By Denny Morrison
There are five applicants who have expressed a desire to fill the open position on the Board of Education. The four remaining board members interviewed candidates this week and hope to name a replacement for Gil Esparza at their next regular board meeting which takes place Monday, Dec. 12.
Student Enrollment: Our student enrollment remains high. We have 4,488 students enrolled in our school district as of last Friday. The state’s predictions were that we would have 4,283 students. Thus, we are operating with approximately 200 more students district wide than expected.
Xenia Preschool: The gross motor room at the preschool is almost finished. There will be a ribbon cutting ceremony to officially open the new room 4 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 12. This grand opening will be in conjunction with Literacy Night being held that evening. Paula Fleming’s class acted out and retold the story of “Three Billy Goats Gruff.” The students made hand puppets of the troll and had props for the other characters. What a great way to expose children to public speaking as they learn retelling, sequencing, and drama skills.
Arrowood: Tamela Babb’s kindergarten class created a shape museum. The students used vocabulary words like vertices and attributes to explain the characteristics of the figures. It was great to see how excited they were sharing what they have been learning about shapes. The students on buses 16 and 24 earned an ice cream sandwich for their positive behavior on the bus. Arrowood conducted a two-day coin blitz to raise money for the victims of the fires in Tennessee. They raised $775 in loose change.
Cox: Cox’s Winter Wonderland was a huge success. More than 400 parents and children attended the event. The night was filled with crafts, games and food. There was a gingerbread house contest and raffle items to win. Lots of holiday fun was had by all. Cox students attended STARBASE for the entire week. The nationwide STARBASE curriculum includes Newton’s Laws of Motion, Fluid Mechanics and Aerodynamics, Building Blocks of Matter, Physical and Chemical Change, Atmospheric Properties, Technology Innovations, Nanotechnology, Mapping and Navigation, Engineering Design Process, 3D CAD Modeling, Numbers and Number Relationships, Metric Measurement, Geometry, Graphing and STEM Careers. The students were totally engaged and really enjoyed the hands-on activities that were provided free of charge through this program.
McKinley: McKinley’s Lego Robotics Team competed at Ruskin School and did a terrific job. The students researched a solution to the problem of bee population decline and presented it to the judges. They also competed against other teams in the robot part of the competition. Team members are fifth graders Kaylee Benson, Sophie Robinson, Hannah Fultz, Blake Hughes, Austin Alvarez, Trenton Lee, and fourth graders Ben Pulfer and Alisha Lindsay. The team is coached by Tim Carey and Travis Klosterman. McKinley’s PTO purchased bike racks so students will have room to store their bikes while they are at school. Students are looking forward to purchasing Christmas gifts for their families next week as they shop at the Holiday Christmas Shoppe that will be in the art room. Students who met their reading and math winter RTI score will receive a treat from the PTO. Congratulations to Ava Campbell, Fultz, and Reagan Hammond on being chosen to read their DARE essays at the upcoming DARE graduation.
Shawnee: Shawnee’s Students of Character for November are Ah’mia Rathert, Maddox Hill, Madyson DeNise, Grace Grooms, Zoey Violet, Chris Wingate, Josia Miller, Dee Dee Jones, Clayton Randolph, Ja’netta Holder, LeAnthony Byrd, Clifton Warren, Jacob Smith, Kaiden Wiedenheft, Sierra Bice, Alexis Fry, Kylie Hart, Brianna Pardue, Ethan Bowen, Ella Vaught, and Denny Hayslip. These students all demonstrated the character trait of responsibility.
Tecumseh: Tecumseh is having a door decorating contest again this year. Doors were judged Dec. 9. This week Tecumseh held its Scholastic Book Fair. On Tuesday morning Pastries with Parents took place.
Warner: Thanks to Karen Nolen, Dana McClain, and Justin Shirley for their effort in putting together the eighth grade WEB leaders and putting on the sixth grade social. Thanks also for their efforts on the food drive to give back to the community and people in need just before the holiday. The final count for collection was 2,649 items. Great job.
XHS: The high school sophomores visited the Greene County Career Center last Friday.
XTAR: Students enjoyed working on Christmas Logic Puzzles and continued practicing their problem solving skills on Edu2.0 with Christmas themed activities. Students used rounding, fractions, and comparison skills to determine the top ten highest grossing holiday movies of all time. The students also spent time brainstorming and sketching ideas for creating an ornament to adorn the branches of the class Christmas tree.
Billboard: Huntington Outdoor which owns several billboards in the Xenia area is sponsoring an art contest for students ages 5-12. It has a “Hometown” theme and the art must relate to to a landmark, building, park, individual, etc. in town. The art will be judged by a panel of local business owners during Xenia’s Hometown Christmas Dec. 10. The winner of the contest will get their artwork displayed on a billboard in January.
