Each year the state of Ohio grades each school district and individual building on a variety of factors including student attendance and student performance on the Ohio Achievement Assessments.  I am extremely proud to tell you that Parkway earned an EXCELLENT rating this year!!!  The students and staff at Parkway have worked very hard to earn this rating and deserve a huge round of applause!  WOW!  Way to go Parkway!  I also want to congratulate the parents and guardians of all of our students here.  We could not have done this without all of the hard work you put in at home to support the learning process at school.  Thank you for all that you do!  CONGRATULATIONS PARKWAY !!  Aviator pride is flying high!!

 Parkway Elementary School is proud to announce that the annual CARNIVAL will be held on Friday, September 24th from 5:00-8:00 in the evening.  There will be a lot of fun and exciting things available at the carnival for the whole family to participate in.  Check back soon for more details and make sure that you save the date for some fun family time at the carnival!

 Have you received your classroom assignment letter yet?  All students in second through fifth grade have been sent a letter that will tell them their teacher and homeroom assignment.  If you haven't received yours yet or your address has changed, please call the office.
Parkway Elementary Open House will be held on Monday, August 23rd from 4:00p.m.-7:00p.m.  This event will focus on second through fifth graders who will be attending Parkway Elementary School this year.  Of course, if you have a first grader and weren't able to make it to First Grade Orientation, please come to Open House!  The building will be open and you can meet your teacher, visit your classroom, drop off school supplies and look around the building.  You can also find out more about our awesome reading program, Success For All, that we will be using this year.  PTO will also have a table set up that will outline upcoming school events.  Please come and spend some time with us.  We look forward to seeing all of you. 

 Thanks to our technology fundraisers, we have just received a set of 16 Apple iPads to use in the computer lab and to be checked out to classrooms.  In addition to using the iPad with Wi-Fi to access Study Island and various online library resources, students can also create Keynote presentations, Numbers spreadsheets, Pages files, or create a Photo slideshow.  Since every classroom will have a projector and SMARTBoard this fall, students will be able to connect the iPad to the projector with a special cable and share their work with the class. There are also over 200,000 applications, or apps, in the iTunes Store--many of which can be used on the iPads for education. Examples are Google Earth, iBooks, Chess, NASA, Oregon Trail, and more!

  In addition, the Parkway PTO and Mrs. Mathie joined forces to purchase 4 more sets of SMART Response Clickers for the classrooms, and the new SMART Response software being released in July will even allow Mrs. Powell to use the iPads as Clickers in the lab!  Check out Mrs. Powell's Tech. Blog in the near future for more information about the iPads & specific apps to use with them.

  Students...Do you recognize Moby from Brain Pop?  He was at the ISTE
conference in Denver in June.  Mrs. Powell attended this conference
and is bringing back a ton of technology ideas to share with everyone!  

  Did you also know you can watch a featured Brain Pop movie
every day this summer?  If you have an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch,
visit the iTunes App Store and download the Brain Pop app.  It's free!
Then watch a new Featured Movie daily and take the follow-up quiz.

  Now you can watch the daily Brain Pop Movie on our website!  
Click HERE to watch today's Featured Movie.

 Congratulations to the Parkway fifth graders on your graduation!  We will miss you!  Best of luck at the middle school next year!
NOTE:  DVDs of the 5th Grade Graduation Slideshow are available in the school office.

 Three longtime Alliance City Schools staffers are retiring at the end of this school year.  Principal Kathie Mathie, secretary Cheryl Ott, and first grade teacher Diane Lieszkovszky are each ending over 30 years with the school district.  All three were honored at the end of Tuesday's talent show with songs and flowers.  Congratulations to all three ladies! As one first grader put it, "Everybody needs a vacation!", but we will miss all of you!  Enjoy your retirement!

 Learn how to use Garage Band software with the Flip video camera (or iPod Nano) to create original songs, podcast interviews, story recordings, newscasts, and music videos.  Share creations on the school website, on iTunes, or import into iMovie.  This class is part of the First Flight Summer program, but is not listed on the schedule.  It will be offered June 14-18 from 9:00 - 12:00 and is for students currently in grades 3, 4, and 5.  Class size is limited to 10 students, so don't hesitate!  Cost: $6.00  **See/email Mrs. Powell for details.

