District Fo-December 2013

Inside this issue:

Teach Like a Champion 2

Pupil Personnel Perspective 3

WMS Pupil of the Month 3

Willowick Middle School Receives

Grant

4

Positive Behavior Supports 4

WMS Denotes to Cerebral Palsy 5

Edison Learning Lab 6

Longfellow Celebrates Heritage Days 6

Crystal Apple Awards 7

Country Lights 7

North Dodgeball Tournament 8

North Alumni Speaker Series 8

Grant Highlights 9

Grant Carnival 10

Nursing Program Thriving 11

Willowick MS CSI 101 12

YMCA Childcare 13

PARCC Field Test 14-5

Royalview 15

Dear Staff Members,

On behalf of the Board of Education and Administra-

tion, I would like to take this opportunity to wish each

and every one of you a happy holiday season.

Several of our staff members have experienced life

changes this past year; weddings, births, graduations,

and new homes are among the celebrations. Others

have faced illness and loss and look forward to further

healing.

May your family traditions bring you peace this season.

May your new blessings and rituals bring you new joy.

As the New Year approaches, please take a moment to

contemplate the gifts in our district. Because of the

dedication and talent of our staff members, this is a

wonderful place to be. 2014 promises us opportunities

for further success. I am truly fortunate and humbled by

your efforts to keep the focus on students. YOU ARE

MAKING A DIFFERENCE EVERY DAY!

I wish you a blessed and restful break with your family

and friends – this is truly the best time of the year!

Happy Holidays,

Steve Thompson

Superintendent

2

Human Resource Happenings By: Chuck Murphy

Teach Like a Champion Technique #15: Circulate:

As part of my on-going review of the book, Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov, today I am going to

highlight teaching technique #15: Circulate. I know that most of us would agree that it is important to

move about the room. However, like all Lemovs’ techniques, he teaches us not only how to integrate these

techniques into our routine thoughtfully and systematically, but he teaches us why they are important.

Circulating about the room must be done with purpose to help alleviate behavioral problems. In order for

this to be effective, he offers the following ideas:

Break the plane: Move beyond that imaginary line in the front of your room. It is important to do this

within the first five minutes of class and not only when there is a problem. This shows students that

you own the room, not them.

Full access required: Pay close attention to the layout of desks and chairs so you can easily move to

every spot in the room. This can be a challenge with the increase of technology and the size of our

classrooms.

Engage when you circulate: Proximity alone is not enough. It is important to work the room. This

can be done both verbally and nonverbally. This is an opportunity to help students with their work as

well as make those personal connections that are so important when building relationships. It is also

an opportunity to build your students’ confidence in their work with that individual feedback.

Move systematically: Variety is the spice of life and the same applies to moving about the room. Don’t

confuse systematically with predictable. You should make it your

business to circulate daily and trying to get to all students, but not

in the same way each time.

Position for power: As you know, never turn your back to the whole

class. So, when you are circulating, try to position yourself so that

you can quickly glance up at anyone in the room.

As with most of these strategies, it is not the strategy itself that is

unique, but the thoughtful and consistent application of the strategy

that makes the difference in the classroom.

3

Pupil Personnel Perspective of Positivity By: Eileen Bowers

E xciting things are happening at Willoughby Tech Center this year. Job Placement Coor-

dinator, Mrs. Linda Mather, along with the staff at Willoughby Tech, have been very busy placing students in community jobs. These opportunities provide our students with real world experiences

that help prepare them to be productive, functioning members of our society.

To date, there are 14 students working in positions throughout Kirtland, Mentor, Willoughby and

Willowick. Whereas most of these positions are paid positions, some of our students are engaged in

internships that are functioning to prepare them to move into a more permanent position.

Some of the establishments where our students are working are Kirtland Library and Just One More in Kirtland, Dollar General in Mentor, Amteco, Industrial Motors and Control, Best Truck Equip-

ment and The Wild Goose, all located in Willoughby. Additionally we have 6 students working at the

Normandy Party Center in Wickliffe.

