MISD Camp Promotes Creativity and Collaboration

Mansfield ISD students entering grades 5-8 spent the week letting their imaginations run wild while building a spirit of teamwork. Create Camp is taking place July 24-28 at Legacy High School.

The summer camp is designed to allow the children to work with the four C’s—creativity, collaboration, communication and critical thinking. Camp coordinator Hope Hutchison said she decided to start the camp after working at the district’s science camp and seeing how excited the kids were to learn.

“I saw everyone’s enthusiasm, and I started thinking, ‘Maybe I should expand this idea to kids who like other subjects as well,’” said Hutchison. “Create Camp focuses more on STEAM, which incorporates the arts, as well as science, technology, engineering, and math. I’ve been doing Destination Imagination for more than 20 years, so this gives them a taste of that as well.”

MISD's Create Camp is in its second year. There are daily individual challenges and one comprehensive group challenge given to the children to teach them how to problem solve and think on their feet.

Students worked on their radio broadcast daily.

This year’s group project was a radio show. Students worked all week to create a comprehensive radio show, equipped with a story, live sound effects, cliffhanger and a breaking news bulletin. At the end of the week, the campers will perform the radio show for their parents.

“My favorite part is seeing the creative processes from the kids,” Hutchison continued. “These children didn’t know each other on the first day, but now they’re interacting and really working together to get this project done.”

Aaron Pradith was a radio announcer in his group. He noted that the camp helped him improve his social skills.

“This helped me break out of my shell more,” said the incoming fifth-grader at Della Icenhower Intermediate School. “It made me talk to my teammates more and make decisions together.”

More than 120 students participated in this year’s camp. Hutchison said she hopes her camp will inspire the students and teachers to start similar imagination clubs at their campuses.

“I know the district’s Vision 2020 plan states that students will participate in extracurricular or co-curricular activities, and this is another option they can choose,” she said.

MISD Students with Special Needs Learn to Grow and Give

The group picked more than 20 pounds of produce in one day.

Every Tuesday and Thursday this summer, Mansfield ISD agricultural science teacher Keven Smith had two things on his mind—teaching life skills to students with special needs and giving back to the community.

Smith and the students went to the Ron Whitson Agricultural Science Center to feed the farm animals. He then took them over to a garden where they harvested produce to donate to local food pantries.

“I got together with MISD’s special education SUCCESS programs, and we started the SUCCESS garden three years ago. Students would come out and plant, and we would later harvest the food and give it to local food pantries,” said Smith. “We have harvested thousands of pounds of fresh foods like watermelon, okra, and squash so far.”

Smith said he loves instilling the knowledge of agriculture into the children’s lives. He wants them to know that fresh food does not magically appear in the stores.

“My goal is to teach them how important farming and ranching is,” he continued. “It’s not a career choice of the past. We need those jobs to sustain life. Also, people have the power to grow their own food, and they should learn how to.”

This year, the agricultural science teacher solicited the help of high school volunteers to provide another social element to the experience.

“I like that I get to help them,” said Kaitlyn Weitzman, incoming sophomore at Mansfield High School. “My brother has special needs too, and they don’t always get the chance to explore and do as much as they are out here.”

After a day of picking, the students got to fish in the local pond.

Smith will continue to instill the love of cultivation into young learners in the upcoming school year. He hosts pumpkin patch field trips, farm animal visits, and he is partnering with the new Tarver-Rendon School of Agricultural Leadership to teach core content and leadership skills through agricultural-based experiences.

Although his summer program has wrapped up, Smith said he is excited to start planting more crops for an even bigger harvest next year.

New Early Literacy Center Designed for Interaction

A new facility that changes the way young students will learn is on the horizon at Mansfield ISD. The MISD Early Literacy Center, set to open in the 2018-19 school year, will be an innovative school for children ages three and four that takes learning beyond the four walls of a classroom.

“It’s basically structured in what early childhood research says is best for how students learn,” said Kristi Cobb, MISD’s director of early literacy. “Young students can come attend and learn through play, learn through unique experiences and learn through interacting with students.”

The focus of the learning center will be to promote literacy and numeracy development at an early age in an exploratory and engaging environment.

A rendering of a room dedicated to the study of Earth.

The facility will have 16 unique learning experiences, what people would typically call classrooms, that are structured into pods of learning: exploration, investigation, imagination and navigation. In each pod, children will be immersed in learning about different topics, such as the ocean, greenhouses, animals, construction and space.

“The building is very unique. It’s not like a traditional literacy center and not like a tradition school,” said Jeff Brogden, associate superintendent of facilities and bond programs. “For instance, one of the experiences is about the ocean, so there is an interactive submarine that is part of the experience. Students and teachers will be able to take an interactive field trip through the ocean to visit different mammals and learn all about that realm.”

The facility will be located near Della Icenhower Intermediate School off of South Collins Street. Each morning and afternoon session will consist of 15-17 students, a teacher and an instructional aide. Between 480-500 students will be able to enroll each year.

The school will also host field trips and other activities so that all Mansfield ISD students have the opportunity to benefit from the facility.

MISD's Early Literacy Center is aligned with the district's Vision 2020 guiding statement that indicates students will read on level or higher by the beginning of the third grade and will remain on level or higher as an MISD student.

View more details and renderings of the future school here.