Month: January 2016

January Literacy Tip

Reading Commitments at Home:

I Promise to… Why?

Read 20 Minutes Each Night
Read every night: make this family time a routine! Your homework stories can be included in your 20 minutes!
• Build reading stamina
• Increase test scores
• Create a lifelong habit
• Strengthens fluency
• Helps comprehension
• Grows vocabulary
• Builds a love for reading

Practice Sight Words Each Night!
Sight words are everywhere!! Make sight words a game! Try to make sentences using them, write them in chalk outside, and write them in lipstick on your bathroom mirror, the possibilities are endless!! Have your child say the word, then spell it, then write it!!
• BOOSTS fluency
• Makes reading easier if sight words are learned
• Reading becomes easier
• 60-85% of children’s stories are sight words!

Complete ALL Reading Homework
Reading homework reinforces what students learn in school each day! It builds confidence in class when their reading homework is done.
• Extra practice
• Makes students more independent
• Builds responsibility
• Helps students understand their reading
• Test practice

Talk About and LOVE Reading
Ask your child questions about the stories they are reading! Engage in conversations around books and let them see you reading too! If they know that you love reading, their love will continue to grow. Also, asking questions will help make sure your child understands what they are reading!
• The more you love reading, the more they will want to READ!
• The more you talk to them, the more they will THINK!

THE MORE THAT YOU READ, THE MORE THINGS YOU WILL KNOW, THE MORE THINGS YOU WILL LEARN, THE MORE PLACES YOU’LL GO! – Dr. Seuss


Elementary Students Earn Accelerated Reader Achievement – January

Congratulations to the following students for going OUT of this WORLD in reading this month. They have gone above and beyond. We are very proud of them!!!

Kindergarten

  1. Seriella Hablitzel – KHO – 27.6 points
  2. Alexander Coldren – KST – 19.3 points
  3. Elizabeth Niese – KHO – 18.5 points
  4. Grady Latta – KHO – 17.5 points
  5. Trevor Gebhardt – KHO – 13.0 points

First Grade

  1. Jackson Knepper – 1LW – 68.3 points
  2. Graham Reichenbach – 1K – 61.5 points
  3. Aidan Buddelmeyer – 1K – 55.7 points
  4. Caleb Hochstettler – 1K – 48.5 pooints
  5. Claire Johnson – 1W – 43.8 points

Second Grade

  1. Andrew Tomlinson – 2LM – 108.7 points
  2. Chase Troyer – 2F – 64.3 points
  3. Brody Thomas – 2V – 62.9 points
  4. Jonathan Coldren – 2O – 62.2
  5. Ryan Maas – 2LM – 60.8 points

Third Grade

  1. Reagan Knapke – 3H – 268.9 points
  2. Gabriella Tuttle – 3H – 160.5 points
  3. Donovan Stripe – 3W – 138.1 points
  4. Mackenzie Walker – 3H – 124.9 points
  5. William Niese – 3SP – 117.4 points

Fourth Grade

  1. Nicole Susko – 4AB – 439.6 points
  2. Noah Davis – 4AB – 339.3 points
  3. Gabe St. Amour – 4HA – 298.6 points
  4. Emma Schroeder – 4B – 284.3 points
  5. Reese Phillips – 4HA – 234.7 points

Fifth Grade

  1. Kaylen Niese – 235.8 points
  2. Bethany Todd – 180.8 points
  3. Alana Subramaniam – 166.1 points
  4. RJ Coldren – 156.6 points
  5. Conner Criblez – 140.5 points


Liberty-Benton Middle School Spelling Bee

The top 17 spellers in the middle school qualified to compete in our school wide spelling bee on January 6th. It was an exciting bee! Our student body did an excellent job of following the audience rules of etiquette during the competition while also cheering on our contestants at appropriate times during the bee.

After seven intense rounds, eighth grader Avery Ayers defeated the other spellers to become our school champion. Runner up was eighth grader Amanda Tremains; our third place contestant was seventh grader Jaemacyn Morgan.

Our school champion, Avery Ayers, will go on to represent Liberty-Benton Middle School in the county wide spelling bee at Glenwood Middle School on February 4, 2016, at 7:00 pm. The top seven spellers from the Hancock County Spelling Bee will move on to the Blade Spelling Bee on March 12, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. at the Owens Community College Performing Arts Center in Toledo, Ohio.


Free Preschool Screening Offered

A developmental screening for 3, 4, and 5 year-old children for whom there may be concerns in the areas of gross or fine motor skills, speech-language or readiness is set for Friday, April 15, 2016. In addition, a vision and hearing screening will be offered. This is a free service to the public.

The Preschool Screening is for students in the following school districts: Arcadia, Arlington, Cory Rawson, Liberty-Benton, McComb, Riverdale, Van Buren, and Vanlue.

Pre-Registration is required. For a screening appointment, please call 419.422.7525, ext. 209. Please call between the dates of March 21, 2016 and April 8, 2016. A confirmation will be mailed to you. Screening will be held at Findlay First Nazarene Church, which is located at 2501 Broad Avenue in Findlay.  Early registration is recommended as sessions are limited.

Preschool Screening is conducted by the Hancock County Educational Service Center.


LB Athletic Boosters “300” Reverse Raffle

Liberty-Benton’s Athletic Boosters Annual “300” Reverse Raffle will be held on Saturday, April 9, at The Sterling Center located at 4570 Fostoria Avenue in Findlay (behind the Humane Society) and will be catered by Kathy’s Korner. Doors will open at 6:00 pm. Dinner will be served at 6:30 pm, with Reverse Raffle starting at 7:30 pm.  Click here to access the ticket form.

