Chagrin Falls Schools
December 17, 2015 by Staff Report

On Nov. 19, Dr. Bina Mehta, director of the Spine and Pain Institute at Akron General Hospital, spoke to the students at ...

Career Speakers Visit CFMS

On Nov. 19, Dr. Bina Mehta, director of the Spine and Pain Institute at Akron General Hospital, spoke to the students at Chagrin Falls Middle School. Dr. Mehta is board certified in physical medicine and rehabilitation. She obtained her medical degree from Northeast Ohio Medical University and completed her residency at Metrohealth Medical Center. Dr. Mehta resides in Chagrin Falls with her husband, David Haines, and their children, eighth-grader Sasha Haines and fifth-grade twins, Mira and Kian.

On Nov. 13, Andy Hart spoke to students. Hart is an experienced pilot with Delta Airlines. He studied at University of North Dakota and is originally from Minnesota. Andy’s Delta hub is in Detroit, Mich., and he often flies an international route. Andy resides in Chagrin Falls with his wife, Megan, and son Mason who is in third grade at Gurney Elementary.

Then, on Dec. 4, Justin Herdman, a trial attorney and former federal prosecutor, spoke to the students. Prior to moving to Chagrin Falls, Herdman worked as an assistant district attorney in New York City and then as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.

“We are sincerely grateful to our guest speakers for taking the time to come and share their experiences with our students,” said Principal David Wessel. “Once again, the involvement of our community in our schools is a great source of pride, we couldn’t do it without you.”

6th-Grade Wiz Kids

Several sixth-graders at Chagrin Falls Intermediate School have been named WKYC Channel 3 Wiz Kids. In honor of NBC’s “The Wiz Live,” Channel 3 is honoring “Wiz Kids” in kindergarten through seventh-grade for overcoming adversity, getting good grades or for doing something super cool.

Celia Hawk was recognized for the Little Free Library project that she just completed for the school’s cafeteria. The Little Library allows students to take a book or leave a book for other students to read and enjoy.

Grace Goodin was recognized for the project she participated in as she raised $100 for Habitat for Humanity through bake sales with a friend.

Aly Kaplansky was recognized for her “Happiness Project.” She and two friends did random acts of kindness and made a video. One act of kindness was hanging up positive post-it notes all over Chagrin Falls on trashcans, car windows and many other places.

It’sabelle Coy was recognized for her “Project Gratitude.” For her project, she collected and shipped thousands of pieces of candy, hundreds of toothbrushes and letters to an organization called Project Gratitude. The organization then sent those items to U.S. troops serving overseas.

Ella Angel was recognized for hanging up positive sticky notes around town as well as participating in a service group that visited retirement homes for the past two years.

As a result of this honor, these students were acknowledged on the Channel 3 morning show and entered to win a swag pack from “The Wiz.”

These Channel 3 Wiz Kids were recognized because of their “Make a Difference” projects. All of the sixth-graders in Gary Dole’s and Katherine Owen’s advanced language arts classes created and carried out their own “Make a Difference” projects. The students were required to film themselves with partners or by themselves making a difference.

8th-Graders Study Tradition of Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade

By CFMS eighth-grader Ginny Kanzinger

After a long morning of testing, the eighth-grade students had an exciting activity to do on Nov. 16 that had to do with a popular American tradition. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade occurs every year on Thanksgiving morning and is watched by over 50 million people. It was started in 1924 when European immigrants felt that there was a lack of a sense of community in New York City compared to their extravagant festivities back in their native countries.

The students spent the rest of their afternoon in their sixth period class making floats in small groups with a theme corresponding to a content connected lesson in that class. For example, the math classes determined volume, science classes showed faults in geologic time, English students explained examples of parts of speech relating to Thanksgiving, history students decorated with American Revolutionary concepts, Spanish students used recycled materials to imitate Colombian Carnival floats, and French students exhibited Mardi Gras themed floats. Students displayed the floats in the cafeteria where they were voted on under the categories Best Design, Most Creative, and Most Educational.

Winners included: Best design – Faults in the Earth’s Crust from Ms. Mrofchak’s class: Lily Orazen, Katie Kwasny, Ella Murray and Kaitlin Burgess; Most creative – Las Gigantas (Columbian Carnival, dwarfs with big heads) from Mrs. Aranavage’s class: Andy Norton, Will Winovich, Luca Opperman and Rand Singer; and Most informative – Subduction from Ms. Mrofchak’s class: Sasha Haines, Katie McCuaig and Katie Baker.

Chromebooks Enhance Learning

Third-graders at Gurney Elementary School are taking their Chromebooks home for the first time. At home, the students will use their Chromebooks to complete homework assignments, practice math and reading skills and create book reports. One way students and teachers will interact is through Google Classroom. Teachers can post announcements, assignments, links and more all from an easy to use website. Another tool the third-grade teachers use is NearPod. The website also allows students to ask questions to the teachers and the teachers are able to control what the students see on their computers.

“The Chromebooks are a great way to enhance student learning,” said third-grade teacher Kelly Andreas. “It’s a great way to stay in contact with students and help them stay on track with their assignments.”

Chromebooks in the second-grade classrooms have become an integral part of the learning process. Students use websites and games to practice their math facts and improve their reading, but they also are creating and collaborating with them. Students have used Padlet to create a picture and message board for their parents to read on Curriculum Night. Parents then responded with a picture and message back to their student.

Teachers have used Kahoot to review for a weather test, and GoogleSlides to create an online journal. Weebly has been used to set up an online class blog complete with student book recommendations and student responses. Most recently, some second-graders collaborated on a GoogleSlide presentation on a type of storm for their weather unit. They then presented their information to the rest of the class.

“It’s an exciting time for these second-graders and their teachers, with so many learning options available,” said Nancy Kevern, district tech integration and instructional coach.