The September issue of the Chagrin Falls Exempted Village Schools’ on-line monthly magazine, Super News, is available to read by logging on to this website.
The publication features a message from the superintendent, updates on the September Board of Education meetings, a technology and finance department update, “Super Spotlights” of students and staff, as well as many stories and photos of happenings in the school buildings.
Local Produce
Local produce is now available in all the building cafeterias in the Chagrin Falls Exempted Village Schools.
“We are excited about our district’s new partnership with Bauman Orchards and Mantua Gardens to provide local fruits and vegetables to our students,” said Food Service Supervisor Marti Jacobson. “This initiative continues our efforts to provide fresh food selections to encourage students to pick healthier choices at lunchtime.”
Bauman Orchards, located in Rittman, will supply the district with apples. “They will be delivered two days after they are picked,” said Jacobson. “Bauman’s will be able to provide bell peppers, onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, and watermelon as well as other fresh produce during the growing season.” Next summer, the district plans to purchase blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries from the Orchard and then freeze them to use in smoothies and parfaits during the school year.
Mantua Gardens will be providing hydroponic lettuce year round as well.
Help Chagrin Falls PTO Raise Money for Students
Residents can help the Chagrin Falls PTO raise money for the schools by shopping at their local grocery stores. Residents can register their reward cards at either www.heinesrewards.com or www.gianteagle.com and remember to use them every time they shop at Heinen’s or Giant Eagle. Residents need to re-enroll at Heinen’s every year. Residents can also turn in box tops at the collection boxes located at each school building. If residents are interested in becoming a member of PTO or a volunteer for any of the many committees, please click here.
Chagrin Falls Teacher Creates Hopes and Dreams
One of the ways teachers launch each school year at Gurney Elementary is by having their students create a goal they would like to accomplish that year. In second grade teacher Jillian Langer’s classroom, she had her students think about their “Hopes and Dreams” for the school year, a project she first learned about at a week-long Responsive Classroom workshop.
The process involves literature and art, along with learning about school expectations and rules, classmates, and how students can work together to achieve their hopes for the school year. “It immediately sets a tone of collaboration and mutual respect with the students, and gives the students a chance to reflect and think about their goals. Creating ‘Hopes and Dreams’ then helps us create our classroom rules,” said Langer.
The first step in this process was reading “This School Year Will Be the Best!” by Kay Winters and discussing the things the students are looking forward to doing and learning in second grade. The class also read “Wolf” by Becky Bloom, a book about a wolf that is interested in learning how to read.
Each child then reflected about his or her experience in first grade. They thought about questions such as, “What was hard for you?” “What was easy for you?” “If you could have changed something, what would it be?” “What are you looking forward to this year?” The students used their responses to come up with a hope and dream for second grade. Langer asked students to be specific.
“For example, instead of saying they want to get better in math, students might say, “My hope for second grade is to learn how to multiply.” Many students in my class want to learn how to read chapter books. Some students hope to become better at spelling. Some students are working on becoming better listeners. I also create a goal for the school year. This year, I wrote, “In second grade, I hope to be able to give my students work that is just right for them.” I want to illustrate that no one is perfect and model that we all need to work hard to make our hopes and dreams come true,” said Langer.
The next step was for the students to make their face out of construction paper and write his or her hope on a speech bubble. The class also held meeting where everyone shared their hopes and dreams and talked about steps they can take to accomplish them. The class also discussed what rules will be needed to help everyone’s hopes and dreams come true.
“This way, classroom rules stem from the students’ goals, instead of being dictated by the teacher. Students list what they think would be important rules to have, and from a list of 12 rules, we notice that we can group rules into similar categories,” said Langer.
In Langer’s class, the three rules are: Respect yourself, Respect others, and Respect things.
The class’s hopes and dreams will be incorporated into the curriculum. At the end of the year, the students will reflect on their hopes and dreams and how they made them come true.
Find more about what’s happening in the Chagrin schools by clicking here.
Chagrin Falls School News is sponsored by
