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Amy Booms and Abby May have provided the teachers in the NELC many opportunities to participate in cohorts next year. A cohort is a group of teachers who all become "warriors" together as they help learn together, support each other, and weather the ups and downs of teaching a specific content or style.

Humanities:

Reading Workshop Cohorts-

Elementary: CST's will lead volunteer groups at their school on the Reading Workshop model. Teachers will have a summer study on edmodo, quarterly meetings, and be coached by their CST, peers and the Humanities Program Specialist throughout the year.

Secondary Reading Teachers-

This cohort is district wide, and inlcudes reading teacher volunteers from each school. The Humanities department is teaming up with Metro-RESA to develop our reading teachers by provide reading
teachers with extended learning experiences to support comprehensive literacy and CCGPS in order to increase student achievement. We had our first meeting and May, and it went great!

STEM Content Cafe's:

Elementary Math & Science Cohort:
This cohort is designed for elementary school math and science teachers.  Cohort sessions will be held throughout the school year and focus on building content, experiencing labs, higher order thinking skills, and cross curricular practices.  Applications to join will be available in August.

Secondary Math & Science Cohort:

This cohort is designed for middle and high school math and science teachers.  Cohort sessions will be held throughout the school year and focus on vertical teaming, content study, higher order thinking skills, standards knowledge, problems/project based learning, and cross curricular practices.  Applications to join will be available in August.

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The Northeast Learning Community has Summer School for Leaders:

The Northeast Learning Community has partnered with Cambridge Education to provide both School Quality Review training for our Assistant Principals and Program Manager Training for our Program Specialist this summer. The NELC Assistant Principals and Program Specialists will be trained in a range of diagnostic and evaluative studies, school turnaround strategies, leadership development and scaling of best practices. We are very excited to be partnering with Cambridge as we continue to build our capacity and serve our Learning Community.

Let’s take a peek into one of the School Quality Review sessions:

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A new technical age for Johns Creek High School events:  This month, through funds raised in our school store, the JCHS Broadcast Video Production Department purchased a “triCaster” that now allows us to transmit live-steam broadcasts from our school web site. The first test of this new hardware was live-streaming our 2013 graduation ceremony.  All went well, so that successful test means this fall semester JCHS will begin live-streaming most public entertainment events held in our auditorium.  We may also begin live-streaming some events “in the field” around campus.  We hope to expand this broadcasting over time.

The school store is completely student-run by Sports and Entertainment Event Marketing Program students.  The profit realized through the school store funds instructional needs in the Career Technology Department and other school-wide needs.  This latest purchase was a great step forward for providing service to our community.

With live streaming, JCHS provides a new outlet for family, friends, and community members to be a part of our events.  This also is a great resource for out-of-town family and friends.  Most events will also be archived for future viewing.  Working with this new triCaster becomes exposure to real-world career skills for our JCHS students.  Tune in sometime!

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Amy Booms, Abby May and Priscilla Cole-Matthews have been an integral part of the Summer Summit offereed to teachers this June and July. Here are the courses that their departments will offer:

STEM:

K-5 Math Differentiation and Continuous Achievement,

6-12 Engagement in the Math Classroom

Humanities:

K-5 Unpacking the Balanced Literacy Classroom

6-12 Common Core We Want More

Student Disipline:

Classroom Management

Culturally Responsive Classroom

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There are many accolades I could list for the NELC schools this year, but this space would not be sufficient.  We have SO many great things going on in all our schools…for that, I know we are all very thankful.

However, I would like to mention one initiative: our Korean Teacher Exchange.  Twelve Korean teachers spent eight weeks in five of our schools this spring.  They shadowed their mentor teachers, taught some small group lessons, learned our curricula and methods and culture, and shared theirs with our teachers.  The plan is to expand to sixteen Korean teachers in seven of our schools in the fall.

