Another National Winner!

Wow! I was recently informed that a student from our class placed first in the Be Kind National Writing Contest! Every student in the class entered this contest  earlier this year a by writing an essay about the kindest person they know, accompanied by an illustration. The Be Kind people said they received many entries from all over the United States but Archana's stood out among the K-2 age division! 

Archana received a whole goodie bag full of awesome prizes along with a set of Be Kind t-shirts for the entire class. Way to go!

Academic Contest Winners

1st, 2nd and 3rd Place Word Masters Challenge Winners

Throughout the year, we competed in several academic contests. Medals and awards came in right around the same time for two of them! Congratulations to our Word Masters Challenge Champions! The Word Masters Challenge is an advanced analogy and vocabulary competition and consists of three meets during the school year.

National Honor Roll Winners

Students love being a part of the Noetic Math Competition and the class did awesome in the Spring Meet with 15 students placing in the top 10% nationally. We also had several students who placed in the top 50% nationally and our top six scorers helped us earn a Team Achievement Award. Nationally the class tied for third place. Way to go, Math Maniacs and congratulations to all the students for their hard work and accomplishments this year!

Many Marvelous Millionaires

The Millionaires!

In the self-contained gifted program, we do not focus much on Accelerated Reader (AR) as it is lower level thinking according to Bloom's Taxonomy. However,  I have found there are some very positive benefits to AR in 1st and 2nd grade, including good test taking practice and checking for understanding and reading comprehension, versus just fluency. 

Triple Millionaires!

The school promotes a school-wide "Millionaire Contest" which challenges students to read a million words (or more) over the course of the school year. As AR is not a requirement in my class, this is an accomplishment that is almost entirely student-motivated. 

Benefits that come with reaching the coveted millionaire status include being allowed to check out extra books from the school library (an extra book a week per million), a certificate for a free meal, being honored by the principal at one of the quarterly award ceremonies, a cool "million-dollar-bill" bookmark and of course bragging rights. But probably the most sought after prize is the exclusive ice-cream party!

The Class Read Nearly 21 Million Words This Year

A student in my class this year was the first millionaire in the entire school, reaching a million words within just a couple days of school starting. This set the pace for the rest of the year and the class very competitively devoured books with a goal on the horizon. I've never had so many "millionaires" in one class and it is very rare for a 1st or 2nd grader to read a million words. Congratulations Radical Readers! Keep up the voracious reading this summer! 

Be Kind People Project 1st Place Winner!

Congratulations Liam!

Earlier this year the class completed a Social Studies unit about Kindness and at the end of the unit, the entire class entered the Be Kind People Project Creative Expression Contest to demonstrate what he or she had learned. I am thrilled and honored to announce we had a first place winner in the technology category!

Part of Liam's prize included a Skype for the whole class with Akellz from the Be Kind Crew.

Akellz was a ton of fun and lead the class through the Be Kind Pledge. He discussed every word in the pledge, what it meant and why it was important. Then he had the kids partner up and create a kindness handshake.

The kids loved being out of their seats singing, dancing, cheering and clapping! Below is a little snippet from our Skype.

Winners!

We entered many academic competitions and challenges this year and as is usually the case, many results are announced at the end of the year. The class once again did very well in the Noetic Math Competition. We had one perfect score and many other students finished in the top 10% nationally. 

Lots of other students earned an honorable mention, placing in the top 50% nationally. 

The class participated in the Continental Math League throughout the year and our first place winner (who earned perfect scores during all three meets) was rewarded with a trophy.

The analogy based WordMasters Challenge ended in a tie this year, with many other students doing very well! WordMasters Challenge winners each received a special medal.

 Last, but not least, the prizes finally arrived for the Be Kind People Project national writing competition! Not only did our first place winner receive a t-shirt and a gift certificate, the Be Kind People sent us goodies for the entire class! 

Congratulations to ALL students for their hard work and academic success this year! Competition is stiff in these academic competitions, and everyone performed well!

National Writing Contest Winner

A few months ago, the entire class participated in a writing activity. Each student wrote a brief essay about kindness, and then illustrated his or her thoughts. I entered all essays in the Be Kind People Project National Writing Contest and one of our very own students was one of the first place winners! Congratulations to Shyla for this wonderful victory! She will be honored at the PVUSD Governing Board Meeting next Thursday. It was so nice to see the joyful and congratulatory reaction of the class when I announced this big news. We certainly have a kind group of students and I am proud of all of them!

Grand Canyon Essay Contest Winners

Gold Medal Winner!

Earlier this year every student wrote an essay for The Grand Canyon Essay Contest. This is the largest essay contest in the United States and this year they received over 7,000 entries from students in public, private, parochial and home schools throughout Arizona. Congratulations to our very own Liam for winning 1st place in his grade level and earning a gold medal! Below is the video clip of Dr. Davis presenting him with his well earned prize!

Millionaires!

Congratulations to our first two members of Fireside Elementary School's "Millionaire's Club!" These students have read (more than) a million words this school year. They will be honored at a school assembly, invited to a special ice-cream social and will each receive a one-million-dollar-bill. Wow! All students are welcome to participate in this school wide challenge. Keep up the great reading! 

National Math Champions

Congratulations To Our Team Winner!

Last month my class competed in The Noetic Learning Math Contest, which is an advanced, biannual, national math competition for elementary students. The goal of the competition is to encourage students to be interested in math, developing problem solving skills and inspire young learners to excel in math!

National Honor Roll Winners

My class did very well and we had eleven students finish in the top 10% nationally. Wow! These students were awarded math medals. We also had many students place in the top 50% nationally, and these students received an Honorable Mention.