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Show Altamont Elementary School Altamont High School school year at Altamont Elementaiy was The 1999-200- 0 enjoyable and rewarding. This school continues to have low teacher turnover, so procedures, which have worked well In the past, are carried on. At the same time, all teachers are open to new and effective Ideas for teaching children. The reading program at Altamont is especially strong, and this year we continued our practice of having sustained silent rereading by everyone at the school, for the first fifteen minutes of each day. world map from National The school purchased a wall-siz- e Geographic Society, which was mounted Just outside the office. Second grade teacher Jeneal Witbeck kept track of the students' reading, and they literally read all around the world during the year. We made use of community volunteers who came in and spent time listening to children read, and reading along with and to them. Second grade teacher Virginia Brotherson reported at year's end that level. most of her students are reading at or near This school has strong support from parents, and there Is a and functioning PIA organization. Outstanding this efforts of Shelly Sorenson of the PTA and Janalee were the year Goodrich. PTA faculty representative. The efforts of these ladies, along with strong community, faculty, and staff endeavors brought about the magnificent new playground equipment now being enjoyed by the children. A new cooperative effort between school and parents this year was tame the Tube" campaign, directed at encouraging more reading of worthwhile materials in the home and less time in involvement with the television. Parents were given many specific ideas for enjoyable reading activities in the home, at a special evening program. The students engaged in creative arts, music and dance activities while the parents picked up new reading ideas. The Love and Logic program, which was begun last year, was continued again. A monthly information sheet and calendar of school events was sent home, so that the parents could readily see what activities had been engaged in for the previous month, and what events to expect in the month to come. Many traditional events requiring student participation were carried on. These Included: Halloween Carnival, Christmas musical program, Night of 1000 Stars, invention convention, science fair, spelling bee, history fair, and states and countries fair. The latter program was called "Heroes this year, and all the students in fourth, fifth and sixth grades participated in the inspiring musical performance. This year an outstanding patriotic program was held in honor of Veteran's Day. The school lunch ladies conducted a poster contest for National School Lunch Week, and families of the students were invited to Join kids at school during the special week. Fifth grade teacher and music specialist Paula Jenkins organized a student choir. Mrs. Jenkins wrote and directed the "Heroes program, concerts of and the choir also gave some special before-schoappropriate music at several holiday times. Last year a special principal's award was instituted, given to an outstanding boy and an outstanding girl at the sixth grade level. This recognition is given for being respectful, working hard, and showing leadership. Intensive computer training was continued, helping prepare students for the world we live In. The upper grade students used Internet resources extensively in doing research for their reports. Our resident computer expert, fourth grade teacher Carol Snapp, maintained our Altamont Elementary School home page, with its many helpful links to educational sites. Improving teacher skills for the classroom is the norm at AES. Utah Reading Council State Literature Conference. Spelling with Rebecca Sitton. Love and Logic with Jim Fay. PAWS from UEA Conference. Mandt Training. Children's Literature Conference at U of Colorado, and UELMA Conference were some of the training sessions attended by the teachers. This desire to improve teaching skills reflects the dedication of the teachers. Our hall banner sums up my experience: Altamont Elementary School What a great place to be. As our students continue to embrace the vision and tradition of excellence in education at Altamont High School, we are proud to announce that our students once again had an outstanding year. Academically, students scored exceptionally well in SAT. and A.C.T. Testing. Our students lead the district In the majority of testing categories, and we have a high percentage scoring In the top 10 in the nation. Athletically, we have had a great year In both boys and girls programs. They have earned regional championships and placed very well at state competitions in nearly every athletic sport Similarly, our music program continues to flourish. They also brought home two regional championships. Our drama and speech program continues to grow and excel. They captured a region championship and produced plays second to none. We are fortunate at Altamont High School to have professional teachers and staff who have dedicated their lives toward helping students succeed. The high success rate of our students comes not only from hard work by our students but by dedicated teachers who provide the educational environment conducive to learning and student success. You couple those efforts with a community which recognizes the value of education and is willing to be involved in supporting students in the educational process, and you have a combination that provides for excellence in education.' We thank all those who share in the success of our students. fifth-gra- de well-organiz- ed Thompson School What do you choose to learn and believe, especially when seasons are not of your choosing? There is not always Justice --only -- Thompson School has dedicated this past year to teaching four fundamental Tife lessons': HONESTY. RESPECT, RESPONSIBILITY, AND CARING. With the emphasis of school wide discipline plan designed to help students take responsibility for their own behavior and accept the natural consequences for such behavior, students were given opportunities to make logical choices for themselves, their behavior, and the consequences which would naturally flow from these choices. With help and guidance, students learned to GROW FROM THEIR CHOICES. We are pleased to report that the result of this growth has been evidenced in, reduced violence and disruption in our school and higher levels of performance. Peer tutoring has been used with older students helping the younger students with notable success not only in classroom but also in social development in all areas of the school. A cross curriculum network Involving different departments and classes (i.e. English, History. Science, technology) to Integrate curriculum and show the relationships of the different skills and knowledge being taught in each has had a positive Impact on student behavior and academic performance. Development of a new Job and life skills have been enhanced creative Job experience programs such as: Landscape by Nursery class in which student built their own greenhouse and nursery business, planted trees, designed and installed sprinkling systems and planted grass on a new recreation field. In a foods and nutrition culinary arts class, students created a cookbook, received food handlers permits, and planned and prepared meals on a regular basis, for the school community members. YearbookJoumalism class prepared and published their own yearbooks and plan on next year printing the yearbook themselves as well. This' hands-o- n approach to learning has produced many highly satisfying results as we have observed students learning to work cooperatively together, producing real and tangible products and services to the school, and community, while learning important Job skills and developing those important values of: Honesty, respect, responsibility and caring for others. ol end-of-ye- is optional. Will you choose to grow? love. Life is changlng-Growt- h Karen Kaiser Clark. ar aln-hou- se' 2 What What What What we we we we live we learn learn we practice practice we become become has consequences Karen Kaiser Clark |