And another exciting plan…three of our principals (Dawn Melin, Paul Brannon, and Trey Martin) and an ESOL teacher from Johns Creek High School will be traveling to Korea in July.  They will visit some schools, exchange ideas with colleagues in Korea, learn from their innovations, and forge relationships with educators in their country.

All of these exchanges are being funded by the Korean government.  The Korean government signed a Memo of Understanding with the Georgia Department of Education, who asked us if we would be a major site for their exchanges because of the caliber of our schools.

I’m sure this July exchange team will share their experiences upon their return.  Wish them well!

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Abby May, STEM Program Specialist for the Northeast
Learning Community, received the  Clendinen Fellow for Kennesaw State University.  It’s an amazing honor for her and her family.  It comes with great financial support for her to work on her advanced studies, and a
great deal of prestige

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Great news for all four of our Northeast Learning Community Fulton County high schools named among Newsweek Magazine’s list of top-ranking public high schools. The annual lists spotlights schools that are high achievers and that continually challenge students with advanced curriculum offerings.

National Ranking

Northview HS                  No. 197

Johns Creek HS               No. 214

Chattahoochee HS         No. 518

Centennial HS                 No. 913

The Newsweek ranking highlights the best 2,000 public high schools in the nation that have proven to be the most
effective in turning out college-ready graduates. The list is based on six
components: graduation rate (25 percent), college acceptance rate (25 percent), Advanced Placement/ International Baccalaureate/Advanced International Certificate of Education tests taken per student (25 percent), average SAT/ACT scores (10 percent), average AP/IB/AICE scores (10 percent), and percent of students enrolled in at least one AP/IB/AICE course (5 percent).

The entire report is online at: www.newsweek.com/feature/2013/americas-best-high-schools.html

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First round of
National Merit Scholars Announced

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First round of
National Merit Scholars Announced

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The National Merit Scholarship Corp. recently announced that eight Fulton County seniors have been awarded
corporate-sponsored scholarships as part of its 2013 awards program.

Chattahoochee High School: Frank R. Chen

Johns Creek High Schoool:   Natalie R. Bhalla

Jesse Huang

Northview High School:     Victoria L. Francis

Katherine Lin

Swathi Rammohan

Lilly Zhang

Milton High School:           George Li

These particular National Merit scholarships are sponsored by corporations that designate awards for finalists with career plans the sponsor wishes to encourage; for children of their employees; or for residents of a community where a company has operations. They may be renewable for four
years of undergraduate study or be granted as one-time awards.

Qualifying students were identified through exceptionally
high scores on the PSAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. In addition to having a record of high academic performance, they were endorsed by their
principal and earned high SAT scores confirming their earlier qualifying test performance.

National Merit Scholarship Corp. conducts the annual
National Merit Scholarship and National Achievement Scholarship programs. Scholarships awarded through the programs are underwritten by business organizations and higher education institutions, as well as by the organization’s own funds.

The organization will announce the final three rounds of
winners, which are for those earning National Merit-sponsored and college-sponsored scholarships, on May 8, May 29 and July 15.

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The students have indeed left the building for a relaxing summer break. However, learning and innovative practices never come to a halt at Northview. Learning is a continual practice that we encourage and promote, thus the reason for our Bridge Courses and Broadcast and Video Workshop.

Bridge Course: Accelerated Math 2 & Accelerated Pre-Calculus June 03-July 16

This year, beginning June 3, Northview will open the doors
for a unique learning experience. We will offer an opportunity for students to complete a bridge course and advance one year in Mathematics by completing the Bridge Course. Tara Daas and Tori Hedden, NVHS dynamic teachers, will provide intensive instruction in Accelerated Geometry Honors and Accelerated Pre-Calculus Honors. What a great way to engage in learning over the summer and MAKE IT COUNT!

Broadcast and Video Workshop

June 03-June 07

Students ages 12-18 have an opportunity to participate in a
week long, on demand, video workshop hosted by the Northview Broadcast and Video Production Team. Students will have the chance to participate in a 36 hour video competition.

