Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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Some time back we described one of the programs at our middle schools to more effectively connect with students to improve student learning. The program, “Capturing Kids’ Hearts,” uses specific strategies to effectively connect with today’s students. The foundational values the program uses are nothing new: integrity, trustworthiness, honesty, confidentiality, acceptance, joyfulness, loyalty, and service. However, what is new is the manner in which these are explici...
Research has confirmed through numerous studies that bilingualism is cognitively beneficial. Bilingual brains have greater capacity for maintaining attention and task-switching than monolingual brains. There’s a wide variety of benefits, regardless of age; for example, young children who are bilingual demonstrate better ability to adjust to environmental changes, while older bilingual adults show less cognitive decline. Other benefits include more efficient processing, greater...
A mysterious invitation from Mesa Elementary principal, Julie Howell, recently arrived. Calling to enquire, the response was vague, just encouraged me to drop by at a certain time on a certain day. Like Alice in Wonderland, I thought, “Curiouser and curiouser.” Arriving at Mesa, the parking lot was overflowing and upon entering Mesa's large, multi-purpose room saw it was packed with adults and students. The air was electric; music was blaring with Mesa's students singing alo...
I recently heard about a great program going on at our Clovis High School Freshman Academy. Called, “Educational Methodology,” it is facilitated by CHSFA’s versatile Tiffany Grimes. Grimes has taught technology as well as careers in the past, and this new program aligns perfectly with her past experience as well as her love of helping kids. Grimes carved out some time to describe the program. “Our new program, Educational Methodology, has a full curriculum, and I have 53 stud...
This is the season of fall festivals and dressing up as scary or funny characters for Halloween. However, another holiday taking place this time of year is El Día de los Muertos; originally known as Día de Muertos, it translates to Day of the Dead. In learning about this holiday, celebrated at several of our schools, the commonly recurring thread was, “It’s not Halloween, and it’s not scary.” Originally celebrated at the beginning of summer — and we’re talking a few hundred y...
Our Clovis Municipal Schools Education Foundation is now in its 10th year. Initiated through the efforts of then-superintendent Rhonda Seidenwurm, the foundation has flourished over the years. While members have come and gone and committee memberships have shifted, the underlying commonality is a unified belief in loyalty to and support of our school district by those who are a part of it, directly or indirectly. Our foundation funds a wide range of things: teacher grants;...
A key goal-setting strategy used at our school sites across the district is the 90-day plan, a strategic planning commonly used in districts across the nation. With diverse input, the planning provides a vehicle to identify areas needing improvement, with actions to be taken. Earlier this year, during Clovis High School’s 90-day planning process, one of the areas identified for improvement was creating a more positive school culture, for both students and staff. CHS Instructio...
While one might not ordinarily think of a library as a hub of activity, keeping up with the activities at the Clovis High School Library and Media Center can be a challenge. Head Librarian Jenny Jeffery keeps things hopping. Several years, ago Jeffery received a CMS Education Foundation grant award and built the “Library Learning Commons” featuring comfy, contemporary modular furniture of varying heights and a long, high-seated “bar” with lots of electrical outlets for cha...
Visiting Cameo Elementary recently, I found myself in conversation with veteran kindergarten teacher Deanna Cole. Among the many wonderful things she’s doing with her young students, a couple of items jumped out. Cole, now in her 25th year of teaching, originally came to Clovis with her military family and graduated from Clovis High School, followed by bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Eastern New Mexico University. When Cole’s daughter was very young and she was volunte...
Recognition of the importance of early childhood education has grown rapidly over recent years. While the term “early childhood” can cover child development and education up to the age of 8 (National Association for the Education of Young Children), our targeted terms are preschool, including 3- and 4-year olds; and pre-k, identifying, specifically, the 4-year-olds. It is during these years that children undergo the most rapid growth and development. Although there is con...
At a recent Google Classroom training at Mesa Elementary, something interesting happened. Teachers of younger students are normally not excited about using an online collaborative learning environment like this; understandably, because of the challenge of using with very young children. Not the Mesa K-2 teachers; all were very enthusiastic about this resource and immediately saw great possibilities, discussing ways of incorporating with students and parents. One example, in...
There is a hands-on collaborative learning concept called “makerspaces” that’s been around for some time now. The so-called “maker movement” can be arguably identified as having been around for a long time. However, with the increasing expansion of technology in education — and our lives, for that matter — makerspaces have begun to flourish. There are actually “Maker Faires” that take place all around the world, defined as: “part science fair, part county fair, and part some...
