Our Week in Review: Week 15 of 36 Dole Pride

This week we hosted our Community Visit. During the year, each school in our county open their doors to the community to see all the great things happening at their school.

Our Community visit was hosted on Wednesday December 7th. Our 5th graders presented on Seal PBL. Each student created a Seal for our school and presented it to our community.

Community Visit Pictures 

Principal Michael Courtwright welcomed visitors and provided an overview while everyone enjoyed a light breakfast provided by the school’s PTA. Then it was all about students talking about their work! The morning’s visit was highlighted by a problem-based learning project by the 5th-grade students. These students have been working on the “Seal Project” - designing a new seal for HDE. Visitors had the wonderful opportunity to: • Visit the classrooms • View the student designs • Listen to students explain their design and project • Complete questions on iPads – rating their design...

Our Week in Review: Week 14 of 36 Blended Learning Builds Community

One thing that we are so excited about at Dole is students being happy to come to school to learn. With blended learning, our students learn the importance of working together. Students who work together helps develop a host of skills that are important for them in their daily lives.

Blended learning has created positive experiences for our students that also have increased overall student success.

If you are interested in creating a positive learning environment that will help promote positive student relationships, blended learning is the key.  Blended learning have allowed our students to collaborate, communicate, and create positive relationships with their peers.

When students enjoy school, they look forward to coming and participating in engaging learning opportunities.

Our Week in Review: Week 12 of 36: Student Leadership

This week our post will be a Vlog. If you are not familiar with what a Vlog is, it is just a video recorded blog post.

We have been excitedly continuing on our journey each week. It is important to remember that one key ingredient to an effective implementation of blended learning is students.

Our students are provided with many opportunities to participate in their learning journey. From hall monitors to bringing us our daily morning news...our students are leaders.

This week we share with you how our third grade teacher, Ms. McNeil creates leaders in the classroom with classroom jobs. Students must complete a job application and write a paper on why they should have the opportunity to have a particular job.

Each week students are chosen for a job. Students in Ms. McNeil's class are very passionate and dedicated to their job. Providing students with the opportunity to have jobs in classroom gives them an active role in maintaining the classroom.

If you would like more information on implementing classrooms jobs into your classroom, please contact Ms. McNeil at towanda.mcneil@rss.k12.nc.us.

If you are interested in visiting our school to see how blending learning in action, please contact our Principal, Michael Courtwright at michael.courtwright@rss.k12.nc.us.

Our Week in Review: Week 11 of 36: Connecting with Parents

Through the daily hustle and bustle of our daily routines, sometimes we lose the most important connection to ensure our students are successful. The connection between school and home is so important.

Our teachers are very dedicated to connecting with parents regarding student's grades and behavior. Parent conferences and meetings are scheduled often to ensure we are providing parents with the opportunity to understanding their child's educational journey.

Through Title 1, we host parent workshops and trainings on technology, literacy, and math to ensure our parents are given the tools they need to assist their students at home.

This year, we have also started our P.A.W.S. (Parents Active With Students) for a Minute Series. These series provide parents with tips to assist their students at home with simple strategies and resources. We provide a quick video each week on our school's webpage.

P.A.W.S. for a Minute will help parents learn resources to use at home to help students in literacy and math. On our blended learning journey it is important we are staying connected to our parents. Our students success relies heavily on the partnerships we are forming with our parents.

P.A.W.S. for a Minute #1

P.A.W.S. for a Minute #2

If you are interested in visiting our school to see how blending learning in action, please contact our Principal, Michael Courtwright at michael.courtwright@rss.k12.nc.us.

Our Week in Review: Week 10 of 36: PLCs with our Literacy Coach

We all know the importance of having a supportive team for your staff. One of the most influential person on our support team is our Literacy Coach, Candida Craven.




Ms. Craven holds PLCs and Data Meetings with our teachers several times through the month. During these meetings, she listens, guides, and provide them with support needed to reach all students.

A little snippet of a day in the life of our Literacy Coach - trust me this is only a small part of what she does...

We are very fortunate to have a literacy coach at our school to help support our teachers. We know that literacy coaches directly impacts student achievements. Ms. Craven engages teachers in their PLC and Data Meetings to enhance their learning. 

She just started her walk-throughs and meet with each teacher to provide them with feedback. She is such a valuable person on our team and very grateful to have her.

Our blended learning journey is not complete without our literacy coach. In order to effectively implement blended learning you need someone who is willing to roll up their sleeves and work. Her passion for providing teachers with the resources and support they need  is an important part of our journey.

Our Week in Review: Week 9 of 36: Time Flies When You Are Having Fun

Oh My Gosh....we have completed our first quarter! Time flies when you are having fun. Which is definitely appropriate for this week's post.

In our Blended Learning Manual, we have a section that lists what we want our students' school experience to be. On that list, we included students having the opportunity to choose and students having fun at school.

This week we held our first Club Day, an opportunity for students to have choice and fun at school.

So what is Club Day at Hanford Dole Elementary School?

Lacrosse 

Board Game Club

Club Day is organized by our Kindergarten teacher, Amanda Blackwood. Staff gave a list of clubs they would be interested in hosting and students chose which one they wanted to participated in. Each early release day, students will participate in their club of choice for about an hour. Both students and teachers had a blast. Even our principal Mr. Courtwright hosted a basketball game.

Robot Club

Cooking Club

Hot Wheels Club

Here are a few pictures from our Red Ribbon Week Spirit Week....

Ms. Rossi and Ms. Smith on Nerd Day

Mrs. Young and 3rd Graders on Nerd Day

Mrs. Young on SuperHero Day

Our Week in Review: Week 8 of 36: Alternative Seating

Blended Learning allows our students the opportunity to learn with choice. One choice they have is choosing where they are learning. When you walk into many classrooms in our building, you will not see many students sitting in a chair behind a desk.

