Horace Mann Helping Hands: Sheila Sabol

Mrs. Sabol is always ready to help!

Here at Horace Mann, we are very fortunate to have many, MANY, caring adults who work to ensure our students well-being.  Recently, our PTA nominated one of those people--Health Aide Sheila Sabol--for the PTA Helping Hands Award.

The Helping Hands award is for PTA members who work on behalf of children, but are not teachers.  The Horace Mann PTA Awards Committee (Mrs. Nora Katzenberger, Chair) nominated Mrs. Sabol because of the way she goes above-and-beyond in meeting the health needs of our students.

She shows kindness and compassion for all students, and has a great knack for working with our students with moderate-intensive special needs (many of whom require daily medical attention). When a student is injured during the school day, it is not uncommon for her to call the parent in the evening to see how the child is doing.  She even was awarded a PTA Mini-Grant this year, in order to organize and provide clothing for kids who might need something clean and dry during the school day.

Mrs. Sabol has medical training above the level required for her current position (she is a certified phlebotomy technician).  She has worked in health centers in Lakewood Schools for eight years, serving at Grant, Hayes and--fortunately for us--Horace Mann.

Thank you, Mrs. Sabol, for all the ways your hands help us when we need it the most!

Horace Mann Choir - Elementary Choral Festival

On Wednesday evening, the 4th and 5th Grade Horace Mann Choir, directed by Mr. Aaron Waryk, participated in the Lakewood Elementary Choral Festival at the Lakewood Civic Auditorium.  As you can tell by the picture, it is quite a large event!

The theme this year was A Century of Music, and Horace Mann represented the 1960s with Stand By Me.

All seven elementary schools are represented,  and the performance consists of songs sung by the individual choirs and all of the vocalists together.  Even though they had just one whole group rehearsal, the students blended beautifully on the combination numbers.

 There were some extra special treats, too, when two high school groups performed, as well as the music teachers, themselves!  Congratulations to this year's Horace Mann Choir members for a very nice performance:  Darcy Hogg, Grace Hoppel, Isabella Fallon, Kevin Coffman, Mackenzie Moraco, Bridget Severino, Charlie Ditchman, Jessica Sycz, Jessica Twardesky, Joe Twardesky, Mia Condosta,  Tyerra Thompson, Alexandra Horton, Edan Zmijewski, Emilie Walkush, Jennifer Sycz, Michael Bianco, Ornela Beqiri, Samantha Facaros, Sophie Craciun, Ceci Miller, Coreen Chambers, Erin Lavelle, Fiona Loudermilk, Jonas Evans, Kasey Darnell, Lily Monahan, Madeline Rybak, Megan SUlak, Rachel Johnson, Rinesa Beqiri, Yasmine Zaeed and Sebastian Desilets.

Gangnam Style & Cupcakes? It's the Horace Mann Spring Party!

Horace Mann was the place to be on Friday night for the PTA's annual Spring Party!  It was a big affair, taking over the gym, hallway and cafeteria for a multi-room bash.

In the gym, the DJ was playing great tunes--including Gangnam Style--and the kids (and some adults) had a great time dancing.  It must be said, however, that for lots of kids, dancing looked like running full speed around the gym :-)

The hallway was filled with the Scholastic Book Fair and sales were brisk.  Kids and parents browsed all kinds of books, as well as posters and novelty items like invisible pens.  Kudos to Mrs. Wendy Hoppel and her crew for organizing the sale and being on duty at the cash register from 3:00 - 8:00 pm (and then cleaning up afterwards).

There was more fun in the cafeteria, where the PTA had a variety of great food items:  pizza, rice krispie treats, and Twizzlers seemed to be among the faves.  One of the highlights of the party is the infamous Cake Walk.  Kids enter this game  of musical chairs by paying with a raffle ticket.  Whoever wins the round gets to pick a cake or cupcakes from the donated baked goods.  There was some serious competition and seriously bright pink frosting, too.

The evening was topped off with an elaborate raffle.  Items were donated by local businesses (such as the Beck Center and The Cleveland Indians) as well as Horace Mann families, and were combined into themed baskets.  Although only a fraction of the ticket buyers took home prizes, everyone reveled in the anticipation as the DJ called the numbers.

