Weekly Bulletin for February 2, 2015

Students competing in the Junk Box Wars at this year's
West Geauga Kiwanis STEM Fair

To think is easy. To act is hard. But the hardest thing in the world is to act in accordance with your thinking. - Johann von Goethe

Important Dates

February 3 - Report Cards Distributed

February 4 - Freshman Mentoring - All freshmen will meet in gym.

February 9 - Department Head Meeting

February 10 - Staff Meeting

February 16 - No School - Presidents Day

Important Information

Art Show - Be sure to congratulate Megan Wojtonek, Kirstin Boni and Kaitlyn DiBiase on being selected to the participate in the  Beachwood Arts Council Juried Regional High School Art Show.  Their works will be on display from February 1st through the 22nd at Beachwood Community Center.  Here is the flyer containing more information about the show.  Thank you to Ms. Nells and Mrs. Jahnke for involving our students.

Vlah Fundraiser - Kim Glessner has organized an outstanding event to raise money for the Vlah family.  The "Fun"draiser will be held on March 7th from 5:00-11:00pm at the middle school.  Click here for flyer information.  

Period Attendance - In addition to homeroom attendance, period attendance needs to be taken on a daily basis.  See me if you do not know how to do this in ProgressBook.

Freshmen Class Meeting - On Wednesday, February 4th, all freshmen are to meet in the gym immediately at 7:32am.  Teachers that supervise freshmen during their mentoring need to advise the students to meet in the main gym.  The time will be used to explain the Next Generation Assessment schedule to the students.

NGA Testing Schedule - All freshmen math teachers need to advise their students of what group number they are in for the NGA's.  Please do this by the end of the day on Tuesday.

Be sure to congratulate Lexi Ober for taking first place
in the 2015 WG Kiwanis STEM Fair.

NGA Test Training - All teachers that will be administering the NGA have been notified and scheduled for training.  Click here for a complete list of teachers getting trained. Here is a folder containing training materials.

STEM Fair - Congratulations to the entire science department for encouraging and working with over 200 of our students that participated in this year's WG Kiwanis STEM Fair.  It was outstanding to see you at the event, giving praise and expressing interest in all projects.  Please congratulate first place finishers, Lexi Ober (9th Grade - Individual Research), Max Kucera (12th grade - Math & Junk Box Wars), Andrew Todaro (12th grade - Junk Box) and Alex Concilla (12th grade - Junk Box).  Click here for all of the STEM Fair results.

PARCC Practice -   Please share these links with your students and parents:

Math

• Math Practice tests 
• Math Practice Answers
• Allow students to practice with various tools, accommodations and accessibility features.

English

• English Practice Test
• English Answer Key
• Allow students to practice with various tools, accommodations and accessibility features.

Social Studies

• Social Studies Practice Tests

Science 

• Science Practice Tests

Senior Internship - The senior internship is designed to provide interested and eligible seniors with the opportunity to participate in meaningful independent projects of their own selection and design. Many of you have agreed to be an advisor for the students.  Please know that you are limited to four students.  You can find a description of your obligations here.  The entire internship packet is found on our guidance webpage or by clicking here.

West Geauga Academy - On the top of this bulletin is a link to the 2014-2015 West Geauga Academy Professional Development opportunities.  The semester begins this week with  a session discussing online testing.  Here is a direct link to the Academy's schedule.

Solo & Ensemble Contest (Choir) - On Saturday, January 24th, students from the West Geauga
High School Choirs participated in the Ohio Music Education Association District VII Solo & Ensemble Adjudicated Event.  Students prepared individual solos and small ensembles, performed for OMEA appointed judges, and received comments and a rating from I (highest) to V (lowest).  Soloists who received the rating of I were Jack Yochum, Hannah Fox, and Caitlin Speyer.  Soloists who received the rating of II were Kimberly Walkuski, Victoria Finnick, and Lillian Williams.  Class Act participated in the Chamber Ensemble category and received a I rating.  This is the fourth year in a row that Class Act has been given this rating at district Solo & Ensemble events. 19 students total from the WGHS Choirs participated in the event this year. - Congratulations to Paul Stewart for his outstanding work with these students.

Congratulations to our students that participated in this year's
Shakespeare Competition organized by our English Dept.

Solo and Ensemble Contest (Band) - On Saturday January 24th, the West Geauga High School Band had 42 of it's students participate in the OMEA District VII Solo and Ensemble Contest. The Solo and Ensemble contest allows students to perform either by themselves or with a small group of 3-7 other students. Every event is judged by an OMEA adjudicator, who scores the performance on a Five rating system, ranging from a rating of I - Superior to a rating of V - Very Poor. The 42 WGHS Band students performed in a total of 20 separate events throughout the day.  18 WG events received the highest rating of I and 2 events scored a II. The students that participated have been preparing for months for this contest, and we are very proud that they represented their school in such a positive and successful manner. Congratulations to our students!  - Congratulations to Jason Branch and Teresa Cosenza for the dedication to the program and their students.

Good Professional Reading (or Watching)

New Common Core tests - coming Feb. 16 - will test skills and reasoning, not memorization
Student Choice Leads to Student Voice
Sean Whelan's Online Test Taking Resources