WMS Celebrates "Students of the Quarter"

S tudent Council sponsored a "Student of

the Quarter" breakfast on the morning of

November 21st for 15 students (5 per grade) and a loved one or two. There were

fifty attendees enjoying a bagel, muffin, fruit and

juice breakfast and enjoying each other’s company

on this specific morning in the library. Principal

Larry Keller started the morning by congratulating

the students and their parents before co-moderators of Student Council, teacher Nikole

Godenswager and librarian Fiona Young, hosted a

very special morning for these 15 young ladies and

gentlemen.

In order to earn “Student of the Quarter” status,

students must have a 2.5 GPA or higher and ex-

hibit the following characteristics: Respect, Re-sponsibility, Compassion, Punctuality, Honesty,

Cooperation, Helpfulness, and Enthusiasm. Stu-

dents are nominated by their teachers.

4

Willowick Middle School Media Center

Receives Grant From Eastlake Wal-Mart

L ibrary/Media Specialist Jennifer Edmiston recently received a grant for $1500.00 from the

Eastlake Wal-Mart. Mrs. Edmiston was looking for a way to meet the needs of her students and staff by writing a grant that would allow her to add valuable materials to the Willowick Middle School Li-

brary. The grant money is being used to purchase high lexile books that are also age appropriate and

Playaways, an electronic listening device similar to an IPod, for Intervention Specialists to use with

their students. She is also adding a new DVD collection of movies that were once books.

Mrs. Edmiston stated that with the new Common Core standards focusing on reading both fiction and Non-fiction it was important to incorporate more up to date non-fiction into her collection with a focus

on biographies. The many changes to the physical environment and the availability of new reading

materials, including Nooks, have made a significant change in the number of books students are

checking out from the library. Since joining the Willowick Middle School staff three years ago she has

increased circulation by more than 120%.

Positive Behavior Supports

As a part of the Positive Behavior Supports initiative at WMS,

all three grades at Willoughby Middle School heard the powerful

and inspiring message of Reggie Dabbs. This is the second ap-pearance for Reggie at Willoughby Middle School in the past

three years. A product of the “mean streets” of Chicago, Reggie

overcame a childhood of rejection and hopelessness to deliver a

message of love and acceptance that inspires, amazes, empow-

ers, teaches and entertains, while providing students with hope

for the future! His musical interludes bring students to his positive message with the gift of music!

Reggie's quote, “You can never change your past,

but you can change your future,” resonates with

middle school students and his insistence that stu-dents become defenders of each other to eliminate

bullying in our schools is always well-received by

students and staff alike!

5

WMS Donates to The Cerebral Palsy Foundation The staff-student volleyball game on November 27th was

a huge success! 50% of the proceeds for this event went

to support Student Council and 50% of the proceeds went to The Cerebral Palsy Foundation.

A donation was made to The Cerebral Palsy Foundation

in the name of Tyler Spicuzza. His parents, Janice &

Chris, have been dedicated to raising money for United

Cerebral Palsy of Cleveland and were in attendance for this event along with Tyler’s siblings.

Royalview Elementary teachers supported the cause

wearing their Superman shirts in honor of Tyler for the

day as well. Tyler was a student at Royalview Elementary & touched the lives of many in that building.

6

Edison Learning Lab Teams Up with WMS Students

Edison Elementary School created the Edison Learning Lab for students in grades 3-5 who need some extra help with homework. From November 4 through April of 2014, peer tutors from Willoughby Middle School will be on-hand to help students in need of some extra homework assistance. This four-day-a-week program runs from 3:30-4:00pm under the direction of Mr. Dan Heising.

Longfellow Elementary fifth graders celebrated Heritage Day at school. Students researched their family heritage, created Power Point presentations on the native countries of their an-cestors and prepared food from family recipes around the world to celebrate their heritage, customs and traditions.

North High News Congratulations to Jared Stergar on breaking the school record in the 100 Back-stroke with a time of 57.7 seconds!

