Students from North Elementary School lead board members and county officials through a “Walking Classroom” lesson on Martin Luther King Jr.

Susan Isner, a teacher at North Elementary, told board members the Walking Classroom lessons are used twice a week by students in fourth and fifth grades, adding the lessons also promote character building and exercise.

“The students absolutely love it,” Isner said. “The lessons are approximately 16 minutes in length and they contain character education and a health message.”

During Tuesday’s meeting, a group of students from North Elementary explained how to use the devices and took board members on a walk through the board office, showing them how to “walk, listen and learn.”

A group of students from Third Ward Elementary School lead Randolph County Board of Education members Rachel Anger and Melodee Price in a game of ‘Ping Pong.’ Third Ward teacher Dawn Kittle said the game is used as a mathematics activity.

“Sometimes you may think ‘Are the kids going to focus or are they going to be looking around and not paying attention,’ but if you ask them during the post discussion afterwards, they can remember details that maybe I missed,” she said. “It’s really great and they love it because it is simple — you walk, listen and learn.”

Also during their LSIC presentation, North Elementary’s principal, Cindy Bodkin, spoke about improvements made at the school and highlighted programs available to students — including Grandparents’ Day, Veteran’s Day, Running Club and tutoring from AmeriCorps volunteers.

“What you don’t see every day at our school are the failures, the sacrifice, the good habits, hard work and dedication,” Bodkin said. “That’s what I have at North — dedication from our students, our parents and especially our staff.”

Hollie Pritt, principal at Third Ward Elementary, offered a presentation on behalf of the school’s LSIC.

Pritt said Third Ward is a “school for the community,” noting the students have invited parents to after-school activities such as “Math Night,” collected donations for the Randolph County Humane Society, and have enjoyed lunch with their grandparents as part of “Grandparents’ Club.”

In addition, during the meeting, a group of students from Third Ward invited board members to interact with them through a mathematics activity to highlight one of the many unique activities students take part in at the school.

Dawn Kittle, fifth-grade teacher at Third Ward, said the game is called “Ping Pong,” explaining students go around a circle, counting consecutively from one.

“Ping Pong helps students with listing out their multiples and realizing that two numbers can be factors and have a product together,” she said. “For example, when it is a multiple of four, you say ping. … Or when you come to a multiple of five, you say pong.”

Harman School also offered a presentation to the board.

Harman Principal Laura Hawkins told board members she believes their school is outstanding because of the support of people in the community.

“The people are what makes Harman so great,” she said.

Hawkins highlighted many accomplishments made by students from Harman School including, but not limited to, athletics, Future Business Leaders of America, vocational agriculture and the production of a school play.

She also gave praise to a group of fourth-graders who raised $230 for the Randolph County Homeless Shelter.

“One afternoon in December, five fourth-graders came to me and said ‘Mrs. Hawkins, we want to do something for people that are less fortunate than us.’ … I said ‘Come up with a plan, make it local, and present it to me,'” she said. “They wanted to do something for the Randolph County Homeless Shelter.”

She went on to say the students made posters and raised money at a basketball game.

Furthermore, Hawkins emphasized students have visited and interacted with people in the community by visiting the Grant County Bank, Harman Volunteer Fire Department and Randolph County EMS. She added students, staff and community members are invited to participate in after-school activities including Zumba and kettlebell classes.

A number of upgrades have been made within the past year at Harman including installing HVAC, repairing bathrooms, upgrading eaves on the building’s exterior, installing an outdoor storage building, and installing a new score board and sound system in the gymnasium.