PTA would like to thank the high school volunteers from H20 for helping out at the Spring Party this year.  Their assistance helped everything run smoothly amidst the chaos.  Special thanks goes to Mrs. Sandy Twardesky and Mrs. Beth Kiraly-Bratko for organizing this big event.  It was a blast!

Adapted Toy Donation

     Fact:  Kids like toys.  Another fact:  Kids outgrow toys and they can be re-purposed.  Fact #3:  Some kids have physical limitations that prevent them from playing with some toys.  Final fact:  There are clever people out there who can help!


     Thanks to connections made by Horace Mann Speech Teacher Mrs. Ellen McCafferty, our students received a generous donation of adapted toys this week.  As you can see in the pictures, the toys have been adapted with switches, allowing accessibility for students with impaired motor skills.  Mrs. McCafferty has begun putting these toys in the hands of students, and they are a big hit!

     We are grateful to RePlay for Kids for sending us these resources.  If you are interested in learning more about RePlay for Kids, here is the link to their website:  http://www.replayforkids.org/

February Hoops and Dance Parties

      As part of the Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) program at Horace Mann, there is a reward menu.  Students earn stars for exhibiting expected behavior in all areas of the school, and then cash in the stars to "buy" rewards from the menu.  Do you know what reward your favorite student(s) are saving for?  Ask them!

 Last week, we had our PBIS monthly Hoops and Dance Parties.  Before you ask...Yes, they were two separate parties!  Music figured prominently in both of them, though, as you can imagine. Students shot baskets with 3rd quarter Phys. Ed. Teacher Mr. Manderfield in the gym and boogied down to the sounds of Just Dance projected on the Promethean  board by Music Teacher Mr. Waryk.

     Actual photos were taken of our students enjoying their earned rewards...unfortunately the photos were too blurry to post.  We look forward to more hoops and dancing at the end of March...along with our 3rd quarter school wide reward:  A visit by Jungle Terry sponsored by PTA.

100th Day and PARCC, Hooray!

     On Wednesday, February 18th, Kindergarten students in Ms. Sessin's and Mr. DiFilippo's classes celebrated their 100th day of school.  In addition to all the fun and interesting things our five- and six-year-olds do on a daily basis, they also made some really cool 100th day glasses.  They had a great time coloring and cutting their "special specs"  and then going to their teacher to have a custom-cut headband stapled on to hold them in place.  

     We also kicked off the first round of PARCC assessments on Wednesday the 18th.  Fourth graders successfully used laptops to complete the first section on the English Language Ats test.  If you want to learn more about PARCC, here is a link to their website:  http://www.parcconline.org/.  Based on the snow days, we have two sections of 4th grade testing to make up.  Here are the other planned testing dates:

February 25, 26, 27:  5th Grade English Language Arts

March 3, 4:  4th Grade Math

March 5, 6:  5th Grade Math

March 10, 11:  3rd Grade Math

March 12:  4th Grade Social Studies

March 13:  5th Grade Science

March 16-20:  Make up testing

If you have any questions about the statewide tests, please contact your child's teacher or the main office.  

Kids LOVE Musicals!

     Horace Mann (and McKinley before it) has a long, rich tradition of emphasizing the arts in students' educational experience. Over many years, our PTA has been very supportive of this priority.  This year, PTA again generously funded the Kids Love Musicals! residencies through The Musical Theater Project (http://www.musicaltheaterproject.org/).

     Prior to the residencies (sounds so official, doesn't it?) students prepared by watching videos of the musicals they would perform and had lessons in music class related to the experience.  A special note of thanks goes to our music teacher, Mr. Aaron Waryk, for his essential role in facilitating the Kids Love Musicals! experience.

     Over the past two weeks, Horace Mann students in grades K, 1, 2, and 3 each participated in a two-day residency with a professional performer. The shows they did in class were as follows:

Kindergarten:  Peter Pan

1st Grade:  The Wizard of Oz

2nd Grade; Cinderella

3rd Grade:  The Jungle Book

     The students had a blast, but also were good listeners. I think you can see evidence of both in the pictures below!

     We hope this experience fosters a love of music and the arts in our students.  If you have any feedback about the residencies and/or your child's experience, please share them via a blog comment or email to merritt.waters@lakewoodcityschools.org.