Parents, show your support for P-H-M’s elementary school leadership AND help raise money for Northpoint Elementary School!

At the P-H-M Education Foundation’s 20th Anniversary Gala on April 23, P-H-M principals will perform Vaudeville-style acts, competing against other P-H-M school teams. 

All the acts will be unique and definitely entertaining, but only one team—the one with the most votes—will win the PHaMmy award!

Here’s how you can help raise money for our school:

• Votes cost $10 each and you can cast multiple votes between now and the evening of the Gala.
• 50% of what each team raises will go directly back to that team’s schools!
• The first 100 votes for each team will be matched dollar for dollar by Gary Fox of Crowe Horwath. (Mr. Fox is P-H-M Board of School Trustees President and an Education Foundation Board Member.)

DO MRS. WIRTH AND HER TALENTED TEAMMATES DESERVE YOUR VOTE?

You bet they do! Just watch the video.

►START VOTING TODAY & give TEAM TWO a head start! Follow these easy steps:

1. Click "Browse, Bid and Buy – View Items"
2. ​Click "Register” to create a Gesture account 
3. Vote for TEAM TWO  (Auction Item #102)

Check here daily to see how the votes are coming in, and which team’s in the lead!

►WATCH LIVE STREAM OF THE GALA PERFORMANCES (Sat., April 23, 7:30 p.m.) on the Penn News Network—then vote again! Votes will be tallied and a winner announced at the end of the evening.

►PARTICIPATE IN THE SILENT AUCTION at the same “Browse, Bid and Buy” page where you cast your votes. Check out the many attractive items being offered, then stay on top of the bidding to get what you want and benefit the Foundation.  

The P-H-M Education Foundation has many reasons to celebrate its 20 years of service to the P-H-M community.  Since 1996, the Foundation has distributed more than $520,000 to our schools and classrooms via innovative teaching grants. The Foundation also uses proceeds to underwrite district activities with widespread impact such as “Running is Elementary” and the “Summer Visual Arts Academy.”  Its mission: To support excellence in education.

A vote for TEAM TWO is a vote for excellence in education!

P-H-M’s 30^th annual Elementary Spell Bowl took place Wednesday, March 23, 2016. Nearly 200 third, fourth, and fifth grade students took the stage at Penn High’s Center for Performing Arts, all prepared to do their best in regulated competition.

Northpoint Elementary spellers accomplished a sweep, finishing first at all three grade levels—including a perfect score of 30 at fourth grade!

In third grade competition, the Bittersweet, Madison, Mary Frank and Prairie Vista teams each scored 23 points, resulting in a four-way tie for second place.

The fourth grade spellers did very well, with the Bittersweet, Prairie Vista and Walt Disney teams each scoring 26 points and also finding themselves in a tie for second place.

On the heels of Northpoint’s winning fifth grade team was the Horizon team who took second place with 26 points and the Prairie Vista team whose 25 points brought them third place honors.

Each of the 11 elementary schools fielded three six-person teams (plus one alternate) representing grades 3, 4, and 5. Led by a teacher-coach, the teams spend weeks preparing for Spell Bowl. They may study word lists, learn about derivations (e.g., Latin roots) and rules (e.g., capitalization, pluralization), all the while gaining confidence in their ability to think clearly and spell correctly under pressure.

During the competition, each student must listen to a word, then write it on paper within a 15-second time limit. Their written entries are reviewed by a panel of judges and their score posted in front of the audience. Each correct spelling is worth one point.

Penn High School’s Center for Performing Arts was the setting, and it was full of students, family, friends, and faculty. The audience was hushed as spellers worked, but cheers broke out whenever results were announced.

Mrs. Anne-Marie Reininga, K-5 High Ability Coordinator for the district, manages the P-H-M Spell Bowl and works to assure that it is a positive and enriching experience for students. Academic competition can give students confidence, increase their motivation to sharpen their skills and abilities, and expand their opportunities to receive recognition.

Congratulations to all who participated in the 30^th annual P-H-M Spell Bowl!

Four ambitious students represented themselves and Northpoint Elementary School at the Northern Indiana Regional Science and Engineering Fair (NIRSEF) held at the University of Notre Dame on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016. 

