SMS NEWS A Publication of Spring Mill Elementary

An International Baccalaureate Candidate School

Volume 17, Issue 7 March 2012

Dear Spring Mill families, 

What an honor it is to lead a school of very talented staff, highly involved parents and a fascinating group of students! Over the past few weeks as we’ve pulled our thoughts and plans together to prepare for the upcoming Authorization Visit from a team representing the International Baccalaureate Organization, I’ve had the opportunity to reflect on our growth over the past three years. Our team has worked very purposefully to provide students with interesting and thought‐provoking lessons within six IB units at each grade level. Take a look at our IB@SM board outside the cafeteria when you visit our school to get an idea of the work being done at every grade level. 

Thank you to all the parents who attended our General PTO Meeting last week to learn more about our work with the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme (PYP). We are working to create an informational  page to put on our website, that will give everyone the information we shared at this meeting. We talked about how international mindedness in the IB PYP refers to the Learner Profile. We want our students to be Knowledgeable, Risk‐Takers, Caring, Reflective, Principled, Communicators, Inquirers, Open‐minded, Thinkers and Balanced. We celebrate Learner Profile Stars every month at our convocation to acknowledge our students for demonstrating these traits. We want our students to talk about the Learner Profile at home. How do they see the traits in themselves? Do they see these traits in the characters they are reading about at bedtime? Have fun as you add these terms to your conversations at home!    

Take care, 

Subha Balagopal

You can print this newsletter in color by downloading it at http://sm.msdwt.k12.in.us/resource/new.html

Would you like to take a little peek into what happens at Spring Mill, without leaving the comfort of your home? Just travel online to http://sm.msdwt.k12.in.us/show.html to enjoy our video gallery. The videos were edited by our very own North Central students. Kudos to them!

 

March Calendar  See the last page of this newsletter for a calendar you can display on your refrigerator or bulletin board.  

नमःते -Namaste Bonjour Hola 您好。-Nín hǎo -Hallagay

Greetings from the Principal!

COMING SOON...

THE GREAT NORTH RUN!

Please sign up at http://www.wtsfoundation.org/ to par‐ticipate in the Great North Run at North Central High School. Saturday, March 10th.  

100 Spring Mill Representatives = $500 for Spring Mill! 

Do sign up! Thanks for your support!  

SPRING MILL’S AUCTION

The Good Vibrations Auction & Beach Party is being hosted at the Knights of Columbus. Join us for an eve‐ning of joy. An incredible array of donations is up on the auction block! Will you be there? 

Saturday, March 24th ‐ 6:30 p.m. 

Page 2 SMS NEWS

Kindergarten Round-Up

…FROM OUR TEAMS

KINDERGARTEN students are having a wonderful time inquir‐ing into the jobs that community helpers do! We visited the firefighters in the Survive Alive house downtown and learned how we can help ourselves and our families in a fire. We also ventured downtown to the IMCPL Library and learned about the job that a librarian does. Several of the classrooms have already had their visits from our neighborhood Domino’s pizza maker and the children all want to be pizza makers now! We enjoyed learning how to toss and throw pizza dough to achieve that nice pie shape! This IB unit wrapped up on Febru‐ary 24th when the children came to school dressed up as their favorite community helper! 

1st Grade Says...

2nd Grade Shares...

SECOND GRADERS are in MOTION, as we've been investigating Changes In Tools (our IB Unit is ‘Where We Are in Place and Time’). We spent a week in‐vestigating simple machines, so ask your child about the simple machines he/she experimented with! We inquired about the history of airplanes, launched our own airplanes and created personal timelines to show where we've been and what we've done! We'll investigate various biographies and inventions over the next few weeks. Stay tuned to read about our project for this unit! In math, we've moved from the land of addition to the land of subtraction, and we're subtracting two and three‐digit numbers with regrouping (borrowing anyone???). This is the hardest concept to grasp in 2nd grade, so do give your child extra practice at home! Don't forget about the those math facts ‐ know‐ing them helps SO much when adding and subtracting bigger numbers. 

