Chagrin Falls PTO

Drawing by Ariel Dreicer, Grade 12 Chagrin Falls High School.

The Board of Education report was presented by Mary Kay O’Toole.

• A big thank you to PTO for your $5,185.77 in donations for the months of February, March and April, 2010.
• Negotiations with the teachers’ union have been progressing and a tentative agreement has been reached.  The union will be voting on the agreement in the next few weeks.
• At our next Board Meeting we expect to approve a contract for Dr. Bill Koons to serve as our High School Principal.
• Screening of candidates for Assistant Principal is currently underway.
• It is the administrations intent to keep the number of minutes for the Advanced Placement Science courses to the same schedule we are currently using, that is one and one-half periods.
• Preliminary results indicate that our OGT test scores were very good this year.

The District Administrative report was presented by Chuck Murphy.

• Teacher Interviews

We have been very busy hiring a math teacher for the high school and middle school and a social studies teacher for the high school.  We are down to three candidates for the math job and 2 candidates for the social studies position.  There are many layers to this process before we decide on our recommendation to the Board.

• New Electives at the High School

The High School will be offering two new electives next year.  They will be offering digital photography and video broadcasting.

• PE Curriculum

The PE curriculum has been revised and approved by the Board this year.  We are offering many new exciting and cutting edge things in the curriculum.  We will be offering a course called GYM that will feature things like fitness folios, pre and post fitness assessment, goal setting, use of fitness software/Tri Fit, testing equipment, heart rate monitors, pedometers, the Wii, DDR, and Geo Motion mats just to name a few things.

Sculpture by Mike Fields, Chagrin Falls High School, Grade 12. Presented at the Spring Art Show.

District PTO Reports (Final Meeting of the Year)

PTO BOARD REPORTS

Comments from the President – Gwenn Klose

• Gwenn is currently filling Committee chair and school representative positions. If you or someone you know would like to get more involved in PTO through one of these positions, please contact Gwenn.
• Incoming/Outgoing Executive Committee members, please plan on attending a meeting Thurs June 3^rd at Gwenn’s house. This will be a chance to share any information with the Incoming Committee members and help them with their new positions. Outgoing committee members, please be sure to have your notebooks updated and organized to pass on to the new members at this important meeting.

Comments from Secretary – Kathryn Williams

• Thank you notes shared.

Comments and Treasurer’s Report – Jen Ganger

• Treasurer’s monthly financial report distributed and reviewed.

Comments from 1^st Vice President – Colleen Mahoney

• Welcoming: Maggie Mayes reports the following end of the year numbers for new students in the Chagrin Falls School District:

• • Here is the list of new student numbers by building:
  • Gurney Kindergarten:  ****Although there were approximately 140 new kindergarteners, only 60 of them came from homes where the parents were brand new to the district****
  • Gurney 1st- 3rd:  21
  • Intermediate School:  16
  • Middle School:  8
  • High School:  24

Please note: These are student numbers, not new families and these are approximate.  Some of the paperwork I received was missing information like grade level.  Also, because of the way the form is and the fact that parents may fill it out months in advance, sometimes parents mistakenly put the grade level which asks for “current grade” but they student comes to Chagrin starting in the next grade up!  It’s a little confusing, but the new welcoming chair will have all of last year’s data to look at and consider.

• Store Credits: Kelly Hendricks reports that Heinen’s has distributed checks to each of the school buildings for our Heinen’s Rewards Program.  We received a total of $7,876 ($2,711 from the High School, $991 from the Middle School, $1,840 from the Intermediate School and $2,334 from Gurney.)  The checks have been collected from building principals and turned over to Jen Ganger.  Heinen’s requires all district residents enrolling in the rewards program to designate a specific CF school.  The year- end checks are sent to each building and then collected for deposit into the PTO account. Next year, the checks should come directly to PTO.

