Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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Why do we always find that each year zooms by faster than the last? Here we are, once again, at the conclusion of a flurry of year-end events and activities, celebrating the accomplishments of Clovis Municipal Schools students at all grade levels. While impossible to capture and describe all of the events here, just know there have been dazzling concerts and a wide array of student programs across the district to showcase student achievements for parents and others. • One n...
While there are still traditional end-of-year assessments, many teachers incorporate unusual and creative ways to measure student learning. For example, Jennifer Kelley, veteran French teacher at Clovis High School, turned her classroom into a French restaurant for her students’ final exam. As Kelley explained: “All French I classes participate. The classroom is set up as a café, using student desks as tables, complete with tablecloths, faux candles, and flowers.” Invite...
You might not be aware of it, but April was National Poetry Month. Poets.org reports it was “inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996 and has become the largest literary celebration in the world with schools, publishers, libraries, booksellers, and poets celebrating poetry's vital place in our culture.” Schools across the nation celebrated with a wide range of associated events and activities. For example, “Poem in Your Pocket Day” involves students selecti...
A special day for the Clovis Municipal Schools is almost here; the occasion is the CMS Job Fair. This will, in fact, be the second job fair held, repeated because our first job fair last year was so successful. At the first event, approximately 25 percent of attendees were hired on the spot, provided with letters of intent. The nature of the American workforce has changed dramatically in recent years. Given a combination of factors — from technology advances to increased m...
This is the season of testing, like it or not, and New Mexico uses the PARCC assessment. PARCC stands for the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers. It’s based on a core belief that assessment should work as a tool for enhancing teaching and learning. As teachers and students prepare for testing, it’s not uncommon that stress levels increase; after all, who looks forward to taking a test? Each year, however, teachers become more creative in sup...
Darren Williams, seventh-grade life science teacher at Marshall Middle School, recently conducted a unique lab as a culminating activity for a unit he’d taught. Inviting me to come observe students, and even participate in his “Beak Lab,” this was clearly an opportunity too tempting to pass up. Combining efforts with the other science class, taught by Michelle Patrick, students gathered in Williams’ lab for the occasion. Williams had set up four biomes, naturally occurri...
Not long ago, Clovis Municipal Schools’ well-known Wildcadettes and middle school dance teams dazzled audiences once again. Showcased in “A Night of Spectacular Dance” at Clovis High School, these students sparkled with enthusiasm and amazing skills as they demonstrated the results of their hard work. The middle school and high school dance teams presented solo, duet, and group performances. Kym Cordova, also an English teacher at the CHS Freshman Academy, has headed up the d...
Last week, students across America were reading more than usual. “Read Across America” is the result of a task force within the National Education Association, which wanted to create a day to get kids excited about reading. Thus, “Read Across America” was established in 1998, celebrated on Dr. Seuss’ birthday. Dropping by Parkview Elementary to talk to Principal Shelly Flygare about something else entirely, the first indicator something was afoot was the sight of a fully decke...
For years, the Lincoln-Jackson Family Center Community Outreach Program has been active in providing many services. During the day, early intervention pre-school is the focus. Also based at LJFC are other programs, facilitated by the Clovis Schools Federal Programs: the Family Leadership Institute; Plazas Communitarias; Teen Parent Program; high school and college prep classes; family literacy classes; English as a second language classes; Migrant Education Program; and after-...
Since the 1990s, Clovis Municipal Schools have had “tech labs” at our secondary school sites. While Clovis High School Freshman Academy and Clovis High School have steered in slightly different directions in technology education, our three middle schools have maintained and updated the existing tech labs, which are now called “SmartLabs” to align fully with the program being used. Our middle-school SmartLab facilitator teachers are Rebecca Cottone at Marshall; Devon Maynard...
Recently chatting with Parkview Elementary's principal, Shelly Flygare, and Instructional Coach, Rene Hedemann, presented the opportunity to learn about some great classroom practices in place, supporting student learning. In Carrie Geisler's fifth grade classroom, for example, students are truly taking charge of their learning through student-led discussions. Geisler's classroom has student desks arranged in small groups, common to most of our classrooms, to provide an...
One of the fifth-grade teachers at the Arts Academy at Bella Vista, Christy Hartley, recently invited me to visit her class to see what they were doing. Meeting up with them in the computer lab, students were focused on their computer screens, absorbed in their writing. Hartley asked students to describe what they were doing: “Writing in our writing journals,” several students exclaimed enthusiastically. “Learning to do research,” a young lady offered. “We’re learning to...
School truancy is not a new problem. Truancy is, in fact, not only a concern throughout the U.S., but also in other countries. A recent article in The Guardian by education historian Nicola Sheldon could be describing schools across America: “Why is it so difficult to reduce truancy in schools? ... A small proportion of students accounts for a significant amount of absence. … Many local initiatives have been tried. After fines, court summonses, truancy sweeps, behavior and att...
Our school district is fortunate to have enjoyed incredible support from the community of Clovis through so many ways — participation in school activities, volunteering in events, donations of food for special activities, and more. One of the most important ways the community has supported our schools is through voting for the local school bonds as they’ve come up. Most Clovis residents are aware of the fact that voting for the local school bond does not increase their tax...
Recently at Barry Elementary, you could have taken a quick tour around the world, in terms of seasonal celebrations. It was the occasion of Barry’s “Multicultural Literacy Night,” organized by the school’s Parent Advisory Council and Barry staff. Four corridors and Barry’s gym were set up to represent different cultures to celebrate their unique traditions. With the help of wonderful Cannon Air Force Base volunteers — from the 27th Special Operations Wing — the evening was a...
This time of year is also a time of great blessings. A number of our teachers and principals discovered this recently with the awarding of the Clovis Municipal Schools Education Foundation grants. Since the founding of the CMS Education Foundation in 2007, $216,838.05 has been awarded in large grants. These are designed “to provide resources to enrich teaching, inspire learning, and enhance opportunities for all students enrolled in the district.” www.clovi...
Moving toward the holiday season, a common focus becomes giving, sharing, and helping one another. While these virtues should, of course, be daily practice year round, it's perhaps good to pause at least once during the year to deliberately reflect. Recently, Dr. Sylvia Martinez, principal at La Casita (LC), shared a number of things going on at her school. In addition to various academic activities, the music program is thriving at La Casita. Kindergarten teacher Ivonne...
In this season of Thanksgiving, we were reminded of important things to remember at Parkview Elementary School recently. Parkview's third-graders performed a special Veterans Day program for the entire school, along with parents and community members. Originally conceived when fighting ceased during the final days of World War I — on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month — this day of remembrance was dubbed "Armistice Day" by President Wilson in 191...
