BATON ROUGE, LA—First In Math representative Nancy Kane attended the Diocese of Baton Rouge Catholic Educators Gathering at the Baton Rouge River Center in early September, and visited several participating schools located in sugar cane country.
St. Peter Chanel Technology Coordinator Jessica Domangue and a group of fourth-graders.
First In Math received a special invitation from Superintendent Dr. Melanie B. Verges, and the trip allowed Kane to meet many teachers and administrators—including Michael Comeau from Holy Family and Kerry Rogers, assistant principal at Holy Ghost. “I have been working with some of these wonderful folks like Kerry for years, and it was so nice to finally meet them,” explains Kane.
Kane’s first visit was to St. Peter Chanel in Paulina, LA. Paulina is a very tight knit community—many of the students are related and some children’s parents attended the school.
Fifth grade teacher Lindsay Schexnayder and Technology Coordinator Jessica Domangue anchor the program at St. Peter Chanel. “When I got there they were already planning the construction of colorful FIM bulletin boards using our Thermometer graphics (downloadable from the RECOGNITION link on the Team Leader Homepage) and everything is going to look great,” says Kane.
Schexnayder says that she likes to set Goals for the students and was “very excited to hear about First In Math’s new Goals Pages.”
“I was lucky enough to help pass out the FIM User IDs to one of the fourth-grade teams for the first time,” says Kane. “Right away, the students were anxious to get to work after noticing the look of the new player homepage. We talked about their Goals pages, and explained how they each have some control on what the outcome of a year of practice with FIM can do for them. During the session, the Team Goals page was projected on the board so everyone could watch the class’s progress.”
According to Kane, “They are going to have a great award ceremony at the end of the year, celebrating their successes in math.”
Kane also visited St. John’s Primary school to meet with Karen Long and two other third grade classes using the program.
Last but not least, a visit to the top school in the state was also on the agenda—Central Intermediate School (see related story) in the Central Intermediate School District. “Meeting with Linda Crochet-Primeaux, First In Math Anchor, Principal Rhonda Taylor, Assistant Principal Jeremy O’Banion and Sharon Leblanc, Math Interventionist was very inspiring; they are great implementers of the program and are a dedicated team of enthusiastic educators!”