We Love That Fire Truck Ladder!

Safety was the emphasis last week at Horace Mann! We had our annual school-wide Fire Safety Assembly with comments by Lakewood Fire Marshal Tim Dunphy and an engaging video about smoke detectors. Our 5th grade essay contest winners were Olivia Diemert (right) and Regan Bratko (below). Regan was also named Jr. Captain at the district level. Both girls did a great job reading their essays for our entire student body.

Before we headed outside to cheer the fireman all the way up the SUPER tall ladder, we also swore in 24 new Safety Patrol members. They are off to a great start this year, assisting adults with safe and orderly arrival and dismissal. Here is this year's Safety Patrol, co-supervised by 5th grade teachers Mrs. Allison Martzolf and Mrs. Kelsey Robinson:

Madison Civille Conor Carlin

Rowan Brown Joseph Villafane

Akram Ali Jalen Brown

Olivia Diemert Annabelle Baker

Aidan Maxwell Savannah Zaleski

Owen Gibbons Ariana Marich

Michael Fallon Moyeen Ali

Grace Rowell Carlito Gonzalez

Elise O’Donnell Nora Germaine

Olivia Baker Hutch Reed

Anthony Severino Hannah O’Toole

Hayden Trnavsky Cicely Campen

Kids excitedly streamed outside to watch the fireman climb (with fun theatrics and lots of cheering, I might add) all the way to the top of the ladder. After he made it back down, the ladder swung out over the kids as it was reeled back in - cool!

Kids Voting at Horace Mann

 OK, so recess might not be as important as the upcoming general election...or is it?  For kids in grades K-5 at Horace Mann, recess is a pretty big deal!  Since recess is important to kids, we believe they need to have input into how the game is played...

Last year, we introduced a bench to the playground.  The bench, itself, is not much to look at, just a plain black metal seat.  The big deal is how the bench is used.  The adults tried a few different ideas last year, and then we realized we need to ask the students how they want to use it!

With the ever-ready help of parent volunteers, a voting system was designed to allow kids to vote by grade level.  Since each grade has their own recess time, we have the freedom to designate different uses for different grade levels.



Students had three choices:

• Buddy Bench:  If you need someone to play with, go to the bench.  All children are taught that they can be the person who goes to the bench or the person who sees someone sitting and offers to play.
• Friendship Bench:  Students in each grade level (grades 2-5) are given a little training on how to start play or conversation with someone who might struggle in that area.  these kids (who we called Recess Rangers) would take turns being at the Friendship Bench.  Thus, when a student needed a friend, s/he cold come to the bench and find a peer there to help.  

• Resting Bench:  Just a place to sit and take a break.  The bench has not been and will not be used for time out (although we do have a another spot for this appropriate consequence).

The results are so interesting!

• Resting Bench was the clear winner for grades 2-5.  Several students described a desire to just have somewhere to sit peacefully for a few minutes.
• The results were mixed for K and 1.  This may be due to several factors, including not quite understanding the differences among the choices.  We plan to follow up with these groups to see what will work best.

We have other ideas in store for recess this year, including Recess Rangers leading and organizing games and small groups of students receiving extra TLC for social skills using a variety of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, architecture, math) toys (think Legos, Erector Sets, Robotics, etc.).  As always, we welcome your ideas and suggestions!

Horace Mann Medical Center

Where could a Lakewood student have a vision screening, dental exam and well-child visit all in one day?  Horace Mann Elementary School, that's where!

Last Thursday, our school morphed into the "Horace Mann Medical Center," complete with high school and college students being trained to provide medical care.  Upstairs, children in multiple grade levels had vision screenings administered (with supervision, of course) by West Shore Career Tech students in the Health Careers program as well as college students from Lorain County Community College.

Downstairs, the SMILE! Dental Program was set up to do a variety of dental procedures for students (with appropriate permission from parents).  The SMILE program comes to Horace Mann annually and will complete its third full day here on Monday, October 3rd.

Finally, in the Webb parking lot, the Cleveland Clinic School-Based Heath Center mobile unit made its Horace Mann debut (after successes at both Harrison and Garfield last year).  Eleven students were seen for parent-requested services such as well-child visits, vaccinations and flu shots.  The team from The Clinic were wonderful (thanks, Dave and Jami!) and provided additional information about the mobile unit:  http://my.clevelandclinic.org/childrens-hospital/specialties-services/departments-centers/primary-care-pediatrics/school-based-health-care

Many thanks to the Lakewood Schools Student Services Department--including our own Health Aide, Sheila Sabol--for bringing these critical health care offerings to our school.  While they can make for a day where instruction is not as seamless as usual, the access to health care is well worth it!

Father Walk & Donuts with Dads

 Here in Lakewood, we are fortunate to have lots of fathers (and other "big guys" in kids' lives like grandpas, uncles, etc.) walk their children to school every day.  Many more drop them off on the drive line, helping with the family responsibility of getting children to school on time and ready to learn.  We appreciate every effort to support the education of our students!

