January 23, 2008

Quote of the week:

In every moment there is a special treasure.  Give your best to them all.

      -Ralph Marston

District News:

• There will be a CEPSI (Committee for Educational Progress and School Issues) meeting on Thursday, January 24 at 6:00 p.m. at the Board of Education office located at 1215 W. Kemper Rd.  All parents and community members are invited to attend.

• Fox’s Uniforms on Colerain Avenue has small clear backpacks for $6.99, larger clear backpacks for $8.99 and mesh backpacks for $11.99.

• Students in grades K-12 are writing "Hearts for Our Heroes" for Operation Letter Storm.  These cards, letters and drawings will be mailed in February in time for Valentine’s Day, along with care packages to troops around the world.  The Dayspring Yellow Ribbon Support Group in Forest Park and The Thank You Foundation are partnering with the Winton Woods students to show support for all our troops, thanking them for protecting our freedom.  We have already received over 100 letters and cards from Winton Woods Elementary School and Winton Woods Middle School. 

Winton Woods High School News:

• The Winton Woods High School Varsity Ensemble choir has been invited to participate in WLWT Channel 5’s own version of the popular “Clash of the Choirs.”
 “Each night during the month of February Channel 5 will feature a local choir as a  part of their news broadcast, and then the choirs will be featured on the WLWT  website as well,” said Winton Woods Choir Director David Bell. “People will then  have an opportunity to respond and support choirs with an eventual ‘winner’  being selected.”
Channel 5 will be at Winton Woods High School on Thursday, January 24 to tape the Varsity Ensemble members during their regular class time.
• Four Winton Woods High School orchestra students have been asked to perform at the Ohio Music Educators Association (OMEA) Conference in Cincinnati on February 7. “This performance will be part of Gayley Hautzenroeder's clinic on Adjudicated Events,” said Winton Woods High School Orchestra Director Jonathan Welch. Hautzenroeder is a staff member with the music department at Miami University and former orchestra director for Northwest High School.

Winton Woods High School quartet members are Justin Hisle (violin), Malcolm Thompson (violin), Patrick Kelly (viola) and Marika Gonther (cello). The group will perform at 5:00 p.m. at the Hyatt Hotel in downtown Cincinnati.

• Winton Woods High School will hold open auditions on the evening of February 6 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. for the Von Trapp children for their production of Sound of Music. The auditions will be held in the choir room (room 111 off of the main lobby).  The performance dates are April 18 & 19, 2008.

Auditions will be held for the following child roles:

  Gretl (female, approx. age 6) - little girl with "cute factor"
  Marta (female, approx. age 7)
Brigitta (female, approx. age 9)
  Kurt (male, approx. age 10) - sings falsetto
  Louisa (female, approx. age 13) - rebellious attitude

 Auditions will be held on a first-come, first-served basis.

For the audition: Please come prepared to sing either a short song of two minutes maximum in duration that will show off your voice or stop by the Winton Woods High School main office (open 7 a.m. – 3 p.m.) and pick up a copy of the 16-measure segment of "Doe, a deer, a female deer."

 We prefer that the auditions be sung without accompaniment so that the  production staff can hear each child's ability to maintain key center without  accompaniment assistance.

Winton Woods Middle School News:

• Winton Woods Middle School will hold its annual Sixth Grade Open House on Monday, January 28 from 6:30-7:30 p.m. so that parents can learn more about the school, its staff and extra-curricular activities. This is a repeat of the program that was held in the fall, for parents who were unable to attend. The program begins in the Winton Woods Middle School auditorium.

After the opening presentation, parents and students are invited to tour the building and speak with available staff members. Interested fourth and fifth grade parents are also invited to attend. 

• Winton Woods Middle School will be honoring its 'Students of the Month' on January 23 with a pizza lunch with the administration and invited family members. Congratulations to seventh graders Will McNeil and Andrew Garcia and eighth graders Casey Henson and Bryonna Johnson. These students were nominated by the teaching staff because of the quality of their work, their efforts in class, their responsibility level and behavior at school, their attitude, and their relationship to their peers and teachers.

• Spirit Day is Friday, January 25, and students and staff are encouraged to wear Winton Woods spirit wear.  We will also be having an assembly for the start of second semester for all students.
• At Winton Woods Middle School, our students’ safety is a top priority.  Our main entrance now has a buzzer system to monitor individuals entering the building. 
• As a part of our Positive Behavior Support program, there will be a “Warrior Buck” raffle for students on Friday, January 25.  For only one Warrior Buck, students will be eligible to win a gift card from GameStop or Claire's.
• Students are busy preparing for the Science Fair in February and practicing for the spring musical, “Aladdin.”

Winton Woods Intermediate News:
 
• Winton Woods Intermediate School will be sending four teams of sixth graders to compete in the annual Environmental High IQ Bowl sponsored by Forest Park Environmental Awareness and cablecasted by Waycross Community Media on Saturday, January 26. The Environmental High IQ Bowl was developed to provide an informative yet fun activity that provides up-to-date, comprehensive environmental information to students, teachers, and the general public. During the competition, students will be tested on their knowledge of a variety of environmental issues.

