District NewsBrought to you by: Adam Carr and Sierra Fent

THE

Black & Gold Unfold

Vol. 6 No. 4 Official Newsletter of Parkway Local Schools December 2013

-Home of the Panthers-

ParkwayLocalSchools

Upcoming Events

12/21-1/5- Christmas Break

12/25/13- Merry Christmas!

12/27/13-12/28/13- Chatt Insurance Tournament

1/1/14- New Years Day

1/6/13- School Resumes

Parkway Students Support Local FamilyDuring the week of November 18-22 Parkway High School held a “Penny Stall” to help a local fam-ily. A “Penny Stall” is a fundraiser in which students bring in loose change to a class, and that class-room’s teacher counts all the change before he or she starts teaching. Each day of the week a differ-ent class period was designated for the students to bring in their change. The family being supported by this fundraiser has to travel to the Cleveland Clinic on a regular basis so the Parkway FFA and Parkway Student Council planned the fundraiser to help the family with their expenses. While the ini-tial motivation was delaying the start of class, the students quickly saw how much of an impact they could have if they worked together to raise money for a local family in need. Hundreds of students brought in their change to help with this fundraiser. At the end of the week, Parkway High School stu-dents brought in a grand total of $2,262.59 in change. Through other donations, a total of $2,500 was raised. Out of the proceeds, $1,000 was used to buy gas from Belna Petroleum for the trips to Cleve-land and back. The other $1,500 was used to purchase Christmas gifts for the family because most of the family’s funds have been used for medical expenses and driving back and forth to Cleveland. We would like to give our best wishes to the family, and thank everyone who participated in this fundraiser.

Mr. Minnich counting the change students from his first period class donated.

Winter is upon us and with it comes bad weather. When it comes to the weather, Parkway Superintendent Mr. Greg Puthoff takes many precautions to keep the students, parents, and staff members safe. There are many factors that could delay school in the mornings or even close school for the day. Mr. Puthoff wakes up in the morning and checks the weather to see if any decisions need to be made about the school day. He then talks with other superintendents throughout Mercer and Auglaize counties to see what the weather is around the area. After that, he and two other people drive around the district to see if it is safe enough for students to get to school. The first decision needs to be made by 6:00 a.m. If a delay is required, Mr. Puthoff keeps checking the weather to see if a cancelation is needed. If needed, a final decision on a cancelation is made by 7:30 a.m. Some parents and community members may wonder why there is a delay or cancelation. A person may think the weather isn’t bad enough and driving to school wouldn’t be that difficult. They need to realize, however, that the aver-age bus stops around 55-60 times on it’s route. The safety of the students is the number one goal of Mr. Puthoff. If a delay or cancelation is necessary, the information is sent out to the following stations: WCSM 96.7 FM, WKKI 94.3 FM, WERT 1220 AM, and WIMA 1150 AM; TV: WLIO Channel 35 (Lima), WPTA Channel 21 (Ft. Wayne). A text message is also sent out through the “Ohio Alerts” system, which you can sign up for through our district website. When inclement weather is predicted to affect our area, community members can be assured that safety is the number one concern when the decision to delay or cancel is made.

District News Continued2

Parkway Band Receives Generous Donation

Before his death, Robert High requested that all memorials be made to the Parkway High School Band. As a result of his request, the band plans to purchase a set of orchestra bells. Robert High was a 1954 graduate of Rockford High School. He then graduated from the Ohio State University in 1958 with a degree in Agriculture Education. After college, he enlisted in the Army for two years and was stationed with the

Armored Division in Fort Knox, Kentucky. Mr. High then, along with his wife Barb, ran their dairy farm which raised Highlun’s Guernsey cattle. He finished his career by working for the Johnson Farm in Mendon for over 20 years. Mr. High was very active in many organizations including: Mercer County Guernsey Association; Ohio Dairyman’s Association; Mercer Soil and Water Conservation; Mercer County Farm Bureau; Spencer-ville Young Farmer’s Association; Ohio Young Farmer’s Association; Mendon Lions Club; Mendon United Methodist Church; Van Wert and St. Mary’s Amateur Radio Clubs. Bob also had many interests outside of farming. He and Barb enjoyed traveling around the United States as well as many international spots.

He also enjoyed photography as well as amateur radio equipment, his call letters being: KA8IAF. Mostly, Bob will be remembered for his willingness to play his keyboard at many of the surrounding nursing homes. The Parkway Band would like to thank Mr. High and his friends and family for their generous donations.