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Chattahoochee High School’s French 2 Honors class was
recognized by their principal, Tim C. Duncan, in May for the outstanding scores they received on the French National Exam “Le Grand Concours 2013”. Two students, Ella Muir and Rodrigo Morote won 1st place National and received a Gold Medal. Five other students ranked 3rd National, three other 4th National and seventeen other ranked top 10 National. Overall the entire class scored top 20 percent on this difficult and prestigious Foreign Language Exam. Their teacher, Ms. Sirot is very proud of their accomplishments for this year.

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In June, Centennial HS will be hosting its first ever Summer
Bridge program to support our rising 9th graders who will be in our English Language Learners program and also our rising 9th graders
from Haynes Bridge MS and Holcomb Bridge MS who are entering our A-OK program (this is Centennial’s academy for at-risk students).

For next year, Centennial will be reviewing its Seminar
offerings, and with strong input from a teacher-led committee who will be re-designing the seminar time around student achievement by offering specific remediation and enrichment opportunities to all students.

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The reading teachers at TRMS are determined to get their students reading over the summer! They have launched the Reading Rocks Summer Challenge. The goal: to have students read at least 5 books over the summer. The reward: all students who achieve this goal will be invited to a special cookout when they return to school. And the grillmasters will be their reading teachers! The program includes weekly emails to parents and students with interesting links and videos and also an invitation to join a TRMS reading
blog! Read on, Taylor Road!

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June is a quiet month at River Trail. For a school normally bustling with the learning activities of 1500+ young adolescents, that’s a unique event in itself!

Next year, all sixth grade students will take one quarter
of “Adventure Quest” as a Connections class.  Through AQ, they will develop teamwork and interpersonal relationship skills.  This addresses our school initiative of emphasizing respect and school pride, while decreasing bully-type behaviors.

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Holcomb Bridge MS celebrates “Teaching and Learning” through technology as each teacher receives an iPad. Professional development will be offered throughout the summer for teachers to learn and collaborate.  The technology revolution  that encompasses us has changed all our educational paradigms. We need to consider iPad use within the framework of educational standards that address the needs of our rapidly changing society.

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This year at Haynes Bridge Middle School, we wanted to develop a summer reading list that integrated our Social Stuides and Science content, so the students would be a step a head for next year.  The idea for these lists was from our principal Lauren Seidman, and then were developed by our ELA Department Chair-Josh Robinson, our Media Specialist-Jessica Karp as well as help from Amy Booms our Humanities program specialist.

The Summer Reading Lists would be applicable to any upcoming 6th, 7th or 8th grade students because CCGPS standards were used to create them.
Please go to our website for copies: http://school.fultonschools.org/ms/haynesbridge/Pages/default.aspx

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Autrey Mill recently celebrated our ten year anniversary.  Celebrations were held with the students who enjoyed a longer lunch period complete with ice cream sandwiches.  The community was
invited to a celebration with speeches given by former students, Principal Jimmy Zoll and former principal, Dr. Ann Ferrell who reminded the audience that when the school opened there was no such thing as an iPhone.  Staff members who have been at the school for ten years were awarded with a framed group photo and the event culminated with the presentation of a mosaic of theAutrey Mill Lion embedded with the pictures of every current student and staff
member.  Finally, a faculty celebration was held at the County Club of theSouth and many former staff members were on hand to celebrate.

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Congratulations to Barnwell ES PE teacher, Ms. Becky
Kennedy! On May 21, 2013 she was surprised with the honor of being selected as the Face of Fulton County for May 2013! A camera crew from the County surprised her during Kindergarten PE with a monetary prize and Hawks
tickets for next season. We salute and honor you for your immeasurable contributions to our school community, Ms. Kennedy! She will be recognized on the County website for the rest of May, 2013, as well. Thank you, Ms. Kennedy!