Alternative Seating also known as Flexible Seating is an opportunity for students to collaborate, communicate, be creative, and think critically. Our teachers see an increase in student performance because students are able to learn in an environment they enjoy. 

In this blog, I share a few of our alternative seating / flexible seating classrooms. If you are interested in a tour into our classroom, please contact our Principal Michael Courtwright @ michael.courtwright@rss.k12.nc.us

Our Week in Review: Week 7 of 36: Giving Students HOPE

Thanks to Kelly Feimster and Salisbury NC Symphony, our students have the opportunity  learn how to play the violin. So may read this and wonder why this post is entitle HOPE...


Our school has over 95% free and reduced lunch students. Many of our students will never have an opportunity like this. 

HOPE  is Having Opportunities to Pursue Excellence...and this is one of those opportunities. 


Our 5th grade students have the opportunity to pursue excellence.

It is important that with Blended Learning, we make school FUN for students. When students enjoy coming to school, they excel. 

This opportunity provided to us by the NC Symphony is more than just students learning how to play an instrument...it is giving our students HOPE. 

When implementing Blended Learning, remember the importance of giving students an opportunity to have FUN at school. Create opportunities for students to pursue excellence in all areas of life, will optimize students blended learning experience.

Our Week In Review Week 6 of 36 ~ We Are Extraordinary

Swain County

Florence One School District









As I spent the weekend reflecting on what I should discuss in the week's review, a few weekly pictures popped into my head...


Hanford Dole's Superheros...our staff and students!






On Wednesday, we remembered Jacob Hall, the student from SC who was killed during a school shooting. Ms. Stepp suggested our school participate with others on this day to remember Jacob Hall. As I saw staff and students with their Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Avengers, and Spiderman shirts, I realized the power we have given our students to feel extraordinary.

A superhero can be defined as someone with extraordinary powers or someone who is exceptional. That is the best way to describe the impact Blended Learning has on our staff and students. It has given us extraordinary powers to always do our best in order to be exceptional at everything we do.

The smiles in the pictures above was not just for the camera, the implementation of blended learning as given all of us the power to be extraordinary and exceptional. 

This week we were able to share our passion for blended learning with two schools: Florence One School District (SC) and Swain County (NC). It is always an excited time for us when we are able to show other educators why we love blended learning. It is not because of the recognition It is the positive impact is has on the lives of our students everyday, making them extraordinary and exceptional.

As you continue to follow our Blended Learning Journey, you will see the extraordinary and exceptional things it is doing for our school. It has given us the opportunity to meet the needs of each individual student where they are. With Blended Learning we give our students the opportunity to be extraordinary and exceptional. 

Our Week in Review - Week 5 of 36 ~ Collaboration Station

Mrs. Bates' First Grade Class 

Over the past couple of weeks, we have shared with you our teacher directed station and our technology station. This week we are excited to share with you our collaboration station.

This station rotation is one of my favorites. Most classrooms have the collaboration station, but a few includes the individual station base on student need.

In the collaboration station, students are reviewing skills, reinforcing what was learned in their teacher directed station, or working with a group of students to complete a project or assignment.

Getting to have a discussion, make shared decisions, and/or design or create a product to show their understanding is powerful.

Mrs. Moore's 3rd Grade Class having fun reviewing math
skills.

The collaboration station provides students with 21st century skills. In this station, students are communicating, collaborating, creating, and critical thinking. Four skills that is essential in creating lifelong learners.



Our collaboration station allow students to engage in meaningful conversations that can extend their learning. Students learn a lot through these interactions

Students in Mrs. Smith's 5th Grade collaborating while writing.

Our Week in Review - Week 4 of 36 ~ Digital Tools

Last week's post was on our teacher directed stations. This week, we will focus on our technology station and the digital tools were are using with our students.  Our students are able to participate in a technology station for at least 15 minutes in both literacy and math.

We are fortunate to have many digital tools for students to participate in during their technology station.


Some of the digital tools we used in our technology station are: Smarty Ants, Achieve 3000, Raz Kids, Spelling City, Moby Max, TenMarks, Xtra Math, Khan Academy, IXL.

On Thursday, we hosted a Title 1 Parent Involvement Activity event to show parents all the digital tools we are using with our students. It was a great opportunity for parents to learn what we are using and how they can use them with their child at home.

Blended Learning is so important to our students because it gives them the opportunity to learn at their own pace, place, and time. Using these digital tools to assist in their journey is essential for their overall success.

Our Week In Review ~ Week 3 of 36 Teacher Directed Station

One of the most important part of blended learning is the direct instruction provided by teachers. We have adopted the Station Rotation model, where our students participant in at least 3 rotations. One of the required rotation is Teacher Directed.

We have disrupted education and eliminated the traditional learning of whole group instruction. No longer do our teachers stand in front of a board to teach an entire class. We have created small learning communities in the implementation of blended learning station rotations. In the teacher directed station, teachers spend more time working individually or in small groups with students to customize and personalize learning.

The teacher directed station delivers the content to students. In this station, the teacher is able to differentiate, customize, and personalize the content and delivery base on the group's ability. Teachers can also use the teacher directed station for remediation or enrichment. 

The magic that happens in this station is the relationship that is built between the teacher and student. Students are able to learn in a small group, that helps them learn better and build self-confidence.

If you are interested in visiting our school to see how we have disrupted education, contact our school.

Hanford Dole Elementary
704-639-3046
Principal: Michael Courtwright
Michael.Courtwright@rss.k12.nc.us