AVID Newsletter

A huge shoutout to Shepherd Graphics for our new AVID Banners at each of the schools! They look great!

HCSD#3 Vision poster at the District Office

Each week, we will feature a collection of staff members from each school at random!

When you see these amazing people, make sure to tell them THANK YOU for making our district the best place to be!

(click the 'expand arrows' icon to the top right of each photo to enlarge it)

Focus: Writing

Elementary: 7:30-9:30 Slater Staff Room

Secondary: 10:00-12:00 BHS Cafeteria

Thursday Feb. 19 @ 6:30!

Mark your calendars!! 5:00-7:00 @ BHS

...who can you spot doing incredible things at each of these schools?

👏 Henry L. Slater is an AVID-Certified School! 🎉

Mission: Empower all students through high expectations to embrace learning and achieve personal success.

Vision: Embraced – Educated - Empowered

Thank-you cards with purpose! Mrs. Davis's Kinders used AVID communication strategies to share their appreciation with our School Board. Great work, Daxton and Chloe!

AVID Evidence Winner!

In Miss Ellibee’s class, they are becoming writing experts!

Max, Ryker and Aurora

Using AVID Collaboration strategies, the 5th-grade buddies from Ms. Murphy's class modeled teamwork and communication as Ms. Olson's kindergarteners and their partners worked together to follow directions, share materials, and problem-solve during a slime-making science experiment.

Here are partners Jax and Leevi & Wilow and Sahallie.

Mrs. Crawford's 1st graders are working on their January AVID Goal/Focus of annotating a text. This is a skill that is built on year after year to help students be successful comprehending, thinking critically, and remembering information.

Miss Johnson's first graders worked with their WICOR reading partners to use their AVID annotating strategy to find their vocabulary and spelling words in the text.

Miss Weil's class worked on a fun community building partner drawing activity. Partner A had 2 minutes to describe a picture to partner B. Partner B could not ask any questions. They worked on their communication and listening skills. Here is Thatcher and Stella working together.

Ms. Weil's students also used the AVID World Café strategy to work cooperatively in small groups, rotating stations to discuss and share ideas about how robots are used in classrooms. By listening to one another and building on group discussions, students deepened their understanding of how robots can support learning and problem-solving.

In Mrs. Burns's class, Emery was explaining to June how to draw the heart on the board during a fun AVID collaboration activity to build student's listening and speaking skills.

Colleen and Paesynn

Students in Mrs. Wilke's class also practiced collaboration by working in pairs. Student A faced the board and described how to draw a picture without giving clues about what it was, while Student B faced Student A and drew without seeing the board. Students then compared drawings to see how clear speaking and careful listening support teamwork and understanding!

Here are partners Liam and Reagen and partners Alice and Blanton.

Mrs. Davis's class used the AVID One Pager strategy to write about our winter break! Students Sadie Beaubien and Iyla Day were working hard to add words and illustrations to fill the page with all the things they enjoyed over break!

Mrs. Davis's third grade also participated in another AVID Four Corners collaboration structure but this time, with a twist! After two weeks of learning how to find the area of flat shapes, students were asked to analyze four different problems and find the errors that Mrs. Davis made in her math for each one. Student's wrote their findings on sticky notes, then shared and compared in small groups what their thoughts were.

In Mrs. Fenton's 3rd grade, they ushered out the saying "6-7." It is now banned and gone because it was so "last year!" They used their vocabulary skills to realize what ushering something out means and practiced our 6-7 skills.

Students also frequently use their WICOR partners for collaborating! Students partnered up recently to study math facts using math tools for memorization, explore square units to measure area, and distinguish the Narrator's Point of View in a Folktale. Here is Brooklyn and Sahallie!

Her students also realized that they are not expected to know everything YET! They latched onto the "Power of Yet" to determine what skill or activity they cannot do YET to create a goal for this next 3rd quarter. Students used graphic organizers to contain their ideas before narrowing it down to one goal.