Teen years are known to be filled with drama, and I recently came across some pretty serious drama at Clovis High School. This drama, however, was the productive sort, contained in the CHS drama classes. Arriving at Crystal Benfield’s drama classroom, small groups of students were clustered in intense discussions of character and motivation; plot and other things I couldn’t quite make out. Benfield wandered among groups, listening, offering comments. When she joined me for...
Maintaining exceptionally high standards of an already outstanding program — namely, the Clovis schools music program — is a perpetual challenge. Music in our schools has a long-time, well-established tradition of excellence. So, where do you go when you’ve seemingly reached the top? A recent conversation with Brandon Boerio, director of music education for the district, helped shed some light. Boerio began our conversation offering accolades to those who’ve gone before: Norvi...
The new school year is underway. Teachers, staff, and students have returned with high expectations for a new year of learning, and we hit the ground running. The world we now live in is different from the world of even a few years ago, presenting new challenges. Trying to solve problems with “old-school” solutions doesn’t necessarily work. Albert Einstein’s definition nails it: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” Today’s cla...
That’s it … another school year under our belts. Summer is here, and kids are excited and eagerly anticipating all the typical summer activities — swimming and playing with friends during the long summer days. Teachers are heaving great sighs of utter exhaustion and taking a brief pause before looking towards their own summer plans. Some will launch into summer jobs, while many will be making plans for summer professional development opportunities. Parents who both work outsi...
Here we are at the end of another school year. Many wonder why the year sped by so quickly; for others, it couldn't go fast enough. For our Clovis High School seniors, this school year's also been bittersweet: the last football game, the last school activity; walking through a classroom door for the last time; hanging out with friends at lunch for the last time. Seniors can't help but be keenly aware, during these fleeting days, they've experienced many “last times.” It'...
It comes as no surprise that the music program of the Clovis Municipal Schools is exceptional. Our long-standing tradition of excellence is the direct result of the dedication of staff, students, and parents supporting their children's efforts. The Clovis Schools are somewhat unique in that a few years ago, when many schools across the nation were cutting back music programs — even doing away with them entirely — we stood firm and never faltered in offering the same out...
A group of over fifty of our middle school students participated in a remarkable event earlier this week called, “Envisioning Your Future.” This program is an extension of the many activities taking place at our three middle schools via our student success coaches, made possible through ENLACE. Our amazing middle school “coaches” are Joseph Williams at Gattis, Stephanie Parker at Marshall, and Alicia Turner at Yucca. Working with caseloads of students, they focus on prevent...
On a recent visit to Gattis Middle School, I stopped off in the library for an errand. While there I saw a young man working and talking with students in the back of the library. The back of the Gattis library is, in fact, a wall of glass, overlooking the enclosed, grassy courtyard used daily by students moving between classes or during their lunch break. Curious, I wandered over to listen in. The young man is Joseph Williams, the student success coach at Gattis Middle...
The month of April is the month of poetry. Back in 1996 the Academy of American Poets designated April as National Poetry Month. Their website states that National Poetry Month has become a widely celebrated event around the world, showcased by not only schools, but also libraries, booksellers and publishers. Poetry has been celebrated across our district this past month, at all grade levels, in a number of ways; from students memorizing and reciting poetry, to teachers sharin...
The subject of English language arts in middle school is not generally a topic which excites or tantalizes the average individual. However, when packaged creatively by an innovative teacher, it can be game changing. Bethanie Baker is an English teacher at Yucca Middle School who has set up “Book Tastings” in her classroom. Dropping by her classroom, the first thing I noticed was the sign, “Welcome to Baker’s Book Café.” Student desks were grouped into fours, facing each other...
Bullying has been defined as the “use of superior strength or influence to intimidate someone, typically to force him or her to do what one wants.” Somehow the definition doesn’t sound as bad as bullying is. Like it or not, bullying has always been around, as long as people have lived together in communities. As long as imbalances in power occur, the potential for bullying exists, and this is unlikely to change. Not surprisingly, the field of research into the preva...
You may have heard mention of our own elementary — the Arts Academy at Bella Vista — being honored at the famous White House Egg Roll of 2018. Chatting with Arts Academy principal Shelly Norris, we learned more of the background leading to this national honor and recognition. The White House Easter Egg Roll is the result of a collaboration between the White House Historical Association, The White House, and the National Park Service. Although The White House has hosted an egg...
Perhaps unique to schools in New Mexico is a special extracurricular activity called, “Ballet (or Baile) Folklorico.” A long tradition at La Casita Elementary, the most recent performance showcased third-fifth grade folklorico dancers, brightly clad in colorful traditional costumes, young ladies and young men alike. Folklorico dancing is essentially a collective description for traditional Latin American dances with some of the characteristics of ballet, such as pointed toe...
