Superintendent Carstarphen Visits "44 in 4": Come "SEA" Our School: One World

Davis Elementary Dolphins have a "deep sea" of knowledge, experience, and excellence. Thematic learning connections (e.g. marine activities resource education- MARE) and habitat studies (e.g. first grade-rocky sea shore) are showcased in all the hallways and classrooms. They even have a dolphin wave that is further emphasized by the "number one finger" known as the "Davis Lighthouse."

Fourth grade students Hayley and Andres presented kelp forest ceramic fish plates to me. They were part of the MARE unit which includes sand collected from beaches around the world. The students, teachers, and families are so into Davis' ocean theme that, whenever they go to a beach, they bring back samples.

Principal Doug Hall guided us to classrooms and instructed us to ask the students, "Who is working hardest?"(Answer: All of them. Hands go up fast.) "Show us your best work." (Response: All of them volunteer to show their work.)

The hallways are adorned with seascapes, and evidence of deep thinking and reinforcement about marine biology. Teacher of the Year Roslynn Spinn taught us the Dolphin Wave (think hand with fingers tight in the shape of a fin twisting at the wrist).

As a PreK teacher she is being trained in CIRCLE methods. Her class is planned, purposeful, and playful. Intentional teaching is important to Principal Hall. In every classroom there is a bulletin board that says "What we are learning this week" (i.e. learning intentionally).

Dr. Hall has been principal at Davis for 18 years since it opened in 1992. The school is named for Will Davis who served on the State Board of Education and the AISD Board of Trustees.

Hayley and Andres made a point of showing us the robotics program that integrates science, engineering, technology, and math. STEM is alive at the elementary level!

We also met Lauren Myer who was described as the "Teacher Librarian." She goes above and beyond to plan with teachers using IPGs. She showed us a display of rubrics and lessons on measurement.

From the library we entered a blue ocean hallway with a whale drawn to scale with ocean art and student essays.

Teacher of Promise April Pratt was with her students in the computer lab with Janelle Imken, lab facilitator, teaching her kinder students how to use a browser to search the web. Ms. Imken's position is supported by the PTA. Ms. Pratt's class was itching to get on to the 25 station eMacs, recycled from Murchison Middle School when it got new labs. Ms. Pratt says, "Technology is important — and these students are our future and our future needs technology-literate citizens." She hopes when her students graduate in 2022 that they graduate college, life, work ready and technology competent.