Mrs. Kemp's Clubhouse: And the Winner Is....

Our Award-Winning Students

I'm not going to lie...I was very proud when Parkview was selected as a Blue Ribbon school.

It's not that we need an outside agency to tell us that we've got an excellent academic program. I already knew that. I've been at Parkview since 2002, and over the years I've seen our program become better and better. Under the leadership of Dr. Mayes, we've advanced academically and spiritually and become what Dr. Mayes likes to call a "healthy" school.

Yes, I've had to work harder than ever before. Having an outstanding academic programs means writing more detailed lesson plans, creating varied activities to reach all learners, and studying to remain current on the latest research in the field of education. So it's nice to receive the affirmations and accolades. ( But before I get too prideful, I have to remind myself that PBS would be nothing without God, so we can't really take the credit.)

I realize that most of my blogs this school year have been about the spiritual and social aspects of our curriculum---because at PBS we have the privilege of sharing spiritual things--or about our science activities, because those produce a lot of excitement. But we do have a great reading and math program. And last year, when our kindergarten kids thought they were just doing activities in the computer lab, they were actually providing the evidence needed to bring our school to Blue Ribbon status.

As they master phonics and word-analysis skills, sight words, and comprehension strategies, these T1 students are well on their way to becoming fluent, independent readers. They're learning to open up books and read stories for themselves. Right now we're working on "close reading," examining the text to see what it really says. Our little emerging readers may be surprised to learn that if they read closely, they'll discover that it's the cat (not the rabbit) who hops. They're learning to take advice from Mary Poppins, who says, "The cover is not the book, so open it up and take a look.'

The cover is not the book, so open it up and take a look...

for under the cover one discovers that the king may be a crook..

Chapter titles are like signs, and if you read between the lines, you'll find your first impression was mistook.

For a cover is nice, but a cover is not the book.

And while I'm proud of our math and reading scores, I do have to share a few fun pictures from our science lab where something is always blowing up or going down.