South Lyon

Community Schools

January and February 2015

January jumps about in the frying pan trying to heat his frozen feet like a Canadian.

February scuttles under any dish's lid

and she thinks she's dry

because she's thoroughly well Hid

but it still snows all month Long and it always did.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Bartlett ................... 2

Brummer ................ 3

Dolsen ..................... 4

Salem ...................... 5

Sayre ....................... 6

CMS ........................ 7

MMS…….……………..8

MMS.…………………..9

SLHS...……………….10

SLEHS.……………….11

SLEHS...…….……….12

January

February

Bartlett 5th graders worked on communication skills during Book

Clubs, ensuring that all students’ voices were heard. Students concluded their in-depth study of Matter & Molecules in

science. In math, 5th grade students spent time investigating strategies for

solving addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of fractions in real world situations.

Writing literary essays gave students the opportunity to study a

variety of short stories and identify a theme that was significant to them.

Fifth graders at Bartlett gathered information about the 13 Colonial

Regions and they were truly interested in how different life was back then compared to their own experiences.

Bartlett Elementary

The kindergarten students at Brummer worked on writing Small Mo-ment stories during Writer’s Workshop this month. Students practiced stretching out words, using spaces between words, and adding details to their stories. After they finished a story, the kindergarteners loved sharing them stories with their friends. We love Writer’s Workshop!

This month in reading, first graders at Brummer Elementary focused on

reading non-fiction books. We learned that we can add more to our schema by reading non-fiction books because they contain a lot of infor-mation! To show just how much we added to our schema, we did a “I used to think, but now I think...” thinking routine using the book A Kangaroo Joey Grows Up by Joan Hewett. Before reading the book, we filled out a graphic organizer of the information that we already knew about baby kangaroos. After learning more about kangaroos through the story, we were able to add more to our schema, share this infor-mation with our classmates and show how our thinking changed through our graphic organizers!

Second graders have just learned a new Cultures of Thinking routine

called, Tug of War. This routine encourages students to reason careful-ly about the “pull” of various factors that are relevant to a dilem-ma. Students had fun being able to change their opinion and reason with other students during this routine.

The 3rd graders at Brummer are wearing another hat, or shall we say

lab coat, during science as botanists. We are exploring seeds and the parts and functions of fast growing bean plants while performing dif-ferent hands-on experiments. Our plants have now sprouted (gone through the first two stages of the life cycle), and we are awaiting the third stage- adult with flowers- so that we can pollinate using bees. Our little botanists are looking forward to finding fruit, new seeds, to grow the fourth stage. It’s funny how food makes the kids even more excit-ed, even if it’s beans!

Currently, in 4th grade we are studying nonfiction in both reading and

writing workshop. We are analyzing the difference between narrative nonfiction and expository texts. Also, we are discussing the types of narrative nonfiction. In writing we are creating nonfiction writing piec-es and using text features to make our subtopics more interesting. Next, we are going to be starting our research unit which will involve nonfiction research!

Fifth grade students spent time in January studying a variety of ways to

solve problems involving volume. Students explored the formula length x width x height in relationship to rectangular prisms. Students also discovered the differences between each of the unit of measure-ments. During one lesson, students created cubic meters, cubic feet, cubic inches and cubic centimeters. Then, using their prior knowledge, they determined how many of each would fill their classroom! After-wards, they had an intense conversation using the Cultures of Thinking Routine Tug of War to decide which unit was the best way to measure space so large!

Brummer Elementary

Kindergarteners in Mrs. Curnow’s class at Brummer Elementary cele-brated the 100th Day of School. During math workshop, the students strung necklaces using 100 beads, sorted trail mixes of 100 edible items and created 100 year old self-portraits. The children also practiced skip counting by 5’s and 10’s to 100. We learned that counting to 100 can be fun and delicious too!