Tickets are available on a first-come, first-serve “paid” basis for anyone 21 years of age or older. Raffle tickets are $100 each and include dinner. If you cannot join us, you can still be a winner as you need not be present to win. If $100 doesn’t fit your budget,  please consider splitting a ticket with a friend or family member. The cash awards remain unchanged from years past, with a $10,000 Grand Prize and $8,000 in additional cash prizes if all tickets are sold. There will be 50/50 drawings and may other games offered during the course of the evening for even more chances to win!

All tickets purchased prior to March 12 will be entered in a separate drawing for a $100 “early bird”  raffle ticket. This winning ticket will be drawn at the March 12 Athletic Boosters meeting. This ticket will continue to be in the drawing on April 9.

For those unfamiliar with this fundraiser, it has generated a net amount of approximately $15,000 each year, which is used to directly support the student athletes at L-B. With an annual budget of nearly $35,000, the L-B Athletic Boosters critically depend upon the success of this event.

As costs continue to climb, our students are counting on us to help meet their growing needs. your generous participation will help assure that this continues to be a very successful event. Thank you for your past and continued support!

Jim Carpenter
Liberty-Benton Athletic Booster-President

 

LB Students Equipped With Technology

Three years ago, Liberty-Benton set a goal. We wanted to equip our students with technology to help them succeed in society. At the beginning of the 2012 school year, we handed out 640 iPads to all of our elementary students.

In the three years since then, both the teachers and students have been blown away by all they have been able to accomplish with these devices. We’ve experienced a shift in the way our teachers are teaching. Lessons can now easily be differentiated, projects and homework can be done without paper, textbooks are read on the iPads, and students can electronically check out and read library books on their iPads.

Instead of studying symbiotic relationships the traditional way, Jenn Stillings, 5th grade Science, taught her fifth grade students using an app called Schoology. Within the app, Mrs. Stillings created her lesson and distributed all the necessary materials and handouts to her students. The kids chose PowerPoint, Google Slides, Google Docs, or traditional poster board to present a symbiotic relationship they created digitally. Each student took their turn to present wirelessly in front of the class using their iPads.

A symbiotic relationship is a mutually beneficial interaction between organisms. They provide a balance that can only be achieved by working together. We believe that these iPads facilitate the same type of relationship between our teachers and students who are learning from one another with this new technology.

  

 

 

 

 

 

RJ Coldren and Wyatt Lynch presented their projects wirelessly using Apply TV.

 


LB Academic Boosters Upcoming Events

The Liberty Benton Academic Boosters will meet on Thursday, January 21, at 6:30 PM in the High School Library. We will be discussing mark_your_calendarScholarship Awards, 3.5 Banquet and Bingo Family Fun Night. Everyone’s input is very valuable and we look forward to seeing you on the 21st!

Important dates to know:

March 14 – 3.5 Banquet Dinner. All students achieving a 3.5 or greater are honored. Parents are invited to the dinner with their student(s).

April 29 – Bingo Family Fun Night Fundraiser. This is our biggest fundraiser of the year.

 


Liberty-Benton High School Staff Member of the Month for November

Mr. Scott Arnold is in his 12th year of teaching at Liberty-Benton High School. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree from Bowling Green State University in 2004, and his Master’s Degree, also from BGSU, in 2009.

Mr. Arnold is originally from Cairo, Ohio, where he attended Lima Bath High School. His wife, Carrie, is an art teacher at Liberty-Benton Middle School and High School. They have three children: Camden, a freshman; Connor, who is in 4th grade; and Cooper, who is three years old.

Mr. Arnold enjoys building relationships with students and assisting them with developing their citizenship skills. He is looking forward to the day when term limits are put in place for our Congressional members so that voting is done based upon what is best for our country, not based upon getting reelected.

In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his family and coaching football as well as baseball here at Liberty-Benton High School. Go Eagles!



LBHS Case of Chickenpox

Attention High School Parents:

We wanted to let you know that we have had a case of chickenpox here at the high school. Many students will be immune by having received the vaccine or by having chickenpox when they were younger. However, we wanted to let you know in case your son or daughter starts showing any signs of chickenpox in the next couple of weeks. Please reference this fact sheet for more information about chickenpox.

 


Lots of Upcoming PTO Events — Mark Your Calendars!

Upcoming PTO Meetings (meeting are held in the ES/MS Library from 7 to 8 pm):

Tuesday, January 19
Tuesday, March 15

May- TBD; MS concert is same evening so we are moving the date. In addition, May’s meeting is officer elections for Vice President and Treasurer.

Additional Events:

Stevie B’s eatery nights are the first Thursday of each month at 5:30 to 8:00 pm. Come out to Stevie B’s and eat while supporting our PTO! Each month you will be served by members of our staff. The following dates are: Stevie B's

January 7th – Office Staff and Mrs Gierke will be serving.

February 5th  – Encore teachers, Mrs. Hocanson and Mrs. Jackson will be serving.

April 7th – 3rd grade teachers will be serving.

May 5th – 1st grade teachers will be serving

PTO Carnival will be Saturday, February 6th from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm. This will be the 10th Anniversary of our carnival!!

Right to Read week is March 7 – 11. Students may shop at the Spring Book Fair during this week during their library time.

Spring PTO Book Fair will be March 7 – 11 (during school hours). Evening hours will be 5:30 – 8:00 pm starting Wednesday, March 9th thru Thursday, March 17th. This includes Saturday and Sunday as well.

Field Day is scheduled for Friday, May 20.