ROARING NEWS

Hello Baldwin Community, 

The month of April was a busy one at Baldwin and even though May just began, it has not fallen short of activities and events that have kept all of us busy. 

In April, we celebrated spring with the PTA Family Movie Night. It turned out to be a beautiful evening and many of our families came out to the Baldwin field to watch a movie together. What an awesome way to celebrate as a learning community! Thank you to the Baldwin PTA for organizing and sponsoring such a fun event. Also in April, our third, fourth and fifth graders made it through the State Assessments, (STAAR), with lots of confidence and poise. I am very proud of the children in these grades for giving it their all on these testing days. I am also very proud of our teachers and staff for preparing our children with knowledge and strategies and for making sure the testing days went as smooth as possible. 

At the end of April, our PTA sponsored the first annual Baldwin Bash and silent auction event and it was an enormous success! The evening of the Bash was absolutely beautiful and we had a wonderful time. The venue was decorated with lots of lights and beautiful table settings, which made the evening even more special. The best part of the evening for me was the bidding on the auction items, the food, the music and especially the opportunities to talk with so many of you in such a relaxed and fun atmosphere. I loved learning more about each of you and watching everyone have a wonderful time knowing that all of this was for our Baldwin children! Thank you for coming out to the Bash and for participating in the silent auction! I hope to see many more parents and staff at next year's Bash! Thank you to all of the silent auction sponsors and to the PTA for putting on such a fantastic event!!

During the last few weeks of April, we also completed the Gifts of Time auction items. These auction items are all sponsored by our teachers and staff members. They have all volunteered their time and talents to spend time with your children and we appreciate you bidding on the items. This was also a huge success and we couldn't have done it without our PTA and you, the parents. We, the teachers and staff at Baldwin, are looking forward to all of the fun events we planned with the children. On May 17th, we will have the first Kickball game of Baldwin staff vs. Baldwin 3rd, 4th and 5th graders and on May 21st, we will host the Prek, Kinder, 1st and 2nd graders vs. Baldwin staff game. Both games will be at 9:00 a.m. on the Baldwin field and we invite all of you to come and support your favorite team. See you then.

As I stated earlier, May got here very fast and this past week was a busy first week of May for all of us at Baldwin. We had field days this week with our 3rd, 4th and 5th graders participating in all of the field events on Thursday and our Prek, Kinder, first and second grade classes enjoying the fun events on Friday. Coach Grumbles along with his helpers Coach Shaw, Mrs. Stevens, Mr. Mader, Ms. Schawrz and Mr. Shaddock organized some exciting events for all ability levels. I was even able to jump the hurdles, jump the long jump (sort of..) and complete a few of the soccer exercises. Both days were so much fun and all of the children were such great sports showing outstanding sportsmanship and team work. We also had many community sports organizations that gave their time to be a part of the field day events and taught the children so many skills. So to all of them, I say thank you and I send out a big Baldwin ROAR for their willingness to share their time and talents with all of our children. 

This past Thursday, our second grade classes learned about the history of Mexico and the meaning of Cinco de mayo by sharing in some Mexican cultural traditions which included some arts and crafts and games. If your child is in second grade be sure to ask him or her what they learned last week. 

This past Saturday our fourth and fifth grade Math Pentathletes competed in their division. The team did very well bringing home, 4 Honorable Mentions, 3 Bronze Medals, 4 Silver Medals, 1 Gold Medal and Hall of Fame Award. These math pentathletes will be recognized this Friday, May 11th at our morning assembly. Congratulations to all of these pentathletes and their coaches!

We have 17 school days left in this school year. Yes, only 17 days left!! It is unbelievable that our school year is almost over. There will be many more fun events and celebrations in these last few weeks so I ask that you continue to check your child's agenda/planner and to read the Weekly ROAR for updates and information. 

On May 10th, I invite all of you to come join us for some fun activities at our 2nd Annual Family Fitness Night. It will be held in the cafeteria and the gym and it will be from 6:00 p.m.-7:30 p.m. I know this is a very busy time for families but I hope you can make some time to join in on the fun at Baldwin this Thursday. This will be an evening for you to participate in some active movement with your children and learn more about ways to stay fit and healthy. See you then. 

Here are a few other events we will have in May that you will not want to miss: May 25-AR Recognitions; May 29-Arts Fest-all day at Baldwin and May 30-5th Grade Completion Ceremony at 8:30 a.m.

Thank you again for helping us make Baldwin such a special place to learn and grow. I look forward to seeing you around the campus at some of our May events. 

Roaring with Pride, 

Dr. Peña

ROARING NEWS!