First graders at Brummer Elementary were busy celebrating diversity

this February! We participated in a school wide color, symbol, image routine by creating our very own diversity shields that showcased each one of us and how we are unique. During class, students have enjoyed countless read-alouds and participated in rich follow-up discussions that focus on diversity with books like The Sandwich Swap, Who Will Be My Valentine This Year?, and The Crayon Box That Talked. First graders also uncovered diversity with their older reading buddies by using a snowman themed Venn diagram to record their similarities and differences. We have enjoyed learning about one another and are very thankful we are all different!

The second graders have been discussing the meaning of diversity

throughout the month of February. They have been reading books to teach them about diversity, participating in Cultures of Thinking Rou-tines throughout the grade level, and they even have been learning a few words in different languages in their morning meeting routines. It is great to hear them talk about how each and every one of us is differ-ent, and how we should all celebrate those differences.

The third graders at Brummer Elementary have been working on wrap-

ping up their plant science unit to prepare for their next assessment. We transplanted the roots to give the plants room to grow, watched our plants go through their lifecycle, and even discovered how bees polli-nate plants to grow pods with seeds inside! We also watched videos from Discovery Education to tie technology into the lessons, and even had a student write an informational report all about plants during writing time!

Fourth grade is well into our motion and design science unit. Students

worked on learning all about different forces through the exploration of a vehicle they constructed. By using the scientific process and their ve-hicle, students learned so much about friction, gravity, air resistance, and how mass can affect speed and direction. Students will continue to expand their knowledge as they learn about simple machines in this unit!

Fifth grade students spent January discovering cubic measurements in

our volume unit. This unit allowed students to identify a variety of ways to measure the amount of space an object takes up. Students used hands on materials to identify how to measure different sized box-es. Then, they worked on discovering formulas that would be true for all rectangular prisms. Students were able to identify length x width x height and base x height. They also were able to see volume units up close and personal when we created giant meter cubes in class!

Brummer Elementary

During the month of January second grade celebrated Martin Luther King’s Birthday. Students learned about diversity and what Martin Lu-ther King Junior did for our country. Students participated in reading books about Martin Luther King Junior and Visible Thinking Routines such as the “Color, Symbol, Image” depicted below. Students also ex-plored how humans are similar to eggs- different on the outside, but similar thoughts and feelings on the inside.

In science students started a new “Changes” unit where they explored

all 3 states of matter and how one changes to another. Students partici-pated in an ice melting race to see how solids change to liquids. They discovered the fastest way to melt ice is by squishing it, heating it up and using body heat. Students learned that if you have water it can evaporate to a gas.

Second graders participated in a “Step Inside” thinking routine, which

allows students to explore different perspectives and viewpoints as they take on the role of different characters or objects. Students listened to the book, Ramona the Pest and took turns sharing what they thought the main character, Ramona, was thinking and feeling. After sharing ideas as a whole group, the students inferred Ramona’s thoughts and feelings individually. They used pictures and words to help them show their thinking.

Students reflected upon what they have learned in our current Social

Studies unit, Where is My Community and What is it Like There? When the students arrived at a new question, their first task was to read what their classmates had already written. This process encour-aged students to use each other as an informational resource. Students were able to show their own thinking by writing responses to the ques-tions and their classmates’ ideas.

We love to write!!! Second grade students have enjoyed learning how to

write realistic fiction stories. They have learned that realistic fiction au-thors write about real things, they plan before they write, they include problems and solutions, they include character traits, and they add sus-pense or tension to a story to make it more interesting. Students are looking forward to publishing and sharing one of their realistic fiction stories for our writing celebration at the end of this unit!

Second grade students have been counting down to the 100th day of

school, which will be on Monday, February 9th! We are so excited to celebrate 100 days of learning. We have been keeping track of the days that we have been in school, which has helped us understand im-portant concepts, such as place value. Students learned which coins and how many represent the amount of days in school. We have also been using our Habits of Mind as we wonder and question how many more days until the 100th day of school.

