South Callaway sixth grade student Katy Dixon read her poem, "Always my father but never my dad" as she stood in front of the district's Board of Education Wednesday night. The sixth grade class held a poetry slam last month as a PBL - problem or project-based learning unit.
For the project, students had to research poets and different styles of poetry. Then, they wrote their own poetry and presented it before their classmates and a panel of judges, which was comprised of South Callaway faculty and staff as well as community members.
Dixon won first place for her poem, which she said was dedicated to and inspired by a friend of hers. Her classmates Sierra Merrit and Dustin Russell also read their poems for the board. Merrit and Russell received second and third place, respectively.
Danielle Hector, the middle school's instructional coach, presented the board with information on the middle school's PBLs. PBL units focus on critical thinking and problem solving, which the school is hoping will help further increase its test scores.
For their PBL project, seventh and eighth graders in health class, which meets once a week, were paired and assigned jobs - one as a fitness expert and the other a nutrition expert. Then, they were given the profile of an individual and had to research and create a one-week exercise and nutrition plan for that person. Students presented their plans, which included visuals of exercises and in-depth calorie information for food items, to the school nurse.
A seventh grade social studies class has been learning about the basics of government this year. Most recently, the class learned about political parties and voter participation. The driving question that guides their PBL is: How and why do citizens choose political party affiliation?
Seventh grade students are working together to create their own political parties and will hold a political party convention next month. The students will create displays and be available to answer questions about their political parties from 10-11:30 a.m. on Feb. 12 in the middle school gym. Their displays will include their political party's symbols and platforms. Hector said parents, community members and other classes who attend the convention will be given a ballot and asked to "vote" for the top five political parties.
Hector also highlighted a seventh grade language arts PBL for which students will create an exhibit for a Holocaust museum. The museum will be set up in the middle school gym on Feb. 19, along with ninth grade students. The classes will have judges evaluate which of the students' work will be entered in the mid-Missouri regional competition for National History Day.
For this PBL, students can write a research paper, make an exhibit board, documentary, website or give a performance. Students have reading assignments, including "The Boys who fought the Nazis," to learn background information.
In other news, the board approved a bid of $169,348 for two new buses. The district will purchase the two, 77-passenger buses from Midwest Transit.
Low attendance was again part of each school's administrator's report to the board Wednesday night. Middle school principal Gary Bonsall said the school's attendance took a hit again in December.
"We had 30 or 35 kids gone every day for what seemed like weeks," Bonsall told the board Wednesday night.
Across the board, schools in the district reported a high number of absences due to illness last month, which led to lower attendance rates in December.
The district made attendance a focus in August 2013 and has continued to focus on increasing its attendance rate this school year. South Callaway earned 95 percent of possible attendance points on its Annual Performance Report (APR) in 2014 compared to 75 percent in 2013.