The 440 Focus: Recent Episodes
Ron Barry
Lets take time to focus on the incredible things happening at USD 440 with the people making it happen!
Join us as we talk to the members of the first ever Halstead High School Girls Wrestling Program. Faye Thompson, Abby Newman, Ella Unsin, and Lauren Cardwell discuss why they chose to participate in wrestling, how it has helped them grow personally, goals that they have set and accomplished, as well as the team atmosphere that Coach Ortiz brings to the program. Help us congratulate these 4 incredible female student athletes as they continue to make history at Halstead High School!
Welcome to Episode 5 of The 440 Focus where we have the second of two episodes where we stop by Mr. Willis' STEM class! Come learn from our 6th grade friends about how they using their creative skills to collaborate with their peers and build things in STEM! These students are also introducing us to the Hydroponic Garden in the STEM Lab! Get ready for some salads and salsa, because these students have almost everything they need to make us a delicious treat.
If you want to learn more about all of our STEM Lab fun happening in 6th grade, reach out to Mr. Willis at wwillis@usd440.com to get some great ideas!
Continue to check out The 440 Focus Podcast to hear about all that is going on in our schools from the perspective of our students!
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Welcome to Episode 4 of The 440 Focus where we have the first of two episodes where we stop by Mr. Willis' STEM class! Come learn from our 6th grade friends about how they are creating stories during STEM time using Stop Motion! Students use their iPads in a variety of ways throughout the day to create learning experiences rather than consume content. This is just another way that our students collaborate with one another to present a product to their teacher about what they learn. Check out this example of a Stop Motion video about a day in the life of a student. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ei8Sr1ORYU
Continue to check out The 440 Focus Podcast to hear about all that is going on in our schools from the perspective of our students.
In this episode of The 440 Focus I learn how to make a GIF! Jaxton is a 1st grader at Bentley Primary School and he helped his teacher make GIF movement breaks while students learn and review sight words. Jaxton uses the iPad to make GIFs of him and his peers dancing and doing exercises and then air drops it to his teacher to add to her Sight Word Keynote. He is an amazing and talented 1st grader who teaches us all how to make a GIF in this recording. Jaxton also shares how the brain breaks work, how the iPad helps him make these brain break activities, and he shares about how he made one of me dancing.
Feel free to reach out to Courtney on Twitter @Courtney_14 if you want to learn more about how to implement this into your classroom. She is an Apple Certified Teacher and one of our Local Apple Professional Learning Specialists who helps teachers grow in their use and implementation of the iPad in the classroom.
Episode 1, the inaugural voyage of students being a part of the podcast, dives into the original student podcaster at USD 440.... LAUREN! Lauren is an amazing student who shares what she loves about USD 440, the teacher that has had the greatest impact on her, what her passion is as a student, and who she aspires to be in the future.
Join us for each podcast as we have our students tell our story about the things happening in our schools on The 440 Focus!
Welcome to Episode 2 of The 440 Focus, a podcast about the amazing things happening in our district from the perspective and voices of our most important stakeholders.....OUR KIDS!!!
Join us as we meet our 8th grade Volleyball team at Halstead Middle School. They are amazing student athletes who wanted to share a little bit about their season, why they were able to find success this year, and how they plan on continuing that success as they transition to the high school.
Please join us in listening to their story and help us celebrate their success!
440Proud
Welcome to the very first 440 Focus Podcast, where we will take time to focus on the incredible things happening at USD 440 with the people making it happen. This is a podcast for the educators of USD 440 and all of our educator friends who want to connect and learn from one another.
We had to kick off the podcast with the 2020 beginning of the year Keynote Speaker, Mr. Adam Welcome! We dive into his books Empower Our Girls, Run Like A Pirate, Kids Deserve It and his new book Teachers Deserve It. Adam and I discuss the importance of providing students, teachers, and all educators a voice. We also dig into what innovation looks like in schools and more importantly in our classrooms. Listeners will also learn about Adams message of making students creators of content rather than consumers.
Join me in kicking off the #440Focus Podcast with Adam Welcome!