COMMENDATIONS - OCTOBER & NOVEMBER
Veterans Day:
· Many thanks to Mrs. Debbie Dawson, School Board Director, for attending and representing the PASD governing board.
· Many thanks to SSHA parent, Mrs. Beth Desjardins, who organized the parent helpers, who contacted parents for homemade treats, for decorating the reception area, for making coffee early in the morning for the Veterans, and for purchasing the 650 flags which were given to all who came to pay tribute and honor the Veterans. Mrs. Desjardins commends the following parents for their help: Aimee Berger, Lorraine Close, Tracy Costello, Renee Eisenhauer, Nissa Holmberg-Chmielewski, Kerriann Linko, Tina Miller, Kim Murphy, Jodi O’Neill, Linda Plummer, Marilyn Smith, Cindy Stevens, and Linda White.
· Many thanks to Mr. Tom Ramsey and Mrs. Nancy Cahill for videotaping the event for viewing on Phantom TV.
· Many thanks to our custodial staff, Mr. Mark Stopel and Mr. Mark Phillipanics, for setting up needed equipment outdoors and on the stage.
· Many thanks to Mr. Jim Wilson for leading the students in song.
· Many thanks to PAHS senior, Zach Langdon, for playing TAPS during the tribute.
· Many thanks to all the veterans who came to speak to the students in the classrooms. They included Mrs. Judith Stanish, Mrs. Fred Bieler, Mr.George Frazier, Mrs. Heidi Smithson, Mr. Lewis Cardella, Mr. Michael Fabian, Mrs. Walter Stevens, Mr. Andrew Chmielewski, Mr. John Loken, Mr. Norm Seldes, Mr. Tom Ryan, Mr. Rob Naef, Mr. Obed Adorno, Mrs. Jo Ellen Hippenstiel, Mr. Fred Register, Mr. Greg Burgess, Mr. Visnov, Mr. Rober Edney, Mr. Rick Plummer,Mr. Al Philo, Mr. Jim Bilash, Mr. Anthony bonnet, Mr. Richard McDonald,. Mr. Gerth, Mr. Tavani, Mr. Jason Raab
· Many thanks to Mrs.Greco and Mrs. Fatula for addressing the letters of invitation, for copying programs and flyers, for designing name tags, and for answering the questions asked by many.
· Many thanks to K-Kids officers, President Carlee Horgan; Vice President, Katie McErlean; Secretary , Chloe Outstrich; and Treasure, Marley Battista who escorted the veterans to and from the assembly, who led the student body in the Pledge of Allegiance.
· Many thanks to fifth grader Amelia Kirk for reading the poem Veteran by Lynne Carey.
· Many thanks to Warriors’ Watch, Friends of the Forgotten, and Rolling Thunder for starting off our tribute ceremony with a motorcade of cycles adorned with American and Military Branch flags. The cycles brought excitement, honor, and an overwhelming feeling of patriotism and appreciation for our veterans.
· Many thanks to Mr. Al Philo, member of the Friends of the Forgotten and retired PASD elementary instrumental music teacher, who organized the motorcade presented a POW flag to our school compliments of the Friends of the Forgotten. The flag is proudly on display off of Whitehorse Road.
· Many thanks to Mrs. Salava who was the Committee Chairperson for the event.
· Many thanks to Dr. Garritano for his executive decision to permit the parade of motorcycles adding excitement and honor to the tribute to our veterans.
Book Fair: Many thanks to Catherine Tweedie and Lorraine Close and their committee of parents who organized the Fall Book Fair held the week of October 14 - 17th. SSHA realized a net profit of $2,400.00.
Student of the Month: Selected by a committee for the month of October were Alexandra Battisti, first grader; Liam Chmielewski, second grader; Rhys Werny, third grader, Faith Mayfield, fourth grader; and Gabrielle Pizzica , fifth grader. :The students received framed certificates and their photos are on display in the Student of the Month display case.
T-Shirt Contest Winners: Each year a t-shirt design contest is held for a design based on the reading theme selected for the school year. This year our theme is Share the Treasure with Captain Book. The winning T-shirt design is used for the t-shirts purchased by SSHA for all the Schuylkill students to wear at field day.