 In preparation for the recent Ohio Achievement Assessments, Parkway third, fourth, and fifth graders have been working on Study Island during school, as well as before & after school, and at home!  Their hard work is paying off! Since September, third, fourth, and fifth graders have answered 975,043 questions in reading, math, social studies, and/or science.  This includes children who have already met the grade level goal and are now working above grade level.  Teachers set monthly goals for their classes to reach and the % of questions correct for the building is 76.1%. Students are closing in on ONE MILLION questions!! 

 Current 3rd & 4th Graders: Are you interested in being a newscaster, weather forecaster, podcaster, videographer, slideshow operator, pledge coordinator, roving reporter, or director for the WPKY Channel 69 Morning News program? If so, please write a paragraph listing which job you would like to do and why, and explain the skills you have that would make you excellent at that job.  Include your name, teacher's name, and homeroom number and give to Mrs. Powell by Friday, May 7.  News team members will be chosen and trained in May.

 Students in Mrs. Barthel's Reading and Language Arts classes were greeted by a special visitor in the computer lab recently.  While students were working on their Study Island goals in preparation for the upcoming achievement tests, Mrs. Barthel called the class from the hospital via Skype.  She introduced the students to her baby, Olivia Grace, and students were able to ask her questions.  Mrs. Barthel also wished the classes good luck on their tests next week. Congratulations to the entire Barthel family!

Make sure you check out the short biographies of famous Ohioans, as portrayed by the 4th graders in Mrs. Alazaus's social studies classes.  Click HERE to jump to her classroom webpage.  Then scroll to the bottom of the page to the "Discussion Topics" section.  Click the name of a famous Ohioan then click the PLAY button to watch the video clip.

The second grade classes at Parkway recently researched famous Americans, typed reports about them (using AppleWorks), created timelines about their lives (using TimeLiner) and dressed as the characters for a special program shared with their parents.  Click HERE to view an iPhoto slideshow of the second graders. (Click the Famous Americans link below the line to view the slideshow.)

 The Alliance City Schools' annual student art show will be held throughout the month of April at Rodman Public Library.  Art work by Parkway students will be on display in the children's section.

 Parkway School has been identified by SMART Technologies as a leader in the adoption and integration of technology to enhance teaching and learning.  As a result, Parkway has been named a SMART Showcase School! Benefits include SMART training credit and professional development, special offers on SMART products and services, sharing best practices with peers, colleagues, and school visitors, Beta testing of new SMART products, inner circle communications, and recognition on the SMART Showcase Schools website.  Congratulations staff and students!  Parents: Special thanks for organizing and supporting our fundraisers!

   Congratulations to everyone who sold cookie dough and tickets for the lottery fundraiser!  The top salespeople for the lottery fundraiser were: 1st place: Riley Grisez, 2nd place: Logan Bell, and 3rd place: Tommy Gress.  Winners of the $50 drawing were: Asia Shriver, Sierra Nagle, and Ellie Brugh.

   The winning classes for the cookie sales were Miss Sage's 5th grade, followed closely by Mrs. Cvelbar's 2nd grade. Both classes sold over $1000 worth of cookie dough!  Also, Mrs. Balderson's class turned in the most orders. Congratulations to everyone! We plan to put the profits toward expanding the technology at Parkway!

 Students throughout the building have been creating audio podcasts of their oral reading, Keynote slideshow movies, SMART Notebook mathcasts and reading casts.  Make sure you check out the Discussion Topics section of your child's classroom webpage.  Currently, you will find audio recordings on Miss Croysdale's class page, Tall Tale podcasts and Keynote slideshows on Miss Sage's class page, and mathcasts on Mrs. Witham's classpage.  Fourth grade book review podcasts are now being uploaded to the website. You do NOT need an iPod to view these recordings.

Students in Miss Croysdale's classes recently studied inventions then created their own.  Robots, the Stairinator, bug swatters, and a Super Sweeper were some of the inventions the students made.  Then they wrote descriptions of their inventions, told what they did, how they worked, how much they would cost, and the location where they could be purchased. Check out the article in the March 11th issue of the Alliance Review!