This month FIRST GRADERS are beginning to learn the properties of matter and understand how to classify the different types of matter. This IB Unit: ‘Let's Get Dirty’, began with a wonderful presenta‐tion by performers at Butler University’s Clowes Me‐morial Hall. Students watched a musical called ‘The Magic School Bus Live! ‐ The Climate Challenge’, which introduced key terms when talking about matter such as solids, liquids, and gases. After view‐ing a powerful performance, students are eager get their hands dirty and begin their inquiries into our IB Unit on ‘How the World Works’.  

3rd Grade Inquires...

4th Grade Speaks...

Page 3 SMS NEWS …FROM OUR TEAMS

Thump! Clatter! Ping! These are a few of the words THIRD GRADERS have used to describe the noises they have heard during our inquiry into sound.  We have investigated different ways people use sound to communicate, and have explored the attributes that make every sound unique, including pitch and volume.  We have had a blast observing sound using tools such as tuning forks, kalimbas, tongue depressors, xylophones and minigutbuckets!  Mean‐while, in math, we have been thinking about perimeter, area and capacity.  We have looked for real world examples of quarts, gallons, pints and cups to put our new vocabulary to work.  Finally, as we continue to gear up for our big tests during the month of March, students have been busy at work learning how to find and develop answers to questions after reading a text, as well as using context clues to discover the meaning of unknown words. 

FOURTH GRADE’S trip to the Benjamin Harrison Home and the Indiana State Museum was tremen‐dously informative. Among other things, students got to sit in the Senate Chamber seats. We are concluding our current IB unit of study. The central idea is about how humans discover processes that shape the world. We continue to examine decimals, fractions, and measurement in mathematics.  It is important for stu‐dents to review math facts daily to improve with speed and accuracy of recall. Thanks to the parents who have helped throughout the year to make holi‐day parties such a success.  

5th Grade Declares...

FIFTH GRADERS have begun their new IB unit called, “Systems Contain Interdependent Parts.’  During this unit, we will be learning about how parts make up a system, how societies organize themselves, and how technology assists and mimics parts of a system.  Fifth graders have been "Jazzin’ it up" and preparing for the upcoming music program which is on March 29th at 6:30 p.m. Please make sure you have read the information from Mr. Brinkman about the upcoming program. Rehears‐als for the program will be held after school on Monday, March 5, 12, 19, and 26.  ISTEP+ testing begins next week. Please make sure your child is well rested, has a healthy breakfast, and is at school on time. Parents, please remember to return the 6th grade middle school course selection sheets as soon as possible if you have not done so already.  

Page 4 SMS NEWS

Tips From Our Math Specialist, Ms. Russell

It is important for students to master basic math facts once they have an understanding of the concept. A lack of fluency in basic math fact recall significantly hinders a child's future progress with problem‐solving, algebra and working on higher‐order math concepts. Parents can play a major role in helping their children practice and learn basic math facts.   The following websites are helpful for students. Enjoy!  www.mathfactcafe.com This site includes generators for math drills, flashcards, time, money and more.  www.honorpoint.com A great multiplication website. Students can choose the set of facts and practice those facts using the review, drills or test section of the site. 

A Reminder From the Bulldog Café

Purchasing milk only is considered an “ala carte” item and is 50 cents, regardless of the stu‐dents' lunch support status.  Money must be in the student’s account or your child must bring 50 cents from home to purchase milk.  We have had many students bringing lunch from home, or going on a field trip, and requesting milk only.  State law requires that a  student must take a complete lunch, consisting of an entree, milk, fruit and vegetable in order for it to be free or reduced.  Please keep this in mind when your child is going on a field trip. Thank you! 

The IB Action Cycle

The action cycle is the simple yet powerful tool used in the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program, to teach children how to take action. By going through the three steps of choosing, acting and then reflecting back upon the results of their choice, students are able to grow socially and personally, developing skills such as cooperation, problem solving, conflict resolution and criti‐cal thinking. This is an important part of a student’s participation in his or her own learning.  The action cycle helps develop life long learners.  