Dear Baldwin Community,

 

Our second annual March Mathness was a HUGE success! We had parents, grandparents, student teachers and community members teaching our children many different math concepts through real life experiences and fun. Our volunteers made math come alive at Baldwin! A second grade student in Ms. Brady's class said to me, "Dr. Peña, I don't know who thought of March Mathness, but this a great thing for us to have. Every station has been so much fun especially the one where I ordered the food I wanted with the money I was given." I heard these type of comments every in every class I visited yesterday. 

We had different lessons and math centers happening at all grade levels. Our PreK children played a variety of math games with parents and teachers in their classrooms. I peeked in their rooms and they didn't even notice me. They were so engaged in the activities and having such a great time. In Kindergarten, we had children working with fractions creating their own "Equal Willy" caterpillar. In another  class, I saw children working with money, measuring their heart rates and playing a doubles game. The third graders experienced the olympics through different math olympic games. The older students learned more math skills through a scavenger hunt, balancing a check book and measuring the circumference of different circles. I saw some fifth graders writing out checks, so parents beware!

 

This type of learning and fun makes Baldwin a special place to learn and grow. Thank you to our teachers for organizing this year's March Mathness and thank you to all of the volunteers who came out to celebrate Math learning with us! We appreciate everyone sharing their talents and expertise.

 

Have a restful and fun Spring Break. I will see everyone back on March 19th!

 

Roaring with Pride,
Dr. Peña

ROARING NEWS

Dear Baldwin Community,

It has been a few weeks since my last blog communication. Throughout the month of February, we were extremely busy at Baldwin!


As I walk through classrooms and see what children are learning and experiencing and review the work that is posted in the hallways, I can confidently tell you that all of our Bobcats have been focused on learning. The students' writing that is posted demonstrates their commitment to high levels of learning. They have been sharing math strategies and writing skills through research and creative writing. The students in 2nd grade presented some outstanding research projects on Presidents, which included creative presentation skills and knowledge. The students in 1st and 3rd grades shared their learning and love of poetry by creating some original poems that are displayed throughout the yellow, blue and orange hallways. Our Kindergarten students continue to build their math skills with new knowledge about fractions and 2 and 3 dimensional shapes. Our fourth graders are displaying some "smarty pants" writing. They wrote compositions about a time they felt smart. Stop by and read them; the compositions are hanging in the green wing.  I love going into classrooms and hearing your children share their learning and their ideas.


This past Friday, we celebrated Dr. Seuss' Birthday with pajama day and by having some of our students' fathers read to their children's classes. It was absolutely a beautiful experience to see and hear our dads reading to our children. We also had some classes cook up green eggs and ham, which were delicious. Thanks for helping us continue to develop the love of reading through these fun events. On Friday, in the third and fourth grade classes, we also celebrated Texas Independence Day. The fourth graders transformed themselves into cowboys and cowgirls to add to the learning fun. They also read and discussed the Texas Declaration of Independence, which was signed on March 2, 1836.


On February 24, a chicken showed up during morning assembly and led the chicken dance for the whole student body. The chicken went around the school cafeteria dancing with children, staff and parents. The chicken showed up to tell the children and parents thank you for contributing to the "Love Your School Campaign" and for helping the PTA meet this year's goal. It was an awesome celebration of great fun and dancing. I here the chicken had so much fun that it wants to come back!! Let's see how we can make that happen!  

I would like to invite all of you to stop by this Friday, March 9 to celebrate March "Mathness" with us. We will begin our math rotations at around 8:00 a.m. and continue until about 10:30-11:00 depending on the grade level. For most grade levels, we have parent volunteers that will be conducting math lessons with our students. If you are available, we still need a few volunteers for fourth and fifth grade. Please let the fourth or fifth grade teachers know if you can teach a math lesson on Friday. We are looking forward to a fun filled day of mathematics!



I want to thank everyone for their continuous support of the learning at Baldwin. Don't forget we will be off for spring break beginning March 10 and we will return for the last ten weeks of classes beginning March 19. Enjoy your spring break and I look forward to seeing everyone on March 19th.


Roaring with Pride,
Dr. Peña

ROARING NEWS

Dear Baldwin Community, 

As the "Love your School" Campaign gets started I wanted everyone to know how much the Baldwin PTA has supported all of the learning at Baldwin for the past two years. Due to the district budget cuts and the way schools are funded, we don't receive sufficient funds to cover the many expenses that take place on a day to day basis at our school. For the past two years, the PTA has listened to our many requests and has been able to provide us the extra support in so many different ways. Did you know that the PTA purchased or will be providing the following to our school by the end of this school year?

