Borton Magnet Messenger

We hit the ground running in the third quarter and are looking forward to enjoying the rest of the year! This messenger will highlight some of the successes at Borton and is built around the 5 Pillars of effective magnet schools as established by the Magnet Schools of America: Diversity, Innovative Curriculum and Professional Development, Academic Excellence, Leadership, and Family and Community Partnerships.

The Narwhal classroom has been celebrating the diverse heritages of the students of the classroom, which includes China, Dominican Republic, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico, Tohono O' Odham Nation and more. The Heritage Project began with family interviews and sustained the inquiry with research into students' questions about their families' history, culture, traditions, landmarks, language, and writing. Students constructed their own coat of arms using symbolic colors and icons representative of their past and present identities. They also collaborated to construct a classroom coat of arms that synthesized the diverse cultural identities of the Narwhal class as a united community of learners. In a Celebration of Learning the last week of the third quarter, the Narwhal students shared their project and memorable take-aways to family and friends through slide show presentations, poster display, and video presentation via the Flipgrid application. The celebration culminated in the sharing of food representative of the rich diversity of the classroom.

One of the design elements of Gold Standard Project Based Learning is public product. At Borton, students make their learning public through Celebrations of Learning to their families, friends, and Borton community. This quarter, we had many Celebrations of Learning:

The Great Adventures' inquiry was driving by the question, "How can we make our community a better place to live?" They explored what a community was and considered the many communities they belonged to starting with Borton and zooming out to their own neighborhoods and beyond. They identified the different roles of community members and how they contributed positively to their community. The students then applied that knowledge to becoming community helpers at Borton assisting teachers with different tasks around the school. With family, friends, and the Borton community students shared their learning through song, artwork, and presentation of a book they published demonstrating the many ways they daily contribute to the community of their classroom. The project culminated with them planting seed bombs that will provide much beauty, peace and joy to the Borton community. These seed bombs were made by students with the guidance of Outdoor Learning teacher, Ms. Mikaela and extras were sent home with families to plant in their neighborhoods.

The Sunflowers did a mini project on animals which included reading books about animals, observing animals at the zoo, making butter out of cow's milk, and compiling all of their understandings about the importance of animals in a book and video presentation.

The Mariposa's project was prompted by the question, "What are the tools in my learning toolbox and how can these tools help to make my ideas, hopes, and dreams happen?" Students uncovered their own mental models about tools and how they are used to help people accomplish hands on things. The class then read "Jabari Tries" by Caia Cornwall and extended their understanding of tools past the tangible to include abstract "tools" such as perseverance and asking for help. The Mariposa students reflected on their attempts to accomplish self-identified personal and school goals using the Systems Thinking visual tool, Behavior Over Time Graph. This helped students consider the "tools" or habits of thought that helped them accomplish these goals. The project culminated with the making and sharing of their own physical learning toolbox filled with pencils, number charts, and so on to help them persevere with future learning goals.

The Prickly Pear class was wiggly with excitement to share everything they had learned about designing a habitat for worms that would help the Borton garden grow. In collaboration with Outdoor Learning teacher, Ms. Mikaela, students rolled up their sleeves and conducted experiments that would address need-to-know questions such as: Where do worms live? What do worms like to eat? Can worms smell? What are the parts of a worm? How do worms help our garden grow? How can we take care of a worm bed? Using Systems Thinking habits and tools (stock flow maps and casual loops), students considered the relationship between the worms and the Borton garden. Students made the worm bed and decorated it with their learning. At the celebration of learning, Prickly Pear students guided family members and friends through several of the experiments and shared their worm books too. The celebration culminated with eating earth worm cake- yummy!

The Puffin and Panda project was titled Connections in the Desert. The students explored the relationship of plants and animals in the Sonoran Desert. Using the Borton Environmental Learning Lab (B.E.L.L.), the students thought like a scientist making observations and collecting data. They used Systems Thinking Tools (casual loops and connection circles) to analyze the interdependency of the plants, animals, and themselves. The students depicted their understanding of food chains onto bricks, which they placed in B.E.L.L. to inform the Borton community as the walk along the desert pathway. (Find out more about the Panda and Puffins project and Celebration of Learning in MSA Pillar 5.)

The Narwhals celebrated the diverse heritage of the students in their classroom (see Pillar 1 of the Magnet Messenger for more details).

A big shout out to our Borton teachers for their dedicated efforts to Project Based Learning: Ms. Leticia, Ms. Jenna, Mx. Whitney, Ms. Stephanie, Ms. Metta, Mr. Zane and Ms. Leah! Also, many thanks for to all of the resource teachers and teaching aids that helped support those projects, classroom teachers, and students. Special recognition goes to retired Borton PBL Resource Teacher, Ms. Kathy for all of her help!

Have you ever wondered what Borton staff members do on Wednesday early release days or while your students are in their specials classes? Our professional development goals this year have been focused on Borton's Magnet themes of Project Based Learning (PBL) and Systems Thinking (ST), as well as innovative and culturally relevant practices to support those themes.

In the third quarter, teachers met with JoAnn Groh from PBLWorks (pblworks.org) to collaborate on designing projects aligned with learning standards and students' interests. JoAnn also coached teachers on how to effectively time manage projects to sustain student inquiry throughout the project timeline.

Caryl Crowell, an Associate Trainer of the Waters Center for Systems Thinking (waterscenterst.org) and the Secretary for Partners of Equitable Science Instruction (pesitucson.org) has been working with teachers on integrating Systems Thinking with their science kits and standards. (Did we mention that Caryl is also a current Borton P.T.A. member and grandparent of a Borton student, as well as former Borton teacher and Magnet Coordinator?)