WHEN YOUR CHILD: 

Comes home and shares something learned at school, with you, a sibling or peer, 

Expresses concern about something and offers a suggestion to address the issue,  

Takes action to make a difference in the community or beyond, through service       learning, 

Reflects on the IB Learner Profile and connects with it while speaking, reading or         experiencing something… 

HE/SHE IS TAKING ACTION.  

SHARE YOUR STORIES WITH US. WE WOULD LOVE TO PUBLISH THEM IN OUR NEWSLETTER AND ON OUR WEBSITE TO DOCUMENT AND PROMOTE ACTION AT SPRING MILL. NO STUDENT NAMES WILL BE USED. THANK YOU! 

Fifth Graders Integrate Art and Social Studies Concepts

Fifth Graders at Spring Mill are studying the American Revolution as part of their ‘How We Organize Ourselves’ IB Unit. In the art room we are integrating concepts from the IB Art Scope and Sequence into the fifth grade social studies unit by   organizing our study of the 19th century into three stations.  

 

In Station One, students have chosen to explore how calligraphy was used in the rendering of important American documents like our Con‐stitution and the Declaration of Independence. Students begin by ex‐perimenting with calligraphy pens and water‐soluble ink and then   advance to goose quill pens of the type used in Thomas Jefferson’s day. Station One students will ultimately produce a calligraphic “statement of freedom” using their own literary voice and written in their own  calligraphic style. 

 

Station Two students have elected to develop basic 19th century American Scrimshaw designs as a family symbol or logo. These stu‐dents have assigned meanings to the images of indigenous Indiana animals in order to develop symbols for caring (a bear and cub), risk‐taking (a wolf), knowledge (an owl), etc., much in the same way our founding fathers designed the   eagle to represent our nation.  The eagle then became a major element in Colonial Scrimshaw design. These Station Two students will ultimately produce a round, clay medallion to wear on braided lanyard bearing the image of their family symbol rendered in carved scrimshaw.  

 

Station Three students are exploring the 19th century Pennsyl‐vania Dutch Hex (six) Design. The concept of the round, sym‐metrical symbol was brought to this country by Dutch, German and Flemish farmers during the early 19th century. The hex image is developed from simple, line drawings of plants and animals native to a particular region. Patterns from these images are rendered into circular motifs that represent the ‘Learner Profiles’ of a certain family line. Students may include in their design sym‐bols that represent open‐minded (a blossoming flower), communicator (a song bird) or a com‐pound leaf (balanced). In the old days hex designs were painted in a circular fashion on a large 

wooden board. The boards were then hung on barns so that passers‐by might realize which families lived there. 

 

When the Hessian soldiers came to America to fight beside us in our revolution, they recognized many of the barn symbols as representations of members of their very own families! Our students will finish their hex designs by painting them on clay medallions to wear as decorative jewelry that can be pinned to a shirt or sweater. 

 

All fifth grade students will finish this American Revolution unit in art by using the work they pro‐duced and integrating it into a collector’s trading card detailing facts about themselves in the role of a Colonial Colonist. 

 

P.S. Mrs. Schmitt, thanks for challenging our kids and growing a great group of artists. (Umm… do you like my calligraphy?)

Page 5 SMS NEWS

SMS NEWS Page 6

Invitations to Learn - 5th Grade Partners With IUPUI Contributed by Dr. Beth Berghoff & Dr. Cindy Borgmann (Professors at IUPUI)

Spring Mill teachers Mrs. Jill Hatcher (4th grade), Mr. Pat Staubach (5th grade), and Mrs. Nancy Schmitt (Art) volunteered to collaborate with IUPUI professors of Education, Dr. Beth Berghoff (literacy) and Dr. Cindy Borgmann (arts education) in an exploration of an innovative teaching strategy called Invitations.  

