The Bulldogs rolled out the red carpet for visitors May 16, during the district’s second Bring a Friend to School Day. Elementary and middle school children at Bridgeport Exempted Village School District invited their friends from other schools to join them in their classes.
Elementary School Principal Kamaron Sabinski said her school was excited to have five visitors.
“The teachers put a great deal of time and effort into planning the lessons they were going to have the students participate in,” she said.
“We are very fortunate to be part of a district that welcomes all to this school. I’m really excited about the fact that we invite students from other places to give them a nice picture of what we do here at Bridgeport,” she said, adding one element the school takes pride in is the use of technology and integrating it into educational practices.
“Our students are well-versed on what our expectations are, and what’s up-and-coming in the future for them regarding technology. They fully understand it’s ever-changing, and they are very grateful to stay on top of it so that they can meet those educational needs down the road if they further their education to college.”
Kelli Hilt’s fourth grade class welcomed two visiting students. She said much of their work is done on iPads provided by the district. The class was engaged in an end-of-the-year activity that incorporates picture-taking.
“They are actually participating also because we got them an iPad so they could get the feeling of what it’s like to, because the iPads are used daily,” she said.
“We started it last year and it was quite a success,” she said. “Just to get them to know what Bridgeport’s like and how we do fourth grade here. I try to showcase our iPads because we have the one-to-one iPads and we do a lot of creative (projects). We had students explaining earlier what they really liked about Bridgeport and one of them said: ‘The option of choice.’ In being creative and how you display your knowledge.”
Hilt also mentioned the school district’s sense of camaraderie.
“We also try to showcase the family atmosphere. When you got to a really small school, these kids kind of grow up together for the most part. They know each other, most of them, throughout the school years, and even when you have students come in that are new, they’ll embrace them and they’ll be around them a lot. We try to embrace that family atmosphere that the district provides.”
Fourth grade science teacher Ron Gill had three visitors in his math and science class. He said he demonstrated how students can use technology to come up with their own math problems, even making videos to show other students how to do long division, multiplication, and word problems. Gill said students who are having difficulties have the benefit of watching videos of their classmates solve these problems.
“It’s a good teaching method,” he said and reflected on their progress.
“It seems like they’re enjoying themselves. The whole class is responding well to them. They feel comfortable and they’re learning some new concepts with math.”
The middle school hosted 29 visiting students. In Jordan Sieber’s fifth and sixth grade science class, two fifth graders each brought friends and both said they were having a fun time. Sieber said she would also be introducing them to tools and technology.
“In sixth grade they are going to use their iPads to present projects that they’ve been working on,” she said.
“We’re trying to show them that we definitely have a close, family setting. We kind of all feel like we’re part of a community together.”
