Students in the Essential Skills Classroom program at LNHS participated in the 9th annual Northland Job Olympics at Pleasant Valley Baptist Church on Friday, April 14, 2023.  

Job Olympics mirrors Special Olympics in that students compete and earn recognition for their performances and demonstration of skills, tasks and project completion. However, the Job Olympics, as the name suggests, focuses on vocational skills instead of athletic ability.  More specific areas of concentration were completing job applications, participating in mock interviews, and professional appearance. Additionally, a few of the choices for vocational activities ranged from rolling silverware, bagging groceries, folding laundry and paper shredding.  

In preparation for graduation, post secondary readiness, and future employment, students will select jobs in which they are interested in and begin working on the skills needed to master that specific job. 

Congratulations to all of our Eagles. Please see Here for all of our student recognitions. 

KNET spent time teaching the studio skills with kids participating in Take Your Child To Work Day.  Check out the image and video below! 

Student Reflection: "I enjoyed seeing all the different ages in the studio and getting to talk with them. It was enjoyable because I want to pursue an elementary degree and it was a great experience to prepare me". -Caylee

The Beak Squad is a student - centered technology help desk. Computer troubles? Website not working? Internet Connectivity Issues? Google, Canvas, Powerschool questions? The Beak Squad is housed in Eagle Pointe and is accessible to staff, faculty and students. The Beak Squad is sponsored by Business Teacher, Mr. Jonathan Riley.  The Beak Squad can be reached directly through their email account lnhsbeaksquad@lps53.org

Student Reflection: “Beak Squad has given me a fantastic opportunity to get more familiar with technology and use my skills to help others. I interact with new people daily and teach them problem-solving skills. I appreciate the skills I've gained and can't wait to apply them to my future career!” - Caiti

Our ProStart students are magicians in the kitchen. They can...

The New York Times has a weekly critical thinking challenge for students called What’s Going on in this Picture. Photography teachers Melissa McCullough and Wendy Sohm have taken it to another level by highlighting the top element of composition in the photograph and then asking students to create their own photographs with the element as a focus. 

Teacher Reflection:

Each week we challenge students with a POW (Photo of the Week). There is a new theme each week along with a composition rule to use. Students are asked to take these photos on their own time off of campus. Some combinations of themes & rules are pretty challenging! We then vote for the BEST photo of each class and that student gets a sticker for being voted the best.  Below are a few examples of various themes we’ve had this semester. It’s been fun to see what each student photographs.

Student Work: 

THEME: Details
COMPOSITION RULE: Fill in the Frame

THEME: Curves

THEME: Old
COMPOSITION RULE: Framing

Structuring classroom discussions increases participation and outcomes. The pictures below illustrate Megan Montgomery's ELA students engaging in the +1 protocol. 

The structure included brainstorming a list of key ideas that you recall from the book, their analysis, and/or their previous discussions. Next, students shared their thoughts with each other and added to each other's lists. 

Students were asked to add one of the following to the list:

• An elaboration on one item on the list
• A new point that you think is missing from the list
• Draw and explain a connection between two items on the list.

Montgomery's students were implementing the Harvard Thinking Routine:  Synthesizing & Organizing Ideas

“Routines that help students find coherence, draw conclusions, and distill the essence of topics or experiences.” 

Rep Chris Brown surprised AP Government teacher Kurt Gates for his leadership and work to help pass Senate Bill 681!  

Specifically- Each institution, which includes in-state public community college, college, or university that offers postsecondary freshman-level courses shall adopt and implement a policy to grant undergraduate course credit to entering freshman students for each advanced placement examination where a student achieves a score of 3 or higher for any similarly correlated course offered by the institution. 

THIS IS A HUGE WIN FOR OUR AP STUDENTS! Thank you to Mr. Gates and all of his students that were involved in the process of passing this bill. 

Kacy Stuber’s biology class has been working on exploring DNA and how the information contained there is translated into proteins and eventually traits. Difficult concepts to understand, much less explain. However, Mrs. Stuber encouraged her students to try the strategy 30 second expert to test their knowledge. Classroom discussion is one of our building level goals at Liberty North this year and each and every opportunity learners have to voice their understanding is a win. Sometimes, voicing a misconception is also a win. We often learn as much or more from what isn’t obvious and having a productive conversation. 

Teacher Reflection:

We started this strategy small with less risky topics, “would you rather questions.” As students gained comfort in the strategy, we began to include information from labs and topics being covered in class. Students started by pairing with a classmate they were comfortable with and we have since branched out to larger groups and different classmates. Quick writes on post-its or a Canvas discussion board and sentence starters helped even reluctant students feel more comfortable with this quick discussion tool. Next time, I will plan to build comfort with this strategy earlier in the year to build classroom community and allow more use with various topics.

Student Reflection: 

“It’s a good way to revisit information. You really have to listen and memorize when someone is talking to recap what they say.” - Avery (9th grade)

Guest Blogger: Sara Langford

In LNHS traditional Algebra 2 classes, students use their knowledge of quadratic function graphs to create a personal piece of art as a culminating project. Combining the knowledge of how to change the parameters of quadratic equations and using the online Desmos graphing site, students place parabolic curves first on computer screens, then on art paper and create their works of art.

Brayden Haney in Mr. Yoakum’s 1st hr recreated a famous work of art, the Great Wave of Kanagawa by Hokusai (pictured). Haney’s parabolas create the curves of the crashing waves and three boats braving the storm-tossed sea.

Savannah Diebold in Mrs. Burgener’s 3rd hr enjoyed the opportunity to create her own piece of art while also feeling the like assignment pushed her out of her comfort zone. She related, “I enjoyed that we got to choose what picture we could use and that it required us to use all the different ways of writing a quadratic.”

Guest Blogger: Sara Langford

Who hasn’t been going about his/her day when a sudden urge for an icy, refreshing Sonic drink hits? A cherry limeade, a blue raspberry slush or a vanilla coke…sounds so good.  

Just before Thanksgiving break in the Algebra 2 PLP course, the teachers offered the Sonic Challenge to all 135 students…meet a goal of mastering the most concepts in a week with tablemates and/or meet a personal math learning goal to get that desired Sonic drink as a special reward.

Liberty North offers a unique version of math courses titled “PLP.” PLP stands for personalized learning plan courses in Algebra 1, Geometry and Algebra 2 that allow students to learn at their own pace utilizing online sources and to master the math concepts of the course. From day one in math PLP classes, students take charge of their learning and its pace to understand math concepts, complete practice assignments and quizzes to show what they know!

Over ⅓ of the 135 Algebra 2 PLP students set and met a personal or table group goal.  Chloe Boulter set and met the ambitious goal of mastering four difficult polynomial and radical expression concepts.  She set her ambitious goal to prove to herself that, “...I could work well under pressure without having to be forced to do it. I also wanted to get my love for math back.”