$10,000 worth of books for Classrooms and the Literacy Library
Teaching Gardens
Funds have been designated for a school Marquee
Gaga Pit (the children love playing in the Gaga Pit!!)
Storage Shed (with Door)
Backpack hooks throughout the school
Solar Shed for science learning
12+ Lego Robots for use in the classrooms and First Lego League
19 Flip Cameras for use in the classrooms
75+ Net-book Headphones
2 outdoor benches and trashcans
2 sets of Math Pentathlon Games for teachers to checkout from the library to use in their math centers
Set of 5th grade student books for Social Studies (Social Studies Alive, supplemental text used in classrooms)
STAAR Materials
Large die cut machine
Bookshelves

1 hour Planetarium School Visit

Mobile Science Lab 

Science lab equipment  such as: prisms, magnifying glasses, magnets, density cubes, geometric shapes, meter sticks, photo-reactive paper, thermometers, 60 pocket microscopes etc.

2 high end digital microscopes
A skeleton
$2,000 in professional development funds for teacher training

WOW! our school has only been open for two school years, and our PTA has been able to support the learning in so many different ways!!

This year's Love Your School No Hassle Giving Campaign kicks off tomorrow, February 8th. Instead of having to sell cookie dough or magazines, the PTA has decided to ask for your support in this way. The proceeds benefit your children with worthwhile enrichment programs, books, materials, and technology improvements that we would not be able to fund with the annual budget the district provides to our school. This year's goal is to raise at least "$10, 000 and each expression of support, regardless of the amount is important. All donations go into the PTA general fund and any expenditures must be voted on by the PTA general membership. 

I ask that you consider supporting all of the teaching and learning at Baldwin by contributing to this year's Love Your School Campaign. Your tax deductible contributions can be made any time between February 8th through the 16th. Remember, when you give to the PTA, you are giving to your child! 

In advance, I want to thank you for your consideration in participating in the Love Your School Campaign and for your continuous support! 

Roaring with Pride, 

Dr. Peña

ROARING NEWS

Dear Baldwin Community,

I have some GREAT NEWS to share with you!

This morning at morning assembly, we announced the 2011-2012 Baldwin Teacher of the Year- Mrs. Gayle Grance.





Mrs. Grance has worked for Austin ISD for 16 years and previous to this, she worked in Ohio and Pennsylvania for another 14 years. Mrs. Grance provides "hands-on" experiences that become the cement to connect lessons to real life situations. She enjoys watching children have "ah-ha" moments as they discover answers and make connections. She also believes that all children have gifts and talents and she tries to offer opportunities for each child to share their gifts. Mrs. Grance has been instrumental at Baldwin. She was one of Baldwin's founding teachers and has worked tirelessly to organize science equipment and materials for teachers to check out for use in their classrooms.  She was also a leader in finding volunteers to build us a solar shed and teaching gardens. Mrs. Grance has helped us enrich our curriculum in so many different ways. She is a team player and contributes to all aspects of our learning community.

Mrs. Grance inspires a love of learning in students of all backgrounds and abilities. She provides a high-quality, well-rounded educational experience to all students that is rigorous, culturally relevant, healthful and engaging. Mrs. Grance is well respected by her colleagues, parents and most importantly her students. She plays an active and useful role in the community as well as in our school. Mrs. Grance is poised, articulate, and possesses the energy to withstand a taxing schedule.

Previously, Mrs. Grance was Teacher of the Year at Kiker Elementary in 2000 and 2004. We are so lucky to have such a talented and dedicated teacher working with us at Baldwin!

Roaring with Pride,
Dr. Peña

ROARING NEWS

Dear Baldwin Community,

This Wednesday, February 1st, will be the 100th day of classes which is unbelievable!! This morning as I walked through classrooms, I saw all of the children focused on learning and sharing their thinking. I observed three students in Ms. Seitz's class, Jaxon, Joopsy and Joey, sharing the 100 charts they created at home. Two of the students explained that their 100 charts included 10 groups of 10 which equaled 100. The other student explained that she drew a tree trunk and added 100 leaves to it. All three students received a round of applause for their good work and for their explanations. Thank you parents for helping our students complete their displays of 100 and for continuing to enhance their understanding of number sense. 

As I walked through the 1st and 2nd grade hallways, I noticed some excellent work on the bulletin boards and in the classrooms. In the early weeks of January, the first and second graders honored Martin Luther King by learning about the importance of his dream and understanding that words have power. 

Some of the second graders wrote their own dreams and it was evident that they have BIG dreams. The children learned how historical figures and good citizens help shape the country and the state by their contributions.

Our third graders learned that the earth consists of Natural Resources and that its surface is constantly changing. They learned this by creating models of the 3 types of rocks found on the earth: metamorphic, igneous and sedimentary. The children will now be using this information to identify and compare different landforms, including mountains, hills, valleys and plains. In the orange wing, I also saw third grade work where the students created their own number lines naming points using whole numbers and fractions, including halves and fourths. 

