the w-e school of innovation the spark remark spark remark... · 2015-11-04 · at the w-e school...

At the W-E School of Innovation we are utilizing service projects to educate our students and better

our community. Two great examples are the Socktober sock collection and the Halloween costume

collection. As of this morning we have collected OVER 2,500 pairs of socks for local needy families

and over 50 Halloween costumes for underprivileged children. Our students are taking pride in help-

ing other in the community they live in. We don’t ask for credit, we only ask that you help us help

others!

The students have started their new grade level capstones. Please ask your child to explain the BIG

question their capstone is asking! If you ask your child what they did at school today and hear the

popular phrase “nothing” or “I don’t know”, don’t let them off the hook!! They are working hard

each day gaining real world knowledge. Press them for information, ask them questions, and train

them to share what they know. Exhibiting the knowledge they are gaining and using real world ex-

amples of how to apply that knowledge helps them truly master the content! Don’t let them off easy!

Have a great weekend!

A message from Mr. Patrick

The time is now!

It has been more than 45 years since the

Willoughby-Eastlake School District has

asked for money to rebuild facilities.

Currently our buildings are in need of $30

million in roof repairs alone. It is time to

address the failing facilities so that our

schools will remain viable.

Please visit Supportweschools.org in order

to learn more about your opportunity to

change the future.

The W-E School of Innovation

The Spark Remark

Important dates:

10/26 Blue Day

W-E SOI PTO Meeting 7 pm

10/27 Green Day

10/28 White Day

10/29 Blue Day

10/30 No color day

Halloween party in PM

11/2 Conference Night 1

4:00-7:00 pm

11/3 No School

Prof. Development Day


3:30-6:30 pm


3:30-6:30

Inside this issue:

News you can use 2

Grade 3 page 3

Grade 4 page 4

Grade 5 page 5

Encore and PTO page 6

More news 7-8

Pictures 9-11

#WEMATTER

Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SOInnovation

Follow us on Twitter: @WES_Innovation

Contact the office by phone: 440-942-1525

Contact the office by e-mail: [email protected]

https://www.facebook.com/SOInnovation

https://twitter.com/WES_Innovation

The Spark Remark

On Friday, October 30th, we will have an afternoon of festive STEM fun! Students

can bring costumes to change into after lunch/recess (no total face makeup, weapons,

masks or fake blood please :). We will have many activities for students to do in

multiple stations around the school. The parent climate committee is planning some

great fun. No need to send in food as donuts, apples and drinks will be provided. If

a student has an allergy they can bring in a substitute snack (singular) instead! Stu-

dent who make their own costumes or transform into a famous scientist will receive

bonus house points! Thanks to the W-E SOI PTO for the apples and drinks!

Halloween is coming to Innovation!

Fall Conferences

Fall conferences will be held on November 2nd, 4:00-7:00 pm, November 5th, 3:30-6:30

pm, and November 10th, 3:30-6:30 pm. If you have not yet scheduled a conference please

contact your child’s grade level teaching team as soon as possible. Students will be re-

quired to attend as they will be leading the conference along with a parent and select-

ed staff member. Capstone projects will be discussed, along with other specifics about stu-

dent growth and performance. Our hope is that every family attends a conference night.

SOCKTOBER IS ALMOST OVER!

We have collected over 2,000 pairs of

new socks for the needy in our area.

The last day to donate socks is this

Friday, October 30th. Please send

them in with students, or drop them

off at the school office. Mr. Patrick

will even pick them up if you like!

Thanks for making this service

project to help others a huge success!

The last day to donate new or gently

used Halloween costumes is Monday,

October 26th. You can send them in

with a student or drop them off.

Please place the costume in a paper

or plastic bag. We have already col-

lected over 50 costumes for children

in our area!

Keep up the great work!

