FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT
Pension funding at critical juncture
A
n important development is brewing that may have a marked
impact on school district finances and I believe it is imperative to relay this information to our school community.
Pennsylvania school districts are bracing for the projected massive increases in their payments to the Pennsylvania
School Employees Retirement System (PSERS). Established July
18, 1917, it is one of the oldest public pension plans in the United
States. All school employees in Pennsylvania belong to this retirement system, approximately 547,000 people (active and/or retired).
PSERS is funded by three sources:
● Employee contributions
● Employer contributions
● Investment earnings
Because of the very poor economic conditions of late, the investment earnings have not grown at a rate necessary to fund the benefits without a change in the contribution rate. Therefore, although the
employer contribution rate for the 2009-2010 fiscal year is 4.78 percent, the employer contribution rate for the 2010-2011 fiscal year is
8.22 percent.
The rate for 2011-2012 is projected to exceed 8.22 percent!
Moving forward, there is a projected sharp rise in the employer
contribution rate from 10.59 percent in 2011-2012 to an estimated
29.22 percent in 2012-2013. Ultimately, it is this “spike” that is garnering a great deal of attention and publicity, as it would cause a
financial crisis for every school district in Pennsylvania. These projected increases would cost Canon-McMillan School District and its
taxpayers about an additional
$9,700,000 between the 2010-2011
CANON-McMILLAN
and 2014-2015 school years.
There is no simple answer to this funding dilemma. Solutions will probably be a
combination of several approaches that may
smooth out the rate plateau and lower the
peak, but not eliminate the problem overall.
Regardless of which solution is implemented, there will still be a
need to significantly add funding to the System.
The Board of School Directors of Canon-McMillan School
District passed a resolution in February 2010 addressing this issue
and requesting the General Assembly to begin immediate consideration of school employee pension reform with the dual purpose of
reducing projected employer contribution rate increases over the
next four years and reducing projected costs to school districts,
taxpayers and the Commonwealth over the next two decades.
Taxpayers are urged to monitor this situation, continue to gather
as much information as possible and communicate with local and
state representatives. In addition, the PSERS Web site offers a great
deal of information including a Web page entitled, “Pension Funding
Rate Spike Resources.” Additional resources from different sides of
the issue can be found at both the Pennsylvania School Boards
Association (www.psba.org) and the Pennsylvania State Education
Association (www.psea.org).
A successful school district is a combination of a variety of important factors. In Canon-McMillan, we are acutely aware of our fiscal
responsibility to our taxpayers and school community. With open and
transparent lines of communication, we hope to continue our progress
and development as the premiere school district in the area.
SCHOOL DISTRICT
Helen K. McCracken, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools
Earth Day is every day at BM
Students from Mrs. Jen
Weiss’s class collecting
items for TerraCycle, from
left, in front, Molly Gavran,
Luke Palma and Dillon
O’Donoghue; in back, Lacey
Chappell, Hannah Holland
and Cuyler Rancher.
Borland Manor Elementary
School students have been busy
helping to save the Earth.
The school has several daily
recycling programs. Not only
are the students excited about
recycling, but also excited that
they are actually making a difference.
Last year the school
acquired a paper-recycling bin.
Each day the “Green Team”
members dump the school’s
recyclable paper in one huge
trash can to be delivered to the
bin outside. The school also holds a contest during
Earth Week to see which class brings in the most
paper.
Even though they recycle paper, they also collect
items during lunch such as Frito-Lay product bags,
Nabisco wrappers, and drink pouches. The students
in Mrs. Jen Weiss’s room then package them every
month to ship off to TerraCycle, a company that
4 www.incommunitymagazines.com
| IN Canon-Mac | May 2010
makes affordable, eco-friendly products from a wide
range of non-recyclable waste materials. With over
50 products available at major retailers like WalMart, Target, The Home Depot, OfficeMax, and
Petco, they are helping to reduce the carbon footprint
and construct earth-friendly items.
Lastly, the students in Mrs. Weiss’s class make
Earth Week even more special. Every year they
have trees donated from the Pennsylvania Game
Commission‘s “Seedlings for Schools.” They plant
several trees outside
Borland Manor to help the
environment and add to the
landscape. Each student
takes a tree seedling home to
plant.