Dolsen Elementary

On Monday, January 19th third graders at Salem learned about and cel-ebrated the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. After a reading of the book Martin's Big Words, students took part in a thinking routine ti-tled Sentence, Phrase, Word. Students chose a sentence, phrase, and word from the book that they felt was the most meaningful to them and then had to justify their reasoning through discussion and a written re-sponse.

Kindergarten students conducted the Step Inside routine during their

discussion about Dr. King and his legacy. 5th grade students participated in a Chalk Talk routine to discuss the

impact that Dr. King had on the lives of those living during the time of the Civil Rights Movement how that has carried over today.

On January 27th Salem kicked off its 7th annual St. Jude’s Math-a-Thon.

This fundraiser helps the kids and families who seek treatment and support at St. Jude’s medical research hospital while Salem students improve their math skills. Since we started in 2008, Salem has raised over $ 33,000 for this great cause.

Staff has started a series of professional development led by Mrs.

Meagher and Mrs. Anderson. Teachers voluntarily signed up for these half day sessions to explore the various cultural forces that help pro-mote a culture of thinking.

2nd graders conducted the Headlines routine as they worked through

their science unit on soil. Students shared big ideas from the unit in an effort to summarize and synthesize content learned.

Salem Elementary

Sayre Elementary

Sayre Kindergarten students worked hard on recognizing and writing Kin-

dergarten sight words accurately in Writer’s Workshop. They focused on adding more details to their illustrations. Students experimented with split boxes, adding motion, making their characters more realistic, weather de-tails and making a plan so that they could add more to their writing.

In January, Kindergarten students were super scientists!! They explored

properties of different objects. They compared color, size, shape, weight and texture. In math, Sayre Kindergarten students counted objects to 100, recognized numbers 0-20, created patterns and identified and constructed shapes!

In January Sayre first graders studied maps to learn about places. They

constructed simple maps of the classroom to demonstrate aerial perspec-tive. They also created map keys for their maps, complete with symbols that represented classroom furniture and objects.

The Mobile Learning Center presented to Sayre 3rd graders. The 3rd grad-

ers explored some of the tools, technology, and language of the People of the Three Fires through artifacts, replicas, and graphics. Students had the opportunity to participate in hands-on demonstrations of fire making and pump drilling.

In January, Sayre third grade students in music class explored singing in

two different languages. They first focused on “Singabahambayo” which is a South African folksong while playing an accompaniment on tuned percussion. They then experimented with “Brochan Lom” which is a Scot-tish Gaelic song that will be danced to later in the year.

In January Sayre second graders learned about the life of Martin Luther

King Jr. The second graders read the book A Picture Book of Martin Luther King Jr. The second graders completed a Cultures of Thinking routine called Color Symbol Image. The students selected a color, symbol, and im-age that best represented their feelings and understanding of the life of MLK. Students did a fabulous job sharing their connections to MLK.

Second graders also started studying solids, liquids, and gases during

sciences. Students conducted several investigations that included chemical and physi-

cal changes. 4th grade students did their best to prepare for the SLMA to demonstrate

how many math concepts they have learned this year! The fourth graders embarked on their next science unit to explore the water cycle and the ef-fects of water on the Earth. In reading, the students continued to learn about nonfiction text structures and nonfiction text features.

Sayre Elementary

February was a busy month in Kindergarten!! Sayre Kindergarten cele-

brated the 100th day of school!!!! Kindergarten friends counted 100 beads, put 100 things on hats/crowns, formed numbers to 100 and enjoyed counting 100 things to eat!! The Kindergarten friends celebrated Valen-tine’s Day by reading and writing their friends’ names on Valentines. Our goal was to write one uppercase letter and the rest lowercase letters. After everyone matched the names on the Valentines to the names on the bags, students created a special scrapbook where they taped their valentines into a book and then practiced reading and enjoying them. Kindergarten friends celebrated diversity by making a special person that looked like themselves and wrote something special about them. Students created a special family graph and read stories about diversity.

