Holiday Music Time!

In the last few days of school for 2015, music was a major focus for the students at Horace Mann.

First, about 60 students attended a free Beck Center performance of The Nutcracker...Jazzed Up! on Friday, December 11th.  This version of the classic holiday ballet is "sensory friendly," so it was perfect for our students with disabilities who might be overwhelmed by a traditional performance.  Please click the link for more information:  http://goo.gl/MYfXe4.  Many thanks to our moderate-intensive intervention specialists (Maureen Crane, Caitlin Dukes, Rita Elsea, Ean Fakan, Cristina Smith, and Cheryl Smolen) for arranging this wonderful experience for our students.

Of course, we also had our Winter Program here at The Mann on Thursday, December 17th.  According to our count, we had over 400 audience members!  As always, the students were amazing, and we were all entertained with music ass well as visual art to stoke up our holiday spirit.  Big thank yous to our music teachers (Aaron Waryk, MaryJo Mallchok, John Blasko, and Julie Tabaj), our art teacher (Cesar Vargas), and our speech/language pathologist (Ellen McCafferty) for preparing and producing this ever-improving Horace Mann tradition.

We appreciate families' understanding about the timing of the concert and the space we have available for the performance.  Please be sure to complete the survey from your program to provide feedback about future concerts.  Soon, a Blackboard email will be coming your way with links to the concert video.

Happy holidays to all; we'll see you in 2016!

December Star Students

Each month, all of the "cashed in" stars (earned for being safe, respectful and responsible) are placed in a drawing for Star Student of the Month.  It has been so fun seeing what special adults come in to have lunch with their student (moms, dads, older siblings, aunts, etc.) AND what tasty lunches they bring (one person had lunch from the local Mexican restaurant Cozumel)!

Please join me in congratulating our Star Students for November:

Kindergarten:  Olivia Dubecky & Erin Scott
1st Grade:  Carys Crone, Liam Craciun, Seamus Dutko, & Avery Vasquez
2nd Grade:  Justin Lewis & Andrew Ellison
3rd Grade:  Joanna Wright & James Baron
4th Grade:  Madison Civille & Owen Burens
5th Grade:  Grace Lamparyk & Cecelia Miller

Hyland and High Notes

     As part of their amazing #LKWDFutureClub experience, many Horace Mann 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders took a field trip to Hyland Software in Westlake.  Not only did they tour the facility, learn about future career options, but they also did actual coding, ate pizza and used the world-famous slide (see below)!  Big thanks to club advisor Mrs. Jaime Chanter and other staff (including Mrs. Robinson, Mrs. Olender and Mrs. Lynch) for providing our tech-oriented students with this very cool opportunity.  They even rode RTA to get there, making this a well-rounded real-world morning of learning!

The "high notes" in the blog post title refers to the Horace Mann Choir's sparkling performance at Lakewood Hospital as part of the Light Up Lakewood festivities.  Mr. Aaron Waryk directed the students in a selection of holiday songs.  If you missed the performance at the hospital, you will have another chance to hear our choir at the Winter Program on Thursday, December 17th (doors open at 1:00 pm/music begins at 1:30 pm) in the Horace Mann gymnasium.  Hope to see you there!