presentation Rodacker showed the board pictures of the students in action, from the sewing projects to cooking classes, and how much the students enjoy learning together about the various skills that are needed in life.
In the report given on Business and Math Curriculum by Michelle Moeding and Terri Schlader, it was highlighted that the standards focused on in the classroom, such as taxation, savings, investments, cash and credit management, payroll, plus many more topics, teach the students the basic skills required to “solve mathematical problems, analyze and interpret data, have sound decision making skills that relate to the business world,” Schlader explained.
Using math in real world situations gives the students a better understanding of the importance of these skills, plus a greater interest is expressed by the class as it applies to life in a way that can be related to, as Schlader and Moeding shared with the board.
Superintendent Terry Nebelsick discussed various topics during his report.Thank you’s were extended to those who participated in the recent Christmas Basket events. He also talked about training that is taking place in different areas of the district, such as training planned for what to do in a situation if a severe incident has occurred, plus the duties that the Academic Calendar Committee will undergo after returning to school from the Christmas break.
“The Christmas Basket is a wonderful opportunity for students to join generationally with people all the way into their 80s, come together for the community, which is a staple of who we are and what we do,” Nebelsick said.
Carol Tompkins, School Nutrition Director, discussed areas where funds could be saved for the Summer Nutrition Program and mobile units that were located in three different areas. These offered students the means to be fed throughout the summer months when school is not in session.
To reduce costs for the program, Tompkins highlighted that having two locations rather than three would reduce costs such as labor. The addition of an option for parents or family members to have a meal through the program was suggested.
The next board meeting will be held on Monday, Jan. 14, in the Instructional Planning Center at Huron Arena.
