Construction Projects Continue

The largest construction project in the districts history is progressing well. The project includes an approximately 91,000 square foot intermediate school on a new campus at the corner of East Main and Maxheimer Road along with a 48,000 square foot field house on the Route 29 Campus.

This week, rain hampered efforts to continue with the roof installation at the field house along with steel installation on the East Main Campus. However, masonry crews continued to work at the field house. Hopefully, within two weeks the field house will be "under roof," and completely enclosed (dry) by the end of October.
Crews did pour the concrete second and third floors in area B of the new school (there are three main sections A, B, and C). Area B includes the main entrance, offices, media center, band/choral rooms, gym and cafeteria. That area will be "under roof" first-- hopefully, before winter.

You can view videos of the progress of the construction at www.youtube.com by simply typing in the search bar:
Rochester Rockets RAC or
Rochester Rockets RIS

I have also included two recent videos of the new school. I visit the site a few times a week and usually take some video footage to document progress.


Enjoy your weekend!

Lit2Go a Wonderful Tool to Assist with Reading

The University of South Florida has produced an amazing resource for schools and families to assist with reading practice and comprehension. The best news is that Lit2Go is free! Graduate students in education at USF recorded hundreds of commonly used pieces of literature, short stories, poetry, etc. and placed the audio files on a web site in mp3 files that can be downloaded right into Itunes.

Now your child can improve reading skills and comprehension by downloading these mp3 files to an ipod or desktop computer. I highly recommend this resource!

Start by downloading Itunes for free at http://www.apple.com/itunes/overview/

Then visit Lit2Go at http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/ which will take you to the web site for USF. Click on #4 "Launch Itunes," and this will open up the Lit2Go page right in Itunes (part of Itunes University where you can find lots of other great learning tools). This should bring up the page of audio files with tabs for each grade--amazingly simple to navigate! Then simply click on the file that you want, and wait for it to downoad.

I quickly scanned the Grade 11 file and downloaded a chapter of The Scarlet Letter. If your HS child has to ride the bus to a game, they can download the novel they are required to read for English class, and listen to it on their IPOD as they follow along on the noisy bus trip to or from a basketball game. Reluctant readers can listen to the stories to build their vocabulary and reading skills as they follow along.

I hope you get the chance to try this out!

Tom

Welcome to My Blog

Welcome to my blog. Last year I attended an informative technology session at the State Superintendents' Conference. The presenter was Allan November, one of the country's best educational technology presenters. He reviewed a myriad of free, web-based tools that are available to schools that can dramatically change the way that we deliver instruction to students and the manner in which we communicate with our "customers."

One of my goals related to technology is to initiate a "Student Technology Advisory Committee," to the superintendent. It is clear to most of us "old folks" that our children know a lot more about the tools of technology than we do. I am looking forward to talking with students about how we can more effectively engage them in learning with technology. This includes how podcasting, Itunes, and other web based tools can be incorporated into the classrooms of our district.

I will be posting topics periodically on this site and I want your feedback. I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Tom Bertrand