• Website: Angie DeBernardo reports:  We are closing out the year with 57 “followers” for our RSS feed.  We average about 181 independent visits a month.  We’ve had over 200 items downloaded since the download tracker was installed. At least a select group of people are using the site regularly now.  I’d like to see it grow as an information source for parents in the next school year.  I think that only happens with time.  The site needs to consistently provide new information for people to use it.  This year, I did monthly updates using the reports from the schools to the PTO meetings as the main information on the site.  We could add in more posts about the “special events” that happen all year if the PTO leadership thinks that wouldn’t be interpreted by parents as “spam”.   I’d like to put up the welcoming rep info and school supply pack ordering info if people that move in over the summer might be able to utilize it.  Next year, the PTO should try the Evite system to advertise electronically if we are staying away from paper flyers and folders.  I have our email list of 440 members set up in 4 distribution lists.  I can set up the Evite system for next year if we have an event we’d like to try that way.I’m making up a summary sheet with all the info needed to run the website and instructions.  I’ll make it a new “folder” for the exchange.   I think we should consider making up access instruction sheet to some parts of the PTO web resources and putting it in the folders of some of the executive committee members.  That way, executive members could access email, Evite or post information on their own.I would like to transfer the account annual payment to the PTO somehow if we are sticking with our current setup.  Last year, I paid the site fee and was reimbursed  but that won’t work if the job gets handed off each year.  That’s all for 2010-2011.

• Calendar: Lori Newbauer will be calendar chair for the 2010/2011 school year calendar.

Comments from 2^nd Vice President – Gigi Kuper-Lewis

• Art Show went VERY well!  Art was beautifully displayed & the student work was wonderful!!   Thank you to Bridget Roush and her committee for a SUPERB job! (Editor’s note:  See work form the art show displayed here on the May Reports for the High School and the Middle School.)

• At the May 3^rd BOE meeting :

• • The H.S. P. E. teachers presented about the “New P.E.” program: more focus on fitness, activity, movement rather than games, sports, competition. Incorporating heart monitors,

T-Bows, tension bands, etc.    The Board recognized Edmund Leopold for his generous contribution to the “new P.E.” program.

• • Several staff members presented the district’s new RESPONSE TO INTERVENTION program.  It is a district wide program to initiate consistent assessments, providing students with needed intervention and a lot of follow up to see if the chosen interventions are working.

• • Mr. Charles Barch was introduced as the new athletic director.  He was previously the Athletic Director at Notre Dame College.

• At the May 15^th Board of Education meeting:

• • The Spanish teachers presented a class trip for 2010 – 2011.  It’s a trip to Spain.   It will be over Spring Break and the students will take classes while there and live with a Spanish family.

• • Mrs. Hamid presented a class trip for 2010 – 2011 to Egypt.  The students while stay in hotels.  It is also over Spring Break with a couple of days of school missed as well.

• • The baseball coach requested to continue to take his players on Spring break to play in Florida.

• • Ms. Malone presented a summer camp for the soccer team at West Virginia University.  It includes soccer camp and a white water rafting trip.  Mr. Thompson and Mrs. Penler do not think it is a good idea to school sanctioned white water rafting trip.

Comments from Financial Vice President –Laurie McCormack

• Financial Planning Committee - Ann Thomas has sent out letters to the PTO grant recipients. The letters inform them of the grant approval and explain to them the protocol for receiving the items requested.

• School Supplies – We have all lists from grades 1-8 and quotes back from Innisbrook.  Grades 1-8 can be ordered online and shipped directly home.  No calculators or protractors (8^th geometry only) will be supplied by Innisbrook.

Email blast has already gone out for MS.  Other grades should also get one.  It will also be in the newsletters.  The deadline to order is in mid June.

• Membership – there is 1 additional member.

• Fundraising – We are just starting to look at our options for next year.  Gwenn, Jessica and Laurie met with rep from last year.  The Entertainment book is now a small pamphlet customized to our geographical location with online access to additional coupons.  The company has also replaced Otis Spunkmeyer with another cookie dough company, Classic Recipes.  For the same price, there are 48 rather than 36 cookies per container.  Sally Foster will no longer be door to door catalog sales.  The kids would sell gift cards to go onto their website, order and have it shipped directly home.  Shipping charges start at $5.95.  We would receive $8 per $20 gift card sold and 40% of additional online purchases.  Last year, we received 50% of total purchases.

We are meeting with the Otis rep tomorrow and hope to make a decision next week.

Image by Cat Wood, Chagrin Falls High School Grade 12. Presented at the 2010 Art Show.

The High School report was presented by Lori Guerrini.

