Third graders in Ms. Sanchez’s class at Oaklawn have created personal immigration stories inspired by the experiences of thousands of immigrants who have come through Ellis Island. With help from the historical fiction text, The Orphan of Ellis Island, students learned about the process followed by individuals seeking citizenship through Ellis Island, and the many challenges and hardships that families faced to make the journey. They wrote stories, created personal recordings of each tale, and created a photo to represent each character - all showcased in the “American Immigration Wall of Honor,” display just outside her classroom. Stories from each student are available for anyone to listen to, via specially created QR codes.

HSSD elementary schools are ready for Read Across America Week! Join in on the fun - Find a full schedule of books and attire for each day of the week, here. The National Education Association’s Read Across America initiative is an annual reading motivation and awareness program that calls for every child in every community to celebrate reading. It is celebrated on March 2nd, which is also the birthday of the famous children’s book author Dr. Suess. Our wonderful school media specialists at each HSSD school organize the week-long celebration ahead of March 2nd to celebrate reading and the many ways we promote and support literacy for our students at the HSSD.

Arkansas Jr. and Sr. Beta clubs gathered for State Convention January 24 - 26, 2019. A group of 94 HSSD students in 4th - 8th grades competed as Jr. Beta Club members from OVPA, Park Magnet, Intermediate School, and Junior Academy at Arkansas Junior Beta Club Convention January 24-25. A group of 25 HSSD students in 9th-12th grades competed as Sr. Beta Club members from HSWCHS at Senior Beta Club Convention January 25-26. Both events were hosted at the Hot Springs Convention Center. In all, 50 HSSD students qualified (42 from Jr. Beta Club and 8 from Sr. Beta Club) to compete at National Beta Convention in June, to be hosted in Oklahoma City. Huge thanks to Cheryl Long, Madeline Bull, and Melissa Bratton for the countless hours they spent helping our teams prepare. Congrats to HSSD Beta Clubs!

A new Integration Station at our HSSD OVPA provides a much needed brain break for students, via a colorful path prompting a series of physical, fine, and gross motor activities. Activities - including a bear and crab crawl, hop scotch, twirling, an ABC hop, climbing a ladder, walking backwards, and more - create intentional sensory stimulation for participants of all ages. Completing any portion of the station helps students to recharge and refocus between classes, between lessons, in preparing for tests, or during student pull-out sessions. By making them use both the left and right side of their brains, and remain active in a series of unique movements, it helps our students to stay calm, and more effectively focus for classroom time.

The 2018 Oaklawn Show Choir includes an OVPA ensemble of 60 talented 4th-5th grade students. For their 19th annual Christmas Show Choir Concert on Friday 12/21, performances featured jazzy, unique Christmas songs including "Jazzy Suzy Snowflake," "Singing Starlet Miss Snow Monroe," "Rudy Rudolph with a Country/Pop Flair," "ELFIS," and "Talented Tina Tinsel.” The OVPA Show Choir originated in 1999, and since that time has continued under Oaklawn Music Director Mrs. Kina Clayton. Since that time, Show Choir has performed for three Arkansas Governors and countless others at local, regional, and state venues.

Third grade Oaklawn students created their own Trickster Tales, or cultural stories that include one character who tricks another, and a moral or lesson. In a collaborative effort across third grade classrooms from all teachers and staff, students wrote their own Trickster Tales and then created four-part comic strips in art class to illustrate the tales. To build on the lesson even further, they transformed their comic strips to digital cartoons in the library media center. By integrating classroom standards into multiple mediums, students with all types of learning styles, needs, and interests benefit. A book of comic strips and digital cartoon archive of all third grade Trickster Tales is being compiled in the Oaklawn Library.

Last week, the HSSD hosted three spelling bees across the district for 1st - 8th grade students. HSSD Gifted and Talented Coordinator Mrs. Laura West coordinated the spelling bees, which are exciting competitions for students to improve their general spelling, vocabulary and language skills in a fun competition with their peers. All nine of our finalists - including first place winner and OVPA 5th grader Aniyah Burgess - will advance to the Garland County Spelling Bee on January 24, 2019 at the Gospel Light Baptist Church Auditorium (600 Garland Avenue, Hot springs) at 9:00 a.m. HSSD Spelling Bees are held in coordination with official rules and scripts from the Scripps National Spelling Bee so that they are uniform with those hosted across the U.S.

It’s all about providing balance for Mrs. Elizabeth (Graves) Roach in her first grade classroom at Oaklawn Visual & Performing Arts (OVPA) Magnet School. Through the use of sensory stations/exercises and kinesthetic learning techniques, she creates a unique classroom setting for a diverse of array of students with diverse needs and talents. Looking around, you may find a bean bin, shaving cream table, chalk desk, bouncy balls, water beads, and other non-traditional items because in her classroom all curriculum is tied to a sensory learning experience and student-led dialogue and problem solving.