Each week this space will be dedicated to

general information about what 3rd graders

are learning at the School of Innovation. Our

curriculum is generally blended (trans-

disciplinary) so concepts are taught together

whenever possible using real-world examples

and hands-on situations. This week the 3rd

graders worked with metaphors and multiple

meaning words. We also wrote thank you

notes to the Lake County Auditor. We

Some conversation prompts for you to ask your child:

“What did you launch across the common area

this week?”

“What did you learn when you designed your cat-

apult?”

“What new software did Mr. Woodie teach you in

music class?”

3rd grade Weekly Update

3rd Grade Capstone Update

The Spark Remark

started Chapter 3 in math and have been intro-

duced to math contracts. In science we learned

about erosion and weathering which is an intro-

duction to 4th grade science! We also designed ,

tested and collected data on catapults!

Conference reminders will be coming home

soon!

THE BIG IDEA- Communities change over

time. How can we improve our community as we

look to the future? The CHALLENGE - So far

this year we have used the design process to help

us improve our ideas. Recently we read about

some people who used great ideas to make life

better for people. Moving forward with this

same theme, we are challenging you to develop/

create an invention that can improve your com-

munity or school. As a part of the design process,

we will study inventions from the past and the

history of our communities. This information

will help you decide what types of inventions are

needed. GOOD LUCK!

Hot Topics

The Spark Remark

Each week this space will be dedicated to general

information about what 4th graders are learning at

the School of Innovation. Our curriculum is gener-

ally blended (trans-disciplinary) so concepts are

taught together whenever possible using real-world

examples and hands-on situations. Olivia Proctor

stated, “This week we did a candy corn challenge

that was really fun. It was really fun because we

got to make tin foil boats that hold the most candy

corn. Next we made pledges for our new Capstone

Challenge. We put down our ideas for pledges on big

posters and the teachers read them. We put all our ide-

as on the Smartboard together and made the new

pledge. That was really cool! Students are beginning

to learn about Measurement (Ch. 11) in conjunction

with the Capstone. We are looking at the diets of

Ohio’s Prehistoric people as well as their life-

styles. The kids will learn about significant contribu-

tions to the health and wellness industry by reading

biographies of famous people in those fields.

“SOI Let’s Move!” The 2nd Quarter

Capstone secret is out. Students AND teachers

are excited. Our 4th grade challenge is: 1) In-

crease our daily physical activity to 60 minutes a

day 2) Strive to add in 1 additional healthy eat-

ing goal per week while maintaining the previ-

ous goal 3) Track our data and progress

throughout the Capstone and 4) Increase our

awareness of childhood and adult obesity in the

U.S. The kids vowed, “We will not be couch

potatoes!”


“What did student make in the FAB LAB this

week?”

“What type of material was your candy corn boat

made of?”

“How was prehistoric food different compared to

modern food? “

Hot Topics

4th grade Weekly Update

4th Grade Capstone Update

5th Grade Capstone Update

5th grade Weekly Update

Each week this space will be dedicated to

general information about what 5th graders

are learning at the School of Innovation. Our

curriculum is generally blended (trans-

disciplinary) so concepts are taught together

whenever possible using real-world examples

and hands-on situations. This week we start-

ed learning about the sun and its layers. We

began talking about the three types of gov-

ernment and had some fun with design

challenges learning how a Monarchy and a Dic-

tatorship are run. In ELA, we are learning about

nonfiction text structures and possible graphic

organizers to use with them.

The 5th grade was introduced to this

quarter’s new Capstone project. We will be

discovering how small parts can impact big-

ger systems around them with a focus on

Earth and Space Science. Students will be

choosing a person who has impacted the

world and will begin to research and learn

more about them. We will have a Biog-

raphy Tea that you are invited to on De-

cember 8th at 1:30.

Hot Topics


“During our government class why were people

sitting in the corner?”

“Would you rather live in a Monarchy or Democ-

racy and why?”

“Tell me about the sun’s different layers?”

The Spark Remark

Art/Design This week students worked in the FAB LAB using the laser

cutters to make pop-up monsters. Please ask your child about

their monster, the process to make it, and how the machine

did the cutting. High Tech!