• Teacher/Staff Appreciation Luncheon – Thank you for the delicious luncheon May 7.  It was thoroughly enjoyed by all.  Also, thank you for your generous support of our educational programs through the many grants that you provided our staff.

• Advanced Placement exams were offered May 3 through May 12. Over 200 students took 550 exams.  Students receiving a three or higher on an exam may qualify for college credit.  Teachers and students have worked diligently throughout the year on the rigorous AP curriculum to prepare for these exams.

• Senior Awards Night – Our Senior Awards program was held last Thursday, May 13.  Seniors were presented with scholarship and special recognition awards.  A dessert buffet concluded the evening.

• Springfest 2010 – On Friday, May 14, we celebrated our seniors last academic school day beginning with the teacher/staff senior award presentations, student video presentations, a choir performance, dodge ball championships and ending with the senior parade, slide show and passing of the key.

• Final Exams – The final exam permission slips are available on line, under high school, forms.  Exams are June 4, June 7 and June 8.

• Senior Project – seniors started their senior projects, Monday, May 17.  They return on Thursday, June 3 at 10:00 for their presentations. The Chagrin Falls High School Senior Project is from Monday, May 17 to Thursday, June 3, 2010.  The Senior Project program gives seniors an opportunity to work with a mentor in a career setting that interests them.  Students are required to spend at least four and one-half hours a day for twelve days on their Senior Project.

• Volunteers are needed during the Senior Project Showcase on Thursday, June 3, from 10:30 am-1 pm.  During the showcase each senior will be in a science-fair format with a display board journal, artifacts and other visual displays. The seniors will present his/her project to you.  Your help is needed to help maintain the integrity of the senior project. To volunteer to serve on the Showcase Evaluation Committee please email sherrie.wooden@chagrinschools.org.

• Graduation, June 6 – Graduating seniors were sent letters this week advising them about graduation weekend, their responsibilities and timelines.  The letter has also been posted on the web.
  

  Image by Kaitlin Wolfe, Chagrin Falls High School, Grade 12. Presented at the 2010 Art Show.

• Upcoming Events:
  • May 22 – OABR
  • May 31 – No School Memorial Day
  • June 1- Tiger of the Semester Breakfast
  • June 2 – Spring Sports Banquet

• June 4^th Senior Banquet
• June 5^th- Baccalaureate
• Final Exams – June 4, 7 and 8
• School Resumes Monday, August 23, 2010

A Special Report from the English Department

Each month, the high school report includes a special report on one of the departments at the school.  This month, Shannon Beech of the English department was unable to report at the meeting, but sent in this report instead.

• 33 seniors and 53 juniors took AP exams

• Prism, the high school literary magazine, is currently at the printer and will be distributed to all students at the end of the year.

• Guidance counselors are following up with the Naviance programs next week in junior classes.  It’s a great project that begins their freshmen year, and the students can take advantage of A LOT of college information that is available.

• 10^th grade honors English classes competed in theNational Poetry Out Loud Competition.   Ali Arnold was Chagrin Falls High School’s winner.    She competed in the state competition held in Columbus.

• The Tiger Times published six successful issues with the financial support of several families and businesses within the community.

• All but one English teacher has been involved in Digital Academy 1 or 2. As a result, many of the teachers are incorporating technology in the classroom (i.e. wikis, online learning through ed2.0)  (Editor’s Note:  Digital Academy training is partially funded through grants from the PTO.  To read more about the program that many of our teachers have completed, download Digital Acadamy I (130) or Digital Academy II (142) information.)

• Honors English 10 students just completed a 30-40 research project that pertained to issues/concerns regarding this school and community. Some topics included sleep deprivation, alcohol abuse, texting while driving, and teenage pregnancies)

Photography by Maggie Clegg. Chagrin Falls High School, Grade 12. Presented at the Spring Art Show 2010.

High School PTO Report

The High School PTO report was presented by Beth Judge.

• The PTO reps had their final meeting with Mr. Boedicker on Thursday, May 6th.  We discussed the many activities that keep all the students busy and engaged until the end of the school year.

• Friday, May 7^th was the Teacher Appreciation Luncheon.  Thanks to Wendy Pierce who helped plan the event.  We are very grateful to our dedicated teachers who do so much for our students.