The five finalists were: Amanda Henry, Abigail Green, Jack Thompson, Alec Beiswinger and Breanne Armour. The winning designer was Breanne Armour. Congrats to all the finalists and to Breanne.
Newsletters: Mrs. Gray’s fifth grade gifted students wrote the Gifted Newspaper for the month of October. The articles were very informative. Topics included cultures and facts about the Middle East and companies advertisement strategies. The fourth grade gifted students wrote the November newsletter which featured articles about the US presidents.
Mrs. Kornaga’s second grade class wrote their October News letter for their parents. Not only do they write the articles informing parents of what they are doing in second grade but they type it in the computer lab.
Pumpkin Day: Second graders were totally immersed with pumpkins on Friday, October 24th. The second grade team collaborated on activities so that students could enjoy tasting pumpkin seeds, pumpkin bread, pumpkin smoothies and pumpkin cookies. Math lesson focused estimating weight of pumpkins and the number of seeds found in the pumpkin. Students wrote pumpkin stories. Students decorated pumpkins making them into characters which became the stimulus for a writing prompt. Many thanks to all the parents who came to help.
Math Bee Plaque: Many thanks to Mr. Alex Stefanelli who donated a plaque for displaying the names of the first place Math Bee winners. Names of the first place winners from the 2007 and 2008 Math Bee have been engraved on the plaque which is on display in the lobby near the cafeteria. The plaque is a tribute to students who excel in math fluency.
K-Kids Elect Officers: Schuylkill K-Kids Club held their election last week for officers. The Results are as follows: President - Carlee Horgan, Vice President - Katie McErlean, Secretary - Chloe Oustrich, Treasurer - Marley Battista. The K-Kids is under the direction of Mrs. Kelly Walker, 5th grade Learning Support Teacher and Mrs. Charlesworth, Guidance counselor.
Helping Hands: Many thanks to Chartwells Food Service for donating pretzels to SSHA for the purpose of raising funds for the Helping Hands committee. The committee under the leadership of Mrs. McNamara and Mrs. Le Brun has been planning the food drive for Thanksgiving to help make local families in need have a happier holiday. The sale generated close to $200.00.
Science Assembly: Many thanks to Mr. Carl Flahaven for scheduling the Science Assembly held at Schuylkill Elementary on Friday, October 14. The reactions by the students spoke volumes about the caliber of the program.
Lessons Learned by the Presidential Election: Many teachers took advantage of the presidential election to help teach social studies by making real world connections to the current presidential race. The following are a list of activities that were conducted in various classrooms at various grades levels in the building.
First grade: Many first grade teachers took advantage of Presidential election and incorporated into their social studies unit on the voting process because it is part of the first grade social studies curriculum.
Mrs. Makos’ class held an election where the students got to vote for President. Many of them were able to go vote with their parents on Election Day and shared about their experiences on Wednesday. Her students watched parts of Barack Obama’s Victory Speech.
Mrs. Snaith had her students vote by secret ballot. She really emphasized the importance of the “secret ballot”. She created a mock voting booth partitioned off for privacy. Her students really learned about the American voting process. The results were John McCain – 15, Barack Obama – 5. Posters were made up illustrating the rules for voting.
Mrs. Nabozny’s class made voting posters illustrating the 5 rules for voting that they learned as part of their Social Studies Curriculum. The posters are on display in the hallway by the main office. Students then voted using teacher-created paper ballots which they in inserted into a teacher-crated ballot box. The results were 11 votes for Barack Obama and 8 votes for John McCain. Mrs. Nabozny even had 2 absentee voters. Many of my children went with their parents the next day to see the actual voting booth that was discussed in class. Mrs. Nabozny reported that students were happy to see that their choice for President was also our countries choice.
Third Grade:
Mrs. Magargal’s third graders became familiar with the two presidential candidates and their running mates through the A to Z books on line. They discussed the electoral college and located the number of votes per state. Students learned that Pennsylvania has 21 electoral votes. Their class voted for President and the results were 9 Mc Cain and 14 Obama which is very similar to the way the country voted.
