2/5/16 - Willoughby-Eastlake City Schools

The W-E School of Innovation
The Spark Remark
A message from Mr. Patrick
#WEMATTER
Important dates:
02/08 WHITE DAY
United Way Hat Day
02/09 BLUE DAY
United Way Crazy Sock Day
02/10 GREEN DAY
United Way Career Day
During the week of February 8th the School of Innovation will be collecting donations for the United Way of Lake County. We have asked
the children to make a donation of at least $0.25 for each day they
would like to participate during spirit week. Many children asked if they
could give a one time lump sum and then participate each day. GREAT
IDEA! All proceeds go to the United Way to help those in need in Lake
County. Thanks for your support!
Monday (2/8) Hat Day
Tuesday (2/9) Crazy Sock Day
Wednesday (2/10) Career Day
02/12 BLUE DAY
Thursday (2/11) Jersey/Sports day
United Way Dress Down Day Friday (2/12) Red dress down day
02/11 WHITE DAY
United Way Sports Day
Valentine’s Day Party with
help from the W-E SOI PTO!
02/13 W-E SOI PTO
Parents Night Out Mardi
Gras Reverse Raffle at
La Vera Party Center
GET YOUR TICKETS NOW!
Inside this issue:
W-E SOI PTO Page
2
News and Notes
3
Grade 3 page
4
Grade 4 page
5
Grade 5 page
6
Encore page
7
Speakers, pictures and
more!
8-15
(proper uniform attire please)
(proper uniform attire please)
(dress for a future career)
(uniforms, jerseys, sweats)
(wear some red for our Valentine’s
Day Party !)
Follow us on Facebook:
Follow us on Twitter:
https://www.facebook.com/SOInnovation
@WES_Innovation
Contact the office by phone:
Contact the office by e-mail:
440-942-1525
dawn.igarashi@weschools.org
The Spark Remark
1st Annual W-E SOI PTO Mardi Gras Party
Join us in support of the Willoughby-Eastlake School of Innovation PTO on Saturday, February
13th from 6pm until 11pm. This adults only event at La Vera Party Center will have a Mardi Gras
theme, so be sure to invite your fun friends and family members. Please leave the kiddos at
home for this event.
Every ticket includes the following:
Open Bar: Beer, wine and liquor
Dinner: Sit down dinner with salad, rolls, chicken, pasta, vegetables, and dessert
One reverse raffle ticket
Schedule:
LaVera Party Center (next to The School of Innovation)
6:00 pm - Doors open
7:00 pm - Dinner
Throughout the night:
Mardi Gras-themed 50/50 bead game
Chinese raffles
Reverse raffle
Hilton Head condominium raffle (do not need to be present to win)
Entertainment
Ticket Cost: $50 per person
Do you work for a company that would like to get a group together to support this event?
Purchase a table for $500, which includes 8 tickets, plus sponsor recognition on the regis
tration site, Facebook, and at the event.
This event is limited to 200 guests, so please purchase your tickets as soon as possible.
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The Spark Remark
SOI NEWS AND NOTES
Spring Conference Day is Tuesday, February 16th,
from 3:00-6:00 p.m. Teachers will be contacting families
they would like to meet for a student conference. If you
would like to request a conference please contact a
teacher on your child’s team. Conferences are only one
day, so we are asking that requests be on a need basis.
Thank you.
D.A.R.E. Graduation for the SOI 5th grade will be at
South High School on Wednesday, March 9th at 7:00 p.m.
The program will last one hour. 5th grade students are
asked to be at South High School at 6:45 p.m. All family
and friends are invited. We will be joined by our 5th
grade friends from Edison Elementary School. Please
call the office with any questions.
The SOI Staff has noticed a trend of students wearing
items that are not uniform approved. The uniform .pdf
has been attached to this Spark Remark for your review.
Thanks for helping us enforce the uniform policy at the
School of Innovation.
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The Spark Remark
3rd grade Weekly Update
This week the 3rd graders concentrated
on summarizing, main idea and supporting details, characteristics of informational text, suffixes, and root words in
Reading. In grammar we covered past
and future tense verbs, combining sentences with similar verbs. In writing we
wrote fictional narratives. Some math
concepts covered included multiplication and division facts, solving multiplication and division problems, and multistep problem solving.
In science we began to research energy
usage at SOI and more about energy
conservation. Social studies concentrated on the purpose of government,
what services the government provides
and how it relates to energy. SOI students used engineering research to
begin to create a plan for conservation
energy. We also got new Bitsbox books!
The students love them!
Hot Topics
Some conversation prompts for you to
ask your child:
“Approximately how many people live in Ohio per Senator
Eklund?”
 “What are some things that we
decided we could recycle or reuse at SOI?”
 How many cubic yards of trash is
put in a landfill each year for
just our 75 SOI 3rd grade families?”