The students of Borland
Manor feel like they are making
a difference to make the Earth a
better place for many years to
come and challenge others to do the
same.
SERVING THE COMMUNITY
STUDENTS PAIR UP FOR ‘READ’
Fifth-grade students on Team Pay Day at North
Strabane Intermediate School visited first-grade
students at Borland Manor Elementary School to
celebrate Read Across America in March. Students
were paired so they could share Dr. Seuss books,
make creative bookmarks, pose for pictures to be
placed in Green Eggs and Ham picture frames,
and play a game of Jeopardy on the SMARTboard
that tested their knowledge of Dr. Seuss trivia.
The day ended with cookies and a beverage.
The fifth-graders enjoyed mentoring the firstgraders and many smiles were shared. Organizing
the day’s events were NSIS teachers, Mrs. Amy
Dulaney, Ms. Lynne Douglas and Ms. Rebecca
Raub, along with Borland Manor teachers, Mrs.
Deborah Murdock, Ms. Laura Clink and Ms.
Amber Maricone. The students are looking forward to their next visit.
NSIS fifth-grader Derek Morosko, left, and Borland Manor
first-grader Daelin Godwin work together for the Read
Across America celebration.
CIS students who brought in the most money in the Jump
Rope for Heart are, from left: Rebecca Dugan, Heather
Robison, Rebecca Underwood, Sam Kleinginna, Mr. Ray
Pietras, physical education teacher; Sabrina Mitchell,
Abigail Zanardelli, Madison Kopach, Maggie Petrarca and
Steven Rossa.
CIS JUMPS FOR HEART
Cecil Intermediate School students participated
in the American Heart Association’s 2009-2010
Jump Rope for Heart Program. The students had a
great time and raised $5,885. Mr. Ray Pietras,
physical education teacher, organized the event.
Ms. Stacie Scheidler, Miss Heather Marini and Miss Ashley Knizner’s first-graders pose with Principal Robert
Kleinhans and Assistant Principal Tula Dziak and their Haiti donation.
CECIL ELEMENTARY
Cecil Elementary held a fundraiser
in February for the victims of the
Haitian earthquake. Students donated
money each day to participate in a
variety of Spirit Days: Blue and Gold
Day, Backwards Day, Pajama Day,
Non-Matching Day, and Crazy Hat
Day. There was an overwhelming
response with students raising over
$2,100. The first-grade classes of Miss
Heather Marini and Ms. Stacie
Scheidler raised the most money per
classroom and got to silly string
Principal Robert Kleinhans and
Assistant Principal Tula Dziak.
WYLANDVILLE ELEMENTARY
After the devastating occurrence in
Haiti, Hunter Hardway thought it
would be a great idea to come
together as a school and collect
money to donate to Haiti. Hunter
is a third-grade student in Mrs.
Ashley Surich’s class at
Wylandville Elementary School.
This turned out to be a great
learning experience for Mrs.
Surich’s class. The students were
responsible for collecting and
counting all the money at the end
of the week. Their goal for three
weeks was $525. After the first week,
Wylandville surpassed their goal and
collected $787. By the end of the
three-week period, Wylandville had
collected $1,300 to be donated to help
the cause. The money was sent to The
Clinton Bush Haiti Fund. This fund
was started at the request of President
Barack Obama for Haitian survivors to
rebuild their country.
The students are happy to be able
to contribute to this cause and help
others throughout the world.
IN Canon-Mac | May 2010 |
Help for Haiti
From left are Michael Trossman, NSIS Principal
Mark Abbondanza, Tony D’Amico, Washington
County Commissioner Diana Irey, Mariah
Matthews and Elizabeth Mounts.
NORTH STRABANE INTERMEDIATE
Mariah Matthews and Elizabeth
Mounts, fifth-graders at North Strabane
Intermediate School, created flyers for
their fellow students to donate non-perishable items to help the people of Haiti. The
students donated toothpaste, toothbrushes,
soap, towels, and other items that were
sent to the Brother’s Brother Foundation
to provide relief to those in need.
Similarly, Tony D’Amico and Michael
Trossman, NSIS sixth-graders, created flyers for the school to donate money to help
the orphans who were transported from
Haiti to Pittsburgh. They raised $411.
