Fantastic Field Day and Brilliant Book Fair!

After a few morning showers, bright sun and blue skies prevailed to make the 2015 Horace Mann Field Day & Book Fair a terrific success!  Mr. Brad Karabaic, Physical Education Teacher, planned and organized the event, which many adults and students deemed the best one ever.  Mrs. Wendy Hoppel chaired the Book Fair, and it did a brisk business with students getting Buy-one-get-one free.

The ever-present Horace Mann PTA was involved, too, using VolunteerSpot to help recruit volunteers and providing coffee for parents who came to school to help with the activities or just to watch the fun and connect with one another.  Thanks to Bruegger's Bagels for providing bagels and schmear for the parents!

Field Day events include such favorites as:  Kangaroo Relay Race, Scooter Relay Race, Tag with a Ring, Javelin Throw, We Did IT, PVC Marble Relay, Boogie Board Race and Steamroller Race.
Which one is your child's favorite?

Check out some pictures of the fun below:

Spring Concert

The Horace Mann Spring Concert, presented by Mr. Aaron Waryk and Ms. MaryJo Mallchok, had something for everyone.  It looked like just about "everyone" was in the gym on Friday afternoon, as parents, grandparents, siblings and other loved ones packed the house to see the students perform.

There were cute songs (like Going on a Picnic by the kindergartners and Take Me Out to the Ball Game by the first graders), patriotic songs (like Fifty Nifty United States sung by the fourth graders), standards (such as Danny Boy), and modern classics (Don't Stop Believin' on guitar by the 5th grade general music students and Let It Be by the combined choirs).  The audience was also treated to songs by the Horace Mann Orchestra and the fourth graders on their recorders.   Raise your hand if you played a recorder in fourth grade.  I know I did :-)

Many of the songs included props and/or choreography that got big laughs from the crowd.  One great example of the use of props was the adapted music class' use of colored scarves.  They waved them as the LHS Four Season Quartet played Vivaldi's Four Seasons.  Beautiful!

It was wonderful to see and hear all of the Horace Mann musicians.  Thank you to all of the staff members who helped make the show run so smoothly and to the families for joining us.  We hope you enjoyed it.  Here are a few pictures of the show:

I DARE!

     Under the guidance of Lakewood Police Officer Dave Acklin, Horace Mann graduated 47 fifth grade students from the D.A.R.E. Program this week. Congratulations, graduates!

     D.A.R.E stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education; however, Officer Acklin shared in his remarks that the program is really about making good choices in life.  In addition to Officer Acklin, Horace Mann was honored to have Mayor Summers, Judge Carroll and Police Chief Malley present at the event.

     All students write an essay as part of the program, and four winners were chosen.  The winners--Charles Ditchman, Isabella Fallon, Grace Hoppel, and Claudia Irwin-- did a beautiful job reading their personal narrative essays for the crowd of family members and staff.

     All students received a certificate of completion as well as the traditional D.A.R.E. t-shirt.  To close the ceremony, Mr. Waryk led the 5th graders in singing the D.A.R.E. song.  Afterwards, cupcakes and juiceboxes (thank you to PTA for the juiceboxes and to Officer Acklin for the cupcakes) were enjoyed as celebratory refreshment.

     We hope our fifth graders remember the conversations they have had about making good choices as they head into summer and on to middle school in August!  Thank you to the fifth grade teachers and the city officials who support this valuable program for our students.

Student watch Mayor Summers

The rest of the class listening to the Mayor's remarks

HMES 5th Graders sing The DARE Song

Community Helpers Visit Horace Mann

Last week, several visitors gave presentations at Horace Mann.  These visitors had one thing in common:  They are Community Helpers.  Professionals such as doctors, police and fire officers gave interactive presentations with many students who have moderate to intensive special needs.

The purpose of the presentations was to familiarize students so they feel more comfortable with people in the community who may need to help them.  Often, children and adults with disabilities have a difficult time in these situations, due to fears based in lack of understanding.

An example of this was reported by Intervention Specialist Mrs. Cristina Smith.  She shared that the community helpers came dressed in "regular" clothes to start, and then put on their work gear, such as the turnout suit firemen wear.  This allowed students to see that there are friendly people underneath the sometimes intimidating uniforms.

Big thank yous to Mrs. Smith for arranging the presentations and to the guests who visited.  We are grateful to have your assistance as we prepare students to be happy and successful in our Lakewood community and beyond!

Thank You, Mrs. Rochford!

All over the U.S.A., it was Secretary's Day (known to some as Administrative Professionals Day) on Wednesday, April 22nd.  This is a day set aside to say 'thank you' to the people who take care of so many workplace details, making the lives of others easier.

Mrs. Barbara Rochford is in her 2nd year as secretary of Horace Mann Elementary.  She does a wonderful job assisting students, staff, families and other visitors to our school.  I always appreciate her smile, the way she keeps her cool even at the busiest times of day, and her genuine care for children and adults, alike.  Mrs. Rochford is a graduate of Lakewood High School, so the district can take a little credit for her talents :-)

The photo below shows how one class chose to show their appreciation of Mrs. Rochford's work.  The poster is hanging in the main office; check it out if you stop by sometime soon.

Mrs. Rochford and Mrs. Cali's 5th Graders

Thank you, Mrs. Rochford, for being a wonderful secretary.  We hope you are here at Horace Mann for a very long time to come!

Fire Safety at Horace Mann

Horace Mann 3rd graders had quite a learning experience this week!  As is tradition in Lakewood, the Fire Department brought the Fire Safety Trailer to our school for the 3rd graders to go through.  It is another lesson--and a very hands-on one--in preparing students to know what to do in the event of a fire at home.

The trailer (new last year) has two rooms inside, including a kitchen.  The firemen talk with students about what to look for and what to do in the event of a fire.  The experience becomes quite realistic when the door gets hot, "smoke" is released, a fire alarm blares, and kids climb out a low window to be helped down stairs to the ground below.  They then go to the designated "safe spot," just as they would in their own neighborhood.

Many thanks to Fire Marshall Tim Dunphy, Fire Inspector Mike Matwijiw and the rest of the firefighters for bringing this memorable lesson to our students.  The remind us to always have two ways out!

Jungle Terry Visits Horace Mann

To celebrate all of the safe, respectful and responsible behavior we saw around Horace Mann during the 3rd quarter, the PTA invited Jungle Terry for a school-wide assembly.  From the moment he showed up in his zebra-striped Range Rover, we knew the fun was about to begin!

Students in grades PK-5 were engrossed and excited by the stories he told and the animals he showed.  As you can see in the pictures below, several students had the opportunity to hold animals, including a tarnatula, a ball python and a brown skunk.  Second grader Isaac C. even got to "surf" on an African tortoise!

As the end of the show, Jungle Terry set up a "pet and go," where he laid the 11 foot python on the table and invited each student to walk by and touch the snake on the way back to class.  Nearly all of our kids took a deep breath and did it :-)

Big thanks to our PTA for making this awesome event possible.  We would especially like to thank Carla Adamov for arranging the event and to several PTA volunteers (Federica Pasquali, Sandy Twardesky and Laura George) for helping out.