Graham Jaehnig/Daily Mining Gazette As the 2019-20 school year fast approaches, Hancock Public Schools is preparing facilities and programs for the students’ return.

HANCOCK — The new school year is rapidly approaching, and the school system is preparing for it, said Superintendent Stephen Patchin.

The school is in its fourth year of implementing a new math series, as well as the fifth year of implementing Number Talks and as a result, MSTEP scores have risen dramatically, said Patchin.

Number Talks are short, daily exercises of around 10 minutes, aimed at building number sense. Number sense is the ability to play with numbers, meaning students can visualize problem solving, perform calculations quickly, and are flexible in their mathematical strategy.

During a number talk, students are thinking, asking their peers questions, and explaining their own thinking, while the teacher records the thinking.

“Number Talks was brought to us by two teachers,” Patchin said, “Becky Garnell and Genevieve Nordmark, who learned about it at a conference in the Twin Cities.”

Also, students in grades K-5 receive additional instruction two to three times per week in reading and math, based on the individual student’s needs, Patchin said. WIN (What I need) Intervention Program and Math Intervention Program, each support students in general education in need of individualized instruction and small group suppor in reading, writing, and math, respectively. Students are selected based on multiple measures of assessment, which include:

• reading fluency screening

• teacher input

• benchmark assessment scores

• progress report and/or report card marks

• online reading or math assessments.

Students are then placed into small grade level groups and work intensively with 30-minute lessons a number of times per week. Sessions focus on the specific skills needed in each group, and at the end of each cycle (approximately 10 weeks), students are re-assessed, and and another group with its own needs then begins.

These are just two programs Patchin said are among Hancock Public Schools Points of Pride. This series will also look at other Points of Pride in the upcoming days.