Both fundraising efforts took place in
February.
In recognition of the students’ efforts,
Commissioner Diana Irey visited NSIS to
thank them. The check was presented to
Brother’s Brother through Commissioner
Irey’s office on behalf of North Strabane
Intermediate School.
www.incommunitymagazines.com
5
SMART FUTURES
Run by the non-profit, Pittsburgh-based
Smart Futures, E-Mentoring is a pilot initiative taking place in Mrs. Natalie
Johnson’s fourth period Entrepreneurship
class. Students are matched with professionals as mentors who interact with students via a facilitated and secure Internet
exchange with a guided curriculum.
Through the interactions, students explore
career areas of interest, personal thoughts
regarding postsecondary education, and
have the unique experience of communicating with a professional who can share
the highs and the lows of their own work
experience. “It has been such a rewarding
experience to offer E-Mentoring to this
class! Students have been engaged and
eager to complete each session, even asking to make up a missed class assignment
at home. Students requesting homework. I
love it!” exclaimed Mrs. Johnson.
JOB SHADOW
Students interested in seeing what a job
is like may participate in a job shadow
experience. To participate, students request
a job shadow from his/her school counselor and identify their top one or two
fields. It is wonderful when students
already have ideas about where to shadow
or connections to
CANON-McMILLAN
established
SCHOOL DISTRICT
companies,
agencies, or
professionals.
During the job shadow, students
observe the professional setting and have
the opportunity to ask questions about professions, jobs or tasks. As Lindsey Eckert
can attest, having the ability to have a
hands-on experience can solidify an idea
about a possible career choice. In the
spring semester, Lindsey spent a day at
Waynesburg University in the sports
broadcasting department, observing and
interacting with Lanny Frattare, former
voice of the Pittsburgh Pirates and presently Special Assistant for University
Relations and Assistant Professor in
Communications.
“I really loved being on his radio show.
He taught me so much about broadcasting.
Spending the time with him helped me to
really feel more positively about my
choice to go into broadcast journalism,”
said Lindsey.
Opportunities for job shadows are open
to any student who is in good standing at
the high school level. Students should ask
their counselor for more information.
Skills key to smart future
In today’s increasingly challenging job market, students
may wonder where and how they and their skills will fit.
Canon-McMillan School District provides many
opportunities to develop career awareness, an integral
part of the Career Education and Work Standards, and
an equally critical component in planning for the future.
CAREER FAIRS
Are you an em
ployer,
a profession
al or a
company ow
ner?
Would you like
to provide
career exposu
re activities
to Canon-McM
illan students?
Please contact
Mrs. Kathy
Sharkady or M
rs. Karen
Rubican in the
High
School Counse
ling
Department at
(724) 8735019.
For the past 12 years, Canon-McMillan School District has
participated in a consortium of South Hills school districts,
including Upper St. Clair, Bethel Park and Peters Township, to
host four career fairs a year, geared toward juniors. Each 11thgrade student may elect to participate in two fairs. CanonMcMillan, under the leadership of Mrs. Kathy Sharkady, school counselor, partners with
Bethel Park to provide the Engineering/Science/Aviation/Trades Career Fair. “The junior year
is particularly important in terms of making decisions regarding which college to apply to
attend, which major to select,
and which classes to take.
Ruling careers in or out is
important,” says Mrs.
Sharkady.
Recently, over 40 students
attended the Arts and
Humanities Career Fair, held at
South Fayette High School.
Students were exposed to a
variety of professionals, including actors, producers, filmmakers, anthropologists, museum
curators, makeup designers,
graphic designers, and others.
According to an exuberant
11th-grade student, Shana
Junior Alex Adams gets pointers from phoJoyce, “The Arts and Humanities Career Fair was one
tographer David Mihelarikis during
of the best experiences of my junior year so far. They
the South Fayette Career Fair.
had so many different opportunities to talk and learn
about various careers. Luckily for me, my passion was there. I want to go into broadcast journalism. I had the opportunity to meet Andrew Stockey (WTAE-TV news anchor). He motivated and inspired me to enter the field which I admire most.”