• Many thanks to all the volunteers who helped to make this year so successful.  We had over 70 volunteers lend a hand at the high school. In addition to providing food for the hospitality events, they assisted with the Vision and Hearing Screening, Bingo Night, Book Sales, College 101, and assembling Athletic Awards.

• Next year’s High School Chairperson will be Colleen Mahoney.

Art by Julia Englehart, Grade 8. Presented at the 2010 Art Show.

The Middle School report was read by Gwenn Klose.

• Art Show Winners – Congratulations to the high school and middle school art departments for organizing the art show at Hamlet.  Our students had amazing pieces in that show.  Congratulations to Dana Savakis, our middle school purchase award winner, and Devon Riegel, our honorable mention.

• Power of the Pen– Congratulations to Devon Riegel and Samantha Spear who will be representing Chagrin Falls Middle School in state Power of the Pen competition.  Larry Richmond has served as their coach this year and the students have done a great job.

• Achievement testing – Middle school students participated in statewide testing during the last week of April.  All our students worked very hard.  Thank you to the PTO and the board of education for providing ice cream sundaes as a reward for the students’ hard work.  The middle school also sponsored a skating party as a celebration for completing the week of testing.

• Class trips – Our eighth graders traveled to Washington, DC on May 10-12.  The trip was a great experience for all the students and the behavior was exceptional.  Seventh grade students traveled to Cleveland on May 13 for an extended day trip.  We visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, science museum, took a tour on Lolley the Trolley, and spent the evening at the playhouse watching “Grease”.

• Rolling Thunder – A group of Vietnam Veterans visited our eighth grade classes on May 14 to discuss the war in Vietnam and their experiences as soldiers and veterans.  This was a follow up activity of our trip to DC.

• New Staff Members – Welcome to Mr. Curtis Howell who will be moving from Gurney to the middle school next year.  He will be teaching science and math.  We are currently interviewing for a new Algebra I teacher who will be splitting their time between the high school and the middle school.  We are so excited about the new additions to our already great staff!!

• Literacy Day – We are looking forward to our Literacy Day on May 25.  We have two visiting authors presenting that day.  The students are currently working on books to present to Gurney book buddies.  Gurney 2^nd and 3^rd graders will be traveling to the middle school in the morning.  Each of our students will read their book to the elementary students and the elementary students will read their favorite book to our middle school students.

• Congratulations to Mr. Todd Thombs who has been given the Outstanding Mathematics Professional Award by the Greater Cleveland Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

• A big thank you to the PTO for the great luncheon during Teacher Appreciation Week.

• A huge thank you to Mary Donley, Laura Fricke, and Becky Borden for being the middle school PTO reps this year.  They have done an outstanding job and we have all benefited from their work!!

The Middle School report was presented by Laura Fricke.

• We held an after- OAT Sundae Celebration this month.
  • Held on Wed., April 28^th
  • Thanks to our guest scoopers Board of Education members Mary Kay O’Toole, Anne Thomas, Karen Wise &  Liz O’ Neil

• Teacher Appreciation
  • MS Hospitality provided a Fiesta lunch on Friday, May 7^th
  • Many thanks to our AWESOME Hospitality co-chairs Karen Ostanek & Jill Andrews and their committee members for a great year!

• Internet Safety Presentation/Discussion
  • Thursday May 20^th, 7:00pm in the MS library
  • Encore presentation to the parents of what their MS student recently learned
  • Open to all Chagrin parents

• MS Literacy Day
  • Tuesday May 25, 2010
    • 8:20-10:50 am
    • Gurney 2^nd & 3^rd graders will visit the MS and share a book & snack with a 7^th/8^th grader
  • Organized by the MS Library Staff, Lori & Amy
  • Volunteer support provided by PTO

• 8^th Grade Promotion
  • Ice Cream Social, DVD and Dance Committees are hard at work
  • Large photos featuring 8^th grade students will be for sale by silent auction at promotion. You can preview these photos here on the PTO website.

More art from the Spring Art Show. Hope you didn't miss it!

The Intermediate School report was presented by Amy Acton.

• Thank-you to the PTO for the teacher appreciation lunches and for the financial grants to help the school.

• Sarah Reed has been nominated for Rotary Teacher of the Year.  Good luck!