Winter Weather

On Monday, November 4 the Parkway High School student body attended a presentation called Rusty’s Story. Rusty’s Story is the story of a young police officer from Marion, OH who was killed by a distracted driver who was sending a text mes-sage. Rusty’s father was the speaker and he talked about the statistics of deaths due to distracted driv-ing and texting and driving. He explained to the students that texting while driving is not only a huge danger to their lives, but it can also be det-rimental to others as well. Texting and driving is against the law and is a very irresponsible act to take part in. According to www.textinganddriv-ingsafety.com, text messaging makes a crash up to twenty-three times more likely. Stay Alive, Don’t Text and Drive is the motto of Rusty’s Story that is being spread by his father to enhance awareness of the dangers of texting and driving. You can follow Rusty’s Story on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/RustysStory

3

High School NewsBrought to you by: Tanner Bates and Tim LaVergne

The Black & Gold Unfold is created by high school students in the School Publications class. The advisory committee for this publication includes Superintendent Greg Puthoff, High School Principal Brian Fortkamp, Middle School Principal Brian Woods, Elementary Principal Mark Esselstein, and Advisor Curtis Hamrick. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about this publication, please email them to Mr. Hamrick at hamricc@parkwayschools.org

On Wednesday, December 4 the Parkway High School Choir travelled to Lima, OH to record several songs for WTLW Channel 44. They per-formed three Christmas songs for the broadcast. They chose to perform “Oh, What a Wonderful Child,” “Christmas Joy!” and “Angels We Have Heard on High.” Be sure to tune into WTLW Chan-nel 44 throughout the holiday season to catch the Parkway High School Choir as well as other choirs from around Northwest Ohio performing holiday music.

Stay Alive! Don’t Text and Drive

Parkway Choir Makes Television Appearance

4

High School News Continued

On November 22 and 23 the Parkway High School Drama Club performed the popular Broadway pro-duction “Bye Bye Birdie” in the Parkway Local Schools Auditorium. The performance is about a rock singer who travels to a small town in the state of Ohio to make his farewell television performance and kiss his biggest fan before he is drafted into the war. With Connor Morton staring as Conrad Birdie, Nathan Boroff as Albert Peterson, Arielle Smith as Rosie, and Shannon Joseph playing as Kim Maca-fee, the cast did a fantastic job performing this well known production. The students had a great time and can’t wait to start planning their next production.

Throughout the remainder of the school year, the Parkway High School chapter of the National Honor Society will be helping the school and community by hosting a variety of fundraisers and events. During the month of December, the National Honor Society will be making trips to the Colonial Nursing Home to visit with the residents and to hear many of their extraordi-nary life stories. The National Honor Society will also be collecting Box Tops for Education. This project will be turned into a contest between all the 1st period classes throughout the high school. The contest will begin right af-ter the students return from their Christmas break. The winners will be rewarded with delicious donuts and drinks. All the proceeds from this project will be given to Parkway Elementary School as a donation. We are pleased that the members of the Parkway National Honor Society are willing to use their time and skills to help the community and the younger students at Parkway.

Parkway High School Drama Club Presents “Bye Bye Birdie”

National Honor Society Performs Service Projects

Middle School NewsBrought to you by Luke Cron and Jacob Stein

5

The Parkway 5th grade band held their annual Winter Cookie Concert on November 25. The 5th grade band, under the direction of Mr. Ryan Twigg put on a great show for the parents and community members in attendance. The students performed Itsy Bitsy Spider, Hot Cross Buns, and Merrily We Roll Along. Mr. Twigg was very pleased with their performance. Mr. Twigg is looking forward to teaching the band students throughout their middle school and high school careers. After the concert the guests enjoyed freshly baked cookies in the cafeteria.

Parkway 5th Grade Band Performs Cookie Concert

Tips for Parents of Middle School Students

Below are some tips to help your child succeed:- At the beginning of each grading period, help your child set realistic academic goals.- Encourage your child to get involved in school activities. Show your support by attending their performances and games.- Make sure your child knows that you expect him/her to be in school, on time, every day.- Attend open houses and parent conferences. Also, regularly check your school’s website for information and updates.- Know the dates that midterm grades and report cards come out. If you don’t see a report card, call the school and request a copy. If your child’s grades are accessible online, check them often.- One of the biggest challenges for students is being organized. Make sure that your child has a system for recording assignments, taking notes, and keeping his/her backpack organized.- Work with your school. Teachers, counselors, and principals are there to help your child get the best education possible.