7

T hanks to the generosity of the Northeast Ohio Media Group (Plain Dealer) and sponsor Bryant and

Stratton College, the 2013 Crystal Apple Award is now open to nominations. Do you know a

Willoughby-Eastlake educator who supported and challenged you to be the best you could be? If so, please consider nominating that person for the Crystal Apple Award. If you are a student (or know a

student who would want to participate), age 13 or older, you may nominate a teacher by visiting:

nie.plaindealer.com/crystal-apple.html

Your nomination essay, 170-750 words, should explain why your nominee deserves this award. All entries

must include the educator's name, their subject/grade taught, the address of the school where the educator

currently teaches, your name, present grade, home address and phone number and can be mailed to:

You may also fax your entry to 216 999-4986.

Independent judges will select three outstanding educators from the nominations received-one each from the

following grade categories: K-5, 6-8, 9-12.

Recognition period deadlines are as follows: November 22nd, January 31st, February 28th, and March 28th.

The winning teachers will be honored at the Crystal Apple Awards Banquet in May, 2014.

The Northeast Ohio Media Group Crystal Apple Award

1801 Superior Avenue

Cleveland, OH 44114.

Country Lights TJ Elementary’s PTO would like to invite you to the

Lake Farm Parks on Friday, December 20th at

7:00pm for the Country Lights spectacular. Tickets are $8.00 per person (2 and under= free). Order

forms are available by calling Drew or Melissa Rosin

at 440-951-1991. Tickets are sold on a first come

first served basis and sell out quickly. DECEMBER

13TH IS THE DEADLINE to purchase tickets.

8

N orth High’s Junior Class Advisor and Special Education Secretary, Jeanette Grady, host-ed North’s first-ever Dodge Ball tournament to raise funds for the class of 2015’s prom.

Nine teams participated and paid $35 per team to play and with the help of concessions,

the class raised almost $450.00!

Teachers Eli Kovach, Erik Poje, Mike Lewis, Matt Powaski, & Amy Cvelbar, BTS Coordinator Dean-

na Elsing and guidance counselors Lindsay Lane & Jennifer Orlando were members of the teacher team called “Teacher, Teacher”. While teacher Kim Comella and Special Education Supervisor Vic-

toria Morley helped organize the tournament with announcing and filling in the bracket. Booster

members and Mr. George Grady refereed the event and parents of the junior class ran the conces-

sions.

N ew this year to North High School, under the leadership of Prin-

cipal Jen Chauby, is the “Alumni Speaker Series.” On November 4th, Derek Jones, a 2000 North High Graduate, spoke with current North

High students on the value of a high school education and owning

your own business.

*North is still looking for a few more speakers to complete their series. If you know of a North High graduate

who would be interested in contributing to this special series, please contact Jen Chauby at (440) 975-3692

or jen.chauby@weschools.org.

9

W e have had a busy year already

at Grant Elementary School! The year has gotten

off to a great start! We kicked off this year with an

addition to our school wide positive behavior sys-

tem (PBS). This year our theme is “Bucket Filling”.

This is based off the children’s book, Have You Filled a Bucket Today?, by Carol McCloud. The

students have been doing an awesome job filling

each other’s buckets! We fill buckets by doing

nice things for others, complimenting others or

helping others. After each class fills their class-room buckets with different colored pom-poms, we

put all of the pom-poms into a huge school buck-

et. When the school bucket is filled, we do a

school-wide incentive. So far this year, we had a

school-wide dance and an extra recess.

In addition to our “Bucket Filling”, we also

emphasize the importance of our REACH program.

With this program, we discuss the importance of

being Respectful, Engaged, Accountable, Coopera-

tive and Honest. At Grant Elementary, students REACH for the stars everyday by exhibiting these

positive character traits.

All students have been working hard to

complete their MAP (Measures of Annual Progress) testing. Students have been focusing and taking

their time to do the best they can on these im-

portant tests. Initial scores from these tests are

looking great and just proving how hard our stu-

dents are working. The students will take these

tests again in the winter and spring to show all the academic progress they have made throughout the

year.