There is a video montage of her award presentation below:

http://tinyurl.com/qflzm7j

On April 26, 2013, Barnwell Elementary School PTA sponsored our annual Spring carnival: The Barnival. We had hundreds of families attend, numerous community and business organizations participate in a variety of sponsorship capacities, and all coordinated by dedicated parent volunteers. The results of their hard work resulted in not only a highly successful and enjoyable Barnwell Family experience, but also raised over $25,000 to support the educational programs of our school. We at Barnwell are very fortunate to have such highly devoted parental support and participation, all underscored by this amazing event on April 26. Thank you,
Barnwell PTA!

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Abbotts Hill 5th Graders are "Stars of the Future"

AbbottsHill's staff and students wish our 5th Grade Class of 2013 happiness andsuccess as we celebrate their accomplishments over the past 6 years. The fifth graders participated in a variety of activities ranging from a talent show, recognition ceremony, dance party to the traditional "last" walk down the hall, as a send off. The theme for our 5th Graders this yearis "Stars of the Future". Abbotts Hill Elementary School Community is
very proud of all of our students.

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Wilson Creek teachers are excited to dive into our Balanced Literacy Plan to implement best practices in reading and writing.  Teachers will participate in a book study on guided reading and increase their knowledge of modeled, shared, guided and independent reading and
writing.

Also, Wilson Creek will host Camp Invention from June 3-7, 2013. Camp Invention program is one of the most well-rounded summer experiences in which a child can participate. Children are immersed in intriguing experiments, puzzling investigations and hands-on engineering challenges that help them realize their potential to be inspired, creative and capable problem solvers in an evolving world. Approximately 65 children will be participating this summer at Wilson Creek ES.

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State Bridge Crossing Elementary School 

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State Bridge Crossing Elementary School 

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SBC provided professional learning on Balanced Literacy and how Good Habits, Great Readers and Lucy Calkins Writing fit into the ELA instruction.  Amy Booms (NELC Humanities Program Specialist), Betsy Trawick(Curriculum Support Teacher), and 3 teachers facilitated  the learning.  The goal was to give the teachers a preliminary understanding of how everything works together to support balanced literacy.  Then, the teachers will have the summer months to formulate a vision of what balanced literacy will look like in their classroom so that we can hit the ground running in the fall (see picture below).

Next year, we will be sharing an Instructional Technology Support Teacher with Shakerag ES.  This teacher will be charged with moving our teachers and schools along the Technology Transformation
Rubric.  We want to be fully utilizing new technology along with HOTS.

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Shakerag is continuing our “Leader in Me” journey (www.theleaderinme.org) and is looking forward to working with Lonnie Moore from FranklinCovey to help develop our final plan for achieving “Lighthouse” status next year. Our Lighthouse Team, comprised of teacher leaders from all grade levels, recently
coordinated our first Leadership Day and will be meeting with Lonnie in early June to plan out our next steps on our journey.

For next school year, Shakerag is teaming up with State Bridge Crossing Elementary to share an “Instructional Technology Support” teacher position next year. We are hiring a teacher to serve as a “coach” for our classroom teachers, helping them integrate technology into the classroom to support our students, engaging them in hands-on higher-order thinking skills through technology.

Picture below...students on "Lighthouse Team" share at Shakerag's Leadership day on May 15th, 20113

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Teachers and students at River Eves are having the
opportunity to engross themselves in technology this summer.   The school Foundation has awarded an iPad to each homeroom classroom.  Teachers will take the iPads home and participate in an Edmodo course designed by first grade teacher, Cindy Goodwin,  to increase their comfort levels and proficiency with the devices.  Non-homeroom teachers have checked out student iPads for the same reasons.  Their devices will
return to the student carts in August.  “I want to ensure that all teachers are proficient in the use of the iPad, which will  create an effective integration of the device for instruction and learning,” reported Principal, Neil Pinnock.

Next school year, River Eves will open a new science lab to enhance the current science education. The school is working closely with STEM Program Specialist, Abby May, to ensure the lab meets the highest science standards.

