Robin Littlejohn is a Rockstar
— courtesy Vance County Schools
Robin Littlejohn, a member of the faculty at L.B. Yancey Elementary School, has been recognized as a Rosetta Stone Rockstar.
Rosetta Stone is a nationally recognized foreign language software application used by L.B. Yancey Elementary and schools across our state and the nation to assist students, who don’t speak English as their native language, in learning how to speak and write in English.
Littlejohn leads the foriegn language efforts at L.B. Yancey and has been assisting Rosetta Stone officials in planning the first K-12 User Conference for the software application company. The theme of the conference is “Shaping the Future” and it will be held November 15-16 in Nashville, Tenn.
NVHS “EOC Night”
— courtesy Vance County Schools
Northern Vance High School is hosting an “EOC Night” on Thursday, October 12, at 6 p.m. in the school’s media center.
Students and parents are encouraged to attend.
Teachers will meet with parents and students to discuss academic progress. They also will share information on course requirements, the importance of state accountability standards, the alignment between grades and state testing levels, available tutoring for students, how parents can help their students at home and the impact of academics on potential college acceptances.
@VanceCoSchools State of Schools
— courtesy Vance County Schools
All Vance County residents are invited to attend “State of Our Schools” events hosted by the school system on Tuesday, October 24, at Clarke Elementary School, and on Wednesday, October 25, at New Hope Elementary School. Both events will be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m.
Superintendent Anthony Jackson will be sharing valuable information about our public schools and all 17 of our schools will have information tables with educators available to answer questions.
VGCC hosts Basic Skills Open House on Main Campus
— courtesy VGCC
Vance-Granville Community College will hold an Open House for its Adult Basic Skills department on Tuesday, October 3, from 8:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. and later from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m., in room 7212 of Building 7 on the college’s Main Campus in Vance County.
“We invite all who did not finish high school to come see and hear how our Adult Basic Skills Department can either help adults gain enough credits to earn a high school diploma or gain enough knowledge to earn a High School Equivalency diploma, which is more commonly known as a GED,” said Greg Nash, who chairs the Adult Basic Skills department at VGCC. “Additionally, we invite all whose native language differs from English to come see and hear how our Adult Basic Skills Department can help adults improve their abilities to speak and read English.”
Adult Basic Skills/Literacy Education programs at VGCC help adults improve their reading, writing and math skills and complete their high school education. Classes are available at all four VGCC campuses and at various community locations. VGCC now offers Adult High School and high school equivalency test preparation online, as well. Either way, instruction is offered free of charge.
Another VGCC program is “Basic Skills Plus,” which allows students seeking a high school diploma or equivalent to co-enroll at the same time in occupational training and employability skills within identified career pathways.
Once students complete either the Adult High School or high school equivalency program, they receive a certificate worth free tuition and fees for one semester of courses in curriculum programs at VGCC, absorbing costs not covered by federal financial aid.
For more information, contact Adult Basic Skills Department Chair Greg Nash at (252) 738-3305.
–VGCC–
Virtual Reality Mobile Lab
— courtesy Vance County Schools
zSpace, Inc. sponsored a visit by its Virtual Reality Classroom to the campus of Southern Vance High School on September 21, with the lab available for viewing by local students and educators throughout the school system.
Students and educators had an opportunity to go inside the traveling classroom, contained in a large, mobile trailer, and view 3D hands-on demonstrations to enhance classroom instruction in science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics (STEAM).
Clarke student using the 3D software for dissections
There were approximately 12 computer monitors available for students and educators to view 3D images ranging from various kinds of animals, to mountain landscapes, to parts of the human body. Once at the computer screens, viewers wore 3D glasses and used a special stylus to manipulate the 3D images. They could actually dissect the images electronically using the stylus to see the various layers of the image. The process seemed especially fun for students in dissecting animal images and seeing their various body parts and layers.
The zSpace Virtual Reality Classroom came to Vance County at no cost to the school district. The classroom is designed to provide K-12 school districts with a firsthand demonstration of the zSpace technology available to enhance classroom instruction in the core subject areas. With schools now engaging in new phases of innovation and transformation with the creation of STEAM focused programs, zSpace is striving to provide them with the latest virtually reality based learning experiences. With the help of zSpace representatives, the 3D technology is showing how the computer software and devices can be incoporated into lesson plans and curriculum.
STEM students using the 3D software for dissections
Students visiting the mobile STEAM lab were from Clarke Elementary School, the STEM Early High School and Southern Vance High School. They went into the lab in small groups of about 20 students over a four-hour period. After listening to a short presentation by a zSpace coach on how to use the 3D technology, the students were able to experience the hands-on demonstration at the individual computer terminals. Each student group had about 20 minutes to visit the mobile lab.
Each demonstration for the student groups featured standards based activities, lesson plans and video tutorials aligned with Common Core and state standards.
School administrators and several teachers from all Vance County Schools were able to visit the mobile lab and see the demonstrations.
Group of students listening to a zSpace representative explain how to use the software