Students have also been working on Com-

pass. This is an internet based computer program which is tailored to the needs of individual stu-

dents. Teachers can create assignments for stu-

dents or students can work on assignments of

their choice in most subject areas. The students

really seem to enjoy the interactive activities on

this program and can access this program from home, as well.

At Grant Elementary we are very proud of

our Bulldog Band, under the direction of Mrs. Lauren Audino. There are 52 members in the

band. They have all learned five notes just since

the start of October! They recently played solos for

each other in rehearsal. Last week, they finished

learning “Mary Had A little Lamb” and this week they are beginning to work on “Jingle Bells”. They

hope to have a few Christmas songs learned so

they can perform for the school at our school Sing-

A-Long before holiday break. Some of our band

students also participate in a program called Band

Karate. This is a neat program Mrs. Audino offers to the kids in the Bulldog Band. It is optional but

about 50% of the kids are currently working on

earning belts. They have to practice five songs at

home and then come play them for Mrs. Audino by themselves and during their lunch time in order to

earn a belt. We have one student, who is already a Red Belt, only two steps away from being a Black

Belt! Keep up the good work, Bulldog Band!

We have had some exciting visits from the

Willoughby fire department this year. The fire de-

partment visits all kindergarten through 4th grade

classrooms to discuss the importance of fire safe-ty. The students really enjoy these important vis-

its from our local heroes and learn a lot from

them, too.

10

I n addition to visits from our fire department, we had assemblies for all students from the Illuminating Company. These assemblies discussed the importance of conserving energy and using alternate sources of energy to help conserve natural resources. The students really enjoyed these entertaining assemblies and learned a lot from them, too. Thank you to the Illuminating Company for sponsoring these school-wide assemblies.

At Grant Elementary, we have a wonderful parent committee (PTC). The PTC does so many incredible things for our school and students. Some of these include activities like our Fall Fest and Dance a Thon. PTC also organized a special day at Patterson’s Farm for the students of Grant Elementary. They also organized and ran our school book fair. Profits from this book fair are used to purchase books and other items for the school. Coming up soon, our PTC will be hosting a Snowflake Shop for the students to do their holiday shopping. Finally, parents from our PTC volun-teer every other Thursday to make popcorn for the students. The students really look forward to all of these wonderful things our PTC does. Thank you, PTC!

The students, parents and teachers of Grant Elementary do many wonderful things throughout the school year. Please be sure to visit our website and sign up for our bi-weekly newsletters to stay current on all of the exciting things happening at our school. We are proud of everyone here at Grant Elementary School and are proud to be Grant Bulldogs.

Another year, another successful PTC carnival hosted by the parent group at Grant Ele-mentary. For five years, Grant has hosted this carnival to raise money for field trips and technology. A fun time was had by all.

11

Today’s modern nurse combines science and technology with people skills, problem solving techniques

and patient teaching to promote better health in today’s world. Nursing is one of the most respected pro-

fessions because nurses prevent disease, save lives and advocate good health for their patient and loved ones.

Willoughby-Eastlake School of Practical Nursing began an adult nursing program in the early 1960’s.

Since then the program has graduated thousands of successful nurses who impact our community in

many positive ways. Today we service approximately 75 adult students per year and have an outstanding

pass rate of 98% on the NCLEX-PN Exam, the licensure exam for practical nurses.

A student at Willoughby-Eastlake School of Practical Nursing Can Expect:

Expert Instruction

Modern Equipment

Smart Classrooms with Smart Technology

Computer Lab with nursing simulations

Financial Assistance Availability

A commitment to helping you be successful in the nursing profession

Willoughby-Eastlake School of Practical Nursing offers a unique program for the high school junior and

senior who is interested in a nursing profession. Although the curriculum can be demanding and intense,

a nursing education could mean the difference between a minimum-wage job and a career that pays well and has lots of opportunities. Having a nursing license also affords students an opportunity to enter col-

lege with credit toward a degree as a Registered Nurse.

