Bulldog School Beat - Stow Munroe Falls City School District

Indian Trail Elementary Offers International Education Initiative
Through International Baccalaureate Program
By Julie Miller, Indian Trail IB-PYP Coordiator
Indian Trail Elementary is proud to be an International Baccalaureate (IB) Candidate World School.
The goal of being an IB school is to guide students to become global citizens by demonstrating how to be
knowledgeable, reflective thinkers that are principled and caring. Students and staff strive to be balanced and
open-minded communicators who are free to take risks and inquire about the world. It is the staff’s belief that
with these traits students will become better citizens regardless of where life’s journey may take them.
As a school community, these qualities are demonstrated through daily teaching and learning. Teams
of teachers plan trans-disciplinary units and lessons that keep these traits alive in everyday learning at Indian
Trail. Each grade level team plans together along with art, music and physical education teachers, as well as
with intervention specialists to provide engaging lessons which foster curiosity and connectivity to what IB references
as the learner profile.
“As a community of learners, we are constantly reflecting on how well we are accomplishing our task of
educating students for the 21st century,” said Mr. John Lacoste, Indian Trail principal. “It is a lofty goal, but one
that we believe is worth our time and effort.” For more information, visit www.ibo.org.
Fans cheer for the SMFHS Bulldogs football team during the game
against Kent. Students pictured are in the “Dawg Pound”.
Kimpton is Devoted to Student Success
By Jim Saxer, Kimpton Middle School Principal
Photo Credit: Kelly Petryszyn, Kent
State Univeristy photojournalism student.
Through research regarding best practices within middle schools, there are five key elements that
must be present in any middle school for it to be successful. The administration and staff will work diligently
to ensure these five key elements are at the foundation of teaching.
The first key element is staff working to develop trusting and respectful relationships with the students.
Nurturing these relationships provides the backbone for successful learning.
Secondly is attending to students’ social and emotional well-being. Research proves that creating a
sense of security for middle school students provides them with a support network and a connection to their
school, as well as removes significant barriers to learning.
The third key is utilizing teamwork. Schools must create a collaborative environment and organizational
structure that supports teamwork.
The fourth critical element in helping middle schools achieve success is the staff sharing and using
data from a variety of sources to make decisions. In successful middle schools data is frequently gathered,
analyzed and used when determining the impact of new programs, instructional practices and interventions.
The final key element is a shared mission and goals. Research shows when the staff and administration
build a vision of success and share goals, this leads to better communication, mutually agreed upon
expectations and more long-term success.
At Kimpton Middle School the team of leaders, administrators and staff will continue to utilize and
incorporate these five key elements. The ultimate goal for students is to provide a strong foundation of
academic rigor, opportunities to create positive relationships with staff and peers, as well as develop a better
understanding of who they are as a person.
Visit us at
www.smfschools.org
IN THIS ISSUE:
Page 2
Mission: Possible!
Student Athletes
Begin Leadership
Series
Ohio Ninth District
Court of Appeals
to Hear Cases at
SMFHS
Page 3
Who’s Using the
Internet
Third-Grade Students
Learn About Value of
Earned Income
Page 4
Indian Trail Offers
Education Programming
Through
International Baccalaureate
Program
Kimpton is Devoted
to Student Success
Bulldog School Beat
A Message from Karen Wright,
Board of Education President
On Tuesday, November 2 Stow-Munroe Falls City
Schools will have a renewal levy on the ballot, Issue #3. Since
this is not a new tax and does not bring any new money into
the district, its passage is vital to our district.
Passage of Issue #3 will allow the district to continue to receive
approximately $4.6 million per year. Its failure will result
in a $4.6 million deficit that will have to be balanced with further reductions.
The outcome of Issue #3 will not impact the elimination of high school busing
or the recent increase in pay to participate fees. Because this renewal levy
will not generate any additional revenue for the District, we do not have the option
of modifying the current status of busing or activity fees regardless of the voting
results in November.
Remember to vote!