The fifth graders are so excited about middle school! Before Winter Break,

the middle school counselors came to Sayre to discuss important things that fifth graders need to know before they move on to sixth grade. The fifth graders then decided whether they would like to take band, choir, or rotation as their electives. After the counselors left, the fifth graders each completed a Cultures of Thinking Compass Points thinking routine to ex-press their feelings about middle school.

The second grade authors were busy studying the genre of nonfiction.

When deciding what to write about, students chose topics they were “experts” in such as: doing hair, snowmen, nature, gymnastics, and many others. The young authors read many informational texts to help them learn about different text features to use in their own writing.

Third grade students in music class reviewed the four families of instru-

ments in an orchestra. As an introduction to this unit they did a Color Symbol Image thinking routine while listening to “Rhapsody in Blue” by Gershwin. Students were able to reflect on their previous experience and enhance comprehension of the orchestra.

The fourth grade students have taken time to reflect on diversity and what

makes themselves unique. They participated in meaningful conversations about Martin Luther King Jr. and his message of peace and equal rights for everyone. In math, they continued to develop their knowledge of place value through work with addition and subtraction strategies. In writing they tackled difficult essays and how to support a main idea with evidence.

The third, fourth and fifth grade students worked on the Underhand

Serve for Volleyball in PE. They learned there are many steps when pre-paring to hit the ball. The most important steps are holding the ball waist level and to their dominant side.

The third grade students were busy this month learning about Native

Americans. As part of the Early American History unit they used the Claim/Support/Question thinking routine. In this routine students were asked to choose a characteristic that best described the Native Americans we read about. Through these thoughtful interpretations students were encouraged to reason and then give evidence as to why they chose this characteristic. Students were able to reason with evidence. Students learned to identify truth claims and explore strategies for uncovering truths in the future. Each student then thought of their own claim and was challenged to come up with evidence that supported their thinking. They then asked questions about Native Americans that lead to further class discussion.

First graders at Sayre en-joyed celebrating the 100th day of school. Each student brought in a collection of 100 objects. Collections were used in estimation and meas-uring activities. Students also used their collections to explore different ways to make 100...five piles of 20, ten piles of 10, etc. 100s Day activities were tied into the Ready Freddy chapter book, The One Hundredth Day of School!by Abby Klein. Stu-dents felt connected to the main character as they expe-rienced some of the same worries and successes that the main character did.

Performing Arts students, Madison Porter and Connor McGill, present-ed the morning announcements during Red Out Friday. As part of Per-forming Arts, students are chosen to read AM and/or PM announce-ments for a three week time slot. During this time they inform the stu-dent body and staff of upcoming activities and start the day with the Pledge of Allegiance.

Sixth grade students investigated tectonic plate movement at different

boundaries: convergent, divergent, subduction and transform bounda-ries. In this hands-on investigation, students used graham crackers to represent oceanic and continental plates and frosting to represent Earth's mantle. After modeling each of the four boundaries, students enjoyed a tasty snack of plates and magma!

The CMS student council held a RED OUT on Friday, February 6th, to

support and fundraise for the Montanez family. Through RED OUT shirt sales and donations made by students and staff the CMS student council was able to raise over $1,500 for the South Lyon family. WAY TO GO CMS!

On Tuesday, February 10th, over 95 students from both Centennial and

Millennium participated in an on-site field trip where they were taught all about simple machines, engineering, science, and technology con-cepts. They each built and took home a "Pullback Car" they built them-selves. The instructor stated that our students were "The best he'd ever worked with!" We're looking forward to bringing many more of these types of events to our middle schools.

On February 13th all CMS students participated in a Habits of Mind

assembly called the Marshmallow Challenge. Students attended a grade level assembly in the gymnasium and spread out to create the tallest free standing structure using only spaghetti, string, tape, and a marshmallow. The overall school winners were Jacob Diegel, Elijah Erven, Jacob Nelson, and Henry VanDyke. The structure they created was 26 and 3/4 inches tall. Great job!