Here is Aubrey working on her goal!

Mrs. Baddeley's students were working with their Collaboration Buddy from their WICOR Buddies to help with solving multiplication problems. Teamwork makes the dream work! Here is Isaiah and Dayton.

Students in Mr. Weible’s class created their own multiplication equation, sharing it with a partner and solving their partner's problem. They then had time to check their work before creating a new problem and finding a new partner.

They are also learning about stating their opinion and backing it up with reasons. Students had several 'Would you Rather' questions, that they then discussed with their table groups.

Students in Mr. Weible’s class are also exploring about transfer of energy using Mystery Science. They collaborated as a group to create a ramp and tested their hypothesis about how far the marbles will roll when bumping into each other. Here is Pearl, Aubrey, Iasha, and Alana.

Mrs. Bertrand's students have been working very hard on their Native American research reports! Here is Alyssa, Sadie, Suzanna and Zoey.

5th grade students in Miss Howes’ class utilized the 4-corners method during the introduction to a new reading unit. Students are exploring the essential question of “What technology is the most essential in your daily life?” Students had the choice of vehicles, computers, phones, or gaming consoles. Students then had collaborate on why their choice was most important in their daily life.

Her students were also tasked with reading an adventure book and turning it into a fun interactive game board. Students had to incorporate the plot, setting, and characters within the game and develop rules and the object of the game.

Emma Rowley, in Mrs. Marshall’s 5th-grade class, shared her three-column notes during math block. Students used their notes on geometric terms to help them create a Geometry City. Their cities will be on display at the upcoming Math Family Night in February.

Mrs. Marshall's class also practiced their spelling words using their WICOR Study Buddies. This is a great example of building both academic skills and relational capacity.

Ms. Murphy's students were amazed at how much they had learned. These were all the two column AVID style math notes from the 11 math units they have done so far. She asked them to look at them and see if they saw anything they did not know. And they were amazed to see they knew all of it! Ms. Murphy explained this is why their math scores are growing so much. Their own hard work is the key to learning math!

Ms. Murphy's 5th graders and Ms. Olson's kindergarteners paired up to be mad scientists! The students followed directions and worked together to get their slime just right. This took AVID critical thinking skills to decide what their slime needed. They needed to add one ingredient to make it stretchy, and another to make it less sticky. They worked with their partners to decide what they needed, and it took some trial and error to get it to start working! The idea was that a scientist would not get it right the first try, and they just needed to keep working with it to make it just right.

Mrs. Marshall's class has been having a blast fiddling with Mr. Kelly! This is their last year fiddling at Slater.

Mrs. Trent, Aiden, Mrs. Hawley and Geramy used AVID strategies to practice rhyming and reading skills while playing Rhyming Bingo!

Third graders in Mrs. Williams small reading group enjoyed a sweet treat after all their hard work this week! Nice job, Clyde, Jake, Hank and Isaiah!

AVID Evidence Winner!

Kindergartners in an intervention group with Mrs. Knox were working on letter name and sounds by creating different letters out of playdough. Here is Benji with his letter 'f.'

Chloe and Oaklyn with their letter 'b.'

In SEL with Ms. Henshaw, Mrs. Marshall’s 5th-grade students engaged in a structured discussion focused on personal goals and commitments, identifying the steps needed to achieve them. This activity utilized the AVID Think–Pair–Share strategy to promote collaboration, critical thinking, and student voice.

Mr. Oliver has been teaching 5th grade students how to play the ukulele during music class.

Students enjoyed the Temple Run in PE! Here is Ms. Howes's class in the ball pit!

Mission: To provide staff and students with a safe, respectful, responsible, and professional environment to learn and grow.

Vision: To produce students who are emotionally, socially, and academically prepared for high school.

Mr. Moss's AVID 8 class visited Sage Country Veterinary Clinic to learn about their day to day operations and explore Veterinary Science as a career field

Miss Hughes’ 7th grade AVID class has launched collaborative service-learning projects. Students are working in groups to inquire into community and classroom needs, collaborate to develop meaningful service ideas, and organize action plans that promote student voice, responsibility, and leadership. These projects are designed to support both our school community and the broader community.

