SEM Successes from 2008/2009

At Laurel Mountain, we love to celebrate the successes of our SEM program. While it is difficult to quantify the benefit to our students, it is easy to measure the impact to our community and world.

We also enjoyed several very special visitors this year that wanted to check out the enrichment action taking place at Laurel Mountain. We were honored to have Dr. Joseph Renzulli and associates visit Laurel Mountain on October 20. He visited with the staff and students and spoke to the Laurel Mountain staff and parents, along with RRISD administration, in the afternoon. The principal and several teachers from Great Oaks Elementary in RRISD visited LME during 4th/5th E-slot and the Enrichment Cluster Showcase. Also, teachers from The John Cooper School in The Woodlands, TX came to look at enrichment in action.

Executed 50 different enrichment clusters in grades K through 5 during the 2008-09 school year. Furthermore, there were six different E-slot opportunities outside the classroom for 4th and 5th graders.
All students participated in Enrichment Cluster Showcases which highlighted products and services created during the six or eight weeks of enrichment clusters. Many parents, community members, RRISD staff and RRISD School Board member attended.
Independent Investigative Method (IIM). All LME teachers were trained in the Independent Investigative Method (IIM) method of research in August 2008. Children in all grade levels participated in at least one IIM research project throughout the school year.
Our teachers continued to utilize the Renzulli Learning System (RLS) in the regular classrooms. Many used the Renzulli profile to guide product choices for IIM. Students and teachers used the RLS as a research tool for IIM. Nicole Levitan, the Enrichment Coordinator, provided three different training sessions for our parents on the Renzulli Learning System and how to utilize the system over the summer.
We increased our parent and community involvement with enrichment clusters and E-slot. This year, we had over 73 outside presenters for enrichment clusters and E-slot! Of those, 35 were parents or RRISD staff, 18 were CVMS, WWHS or UT students and 20 were volunteers from our local community.
As a campus we put a focus on service learning and philanthropy. This became a natural part of enrichment clusters, E-slot activities and classroom activities. We have many wonderful examples of our students doing for others:
The Quilting enrichment cluster donated 27 blankets to the Linus Connection, whose mission is to provide a handmade security blanket to every child in a crisis or at-risk situation in Central Texas.
We had four different Libraries of Love enrichment clusters this year. Those groups were in charge of planning and executing the 2nd Annual Libraries of Love Read-a-thon. Read-a-thon raised $5,860.56 for Libraries of Love and the whole school read 59,573 minutes.
The 4th/5th grade Solar Car enrichment cluster raised and donated $30 to the Dell Children's Foundation.
The Art from the Heart enrichment cluster created a banner for Texas soldiers in Iraq and made Halloween bags for a local nursing home. The soldiers were so impressed and excited that they sent back a banner of their own to say "thank you" to the students.
The 4th/5th grade Kitchen Chemistry enrichment cluster sold "Dry Ice - Ice Cream" after Marathon Kids and donated $78 to St. Jude's Hospital.
We were awarded two RRISD Service Learning Grants: Mrs. Rhonda Hieronymus received a $500 grant to create a Butterfly Garden with her 2nd/3rd Flutter Friends enrichment cluster and class. Mr. Bill Earley received a $500 grant as well, which his class and the 4th/5th grade Animal Home Builders enrichment cluster used to create a Chimney Swift Tower.
We were very lucky this year to have several 5th grade students serve as assistant facilitators in 2nd/3rd and K/1st enrichment clusters.
Our 4th grade teachers arranged for several local non-profit organizations to present during E-slot about how they help the Austin community: CARITAS, Meals on Wheels, Any Baby Can, and the Capital Area Food Bank. From these presentations, the students created Valentines for Kids with 94.5 and made valentines for Meals on Wheels clients.
Fifteen of our 4th/5th graders participated in We Flap, which was started by a former Laurel Mountain parent. We Flap is a social non-profit aimed at creating a vibrant online community to enable individuals to engage with and assist various Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) across the world.
Mrs. Hendrix's kindergarten class collected pet supplies for the Hurricane Ike animal survivors.
At Halloween, our 3rd graders collected over $700 for UNICEF during trick-or-treating.
Ms. Henegar's 4th grade class created spring decorations for a local nursing home.
During the month of April, Mrs. Myrick's 5th grade class organized and executed the Food for the Foodless food drive for a local food pantry and collected an amazing 1,353 pounds of food to donate. In May, the students went to the local food pantry to sort and shelve the food once the food drive was complete.