Centennial Middle School

Mr. Levitan’s 8th grade “techsters” completed a unit in transportation culminating in the design, construction, and racing of their Co 2 cars. A special focus was placed on learning the concepts of propulsion, drag and friction, along with safe tool usage in the lab.

On January 19th, Martin Luther King Day, middle school students

spent about 25-30 minutes of each class period watching video clips, discussing different topics and doing activities related to the Civil Rights. The final activity was for students to express their appreciation to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the other individuals involved in the Civil Rights Movement. Students were able to choose to create a “Civil Rights Hero” poster, create a “Civil Rights Cartoon Strip,” or write a poem related to the Civil Rights and/or Martin Luther King. Many of the projects reflected the impact teachers and schools can have regard-ing equality and diversity. It was a very meaningful day for staff and students.

6th graders went to the Michigan Science Center on January 7, 2015.

During their time at the Science Center, each group had time to view the planetarium show and attend a second show in either one of the theaters or at the science stage. While at the Planetarium the 6th grad-ers saw the show “Our Place in Space.” The show began with a look at the state of Michigan and gradually zoomed out to reveal the size of asteroids and dwarf planets when compared to our state. The students continued their space journey by viewing the planets of our solar sys-tem, the sun, other stars, entire galaxies, and finally, the scale of the universe. It was a humbling look at the true size of our planet. The 6th grade students and staff would also like to thank the MMS PTO for paying for their transportation to the Science Center.

Mr. Eibler’s 8th grade Performing Arts class finished the first semester

with a “Wax Museum” style final. This included choosing and re-searching a movie character, and the actor/actress that played the char-acter. After writing a paper about the character, students had to “put on/create” the costume of the character and act out a part from the movie. This culminating activity put together all of the skills learned in the Performing Arts Class.

Spanish: In January, 8th grade students learned how to tell time and

talk about what they really do in their busy social lives after school...all in Spanish! Using play clocks, as well as learning how to conjugate 30 different verbs, students were able to talk about their entire day from morning until night!

Millennium Middle School

Congratulations to Millennium Middle School Teacher of the Year: Mrs. Kristin Rupprecht. She has taught 6th grade math and math plus at MMS for 8 years.

Students in Mrs. Jones-Tims and Mrs. Kilgore-Cameron's 7th grade

math class explored applications of scale drawings. In their problem solving groups, they used their knowledge of proportional relation-ships to determine real-world distances, including planning a walking trip around Washington, DC.

Mrs. McKenzie and Mrs. Santeiu’s sixth grade science classes enjoyed

working with graham crackers and frosting in the Plate Tectonic Unit. This activity helped students visualize how plates move in relation to one another. It also showed how mountain ranges form and how sea-floor spreading occurs.

Millennium Middle School staff and students participated in an all

school White Out to collect donations for a Kent Lake Elementary fami-ly who was involved in a serious car accident. MMS donations were overwhelmingly generous. Many students mentioned to their teachers that they used the money they were going to buy their birthday video-games with to donate to the family instead, that their families took back all their cans/bottles and donated the money, students took money from their piggy banks just to donate $1, took their allowance money to donate, etc. The stories were truly heartwarming, to see how much the students opened their hearts during this devastating time.

On Wednesday, February 25th, Millennium welcomed an officer from

the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department and his police dog from the K9 unit as a part of our Career Lunch and Learn program. Over 185 excited students met with Officer Travis Dick and his dog, Clay, dur-ing their lunch period and were given the opportunity to hear what a day in the life of an officer is like and especially about all the cool things these dogs do to help fight crime! The officer was delighted with the awesome questions our students asked, and the students just loved meeting Clay and hearing all about how he helps the officer do his job.