The university professors met with the teachers to plan and design Invitations to be embedded into the International Bacca‐laureate units of study about Changes in the Earth (4th grade) and the American Revolution (5th grade).  The Invitations were used in tandem with the classroom instruction of the teachers during January and early February.  The university professors were on hand to assess whether these instructional modules did result in active engagement and deeper learning on the part of the students.    

Invitations are like learning centers in that students work with partners or in small groups.  Each Invitation focuses on developing the students’ un‐derstanding of an important concept or standard related to the unit of study and provides 4 or more carefully chosen resources such as literature selections, nonfiction books, videos, and art works (i.e. paintings, photos, or music) to introduce students to new concepts and content. 

Each Invitation includes a task card that leads students through a small inquiry using the resources of the Invitation.  As the fourth and fifth graders engaged with the Invitations, they were challenged to read and answer questions as a way to build background knowledge and new vocabulary.  They wrote in journals or sketchbooks each day to capture what they were learning.  Then they consolidated this new knowledge by expressing it via an art medium such as water color paint, collage, etching paper, sculpting putty, electronic musical instruments, or video.  

During the six‐week units of study, students worked through two or three Invi‐tations of their choice, and they chose one of their projects to share with the class in a final learning exhibition.  The fourth graders shared paintings of Indiana rivers, musical compositions about rocks and erosion, collages, and 3‐D models of caves.  

The fifth grade class worked with art teacher, Mrs. Schmitt, to recreate the image of Washington Crossing the Delaware.  They dressed up as Revolutionary War Patriots and posed with their teacher, Mr. Staubach, standing in the center of the boat as George Washington.  They viewed themselves as Sons and Daughters of Liberty in a slide‐show created by Dr. Borgmann.   As the slides were projected, each student spoke to the class about what he or she learned and represented in the forms of etchings, stamps, sculptures, and vid‐

eos.   

All involved in this project, including the students, agreed that “seeing is believing.”  The Invitations were engaging and motivating to the students who appreciated oppor‐tunities to take ownership of their learning and to learn using creative forms of expres‐sion. The teachers noticed that the children learned the vocabulary and concepts of their units more readily.  And the university professors were so impressed by every‐one’s response that they are discussing the next set of Invitations. Spring Mill School is an exciting place to learn! 

More pictures of our students collaborating and learning during the exciting Invitations project are on the following page.  

Invitations to Learn - 5th Grade Partners With IUPUI Contributed by Dr. Beth Berghoff & Dr. Cindy Borgmann (Professors at IUPUI)

Page 7 SMS NEWS

THANK YOU Dr. Beth Berghoff, Dr. Cindy Borgmann,

Mr. Staubach, Mrs. Hatcher and Mrs. Schmitt!

SMS News Volume 18, Issue 6 1

So many amazing things happening this spring, and we are constantly reminded of how many people come together to make it all happen. It is a true pleasure to serve in leader-ship for a group of parents and teachers who are so willing to give of their time and energy for the good of this school. The process of slating for next year’s PTO leadership has begun. If you are interested in playing a bigger role, please let one of

us know. We would love to tell you more about the time commitment, expectations, and rewards that we receive from giving back in this way. As you have already heard, the Spring Mill Auction is this month, on Saturday the 24th at the Northside Knights of Co-lumbus. If you have not yet sent in your reservation, please do. It will be a fun filled night with many amazing items to bid on, with all proceeds going to the Spring Mill PTO. If you would like to make a contribution of an auction item for the event, or have a contact who you would like for us to contact, please touch base with one of our auction co-chairs, Libby Hunt libbyhunt3@gmail.com or Heather Anthony, Heather.Anthony@schneider-electric.com. And please remember to send in your RSVP to attend. We are looking for a few dedicated parents to serve on the MSDWT Parent Council, as the work on the council gears up for the School Board election in the fall. School Board election years are very exciting years to participate on Parent Council. There is one meeting per month at the Community Education Center. We need 10 committed delegates. If you are interested, please contact us.Be looking for information on other upcoming important events in the life of our Spring Mill community:Spring Carnival, International Night, a fundraising run, an IB authorization visit, Book Fair, Community Closet Food Drive, and more. It is a vibrant school community at Spring Mill. We thank you, and invite you to be a part of the fun!Sincerely, Erika Grueninger Ellen Rogers grueninger@sbcglobal.net erogers87@comcast.net

