NATIONAL CHAMPIONS - Medium Varsity Hip Hop

The Pattonville High School varsity drill team was named the top dance team in the country at the NDA National Championship in Orlando, Florida. This is the fifth time in program history the team has won a national championship (most in Missouri) and the first since 2000.

Margaret Hall was inspired to use the project-based learning method with her French 2 students to allow them a chance to learn about more than just the modern language.

She surveyed her students and said the results were eye-opening.

“They’ve studied the language, but they shared with me that they are interested in so much more about France and the Francophone culture.”

Hall created a three-week PBL unit that allowed students to study a topic they were passionate about on their own and then present it to the class.

Kindergarteners at Bridgeway Elementary School saw their drawings come to life when they received stuffed animal likenesses of their imaginary monsters.

Pattonville Heights Middle School family and consumer sciences teacher Elizabeth Stockmann collaborated with Nisa Peters’s class for the project. 

“The kindergarteners all drew a monster using color and patterns and my FACS 3 students had to interpret an imaginative idea and create a real-life version of it,” Stockmann said. 

The groups met today and presented the stuffed animals to the original artists. 

The theme for Willow Brook’s celebration of Read Across America Week on March 2 was guest reader day. Fourth grade teacher Kim Dickinson invited custodian Mack Boyd in to read “Someone Builds the Dream,” one of the books featured in this year’s March Book Madness. 

Willow Brook Elementary is one of over 330 participating schools in this year’s bracket challenge. Dickinson’s class will next read “Sharice's Big Voice: A Native Kid Becomes a Congresswoman” and vote for their favorite book in the Sweet 16 match-up.