Buchanan K-1 Center
Instructional coaches partner with teachers to help them incorporate research based instructional practices into their teaching so that students will learn more effectively.  

I have been the Instructional Coach at Buchanan since it became the K-1 Center. I have enjoyed leading book studies, helping with early release activities, modeling lessons for teachers and working with small groups in the areas of reading and math. Working at the K-1 Center has been an amazing experience! Helping the “littles” learn to read is one of the most rewarding parts of my job!  

As I come to the end of my career in education, I reflect on my years as an Instructional coach at Buchanan, I am so thankful to have worked with exceptional people. It takes a village to teach our students and we have the best staff educating and inspiring our students. I will miss them all next year, but know that our K-1 students are in the best hands!

Submitted by Lisa McCarty, instructional coach

ESL Summer School
ESL (English as a Second Language) Summer School will be hosted for 10 days this year between June 7-23 at Huron Middle School for students currently enrolled in grades kindergarten to seventh grade.

The purpose of ESL summer school is to help students practice and improve their acquisition of the English language, as well as targeted instruction in mathematics. They have partnered with the Huron Public Library for enhanced literary experiences.

This year, approximately 520 students in grades K-7 will be participating in ESL summer school. They have a wonderful staff of teachers, para educators, and student interns to provide these services to English Learners. The last day of summer school, June 23, will be celebrated with United Way’s Day of Action. They are looking forward to welcoming community volunteers and cooperating weather!

Jolene Konechne, district ESL Director

HHS Language Arts
• The Huron High School Honors LA9 classes recently finished Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and now get to compare the text to the 1968 movie version of the same play.  They also learned the process of writing a research paper and wrote papers based on careers that interest them. They researched a wide range of careers from fashion designer to diesel mechanic to forensic expert!

• The applied language development class recently wrote letters and cards. For Teacher Appreciation Week, they wrote letters to influential teachers in their lives, and for Mother’s Day, they wrote letters and cards to their mom. Those activities also included addressing the envelopes.

• The technical communications class finished the semester writing resumés, cover letters, and letters of resignation. These are all skills they will need in the world of work. For something fun and to practice what they learned, they also wrote resumés for famous people. I had the pleasure of reading the resumés of Elvis Presley, Superman, Queen Elizabeth, and The Grinch, just to name a few.

• The yearbook staff has been working diligently to complete all the pages of the yearbook.  It is not an easy task! They started the year with nothing and will end it with a beautiful, 176-page, full-color book based on their theme, “The Glory Days.” During the first semester, they learned the journalism skills necessary to create the book, and they have been busy ever since interviewing, taking photos, writing stories and captions, and putting together layouts. They will be glad to see the final product, which will be delivered in August.

Submitted by Chris Stahly, Language Arts teacher

HHS Freshman Language Arts
The final quarter of the academic year is busy for the freshmen. They learned the basics of writing a research paper and had a chance to choose a career of their own.

This allowed freshmen to get a more complete understanding of a potential career path, including what the requirements are to work in the field; what to expect once they are working in the field; and common career progressions for a specific path. This skill gave them the opportunity to compare career strengths and weaknesses in order to know which might be relatively appealing to them.

This is just one of the big steps in preparing successful individuals in the future.

Submitted by Ms. Ma. Christina F. Urzabia, HHS Language Arts (freshman class)