Hot Springs School opens its doors to parents

HOT SPRINGS - Wednesday night was Open House Night for the Hot Springs School District. Elementary, middle, and high school students and parents roamed the halls together as teachers gave 10 minute talk and showed parents the students’ latest work.

Superintendent Mike Perry explained the evening’s events.

“The elementary is a bit more free, where parents are being allowed to step into the classrooms and see what was going on and ask questions. The high school, I wanted them to get an idea of what it is like for their kids to go to one class to the next, so they just come in and pick up their student’s schedule and we are just ringing bells and they are getting 10 minutes in each class so the teachers has a chance to talk about class expectations and what the curriculum is in the class.” He then said next year he wants to move the event to the beginning of the year barbecue night.

The elementary school teachers laid out projects the students’ desks that they had been working on and had small presents for the parents.

 Alisa Mueller, the fourth grade teacher, had set up multiple examples of her students’ work for visiting parents.

“I just had the little kids write letters at the end of the day to their parents and just say, ‘This is what I want to show you in the classroom when you come in and these are the things we are doing. This is very important to me and this is what I want you to see and be involved in,” Mueller said. In addition, she had laid out 3-d land-form maps the students had been making and she also created a full slide show to describe everything the kids have been learning. 

The first grade teacher, Kris Paro, had books her students had made laid out on the students desks. She said the book were from a class they did on animals.

A parent who took great interest in his child’s classroom was Matt Lonegran. His daughter, Moira Lonegran who is in Candy Franklin’s 6th grade class, described all that she has been learning in school so far.

She said she had been learning, math, science, social studies, reading and history.  

Lonegran remarked, “She keeps an organized desk. She’s got a cool locker and her classroom is pretty nice. The smart board, we didn’t have that when I was in school,” as he pointed over to the new piece of technology that was just integrated into the school starting this school year.

In the high school as the parents moved every 10 minutes, the high school teachers gave talks on the curriculum.

Robin Miller, the librarian and history teacher, gave a special talk on the new Common Core standards. She provided facts of what Common Core was hopefully going to remedy. She explained that 6,000,000 students in the United States read at a below grade level, 3,000 high school students drop out everyday and that many just can’t keep up. She then provided examples of how she works with her students to learn writing techniques to become better writers and to ensure they can maintain an upward progression.

 As parents sat in on Katrina Engeldrum’s 7th grade math talk, they were introduced to the latest Algebra problems the students were working on. She passed out a packet that described grade 7 content standards that included, applying proportional relationships, the operations, linear equations, geometry, and using mathematical models to draw inferences on population. She also discussed homework and test policies.

Walking around was the new principal, Kelley Moore.

He said, “With the elementary, it looks like we got a really good turnout. We are getting a lot of PTO [Parent Teacher Organization] sign ups.

The night lasted from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., with parents and students coming and going. Hot Springs School opens its door to parents