Alex Adams shared the following impressions, “Deciding about college and a career are
some of the hardest decisions that students have to make. Being able to participate in activities
and events like this, supported by people that care about you and want you to be successful,
will make a big difference in how prepared we are to make those decisions.”
2009/2010 CAREER FAIR TOPICS
Business/Information/Law/Government
– Chartiers Valley High School
Engineering/Science/Aviation/Trades
– Canon-McMillan High School
Arts and Humanities
– South Fayette High School
Government/Health & Human Services
– Upper St. Clair High School
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| IN Canon-Mac | May 2010
ELECTIVE CLASSES
Numerous classes afford students the
opportunity to learn about new academic
areas that could translate into future
careers.
● The Technology Education
Department offers courses including
Graphics Communications,
Manufacturing, Computer-Aided
Engineering, and others. “There are a lot
of people in the trades who are at or near
Continued on next page
retirement age. It is an excellent time for a high school
graduate to consider trade school or an apprenticeship program for career training,” says Mr. Patrick Hudock, technology education teacher. In fact, many careers in this
pathway are considered “high-priority occupations” in
Pennsylvania, according to a Commonwealth-run Web site,
www.pacareerzone.com.
● The Business Department offers courses in Business
Practices, Desktop Publishing, Marketing and
Management. Entrepreneurship is also offered.
Entrepreneurship, being “your own boss” and starting your
own business, is an area identified by the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania as a need.
Whether your student is a gifted artist, an eloquent
speaker, or an inquisitive numbers cruncher, it is imperative to review the course selection handbook and consider
classes that could be just what they need to develop their
career plan.
BORLAND
MANOR
‘ROCKS’
From left, Tony
DiTullio, Michael
Corwin, Parker
Makowski,
Kamden Martin,
Carter Pojeta,
Mr. John Pojeta,
Matthew Sarver,
Hanna Mariskanish,
Emily Calvert,
Brooke Zanaglio,
Christi Chase,
Allison Helfer and
Taylor Flynn.
WEB-BASED RESOURCES
The High School Counseling Department is the place to
go for career exploration opportunities. Students are able to
access Web-based resources, like www.College
Options.com and www.educationplanner.org to
complete interest inventories, develop a timeline for the
college application process, search for careers, and determine the educational requirements for their area of interest.
Another excellent resource is www.pacareerzone.com,
which has a variety of inventories and career information.
As referenced earlier, Pa Career Zone outlines career clusters and pathways, includes videos and references high-priority occupations, a list of occupations for which there is
great demand for workers in Pennsylvania.
A list of resources may be found on the High School
Guidance Web page.
CAREER EDUCATION & WORK STANDARDS
The Pennsylvania Department of Education developed
Academic Standards for Career Education and Work that
were introduced in 2006. These Standards focus on four
distinct and important areas:
● Career Awareness and Preparation
● Career Acquisition
● Career Retention and Advancement
● Entrepreneurship
Pennsylvania developed these standards after
Pennsylvania companies and businesses complained that
the work force seeking employment was not prepared to
work. The Standards were developed to strengthen students’ understanding of the importance of “soft skills,” the
ability to read non-verbal cues, work cooperatively as a
team, and comply with the expectations of employers related to being on time and being a consistently strong
employee. For more information on the Career Education
and Work Standards, visit www.pacareerstandards.com.
If you are thinking that this is not the high school experience that you remember, you are not wrong. “It is critical
in today’s global economy that we offer all of our students
as many opportunities as possible at all levels of schooling
to develop career awareness,” says Mr. David Helinski,
High School Principal. “Student career and life choices
begin to form very early in life and the students and parents rely on the District to help to formulate good choices.”
Third-graders rock at Borland Manor Elementary School. The students
recently finished a science unit about rocks and minerals. The children tested a variety of minerals to learn about their various properties.
A presentation was made by Mr. John Pojeta, grandfather of Carter
Pojeta. Mr. Pojeta is employed at the Smithsonian Institution in the
Department of Paleobiology and retired from the U.S. Geological Survey.
He was able to share several artifacts and fossils, including shells, snails,
clams, and horseshoe crabs. He also shared some leaves and models of
bones. The children gathered around Mr. Pojeta as he named the objects and
answered questions. Most exciting, the children were able to handle the
objects.