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The Ocee ES Leadership Team will be meeting during the first week of June to spend a day preparing for the beginning of the new academic school year (2013-14). The team will review recently released test data  from the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test, ACCESS, and the Grade 5 Writing Assessment and discuss plans for the school-wide book study for next year (The Next Step in Guided Reading, Richardson). Alison Boivin, who works in the Fulton County Schools Assessment and Evaluation Department, will be sharing her knowledge and expertise at the meeting to help grade level chairs learn how to use data more effectively to inform instruction.

Next year, the Ocee Elementary School community will be revisiting the school’s mission and vision statements. Focus groups will contribute  thoughts and ideas and work through a process to ensure that everyone who shares the responsibility of educating students – parents and school staff – will know exactly what kind of school experience and outcome we want for the children.

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The Northwood Media Center is open for Northwood Families on
Wednesdays during the summer.  All rising Kindergartners are encouraged to attend in order to familiarize themselves with the school.  Our Media Center features a quiet place to read, crafts, activities and check out services.

This summer, Northwood will host the Chattahoochee Center (3M Grant) summer training.  Third and Fifth grade teachers from  River Eves, Hillside and State Bridge will attend this training for a yearlong implementation of STEM education.

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The students at Medlock Bridge are participating in the Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge to help our school win a visit by Author, Dav Pilkey.

To encourage our students to read, the Medlock Bridge School library will be open for our students to check out books on the following dates:

-June 14 and 28th

-July 12th and 26th

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Hillside is excited about their new Advanced Strategies Lab they will implement for all students in the upcoming school year. All students will spend time learning how to
activate their brains through  monthly  lab visits where they will use their thinking skills in a fun interactive game setting.

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Next school year, Dolvin is adding 12 more Inspired Classrooms.  We are well on our way to becoming an Inspired School.  An Inspired Classroom is to putting authentic and engaging learning activities in the hands of the kids so that they can use the technology available to them within their team environments on a more consistent basis. The Inspired Classroom model brings the
classroom computers from the perimeter of the room to the student's desks. The student desks or tables are arranged in small groups that allow students to have easy access to a computer throughout the day.

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The Fulton County Teaching Museum North: Writing
Through the Arts: Earth Moves residency teamed up with Findley Oaks Elementary 5th grade students . The
choreographer, Emily Yewell Voiln, worked with students to create free verse poetry (projected behind the students on the screen) and movement based on a term from Science curriculum: Landforms, Destructive and Constructive Forces. This program was also piloted this spring at Palmetto Elementary. The Teaching Musum has received tremendously positive feedback on this
program from teachers at both schools! If your school is interested in participating next year, please call Jena
Sibille at the Teaching Museum-770-552-6339 if you are interested. Check out the video!

EarthMoves Residency - Student Work Samples, May 2013

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The Star House Foundation will host a 3 week summer camp in June for selected students at Esther Jackson Elementary.  The camp will incorporate tutoring
in reading that will help students maintain and further develop the skills they mastered this school year.  Students will also participate in sports and crafting projects during the camp.  We appreciate the support that Star House provides for our students during the summer months and throughout the school year

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Dolvin Elementary & Johns Creek HS + Abby May 

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Dolvin Elementary & Johns Creek HS + Abby May 

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Students in Dolvin Elementary’s Science Club finished their last lab of the school year with an introduction into the subject of anatomy. With the support of John’s Creek High School seniors, Dolvin students dissected their new slimy amphibian friend known as the Bull Frog.  The students viewed the interior of the mouth, cutting out the tongue, followed by a journey into the frog’s abdominal area.  They identified major organs, how they worked, and compared them to the human anatomy.  Students were instructed by Abby May, the Northeast STEM Program Specialist, who also assisted with the oordination and planning of the lab.  The fifth grade students enjoyed their time with the frog.  Their favorite part was cutting open the stomach to see if they could identify the frog’s last meal.  Throughout the school year, students completed experiments in various Science topics.  The dissection of the frog was a great way to end the school year.