• It is our hope that all parents will use Progress Book as an aid in communication about assignments, homework and student grades.  Please take the time to look at Progress Book on a regular basis.  If you have any questions, please contact your teacher or Mr. Murphy.

• Concert Season/Art Show:   Our staff and students did an outstanding job with this year’s spring concerts and art show.  Ms. Riley with the help of many volunteers, thank you, had a beautiful art show for everyone to enjoy.  Our fifth and sixth grade band, orchestra and select choir sounded great under the direction of Pay Haynish, Kathy Shoenfelt and David Clare.  (Editor’s note:  See an excerpt from a concert in the short video above.  They sounded great!)

• Candy Grams :  PAWS (People Always Willing to Serve) which is our student service learning group just finished a project called Candygrams.  The Candygram sale raised $392.75 for Autism Speaks.  PAWS also sold tie dye shirts during the art show. This sale raised $680, which will be donated to the Red Cross for Haiti relief.

• Science Days
  • Barb Currey sponsored and organized a 4th and 5^th Grade Science Day on two different days.  Thank you to all the parent volunteers for coming in and helping.  It was amazing!  Students did a variety of activities and experiments to investigate sound, electricity, pressure, motion, and physical and chemical changes.  The children learned a lot and it was a ton of fun!

• End of Year Activities :  Thank you for all your help with the following end of year activities:   Talent Show, Cook out,  Field Day,  Awards Assembly,  Clap-out,  Slide Show
• Assembly:  Thank you for the whole school assembly on May 11 in the morning with the dance company from New York.  It was a very entertaining and motivating for our students.  It was important for them to see the tie between the arts and academics.
• Student Council:  Student council is organizing a blood drive in conjunction with the American Red Cross.  We had our kick-off assembly on April 30 and the drive is May 21, 2010.

• The City Project:  The Acton/McHugh annual City project for their 4^th grade classes in well underway. You can check it out at our city project online.

• Upcoming Dates
  • May 20: Grades 5-12 Strings
  • Festival in PAC
  • • May 26: 6th Grade Visits Middle
  • School in AM, Career Day in PM
  • • May 28: NO SCHOOL for K-6
  • ONLY
  • • May 31: Memorial Day
  • NO SCHOOL
  • June 3: Third Graders visit CFIS
  • • June 4: Fifth Grade goes bowling
  • 11:00 AM-2:00 PM
  • Sixth Grade Dance
  • 7:00-9:30 PM
  • • June 7: Field Day & Slide Show
  • • June 8: Last Day of School
  • 1:15 Dismissal
  • Awards Assembly/Talent
  • Show/Cookout

CFIS PTO Report

The Intermediate School report was presented by Jen Bencko.

• We will be distributing the spirit wear orders on Wed. May 26^th from 6-8 at the REC center.  This is a change in date due to the delay in the delivery of a couple of items.  All that ordered were notified via email and phone calls of the change.  We had an additional 30 orders this sale.  Some items are still available to purchase-contact Debbie Weber with questions
• Field day and the end-of-the-year cookout are right around the corner.  We’re looking for tricycles- contact Lorna Nafzinger if you have one to donate/ let us borrow.
• On May 11^th the IS students were treated to performance by the Jim Linehan Dance Group.  The performance was very well received by the kids.  Would definitely consider this group again and recommend it to others. (You can see video of this group in last month’s CFIS PTO report.)
• The IS celebrated teacher appreciation day on May 5^th.  Jill Andrews pulled together yet another wonderful luncheon.  Thank you Jill.
• Volunteer forms for beginning of the year help (CFIS) (104) and committee chairs for 2010-2011 (CFIS) (181) were sent in the most recent newsletter and hard copies followed the following week.  Responses are very slow in coming back.  We will resend the electronic copy in this month’s newsletter.   Download and send them in to school OR by email if you can scan and attach.   (Editor’s Note:   If you are computer savvy, you can help us test our new online form system at the Acrobat.com site by downloading and filling out our Beginning of the Year Help At CFIS form.  Once you have downloaded the form to your computer, you can fill it out and submit your responses to our PTO account electronically.   All you need is any version of an acrobat reader on your computer.  Give it a try.  If this works, it could help us limit paper forms. )

Sheri Halagan had interesting news about iPod Touch applications in the classroom. Gurney recently received a grant from an independent foundation for a classroom set. They will start using them soon.