In addition to sharpening old practices, Borton teachers have been learning new tricks with STEMAZing (stemazing.org). STEMAZing has been providing basic coding and robotics resources and instruction to Borton teachers to be implemented next school year. K-2 is learning how to use Learning Resources Code and Go Robot Mouse (learningresources.com), while 3-5 grade is learning how to use Edison robots (meetedison.com) to support ST and PBL work.

Throughout the school year, Borton staff members have been working with Chris Confer from Associates for Educational Success (mathpd.com) on integrating culturally relevant and student-centered practices in math instruction with an emphasis on talk moves, math journals, and using math manipulatives. These practices will help build a culture of the classroom that allows project-based learning to flourish by honoring student voice.

Did you know there are 61 elementary and K-8 schools in TUSD that take reading assessments each quarter? In this school year, Borton outperformed 53 of those schools in reading. Also, in a comparative study of 2021-2022 with 2022-2023 school year DIBBELS data, all cohorts of students increased on an average of 14%.

Borton didn't accomplish this by teaching to the test or drill and skill methods, but by using the data as one indicator (standardized tests only paint one part of the picture of a learner) to intentionally inform our literacy instruction. While successes in benchmark data are to be celebrated, the data also highlights some areas for improvement. After the careful consideration of our reading data, the 4th and 5th grade teachers are refining their Close Reading practices at Borton. Close Reading teaches kids to think deeply about their reading by making their thinking visible through annotations and by having powerful conversations about texts. The method of Close Reading encourages many Systems Thinking Habits such as considering an issue fully, seeking to understand the big picture, and making meaningful connections. The method is also aligned with PBL gold standards by encouraging problem solving, sustained inquiry, and student voice.

Borton welcomed many TUSD district leaders this quarter. TUSD Superintendent, Dr. Gabriel Trujillo enjoyed seeing students deeply engaged in learning during his visit. TUSD Title 1 Office with Santa Cruz Regional Assistant Superintendent, Mark Alvarez conducted a Title 1 Walkthrough and observed Borton's student centered instructional focus in practice. Principal Eric was eager to show off the amazing Borton community to the Principal Cadre and to highlight the PBL and Systems Thinking magnet theme. TUSD governing board member, Val Romero loved Borton's outdoor learning component.

Other TUSD governing board members participated in celebrating Borton's Love of Reading events. Jennifer Eckstrom and Dr. Shah read a captivating read aloud. Natalie Luna Rose participated in Borton's Bedtime Stories over ZOOM. To the joy of students, Borton legends, Ms. Lisa (Former Interim Principal), Ms. Kathy (Former PBL Resource Teacher) and Ms. Carol (Former Teacher/ Magnet Coordinator) also read!

Borton appreciates the support and guidance from its leaders of past and present!

Second grade teachers, Ms. Metta and Mr. Zane worked with Pima Community Share to partner on their Connections in the Desert project. The students wrote a play based on their learning of the relationships between plants and animals with an important message for the audience, “Do NOT cut down the saguaro!”. Pima Community Share helped bring the play to life, by partnering them with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra (TSO). A small group from the TSO collaborated with students to create musical sound that matched each plant or animal in the play. The Pandas and Puffins with TSO musical accompaniment presented their learning to family, friends, and the Borton community.

This quarter the Meadow class was lucky enough to have two chefs lead students in a cooking demonstration! Students made Asian Spinach, Avocado and Orange Hand Rolls (Temaki). Not every student loved every part of it, but everyone was brave enough to try something new and LOVED making it! Students used all their senses to make observations about each ingredient, then put it all together and gave it a try. Finally, they planted spinach in their class garden with Mr. Pickle! The recipe and a companion video can be found at: www.bluewatermelonproject.org/resources

Borton's fourth graders participated in the Earthkeepers program developed by The Institute for Earth Education. They spent two days at Camp Cooper and one day at Borton's Enviornmental Learning Lab studying ecological concepts such as energy flow, cycling, interrelationships, and change. They participated in activities that dealt with observation, discovery, solitude and immersion with the intent of increasing stewardship for the Earth. Borton teachers related these activities back to Systems Thinking using visual thinking tools such as reinforcing loops and stock flows to analyze the connections of the sun, soil, water, air; to understand how the birds, insects, mammals, reptiles are all connected in the web of their biome; and to consider how this is all affected by drought. Of course, it wasn't all deep thinking (pun intended), students also enjoyed Sonoran hotdogs and smores fireside!

This quarter held many opportunities for families to engage with Borton: Community Time, Cafecitos with Principal Eric, Parent Teacher Association Meetings, Parent Teacher Conferences, Jump-a-thon, Plant Sale and Art Show, Talent Show, Love or Reading Week, Borton Bedtime Stories, and Celebrations of Learning, as well as volunteering in the classroom. We appreciate all the ways that our families participated and look forward to more family engagements next quarter! Mark your calendars for Borton’s Literacy Night on April 4 from 5-6pm and Dia De Los Ninos and Book Fair on April 21!

Register today! You can save time and avoid filling out pages of paperwork by using the NEW 2023-2024 online registration process. Just log into your ParentVUE account using any browser at https://parent.tusd1.org. Click on the Online Registration button in the upper right corner. Please call Borton office at 225-1000 with any questions or if you need assistance.

Did you know that you can give your Arizona tax credit to Borton? The amount you donate is subtracted from the amount of Arizona State taxes that you owe. You get a 100% credit on your money! These funds are used to support after school programs, extended library hours, field trips, sports, and so much more. The front office can help you make your contributions, or you can make it online at https://az-tucson-taxcredits.intouchreceipting.com You can use a major credit card to pay online before midnight on April 15, 2023.