Published: January 01, 2003 12:00 am            

School Bells

Norman High School

The Norman High School coaching staff and friends of NHS invite current and former football players, coaches, parents and community members to celebrate Coach Butch Peters' retirement from Tiger football. A reception will be 4:15 to 6 p.m. May 14 at the Norman High School Commons.



Lincoln

During their study of the continent of Asia, Mrs. Schlueter's and Ms. Peil's third-graders enjoyed a Japanese presentation by Miho Takahashi, a Japanese language instructor at the University of Oklahoma. Shun Kondo helped with the presentation. He and his family have been in the U.S. for one year. The presentation included Japanese history, geography and origami art.

Third-graders also have been studying the novel "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." They enjoyed many chocolate activities such as writing letters to several chocolate companies and creating chocolate projects. Their culminating activity was to watch the video "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" and compare the novel to the movie using a venn diagram. During the movie, they enjoyed chocolate treats.

Lincoln's?fourth-quarter student council representatives are Valeria Gonzalez-Rios, Kaysha Carter, Jade Smith, Alex Konieczny, Christian Pennokee, Graham Cifelli, Scout Willimas and Sam Segroves.

On Earth Day, the student council?members?spent the morning cleaning up the playground.?Their final meeting for the year will be May 13.

The final PTA meeting for the school year will be 6 p.m. Monday in the Lincoln Library. This week will be Teacher Appreciation Week; the PTA will treat the teachers to breakfast every morning that week. Wednesday is the volunteer luncheon. Friday is the annual jogathon.

Lincoln's team for the district Game 24 math tournament includes Tessa Bowen, Connor Mears, Valeria Gonzales and Adrianna Chambers.

The OU Trombone Choir performed at the morning assembly April 25. Beverly Herndon will be the visiting artist Tuesday and Wednesday. She will do Oriental brushwork with grades three to five.

The March total of books read by Lincoln kindergarteners is 1,626. The grand total for the year read by these 40 students is 6,926.

McKinley

Mrs. Perry's kindergarten class recently learned more about Sri Lankan traditions and Jewish Passover. Student Jihan Dahanayaka shared his rich Sri Lankan traditions, customs and experiences with his classmates April 18 in Mrs. Perry's classroom. His mother, Mrs. Dahanayaka, brought two short video segments highlighting the Sri Lankan culture, which the students were able to view using the school's new Smartboard Technology purchased by the PTA.?Students enjoyed seeing the replicas of the masks worn for celebrations, and trying out candy made in the traditional Sri Lankan method. Jihan also wore a traditional Sri Lankan outfit. ??

The previous week Mrs. Perry's class learned about Jewish Passover from Mrs. Messitte, Sam's mother.?She told the children all about the traditions associated with the holiday and gave them Matzo bread to eat for snack.

Angelyn Connywerdy shared her family's culture last month with Native American dance, music, stories and traditional Native American Dress.?Her family are well known Fancy Dancers. They presented a performance for the entire elementary school.?Mr. Connywerdy was participating in an internship with the fourth grade students at the time, so many of them were allowed to participate in the dance; Angelyn's kindergarten class also danced with the Fancy Dancers.?Mrs. Connywerdy, who volunteers her time teaching computer skills to the class weekly, taught traditional Native American songs to the children and told many stories during the school-wide assembly.

The class is planning other cultural experiences as part of their desire to learn more about their friends and neighbors.?Next week they will learn about the culture of Columbia, as Mathias Torres and his family provide a demonstration regarding their culture. The students are anxious to learn about the customs associated with this equally rich culture. Mrs. Torres teaches Spanish to Mrs. Perry's Kindergarten children, as a volunteer, on a weekly basis.

Fourth-graders will visit Rose Hill School Monday. McKinley chorus will perform 7 p.m. Tuesday in the gym?for families and friends.

The final skate night at Skateland will be 6-8 p.m. Tuesday and final PTA meeting will be 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in a meeting room in Skateland.?Cost is $5 per skater (non-skaters/PTA meeting attendees are no charge). Pizza and drinks available for an additional fee. Open only to McKinley students and their families.

McKinley chorus will perform for the school 8:30 a.m. Wednesday. Thursday, illustrator Mike Wimmer will visit the school.

Cartoonist Danny Gordon will come to McKinley?May 14. The schoolwide Poetry Slam will be May 14. Fifth grade talent show will be May 16.



Jefferson

The Scholastic Book Fair comes to Jefferson this week. Students will be able to purchase books before school with a parent, after school with a parent, and on their own during their classes' designated times. The book fair ends Friday.

Tuesday, selected students will be going to Camp Think a Lot with Camp Counselor Toperzer.

Wednesday, fifth-graders will be attending the Redhawks' game.

Friday, Jefferson will be holding its annual Muffins for Moms breakfast 6:45 to 7:45 a.m.

Parents are asked to return the pre-enrollment forms for their child for next year. If they have a kindergartener to enroll for next year, that can be completed now.

Jefferson faculty and staff would like to thank the Norman Public Schools Foundation for their support of students.



Kennedy

Mrs. Ashley's fifth grade class has been creating portraits.?With a partner they drew each other's portrait. Each student then created a picture frame and wrote 10 adjectives that describe themselves.

Kennedy's Step Team and Recorder Choir went on tour in Norman last Friday.?They performed?for Kennedy's Partners in Education, at the Catlett School of Music and for the City of Norman.

The Step Team also performed at the May Fair Arts Festival Saturday.

