By Denny Morrison
This week the Xenia Preschool celebrated community helpers.
Police officers, firemen and nurses came to the building to speak with the children. Also, the Chinese acrobats performed last week engaging the students. The students wore costumes to school last Thursday and had a little parade through the classrooms. There were some beautiful princesses and some handsome super heroes marching through the halls. Amy Parker set up a sensory table with shelled corn that included Indian corn, cornstalks, little pumpkins and gourds. Several classes did a leaf hunt outside. And the artwork was wonderful.
Arrowood: The second-grade students enjoyed the presentation from the Dayton Philharmonic Volunteer Association. They learned the different instrument families and then all of the instruments in the family. The highlight was the performance by the “Arrowood Orchestra” when at least 20 second grade students were led by their conductor in a musical piece. The Cedarville University men’s basketball coach, Pat Estepp, and a few players visited the third, fourth and fifth graders last week. They read the story The Boy Who Cried Wolf, discussed the importance of the words we use and had a relay competition. Five names were drawn from the students who were on the A-B Honor Roll for a family pass to a home basketball game. The honor roll students will also be recognized at halftime of the game. Congratulations to Emma Bowen, Peyton Brooks, Jonathon Albert, Bryant Eyrich, and Tyler Killion for winning the drawing.
Cox: Last summer Carla Skaggs applied for a MAC Grant. She has learned that she was chosen to receive the grant to support science curriculum teaching the life cycles of different animals. She will receive the check Nov. 7. This grant will give the children hands-on experience with living things and how different animals have varying life cycles. Because of this grant, the students will be learning about a variety of insects and animals including caterpillars, praying mantises, ladybugs, beetles, frogs, and chickens by watching the metamorphosis of these creatures. Her kindergarten class will learn about each, watch them grow, and keep science journals to record notes.
McKinley: Thirty students rode in a limo and enjoyed a lunch from McDonald’s last week. These students earned this through the PTO fund-raiser. On Friday, staff and students dressed up as their favorite story book characters. Everyone enjoyed seeing all of the great costumes that people came up with. Last Wednesday, Brandi Pagett’s first graders had pajama day. They were able to do this as a reward for spelling out perfect attendance. The fifth grade students learned about the design process in science. They worked on constructing a straw bridge that needed to span a river that is 30 cm long. They were given just 50 straws and tape to create their model.
Shawnee: Shawnee’s Students of Character for the month of October were Kaleb Curtis, Carson Berry, Jaron Cukovecki, Ashlyn Caplinger, Ben Hayashi, Savannah May, Ma-Kiya Daniels, Matthew Williams, Eli Barnett, Camdyn McGrew, Mason Means, Brooklyn Berry, Ty Henry, Jiya Kaushal, Skiley Massey, Abby Entsminger, Edmund Wright Williams, Kaylee Chubner, Ryan Parks, Alaiya Meaux, and Anisia Madison. These students all demonstrated the character trait of kindness to their classmates and teachers this year.
Tecumseh: Last Tuesday Tecumseh had its fire safety presentation for grades K-2. The students even had the chance to explore the fire truck and medic units. The most exciting part for the students was a visit from Sparky and the fire department shooting water from the back of the engine.
Warner: Friday at Warner the students of IMPACT hosted a costume party that raised $276 to be used by the counseling office to make holiday baskets for families in their building. Detective Doug Sparks visited Dione Greenberg’s language arts classes today as students prepared to write their mystery novels for National Novel Writing Month. The classes have read the classic “Murder on the Orient Express” and one Sherlock Holmes story. They are now developing their own detectives and clues for the upcoming writing project.
XHS: Special thanks to the more than 300 parents who attended the Report Card Fair. Students and parents were able to speak with teachers about their teenager’s progress. They also had FAFSA help in preparation for college admission and financial aid. After-school tutoring in every subject is offered in the school library 2:25-4 p.m. each Monday through Thursday. ACT prep is also offered during these sessions. All juniors are encouraged to sign up for the ACT question of the day at act.org.
XTAR: XTAR had a fun-filled day of pumpkins and math. The students centered their day around nine stations where the kids were asked to complete several tasks. they learned about circumference, diameter, radius, how to convert pounds to ounces, made science predictions, worked on probability, did some estimating, plotting, made slime, and did some descriptive writing. T-Group continued its Survivor Unit by awarding the idol for last week’s challenge.