NAME
GAME &
MOBILES
Miss Danielle
Blonar’s students,
from left, Tianna
Borda, Ainsley Link,
Elijah Walton and
Evan O’Brien.
Hills-Hendersonville first-graders showed their creativity as they constructed mobiles of their names. This project supplemented the language arts
curriculum in which the students worked with letter sounds and identifying
nouns. For this project they used the letters of their names to brainstorm and
name a person, place or thing with the same beginning sound of each letter.
In addition, the students illustrated each noun. They hung their name
mobiles around the classrooms.
MUSE MICE
After Mr. Cosmo D’Orazio’s second-graders read and discussed “Two
Mice,” the children constructed a diorama using a shoebox. The students
were permitted to use homemade or bought materials. They also were told
to use imagination and be creative. Upon completion of their project, the
students wrote a short summary describing their mouse’s habitat.
Not only did the children learn an important reading comprehension skill
about comparing and contrasting, they also saw that teamwork and sharing
are essential.
IN Canon-Mac | May 2010 |
www.incommunitymagazines.com
7
Wikis working wonders in the classroom
P
arents in the know, know about wikis.
Wikis are a form of Web 2.0 technology that has taken the
Internet from a static knowledge repository to a “read/write” web
where people become active contributors to the Internet through contribution, sharing, and collaboration. Web 2.0 allows people to easily
contribute to the Internet through such technologies as blogs and
wikis.
Teachers and students in North Strabane Intermediate School and
Canonsburg Middle School are using this new method of communication in and out of class. Children today are so comfortable with the
use of social networking … Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc. …
that it makes sense to find a way to use it for education.
Canonsburg Middle School Principal Greg Taranto and NSIS
Principal Mark Abbondanza recently co-authored an
article, “Powering Students Up,” that was published
in the December 2009 issue of the National
Secondary Principals Association Magazine,
“Principal Leadership.” It reveals how their schools
have transformed a form of teaching using wikis, or
collaborative Web pages that groups can edit togther.
Today’s students and teachers just entering the
field are “digital natives,” people who have grown
up being comfortable with computers and social networking. Some schools across the country have
banned the use of social networking for fear of misuse. Instead, Canon-McMillan is taking its students
into that area of communication using safe and
secure guidelines.
Mr. Taranto and Mr. Abbondanza took the “digital
natives” in their
schools and used
CANON-McMILLAN
what they know to
SCHOOL DISTRICT
create a new way of
handling schoolwork. Mr. Abbonanza believes that the phrase “academic social networking” was coined by himself and
Mr. Taranto.
There are a contract and guidelines for using a wiki. Parents also
must sign a contract about what a student can and cannot do on the
wiki.
The process begins with students and parents signing
a contract with teachers to prevent students from
using inappropriate language, chat language, incorrect spelling and grammar. Teachers assign “names”
to each student to use, but they may not give
out any personal information. The classroom wiki is open to only members of the wiki; therefore, other
people who are not in the class do
not have access to the classroom
wiki. The wiki becomes a virtual
extension of the classroom.
Then the teachers get down to work.
They create the wiki in which students are
asked to either complete assignments or
engage in an assignment-like discussion.
Mrs. Jeanna Reda, NSIS gifted teacher, uses a wiki
with her gifted students for studying literature. They read
their novels and she uses a wiki as a communication portal
with them. She posts questions and her students log
8 www.incommunitymagazines.com
into her private wiki to respond with their answers. The students get
to talk with each other and answer their questions or respond to each
other on her wiki.
Each NSIS language arts teacher creates his/her own wiki. “It
takes a lot of work because you have to monitor it regularly for
appropriateness,” says Mr. Abbondanza. “This promotes social networking and gives students an opportunity to learn digital citizenship
skills.”
Students focus on an academic topic. “We want them to have
healthy academic discourse,” says Mr. Abbondanza.
Mrs. Reda uses her class wiki to prepare for LitFest by having
students discuss novels they have read. LitFest is a competition
among surrounding schools that challenges students intellectually
about preselected book
titles. Using a wiki, students get to share
thoughts about characters by discussing their
traits and how they play
a part in the story. By
sharing analytical views
about what they have
read, students build a
wide array of knowledge about each story,
thus helping them compete during LitFest.
