A Visit to Littlestown

Visit to Littlestown

Thanks to Assistant Superintendent, Lori Stollar, for taking time to give me a tour of the Littlestown School District and discuss their upcoming plans for STEM.  There is construction going on in Littlestown as they are adding on to one building and plan to reopen it as a K-5 building next year.  Right in the middle of the building there will be a STEM room that will be used as a rotation for the elementary students. 

Pineapple Chart in MS Office

We started the tour at the middle school and WOW!  You can feel the excitement about learning throughout the building.  Students in grades 6, 7 and 8 are 1:1 with the 7^th and 8^th graders using iPads and 6^th graders using Chromebooks.  The middle school is Maple Avenue Middle School leading to the hashtag #mamslearning.  They have implemented a new program, the Pineapple Chart led by @cortgolden.  I learned that the pineapple is a welcoming fruit.  There is a chart in the office that teachers can sign up for to welcome visitors to see what is going on.  I thought this was a fantastic idea and you absolutely had the feeling that they want to show off the great things that are happening.  We walked around and found students interested and engaged in their learning.  One classroom had a makeshift Green Screen area.  Everywhere we went had 4Cs signs (http://www.p21.org/our-work/resources/for-educators/1007).  I could clearly see the culture is looking for students to embrace the 4Cs: communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity.  We wound up the tour in the BLOC (Bolts Learning Opportunities Commons). 
This is the former library that has been reconfigured into a great space.  They had just unpacked a brand new 3D printer and had students lined up around it to watch it print.  There were comfy spaces, collaborative spaces with TVs, high tables to work at and special furniture to encourage working together.  I saw at least two classes using the BLOC at this time.

Comfy space in the BLOC

We also had a chance to visit the high school and elementary school.  More good things happening there as well.  The high school has a large area in the library they are looking to convert to a BLOC type space.  Students in drafting were working on plans – both the CAD type as well as brainstorming what would be needed in those spaces.  I heard about the 9^th grade experience or academy program with 4 courses built to help students.  They are actively working to have students working on career work.  This is the connection to real world work that is critical to helping students identify a successful career path.  The elementary teachers will be moving out and heading to new rooms (or back where they were for some) at the end of the school year.  I am excited to hear about their STEM rotation and how that person who fills the position will be able to work with others.

Overall, it was a great visit and walked away with several ideas for how schools could be working better.