As a way to encourage male mentors to be involved across Cuyahoga County, the Healthy Fathering Collaborative of Greater Cleveland (http://healthyfathering.org/fathers_walk.asp) organizes the Fathers Walk each year.  Below, see the pledge that describes the goals of the event:

The Fathers Walk Pledge

On September 22, 2016, fathers and male mentors will be encouraged to take the following pledge and keep it year around:

• I am responsible for the education of my child.
• I will encourage all children to do their best every day at school.
• I will speak to my child about the value of learning and the importance of reaching your potential.
• I will help with school work and review assignments for completion.
• I will praise my child when he/she does well in school.
• I will speak with my child’s teachers and support them in educating my child.
• I will teach my child the value of education and the value of family.
• I will work with my child’s mother or guardian to achieve the best academic and social outcomes for my child even if I do not live with my child.

Families enjoy doughnuts in the Horace Mann cafe

At Horace Mann, our PTA likes to connect their annual Doughnuts with Dads event with Fathers Walk, alternating parts of the alphabet each year (it was M-Z's turn to have doughnuts on Father Walk day this year).  Our new Family Resource Coordinator, Therese Schwind, started a new tradition of taking a photo of each male mentor with his kids, and she'll be sending that home to families, soon :-)

As always, these events are well-attended and the Doughnut Pantry doughnuts put early morning smiles on everyone's faces.  Many thanks to PTA event chair Kristy Gibbons (left, below), and her team:  Amy Lardi, Anne Babson, Danielle Catteau and PTA President Nora Katzenberger.  For more pictures, be sure to visit the Horace Mann PTA Facebook page!

Thanks, PTA moms, for the doughnuts!

Mitchell's at The Mann!

     I looked up to see a friend jogging past Horace Mann with her dog on Thursday night. She was smiling, seeing the happy commotion that was our front lawn during PTA's annual ice cream social.  I caught her eye, smiled and waved, feeling so happy in the moment.

     Thankfully, in spite of multiple road closures and delayed commutes, many, many families turned out to enjoy the perfect weather, community spirit, and delicious Mitchell's ice cream (hard to say if cookies 'n cream or chocolate was the most popular flavor).  

     Many thanks to PTA event chair Sandy Najarian and her crew of scoopers.  I've included a few pictures below, but please be sure to check out lots more on Horace Mann PTAs Facebook page!

Baking the Intervention Cake

I'll admit it...I used a picture of a minion cake as an attention grabber: this post has nothing to do with minions.  It is really about interventions during and after school for our striving readers (I love this way of referring to readers who are below expected levels--it  has quite a different feel than "struggling," doesn't it?).  I am thinking about the process as being similar to baking; hence the photo of a minion cake.

We already have our bakers in place.  They include your child's teacher, our library staff, and our intervention providers.  While you have likely already met your child's teacher, I want to mention the names Candy Olender, Heather Phillips and Katie Testen.  These teachers specialize in providing targeted reading services to our readers who need a little extra.

Of course, to bake our intervention cake, we need ingredients.  I suppose our children are the main ingredient!  To that, we add assessment data.  Last week, we gathered reading data on students in K-5 classrooms using the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment and AIMSweb measures.  Teams met on Friday to create suitable groups to provide assistance to student in our daily 40 minute intervention block.

I'd characterize the interventions, themselves, as the heating process in the oven.  That is where the action is; where the cake begins to take it's delicious shape.  We use several different interventions--different temperatures, if you will--depending on the students' needs.  They may receive a "double dose" of the instruction they are getting during classroom reading instruction, or complementary materials and strategies may be used.

Of course, families have a role in the creation of the masterpiece.  You help us by frosting the cake during the hours children at at home and in the community by reading to/with kids and having conversations about the things in the world.

Setting aside the cake analogy, I want you to know that our interventions during the day begin on Monday.  Due to the State of Ohio AIR tests for 3rd, 4th and 5th graders, striving readers in those grade levels will also be invited to participate in one after school session per week to further boost reading attitudes and skills.  If your child is invited, I hope you will make every effort to take advantage of the free program.

If you have any questions about our reading intervention at Horace Mann, please be in touch with your child's teacher or with me at 216.529.4257.

Sharp Focus on Literacy

     Several years ago, Lakewood City Schools developed a vision for curriculum adoption and implementation for the essential area of Language Arts.  The district was fortunate be selected from many applicants around the world to work with the Teacher's College Reading and Writing Project (Columbia University).  If you want to learn more, here is a link to their website:  http://readingandwritingproject.org/about.

     Since then, Writing and Reading Workshop have been phased into our elementary and middle schools.  There have been summer training institutes and "coaching" visits throughout the school year in order to help us become experts in this challenging, yet rewarding, way of teaching.  Last week, two sessions were held in the district to be sure everyone--general education teachers and intervention providers--has had training in the Workshop model.  With everyone "speaking the same language" when it comes to teaching reading and writing, we feel confident that Lakewood's children will become confident, enthusiastic readers.

     One note about the reading workshop model--which is just being introduced in grades 3-5 this year--is that phonics instruction plays an important role.  In Lakewood, we use the Fundations curriculum for this purpose, with lessons taking place daily in grades K-3.

     Your child should be bringing books home with him or her every single day, and I encourage you to listen to them read or read your own material beside them.  I see Workshop in process when I visit classrooms daily, and it is a thrill to see kids reading and talking with their teachers and with each other about what they've read.  The best way to become a better reader and writer is to practice!  If you have any questions or feedback about Reading or Writing Workshop, please be in touch with me or your child's teacher.