New Year, Same Goal

Happy 2013 Everyone!  It is hard to believe that another year has come and gone.  

In 2012 SHARP saw a lot of new and exciting things.

• SHARP incorporated STEM into its 10^th book, A Busy Bee: The Story of Bella the Honey Bee.  The STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) principle of education is a national initiative dedicated to educating today's youth in the best possible way.  SHARP will continue to use STEM within its curriculum in order to best prepare our students for tomorrow’s workforce.
• Pre- and post- vocabulary evaluations were conducted on all SHARP students across all grades.  This was the first time in SHARP’s history that we attempted to evaluate all students as opposed to a subset.  The evaluations lead to valuable information regarding the SHARP program, what works and what can be improved.  We are going to continue evaluating all students.
• Pat the Great Cat’s family grew by two!  SHARP’s 9^th We Love to Learn book: Pat the Great Cat, is based on the real-life jaguar from Belize that now calls the Milwaukee County Zoo home.  Last month the zoo announced that two jaguar cubs were born to Mom, Stella and Dad, Pat.  Along with several SHARP staffers, I was able to attend the reveal at the zoo.

Here is here a sneak peek of what is happening at SHARP in the coming months:

• Introduction of the HONEY BEE ROBOT - After months of planning, designing, and creating the honey bee robot is almost ready for its debut.  Throughout the second semester of this school year the Haggerty Museum will be hosting the honey bee and providing tours to select SHARP first grade classrooms.  The honey bee robot is part of SHARP’s brand new 1st grade curriculum. 
• Honey Bee Quilt - In conjunction with the first grade curriculum, SHARP students have drawn pictures about bees, pollination, and growing things.  Last December I attended a presentation where student were very excited about this project. Having heard so many positive remarks about the SHARP “Community” quilt hanging in our conference room, I am eager to see what our students will create this time.
• The next We Love to Learn book, tentatively titled: Our Great Lake, will engage students in research questions including common weather patterns, the relationship between weather and seasons, and the influence of weather on local and global culture.   Here in Milwaukee we are so fortunate to have such an expansive fresh water resource in Lake Michigan.  We know that it defines the weather, landscape, and overall culture of Milwaukee; however, many of our urban youth have not had the opportunity to learn about the influence of Lake Michigan or even been able to experience the lake.

Motivated by the successes of our students in the past, we are excited about what this year holds.   I hope you will continue to be a part of SHARP in the coming year!

Best,

Lynda