Students in Mrs. Ayling's math class engaged in a jigsaw where each group had different problems to solve. After each partnership completed their problems, one person stayed seated and the other person traveled to other sitting partners. When the two different partners met up they shared the problems they had with their original partner. This continued until everybody had partnered with each of the other duos and the assignment was finished. Students practiced using sentence starters when communicating and helping each other understand the given problem.

Her students also worked in small groups with one representation of a math concept (one “corner”) and discussed what they understood before placing it on a Four Corners template. Each group then created the other three representations (such as a model, equation, graph, or real-world context) so all four corners connected to the same concept. Groups shared their work and gave peer feedback using prompts like “I like…” and “I wonder…”.

Students in Mrs Sorenson’s 8th-grade science learned about the history of space science and early models of our solar system through reading, focused notes, and a lab. Students learned about the phenomenon of parallax and how it supported early, geocentric models of our solar system.

Mrs. Cate's class was playing Numbered Heads Wheel of Fortune to review for an upcoming assessment.

In 8th grade social studies with Ms. Doty, students were engaging in an in-depth study of the three branches of government and the system of checks and balances. Using collaborative learning strategies, students were working in groups to research their assigned branch and create an academic poster designed to teach their classmates key concepts and vocabulary.

Mrs. Moss's 6th grade Social Studies students collaboratively analyzed maps of North America and created salt dough physical maps to demonstrate understanding of major geographic features. Using organization, students color coded their maps to reflect different regions and features.

Ms. Bull always has fun things planned in Home Ec! Here are students making pillows from embroidery projects (the boys loved it!), decorating Christmas cookies, cooking Bacon Cheeseburger Pasta (one of their favorites), and enjoying the pasta...never any leftovers, yum!

Students in Mr. Tiernan's class engaged in a Jigsaw activity as they researched and analysed an Illuminated Manuscript page.

His students also did collaborative problem solving as they troubleshot issues with their Kitchen Lithography Project.

Students love playing a game called Speedball in Ms. Nonnenmacher's class. They must use a lot of collaboration in order to win!

Every Thursday a student who has participated and dressed down that whole week in PE is chosen to receive a prize. Students are doing an AVID chant in order to celebrate the winning student!

AVID Evidence Winner!

Mrs. Moss's health classes participated in a student-centered AVID Inquiry lesson on infectious disease, germs, and handwashing, built around questioning, collaboration, and critical thinking.

Seventh grade ELA students in Mrs. Swindlehurst's class worked together to solve a cold case from the Triangle Shirtwaist fire in New York City in 1911. After reading a non-fictional text and a historical fiction account of the fire, each group was given a packet of evidence. They worked through the evidence and completed a police report, which they shared with the class.

Mr. Ellibee is very proud of his middle school students who participated and collaborated in the District 5 honor band! Students were selected with an application they submitted and were given music ahead of time to prepare. They have two full days of intense rehearsal and then perform a concert on their second day in the evening.

Mission Statement: Empowering students to learn, grow, and lead.

Vision Statement: To foster a community of learners where curiosity, critical thinking, and academic excellence equip students for success through an AVID framework.

Students in World History with Mr. Young were collaborating on their 'Child Labor During the Industrial Revolution' essays. Students were given a DBQ (document-based question) with eight primary sources that both support and oppose child labor. Students were required to take a stance on the issue and back up their position with source evidence.

Mrs. Wassom-Paul’s 11th grade U.S. History students completed an independent note-taking performance task in which they recorded their own notes from a reading assignment without direct teacher guidance. This activity emphasized individual accountability and required students to identify key ideas, summarize important information, and organize content using effective note-taking strategies. The task aligns with AVID’s focus on Writing, Inquiry, and Organization, as students practiced academic literacy skills, processed complex historical content, and demonstrated their ability to independently engage with informational text.

