HORACE MANN EDUCATOR

During 2014, we look forward to working together as the Horace Mann School community – students, parents, and staff - to improve student academic achievement. Academic content standards in Reading and Writing, Math, Science, and Social Studies tell us what students should know and be able to do at every grade level. The standards help teachers plan their daily lessons and check stu-dents’ progress. Report cards offer information about your child’s progress toward meeting the grade level standards, as well as infor-mation about students’ effort. Students in third, fourth, and fifth grades will take the Ohio Achievement Assessments (OAAs) in May. These tests assess the state standards in Reading and Math at grades 3-5, as well as Science in grade 5. They measure students’ ability to reason, to apply what they’ve learned, to solve problems, and to read and write – across subjects. At every grade, K-5, parents can help by reading to and with children, helping practice math facts, and supporting homework by finding a good place and time for nightly study.

A treasured guiding belief at Horace Mann is “Every Student, Every Day,” and we’ll do whatever it takes to help our students achieve! We appreciate the wonderful, ongoing collaboration of the Horace Mann community as we work together to help our students succeed!

JANUARY 2014 Horace Mann Elementary School

1215 West Clifton Boulevard Lakewood, Ohio 44107

(216) 529-4257 Attendance line (216) 529-4307

6 School reopens 8:45 am

9 Early Release Day: 8:35 ARRIVAL, 2:15 DISMISSAL

14 PTA meeting, 7 pm, Library

17 Staff Professional Day, NO SCHOOL

20 Martin Luther King Day, NO SCHOOL

21 Second Quarter begins—PhysEd classes resume

21-22 Kids Love Musicals, Grades K-3

23 Early Release Day: 8:35 ARRIVAL, 2:15 DISMISSAL

27-28 Kids Love Musicals, Grades K-3

29 Market Day Pick-Up, 5-6 pm, Gym

“Every addition to true knowledge is an addition to human power.” Horace Mann

PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE

Holiday Hallways,

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy 2014! I hope that you all enjoyed the Winter Break and managed to stay warm! Thanks to all of you who sent in cookies for the Staff Cookie Walk on December 18th. The table was full of so many delicious kinds of cookies for the staff to choose from! I know that they ap-preciated the extra time spent to say Thank You during the busy holiday season! I hope you enjoyed the beautiful display of student art work at the Winter Music Program orga-nized by our Art Teacher, Ms. Sabin and PTA member Federica Pasquali. Thank you to all of the volunteers who spent several painstaking hours hanging the art work (and re-hanging in some cas-es). The gym and hallway looked Fabulous! Upcoming Events: January 14th PTA Meeting 7:00 p.m. Library January 29th Market Day Pick up 5-6:00 p.m. February 6th & 7th Donuts with Dad - Time to be announced Winter Classroom Party (focusing on a Math theme) - Time and date to be announced Believe it or not it is time to start thinking towards next school year. We will be nominating our Slate of Officers at the February meeting to be voted on in March. If you are interested in getting more involved, please feel free to email me with any questions. I will post a list of open positions in an email to PTA Members and also in the February Educator. Lastly, PTA is excited to tell you about a new $1,500 Mini Grant Program for Horace Mann Facul-ty. The program is designed to provide funding that will help enhance student enrichment and pro-mote academic success and to provide funds for projects which other funding is not available. In-terested teachers and staff members were asked to complete a mini-grant application detailing their program or project they wished to bring to their students. We were excited to receive quite a few applications. A PTA Grant Committee, along with Principal Waters, will be reviewing the applications and determining who will be awarded the funding. Look for further updates in the February Educator. Heather Facaros PTA President facaros@att.net

PTA News

A Message From Your School Nurse Please keep us posted!

Parents, please remember that any time your child comes to school with a new injury or ill-ness, it is very important that we receive a note from his or her doctor explaining any special instructions. We need to know how to best care for your child during the school day by following the doctor’s guidelines. Also, if there is anything new about your child’s medical condition or medications taken – even if the medications are only taken at home – please let us know so that we can update your child’s emergency medical infor-mation. This information is very important for us to have in case of any emergency with your child at school. We assure you that we will take care to keep all medical information confidential. Thank you very much!