Music 3rd & 4th Grade music and 5th grade choir are studying how string instruments make sound. They are studying how 3 charac-teristics (Length, tension and thickness) change the pitch. They also have to com-plete a number of challenges using the game “String Thing” where they manipu-late these different characteristics to achieve the goal result. They also are do-ing qualitative analysis on their Lorax per-formance. They answered 2 questions about their Lorax performance: what went well and what needs to im-prove. We are tallying the responses in Google Sheets and illustrating the results with pie charts and bar graphs. We will use this information to guide us when we prepare for our next performance. The band is going to review for their first writ-ten test. All material on pages 4-7 will be covered. The review will be Friday and the test will be Wednesday. Also, the band will soon start being required to complete weekly practice records (to ac-count for 30 minutes of practice per week). Parents will need to sign complet-ed practice records to verify their child did practice.

Professional Speaker Series

This week Mrs. Veronica McCullough visited us as part of our Professional Speaker Series.

Mrs. McCullough spoke about her career as an interior designer. She creates designs for

Pottery Barn Kids and has even built some of her creations! She spoke of the need for col-

laboration and trust between client and designer, and how that is a learned skill, much like

our students are developing in collaborate groups. Also, the measuring, drawing, and logis-

tics of design are VERY S.T.E.M.!! Thank you for visiting our school Mrs. McCullough!

The Spark Remark

My name is Mrs. Withrow. I am current-

ly a 5th Grade teacher at the School of

Innovation. I graduated from The Uni-

versity of Dayton in 1997 and moved to

Cincinnati where I taught 6th grade in

the Lakota School District. I then de-

cided I wanted to come back home and

be close to my family (I have four

brothers and a sister). I went back to

school and earned a Master’s degree at

Cleveland State. I have been teaching in

the Willoughby-Eastlake School District

since 1999. I have taught 6th grade at

Willowick Middle School, I travelled the

district to teach Wilson Reading, and I

just came from 2ndI live in Waite Hill

with my husband and two chil-

dren. Jonathan is in sixth grade and

Nora is in fourth grade. They both are

at the Kirtland schools. My family and I

love to travel and go to different plac-

es. We love to spend time outdoors and

with family and friends.

Growing up I never had a doubt in my mind that I wanted to go into education. I have

always been passionate about helping students achieve. I understand that all children

learn in different ways and at different speeds. I want all students to succeed and be

ready to continue their educational journey. I have high expectations for my students,

and those expectations are the same as the expectations that I have for my own chil-

dren. I regularly reflect on how I would want my child’s teacher to handle situations or

how I would expect my child to act. I want everyone to work their hardest and to always

give 110% I love teaching and feel like I have an extended family here at school.

I’m excited to be here at the School of Innovation where students are given many differ-

ent opportunities to be innovative and then pass on what we have learned to our fellow

W-E schools!

The YMCA Before and After School

program (Y-Care) has a new phone.

Their number is:

440-283-4236 Please call with any questions you

may have or changes in plans for a

student. Thank you!

‘Senior’ Prom Thursday, October 29th, from 5:00-

7:00 pm, a ‘Senior’ Citizen Prom will

be help at Willoughby Union High

School (Tech). An attached flyer has

more details and RSVP information.

Sounds like fun!

North High Craft Show

A craft show will be held this Saturday, Oc-

tober 24, 2015 from 9 am to 3 pm in the

Commons at North High School. All pro-

ceeds benefit the Class of 2016 After

Prom. Please see the attached flier for fur-

ther information. Thank you in advance for

your support of the Class of 2016!

We need water bottles for crafts at the

Halloween Party. The typical 16.9 oz

bottles with caps would be great. Just

have your student bring them in and

drop them in one of the bottle bags!

Thanks for your help with this fun

craft!

The Spark Remark

the w-e school of innovation the spark remark spark remark... · 2015-11-04 · at the w-e school...

Documents