To celebrate diversity, examine social injustices, and raise awareness,

Millennium Middle School students participated in Diversity Day on February 13th. There were 25 separate activities that took place within the three grade levels. Over their three year tenure in our building, stu-dents will experience a variety of events. The value of appreciating and celebrating the differences among us is immeasurable. Diversity is not just racial, ethnic or religious; it is also the difference in our thought processes, physical abilities and dreams. How we think and feel about one another will greatly impact our interactions with the world around us. While others may live, eat, create, speak and believe in different ways than we are used to or comfortable with, through education, we come to realize that we are generally more alike than different. The dif-ferences that we do have can only enrich and enhance our lives if we are open to learning from others.

Millennium Middle School

Pride hosted the annual Cookies and Cram event with the help of NHS tutors and staff at SLHS on Thursday, January 15th. Over a hundred students participated in this study event and received help from teach-ers as well as snacks.

Student Council, Key Club, NHS, and PRIDE students sold white rib-bons at lunch the last week of January. We sold and wore the white ribbons to benefit the Montanez family. Last Tuesday Morning on their way to school, they were in a fatal car accident that killed both the dad and a son. We are selling these white ribbons to help raise money for their family and to come together as a high school and one community to show support for this family who lost loved ones. We wore all white on Friday, with coordination of all South Lyon Schools, to show sup-port to their family and to let them all know we were thinking about them.

On Friday, January 23, South Lyon High School’s advanced women’s choir travelled to Grand Rapids to perform during the 10th Annual Michigan Music Conference. The eighteen-member ensemble, under the direction of Andrew Hathikhanavala, sang as part of the Michigan School Vocal Music Association’s Choral Hour. The ensemble was se-lected through a blind audition process and joined five other high school and middle school choirs performing over two separate Choral Hour performances throughout the three-day music conference.

South Lyon High School

South Lyon High School's Key Club completed its second annual Teens for Jeans drive. They successfully collected 250 pairs of jeans that were given to the Aeropostale clothing store, who donated to the jeans to teens throughout the country. Mrs. Bewersdorf's class who collected more than 60 pairs of jeans, and was rewarded with donuts. Next year, we hope to be able to raise many more jeans for all the homeless teens!

On Saturday, February 7th, members of Student Council competed in a KLAA sponsored volleyball tournament. The event was held to support the Dance Marathon organization at the University of Michigan. South Lyon competed with two teams, blue and gold. Both teams did very well in the competition. The blue team started off in the final bracket with a 3-5 record but unfortunately could not hold on long enough to make it past the first round. The yellow team started with a 5-3 record and made it to the semifinals, but they were unfortunately defeated by Novi and did not move on to the final round. Overall the experience was very enjoyable for the students and although their arms were sore by the end of the day, their spirits were not.

This year’s Chinese Spring Festival begins on Thursday, February 19th, and ends Thursday, March 5th. 2015 is the year of the goat according to the Chinese animal zodiac. To celebrate this traditional holiday, Mrs. Shi’s Chinese II, III and IV students made traditional Chinese dump-lings, spring rolls, and fried noodles as well as Chinese themed des-serts. Students experienced a variety of Chinese cultural activities such as hacky sack, folding Origami, and playing Mahjong.

February 13th, South Lyon Student Council held a kissing booth in hon-or of Valentine's Day. Now don't get upset, it was a Hershey kiss kiss-ing booth! Student council members sat behind the booth and handed out Hershey kisses to all the students. It was just a way to show how much student council appreciates our students and a way to give back to the school. We thought it was a very cute, and a great idea and the students seemed to love it too. I mean who doesn't love free chocolate?

South Lyon High School

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The South Lyon Robotics FIRST FRC Team 3641, The Flying Toasters, comprised of students from both SLHS and SLEHS, has received a $ 5000.00 grant from The Chrysler Foundation for the participation in FIRST’s 2015 Competitive Robotics season. Congratulations to Ron Weber and the Robotics program!

Kameron Rakowski signed with Lake Erie College for Lacrosse on Jan-uary 8th – Congratulations Kameron and Go Lake Erie Storm!