Willoughby-Eastlake School of Practical Nursing is accredited by the following organizations:

The Ohio Board of Nursing

The Ohio Board of Education

The Ohio Board of Regents

Adult Practical Nursing Program

Under the direction of Instructional Leader Lori Klonowski the Nursing Program’s mission is to strive to prepare nursing students for a career in healthcare where the fo-

cus of learning

is compassion-

ate, quality care

12

Ms. Erin Ertter’s Forensic Science Class at South High

completing a genetics experiment where they attempted

to explain why it is necessary to type a victim’s blood when trying to determine if any of the blood found at

the crime scene belongs to a particular suspect.

Willowick Middle School students raised over a $1000.00 for

Willowick Middle School students raised over a $1000.00 for

Willowick Middle School students raised over a $1000.00 for Penny Wars with the money raised going to United Way.

Penny Wars with the money raised going to United Way.

Penny Wars with the money raised going to United Way.

13

A s a partner with the W-E schools, the West End YMCA has worked together with the superinten-

dent and elementary principals to accommodate parents needs while transitioning to a new latch-

key program.

A few key concerns are addressed as follow:

The Licensing process through the Ohio Department Job Family Services (ODJFS) is in progress. It is

largely up to the ODJFS as to when we will be licensed to operate. There will NEVER be a gap in child

care.

The schools will continue to run programs until we are operational. We must have a weekly roster of

children attending per the ODJFS.

In order to accommodate emergency needs, we will have a sign up option which requires the enrollment

paperwork and a $30 deposit, which will be used to pay for unexpected time in child care. A much more flexible fee schedule is ready for distribution.

The new program cannot charge to every 15 minutes as it does currently, but will charge to each hour.

The main reason is that the YMCA doesn’t feel it would be fair or prudent to hire staff for an hour or less

in order to maintain the supervision ratios. You may sign up weekly for your upcoming needs, or change

a schedule based on needs. We will have a computer on site and an administrator to help with this pro-

cess.

Parents will not be charged for scheduled days off, holidays, breaks etc. Credit for Snow Days will be giv-

en. Credit for sick days will depend on the circumstances.

Sibling discount is being discussed for next school year.

YMCA member discounts are also being discussed for next school year.

If parents feel the new fee schedule doesn’t accommodate their needs, please have them speak directly to

the Child Care Director, Pattie Ritt 440-946-1160 x 110

A Parent Handbook will be sent home and posted on line with all the specific details and requirements

per the ODJFS.

Parents will be notified by the YMCA through the schools with plenty of

time to enroll their child in the Y-School Age Child Care Program.

A Child Care Enrollment package will be sent home in December.

YMCA staff will be on site to answer questions closer to the date of li-

censing.

The YMCA is still hiring child care staff, if interested please contact

Pattie Ritt

YMCA Child Care

Before and After School Programs, Part 1

14

P ARCC Field Tests will be administered across several states in the spring of 2014 in grades 3-

11 in English Language Arts/Literacy and Mathematics. Several of our buildings have been

chosen to participate in the online tests. Participating buildings, grade levels and courses were

chosen randomly by the state; they were not chosen by the district and the district may not re-

quest changes. The purposes of the field tests are to:

examine the quality of test items so that PARCC can build assessment forms for the 2014-2015

school year;

test out assessment administration procedures; and

give schools and districts the opportunity to experience the administration of PARCC assess-

ments.

The opportunity to participate in the field tests is an important one because it provides a “dry run”

of the online testing program. Hopefully we can learn about areas that we need to address prior to

actual testing in order to make everything run as smoothly as possible. Results of field tests are

not reported back to the district.

Two components make up the PARCC assessments. The Performance-Based Assessments (PBA)

in English Language Arts/Literacy and the PBA in Mathematics will be administered anytime

between March 24 through April 11, 2014. The End-of-Year Assessment (EOY) in both ELA

and Mathematics will be administered at any time between May 5 through June 6, 2014.

Most students will take only one component in one content area which will help us manage testing

time. There is the possibility that students will be asked to take both the PBA and the EOY in one

content area, or they will be asked to take either PBA or EOY in one content area. No student will

participate in the entire PARCC assessment.