The HSSD is a diverse community of student groups, talents, and organizations. We look forward to each holiday performance and event throughout December. Don’t miss a thing, with an all-inclusive HSSD Holiday lineup, below. All events hosted at HSSD schools, as well as the Holiday Extravaganza on 12/6, are free to the public and open to all.

For Giving Tuesday, the Little Rock-based professional tap dance company Untapped sends dance instructors to schools across Arkansas at no charge to work with students in dance classes. Savannah Boyce and Michael Roberson, professional dancers and dance instructors with Untapped, worked with HSSD dance students across the district today. They brought hands-on tap sessions and brief discussion of tap history to our classrooms.

Get to know four main cast members from the memorable presentation of Mary Poppins, Jr. at OVPA to capture for yourself a small glimpse of the “magic” behind each annual student production: Meet Anani Coleman (Mary Poppins), LaRon Samuels (Bert), Valerie Sutton (Jane Banks), and Ryan Tedford (Michael Banks). All four are fourth grade students, and represent well the connection that all participants develop with staff, other students, and the school theme during weeks of preparation and rehearsal for the annual event.

A new after school care program at Mid-America Science Museum, entitled Science After School, is being planned in collaboration with the HSSD. To launch this project, a pilot program will be conducted beginning on January 7, 2019 and will be offered Monday through Friday from 3:30 pm to 6:00 pm until the end of the school year. At this time, Science After School will only be available for a maximum of 107 K-6 HSSD students. This pilot program will be the first of its kind in the state of Arkansas. Forms and fees are due December 10, 2018.

Join us November 13 and November 15 at 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. for unforgettable student performances in Mary Poppins, Jr., at our OVPA Auditorium. The annual production is special for so many reasons, mostly because it includes all 1st-5th grade OVPA students who want to participate. Student actors, singers, dancers, and musicians are showcased each fall during this memorable play that is entirely arranged by staff and community volunteers. The Broadway-experience is free for students through fundraisers and other school support.

During National School Safety Week, officials across the U.S. work to educate students and staff about best safety practices for school buses. HSSD Deputy Superintendent Lloyd Jackson and Transportation Staff are working in all HSSD schools to ensure that every student has been updated on bus safety practices during a school presentation this week. Students are then also completing a live evacuation exercise where they exit a bus just as they would during a live emergency scenario.

This month, 70 students (57 from 4th-8th grade and 13 from 9th-12th grade) from our four HSSD Beta Clubs attended a regional Beta Leadership Summit. It was a record breaking year, as HSSD clubs took home seven awards and qualified to compete at the National Beta Club Summit in five categories. Student groups are from Beta Clubs currently established at Park Magnet (4th-5th grade students), Oaklawn (4th-5th grade students), a combined team from Hot Springs Intermediate School (6th grade students) and Junior Academy (7th-8th grade students), and Hot Springs World Class High School (9th-12th grade students).

Thanks to the Hot Springs/Hot Springs Village Symphony Guild, Garland County 3rd - 6th graders experience a memorable performance by the unforgettable Arkansas Symphony Orchestra every year in Hot Springs. This year musicians presented Story Time, which connected the excellent musical performance to favorite literary tales. The annual student concert is tied to curriculum customized for the performance. Development of the curriculum is heavily influenced by our own HSSD teachers including Mrs. Sue DeLeon, Mrs. Becky Counts and Mrs. Casey Wylie, who help write the majority of the Student Journal portion.

Students across the U.S. are getting ready for Red Ribbon Week® 2018! This year’s theme is: Life Is Your Journey. Travel Drug Free. At all HSSD schools, students will engage in activities that promote a drug free and healthy lifestyle. Please partner with us and discuss this message at home, at the dinner table, at family outings, and with friends and extended family. Students can be part of the celebration by enjoying themed dress up days for all schools which are included here.

Pumpkin Light Night is a FREE event for the whole family, on October 23. This gathering celebrates the programs, clubs, organizations, and many offerings of the Hot Springs School District. Bouncy houses, pumpkin displays, booths and activities, food trucks (food trucks charge for food), and entertainment fill our Trojan Field. Be part of celebrating HSSD students and the HSSD community at the 4th annual Pumpkin Light Night!

Kindergarten students in Mrs. Meghan Mabry’s class at Oaklawn Magnet are developing key skills while also trying new learning techniques with the help of Bee-Bots. Bee-Bots are small, colorful, bee-shaped robots that can be used by educators in the teaching of counting, sequencing, estimation, problem-solving, and in this case - targeted learning objectives like rhyming that lead to eventual reading skills.

Social Hour brings families together in an informal dinner setting to focus on social and emotional challenges through multiple topic areas and hands-on projects.