Send in your rSVP today!The Good Vibrations Auction & Beach Party is being hosted at the Knights of Columbus on Saturday, March 24, 2012 at 6:30 p.m. There is sure to be something for everyone! We have a lot of exciting donations for the event including dinner gift certificates, wine tasting events, golf outings, hot tub party and Disney World tickets just to name a few...Why not come enjoy the food and beverages while mingling with other SMS parents, staff and friends and support our school at the same time? If you have any connections with local businesses that you believe would be willing to make a donation for the auc-tion, or if you are interested in helping out, please reach out to Heather Anthony (findus@ameritech.net) or Libby Hunt (libbyhunt3@gmail.com).Be sure to send in your RSVP soon!!! Register early (by February 29th) and we will be drawing for a chance at two free admission tickets.We hope to see you there.

SMS News Volume 18, Issue 62

Will you Join the Birthday Book CluB on Friday, MarCh 16th?We are so proud of our Media Center and the number of books our teachers have to share with our learners! Thank you awesome Spring Mill Families, for getting books into our kids’ hands through the Book Fair and the BBC. It is an awesome legacy for you to give books imprinted with your name, for future students to enjoy and for teachers to use. Fifth grade families, in particular, as you prepare to move on to middle school, please note this opportunity. Students and Staff who participate have their names entered in the front of the books they choose to donate. Pictures of donors and their book(s) are placed on the wall outside the library as part of the Birthday Book Club for the rest of the school year. Anyone can join; students, parents, teachers, administrators, and friends of Spring Mill. If you would like to join the BBC, please complete the bottom half of this page, attach your payment and return with your student to school by Friday, March 16th. Make checks payable to SMS PTO. Thank you! BBC will be conducted in the Media Center Friday morning and in the Alternate Day Kindergarten on the next available day.Susan Simcox and Joanna Erekson, Co-chairs----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Name________________________________________Birthday______________________________________Teacher_______________________________________I will donate:__ a book for the Media Center and my classroom ($20 per child)__ a book for the Media Center ($15 per child)__ a book for my classroom ($5 per child)BBC use only:Media book title:__________________________________________________Classroom book title:_______________________________________________

Mark it on your calendars now! The next popcorn day will be March 9th!

SMS News Volume 18, Issue 6 3

on your Mark… Get Set… Get ready… For the Great north run!Great North Run March 10, 2012 9:00 am Races StartGather your friends, family & neighbors and join in the fun

of the morning! Run or Walk the 1 K, 5K, or 10K course and help support the Washington Township Foundation and our schools.For more information & to Register visit: www.wtsfoundation.org Registration Incentives! Elementary & Middle Schools 100 Registrants = $500 to your schoolAnd a chance to win a drawing for an additional $1,000High School 200 Registrants = $1,000 to your schoolFitness Fair – 1K Fun Run - 5K and 10K Run/Walk

Yearbook barking for the Yearbook Team – Christine Brown, Michelle Anderson, Kelly and Dan Witte. We know that you have been busy all year behind the cameras and computer screens. Thank you for all of your work!! We can’t wait to see the finished product!Room Parent Coordinators Kim Eshbaugh and Christina Dooley, we thank you from the bottom of our room party hearts! The Valentine’s Day parties were awesome. Thank you for a whole school year of great parties for our little bulldogs!Helping our Community barks for our Community Closet Chairs Amy Ramsey and Megan Herring. Thank you for helping us to care for the community. Another round of amazing offerings for After School Activi-ties! Barking loudly for Jenny Hundley. Thank you Jenny!Michelle Thoman and Sue Wynne, thank you for keeping our Bulldogs looking forward to popcorn days. They love it!Woof woof and a gift card howwwwwel for Erika Gru-eninger leading all of the SCRIP efforts. Buy gift cards from Erika to benefit the SM PTO.Thank you to all who donated blood in February. Be watch-ing for more dates to give.Big barks for Shannon Thompson and crew for steering a wonderful Kindergarten Registration Day!Barking loudly for Kathy McDaniel and Rosa Casas for all that you do every day.A big Bark for Mrs. Gouge! Thank you for helping Spring Mill students love to read and appreciate books.