SLEHS Senior Lucia Rinkel proudly displays her beautiful artwork of fellow student Emily MacDonald. Lucia is the proud recipient of a $14,000.00 scholarship to the College for Creative Studies. Lucia spent three months working on this picture ~ Congratulations Lucia on this much deserved accomplishment!

Martin Luther King Day was celebrated at SLEHS with a lesson plan activity focusing on the role that children played in changing the at-mosphere of the nation back in 1963. Students initially reviewed the purpose of the Civil Rights Movement and watched a video clip titled The Children’s March. Classroom discussions and writing activities followed the video, centering on the question “What does it mean to “meet violence with nonviolence”? The goal of the lesson plan was to have students understand that political movements involve children as well as adults. Students will understand children of all ages have the power to make a difference in the world.

Makenzie Nieto signed with Mississippi College for Softball ~ Congrat-ulations Makenzie and Go Choctaws!

On Friday, January 16 South Lyon East Choirs hosted “Winter Choir Camp”. South Lyon High School choir students and 8th grade choir students from Millennium and Centennial enjoyed several hours of bonding, games, and singing. The students had a great time getting to know each other and renewing old friendships. Choir Camp ended with a performance of “I’ll Make The Difference” with everyone sing-ing together on stage.

South Lyon East High School

Congratulations to Justine Alexander and Amanda Hackbardt who par-ticipated in Regional Honors Choir in December. Justine was also se-lected for State Honors Choir, which will be performing at the Michi-gan Music Conference in Grand Rapids on January 24. Great job Jus-tine and Amanda!!

On January 10, Junior, Kyle Murphy, joined the clarinet section in the District IV Honors Band. He was nominated by band director, Mat-thew Smith, and was selected for this honor. Their concert was at Clarkston High. Congratulations Kyle!

South Lyon East Band students did some community service at the 5th grade Beginning Band Recruiting Nights on January 13 and January 15. High School students helped 5th graders try out all the various instru-ments and gave the kids plenty of encouragement along the way.

On Saturday, January 17, many band students headed out to Hartland High School for District IV Solo and Ensemble Festival. Each student performed either as a soloist or as an ensemble for a judge who gave comments and a rating. Our students represented South Lyon East very well with ten 1’s (Excellent), and three 2’s (Good). Everyone who received a 1 is eligible to go on to State Solo and Ensemble in March. Students who performed solos, duets, or trios were: Sam Grima, Dale Sanford, William Carter, Kyle Murphy, Alyssa Short, Kayla Erwin, Kayla Zielinski, Elena Condra, Samantha Satawa, Sophia Diaz, Lauren Hill, Lauren Austin, and AJ Clark. South Lyon East’s Flute Choir, Saxo-phone Quartet, Saxophone Choir and Brass Ensemble performed as well.

Flute choir members are Kayla Erwin, Rodney Daliege, Samantha Sa-tawa, Sophia Diaz, Rachel Edwards, Olivia Fleissner, Emily Seghi, Lau-ren Austin and Kayla Zielinski. South Lyon East’s Saxophone Choir members are Lauren Hill, Gus Aburto-Vazquez, Ben Calzadillas, Sam Church, Sable Dobbie, Lauren Lanczki, Charles Marchand, Ryan McDonald, Josh Ohland, Martin Stokes, Lily White, and Brandon Wiles. The Saxophone Quartet members are Lauren Hill, Gus Aburto-Vazquez, Ryan McDonald, and Ben Calzadillas. Brass Ensemble members are Dale Sanford, Cas Meagher, Shana Jackson, Madelyn Guzick, Nathan Anton, and Jack Swartzinski.

Congratulations to all the students who attended District IV Solo and Ensemble. Good luck at State Festival!

South Lyon East High School

SLEHS staff, students and families came together in the spirit of com-munity to raise funds for the Montanez Family Fund. There were nu-merous fundraisers held including a White Out Day spearheaded by our Class of 2016 President Rachel Azure. Such an amazing show of support for the Montanez Family!