 Fifth graders from the A.C.S. Math Team participated in the Stark County Math Tournament at Jackson MS. Congratulations to the following students who placed in the competition:

• Geometry: First Place--Natalie Dubaj
• Mental Math: Second Place--Haeli Minor; Fourth Place--Brenden Kelly
• Word Problems: Third Place--Jack Madison; Fourth Place--Kahana Slabaugh
• Computation:  Second Place--Lilli Boehm
• Team Problem Solving: Fourth Place--Cassie SierraValle, Cierra Roller, Evan Ayers

 World Maths Day was March 3, 2010.  This year, because our school has a V-Math Live subscription, we were automatically entered into the event! Students could log in from home or at school and compete against students from around the world. Games lasted 60 seconds and students could earn points for correct answers.  Students moved up levels as they progressed through the games. There is a Hall of Fame for children who answered the most questions. Read more on the World Maths Day 2010 website.  The World Maths Day 2010 event officially began at 5 a.m. Tuesday, March 2, Eastern Standard Time, since that is when the the first time zone began March 3.  It ended Thursday, March 4, at 5 a.m., EST, since that is when March 3 ended for the last time zone.  UPDATE: Students have now competed against 46 countries, including Trinidad & Tobago, Luxembourg, and Croatia!

  The third graders in Mrs. Weingart's class participated today in a Skype session with Miss Heather Stump's class at Philomena Primary School, in Bray, Co Wicklow, Ireland.  Miss Stump, a Mt. Union College student, did her pre-student teaching with Mrs. Weingart in the fall and is student teaching this semester at the Irish school under the guidance of teacher Doreen McHale.  Her class consists of 22 girls in the fourth "class", the boys having left the school after their 1st "class". It's girls only from then on!  Learn more about the school by visiting their website: 
http://www.stphilomenas.ie/home.html  and view some of the students' work:
http://ravenswell.wikispaces.com

The 4th Graders at Parkway School raised a WHOPPING total of $783.80, up from the original goal of $100 for the Haiti Project!!! This amount will feed almost 392 people for an entire day! The breakdown is as follows: Cash: $88, Quarters: $80, Dimes: $75, Nickels: $26, Pennies: $309, $200 from an anonymous donor, and $5.80 in unrolled change! ALL money was donated to the Red Cross last week! It was really exciting to have the wonderful citizens of Alliance dropping off their change at Parkway! THANK YOU to everyone who donated to this project!

 Snow has literally BLANKETED our area for the past few days! Students...if you have some great snow pictures, send them via email to Mrs. Powell (powell@acs.sparcc.org) and she'll put them together into a slideshow!  Here's one of Mrs. Cvelbar's students playing in the snow!

 Check out the video interviews that have just been posted on the Technology/Computer Lab webpage!  Listen to Maddie's chat with AHS graduate and guest speaker Ben Shuster.  (The interview was videotaped by Will, using our new Flip camera!)  Also hear Blake's interview with ACS Rookie Teacher of the Year, Kelly Croysdale.  
Click HERE.  Both interviews are listed as Feb. 13, 2010 entries.

 Attention, Parkway Families:
Haiti needs our help to recover from their recent earthquake.  Each student can help by bringing in their pennies, other change, or dollar bills.  Our goal was to collect 10,000 pennies, which is $100, to give to the Red Cross on February 11, 2010.  However, we have already raised $106.  The new goal is double the old one--$200.  It takes $2.00 right now to feed a person from Haiti per day and we want to feed 100 people for a day!  Fourth Graders will go around to every homeroom each morning before announcements to collect the donations.  Please help us go beyond our goal to help out a country in need!  Bring your money in today!  Thanks for your participation in this special project.  Read about MUC students' and MUC grad/Colts player Pierre Garcon's efforts to raise money for Haiti in USA Today, 

 Parkway School yearbooks are on sale now through February 12.  Information was sent home this week with the students. Yearbooks cost $15.00.  Please return envelopes with money enclosed to school.  If you have any questions, please email Miss Croysdale.  Thanks for your support!

 Parkway's 2009 Christmas musical, The Xmas Files (grades 3-5), is now available on DVD. Each DVD costs $6.00, and all proceeds will go to the Parkway Elementary School technology fund.  Please use the form handed out at school and return it to Miss Sage with your money.  Or you can use the form below and send your money in a LABELED envelope to school.  (Orders won't be processed until money is sent.) Checks can be made out to Parkway School.  Please try to have your order in by Friday, Jan. 8 (first order) or Thursday, Jan. 14, (second order). Thank you very much for all of your support!  Contact Miss Sage if you have any questions (330-829-2264). 