Mrs. Amy Dulaney,
fifth-grade language
arts teacher, uses a
wiki, which is new to
fifth grade. She posts a
video on her wiki for
her students to view.
Figurative language is
one of the video topics
Mrs. Melissa Dalbon works
and the students answer
with Alec Hutchin at CMS.
questions about it.
“It is natural for
fifth-graders,” says Mr. Abbondanza. “However, it’s a
little scary for teachers to work with a wiki at first. They want children to respond to questions on computers at home, but you
never know what a child will post.”
Mrs. Julie Gaetano, eighth-grade English
teacher, and Mrs. Melissa Dalbon, eighthgrade language arts teacher, are seeing tremendous success with incorporating wikis in their
classrooms to create virtual book club discussions, debate topics, and synthesize new content
while on the wiki. In addition, Mr. Brian Smith,
eighth-grade science teacher, is exploring the use of
wikis as students hold discussions about virtual labs
they view via the wiki.
Implementing the use of wikis is going slowly
because it is more difficult and means more work for the
teacher. Not only does the teacher go on the wiki, but if
there are 25 students in that class, the teacher must
monitor the multiple postings of all those students.
At the beginning of the year, CMS and NSIS also
| IN Canon-Mac | May 2010
Continued on next page
launched blog portals.
Each teaching team has a blog page and
they post a variety of information such as pictures, homework assignments, videos as homework assignments, and educational links to
visit for more in-depth information on what
they are learning, says Mr. Abbondanza.
This is a good way of having teachers and
students interact when it is impractical to do it
face-to-face because of scheduling or physical
constraints, according to Mr. Taranto.
“The biggest thing is that it gives parents a
communication link to the teachers. All the
teachers came onboard. Parents love it. A lot of
parents check their blog page every day. They
love to go on and see photos of their children
participating in the classroom,” says Mr.
Abbondanza. “At the end of each day, they
post everything that went on in the class that
day and the kids check it. They are enticed to
look at night from home because some teams
post mystery videos to get them interested for
the next day’s class.”
NSIS also had a wellness blog for the
school’s monthly wellness activity for students.
“We had a Wellness Day on Martin Luther
King Jr. Day, and four times that day they
learned something about Martin Luther King
Jr. and had to jump for a minute,” says Mr.
Abbondanza.
Mr. Taranto explains that students have to
learn the rules of good digital networking. That
means the shortcuts they use to circumvent
good grammar or spelling have to be eliminated. Their interaction online must be as readable
as any work they would do in a classroom. It
also means that they must keep themselves safe
by not providing any personally identifiable
information online.
Many people have naively listed information such as name, address, age, and other
items that would identify them and predators
can use that to hurt them.
By using the Canon-McMillan academic
social networking’s guidelines and contract,
students are learning how to protect themselves
while online.
“We’ve only just broken the ice with offering these types of opportunities and we owe a
great amount of gratitude to the teachers taking
this leap to extend their classroom beyond the
bricks and mortar. As more and more teachers
see the potential in the technology, it will catch
on. You can’t ignore the impact it has on the
classroom experience – the students have
amazing voices just waiting to come out in digital form,” according to Mr. Taranto.
“Finally,” says Mr. Taranto, “involving parents in this process is extremely important
because it gives them an opportunity to experience and become familiar with social networking and enables them to become more tech
savvy and aware of their children’s online
activity.”
CIS SPELLING
BEE WINNERS
CIS students from Ms. Marianne Teissier’s social studies
class are, from left, front row, George Demnyan and Katie
Wozny; back row, Zach North, Shane Sobansky, Jessica
Miles and Abby Loutzenhiser
COLONIAL PUPPET SHOW
As a culminating activity to the unit on studying
colonial America, students in Ms. Marianne
Teissier’s fifth-grade social studies classes at CIS
presented a puppet show. Each student researched a
person from colonial times then created a puppet to
resemble that person. Students then presented their
findings in the form of a puppet show in class
while being behind a desk covered with a sheet.
GEOGRAPHY MASTER
All Cecil Intermediate School
students took part in the school’s
annual schoolwide geography bee
in February. Classroom competitions began in the fall with classroom champions being chosen. In
the finals between fifth- and sixth- Andrew Balog
graders, before students, faculty,
families and friends, Andrew Balog was the winner.
