Fall Family Dinner Slideshow

Enjoy a few pictures from our annual Fall Family Dinner!

Wanny's Words - Developing the Whole Child

By Wanny Hersey

Superintendent/Principal at Bullis Charter School

As many of you know, one of my favorite writers on child development is Madeline Levine, Ph. D. Dr. Levine is a child psychologist and co-founder of Challenge Success, a project of the Stanford Graduate School of Education. Her recent blog post “Six Things That Matter More Than Perfect Grades” (posted 9/3/13) succinctly captures the reasons why education should be about so much more than grades.

Since the inception of our charter school, we have emphasized and woven into our curriculum all six components that Dr. Levine includes in her list of things “that matter if we want our kids to have meaningful, productive, and moral lives:”

• Having Friends
• Character
• Resilience
• Interests/Passions
• Collaboration
• Self-Reflection

So many things our teachers do - from regularly reflecting with students on Focused Learning Goals to sharing their passions with students through co and extra-curricular classes - are designed to develop the whole child, or as Dr. Levine writes “a good person with a sense of purpose and meaning in the world.”

Focused Learning Goals (FLGs) are developed annually to identify specific outcomes in the academic, social/emotional, and passion for every student throughout his/her educational career at BCS. By implementing FLGs for all students, no matter what the grade or learning need, we are delivering on the mission for our school that is grounded in research and best practices.

The FLG process is unique to BCS, and is designed to do exactly what Dr. Levine believes to be important in a child’s development - provide opportunities to build resilience, develop specific interests and passions, and practice self-reflection. 

Teachers and students work together to develop the whole child at BCS

First Week at BCI!

Our 5th graders got started in the MakerSpace with Mrs. Reed where they dived into design-thinking, learning how to empathize and rapid prototype in a real-world activity.  The vast choices of raw materials they were able to choose to work with unleashed limitless creative innovations among the students.

Fifth graders tinker in the MakerSpace!

Next door in the FabLab@BCS, the 6th graders were prototyping as well!  Students interfaced with some of the latest technologies  - including electronic modules - and had an opportunity to ideate and test their unique creations with Mr. Malpica, our FabLab Director.

Mr. Malpica demonstrates how to use the electronic modules for students

In art class, Mr. Lipson brought history to life by having students make their own prehistoric rock art, which they had been studying as part of their social studies curriculum.

Mr. Lipson shows students how to carve designs

Meanwhile, 5^th graders brought logos to life while learning about 2-D vectors in Art class.  A few students designed new logos for the 3-Time Award Winning Bullis Kids News!

New logos for Bullis Kids News!

Teacher-Led Tech Conference Video

Here's a video of our teachers participating in the BCS/BCI Teacher-Led Tech Conference earlier this month!

Read more about the Teacher-Led Tech Conference in our earlier post.

Work Party at BCI!

Over the weekend, we had more than 200 parents, students, alumni, and teachers come out to help, rolling up their sleeves and tackling a multitude of different projects – from assembling lunch tables to organizing the staff room to setting up the FabLab and MakerSpace – to get our second site ready for the first week of school.

Please enjoy this slideshow from the work party on Sunday as a “thank you!” for those of you who were there.  And for the families that were not able to make it, I hope these pictures and a glimpse of BCI will allow you to share in the excitement of that day.  As the lyrics in the slideshow music say - we took care of business!

Music Credit: 

Randy Bachman - "Taking Care of Business" 

3-D Prototype Trains - Made By Our Teachers!

Ms. Stone shows off her 3-D prototype!

Our staff members had a chance to experiment with new design software that will be in the FabLab@BCStoday.  Ms. Stone, our 7th grade Social Studies/ELA teacher, proudly showed off her 3-D plastic train - the "Stone Express" - that she made using a laser-cutting machine.  Ms. Stone said that she created the train by following a set of directions using a special design software program, and then with assistance, sent those plans to the laser cutter which produced her very first 3-D prototype.

"I am comfortable using technology, but I am not a designer, so it was a challenging project for me.  It was important for me to go through the same process my students will be going through this year so I could see all the adjustments and changes that needed to be made to the design before getting the finished product.”

Ms. Stone added, "I was working in a room full of other teachers, and when we saw the trains we all said - 'Whoa that is so cool!'  None of us can wait to share this with our students!"

Aptly named the Stone Express!

Teacher-Led Teach Conference at BCS!

As you know, BCS teachers are currently being locked out of their classrooms by the LASD board members.  While this has caused outraged throughout our BCS parent community, our teachers are not skipping a beat!

Teachers learn from Ms. Lura!

Today, all of our staff members participated in a BCS/BCI Teacher-Led Tech Conference as part of our annual two weeks of professional development leading up to the start of the school year.  Now that’s what we call being innovative!

Our talented staff members taught courses for their fellow teachers on topics ranging from “Blogging in the 21st Century Classroom” to “Assessing on the Go” in a series of workshops designed to highlight how some of the most effective technology tools such as Socrative, Doceri, Voki, and Edcanvas (among others) are being used to engage students andenhance BCS's individualized and blended learning models...all capitalizing on our most valuable resource at BCS and BCI - our teachers!

Check out the photo below to see our teachers leading the way in innovative teaching practices!