At this time, field tests are to be administered as follows:

SCHOOL GRADE/COURSE SUBJECT NUMBER OF CLASSES COMPONENT

Eastlake MS 6 M 2 PBA

Eastlake MS 7 M 2 PBA

Edison 3 ELA 2 PBA

Grant 4 M 2 PBA & EOY

NHS Integrated Math I M 4 EOY

NHS Integrated Math II M 4 PBA

NHS Integrated Math III M 3 PBA

RVES 4 M 2 EOY

RVES 5 ELA 2 EOY

SHS Integrated Math I M 4 PBA

SHS Integrated Math II M 4 EOY

SHS Integrated Math III M 4 EOY

Washington 5 M 2 PBA

WMS 6 M 2 EOY

WMS Algebra I M 2 PBA

WMS 6 M 2 EOY

WMS 8 ELA 2 PBA

PARCC Field Tests

15

In spring 2014, PARCC will also provide access to a practice test for any interested

schools. The PARCC Practice Test will include technology-enhanced items and will be de-

livered using the same technology platform that will be used for field testing, allowing stu-

dents and educators in all PARCC states to become more familiar with the types of items

that will appear on the PARCC assessments. For more information about PARCC Task Pro-

totypes and Sample Items, please visit

www.parcconline.org/samples/item-task-prototypes.

PARCC Field Tests Cont.

This newsletter was designed by Matt Muenzberg, Business Technology Class

Hungry for More

The excitement surrounding the release of a film based on a Young Adult novel, like The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is the perfect opportunity to introduce teens and tweens to a new series or to entice a reluctant reader. Students enjoy the films so much or are caught by the enthusiasm of their classmates that they become interested in the books. Your school libraries carry many of these books and others like them. Our school librarians are trained to help students find books that match students’ interests and abili-ties. Winter is a great time to curl up with book, and it could help chase away school vacation boredom and make for quiet holiday travel. Here is a list of some YA books that are in the film pipeline and in theaters (* indicates a series):

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

*Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

*Divergent by Veronica Roth

*The Hunger Games: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

*Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare

*Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

*The Maze Runner by Carl Deuker

*Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

16

Willoughby-Eastlake Association for the Gifted & Talented

(WEAGT) has expanding to become

WEAGT Academic Boosters for the entire W-E School District!

What is WEAGT Academic Boosters’ purpose? 1. To continue to support the Zenith program students, parents & teachers. 2. District wide expansion to recognize and reward student academic achievement, scholastic improvement, positive attitudes and extraordinary efforts of all students grades K through 12

th and to recognize, reward and assist all Willoughby-Eastlake staff members.

This means WEAGT will still be supporting the Zenith teachers and students through membership in OAGC (Ohio Association for Gifted Children), funding extra field trips, providing discretionary funds to the Zenith teachers for their classrooms needs, etc. We will also support competitions like middle school Power of the Pen, high school Academic Decathlon and more. Being new this year, we have many ideas on additional ways to support our W-E students academi-cally & encourage positive attitudes. A few ideas: A “Caught Being Good” program, holding prac-tice ACT testing, Level Up Award, Outstanding Achievement Award, teacher mini-grant program and student scholarships are just a few of the ideas discussed so far. We welcome your ideas and suggestions and need your help! With over 8,000 students in the district and 12 schools to cover, the size of this task seems extraordinary. With your help we can make this happen! Come to our meetings, share your ideas, become a member knowing your dues will help make our first year as a district wide Academic Boosters a success. WEAGT Academic Boosters meetings will be held in the Tech Center Auditorium Door #1. Meetings start at 7 p.m. on the 3

rd Tuesday of each month (except Feb & April 2014).

Remaining 2013: December 17 2014: January 21, February 11, March 18, April 22, May 20 Auction 2014 (Our Main Fund-Raising Event) – March 15, 2014 at Patrician Party Center Our athletically talented students have an Athletic Boosters, our musically talented students have a Band Boosters…it’s time our academically talented students have an Academic Boosters!

Check out our website www.weagtohio.org. Email: weag-tboard@weagtohio.org

Congratulations to North senior Lynsey

Englebrecht on scoring her 1,000 career point

in basketballs last week!