Falcons team members are Becca Day, Kendiel Young, Kirby Simpson, and Alexander Ball. The Golden Kids are Bria Frierson, Christian Higgins, Kiara Jones, Monai Brown, and Kayla Upthegrove. IQ Warriors team members are Bri’Ana Williams, Courtney Carr, Jordan Leary, and Daylen Jackson. The High IQs are Yannie Irby, Isaac Busken, Rachel Jenkins, and Jasmine Colvin.

All four teams will participate in three rounds of competition, with the top two teams in those rounds facing off for the championship. The winner will receive the 2008 Environmental High IQ Bowl trophy.  All participants will get t-shirts, medals and will participate in a special field trip later this year.

The IQ Bowl is open to the public and will take place from 9:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. in the Council chambers of the Forest Park Municipal Building located 1201 W. Kemper Road.

• Winton Woods Intermediate School continues to honor its Warriors of the Week.  The following students were selected as Warriors of the Week for January 14 -17:  Kiara Ramsey, Donovan Bransford, Jazmine Edwards, Tiffany Hudson, Jada Turner, Magalay Madrigal, Devonte McGrone, Grishma Patel, Alex Ball, and Andrew Lipp.

• Parent conferences will be held Thursday, January 31 and Friday, February 1.  Students will not have school on Friday, February 1.

Winton Woods Elementary News:

• Family Math & Science Night was a great success and well attended.  Thanks to all of those parents and students who were able to make it out, and thanks to the teachers who put it all together.

• Parent-Teacher conferences are Thursday, January 31 from 5:00 - 8:25 p.m. and Friday, February 1 from 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.  There will be no school for students on Friday, February 1.  Please use the Parent-Teacher conference forms sent home with your child to schedule a conference with your child's teacher. 

Also, parents of fourth grade students who are interested in attending our special Fourth Grade Team 4-III Open House & Meet the Teacher Night are invited to attend on Thursday, January 31 from 7:00 – 8:00 p.m.  Parents will have the opportunity to meet their child's new teacher(s)—Mrs. Gardner, Mrs. Mehta, Mrs. Snellgrove or Mr. Bailey. This event will take place in rooms 101, 104, 105 and 111.

• Six WWES students were selected to represent the school on Tuesday, January 22 at Forest Park City Hall.  The students opened the monthly Forest Park City Council meeting by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.  These six students were chosen based on the number of Accelerated Reader (AR) points they had accumulated so far this year.  Each of the following students had the most AR points on their respective grade-level team:  Abigail Ewald (Team 3 - I), Noah Thomas (Team 3 - II), Troy Ayers (Team 3 - III), Cindy Vivar (Team 4 - I), Jayson Booker (Team 4 - II) and Tiana Bane (Team 4 - III). 

Accelerated Reader is a web-based program that allows students to take a quick test after they read a book.  Students earn AR points for each of these tests that they pass.  The list of books available is extensive.  AR is a great reading motivation program.  These students were also awarded with a small prize at the City Council meeting and back at their school.  Nice work students!

Winton Woods Primary News:
 
• The Hilltop Press visited Primary North this week to take pictures of Mrs. Sterling's second grade class, who are among the many students throughout Winton Woods City Schools who are writing Valentine’s Day cards and letters to our troops.  The students were joined by Marcia Iker, leader of the Dayspring Yellow Ribbon Support Group, who showed the students a sample of the care packages that will be mailed to our troops in February, along with the letters, cards and drawings.  In addition, The Hilltop Press also interviewed and took pictures of Girl Scout Troop 48736 and leader Wilma Melson, who will be donating Girl Scout cookies to our troops in February—a little taste of home for our soldiers. Thank you for supporting our troops.
 
• The Primary North library was presented a 5-foot-tall polar bear from second grader Taylor Sinkking and her grandmother, Wilma Melson.  However, the bear needs a name.  To teach the students about the democratic process, students will vote on a list of names supplied by Mrs. Vandiver's second grade class.  Students will place their votes for the best name in a ballot box on their scheduled library day.  The student whose entry is selected will receive a prize.  This is one of the many activities that our Primary students will learn from during this election year.

• Primary North will begin “Popcorn on Fridays” for our students, sponsored by our PTA.  All students who receive Good Character hands during the week will receive free popcorn. 
 
• Primary South students are continuing their Wise About Eyes program this week with the kindergarten classes.  All of our classes have been through the 40 minute, hands-on program.  Students learned how their eyes worked and how to protect them. 
 
• At Primary South, District Support Specialist Crisinda Puetz and the kindergarten teachers are beginning this week with social skills lessons in the classrooms and in small groups.  We are excited to have Ms. Puetz here for this program.