In the green wing, our fourth and fifth graders have been working extremely hard in all academic areas. I know these students are relieved that science fair is behind them and I want to congratulate them for their great work and perseverance to get it done! I learned so much from their projects and I thank the parents for helping them get through this phase of their learning. I spent quite a bit of time in the green wing today reading the fourth graders narrative and expository compositions. They are such creative writers and they are doing such a great job using their learning within their writing. In the same way, the fifth graders had some excellent work displayed in the hallway. Their work showed that they are able to use a flexible range of metacognitive reading skills in both assigned and independent reading to understand an author's message. Today, as I walked through the fifth grade reading class, the students were beginning their study of poetry learning about poetic techniques such as alliteration and onomatopoeia, figurative language and graphic elements. Be on the lookout for your child's creative, poetic side.

I want to take this opportunity to thank all of the parents and grandparents that heard our plea for more reading volunteers. This week alone, I saw an increase in volunteers coming in to help our first graders improve their reading skills through our Great Leaps Reading program. We still have space for more volunteers so please checkout the Baldwin PTA website for other volunteer opportunities. Thank you again for all of your support!

I look forward to reporting more on your children's learning later this week.

Roaring with Pride,

Dr. Peña

ROARING NEWS

Hello Baldwin Community, 

Happy New Year and Welcome Back! The past seven days have been busy ones at Baldwin. The children returned from winter break full of energy and excitement. During morning assembly, I have been reminding the students that January is a good time to reflect on the fall semester and set goals for the spring semester. I explained to them that their goals could be focused on improving their reading levels, earning more points in the AR program or learning more of their math facts. I also told them that it is important to reflect on their personal skills such as being more responsible by returning their homework everyday and completing all of their classwork on time. We also talked about being better friends by sharing, talking nicely to each other, and respecting each other's space. Perhaps you can have a conversation with your child to see what goals he/she will be working on during this second part of the school year. As I visit classrooms, I will be asking the children what goals they have set and how they expect to achieve their goals.

I have been hearing all of the "ROAR" about science fair! The children are very excited about sharing what they have learned through this process and I can't wait to see their work. Don't forget the deadline to submit science fair projects is this Tuesday, January 17th. Please help your child finish their project this weekend. You have an extra day since Monday is a holiday. Students will first share their projects with their class and their teacher before they can go to the next level of judging. Those projects that make it to the next level will be judged on January 26th and you will have the opportunity to come and see all of the great projects that evening from 6:30-7:30. Thanks so much for supporting our Baldwin scientists and their efforts! (We also need volunteers to help us organize all of the projects, set them up in the cafeteria and lead the children's tours. Please consider helping us with this event. It will make a HUGE impact since the children are very excited about science and learning!)

Speaking of volunteers, I want to personally thank all of those that have been coming to help some of our first graders improve their reading skills through the Great Leaps program. Because of the efforts of our volunteers, some of our students are showing great improvements. Since the volunteers started working with our students, these first graders have increased several DRA reading levels. What does that really mean? Well, we have some students that have improved from a DRA reading level 3, which is a beginning Kindergarten level, to a DRA 12, almost a mid-year first grade level. Those are some tremendous gains! These volunteer efforts have definitely been paying off; however WE NEED MORE VOLUNTEERS because some of the first grade classes do not have enough volunteers to meet the needs of our children! Please consider helping our first graders reach their reading goals. Being a better reader will help the children gain more confidence and help them be better prepared for learning in all academic areas. Again, I am sending a loud, strong ROAR for more volunteers. Please help us in these efforts by contacting Tawnya Savoy at tsavoy@austin.rr.com. I guarantee that your volunteer efforts will make a HUGE impact on our children and our school. 

At this time, I want to congratulate the following four students for advancing to the State Level in the Reflections competition:

Zoey in Mrs. Magana's first grade class; Vivian in Ms. Brady's second grade class; Hannah in Mrs. Reaves' fourth grade class and Catherine in Mrs. Beeler's fifth grade class. 

Additionally, I want to congratulate Jason in Ms. Murphy's second grade class and Ivey in Mrs. Lee's third grade class for receiving an Honorable Mention at the Area Level of the Reflections Competition.

I am very proud of these six students for advancing in the Reflections Competition but mostly for being courageous Bobcats and participating in this program. Thank you to these six students for representing Baldwin in such creative ways!

I hope you enjoy the long weekend and I look forward to seeing your children and you at Baldwin next week!

Roaring with Pride,

Dr. Peña