Five Silly Switzers

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

(We made the front page of the Newspaper!!!)

Can I just say that I love uniforms!!! It is so easy to get the kids ready in the morning and I don't have to put up a fight. At least for now. Maybe when they are older they will really fight it.
Here a few (hundred) pictures from the first day. I didn't pose the ones of them against the brick pillar. That was all them!!! Hadley of course wanted in on the action. I almost dressed her in the same colors as them, but that would've been taking it too far, I think.

August 11,2008

Both Addyson and Davin started their first day of school yesterday. Addy started 2nd grade and Davin started all day Kindergarten!! (Yee Haw). They both were excited to be back in school, but they were not nearly excited as me. It has been a long summer. They started a new school this year that we found out about through our brother-in-law Kyle. His dad is the director of the school and told us all about it. We are so glad they did. We are excited for the kids to try a new school that takes and different approach and will help teach them at their own pace, whatever it may be. We got lucky and both the kids were picked out of the school's lottery.( They already have a 200+ kid waiting list) I was glad because I wasn't looking forward to taking the kids to two different schools.

The school seems like it is going to be perfect for both kids. Addyson is eager to learn faster than they can teach her and Davin still needs a little help. He had been going to the Special Education Preschool for the last 2 years to receive help w/ speech through the Higley School district. He has come a long way and was so excited to start school. It think his only disappointment was that he wasn't going to be riding the bus this year.

We were approached by the school to see if we cared if a reporter followed Addy around the first day of school and would ask her questions about what she though about the school, which Addy was so excited about. Well, they didn't end up specifically following Addy, but they did interview her teacher and also did a phone interview with Dave. This story was on the front page of the East Valley Tribune about the new school. Addy is the only Blondie in the picture w/ her back to you. We are really excited for this school year and the possibilities it might bring for the kids. The story that follows was the story they did on the school it has the interview w/ Dave in it as well. Addy has been so lucky. She was also on the front page of the Arizona Republic a couple of years ago while she was at the park w/ her preschool. It had the cutest picture of her on a tire swing. Lucky girl.

New elementary with ties to ASU opens

Hayley Ringle, East Valley Tribune

First- and second-graders practiced pronunciation. Third- and fourth-graders learned basic Spanish while learning their classmates' names. Fifth- and sixth-graders discovered their teachers' backgrounds.

Monday was the first day of school for the 230 kindergarten to sixth-graders at Polytechnic Elementary School in Mesa. The nonprofit charter school, managed by University Public Schools Inc., is affiliated with Arizona State University. It's been in the planning stages since ASU President Michael Crow envisioned it in 2002.
The school promises innovative, team teaching, individualized learning for every student and new teaching styles, implemented with the help of mentor teachers and ASU graduate students, said Principal Donna Bullock.

Students sit in what are called clusters. First- and second-graders share two classrooms divided in part by a wall. This is the same for third and fourth grades and fifth and sixth grades. Each cluster has two classroom teachers and an instructional aide, and students stay with the same teacher for two years, Bullock said.

"We're not really teaching kids first grade," Bullock said. "We're teaching where they are academically. We're grouping kids by their ability."

There is one laptop computer for every two students. Next year, every student will have a laptop, and fifth-graders on up will be able to take their laptops home, Bullock said.
Lisa Ghormley, a third- and fourth-grade teacher, chose to teach at the school because of the school's philosophy of innovative education. She also brought her son, Michael, a fourth-grader, and next year plans to bring her daughter, Megan, a seventh-grader.

"I like how we're going to incorporate individual learning plans based on each child, not just the class," said Ghormley, who taught third grade last year at Christ the King Catholic School in Mesa. "ASU's involvement is exciting."

ASU's goal with the elementary school is to increase academic achievement of all children, said Amanda Burke, an associate director for Education and Education Policy in ASU's Office of University Initiatives.

"By collaborating with University Public Schools, ASU seeks to bridge the gap between university research and knowledge application by creating innovative, research-based education models to serve students, teachers, administrators and families," Burke said.
"We also hope to increase access to innovative, quality and culturally inclusive education for all of Arizona's children and families," Burke said.

The ultimate goal is to have University Public Schools near every ASU campus, and to research and find the best teaching methods to share with other schools in the state, said Larry Pieratt, executive director of the University of Public Schools Initiative.
Pieratt founded and operated Horizon Community Learning Center in Ahwatukee Foothills in 1996. Horizon is one of the state's top 10 charter schools in terms of AIMS scores.
"The missing piece is the research piece," Pieratt said. "That's what ASU can bring to the table. This center of innovation provides opportunities to do research."
Graduate students will be analyzing data, researching and writing papers on their findings before disseminating the information to other schools and universities, he said.
"We're just very excited and look forward to involving the community as we continue to grow," Pieratt said.

Every teacher gets 90 minutes a day of professional development and planning. Teachers also spend more time than public school teachers working on their teaching. Teachers get only two weeks off during the summer and one week less than students for the holiday and spring break, Bullock said.

"Teachers can take more time, go more in-depth on concepts," said Bullock, who was principal for the last three years at Christ the King in Mesa. "Our teachers will be more efficient with the 90 minutes every day of professional development."

David Switzer decided to send his two children to the school because of the smaller class sizes and accelerated learning pace. He moved his kindergarten-aged son, Davin, and daughter Addyson, who is in second grade, from the Higley Unified School District.

"I liked the idea of there being a set number of kids that they would take, not just cramming them into the classroom with as many as they would fit," said Switzer, a Gilbert firefighter. "Addyson said school was boring because she knew what they were learning. We thought we'd give it a try."

The school opened in a temporary, 15,000-square-foot office building off Power Road south of Warner Road. A large main hallway serves as the multipurpose room. Students eat food they bring from home in their classrooms.

Parents plan to start yearbook, art masterpiece programs and a chess club, Bullock said.
Next year, the school will move to a permanent building on the ASU Polytechnic campus. Groundbreaking on that 24-acre location is planned soon.
Preschool and seventh and eighth grades will be added next school year. The year after that, ninth grade will be added, and so on until the school is complete with high school seniors.
University Public Schools wants to partner with school districts, and is still working with Tempe and Phoenix elementary school districts. Talks with the Higley district stalled because of financial issues, Pieratt said.