Coventry Middle School spotlight: hands-on projects, citizen science and a viral rainbow video

Coventry Middle School staff presented a broad spotlight to the Board of Education on Nov. 20 highlighting hands-on learning, a widely shared social post and community partnerships.

The chair noted a fall video of a rainbow over the middle school that "was shared 19,400 times" and drew more than 61,000 reactions and 5,500 comments, saying the viral post gave the school positive community visibility. Staff described a variety of classroom and extra‑curricular activities: themed welcome events, a student leadership ‘guiding stars’ program, hands-on fifth- and sixth-grade science lessons, and cross-grade collaborations with the music department.

Teachers described a pilot project that pairs a core-classroom teacher working with a small, multi-grade group of students with the choir director to use Boomwhackers and Chromebooks to teach musical patterns tied to math and literacy. The superintendent said the project ties directly into the district’s "journey of a common" curriculum and that the board would see the finished performance in a future meeting.

Staff also described a citizen-science initiative behind the school: trail cameras and six monitoring stations behind the building have captured coyotes and deer, and students are reporting observations to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to document local biodiversity.

The board commended the staff and parent volunteers for community engagement and student opportunities, and several trustees encouraged pursuing grant funding and partnerships to expand music and technology access.

The spotlight was presented as a progress update rather than an action item; the board invited staff to continue pursuing grants and partnerships to scale the work.