Student Council Plans Upcoming Homecoming Events
By Shane Conwell, H/PE Teacher and Student Council Advisor
Homecoming Powder
Puff Game: Come witness
the freshmen girls take on the
sophomore girls Thursday,
October 7 at 5 p.m. The junior
girls will challenge the senior
girls at 6 p.m. Help “Unmask
the Cure!” All donations will go
to Breast Cancer Awareness.
Homecoming Parade:
On Friday, October 8 at 5
p.m. watch the Masqueradethemed
parade including students,
community members,
advisors, teachers, administrators
and many more led by
this year’s Grand Marshall Val
and Fred Bonacci! Last year’s
October 2010
SMFHS students (l-r) Jenna Chilinski, Annette
Fetter, Erin Wright and Kendall Lang take a break
from last year’s homecoming festivities to pose
for the camera.
homecoming queen, Rainy Boucher, will attend along with this year’s homecoming
court!
Homecoming Festival: Children, family and friends are invited for an
evening of games, inflatables, music, and fun Friday, October 8 at 5 p.m.!
Homecoming Game: Come witness the Stow Bulldogs football team as
they “Unmask the Enemy” during the homecoming game Friday, October 8 at
7:30 p.m. against the Lakewood Rangers. Support the team and buy a homecoming
t-shirt!
Homecoming Dance: High school students will be able to “Unmask this
Moment” at this year’s Masquerade-themed Homecoming dance on Saturday,
October 9 at 8 p.m.
For more information, call 330.688.5300, ext. 7871 or email st_conwell@
smfcsd.org.
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An incognito Mrs. Obraza
presents Million Minute
Reading Mission to students
at Fishcreek.
Mission: Possible!
By Julie Obraza, Fishcreek Elementary Principal
Student Athletes Begin Leadership Series
By Jacquie Mazziotta, Bulldog School Beat Editor
Students who are sports team captains were recently
invited to attend a leadership series, which is focused
on building leadership skills during competition and
practice, both on the field or court, as well as in everyday
life.
“We have challenged students to get involved in
community service while they develop good leadership
qualities, learn the responsibility of being a leader and
lead their peers in school spirit,” said Cyle Feldman,
SMFHS athletic director.
More than 50 students made a commitment to
serve as a positive role for their teams and fellow students.
The group will continue to meet monthly throughout
the month of May.
This year, Fishcreek students were presented with an important mission –
read a total of one million minutes by the end of the school year!
An all-school assembly was held to introduce the initiative. A ‘top secret video’
of Mrs. Obraza presenting the mission was shown to hundreds of students while
school staff members, decked out in black attire and sunglasses, eagerly awaited
their response.
Using an Elmo document camera, Mrs. Pat Close read portions “How Much
Is A Million” by David M. Schwartz, and encouraged students to accept the monumental
challenge. Soon after during a telephone call broadcast live to the students,
Mrs. Obraza asked the students whether they had accepted the mission.
The students’ response? A resounding ‘YES!’
Students have been recording the number of minutes read at home each day
on small calendars. Teachers and parent volunteers will be totaling these minutes
for classrooms each month, displaying the results in visual and numerical
formats throughout the school. Classes have the opportunity to earn the distinction
“Monthly Millionaires” while awards will be given to students each month in
recognition of their efforts.
Plans for an all-school reward for reaching this goal are in the works! The
staff is confident the students will be successful in their mission! Keep reading,
Fishcreek!
Ohio Ninth District Court of Appeals to Hear Cases at SMFHS
By Trina Poole, SMFHS Social Studies Teacher
On Wednesday October 20, the Ohio Ninth District Court of Appeals will hear two cases at Stow-Munroe
Falls High School as part of their Courtroom in the Classroom Program. Government, National Honor Students
and speech and debate classes are invited to attend.
Oral arguments will be presented for two 30-minute cases followed by a 10-15 minute question and
answer session for students, who will have the opportuity to address the justices or attorneys. Cases being
presented are State v. Gwen (domestic violence and illegal use or possession of drug paraphernalia) and State
v. Meredith (eight felonies, four misdemeanors and violations of community control). Both sessions will be held
in the auditorium.
