Lowman named Kimmel Farm principal

Courtesy of the WSFCS Communications Department.

Floyd Lowman, (far right)the principal of Bolton Elementary School, will be the new principal at Kimmel Farm Elementary School.
Lowman has been the principal of Bolton since 2010. He replaces Gaye Weatherman, who retired last month. Weatherman opened the school in 2009, and Lowman will be the school’s second principal. Frank Holcomb will continue to work as interim principal at Kimmel Farm until a replacement is hired for Lowman at Bolton.
He has worked in Cherokee County Schools for two years, first as the principal of Andrews High School and then as principal of Marble Elementary School. Prior to that, he was principal of Leesville Road Elementary School in Wake County for one year and an assistant principal in Wake County for seven years.

Lowman also worked as a teacher in Wake County and Ohio and as a director of music and ministry at Saint Andrews Presbyterian Church in Raleigh. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Miami University in Ohio and a master’s degree in educational administration from the University of Dayton.

Symphony Percussion Visits "The Farm"

Three members of the Winston-Salem Symphony visited Kimmel Farm today as part of the education outreach program. They talked to fourth and fifth grade students, showing them instruments from snare drums, to vibraphones, to the marimba, and instruments as seemingly simple as the tambourine and triangle.

Students heard musical pieces played from a variety of genres and heard some pretty cool beats along the way. Thanks to our music teacher, Mr.York, for providing the photos of the event.

 

P. Gaye Weatherman retires

Kimmel Farm Elementary's inaugural principal, P. Gaye Weatherman, announced her retirement after a long and successful career in public education! She worked tirelessly with Kimmel Farm's initial core team months in advance of opening the school in the fall of 2009, and has been a progressive educator in partnering Kimmel Farm with CERTL (The Center for Excellence in Research, Teaching, and Learning). CERTL is part of Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Under her leadership, the school has been focused on teaching through Problem Based Learning Methodology (PBL), which is the same methodology used in Wake Forest University's and most medical schools. Weatherman released the following statement to the Kimmel Farm Elementary Community in a letter sent home with all students Friday, September 7, 2012.

Kimmel Farm Parents, Guardians, and Students,

Just over three years ago I helped open Kimmel Farm Elementary, serving as its first principal. There is a time and a season for all things and after a career of almost four decades in public education I am announcing my retirement effective today, Friday, September 7, 2012.

It has been rewarding and a privilege to serve as Kimmel Farm’s first principal and I wish well the faculty, staff and Kimmel Farm community as it moves forward. Effective Monday, September, 10, Kimmel Farm’s interim principal will be Mr. Frank Holcomb. Mr. Holcomb is retired and previously served as the principal of Rural Hall Elementary. He will serve Kimmel Farm well until a new principal is named. 

The search for a new principal is already under way and that person will be announced within the coming weeks. Thank-you for the opportunity to be part of opening a special school where students have the opportunity to learn deeply, become independent problem solvers, and teachers work hard to help prepare them for their futures.                         

Sincerely,

P. Gaye Weatherman

Principal, Kimmel Farm Elementary

Kimmel Farm gains attention at 2012 ASCD National Conference

Kimmel Farm Elementary had a strong presence at the 2012 ASCD conference, held this past weekend in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As the school's Technology Facilitator I have to say thank-you ASCD for a wonderful learning experience. Steven Anderson and I presented on the ongoing project we started at Kimmel Farm when it first opened as we talked about the need for a way to teach administrators, teachers, and students alike about the ethical and responsible use of social media. We approached that through school improvement and in collaboration with our district's school attorney, Allison Tomberlin, who graciously guided us on our way and in concert with existing school district policies.

ASCD is not a conference primarily concerned with technology, but has a history (since 1943) of helping with supervision and curriculum development. It just so happens that these two are merging more and more every day as we teach digital-age learners.

Our presentation was selected to be a featured presentation and was webcast all over the world this past Monday at 8 AM. It will be archived until September on the ASCD website for members. With hundreds of sessions to choose from over four days it was a real honor to be one of a handful of sessions to be chosen for the ASCD Virtual Conference.

Follow up articles on the ASCD website and in eSchool News were released today about our session. On April 11, WSFCS District Instructional Technologist Steven Anderson blogged about the experience on Edutopia.  Kimmel Farm truly is a wonderful place to be, and the faculty here is open-minded and progressive which makes teaching digital age learners - our students - truly a challenging but engaging experience. We all learn together - and that's what social media is all about! Logo from

Social Media - An Educator's Perspective (Produced for the ASCD 2012 National Conference) Philadelphia, PA

Our ASCD Presentation

Renzulli Fair 2012

On Thursday, February 16 Kimmel Farm hosted its first Renzulli Fair! The fair was a purely voluntary, self-directed project that students and classes got to share with friends, teachers, parents and the Kimmel Farm community and was completed by using the Renzulli Learning System, to which all our students and staff and even parents have access.
Renzulli Learning grew out of the University of Connecticut where providing a computer-generated profile of each student’s academic strengths, interests, learning styles, and preferred modes of expression. A search engine matches internet resources to the student’s profile by subject area, grade level, state standards, and degree of complexity. A management system called the Wizard Project Maker guides students in the application of knowledge to teacher or student selected assignments, independent research studies, or creative projects. Students can conduct a self-assessment of what they have learned.
At Kimmel Farm we believe every student is gifted and Renzulli Learning helps us identify student interests and learning styles and tailor instruction to meet each child where they can be excited about learning and successful.
Our Renzulli Fair allowed students to make video presentations, create art, create posters, perform the role of a famous person from history, and make displays about their self-chosen area of interest. At our February 16 PTA Meeting we highlighted the projects and the students who created them by allowing them a chance to share.
Take a look and see what wonderful things our students can do when they are engaged and using a learning platform that allows us to differentiate instruction like Renzulli Learning! Thanks to Mrs. Butler, one of our Renzulli Coodinators, for organizing this learning adventure.