Robinson Elementary Dedicates New Facilities Tonight

Student art show features best of Kirkwood.

Kirkwood Elementary Schools See New Teachers

Two new faces join Kirkwood elementary school teaching staffs. One starts at Robinson Elementary School and the other at Keysor Elementary School.

Kirkwood schools announced two new hires this week. Lindsey Rosser has been hired as a Kindergarten teacher at Keysor Elementary School and Patrick Shelton has been hired as a member of the Special School District team at Robinson Elementary School.  Rosser moves to her position after serving as a teaching assistant last year at Keysor. At her former post, she worked in multiple grade levels, including kindergarten, according to Keysor Elementary School Facebook. "We're thrilled to have her on board as a full-time teacher!" the school wrote on its Facebook wall. Shelton will be supporting students in fourth and fifth grades as part of the Robinson Special School District Team. He moves to the position after serving at Nipher Middle School…

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Teacher Home Visits Ease Transition to Kindergarten

Robinson kindergarten teachers visit every every student before the start of school to build connections and reduce nerves.

Kindergarten teachers at Robinson Elementary School have spent the past month visiting students who will enter their classrooms in August. Armed only with Candy Land and a bag of animal crackers, the teachers build connections with students before the start of school to ease with the transition to kindergarten. The visits started last year and have met with success. "It is by far the best thing we have done to make connections with kids before school starts," Robinson Elementary School Principal Jennifer Sisul said. The visits are not meant to screen or intimidate students, or serve as an orientation, according to Sisul. "The purpose is to meet a nervous little kid, on his or her own turf," Sisul said. Parents and students shared positive …

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Medical Bus to Help Students in Meacham Prepare for School

A mobile health clinic will visit Kirkwood's Meacham Park neighborhood at the end of the month to ensure student medical records are up-to-date.

Twenty-five elementary school students in Kirkwood's Meacham Park neighborhood need medical services before starting Robinson Elementary School. The Kirkwood Human Rights Commission has found a creative way to offer assistance. On July 30 and 31, a 40-foot bus from BJC HealthCare will visit Meacham, so parents can take their kids for checkups, physicals and exams. "What we want to do is to provide (students) what they need to register," said Darnel Frost, chairman of the Human Rights Commission. "We feel if we get the bus in there, kids get access to the things they need and maybe we can even provide some supplies while they get their eye checkups or what have you." Frost said when these students start Robinson Elementary School, they will…

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Demolition, Construction Begin at Kirkwood Schools

New construction and renovations are result of a $33 million bond issue voters passed in November.

Improvements and building projects approved by voters last fall are under way at several  Kirkwood schools. Demolition of the north wing of Keysor Elementary began Wednesday as workers make way for new classrooms to accommodate all of the school’s kindergarteners. Other improvements, including a new gym, an expanded and remodeled cafeteria, and a new entrance and office area, are to follow. At Robinson and North Glendale elementary schools, similar updates have begun. The improvements are intended to make it so all students can attend kindergarten in their home attendance areas by the fall of 2012. In past years, North Glendale, Robinson and Keysor did not have the capacity to serve all of their kindergarten students. Some had to go to …

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Whiz Kid

Teen's Writerly Life Launched With First Novel

This week, we introduces you to Alex Bess, a Kirkwood High School freshman who has published her first novel.

A Kirkwood teenager is getting a head start on  her career as a novelist — she's already gotten her first book published.  Alex Bess, 15, turned an eighth-grade class project into a professionally published book called The Scrapper. It’s the story of a young noble girl who would rather be a sword-wielding knight than follow along with the rest of the girls on the path to a life of service to husband and children. The idea behind the medieval adventure came to Bess, now a freshman at Kirkwood High School, when she was entering eighth grade at Nipher Middle School. She used it as the basis for an independent study project in her Reach (gifted) class that year. The project had to have something to do with a future career the student might …

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