Students will be prepped prior to the hearings. This provides a chance for teachers and students to witness
actual court cases and view the appellate process in progress. It is also a chance for students to meet
and interact with lawyers and judges.
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Athletic Director Cyle Feldman and Gina Bonfiglio,
captain of the SMFHS field hockey and lacrosse
teams and National Honor Society member
brainstorm volunteer opportunities available
to students.
3
Who’s Using the Internet
By Jessica Luczywo, SMFHS Journalism Student and Guest Correspondent
This past summer, I had the opportunity to participate in Ohio University’s (OU) Scripps
High School Journalism Workshop. Thirty-seven students lived in dorms on campus, ate in
the dining halls and attended lectures for three days.
Students chose from eight lectures to participate in, including “From Newsroom to Web,”
“Photojournalism,” “Covering Sports Stories,” and more. The lectures, given by OU professors,
were aimed at broadening the journalistic knowledge of students.
The largest focus in the workshop was the relevance and proper use of the Internet in the
changing face of journalism. Students were broken into groups and participated in a Converged Newsroom where the
group produced a separate piece for a newspaper and for the Internet, along with photos and videos for their assigned
topic. The objective was to help the students realize the necessity of being able to incorporate all aspects of journalism
into two different media.
“Knowing how to write a story that will reach an on¬line audience seems to be the most important skill in the
future of journalism,” explained Will Taper, a broadcast journalism major at OU and advisor for the Workshop.
Reaching an audience online is important not only in communication, but also in education. Several teachers
at Stow-Munroe Falls High School (SMFHS) have integrated social networking sites to increase participation and aid
teaching.
AP Government and AP Economics teacher John Moyer uses the Web site Edmodo.com in order to increase
communication and easily share information with SMFHS students. According to its site, Edmodo is a free program that
“provides teachers and students with a secure and easy way to post classroom materials, share links and videos, and
access homework, grades and school notices.”
“I think Edmodo is helpful because if I forget what my homework assignment is, or if I have a question after
class, I can easily message my teacher from home,” SMFHS senior Jack Veatch said.
Mark Treen, SMFHS science teacher, encourages his students to follow him on Twitter at Stowscience in order
to receive links to helpful Web sites and reminders to do homework.
“(Using Twitter) teaches responsible social networking to students, and because it’s connected to cell phones it
is the easiest way to communicate,” said Treen, who began using the site to post homework assignments after hearing
of other teachers nationwide using it for education.
According to a recent poll of 200 SMFHS students representing various grade levels, about 59 percent of students
receive news on Facebook or Twitter.
In order to integrate a new method of media to their communications program, the SMFHS newspaper The Stohion
aspires to launch a Web site to compliment monthly production of the publication.
“(Convergence journalists) need to be good at everything—future employers (will) ask, ‘can this person write,
take pictures and do multimedia?’” said Dr. Aimee Edmonson, OU professor.
By having both an online and hard copy of a newspaper, students will be more prepared for college journalism.
Third Graders Learn About Value of Earned Income
By Jamie DeLorenzo and Cara Morelos, Echo Hills Third-Grade Team Teachers
Third-grade students have delved into studying economics
in social studies class at Echo Hills. Children are learning
about buying, selling, making goods and services and talking
about money and its value in the economy. Some classes will
experience what it’s like to make and spend money in their classroom
stores.
While students earn money for positive work and behavior,
they may also have to spend their funds when work is not complete
or poor behavior is exhibited. Students are then rewarded for
their earnings through purchasing items in the classroom store,
which is open biweekly and runs on parent, teacher donations.
The concept is to mimic real-life budgeting. For example, parents
may receive a paycheck every other week and determine spending
based on a bi-weekly schedule.
Other classes are producing goods, along with learning
about the division of labor. Children are challenged to think of
how they act as a consumer in their community by deciding which
goods and services for which they choose to spend money.
Note: actual momey earned has no face value and cannot
be used for purchases outside of the classroom.
Above are Echo Hills students (l-r) McKenzie
Klingensmith, Skylar Cole, Ethan Hearty, Dante
Casamento and Zacrie Gandee eagerly choosing
their purchases during a visit to the class store.
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