XMAS FILES ORDER FORM:
Student's Name 
Grade 1 2 3 4 5
Homeroom Teacher Grimm Sage Witham Alazaus Barthel Duncan Kocher Hisey Rozich Weingart Balderson Cvelbar Elliott Croysdale Lieszkovszky Osco
Number of DVDs Ordered 1 2 3 4 5
Cost  $ 6.00 (1 DVD) $12.00 (2 DVDs) $18.00 (3 DVDs) $24.00 (4 DVDs) $30.00 (5 DVDs)
CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT

Alliance High School graduate Ben Shuster recently visited Parkway School to speak to the WPKY News Team.  Ben works for the MTV television show "Rob Drydek's Fantasy Factory" and lives in California.  He explained his job to the group, answered questions the students had, then participated in a follow-up interview conducted by WPKY News Team member Madison Gasparik.  Read about his visit in the Alliance Review.

A holiday musical comedy called "The X-Mas Files" will be presented in the Parkway School gym on Tues., Dec. 15 & Wed., Dec. 16 at 6:30 p.m.  Seventy students from grades 3, 4, and 5 are in the production, led by teachers Diane Hisey, Nicole Rozich, and Diane Witham.  The musical involves a governor from the state of Confusion, strange creatures with antennae coming out of their heads, special agents, imposter Santas, interrogators and the school chorus!  Click HERE to view a photo slideshow of a recent rehearsal. (You must be logged in.)

The WPKY News Team visited Kent State University's School of Journalism and Mass Media on Nov. 20.  They were able to view and take charge in the control room, sit at the news desk and introduce themselves, and even try out the green screen for the weather forecast!  The news team then visited the college radio station and each child had the opportunity to be interviewed on a live radio broadcast!  The students enjoyed lunch at Wendy's afterwards before returning to Parkway School.  Click HERE to view a photo slideshow of our field trip.

Parkway students are learning how to use the new VMath Live online math program that Mrs. Witham was able to purchase with the Jennings grant she received.  There is a link to VMath Live on the Student Websites' drop-down menu on the Parkway website.  Students have already competed against other students from 34 different countries as they manipulate numbers mentally!  Those countries, not including the United States, are: United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, China, Switzerland, South Africa, Cuba, Germany, Russia, Belgium, Jordan, Portugal, Hong Kong (a territory of China), Singapore, Thailand, The Netherlands, The Phillipines, Mexico, Spain, Norway, Bahrain, Ireland, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.  The UAE is located along the Persian Gulf and borders Oman and Saudi Arabia.  It is made up of seven emirates, or states, including Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Quwain, Ras al-Khaimah and Fujairah. The newest countries that students have competed against are Nigeria, Vietnam, Indonesia, Kenya, Pakistan, Oman, and Japan.   http://www.vmathlive.com/signin/ For more information about the countries listed, check out the CIA World Factbook.

Help Parkway School raise money for SMARTBoards and accessories, field trips, incentives, and classroom materials.  Purchase your Pick 3 Lottery tickets from PTO, staff members or drop by the school office between the hours of 8 and 3.  Tickets cost $15.00 each and will be on sale until they are all sold or until January 4, 2010.  The actual drawings will take place Monday through Saturday in February, March and April, and the daily prize winner will receive $30.00 if the (straight) 3-digit number on their ticket matches the Ohio Lottery Pick 3 evening edition number.  One day during each of those 3 months $100.00 will be the prize!  THANKS for supporting the students and staff at Parkway School!

Students in Mrs. Balderson's second grade reading/language arts classes are participating in a pen-pal project with second graders from Washington Elementary in Marlington.  Recently, the Parkway 2nd graders had a "Meet & Greet" videoconference where they introduced themselves and met their penpals.  They also shared a song with the Marlington students about the parts of a friendly letter.  Click HERE to view a short slideshow of the activity. (You must be logged in to view the slideshow.)

Teachers and Students:  Check out the new website called Visual Thesaurus.  Words, definitions, opposites (antonyms), and Spelling Bees are interactive at Visual Thesaurus.  One particularly useful feature is the Vocab Grabber, where you can copy and paste several paragraphs or pages of text and automatically create a list of important vocabulary words.  Try it!  (You must be logged into the School Fusion website with your username/password to view the site.)  Visual Thesaurus  (There is also a link to this site under Teacher Resources...Technology Resources and another link under Student Websites.)