Cecil Intermediate
School held its annual
schoolwide spelling bee
in March with all students participating.
Teachers started the
process in the fall by
conducting classroom
competitions to narrow
the field to three students
per class. Those students
competed to determine
the top 14 students in
each grade. To make it
more exciting, the final
rounds of the competition were in the gym for
all of the students, families, and friends to
watch. This
year’s overall
winners were
sixth-grader
Ana
McGinnis and
fifth-grader
Kripa George.
Ana
Both girls
McGinnis
represented
the school at
the regional
level competition held at
the Children’s
Hospital of
Pittsburgh.
Kripa George
‘INNOVATION
IN HISTORY’
Canon-McMillan High School’s
10th-grade Honors U.S. History classes participated in National History
Day in the high school atrium in
March. This year’s theme was
“Innovation in History: Impact and
Change.”
Students presented research
papers, visual displays, and documentaries on topics ranging from money
to the microwave to rock n’ roll. The
students’ presentations were evaluated by members of the administration and faculty based on their historical accuracy, analysis
and interpretation, and explanation of the innovation’s historical
significance.
Tyler Wake, Payton Gent, Casey Fraysier, and Gabriella
Ventresca represented Canon-McMillan at the regional History
Day competition at the Heinz History Center.
IN Canon-Mac | May 2010 |
Social studies teachers Ms. Linda Kight
and Mr. Jason Dill
evaluate Ashley
Madia’s presentation.
www.incommunitymagazines.com
9
NSIS SELLS ACS
DAFFODIL CARDS
SC is a
‘Whale
Done’
school
Author Ken Blanchard,
known for his expertise in
the business world, wrote a
book entitled “Whale Done!” The premise follows what the trainers at Sea World discovered
decades ago – whales perform when you accentuate the positive and redirect the negative. This
philosophy holds true for humans of all ages as
well. Nice matters.
Although this concept is not new, South
Central has adopted the same principles in
everyday school atmosphere and language. On
the first day of school, the students and staff
gathered to watch a video from Sea World
called “Believe.” This is fitting because educators know that if you believe in
someone, that support can take
them further than they may
go on their own.
Every Wednesday
before the students
CANON-McMILLAN
SCHOOL DISTRICT
Kindergartners from Mrs. Christa Strimel-Shutt’s class
show the “Whale Done!” hand movements. These
South Central students are, from left, Maximo Bartrum,
Karley Miller, Riley Thomas, Hannah Gray, Alia
MacFarland and Anthony Pettito.
report to their classrooms for the day, Principal
Michelle Tomicek meets with all 450 students
in the multi-purpose room for a few minutes to
recognize those in the school who have
received a “Whale Done” for the week. The
individuals each receive a whale sticker and a
certificate saying specifically what it was that
they did, and a whale goes on the bulletin board
in the main hallway. Everyone even does a
“Whale Done” hand movement splash to get
into the spirit.
The program has been so “whale”
received that now there is a competition
among the buses everyday to see which
bus will win the “Whale Behaved” bus
of the month award.
BOOK FAIR AIDS NEEDY
First Street Elementary students held a
fundraiser during Book Fair Week to help
needy children. For each dollar raised,
Scholastic would match the donation by giving a book to a needy child. The students
raised over $800. The classroom that raised
the most money was Mrs. Lindsay Ulam’s
third grade. Her students were allowed to
Silly String Principal Robert Kleinhans.
Miss Nicole Bazner’s second grade came in
second and Silly Stringed Assistant Principal
Tula Dziak, seen in this photo.
S.CENTRAL
DONATES
TO LIBRARY
FUND
South Central Elementary PTA recently donated $300
to the Greater Canonsburg Public Library Building Fund,
as well as a donation of books from their Scholastic Book
Fair’s “One for Books” Program. From left, accepting the
South Central PTA donation is Greater Canonsburg
Public Library Director Lyn Crouse with Rhea Weese and
Jan Lawrence, co-chairs of the South Central Book Fair,
and Andrea Raymer GCPL Board of Trustees.