Middle School News Continued6

On Friday, October 25 the Readistep assessment was administered to Parkway 8th grade students. Rea-distep is a flexible middle grade assessment that provides early feedback. Readistep measures skills stu-dents need to be on track for high school and college success. It also provides tools to address skill gaps and improve curriculum and supports transition to high school and high school course planning. Along with that, Readistep also offers tools for early college and career exploration. The Readistep assessment contains three multiple-choice sections: reading, writing and math. The read-ing section of the assessment measures students’ skills in determining the meaning of words, author’s craft, reasoning and inference, and organization and ideas. The mathematics section tests skills in num-ber and operations, algebra and functions, geometry and measurement, and statistics. The writing sec-tion tests skills in grammatical relationships, words and phrases, correctly formed sentences, and the relationships of sentences and paragraphs. All three sections of the assessment also test students’ skills in

problem solving, reasoning, and communication. After taking the Readistep assessment, students have access to an online tool that lets them take a personality quiz, understand their strengths and interests, plan for high school and college, learn about majors and careers that fit their interests, and explore col-leges by location, majors, and costs.

Mr. Peel’s 8th grade science classes have been working hard on trebuchets so they can take part in Wright State University’s Annual Trebuchet Competition. This competition is an activity that encourages teamwork, creativity, experimental design, and most importantly, fun. This contest is a great way to incorporate a hands-on project in science class. It may look easy, but students quickly learn that building a functioning trebuchet takes research, planning, and a focused construction process. The Annual Trebuchet Competition was to be held at the Nutter Center on the Wright State University campus in Dayton on Friday, December 6, but was cancelled due to bad weather. No reschedule date has been set as of now. This year marks the 14th Annual Trebuchet Competition. The Wright State College of Engineering & Computer Science hosts the trebuchet competition for middle school and high school students every year.

8th Grade Science Students Prepare for Trebuchet Competition

Clayton Agler and Reese Fokine working on their trebuchet

Parkway Middle School Students Take Readistep Assessment

Elementary Unleashed7

Brought to you by:Ryan On and Cody Carmean

It has become a Thanksgiving tra-dition for students in Mrs. Brun’s first grade class to have a celebra-tion. The class enjoyed a Thanks-giving feast as well as Thanks-giving activities. This year the students welcomed Mr. Falk as he read “Turk and Runt” written by Lisa Wheeler. The students also enjoyed making homemade bread with Mrs. Poor’s mother who shares her bread making skills with students each year. Mrs. Bruns and her first grade class would like to thank their guests who helped make their Thanks-giving celebration memorable.

Parkway’s 3rd and 4th grade students in the talented and gifted pro-gram have been working hard during their enrichment time. These students work on harder and more complicated problem solving tasks to challenge and encourage them to achieve at their maximum po-tential. The 4th grade talented and gifted (TAG) students are doing a “cook-ing with fractions” project. They are learning how to double a rec-ipe’s ingredients by multiplying fractions by whole numbers and adding fractions with like denomina-tors. They will finish the project by doing a cooking presentation in front of the class.The 3rd grade TAG students have been learning the purposes of certain machines and the energy required to make them work. They are also learning the many advantages and disadvantages of the machines. For their next project they will be learning about different types of poly-gons.

4th Grade Classes Hold Canned Food DriveParkway elementary students are participating in the annual 4th grade hol-iday food drive! The 4th grade teaching staff has asked their students to refrain from buying the teachers gifts. Instead, they would like to help a few families in need in our district. In order to do this, the teachers are ask-ing that each child bring in a food items that would be used to create a holiday meal for a family in this area. This way they’ll be helping families in need while sharing the concept of giving with the students.

4th grade students Leroy and Tiana with their food items

Elementary Talented and Gifted ProgramThanksgiving Celebration

Elementary Unleashed 88

On Wednesday, December 4 Parkway Elementary welcomed a professor from Wright State University – Lake Campus. He came to teach the second grade students about fossils and dinosaurs. The students had already been studying fossils and dinosaurs so the hands-on activi-ties and demonstrations by the professor were very interesting for the students. This was a great way for students to see how what they were learning in the class-room is used in the “real world.”

Parkway’s second grade students recently visited Wright State Uni-versity-Lake Campus for STEM day. The letters in STEM stand for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. The WSU-Lake Campus

Elementary Education department and Engineering department spon-sored this event. Students created rubber band cars and balsa wood airplanes to explore forces and motion. The students also created a block puzzle and participated in four cooperative group STEM challenges. While the students did a lot of hard work throughout the day, they did find time to unwind with some recreation at the YMCA located next door to WSU-Lake Campus.

Parkway 1st graders have been practicing their writing skills by send-ing letters to pen pals. This year the students are writing to first grade students in Vidor, Texas. This is a great experience for the students because they are able to talk to other kids their age from a different part of America. The students are very excited about their new pals and look forward to continuing to exchange letters with them.

Pen Pals From Texas

Parkway Students Learn about Fossils

Wright State University - Lake Campus STEM Day