Science fair projects are an amalgamation of reading, writing, mathematics, statistics, logic, critical thinking, computer science, graphic arts, scientific methodology, and even public speaking—all accomplished by self-directed students in pursuit of the discovery of new knowledge.  It’s an exciting process but it requires a lot of work, much of it done outside the school day. 

Judging by their entries, the future of science looks bright—and it appears our STEM programs are attracting more female students! 

Congratulations to these students on their awards!

• ANIKA AMIN, Grade 4: Are Icicles Clean? 

• EVELYN SHROUT, Grade 4: What Makes the Best Paper?

• ARDA KURAMA, Grade 5: Are There Patterns in Bridge Deflections?

• COLE KLINEDINST, Grade 5: Effects of Temperature on Strength of a Magnet 

  • ​Cole’s project has been selected to advance to the state competition, and will be exhibited and judged at the Hoosier Science and Engineering Fair on April 2. GOOD LUCK, COLE!

Overall, twenty-two Penn-Harris-Madison students, representing eight of the district’s 15 schools, participated at NIRSEF, earning 33 awards overall. 

Due to the weather, our parent night for incoming sixth graders to Discovery has been rescheduled. Mrs. Harper will meet with parents on March 9^th at 7:00 p.m. at Northpoint. Fifth grade students are welcome to attend.

IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO REGISTER FOR THE YOUNG AUTHOR’S CONFERENCE! The registration deadline has been extended until Friday, Feb. 26.

Calling all young authors and their parents!

P-H-M’s annual Young Author’s Conference will take place Saturday, March 12—and you won’t want to miss it.

The morning program will be full of engaging activities, fun entertainment and creative challenges—along with opportunities to learn and share.

We are pleased to host guest author Laura Purdie Salas. Salas will be on hand to share her published work and her love of writing, and to encourage students to produce their own poems and stories.

Meet Mrs. Salas now in this brief video, and preview two of her popular books in these videos: A Leaf Can Be and BookSpeak!

WHAT ELSE CAN YOU EXPECT?

Get ideas!  Parents will hear from Kathy Higgs-Coulthard, the director of Michiana’s Writing Center and also an instructor at St. Mary’s College. Higgs-Coulthard supports writers and writing events in the community, and will share tips with parents on how to do the same in their own families.

Get inspired!  Students will share their own written work with other students in small groups, getting feedback and giving encouragement and gaining confidence in their ability to create.

Get the giggles!  The Roz Puppets will be sure to make you laugh. Big puppets with big personalities, their performances delight “children of all ages.”

ADVANCE REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED!

• WHO: Students from Kindergarten through 5th grade, and one parent from each family

• DATE: Saturday, March 12, 2016

• TIME: 8:45 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

• LOCATION: Schmucker Middle School, 56045 Bittersweet Road.

• DIRECTIONS: Enter at the traffic signal, park in front, use main entrance.

• COST: $5 per student, payable upon registration

Watch for conference information that your student will bring home from school, then send back the registration envelope with your payment promptly. If you need another copy of the registration form, contact the school.

THE REGISTRATION DEADLINE HAS BEEN EXTENDED UNTIL FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26.

QUESTIONS?  Please contact Ms. Lisa Duerksen at lduerksen@phm.k12.in.us

Students who will be in 6th grade next year use the "Instrument Selection Night" as an opportunity to handle and test a variety of band and orchestra instruments.  Professional music teachers are on hand to help “pair” each student with an instrument on which they will find great success in their middle school music experience! 

As students are making choices about music classes in 6th grade, it is critical that they be able to try a variety of instruments in order to make an informed decision about what class and which instrument they prefer.

Instrument Selection Nights will be held at each middle school, beginning at the end of February and running through the month of March.  Parents of 5^th grade students need to consider available dates, then choose one night and schedule their visit in advance—which is easily done online. 

►Click here to LEARN MORE and to SCHEDULE your appointment!

A team representing Northpoint Elementary School achieved Highest Honors in the January 2016 WordMasters Challenge™—a national vocabulary competition involving nearly 150,000 students annually. The fourth grade team scored an impressive 192 points out of a possible 200 in the first of three meets this year, placing second in the nation!  