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The Spark Remark
4th grade Weekly Update
Friday afternoon was the true highlight of our week. The take home
Energy Challenge projects were incredible. Not all students presented due to our time constraints.
They will have the opportunity
Monday and Tuesday of next
week. Many students are working
on long division in Math,
while some are learning how to
multiply and divide large numbers
with decimals. Our research and
communication skills got a real
workout as we read articles about
Valley Forge and Paul Revere.
Cause and effect, context clues,
and word studies were also part of
our studies.
Hot Topics
Some conversation prompts for you to
ask your child:
 “Ask your child about some of the
other students’ energy efficient designs that were shared on Friday.”
 “What does persevere mean?”
 “What were some of the things
Senator Eklund spoke about during
his visit?”
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5th grade Weekly Update
A big thank you to Mr. Dressel, from
Eastlake Middle School, for helping the
students learn more about reliable resources! We will begin to research the
Incas, Mayans and the Aztecs soon. The
students will be creating a presentation
to teach their peers about the civilization they researched. In Science we
began learning about light energy. The
students are in the midst of trying out
different exploration
stations on reflection, refraction, transmission and more. They will finish up
these stations next week. Learning
more about plot and theme are ongoing
within our classrooms. The students will
begin writing narratives soon. Analyzing
the parts of a text are key to being able
to write one.
Hot Topics
Some conversation prompts for you to
ask your child:
“What did you learn from Mr. Dressel
about researching?”
 “What is Info Ohio?”
 “How did Omar shine in the story
from Science and ELA? “

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The Spark Remark
Physical Education
This week all grade levels kicked off our February Fitness Month by participating
in 2 different 25 minute workout videos ( T25 Fitness) that focused on Cardiovascular Fitness, Speed, and Flexibility. The students did an awesome job with focusing on their own personal health and the changes they can make to stay
healthy. Next week we address the 3rd element of fitness (Endurance) by starting our Jump Rope for Heart Campaign. A representative from The American
Heart Association will be talking to the kids on Tuesday about fitness and keeping
their hearts healthy. Along with this activity, the Jump Rope for Heart flyer went
home with every student and a fitness calendar for practicing good eating and
exercise habits. Please read through the Jump Rope for Heart Flyer with your
kids because some of the procedures have changed from years past. Our goal as
a school is to raise $2500.00 for the American Heart Association and to raise
awareness of keeping a healthy heart. All students need to bring tennis shoes for
P.E. class next week because we will be jumping all week.
Art/Design
All grades worked on their final logo entry. They were very creative.
I’m sure we’ll have a winner! Grade 5 finished prepping their collages
for making the jigsaw puzzles
Fab Lab
Fifth Graders are cutting their jigsaw puzzles on the Epilog Laser.
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Professional Speaker Series
This week The School of Innovation welcomed Mr. Dave Malinowski of the
Willoughby Fine Arts Association. Mr. Dave spoke about pursuing an acting career, his love for the stage, the roles he has taken on, and how he has found a new
passion in teaching and directing actors on stage. Many of our children knew Mr.
Malinowski and some are currently performing in “The Little Mermaid”!
Thanks for an entertaining and informative visit Mr. Dave!
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The Spark Remark
Staff Spotlight — Mrs. Reed
My name is Lisa Reed. I enjoy being a part of the spectacular 3rd
grade team at School of Innovation. I previously taught 3rd grade
for 10 years at Royalview. I am a proud former Willoughby-Eastlake
student and I attended Thomas Jefferson, Eastlake Middle, and
North High School.
I earned my Bachelor's Degree in Early Childhood Education from
Cleveland State University and Master's Degree in Reading from
Lake Erie College. In 2009, I worked with two other W-E teachers
to become a National Board Certified Teacher. I enjoy working
each summer for Camp Invention for the district.
My family and I live in Willowick, which is only a few minutes away
from where I grew up. My husband and I enjoy spending time with
our little 2-year old, Noah and our daughter, Lily, a 3rd grader at
SOI.
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SPECIAL SOI GUEST
State Senator John Eklund made a special visit to the School of Innovation
this week to assist with our GO GREEN capstone theme. Senator Eklund explained his role on special government committees that specialize in energy and
natural resources in Ohio. He had valuable information on the law making process
and how long it can take for an idea to become a law. He was very impressed by
our students and the questions they asked him during the Q&A period of his
presentation. Thank you Mrs. Myers for inviting a State Senator to present to our
students!
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