On February 13th, Senior Matthew Scher attended the Detroit Red Wings High School Journalist Day presented by Michigan Office Solu-tions. The program exposes students to a professional sports media environment and gives them a taste of what a career in sports journal-ism is like before they enter college. The schedule for the day included a Q & A session with a panel of media members, a tour of the press box and Q & A sessions with Head Coach Mike Babcock, General Manager Ken Holland and three Detroit Red wings players.

AP Calculus teacher, Stacey Garrity, created the “Spin the Calculator” math game that used the Valentine’s Day theme to review various AP Calculus topics.

February 19, 2015 was the first day of the Chinese Year 4713. The Chi-nese New Year is the longest and most important celebration in the Chinese calendar. New Year festivities traditionally start on the first day of the month and continue until the fifteenth, when the moon is the brightest. In China, people may take one week off from work to cele-brate the New Year. 2015 is the Year of the Goat in the Chinese Zodiac. Mrs. Shi’s Chinese III and IV students did a variety of activities to cele-brate this important traditional Chinese holiday the week of February 9th.

Aaron Hoorn, SLEHS Senior wrestler, went undefeated at Regionals to be the Regional Champion in his weight class! Congratulations Aaron!

The Varsity Girls basketball team won its first conference playoff game on 2/17 against Canton. On Tuesday, 2/24 at the Plymouth/Salem KLAA Championship game, Gabi Bird and Peyton Jones were recog-nized as All-Conference selections. Jessica Lavoie was also selected for All-Conference honorable mention.

South Lyon East

The PlastiVan program, sponsored by the Society of Plastic Engineers, travels to schools and companies throughout North America, educating people of all ages about plastics chemistry, history, processing, manu-facturing, sustainability and applications. East hosted their annual Plastivan visit and Chemistry and Technology students were “wowed” with lab experiences as an introduction to the plastics industry.

East students were given multiple opportunities this month to continue working on their EDPs (Educational Development Plan). These oppor-tunities are expected to assist pupils to identify career development goals as they relate to academic requirements and prepare students for post-secondary employment, training or college.

All sophomores worked on an Ability Profiler in Career Cruising that helped students match their skills to careers. Chemistry students and Mr. Weber's CAD students were given presentations including experi-ments through PlastiVan, an educational program sponsored by the plastics industry. Physical education students participated in flexibility exercises led by The National Guard School Programs while Mrs. Cher-ry's English 10 students listened to Sgt. Bonilla's speech on his life mot-to. Sgt. Bonilla guided Mr. Fabry's Business class on resume writing. Oakland Technical Center representative, Amy Flynn, gave a presenta-tion during Cougar hour in preparation for the tech center's January 22 Open House.

Lebkuchenhäuschen: What a great way to kick off the holiday season! The German 3 and 4 students participated in a Lebkuchenhäuschen (gingerbreadhouse) baking and decorating competition. Lebkuchen is a product of Nürenburg , Germany, which in fact does not contain any ginger.

The Japanese 3 & 4 classes recently held a Japanese cultural festi-val. Students celebrated Japanese culture by sharing hands-on displays of food, drinks, sports, hobbies, as well as Japanese media (video games and movies!).

Over four days in December, two hundred East sophomores completed a Career Cruising assessment called Ability Profiler. Students can com-pare their results to results of individuals in careers that students chose in previous years or to new careers suggested by Career Cruising. The purpose of the assessment is to help guide students in their career plan-ning by examining their skill strengths and skills that may need im-provement for their chosen careers.

SLEHS’ Giving Tree was placed in Student Services and decorated with tags identifying items that would help bring Christmas to two of our East families. Students and families were invited to select a tag off the tree and bring in the unwrapped item with the tag attached. Students, faculty, and East families all joined in to provide both families with a

South Lyon East High School