Happenings and Good News in SPS

Lowell Elementary Chess Team wins 24th Place at National Elementary Chess Championship
This event was held May 11-13th in Nashville Tennessee.  Lowell was the only team with just two players (they could have had up to four).  Jan Buzek, 4th grade, placed 47th out of 284 players and Marcell Szabo, 5th grade, was co-National Champion in the K-5 section.

 Note:  these blurbs were either submitted or the work of SPS Communications.  I did not write any copy so create due to those who did.

B.F. Day Elementary School received the Outstanding School Award May 15 from the Seattle Special Education PTSA for its work in building an inclusive school community.

Toby Jarman, who nominated B.F. Day, gave a glowing account of the contributions of special education teacher Maki Ichikawa, instructional assistants Jillian and Francina, general education teacher Mike Agrellas, and Principal Susan McCloskey.

Susan Sturms, President of the Seattle Special Education PTSA, said the nomination highlighted the professionalism, positive attitude, high expectations, appropriate instructional strategies, and inclusive philosophy of the school staff.

Olympic View Elementary student Zhenna Watkins’ film, “A Mermaid Story” was screened at the National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY), the largest and most influential youth film festival in the world.

At age 8, she was by far the youngest filmmaker to have a film selected for the festival this year. There were more than 700 submissions of youth filmmakers (age 22 and under) from 40 states and 20 countries.
 
Rainier Beach High School teacher Michael Braun has been selected to attend the 8th annual Microsoft Partners in Learning 2012 U.S. Forum. He was chosen for his use of technology in the classroom to enhance student learning.

Braun’s project, titled “Exploration of Computer Science on Smartphones,” essentially teaches students how to create applications for cell phones. In a collaboration with Rainier Beach High School, Southshore Middle School, Seattle Public Schools, and Microsoft TEALS (Technology, Education And Literacy in Schools), Braun taught students to use TouchDevelop to create scripts.

Students were able to install, run, edit, and publish scripts using Windows phones and Windows Phone SDK.
 
COMMUNITY HEALTH AND SAFETY FAIR - 
Saturday May 19th at John Rogers Elementary, 4030 NE 109th Street, from 10:00 to 1:00 PM. 
Presented by the John Rogers PTA with participants from the Seattle Fire Department, Hunger Intervention Program, Seattle Tilth, SNAP and more!   FREE!  Activities, information and giveaways....invite your friends, family and neighbors! 

The 5th Annual Franklin Arts Festival will be held on Saturday, May 19 from 11 to 3, on the Boulevard in front of Franklin High School.  The festival is free and open to everyone!

Come see student art work, buy food, tomato plants and student-made crafts and fine arts and see amazing performances.
 
EDUCATORS AND PARENTS PRESENT
"Moving Forward in Public Education: Ideas That Work" 

WHAT: What does work in education? What do at-risk kids need from their schools?
What do educators working in our classrooms need in order to be successful?
What are some of the greatest obstacles to educating our children in public
schools? What are some of the success stories? 

Panelists include:
• Dr. Margit McGuire, Professor and Director, Seattle Universityʼs Teacher
Education Program
• Sharon Okamoto, Principal, Seattle Urban Academy
• Rita Green, parent and PTA vice-president, Rainier Beach High School
• Marquita Prinzing, teacher, Sanislo Elementary School 

WHERE:   Rainier Beach High School Auditorium 
8815 Seward Park Ave. S. Seattle, WA 98118 

WHEN:  Thursday, May 31st at 6:30 PM 

SPONSOR: Sponsored by Parents Across America-Seattle in conjunction with
  Save Our Schools Northwest

Comments

Maureen said…
TOPS K-8 is hosting both ArtFest and the elementary play: Attack of the Globolinks! this Friday night! The play is an original musical adapted from an opera by Carlo Menotti.
5/17/12, 4:47 PM
Anonymous said…
Students and parents, we are all very proud of you for your awards, please keep up the great work you are doing, this is what makes our community better and better every day.
- Outstanding achievement deserves loud acknowledgement
5/18/12, 10:10 AM
Anonymous said…
Was that chess item referring to Lowell on Capitol Hill or Lowell APP at Lincoln students?

-Me
5/18/12, 11:17 AM
Anonymous said…
The Lowell chess team came from the Lowell@Lincoln site.
-Confusing with the names, I know
5/18/12, 11:59 AM
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