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Miss Lee Caffrey’s sixthgrade School Spirit
Exploratory students at North
Strabane Intermediate organized an American Cancer
Society fundraiser. Students
sold daffodil cards during
lunch for $1 each in March.
NSIS students donated $570
to the American Cancer
Society. Mrs. Amy Dulaney’s
fifth-grade class purchased
the most daffodil cards and
were given a prize from the
American Cancer Society.
SWEET LESSON
WITH ‘CAKE BOSS’
The second-graders in
Mrs. Mary Maslanik’s class
at Muse Elementary School
were thrilled to receive individual, autographed pictures
of the “Cake Boss.”
The children were learning about ways to celebrate
birthdays and thought it
would be a nice idea to write
a letter to Buddy Valastro,
the star of the TV program,
“Cake Boss,” with an idea
for their birthday cake. The
children also drew illustrations of their cake.
They sent Buddy an autographed picture of themselves and asked that he sign
a picture for them. Buddy not
only signed the class picture,
but gave each child their own
picture.
This lesson incorporated a
lot of skills in the writing
process to write their letters.
They also used math skills to
add the cost of the stamps
and had a lesson on how the
mail travels.
LIGHTNING
THIEF AT CMS
Percy Jackson
‘visits’ Canonsburg
Middle School
Overnight the hallways of Canonsburg
Middle School were transformed into Camp
Half-Blood, a key location in the book
series, “Percy Jackson and the Olympians,”
and the students became its “campers.”
Artificial trees were placed throughout
the hallways, and each classroom’s doorway
was decorated with a roof and walls to represent a cabin from the story. Students
arrived at school in a state of excitement and
bewilderment over the changes until they
were called to the auditorium for the opening assembly that explained the transformation.
At the opening assembly, the students
kicked off the unit by watching a message
that was sent to the school from the Mt.
Olympus Oracle (CMS Principal Greg
Taranto dressed as Zeus on the screen). The
oracle explained to the students that they
would be reading the novel, “The Lightning
Thief” by Rick Riordan, and that each
homeroom would be representing one of the
Olympian gods and goddesses. The oracle
“announced” to the students which rooms
would represent which cabins from the
story. The students cheered along as the
names of the different Greek gods’ and goddesses’ cabins were announced, and they
learned whose cabin their room
would represent.
Once the students received
instructions from the oracle, they
returned to their homerooms and
began working on the transformations. Doors were decorated
with the Olympian’s mascot, and shields
with their cabin’s name were colored and
mounted on their lockers. To make the experience authentic, students were given camper
T-shirts that they wore to school each
Friday, and their teachers had matching
counselor shirts.
The unit culminated in a field trip to see
the movie “Percy Jackson and the
Olympians: The Lightning Thief” at the theater. Many are reading the sequels in the
series and are still wearing their “Camp
Lightning Thief” shirts to school.
Mrs. Mindy Wright and Mr. Jeremy Kuharcik,
language arts teachers
Front row, from left, Zachary Mansmann, Abby
McCartney, Kami Warnock, Brooke Bozic and Nick
Fox; back row, Mrs. Mindy Wright and Mr. Jeremy
Kuharcik.
Earlier in the year, the students had
learned about Greek civilization in their
social studies classes. Having studied the
culture and beliefs, the students then read
ancient Greek myths in language arts. With
a strong foundation in Greek history and
mythology, students began reading “The
Lightning Thief” in January. The novel is
the first book in the series “Percy Jackson
and the Olympians,” and tells the story of
12-year-old Percy who discovers he is a
demigod.
Rick Riordan has won several awards for
his novel: New York Times Notable Book of
2005; Akews Torchlight Award (UK)
Winner, 2006; Red House Children’s Book
Award Winner (UK), 2006; YALSA Best
Book for Young Adults, 2005; Warwickshire
Book Award Winner (UK), 2007 and many
more. More importantly, seventh-graders
love to read about the mythological characters they have studied come alive in modernday America in Percy’s adventures.
READ FOR THE RECORD
Read for the Record is an international campaign to bring children
together with valued adults in their lives to read the same book, on the
same day, in communities all over the world. Hills-Hendersonville students
participated on this historic day and the official book of the 2009 campaign
was “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle.
At right is fourth-grade teacher, Mrs. Alicia Patton, reading to her class.
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