The Belle Ringer
Belle River Elementary School - September 2015
Belle River is Implementing Cooperative Learning!
We are excited to share with you a wonderful approach to teaching and learning that we will be using in our classrooms this year. The approach is called Kagan Structures. Kagan Structures are highly interactive learning strategies that involve students working cooperatively in pairs and in teams to master academic curriculum.
Kagan Structures are scientifically research based instructional strategies that produce a wide range of positive outcomes including:
- Increased achievement for all groups of students
- Improved social skills and student relations
- Decreased discipline referrals
- Higher self-esteem among students
- Increased liking for school, class, teacher, and content.
Kagan Structures result in so many positive benefits because they create a greater degree of active engagement by all students than traditional teaching. For example, instead of calling on one student at a time to respond to classroom questions, teachers will have students respond in pairs, each taking a turn to share. This way everyone participates much more. Everyone is more engaged and everyone learns more.
Instead of practicing worksheet work alone, students work with a partner. Partners have roles so everyone participates, everyone has a supportive coach, and everyone gets immediate feedback. By talking aloud with a partner, students develop deeper thinking on the topic, it becomes more memorable, and they can hear how their classmates think. By structuring learning to be cooperative, students develop cooperation skills, communication skills, and teamwork skills. This results in a safer learning environment, kinder and caring students, and less time off task for me dealing with discipline issues.
For teamwork, teachers won’t just tell students to, “work in your teams.” Unstructured group work often results in some students doing most the work and some doing little to none. At Belle River, we want to every student actively engaged. Kagan’s highly structured strategies ensure every student is actively participating. Students love this approach because they are more active, get to move, talk, and work together. It’s just a more fun and more interactive way to learn. When polled, students prefer the Kagan methods to traditional methods 12 to 1!
We are enthusiastic to offer your students this wonderful opportunity to work together to improve learning and develop essential social skills.
Safety and Security
- All building doors are locked with the exception of one of the front doors. Please enter the building through this door and register in the office.
- Parents and visitors need to sign in at the office and pick up a visitor's pass to wear in the building. Please sign out when you leave.
- Student may enter the building at 8:30 a.m. Because supervision is not available, please do not drop your child off early. Latchkey is available if your child needs to arrive earlier than 8:30 a.m.
- If you pick up your child at the end of the day, please come into the office and sign your child out. We ask that you do this each time you pick your child up. For safety reasons, we need to know how our students are transported.
- We ask our parents to wait in the lobby for the children to be dismissed at the end of the day.
- Only people listed on your child's emergency card will be able to check your child from the building. If additional names need to be added, please come into the office and add them to the emergency card.
- If your child is to be picked up by one of the people on the emergency card, please send a note to the teacher or office to indicate your plans.
- If your child is going home with a friend on the bus or in a car, the school office must have notes from both the sending and receiving parents. Students may only ride home with a friend on a bus if it is their current assigned bus.
Wednesdays are Popcorn Days
Students may purchase popcorn for a snack on Wednesday mornings. Please send a quarter in a bag or envelope with your child’s name if you want him/her to get popcorn.
The First PTO Meeting is September 17
Use Skyward to Access Your Student's Information
Picture Day
Pest Management Services
Constitution Day
Attendance Reminders
Birthday Recognitions
Students Who Completed the "Chews to Read" Summer Challenge
First Grade
Andrew Bieth
Jackson Brady
Skyler Heslop
Tristen Recchia
Second Grade
Nicole Drouillard
Mae Fackler
Mackenzie Guzowski
Reese Hopkins
Tenaya Jendza
Chloe LaFriniere
Mattison Marlatt
Drew Michoff
Jeremy Parker
Aiden Shovan
Dylan Sicken
Ava Waelens
Lily Waelens
Mason Ward
Third Grade
Lyla Barkovitch
Matthew Harper
Derek Michoff
Jaina Mousseau
Fourth Grade
Emma Erdmann
Fifth Grade
Kailey Beal
Morgan Doetsch
Lexus Gohl
Charli Hopkins
Chloe McKenzie