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Heritage School students demonstrate thinking maps and leadership to Snowline board
Summary
Heritage School students and teachers showed how "thinking maps" and recent leadership workshops are shaping writing and civic skills across grades K—8, with teachers reporting stronger sequencing, collaboration and student-led presentations.
Board President Hernandez opened the meeting and introduced Heritage School's student delegation, which included ASB leaders and teachers who presented classroom work showing the district's new thinking-maps instructional approach.
The Heritage principal, Debbie Arbazu, told the board the school's fourth annual spelling bee drew 24 participants from grades 1—8 and produced three school-level winners; one student advanced to the county spelling bee. Arbazu also highlighted ASB leadership training and the schoolwide rollout of thinking maps, a graphic-organization strategy teachers say helps students plan writing and analyze historical events.
ASB president Raymond Diaz summarized lessons from leadership conferences, saying students learned to persist, lift others'voices and use teamwork: "Collaboration leads to movements and success," he told the board. Fifth-grade teacher Hannah Belcher described using flow maps to connect the Revolutionary War to the Constitution and introduced a student who explained his project using the same map structure.
Kindergarten and early-primary teachers showed examples of how circle, bubble and tree maps help young students move from pictures to written ideas and said the maps improved both engagement and the quality of student writing. Second-grade teacher Nicole Penisak said maps supported partner discussions and helped students track character change in reading lessons.
The board praised the presentation. President Hernandez and several trustees said the display of student work made the district's instructional priorities tangible and thanked staff for carrying training into classroom practice. The Heritage group left the meeting after an on-stage birthday celebration and an appearance by the school mascot, Eddie.
The board did not take action on instructional policy during the presentation; trustees later approved a contract with Solution Tree to support districtwide Professional Learning Communities, an agreement referenced elsewhere in the meeting.