The Gurney School report was presented by Sherrie Halagan.

Thank you for the lovely luncheon and plants on Staff Appreciation Day!

• THANK YOU TO ALL OF THE VOLUNTEERS WHO MADE KINDERGARTEN SCREENING RUN SO SMOOTHLY!
• THANK YOU TO ALL OF THE VOLUNTEERS WHO HELPED WITH LUNCH TIME ON ELECTION DAY!
• THANK YOU TO ALL OF THE VOLUNTEERS WHO HELPED US SO MUCH TO MAKE THIS SUCH A SUCCESSFUL YEAR!

• Rotary Teacher of the Year nominee:  Congratulations to Jillian Langer, 2^nd grade teacher, who has been nominated as the Rotary Teacher of the Year!  Good luck to her as she heads in for her interview!

• Kindergarten Screening:  It went incredibly smoothly!  We have 115  Kindergarten students registered for next year and it looks like we will have 4 full day kindergarten classes, 1 morning class and 1 afternoon class in 2010-2011.

• Open Houses:   When the calendars come out for next year, you will notice no Open House for kindergarten.  This is because Kindergarten Kick-Off Night is considered their Open House and they have an Orientation Day.  After all of that, there isn’t much left to tell the parents.  Also, by contract, we can only ask the teachers to do one Open House per year and Kindergarten Kick Off Night is more valuable than Open House in the fall after an Orientation.

• Field Day/Clap-Out:  June 8^th is Field Day and we have a lot going on!  Third Graders will have their Field Day activities at the High School stadium!  Second and First Graders will rotate around our own campus for fun activities and Kindergarten Classes each have their own schedule planned for the short day.  Thanks to PTO we will all enjoy a pizza lunch!  And finally, at 12:45pm, we will clap-out our 3^rd graders.  The day ends with early dismissal at 1pm.

• Report Cards:  Report Cards will be mailed home by June 16^th.

• iPod Touch Project:  Mrs. Halagan presented our new iPod Touches, applications we are starting to use with them, and the foundation that graciously granted us the money for them.

Gurney PTO Report

The Gurney School PTO report was presented by Karen Ostanek.

• Recent Events and Updates from Gurney:
  • Teacher Appreciation Day went well. Hospitality chose to purchase the food form Costco.  The menu consisted of shrimp, sandwiches, salad, fruit and cake.  It was very much appreciated as were the gift plants received by both the teachers and the bus drivers.
  • All Room Parents provided cards for their teacher, a staff member and a bus driver.
  • Kindergarten Screening went well.  About 105 children were screened with the help of 30 PTO volunteers over a two day period.
  • The May election went smoothly as well.  It is suggested that at least one parent per room (two would be ideal) to help the children who are buying their lunch and manage the classroom for the lunch period.
  • 3rd grade testing was fine.  Room Parents provided snack and water for the testing days.

• Thank You To:
  • The Hospitality Committee for providing lunch for Teacher Appreciation Day
  • The Kindergarten Screening Committee
  • Kathy LaMonica and the room parents for providing the lovely cards for their teachers, staff members and bus drivers
  • The last minute helpers for Election Day
  • The yearbook committee for all of their diligent work that began with Picture Day in October and will end with the distribution of the beautiful Yearbooks

• Upcoming PTO Related Events
  • Tiger Trek – May 27 – t-shirts are ordered, Sponsorship sheets due Friday May 21.  Each class is responsible for their own water bottles and PTO will supply the popsicles.
  • Field Day – June 8^th – providing 3 half sheets of pizza per room.  Lunch will begin at 11am or 11:30 and should end by 12:30.  Clap-out is scheduled for 12:45.

• Approved Grant Requests from Gurney Building Fund
  • Approved a $313 request by Pam Fox for playground balls, jump ropes and hula hoops.

• Miscellaneous
  • 2010-2011 Committee Chair forms and First of the Year help forms are distributed to teachers for take-home folders this week and will appear in the May newsletter (or download   and send in with your child)
  • Kindergarten for next year will consist of 4 full days and 1 morning and 1 afternoon class
  • Jason Wise will move to First Grade
  • Michelle Edwards will stay in  2^nd grade for Mrs. Greene who is taking next year off.
  • Walk-through for August is scheduled for the afternoon of the 19^th for 1st grade  and for the morning of the 20^th for 2nd/3rd grade.

