Elementary
Cullins
Third Grade Teacher Tracy Harmon Leads by Example
Mrs. Harmon not only talks about putting others before herself, she lives it! Third Grade CLP teacher Tracy Harmon volunteers with an organization called Soldiers’ Angels. It is a non-profit organization that supports our deployed service members, their families and our veterans. Mrs. Harmon has been involved for the past few years and has “adopted” numerous heroes. She sends letters and care packages to them during their deployments. In addition, Tracy is a Team Leader on the Letter Writing Team where she coordinates a group of volunteers who write letters each week to deployed Troops. She also volunteers on the Living Legends Team, which sends condolence cards/letters to families of the fallen.
As part of Soldiers’ Angels, Mrs. Harmon also volunteers at the Dallas VA hospital, where she is assigned to the Spinal Cord Injury Unit. Tracy expressed that one of her favorite things is spending time with some of our wounded warriors. “They are all incredibly inspiring and I could listen to their stories for hours!”
Many classes at CLP participated in Celebrate Freedom Week by writing thank you cards or letters to our Veterans, and Mrs. Harmon will personally deliver some of those to the VA hospital on her next visit while some of the letters will be sent to the chaplains in Afghanistan to distribute to service members who don’t often receive mail from home.
Each week, Mrs. Harmon’s class honors a “Hero of the Week” by writing to various service members; often it will be someone currently deployed, but other times it may be a soldier who has recently returned home. Not only does this give the students the opportunity to practice their writing skills, but Mrs. Harmon uses the opportunity to talk about character and responsibility, serving others and being good leaders and role models. Thank you for leading by example, Mrs. Harmon!
Each week of the school year, Mrs. Harmon’s class honors a “Hero of the Week.” On Friday afternoons during Social Studies time, her students write to a different service member. Often it will be someone currently deployed, but other times it may be a soldier who has recently returned home. Not only does this give the students the opportunity to practice their writing skills, but Mrs. Harmon uses the opportunity to talk about character and responsibility, serving others and being good leaders and role models. Many students come to class each Monday morning, and the first thing they ask is “Who is our Hero of the Week?”
Mrs. Harmon not only talks about putting others before herself, she lives it!
Cullins Student Victoria Harris headed to Disney World with Kidd’s Kids
Victoria Harris was selected to attend a trip to Disneyworld with the organization Kidd’s Kids.
Kidd Kraddick, a morning DJ, founded Kidd’s Kids in 1991 with the hope of making a difference in the lives of children with special needs. Each year, Kidd’s Kids offers five special days at Disney World to approximately 20-40 families with children who have special needs. The trip is scheduled for November 8 – 12.
Dobbs Elementary
On October 2, 2012, Adopt A School and Office Max chose to honor Colleen Kosterman, our 5th grade math teacher with $1,000 worth of merchandise including a new desk chair and a camera. Mrs. Kosterman goes above and beyond to help her students be successful. She even held a Math Camp in August for a week to help her students get ahead. They enjoyed engaging games and activities using manipulatives, iPads, and other forms of technology. The “A Day Made Better” program also donated another $1,000 worth of office supplies including binders, notebook paper, folders, etc. to our school to be used for students and staff.
Dobbs hosted our annual Family Science Night entitled “Smores and More”. The successful night had over 200 families participating in such events as: Solving a Mystery using Finger Printing, Discovering the Constellations with Google Sky, Exploring Sound with Echo Location and Orienteering with a Compass Activity on iPads. The students and family also enjoyed a hot dog cookout and smores for desert.
Hartman Elementary
It’s been a busy fall for Hartman students and staff:
- Hartman students participated in a special assembly focused on the identification and prevention of bullying in September. Guardian from Omega Man and Friends used his super strength to illustrate how everyone can be a “super hero” to help prevent bullying.
- The PTA hosted a magic show on September 20th for all Hartman families.
- The Rockwall Fire Department educated all students about fire safety through the RISD Risk-Watch program on October 8th.
- Hartman grandparents joined their grandchildren for lunch in the Eagle Café during the month of September in recognition of Grandparent Month.
Hartman students and staff continue to stay engaged in a variety of activities!
Hays Elementary
Celia Hays students are learning how to do “vector art”, which is a basic graphic design skill. Students are learning to use “layers” to create digital art, which means they are combining drawing, painting, and digital photography to create digital self portraits of themselves. Exciting to see the high level thinking and skill sets that are being learned by these students.
https://wiki.rockwallisd.org/groups/bclark/wiki/dc700/Husky_Virtual_Gallery.html
Nebbie Elementary
On September 27 Nebbie participated in the world record breaking JAM dance. Over 2 million people stopped what they were doing and danced! We had tons of fun. The American Heart Association awarded second grader, Ella Turner, with a trophy and lunch, honoring her participation in the national jump rope for heart event. She raised the most money in the Nation! Picnic in the Park was held on September 18th with many of our Nebbie families in attendance. What a great way to kick off the new year!
Omega Man, an anti-bullying program, came to visit the Nebbie Campus at the end of September. The kids were fully engaged as Omega Man shared a personal testimony that the students could relate to, and involved them in various hands-on demonstrations that modeled bully free actions and results. The program was a huge success!