3 bids and a bark for our Auction Co-Chairs Heather An-thony and Libby Hunt. You are SO appreciated!Shannon Thompson, thank you for your auction planning ex-perience, wisdom, and support. Woof woof.5th grade barking for everyone participating in 5th grade fund-raising….Ellie Burdick for the awesome bag fundraiser and Shane O’Brien, for makin’ it possible to dine at Applebee’s.Big barks to Mr. Campbell for volunteering to be our Emcee for the upcoming Auction, you will be awesome.Thanks to Mrs. Gentry for being a great cheerleader for the Auction with the SMS StaffThanks to Joanna Erekson, Jenny Hundley, Ellie Burdick and all the other volunteers who have helped in the office. Woof, Woof!!A big basket barkout to Shannon Thompson and Kendra Parker for all their work on getting our classroom baskets ready for the auction and to all those parents who donated items. Wait until you see these baskets they will be amaz-ing!!A GIGANTIC BARK OUT to all the Room Parent Captains and volunteers for all their exceptional party skills for the Valentine’s Day parties. The kids had a great time!A Huge Bark Out to Maggie Johnson for her willingness to help out in any situation.A Huge Bark Out to Christina Dooley. Thanks for being such a great co-coordinator.Thank you, thank you to the wonderful Library Volunteers for all their help in the library...Chris Morgenstern, Cindie Harp, Ryan Karim, Michelle Thoman, Barb Snow, Erika Cornett, Jasmin Illera, Beth Kelley, Ann Sternberg, Crista Pell, and Beth Newman.

SMS News Volume 18, Issue 64

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1 2 3

4 5 �ISTEP+ Testing

6 �ISTEP+ Testing 7 �ISTEP+ Testing 8 �ISTEP+ Testing 9 �ISTEP+ Testing 10

�Great North Run/

Walk - North Central

100 SM People = $500 for SM!

11

�1:00-2:30 - Art

Exhibition at North

Central High School

12 �ISTEP+ Testing 13�ISTEP+ Testing 14 �ISTEP+ Testing 15

�Newsletter Deadline

�Popcorn Day

�Birthday Book Club

16

�Schoolwide Celebra-

tion

�End of 3rd Grading

Period

17

18 19 �IREAD-3 Testing

for all 3rd Graders

20 �IREAD-3 Testing

for all 3rd Graders

21 �IREAD-3 Testing

for all 3rd Graders

�4:30-6:30 - WT

Advisory Council at

Nora Elementary

22

�3rd Qtr. Academic Rec-

ognitions: 8:30-9:00 - 5th;

9:05-9:35 - 3rd; 9:50-

10:20 - Kindergarten

23

�3rd Qtr. Academic Rec-

ognitions: 8:30-9:00 - 2nd;

9:05-9:35 - 4th ; 9:40-

10:10 - 1st

24

�Spring Mill Auction

- 6:30 p.m. - at the

Northside Knights of

Columbus

25 26 27 28 29

�5th Grade Musical -

6:30 p.m.

30 �Convocation -

9:15 a.m. - IB

Learner Profile

‘Principled’; �5th

Grade Games - 1:30

31

�Spring Recess -

April 2nd - 6th

NO SCHOOL

March 2012 Spring Mill Elementary

8250 Spring Mill Road

Indianapolis, IN 46260

(317) 259-5462

http://sm.msdwt.k12.in.us/

Kindergarten Registration is open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Please tell your friends and

neighbors who have kindergarten age students.