Mrs. Bratcher's third-grade class has been observing anoles, also known as American Chameleons. A food chain was created in the terrarium:?the grass is food for crickets, which are eaten by the anoles.?Soon worms will be added and their role in the food chain will be discussed.

Kennedy's Team 24 competed in the district competition April 28.?Fifth-grader Rojesh Shakya earned the top stop, and came away with first place.?Fifth-grader Cooper Clark came in fourth place.?Other students competing were Jason Draper and Phillip Graham.?Team 24 will next compete with Kennedy Teachers in a Teacher vs. Student Showdown.



Veritas Classical Academy

Leah Dilley and Kayla Portwood had a shutout at the Norman Youth Soccer Association's Spring Cup Tournament. They won two games Saturday and two Sunday to take home the championship.

Fifth-graders took a trip to the Myriad Botanical Gardens this past Friday. Many arrived early to have a picnic in the garden area outside before the tour.?This was to celebrate the success of the science fair scores.

The last assessment tests for incoming kindergarteners will be 9 a.m. to noon Saturday and May 10. Incoming kindergarten students will be scheduled in 45-minute testing blocks. The cost is $25 per student. Testing will be at Trinity Baptist Church.?Regular admission testing also is scheduled Saturday for incoming grades 1-9, from 9 a.m. to noon. Cost is $50 per student. Please RSVP to 850-5309 in order for adequate staff and materials to be available.?The last Campus Day for the school year is will be 9-10:30 a.m. Thursday.?Anyone wanting to see the classical model of education in action is invited to attend.?

Upper school finals begin Friday. Finals for grammar school will be the week of May 13.?Remember the last day of school is May 15 with assembly, awards and then the picnic.?

Veritas currently meets at Trinity Baptist in Norman.The school will be re-locating to Crossroads Church on South Shields Blvd. for the 2008-2009 school year.

The school has a redesigned Web site at www.veritasnorman.org.? Board member Ryan Brown worked on this the with the web designer.



Cleveland

Cleveland would like to congratulate the OU men's gymnastics team on its national championship.

Gifted students in grades fourth and fifth will present their independent projects 5:30 p.m. Monday in the Cleveland library.

The annual first grade Mothers Day program will be 7 p.m. Tuesday in the gym.? There will be a reception afterwards.? The program is called "My MOM can do it ALL." First-graders need to be at school at 6:45 p.m. in their program T-shirt for the program.? DVDs will be on sale until after the show Tuesday.

The Kindergarten program "A Day in K" will be celebrated May 13.?DVDs are also on sale for this program.?Order forms were sent in Thursday Folders and also are on the Cleveland Web page.

Wednesday, fifth grade will be attending the Oklahoma Redhawks game.?Check with the fifth grade teachers for more information.

Friday, kindergarten students will go to the zoo.??



Eisenhower

Calendar Information:

Monday through Friday: Teacher Appreciation Week

Monday: Norman Public Library Summer Reading Presentation, 8 a.m.

Tuesday: Concert Chorus Spring Program, 7 p.m.

Tuesday: fourth grade to Omniplex

Wednesday: Concert Chorus Mini-tour

Wednesday: Special Olympic Eisenhower Athletes to Stillwater (through Thursday)

Thursday: PTA meeting, 6:30 p.m.

Friday: Super Kids' Day

Friday: Accelerated Reader Bash for third, fourth and fifth grades.

First grade is busy writing. Each student is now a published author and looks forward to sharing stories with families.?Students also are enjoying watching seeds grow and learning what helps a plant survive. In first grade, students have also been?studying Oklahoma and its symbols.?Students are excited about Super Kids Day, Camp Read-a -Lot, and all of the other fun activities coming up.

Second-graders are celebrating reading May 20 at Perfect Swing.

Fifth-graders are busy writing, editing and typing their fifth grade books.?These will be available for Eisenhower students to read at the end of the month.

May Student Council members are Kathy Corado, Madison Evans, Annalia Nation, Jordan Bushore, Morgan Miller, Racey Jarrett, Cyanne Sullivan, Ashlynn Cutter, Dylan Cullifer, Kaitlyn Green, Holden Stapp, Ben Newman, Ian Kennedy, Chris Thomas, Makayla Geary, Blake Bruce, Christian Figueroa, Hannah Hodge and Abe Ghanatti.

Eisenhower will have its Camp Read-a-Lot celebration May 15. Activities will include?a special Good Morning Eisenhower, storytelling, tent reading, races and animal presentations. Parents are invited to attend Good Morning Eisenhower to learn about the summer reading incentives and join in the celebration. Parents are also invited to volunteer to help with the activities.



Whittier

Students at Whittier are making a difference clear across the world. The "Warriors for Peace" club hosted a movie night Friday at the school and proceeds will benefit Free the Children, the world's largest network of children helping children.

Whittier Warriors have been meeting weekly to learn how children in south Asia live and this was their first major fundraiser to help others. All Whittier students were invited to eat pizza and watch the movie "Gandhi" for a $5 donation. The event was from 6-9:30 p.m. in the school library.

Comfort Homes was a sponsor for the event and helped cover the cost of the pizza and permission to show the movie in a public setting, so that all of the money raised by the kids could go directly to the cause. Free the Children is a charity that was started in 1995 by international child rights activist, Craig Kielburger, and has built more than 500 schools around the world.

The organization, along with the Warriors for Peace club at Whittier, has hopes of "inspiring young people to develop as socially conscious global citizens and become agents of change for their peers around the world".

Anyone who would like to donate to the cause can send checks payable to "Warriors for Peace" to Whittier Middle School, 2000 W. Brooks, Norman, OK 73069.

        

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