PV Happenings 05.05.10.pdf - Perkiomen Valley School District

PV HappeningsWhat’s Happening in the Perkiomen Valley School District Wednesday, May 5, 2010Seventy Perkiomen Valley High School students and parentsparticipated in the annual cleanup this year. Students fromMrs. Paul’s and Mrs. Sweeney’s classes gathered trash andflood flotsam from the banks of the West Branch of the SkippackCreek below the village. This year’s treasures includedthe usual plastic bottles, aluminum cans, and paper as well aslawn furniture, lots of car parts, building materials, and someunidentified bones. All of the participants worked very hardand our “Skippy” is a better environment for their efforts.The students in Miss Walsh’s third-grade class at South ElementarySchool learned about electricity. As a culminatingactivity, the students used what they have learned to make“electricity houses” and working “flashlights”. Using a cardboardbox, the students wired the houses with working lightbulbs, doorbell buzzers, and fans, and turned them on withswitches that they have wired.Taking the Show on the Road!Students at Evergreen Elementary School recently received a visit from the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Mobile Agriculture Lab. Eachstudent was able to visit the mobile science lab for a 50-minute lesson. The experiments included Glue From Milk, Mighty Small Bean,Pigment Power, and Little Red Hen. The students were very excited to see the outcomes of their experiments and learn how everydaythings can affect their lives.

South Elementary School recently celebrated Earth Day!First-grade students learned about the importance of takingcare of our Earth which includes recycling. The first-grade studentsin Mrs. Woodrow’s class made “Recycled Robots” usingrecycled materials.Under the direction of Mrs. King Krown, the Perkiomen ValleyMiddle School West jazz band earned the top rating of“Superior” on Saturday, March 27, 2010 in their debut competitionin the Boyertown Jazz Festival. Sixth-grade bassist, KwekuAggrey, was awarded an outstanding soloist award for his soloin “Brick House” by the Commodores. Congratulations to allstudents for all of their hard work and determination!PVHS Wins SAN AwardPerkiomen Valley High School is the recipient ofthe 2010 Schuylkill Action Network Drinking WaterScholastic Award. This award recognizes schools, collegesand universities that protect drinking watersources through educational programs, class projects,or land management practices. Many schools in theSchuylkill River Watershed incorporate creative educationalprograms and curricula to promote awareness ofwater protection among students and the community.Over the past few years, approximately 500 freshmenin the in Mrs. Sweeney’s and Mrs. Paul’s Earth Scienceclasses have participated in stream clean ups, treeplantings, invasive plant removal, gardening, andother projects on campus, along the Perkiomen andSkippack creeks and in the communities of Trappe,Harleysville, Skippack, and Rahns. All of these activitiesand their participants contributed to the highschool’s success in winning this award.

Approximately 213 students from Evergreen ElementarySchool participated in a Variety Show, which was organized byHome and School parents. Students, under the direction of parentleaders, practiced for months to perfect their acts. A packedauditorium of families and friends enjoyed the show. Fifth gradestudents “autographed” each other’s shirts, as a remembranceof the night!Art Goes to School recently visited Evergreen ElementarySchool. Students viewed and talked about portraits by famousartists such as Frida Kahlo and Leonardo da Vinci. The Art Goesto School program visits all four elementary schools in thePerkiomen Valley School District.Schwenksville Elementary School Home & School Associationrecently held a Family Bingo Night. The Mardi Gras beadswere flying as the Bingo winners collected their prizes! Theevent was a huge success with 99 families in attendance andnearly 400 Bingo players all hoping for the chance to call outBINGO! Thank you to all of the families, local businesses, andcommunity members who gave donations for the raffle drawingswhich raised over $1,450.00 for our school and students.Thank you to all of the families who came out to play andspend a Friday evening with friends, and members of ourSchwenksville family! One of the prizes was “lunch with yourteacher” – pictured above are students having lunch at schoolwith the third-grade teachers.Perkiomen Valley High School students from the secondlevel of Fashion and Clothing Construction created a garmentfrom another piece of clothing. Students were told to pick oneto two articles of clothing that were either donated or purchasedat a local thrift shop. They submitted a sketch for approvaland were given a limited time to complete the “new”garment. Judges viewed their garments and scored them oncreativity, style, and “true” to their original design.