Fifth Grade:
After studying the Election Process in Social Studies, 5th grade participated in a mock election on November 3rd. Students cast their votes using a computer as well as the traditional paper ballots. The lines outside the voting booth were long, but students waited patiently for their turn to perform their civic duty. Our Poll Watchers were selected to keep order in the hallway and assist voters. All 92 registered voters exercised their right to vote. The winning
Library: Mrs. Brodar, the librarian, had the entire school vote for their Favorite Author. She discussed how elections worked. Students campaigned for different authors by discussing what they liked or didn’t like about their books and writing style. Students voted by secret ballot. The results were:
1 – Eric Carle
2 – Mary Pope Osbourne
3 – Chris Van Allsburg
4 – Jerry Spinelli
5 – Sharon Creech
Monthly Reading Goal for September + October: The reading incentive program titled Share the Treasure with Captain Book got off to a great start. The results for the month of September are as follows. A total of 9,770 books were read by 510 out of our 579 students. Congratulations to the 88% of our student population who participated. Many thanks to Mrs. Heidi Smithson , Library aide, for creating the spreadsheet, collecting the data, tallying the results and sharing with all. Congratulations to Miss Parson’s fifth grade, Mrs. Chapman’s fifth grade, Mrs. Lamont/Mr. Labik fourth grade, Mrs. Kirk’s fourth grade, Mrs. Leman’s second grade and Miss Barnes second grade for 1005 participation. Special recognition to Miss DeMarco’s first graders who read over 1,005 books in September. Students read 13,110 books in October. We had 85% of our students participate.
“Un” Wanted Halloween Candy: Many thanks to all the families who donated “un”wanted Halloween candy to the People to People mission who feeds the homeless in Philadelphia. The project was coordinated by Mrs. Messere, retired Schuylkill School art teacher.
SSHA Teacher Liasons: Many thanks to the following teachers who volunteered to attend the SSHA meetings. Mrs. Janice Illig and Miss Kim Parsons attended in September. Mrs. Alex Nestler and Mrs. Marlene Valencia attended in October. Mrs. Flossie Chapman and Mrs. Paula Jennings attended in November. Taking time to attend is greatly appreciated.
Ancient Egypt: In preparation for their studies on ancient Egypt, the third grade classes constructed a timeline dating from ancient Egypt to the present time. Each of the six third grade classes ( Mrs. Hrynko, Miss McCall, Mr. Rios, Mrs. Young, Mrs. Shehan, Mrs. Magargal) constructed a 1,200 year portion of this massive timeline, noting significant events that occurred during their period. The classes met to assemble their efforts into one enormous timeline. The students were able to visualize the vast amount of time that has passed since the beginning of the first civilization in ancient Egypt until the present. Special thanks to Kristy Young for coordinating the event.
Second Grade Walking Field Trip In Phoenixville
In conjunction with the social studies unit on local history, Schuylkill School’s second grader visited the town of Phoenixville on Friday Nov. 7. The tour started at Barkley Elementary School. Students learned that when Barkley was built the area was rural and now it is suburban. Students walked along Gay Street and observed how the houses reflect the Queen’s architectural style in their decorative buildings. Other stops on the trip were the Colonial theater, the Mural, Nailer’s Row, the Heritage Center, the Sculptural Garden and Bridge, and the Historical Society. Our trip ended at Reeve’s Park where we saw the famous Griffen Cannon and enjoyed lunch. It was great to see all these places. Kudos to all the second grade teachers who collaboratively worked on this walking tour.
Miss Wheelchair USA: On Friday November 7, the fifth grade had an informative assembly on overcoming disabilities and becoming a writer. Phoenixville’s own Jessica McFarlane who is Ms. Wheelchair Pennsylvania spoke about her life. Jessica has Cerebral Palsy. She spoke about having a daughter, being a mom, graduating from college, becoming a teacher, and authoring a book. The students asked excellent questions and were amazed by Jessica’s accomplishments. Jessica is an inspiration to us all.