Friday, February 1, 2008
FRIDAY UPDATE
EASTON AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT
2007 - 2008 School Year
Easton Area High School Student Wins Student Paths Education Award
Radames is a senior and the winner of the Student Paths Education Award. This fall he and his classmates received a copy of the fall issue of the publication Student Paths. Each student was able to fill out a return postcard to receive information about the articles in the publication. Student Paths publication topics range from articles on transition from high school to wacky college scholarships.
Radames’ postcard was picked to be the winner of the $200.00 scholarship from Student Paths. Mrs. Pitsilos the School-to-Career Coordinator and Mrs. Smith his Guidance Counselor presented the check to a very excited Radames. Radames said he would save the money for college.
Radames was chosen from a statewide contest. Student Paths partners with high schools, whose teachers use the publication in the classroom as a learning tool. Student Paths has given away more than $150,000 in scholarships to students since Student Paths began. The publication is now delivered to more than 1.2 million students.
Congratulations Radames!
Cheston and Lehigh University Collaborate to Promote the Arts
Over a year and a half ago, Cheston School was approached by Lehigh University to join in a project that would combine the creative imagination of local children with poetry, music and movement in an exciting new work titled “Small Steps, Tiny Revolutions.” The work was based on the poetry of Lehigh Professor, Deborah Sakarakis, Renowned composer and Lehigh Professor, Steven Sametz, composed the music and the choreography was produced by Pascal Rioult of the Pascal Rioult dance theatre in New York City.
Last Spring, Ms. Sakarakis visited Cheston and conducted workshops with our third grade chorus students in movement and creative writing and drawing. At that time, they collected ideas and artwork from the children that were then given to Mr. Rioult. In November of this school year, members of the Rioult dance theatre again visited Cheston to conduct a movement workshop that incorporated actual characters and movements used in the production.
Then, last Friday, our 4th grade chorus members traveled to Lehigh to see the actual production. The cast even included two of our own students, Nicole and Alexa, dancing the parts of the same characters we had experienced in November. Before we left Lehigh’s Zoellner Arts Center, we had the opportunity to view our own artwork from last year’s workshop.
We are grateful for the privilege of participating in this exciting project and the premier of a new ballet. Congratulations to Alexa and Nicole, for a job well done.
Submitted by Marie Miller
Cheston Music Teacher
EAA Middle School Students Make
Blankets for Those in Need
This week the Middle School students at Easton Area Academy assembled twelve handmade blankets for those in need. The students used fleece, scissors and hard work to complete this task. The finished blankets will be donated to Project Linus, a non-profit organization who presents homemade, donated blankets to children who are seriously ill, in need or traumatized. The students and teachers would like to thank the Community in Schools staff for purchasing fleece in order for us to participate in this worthwhile project.
Comic Life - Writing Prompts
Students in Mr. Pfluger’s class are using Comic Life as a different form of writing! For this activity, each student received a different writing prompt where he or she had to
write a comic strip in which he or she was the main character. The students used their own creativity to produce amazing comics and were also able to practice their writing skills.
Happenings
at EAA!!
BLACK HISTORY MONTH
at SHAWNEE
History:
Grade 8:
Shows the movie Little Rock Nine - segregation issues
Discusses contributions of African Americans in our society with a daily fact
Discuss Martin Luther King's contribution to Civil Rights
Grade 7:
Study Africa
Discuss the Slave Trade from Africa to the States in a Historical context
Discuss Martin Luther King
Discuss contributions of African Americans
Art:
The Art department- rented a traveling exhibit on the Harlem Renaissance- the exhibit highlighted the art, music and literature that came out of this time period.
Our 9th period extension students (8th graders) put together a Power Point Presentation after gathering information about the Harlem Renaissance, which was put onto disks, distributed to all homerooms and viewed (hopefully) by everyone.
All the 7th grade art students did collages reflecting the style of Jacob Lawrence, an artist of the Harlem Renaissance- he at one point in time actually lived in Easton.
English:
8th Grade English-Unit on African American Literature
7th Grade English-Previews some of the literature taught in 8th grade
News from Shawnee’s “Magic Groundhogs”
For the next seven weeks Team 8-2 Social Studies classes have the benefit of an extra instructor. Mrs. Sadowsky’s student teacher, Mr. Brotzman, is visiting from Moravian College and brings a wealth of knowledge and a fresh face to the Magic Groundhogs. He will lead the students through the fall of Rome, including the nasty Huns and other brutish heathens who aided in the decline.
To add excitement to science, Mr. Juniper has arranged for a visiting speaker to come from Air Products. This speaker will bring a stash of liquid Nitrogen and will explore the characteristics and properties with a super cold (about -320F) substance. To accommodate the interest from the other teams, Mr. Juniper was happy to be able to host the speaker and demonstrations in the Shawnee Auditorium.
