LRSD News

Destination ImagiNation Teams from Carver Magnet Elementary and Booker Arts Magnet Elementary attended the Global Finals Competition. For 26 years, this competition, which this year was held in Knoxville, TN, includes over 1000 teams from more than twenty countries from around the world.

Destination ImagiNation is an activity that allows students to work as teams to build confidence while emphasizing creativity, problem solving, research, presentation and budgeting skills while developing solutions to challenging problems, which are presented at tournaments. This program allows students to learn more than just basic know-how, but also how to utilize their imagination to solve a problem. Some of the goals of this challenging, yet exciting, program include: fostering creativity and critical thinking which are applied to problem solving tools and methods, developing skills such as teamwork, collaboration, and leadership, applying and enhancing written and verbal communication skills and encouraging competence in, enthusiasm for and commitment to real-life problem solving.

Both schools placed at the competition. Carver's team, Cardinal Chaos, placed 13th, while Booker's team placed 46th out of 88 teams. Congratulations to the Carver Magnet and Booker Arts School Destination ImagiNation Teams for their hardwork and dedication! The Carver Fencing Team finished 50th out of 78 teams in the Verses Foiled Again! Challenge at the Global Finals.

Congratulations to Carver Magnet Elementary School for receiving several grants totaling over $45,000 from the 3M Corporation!  These grants will be used to support hands-on learning of science and math in the classroom. The grants from 3M were presented to third, fourth and fifth grade teachers and the math and science specialists. These new project grants included the following:
This is Planet Earth
Energize Me!
Temperature’s Rising!
Got it!
Fifth Grade Do the Math!
Mindstorms Robotics!
May the Force, Light and Sound be with you!
Up, Up, and Away
Do the Math
Weatherbug Station
Once again, congratulations to Carver Magnet for receiving these grants to aid in furthering education!

Fourth and fifth grade Carver Elementary students were recognized for their artwork at the Carver Art Show held at the Audubon Society. Fourth and fifth students were praised by Kitty Harvill and Darcy Pattison for their outstanding bird and mixed media artwork. Kitty Harvill, a professional wildlife artist, spoke to children on the importance of detail and color when creating artwork. Darcy Pattison, Arkansas Children’s Author, stressed the importance of reading and gave students a sneak peek at her current book which is not yet published.

A special thanks to the Audubon Society for their help in promoting the artwork of these students.

   Fifth grade Carver Elementary student, Madison Petty, was pleasantly surprised by her father, Navy Logistics Specialist Sean Petty, who recently returned from his deployment in the Persian Gulf.  Petty and his daughter’s fifth grade teacher, Ms. Rita Friend, had been planning this surprise for quite some time.  Madison Petty was speechless as her father, who she expected not to be back from deployment until May, walked into her classroom with flowers and balloons.

What's the difference between an athlete and a "M-ath"lete?

Athletes spend hours upon hours training their bodies to perform to the best of their ability at sports. "M-ath"letes spend hours upon hours training their brains to perform to the best of their ability at math!

Jason Crader at Carver Magnet Elementary created the “M-ath”letes Challenge five years ago for students in grades 3 through 5 as a fun way to practice as a team for the annual Arkansas Comprehensive Testing, Assessment and Accountability Program (ACTAAP) exam. The competition is open to all elementary schools in the Little Rock School District. Many schools also have created spinoff programs to help their students prepare for the math section of the ACTAAP. About 130 students participated this year in the official "M-ath"letes Challenge competition, but hundreds more competed in similar competitions at their own schools.

Students participate by working collaboratively to complete a 40-question exam in two 20-minute intervals during each round.

Twenty-six teams took part in the competition, which is composed of three rounds. In round one the field is narrowed down to 10 teams. Round two narrows it down even more to the top five, and then the champion is crowned in the third and final round, which is held at UALR.

Congratulations to the five teams who earned finalist standing in this year's "M-ath"letes competition:

Carver Magnet Elementary -- 40 points
Rockefeller Elementary -- 39 points
Fulbright Elementary Team 2 -- 38 points
Fulbright Elementary Team 1 -- 37 points
Forest Park Elementary -- 35 points