Volunteer Maryellen Garrett was awarded the Character Counts award for Parkway School at a recent reception.  She helps regularly in Mrs. Balderson's second grade class.  Mrs. Garrett is a retired secretary, and in addition to her volunteer work, she enjoys watching her grandsons play football.  Congratulations, Mrs. Garrett!

First nine-weeks report cards were sent home with students on Friday, Oct. 30.  Remember:  Parents and students can check grades online throughout the grading period.  Click the Parent Information link to the left, then select the Pinnacle Internet Viewer link.  Use the login & password information from the Pinnacle Internet Viewer (PIV) letters sent home in late September.
Call Parkway School and ask for the Tech. Resource Teacher (Ext. 1945) if you have lost the letter or if you have any problems or questions.

Students on the WPKY News Team participated in a multi-point videoconference with tv journalist Byron Pitts.  Mr. Pitts works on the 60 Minutes television show and has traveled extensively around the world, including several trips to London, Iraq, and Afghanistan.  The students were able to ask him questions and they learned that he loves to write, he has traveled to Washington, D.C quite often, likes working with Katie Couric, and overcame stuttering and illiteracy for a career in broadcast journalism.  Read more about Byron Pitts or read about his new book: Step Out on Nothing.

We have been sharing Character Words of the Week on the WPKY Morning News each day.  This week, our character word is: EXAMPLE.  We explained that an example is someone that represents others in a group.  We discussed being a good example vs. a bad example. We suggested ways that students can be good examples: 1.Remember that younger children are watching you.  If you do good things, they will do good things.  If you do bad things, they may also do bad things.  2.If one child is making fun of another child, you say something nice instead.  3.If others around you are goofing off instead of doing what your teacher asked you to do, you do NOT join them.  Instead you do what you were asked. We also discussed how Cinderella's behavior in the Disney movie set a good example.  Finally we discussed the saying "Practice what you preach."  This means: If you tell others that it is important for them to act or behave in a certain way, then it is very imortant that you behave in that same way to support, or back up, what you said.  Remember: Be a good example in all that you do!  Previous Character Words of the Week have been: Reliable, Accountable, Self-Control, Goal-Setting, Hard Work, and Perseverance.

The second and third grade classes have been learning how to play chess.  Why Chess? It teaches strategy, sportsmanship, analysis, and builds self-esteem.
The First Move website will be hosting an online chess tournament on Friday, October 30th.  The tournament starts at 12:00 p.m. and ends at 9:00 p.m.  Each time a student logs on and plays a full game of chess, they will be given a point for their class.  The class with the most points will win an award for each student.  The link to the First Move website has been added to the Student Websites button on the left side of this page.  Students need to enter a password to play online.  (See the First Move newsletter for details.)  http://www.af4c.org/

Grandparents are invited to school on Friday, October 9th, from 8:30-10:30 a.m.  Visit your grandchildren's classrooms, then stop in the library to browse through books.  Grandchildren will then accompany their grandparents to the gym for cookies and punch.  Click HERE to view photos of the event.

Congratulations to first grade teacher Kelly Croysdale!  She has been selected as the Rookie Teacher of the Year for Alliance City Schools!  She will be recognized at the Education Celebration sponsored by WHBC and Mix 94.1 on Thursday, October 29. www.mix941.com/pages/5171459

Congratulations to Mrs. Witham!  She just learned that she received a $3000 grant from the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation to support the "Number Gurus" project.  It is designed to help students in grades 1 - 5 increase their math fact fluency--a component of number sense.  To meet this goal, the online VmathLive program will be available for students to use before and after school and can also be accessed from home.  Students will compete in real time with others from around the world, while learning to manipulate numbers mentally!  Check out the website: http://www.vmathlive.com/

Catch the WPKY daily news by listening to student-created podcasts!  Click the link below,
http://web.me.com/aviatorteach/Site/Welcome.html
then, on the webpage that appears, click PODCAST in the turquoise strip at the top of the page.  Next, click the purple podcast symbol to load the podcast, and click the triangle to start the news.
Students share student birthdays, fun facts, the weather forecast, school events, and much, much more!