Competing in the difficult Blue Division of the WordMasters Challenge™, fourth graders Cameron Herman, Felix Zhang, Andy Chen and Judy Davis each earned a perfect score of 20 on the challenge. Nationally, only 50 fourth graders achieved this result.

Other students from Northpoint Elementary School who achieved outstanding results in the meet include third grader Sydney Knipp and fourth graders Evelyn Shrout, Jayden Wang, Chris Chapple, and Lydia Frischknecht. The students are coached by Mrs. Jenny Doms.

The WordMasters Challenge™ is an exercise in critical thinking that first encourages students to become familiar with a set of interesting new words (considerably harder than grade level), and then challenges them to use those words to complete analogies expressing various kinds of logical relationships. 

As for preparation, the students study definitions, synonyms, and antonyms.  They use the words when writing personal narratives, persuasive essays, and expository essays.  Many different analogy questions are posed in the classroom so the students become familiar to all the different angles of analogies.  They also make up possible analogy questions using the words, and all the children in the class have an opportunity to solve those problems.

Teacher-coach Mrs. Jenny Doms says, “I am so proud of these children!”  She adds, “Every day I try to model my love of learning in hopes that the children will take after me to make their love of learning stronger.  The children know that this is a higher level challenge, so I encourage them to push themselves to be the best they can be. 

“Our theme for the year is ‘Breaking Boundaries’ and we talk daily about the many ways to be the 'X' factor. . .the child who thinks outside the box and is able to break those boundaries.  I put this competition into that arena by tasking the children to do more than they imagine possible.  In the end, it is the students working with the words that leads them to understand so fully.  It is a very challenging competition.”

The next meet will be held on February 18th, followed by a third later in the spring.  We wish these Northpoint “word masters” the best of luck! 

The Indiana Department of Education released 2015 school accountability grades today and all 15 of Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation’s schools earned an “A”! The final grades were approved unanimously by the State Board of Education during the January 26 Board meeting.

“This straight ‘A’ report card is a result of the hard work and dedication from principals and teachers to the staff, students and families at all of our schools,” said P-H-M School Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker. “This latest achievement is a result of our District’s commitment to excellence.”

Last year, 13 P-H-M schools earned an “A.” With Madison Elementary and Elsie Rogers Elementary each moving up from a “B” to an “A,” all 15 P-H-M schools (11 elementary, three middle and one high school) have now earned this top recognition from the IDOE. Out of 2,095 schools across the state that got a letter grade, only 123 schools saw their letter grades go up in this latest ranking.

A spreadsheet reflecting the final school grades as approved by the State Board of Education is available through this link, http://www.doe.in.gov/news/indiana-department-education-releases-2015-accountability-grades.

On January 6, 2016 the IDOE publicly released the 2015 ISTEP+ results. With an 81.4% pass rate for ELA (English/Language Arts) and a 78.0% pass rate for Math, P-H-M ranked 10th in the state among 293 public school districts. The District’s 2015 overall combined pass rate for both subject areas is 72.1%

Click here for more information on P-H-M’s 2015 ISTEP+ results.

With the Wednesday, January 6, 2016 public release of the 2015 ISTEP+ results, Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation saw a jump in its ranking among Indiana’s 293 public school districts. With a 81.4% pass rate for ELA (English/Language Arts) and a 78.0% pass rate for Math, P-H-M ranks 10th in the state! The District’s 2015 overall combined pass rate for both subject areas is 72.1%.  

Another highlight from the 2015 ISTEP+ results for P-H-M … the School Corporation saw an increase in score variance. In grade 3, the variance between P-H-M’s scores and the state’s increased to 19.6 points; in grade 8, it goes up to 25.1 points. This shows that the younger a student enters the P-H-M education family, and the longer they are taught by P-H-M teachers, the better the students do!

Superintendent Jerry Thacker keeps the district’s focus on excellence in education, and acknowledges the partnership that makes it possible. “We commend our students and teachers, along with our parents for their concentrated hard work and dedication; that is the ‘Triangle of Success’ we tout at P-H-M.”

This link takes you to the full story of how P-H-M students fared on the 2015 assessment, including access to data charts that display individual school results.