Shattered DreamsPerkiomen Valley High School students participatedin a day-long program called Shattered Dreamson Friday, April 23, 2010. This program is designed toleave a grave impact on students and encourage themto not drink and drive.Throughout the day, students viewed previously filmedscenes of a group of students who made the decision togo to a party, drink, and then drive the night of prom.In addition to this, students also watched several otherscenes, such as a group of students who decided to goto a local diner and then travel to Post Prom, opting outof going to the party. Things take a turn for the worsewhen the drunk driver swerves and hits a pedestrianand collides with the vehicle full of the kids traveling toPost Prom.Immediately following these previously filmed movies,students walked outside to witness the “crash”. Theywatched in silence as all responding teams rush to thescene (police, ambulance, firefighters, MedEvac,etc.). The team worked to rescue the victims trappedinside the vehicle.Following the crash scene, students returned to thegymnasium to view two intense scenes - the hospitaltrauma scene at The Hospital at the University of Pennsylvaniaand the arrest and imprisonment of the drunkdriver.Later in the day, students returned to the gymnasiumfor a funeral and memorial service for those studentswho were “killed” in the crash. During the service,family members and friends shared some caring wordsabout the loved ones they have lost.Students later witnessed the court sentencing of thedrunk driver (which reflects one year after the traumatizingcar crash) and heard from a guest speaker fromMADD (Mother’s Against Drunk Driving), who sharedher story that left her live completely changed.We hope that this day-long program will encouragestudents to make wise decisions not only on the nightof prom, but every time they get behind the wheel of acar.

Shoes for Charity!Students at Schwenksville Elementary School collected more than 3,500 shoes during the month of April and donated them tothe Shoes2Share organization, a non-profit organization that provides new and like-new shoes to those in need in multiple countriesthroughout the world, including the United States. The shoes were collected to help the organization with their OperationT.H.E.R.E (The Haiti Earthquake Relief Effort) program. A flyer was sent home to the all Schwenksville students and the drive wasunderway! In just one month, students and staff at Schwenksville Elementary had collected more than 3,500 shoes that will besent to Haiti and other international locations in need of support.Holocaust survivor Michael Herskovitz recently visited PerkiomenValley High School to visit with 10th grade studentsin conjunction with their study of the novel, Night, by Elie Wiesel.Mr. Herskovitz presented to a group of about 300 studentsfrom Ms. Eskin and Ms. Paulus’ 10 th grade English classes, aswell as Mrs. Wright’s German classes. After the presentationand question and answer session, Mr. Herskovitz met personallywith a smaller group of students.The Perkiomen Valley Middle School East Student Councilsold raffle tickets, generously donated by the Minardi Family,to the May 8 th Phillies game to raise funds for the Make-A-WishFoundation. The winning student is pictured with one of East’sStudent Council Advisors, Mr. Sterenczak. The students andstaff raised over $500 toward this worthwhile charity.Congratulations!

Freshmen students at Perkiomen Valley High School havebeen participating in the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail,and Snow Network, an online precipitation recording group ofcitizen scientists sponsored by NOAA. Nation wide the networkcollects data on rain, local flooding events, snow, and hailwhich is posted for use by agricultural, industrial, transportation,and weather forecasting industries. The students are collectingreal scientific data which is used by working scientistsand engineers to improve their response to events caused byprecipitation.Teachers and staff members at Perkiomen Valley MiddleSchool East volunteered their time on “Take Your Child toWork Day” to show some of the children of our staff memberswhat a great place East would be to work and learn. StudentCouncil members escorted the children around the building andhelped with planned activities. “Take Your Child to Work Day”coincided with Crazy Hair/Hat day. Some of the visiting childrenand Student Council members were getting ready for a fun timein the gym under the direction of Mrs. Tall.Community Club Awards!Two fifth-grade students at South Elementary School werehonored as “Outstanding Citizens” for the second marking period.Mrs. Mason, a representative from the Collegeville CommunityClub, presented the students with a certificate and agift card for the Trappe Book Center.Two fifth-grader students at Evergreen Elementary Schoolrecently received the Collegeville Community Club Award, honoringOutstanding Students. Mrs. Mason presented them with aplaque and a gift certificate to the Trappe Book Center.To submit photos for inclusion in PV Happenings, please sendyour information to Michelle Brown, School and CommunityRelations Coordinator, at mbrown@pvsd.org.