Nebbie’s KC Club took part in the Rockwall High School Homecoming Parade on October 11th. The students have worked so hard to prepare for this event by dedicating time after school to decorate and prepare the float. To promote the ‘Rope the Ponies’ theme, a gracious Nebbie parent has volunteered their horse to follow the Nebbie trailer throughout the parade! This student led project is a true reflection of how Nebbie kids are TAKING A STAND this year!
Pullen
With the cool weather arriving, everything is “Falling” into place at Pullen!
September 28th was our 2nd annual “Take Your Dad to School Day”. We had a fabulous turn –out of about 300 dads! Students started the day with a delicious breakfast with their dad and then were able to give him a tour of the school. Dads enjoyed watching our morning KPAWs announcements and then attending a meeting to learn about how to become more involved on our campus! We are looking forward to seeing all our dads on the campus throughout the year!
Our Freedom Writers had their first meeting. They have been writing letters to many of our service men and women who are serving our country all over the world. We are proud of all our students who are supporting our troops!
Our 5th graders went to Sky Ranch last week. Our students, parents, and teachers enjoyed this exciting outdoors experience!
Reinhardt Elementary
Reinhardt kicked off its WatchDOGS program on September 24th, and we’ve already signed up dads for most of the school year. There are only a few open days left; so give us a call soon if you would like to serve as one of our amazing WatchDOGS this year.
Reinhardt’s cafeteria manager, Karen Siedloczek, was awarded her second Fuel Up to Play 60 grant, to promote healthy eating and physical activity. Karen, along with Reinhardt’s PE teacher, Adrienne Hergert, will be utilizing some of the award money to support the Reinhardt Runners Club which began on October 22.
Reinhardt is working on a strategy to move our students into the world of chess. We already have a coach, Reinhardt parent, Mr. Schalk, and are in the process of gathering the needed supplies. Be watching for more details to come. We are very excited about bringing this opportunity to our students!
Rochell Elementary
The school year is in full swing at Rochell Elementary! Teachers, parents, and students are excited that “E-Learning” is back! E-Learning stands for Early Learning and our goal is to provide students with an opportunity for learning and fun in the morning before classes start! Some activities start as early as 7:15 AM. We currently offer our students 21 different E-Learning activities to choose from when they arrive at school. It’s another way at Rochell for us to team up with parents to ensure that our students start their morning off on the right foot so that they can have a great day of learning!
Our Second Graders just completed their session at the Natatorium. They absolutely flourished in the pool! We had several students that were unsure about their ability at first but at the end of the week they were swimming on their own! We are fortunate in Rockwall ISD to be able to provide our students with this experience.
We recently had our first Science, Math, Art, Reading, and Technology (or SMART) Night. Our students and their families joined us for a night full of learning and fun! Everyone had the opportunity to participate in various hands on activities. Some of the favorites were iPad games, deck of cards Math, and Mind Puzzlers! Before everyone went home they received a “goodie bag.” Their goodie bag included several games that can be played at home as a family such as chromatography, plexers, multiplication war, word wall game, and a crayon melting investigation! The “goodie bags” also include a list of QR codes and websites that the students can use at home to expand their learning! Our first SMART night was a huge success!
Shannon Elementary
Shannon Elementary faculty just completed the Stephen Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Training in preparation of implementing the Leader in Me to the students in January. The Leader in Me is a process of teaching the students the 7 habits using grade appropriate terminology and activities.
Middle Schools
Utley Middle
On Tuesday, October 9, Tyron Smith, offensive tackle with the Dallas Cowboys, pays a special visit to the 8th grade Utley football team.
Utley celebrates Bully Prevention Month and invites Mr. Allemier’s Blackbelt Academy in Rowlett to empower our students with his anti-bully program. He will work with the 7th grade students during the October 31 early release day.
In addition, our 7th grade students receive the opportunity to learn about our legal system with a courthouse visit during the October 31 early release day while our 8th grade students will be involved in Readistep testing.
Williams Middle
The WMS Robotics Club is open to all students enrolled at Williams Middle School. Last year was our first year with a Robotics Club here at WMS, with 15 students participating. We took two teams to a First Lego League Regional Qualifier placing 1st and 9th in a field of over 40 teams from the North Texas area. Both teams qualified to, and competed in, the North Texas Regional Competition.
This year we have approximately 50 students involved in our Robotics Club. Due to the large numbers, and in an effort to ensure that every student has an opportunity to participate, the decision was made to offer students two options by creating two subgroups within the Robotics Club. One sub-group is the FLL Competition League, which will compete in the First Lego League Robotics Program. The other sub-group is the Wildcat Robotics League, whichwill focus solely on robot construction and programing without the project required by FLL. The Wildcat Robotics League will conduct intramural competitions held at the school level.
After explaining the two options to club members, students chose which group they wanted to participate in. Twenty-six students have chosen to participate in the FLL Competition League, and 19 students have chosen to participate in the Wildcat Robotics League.
Region orchestra auditions were on October 13. Several WMS students competed.
High Schools
Heath High School
- The volleyball program is undefeated in district play right now and was featured on Fox 4 News on October 9.
- The Mighty Hawk Band came in 5th out of 26 bands at the Mesquite Marching Contest on October 6. The band finished higher than they have ever placed at this event coming in the top 5 in all captions including total rank, drum line, color guard, horn line, AND drum majors. They also participated in the Aledo Marching Festival on October 13 and the UIL Regional Marching Contest on October 17. It was their first UIL performance as a 5A program.