"The first five years has so much to do with how the next 80 turnout." Bill Gates

Parents as Teachers is a national organization that works with prenatal up to five-year olds.  Parents as Teachers promotes the optimal early development, learning and health of children by supporting and engaging their parents and caregivers.  Parents as Teachers designs and develops quality research-based and evidence-informed curricula and training. 

North Ottawa County has provided this service for the past 19 years under the direction of Pam Meier.  Pam recently retired and we are very thankful to her for her dedication to providing a strong program for the families of North Ottawa County.

Ashley Johnson, who is a Minneapolis native, will be taking over as our Parents as Teacher coordinator.  Ashley has her college degree from Sterling College and prior to taking the Parents as Teacher coordinator she was an in-home Child Care Provider.

The Parents as Teacher program will advocate for children and families at the state and federal level through community engagement.  We understand that the early years of a child's life are critical for optimal development and provide the foundation for success in school and in life.  Parents are their children's first and most influential teachers.  All young children and their families deserve the same opportunities to succeed, regardless of any demographic, geographic or economic considerations.

If you would like to know more about our program, please contact Mrs. Ashley Johnson at 785-392-2304 or email her at ajohnson@usd239.org

"What we learn with pleasure we never forget." Alfred Mercier

Preparing our students for 21^st Century Skills requires digital learning.  There are several ways to use digital learning to prepare our students.  With digital learning students now have the opportunity to learn at different times or places during the day, they are no longer confined to the four walls of the classroom.  Students can learn at their own pace or their own path, digital learning is allowing students to make learning personal and engaging, getting real-time results as they move along at their speed.

Digital Learning is more than just providing our students with a Chromebook or an iPad, those are just the tools that the content is delivered. Teachers are still responsible for the learning that happens in the classroom.  Students still need to be taught the foundations of each new concept they learn.  Technology is allowing for students to practice what they have learned a much faster pace and more engaging.  I have had several opportunities to witness our students using these tools to expand their learning. 

Many of our classes use interactive software that allows for personalized learning, and from that I mean our students are working on math or reading skills at their pace and at their learning levels.  The software is designed to be flexible, so when the student is answering the question correctly, the problems become a little more challenging and when the student misses the question the problems become less challenging.  The teacher can then look at reports from the students work to determine what level each student has maxed out their learning so they can determine what skills the student needs more help in.

Coding is another exciting new tool that has been around for several decades, but is being introduced at the elementary grade level with all of our students.  Nationwide last year there was the “Hour of Code”, to where all students participated in learning how to code.  Coding is just another name for programming.  Students learn how software is designed by getting the opportunity to create their own.  Coding allows for our students to think critically, problem solve, learn to take criticism, perseverance, and work with others.  Each one these skills will help our students become successful students and adults.

Many of our tools that we use at our grade school can be accessed from your home and many are designed to have the ‘game-like’ feel, so when our students are having fun they are also learning.  These are just a couple of ways that technology is allowing our students at the grade school to use 21^st Century Learning Skills. 

"If we teach today's students as we taught yesterdays, we rob them of tomorrow." John Dewey

Recently I attended a conference that talked about 21^st century teaching and learning.  This conference allowed me to evaluate my own knowledge of what a 21^st century learner is as well as ponder if our school is preparing our students to be 21^st century learners.  What is a 21^st century learner?  The term "21st-century skills" is generally used to refer to certain core competencies such as collaboration, digital literacy, critical thinking, and problem-solving that advocates that schools need to teach to help students thrive in today's world.

It is not that we stop teaching the basics or the foundation pieces that students need but it is how we teach these concepts.  Student’s need be engaged in their learning for better understanding of what is being taught.  Research clearly points out that if a student finds relevancy in what they are being taught and if they can teach others what they have learned then the chances of them retaining what they have learned is greater.

Digital literacy is a large part of the 21^st century learner and using technology is a great tool to insure that students are engaged in their learning.  Technology opens doors that allows us to do things with our lessons that were not possible before. Learning must be fun and also allow for our students to become critical thinkers.  Teaching has to be different today if we want to prepare our students for their future.  Technology has changed the way we do things and it is does not appear that it will be slowing down anytime soon.

Next week I will share with you what great things we are doing in our classrooms to help prepare our students to for their future as 21^st century learners.