From the Editor

Welcome to the June issue of VariQuest eNews! It's that crazy time of the year when grades need to be completed, students are anxious for school to end, and thoughts about the pending summer are constant! Whether you're helping with graduation, teaching summer school or closing your classroom door for a few months, there's something for you in this issue. Don't forget to nominate your school for a future School Spotlight and be entered to win one of five cold laminators. Our next issue will be in September, but in the meantime, have a safe and enjoyable summer – you deserve it!

Teacher Feature

Brian Dutton
Science Teacher
Homer Street Elementary
Springfield, MA

Give an example of a lesson you teach that incorporates visual learning?
A: In fourth grade we do a unit on rocks and minerals and follow the rock cycle. Being able to refer to wall charts allows students to follow the process of rock formation.

Who or what motivates and inspires you to be a teacher?
A: It has to be the students. I teach elementary science and being able to see students learn about the world around them and make connections that will support their lifelong decision process is my motivating factor.

What teaching strategy do you find helps your students best grasp a lesson?
A: Our science curriculum is hands-on-based and it really allows the students to discover concepts as they work together sharing ideas. Each group learns differently and to allow them to find the concepts and share with each other is most effective.

Name the most important thing you hope students take away from your class.
A: I hope it is just a desire to want to understand the world around them. I don't expect them to all want to be scientists, but to instill an inquisitive process to their thinking is all I can hope for.

What’s your favorite quote or comment from a student?
A: During my first year we studied light energy early on and towards the end of the year we were investigating habitats and adaptations. The question was about an animal's skin color and a student said that the skin was black so it could absorb the energy from sunlight. He just explained the concept from several months earlier and connected it to an animal's adaptation. It was then that I knew my students were learning.

Events

Currently you can find the VariQuest Visual Learning Tools at the Alabama Education Technology Conference where AVI-SPL, an authorized VariQuest dealer, will be hosting a booth on June 9-10 at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex. You can also find them later this month at the 2010 Georgia Association of Educational Leaders Summer Conference on June 11-14, as well as at the Dekalb County Title I Principals Summit on June 17-18 in Stone Mountain, Georgia. Hope to see you there!

Stay Connected

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School Spotlight

Veterans Memorial
Elementary School

Veterans Memorial Elementary School is nestled in the midst of the smallest most densely populated city in the nation, Central Falls, Rhode Island, with 18,000 residents in 1.5 square miles, according to Ripley's Believe It or Not! The school has 500 students in grades pre-K-4, and its staff utilize their VariQuest tools in exceptional ways! Read more.

The Nellie
Reddix Center

In the heart of the Medical Center area of San Antonio, Texas you will find the Nellie Reddix Center, a unique public school that offers special education vocational and habilitation classes to post-high school students. Most of its near 300 students have completed high school and are between 18 to 22 years old. Read more.

Official Rules

In the News

Push Your Students' Thinking with Interactive Bulletin Boards

The space on your classroom walls is limited, but valuable, so it's important to make the most of it to help your students learn. Interactive bulletin boards are a great way to do just that. They not only liven up your room, but encourage students to interact with you and their classmates about what you're teaching them. Learn how one teacher pushes her students' thinking through interactive bulletin boards at Scholastic Adminstr@tor online. You'll gain some great tips to use this fall when you're getting your classroom ready for summer school or the next school year!

Texas School Features VariQuest Poster on 'Today'

A poster made by students at the Nellie Reddix Center in San Antonio, Texas using the VariQuest Poster Maker was featured on 'Today' and on the TV show's blog post from March 15. The Nellie Reddix Center is featured as a School Spotlight in this issue, so read the story above for additional insights on how this school is using their VariQuest tools!

Lesson Activities from Julia

Julia is a VariQuest content specialist and former teacher.

It's hard to believe another school year has come and gone, and the first day of summer is nearly here. Make an impact in your classroom with the following activities as you wish current students farewell for the year and welcome fresh faces in the summer and fall.

Grades K-5

Summertime is Finally Here: Celebrate the first day of summer and summer enrichment programs by creating a bulletin board display to welcome the new season and summer school students!

Use Summer 1 (BBD038) to create a bulletin board display that will excite students about learning at summer camp. Cut out words to display on the bulletin boards such as "Camp out at Kennedy Elementary School this summer!" Add interest to the bulletin board by adding student names written on shapes, such as tents (CMP082), compasses (CMP102) and picnic baskets (CMP064), or pictures of students enrolled in the summer program, to the bulletin boards. Read more.

Grades 6-8

Words of Wisdom: Invite students to share their words of advice for incoming students.

Over the course of the school year, your students have learned more than just how to multiply decimals, they have learned how to survive the school year with you as their teacher. Now is their opportunity to "pay it forward" and give next year's students some advice on how to start the school year off on the right foot. Read more.

Grades 9-12

Hats Off to Seniors: At this pivotal time in students' lives, it is important to bring closure to the experiences they have had throughout their school career so far.

Bring the senior class together one last time to create a sense of community and celebrate their favorite memories from the years they have spent together. Cut out enough graduation caps (SAE127) in your school's colors for each senior student to have one and distribute to homeroom teachers a few days prior to the graduation ceremony. Be sure they are cut large enough for students to write one or two sentences on them. Have students record a positive high school memory on the graduation cap and have homeroom teachers collect them. Read more.