Special to the Tribune-Star
TERRE HAUTE —
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Community
Christian
At the end of the school year fourth and fifth graders took part in the CCS Geography Bowl. Competing were the following teams:
The Globes: Jamie Hoggatt, captain, Abby Pursch and Allie Contreras
The Geography Masterminds: Christian Byrd, captain, Cameron Switzer and Ruby Pigg
The Geobots: Ezra Fritz, captain, Sarah Konkey and Adam Lee
The Geo Girls: Yzabel Tio, captain, Brittany Frederick and Michayla Edington
Teams answered a battery of individual and team questions to earn points. The “Geo Girls” earned the highest score and were awarded special plaques by Dave Myers and the Terre Haute Savings Bank. Thanks to Mr. Myers, all participants, and congratulations to the “Geo Girls”.
— Mrs. Forsythe
We are pleased to announce that our own Sara Shepherd was honored by the Terre Haute North High School Business Cooperative Experiences program. Through her work with our students and staff at our school and under the supervision of Mrs. Kauffman at Terre Haute North, Sara wrote a paper about her experiences and what she learned while working at CCS. Sara earned the 2009-2010 employee of the year award for CCS. Congratulations, Miss Sara. We love you and are so proud of you.
— School staff
Deming
Deming Park was recently the destination of the Deming Elementary 5th grade students. After a year of extremely hard work in the classroom, the students spent the day attending class “in the great outdoors”. Among the lessons for the day were science, mathematics, grammar, and physical education. After a morning of walking and running around the park the students were treated to Papa John’s Pizza. The students gobbled down 15 pizzas to fill their appetites.
Deming Park provided a great atmosphere as the students split up into groups to explore the park. Favorite activities for the day were talking about the geese and all the inhabitants of the pond. The students had a great time viewing geese, ducks, fish, turtles, and snakes as they made their way around the pond. The weather was beautiful as the students played Frisbee golf and participated in games of animal charades. Frisbee golf challenged the students to learn angles to be able to toss the Frisbees into the target. Animal charades challenged the students to communicate in a way in which they are not familiar. The day ended with a short kickball practice session as the 5th graders geared up for their game against the staff of Deming Elementary.
— Travis Turpen, 5th grade teacher
With Deming Elementary being a Reading First School, students have spent the past year focused on literacy, receiving Reading instruction for 90 minutes every day.
Kindergarten students at Deming culminated the year with a special morning filled with fun literacy activities. Students had the opportunity to visit each classroom to participate in activities created by each teacher.
Using a food theme, students participated in Reader’s Theatre and sang along with the play rhyme Peanut Butter Jelly. With an animal theme, students had the opportunity to act out the stories Turtle Splash and Down on the Farm.
Following a Fairy Tale theme, students read The Little Red Hen and The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza. Students then discussed how the stories were alike and different.
Students thoroughly enjoyed visiting each classroom. This was a fun way to review the concepts taught and a great way to end the school year!
— Kindergarten teachers Mary Alice DeWitt, Rachel Millington and Marci New
What are partial sums? That is what a lot of parents of second grade students have been asking themselves lately. The second grade teachers at Deming Elementary invited all of their students’ parents to a “Family Math Night” to help explain partial sums and to teach our parents some of the other wonderful math experiences their children learn in our classrooms.
We started the night with Mrs. Diana Allen, VCSC Math Liaison, speaking to our parents about the importance of partial sums. She explained how partial sums also teaches place value along with addition. She also showed our parents how to get online with Everyday Math and to find math problems that they can do at home.
We then moved into the computer lab so that Mrs. Sharon Kramer, another VCSC Math Liaison, could show our parents how to get on line and log on with their child’s password. Thus, allowing students to play the Everyday Math Games at home. We then let the students and parents play these games for a while to show parents what their child has been working on at school.
After the parents were done with the games online, we went to the Media Center and each parent was given a deck of cards with instructions on how to change that deck into an Everyday Math deck. Mrs. Allen then explained how to play Two Digit Addition Top-It. The children then played this game with their parents.
Before the end of our meeting, each parent was given a deck of cards for the number of children they have attending school, a twelve sided die for each of their children, and the rules to several games to play once they were at home.
Cookies and drinks were then served and we had a lovely time talking to our parents about the math that their students had been bringing home. It was a very successful time for all! We are very grateful to our parents for coming, our Math Liaisons for all they do, and for the support of our administration!
— Mrs. Catha McCarty, Mrs. Sarah Mains, and Mrs. Sandy Childress, Second Grade Teachers
Dixie Bee
The school year started for the Dixie Bee Staff with the annual "Back to School" meeting. We were razzled and dazzled by two very talented Lemon Brothers, Logan and Dylan from Consolidated Elementary. Their musical talent was obvious. Their poise, confidence, and command of their surroundings was quite a surprise! It was rewarding to see these young boys are well on their way to mastering life skills, even at ages 10 and 7! Mr. Craig McKee spoke to us with some of his personal experiences in the Vigo County School Corporation. He highlighted Mr. Chester Persinger as having a profound effect on his life. He also reminded us that with the retiring of several Vigo County School Corporation Employees, we will now be without their wisdom, knowledge, experience and advice at our fingertips. Mr. McKee was correct in his statement that those educators and support personnel will be greatly missed. At Dixie Bee, we thank Kathy Canal, Diana Zwerner, Larry Stuckey, Kris Engbretson, Sue Paris and Brenda Williams for sharing their friendships and expertise with us all. We wish you a wonderful retirement!
Our school is fortunate to welcome some new faces to our 2010-2011 school year. Our new staff members include: Pamela Gresham -Reading Recovery, Jessica Griese-Intermediate Resource Room, Robin Harden-PE, Brian Lonneman-PE, Danielle Rayburn-Special Needs Assistant, Jan Shackelford-Local Aide, and Melissa Skeel-Special Needs Assistant, Shannon Sententy-School Nurse.
The staff at Dixie Bee is looking forward to a wonderful year of making a difference for our students, one day at a time!
— Judy Kraly
Primary Resource Room
Fuqua
Fuqua wants to connect with its families! If you are a parent of a Fuqua student, there are many opportunities to become involved this year. Volunteers are being solicited for Principal’s Advisory Council, the Book Fair, and P.T.O. activities. Please consider helping! Parent involvement is crucial to a successful school environment. Grandparents are welcome too! Help us to make Fuqua one of the best!
We began the year with Grade Level Parent Meetings. During these meetings, we discussed Indiana Academic Standards for grade level, shared information about report cards, and reviewed homework policy, school rules, classroom rules and consequences. Also, we discussed Every Day Math, the reading series, and weekly spelling words and answered parent questions. It was a good opportunity for parents to see and hear first hand what the state expects of the school and what their child needs to learn.
Fuqua welcomes new staff members! New teachers and student teachers are the following:
Ms. Jessyka Haton, Third Grade Teacher
Mrs. Susan Pittman, Interpreter
Mr. Brian Lonneman, Physical Education
Mrs. Kathy Sabiani, Music
Mrs. Pam Anshutz, Art
— Brenda Marina, Media Specialist
Fuqua 462-4304
Riley
The second graders are “All a Flutter” as the new school year begins. The students are involved with raising their own Painted Lady Butterfly. Children will read, write, conduct experiments, practice math skills, recite poems, and research about butterflies and other insects as well.
We would like to take this time to welcome Mrs. May’s student teacher, Allison Hess. She will be a Riley Racer for five weeks before she starts her next assignment. We look forward to a great year with our students.
— Abbi Pell, Barb May and Katrina Jarvis