Peggy Brown, RN, BSN, MEd, School Nurse

ARRIVAL TIME at school is 8:45. Stu-dents are not to arrive at school before 8:45. There is no supervision before school. When dropping off your child in the morning, please do NOT stop or park in the lane next to the sidewalk. This holds up the line of cars dropping off children. If you need to get out of your car, please park in a parking space. WINTER SAFETY………..PLEASE re-mind and reinforce with your children our winter safety rules. They are to walk, not run, on the sidewalks, since icy spots are often in-visible. We do not throw snow! Throwing snowballs at cars and others can cause serious injuries, especially when children run into the street to avoid a snowball. Children are not to even pick up snow from the ground. RECESS………Be sure to send your child with appropriate clothing for outside recess, as we experience cold winter weather. Students will go outside unless the temperature and/or wind chill is too low, or the level of moisture is too high. Hats and gloves are necessary for the days we are outside. If weather does not permit an outside recess, students stay indoors with supervised activities. The decision to go outside is made on a daily basis.

ATTENDANCE LINE…….When you call the school office to let us know that your child will miss school due to illness, please be sure to use our ATTENDANCE PHONE NUMBER – 529-4307. This line can be used 24 hours a day, so you can call at anytime, day or night, to leave your message. The recording will ask you to leave your child’s name (please spell the last name), your child’s grade and teacher, your name, and a brief reason for the absence. This will allow the school secretary to take care of our students, respond to the door buzzer, and answer other phone calls that can only be made on the regular office phone number. We appreciate your use of the absence line phone number in the future. Thank you in advance for your help in keeping our regu-lar phone line free. LAKEWOOD SCHOOLS THREAT POLICY…….No report of, rumor of, or threat of weapons in the Lakewood Schools shall be ignored. No threat or rumor of pending violence shall be ig-nored, whether made to a student or a faculty member. Such threats or rumors shall be immediately reported to the Lakewood Police. The student may be kept in school until the police arrive to investigate the incident. At the discretion of the police, the student may be transported to the police department where prop-er disposition of the incident will be determined. It is the policy of the Lakewood Police, in cooperation with school authorities, to appropriately respond to and investigate all such incidents.

OHIO ACHIEVEMENT ASSESSMENTS - Grades 3-5

The OAAs will be given in May to all students in grades 3-5. On the Reading test, children are given a fiction or nonfiction reading selection. It might be a poem or a short story or a passage from an encyclopedia. They are asked to state the main idea of the selection, to retell what they’ve read, to form and support an opinion, to compare the characters in a story. Students do real reading and write a response. The best way to help with reading is to read with your child – take turns reading if he or she is still struggling with reading – and to discuss what you’ve read. Ask which is their favorite character and why or ask them to predict what will happen next in the story – questions that make them think.

For the Mathematics test, students need to reason, compute, solve problems, and understand math terms and concepts. The Math tests cover mathematical aspects of everyday life. Children are asked to apply what they know about mathematics to solve problems and to demonstrate how well they understand math concepts. They need to reason mathematically and respond to solve problems. Even little ones are asked to explain their answers in pictures or words. You can help by asking your child to solve real-life math problems and to tell you how they arrived at an answer – accurate or inaccurate. The thinking process is as important as the answer itself and it’s fascinating to learn all the different ways there are to solve a prob-lem.

The Fifth Grade Science test asks students to scientifically reason through problems. Again, they are asked to apply scientific knowledge to practical problems. Again, they respond in writing to describe and explain their answer. As in Social Studies, they read and interpret scientific charts and tables. They do not need to work for one right answer, but they do need to think as scientists. You can help by encouraging your child to closely observe and investigate an object or event and to make a prediction based on their observations. Encourage them to wonder and to test their hypotheses.

Kids Love Musicals! Students in grades K-3 will participate in a musical theater

“workshop” this month! Kids Love Musicals is an artist-in-

residence program which uses classic fairy tale musicals to

explore the art form of musical theater and encourage students

to exercise their imagination, creativity, and reasoning skills.

With a visiting teaching artist, students learn songs and danc-

es, act out key scenes from the musicals, and explore the clas-

sic American musicals of Cinderella, Peter Pan, The Wizard

of Oz or Jungle Book. K-3 students will participate during Music classes on either January

21-22 or January 27-28. Kids Love Musicals is an engagingly interactive workshop, rather

than a performance. Every student has a part and everyone is a star! Many thanks to the

PTA for sponsoring Kids Love Musicals!