Students performed a modified jigsaw in Algebra 2 with Mr. Paul. Each group of students were assigned an example from the textbook that they were in charge of teaching the class. Students then worked through the example together and discussed how they would present the example to the class. After a designated time frame, students then taught the example to the class while the rest of the students took notes on their example.

Students in Ms. Howes’ Algebra I class applied collaboration, inquiry, and writing through a Numbered Heads Together activity. Students were paired in groups of 4 with each group member assigned a number (1-4). Students solved a problem pertaining to the Essential Question, “How can I solve systems of linear equations by substitution?” and the “Wheel of Names” was used to randomly select a student from each group to share their problem solving process and answer with the class on the whiteboard. Here is Ethan, Corban, Cain, and Jack.

Her Algebra I classes did a Get One, Give One AVID activity where students were given a sticky note to discuss a topic/solve a problem and trade with another classmate, ultimately benefiting both students by sharing ideas and comprehension of topics to further overall understanding. Students were given a problem to involving using the process of elimination to solve a system of linear equations to gain insight into the essential question “How can I use elimination vs. substitution in solving systems of linear equations?” This is Sage, Natty and Alyssa “giving one, and getting one”.

Ms. Toney's ENG 12 students collaborated in a socratic seminar demonstrating their understandings of the complex tensions within William Shakespeare's Hamlet. Students read and examined the entirety of the play as a class prior to the socratic seminar. Students were given the questions before the socratic seminar in order to refine their response. During the socratic seminar, the students masterly showcased their understanding of the play!

AVID Evidence Winner!

Mrs. Banks's Junior English students created a Project Based Learning final. Students read "The Crucible," and in their preferred creative way (they had 12 choices for their final project) they expressed the fragile society of Salem, Ma. in 1692. These final projects helped students to better understand the emotions of the characters through their experiences with hysteria, conformity, fear, suspicion and manipulation.

In Mrs. Bauer’s Study Skills class, students participated in an AVID Jigsaw activity focused on effective study techniques. Students worked in expert groups to research three different study methods: Pomodoro, Active Recall, and Cornell Notes, and then shared their learning with their home groups. Students recorded key information on a Jigsaw notes organizer, demonstrating collaboration, engagement, and understanding of strategies that can support their success across classes. Here are Kymber's notes!

In Mr.Bruck's strength class, students were working on a plan of teaching and completing structured warm-ups.

In Ms. Danchok’s Food Science class, students worked collaboratively in small groups to prepare toaster tacos. Students practiced collaboration and communication skills by sharing tasks, following a recipe together, and problem-solving as a team to complete the cooking process. This activity supported hands-on learning while reinforcing teamwork, responsibility, and real-world application of food science skills.

Students in Ms. Smith's biology used a 4-Corners strategy to review cell organelles structure and function in preparation for their cell organelle quiz.

Mrs. Bailey's Integrated Science students filed out the Think Pair Share form using their notes to determine differences between definitions. Then they got into partners to discuss their forms and decide what each person will share with the group.

Her Chemistry students also enjoyed playing "Go Fish For An Ion!" It is a collaborative game based on ionic bonding with a small amount of competition.

Mr. Horrell's construction students were working hard doing some finishing details on a greenhouse.

Ms. Kokesh's Art II students presented their final projects while classmates actively participated by asking structured critique questions. Using academic language and question stems, students collaborated to analyze each project, build on one another's ideas & engage in respectful discussion. This activity emphasized collaboration by making all students responsible for meaningful feedback, strengthening communication skills, critical thinking & student-led academic discourse aligned with AVID principles. Pictured is Kiera presenting her final project while the rest of the class awaited eagerly to ask constructive questions.

Here are Mr. Ellibee's high school students participating and collaborating in the District 5 honor band! Students were selected with an application they submitted and were given music ahead of time to prepare. They have two full days of intense rehearsal and then perform a concert on their second day in the evening.