The 8th graders will travel to Washington DC this month to visit museums, monuments and even Congressman LaTourette!

The Middle School report was presented by Pattie Siko.

• Thank you to our PTO reps for the fabulous “Take Me Out to the Ball Park” dinner they provided during conferences on March 23!!
• The middle school was commended by the Chagrin Valley Conference administrators for the fabulous art forum we hosted on March 17.  Over 100 students from different schools in our conference were in attendance.  Our art teachers worked together to create a wonderful art experience for everyone involved.  It was a great day!!
• We are continuing to recognize our PAW Pack winners weekly.  This is a fun way to support kids who are working hard and doing the right thing every day.  We had our monthly luncheon with the winners last Friday.  All PAW Pack winners are listed and pictured on our building website here.
• The staff and students are gearing up for Ohio Achievement testing next Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.  Seventh grade students will be testing on Monday and Tuesday.  Eighth grade students will be testing on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.  Our PTO representatives have arranged for the kids to receive ice cream sundaes after lunch on Wednesday.  Our PTO has also arranged for each child to have a hand written note wishing them good luck on their tests!!  Thank you so much to our PTO reps.  THEY ROCK!!!  On Friday, our students will be taking the afternoon off to go roller-skating.  We are hoping that our positive rewards will help relieve any test stress.
• Lori Guerrini and the language arts teachers are working hard to organize our Literacy Day on May 25.  Our students are creating children’s books for Gurney Book buddies.  We will be busing the second and third graders over to share books and snacks.  We have two visiting authors that will be working with our students throughout the day.  We will also have high school students sharing their poetry with our students.  It should be a great day to get lots of Chagrin students excited about reading!!
• The district Art Show may be viewed from April 23-25.  Several of our award winning students will have art work on display.  The awards ceremony will be held on April 22 at 8:00 at Hamlet with one of our students winning the Middle School Principal’s award.  This piece will be hung in the middle school.
• Congratulations to Todd Thombs who has received the Outstanding Mathematics Professional Award for 2010.  This award is given by the Greater Cleveland Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
• Our eighth grade students are gearing up for their trip to Washington, DC.  They will be gone on May 10, 11, and 12.  Our seventh graders are excited about their extended day trip to Cleveland on May 13.  Lolley the Trolley will be picking them up in front of the school that morning!!
• We have 32 students signed up for our Golf Club.  Mr. Thombs and Mr. Johnson will work with students on golf techniques and etiquette.  They will be traveling to Pleasant Hills Golf Course in Chardon over the next four Friday evenings.

• Patty and Cindy Dean would like to thank all who supported DI, with their Malleys Chocolate Fundraiser.

Our Intermediate School team coached by Cathy Digel took First Place at regionals. Our High School team, coached by Carl Cameron, took second place at regionals. Both teams represented us well at the State Tournament. Thank you to the school and the community for their support.

The 7th graders will also take a class trip this month to visit all the great things right here in Cleveland. Of course, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is on the list.

Middle School PTO Report

The Middle School report was presented by Becky Borden.

• Ohio Achievement Test (OAT)
  • MS to provide assistance for the Sundae Celebration
    • Held on Wed., April 28 from 11:30-12:30
    • “Guest scoopers” from the Bd of Ed will be on hand to help
    • Ice cream will be scooped on Tues with the help of 10 plus parent volunteers and then stored overnight in the freezers

• Personalized note cards with well wishes for testing were prepared for each student and will be on hand at their desk on Monday morning

• Teacher Appreciation
  • MS Hospitality will provide a “Siesta” lunch on Friday, May 7^th
  • Many thanks to our AWESOME Hospitality co-chairs Karen Ostanek & Jill Andrews and their committee members

• Box Tops
  • Angie DeBernardo is preparing a drive this spring at the MS, so hang on to your Box Tops.

• 8^th Grade Awards Ceremony
  • Organized in conjunction with John Abbott & PTO Chairs
  • Scheduled for June 7th at 7 PM, PAC.  Dance to follow for the kids, 8-10 PM.
  • Sub-committees hard at work (See our photo auction gallery in the sidebar on this site!)