Bonner Springs High School

Principal's Newsletter for Parents


	Classroom Highlights

Trish Manthei

In her Biology class students were exploring the phases of mitosis. Each group of students were provided a microscope and access to slides to determine which phase of mitosis the cell was currently in. In addition to basic microscope skills I appreciated how she allowed the students to draw on their own prior knowledge to determine the phase of the cell rather than simply labeling the slide and reinforcing a concept she had already taught. The students were excited to use the microscopes and there were more than a few "awes" as they began.

Nancy Baker

Beowulf came alive in Senior English. This year Mrs. Baker added a technology component into her differentiated project in hopes of being blown away, and she was. Students were given the option writing a campaign speech, a letter, illustrating a battle, designing a t-shirt, presenting their own epic, or creating a song or video. In the class I visited the students presented a music videos, comic strip made from video game, comic strip drawn on the computer, campaign speech performed live, t-shirt design and commercial performed live, t-shirt design commercial make in iMovie, a Garageband podcast sang by a student, and rap music video. I was so impressed by the level of courage the student's displayed when presenting and it was obvious that Mrs. Baker had created a safe environment where students feel free to take chances.

Ashlyn Swan & Madison Morris music video:

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Jourdaine's Music Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YY8th1NKU44

George Docking & Kaleb Kivett TV Commerical:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c83qmGMaog8

Cindy Hayes

In her Integrated Science class students were doing science. As I have written about before, in my opinion, the best science classes do science. They don't watch science, they don't observe science, they don't study science, they do it. They get their hands dirty and they make discoveries. In the class I visited students were making clay models of levers. She identified the parts of a lever and then allowed the students to manipulate the force point, resistance point, and fulcrum to create the three classes of levers. Check out the pictures of students doing science.

Linda Horvath

In her Textiles class students were preparing for the cold weather by making hats. Each student designed the hat on paper, determined if it would be knitted or crocheted, and then the technique they would use to create the effect they desired in the final product. There were so many good things going on in this class, but the most obvious one was the level of engagement. Every student was into what they were doing, and they were all doing their absolute best. As we have talked about this year in our professional development, one of the most difficult things to measure, but is both critical and obvious in a walk through, is how engaged the students are in the lesson. In her class, every student had a clear objective, and were engaged to create a quality final product.

Tara George

Mrs. George was sending students to the Board Room in her Event Planning class for some non-graded descriptive feedback. A team of Donald Trump wannabes that consisted of myself, Mr. Moulin, Mrs. Sharpnack, Mrs. Campbell, Mrs. Kolle, and Ms. Plaschka served as the Donald to tell groups what needed to be done to make their fundraising buisneses work. Groups presented ideas for items to be sold in the Brave Cave or auctioned off to raise money for their charity of choice around the school. As an evaluating team it was our job to poke holes in their ideas and provide suggestions on how the process could be improved. Mrs. George encouraged us to be tough on the students, and the group responded with vigor. The groups will now try to execute the plan they developed, hopefully incorporating some of the ideas our group provided. It was not only enjoyable to be a part of the process as the group giving the feedback, but helpful to the students to create a high quality final product.

Dan Streit

For our staff members that have been here a few years, we know how much the Tee Pee Talk production has improved since Mr. Streit took it over three years ago. The students' performance in each production is better, the sound is better, the video is better, the entire episode is now to the quality we have long enjoyed in both the newspaper and yearbook. In the Journalism class I visited it's easy to see why, he starts early. In this group of primarily freshman the students were tasked with creating a news broadcast, real or fictional, and present it to the class. Students discussed camera angles, script content, production editing, and using the camera to tell a story. The quality we see in our advanced Tee Pee Talk classes begins in this class, and students spend the next four years improving the final products.


	BSHS January Highlights

Mr. Addington Wins Horizon Award
Congratulations to Andrew Addington who was notified this week he is one of 31 recipients in the state of Kansas to be awarded the Horizon Award. As a recipient, he becomes a member of the Kansas Exemplary Educators Network, KEEN, and will be able to participate in that organization to network with some of the top educators in Kansas.

http://www.wibw.com/localnews/headlines/Horizon_Award_Program_Honors_31_Kansas_Educators_137671258.html?storySection=story

Mrs. Wood Semifinalist for National Teachers Hall of Fame
Congratulations to Chris Wood for being selected as one of 22 semifinalists for the National Teachers Hall of Fame. Thanks to the application we generated, along with letters from Nancy Baker, Lisa Lugar, Rick Moulin, and Kristi Hoffine, Chris will now advance to the next phase that includes a three minute teaching video. Dan Streit has graciously agreed to help produce the video that we must submit by February 10th. Thank you to everyone who has helped in this process and huge congratulations to Chris for being named a semifinalist.

Teachers Win Grants
Congratulations to Jennifer Laughlin and the Spanish Team of Susan Swabb and Kelly Hoopes, who were notified this week they will each be the recipients of a $500 grant from the Education Foundation. Jennifer is working on freshman science trip to the Cosmosphere, while Susan and Kelly are trying to obtain additional supplies to assist them in their new storytelling technique of teaching Spanish. Both groups are working on wonderful projects that will help make learning more meaningful to our students.

Ms. Eick Named Teacher of the Quarter
Congratulations to Andrea Eick for being named Teacher of the Quarter for 2nd Quarter. Also, thank you to Casey Sierer for making the Teacher of the Quarter plaque.

Coming Together for a Cure
Thank you to Jen Schlicht and Adie DeLeon for all thier work on Coming Together for A Cure game last week versus Turner. Bonner Springs High School and Turner High School raised over $4000, that was donated to the Susan G. Komen organization for cancer research.

Need a computer?
Many students have issues getting a computer or access to the Internet. Please check out this resource, they can help.
http://www.entrustus.org/joomla/


	Not in Our House Campaign

In 2007, the Kansas Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free unveiled a new campaign called "Not In Our House," aimed at educating parents, the public and key leaders about reducing access to alcohol by Kansas youth in our homes and our communities. Kansas Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free tied their campaign to materials that The International Institute for Alcohol Awareness, Scholastic and The Century Council had published in 2006. This presented an even greater partnership to distribute awareness materials regarding social hosting and underage drinking.

You may have heard the term, "social hosting," but were unsure of it's meaning. Social hosting or unlawfully hosting is generally defined as providing and/or serving alcohol to a young person who is under the minimum legal drinking age. It can take place in a party-like atmosphere or by any adult simply providing alcohol to young people and their peers for them to drink. It can even extend to parents and homeowners who are not on the premises and/or did not provide the alcohol.

Social host liability refers to laws that hold non-commercial individuals responsible for underage drinking events on property that they own, lease or otherwise control.
You may not need to actually serve or provide alcohol to underage guests to violate these laws.
The penalties for breaking this law include possible jail time, and the potential for criminal or civil lawsuits, as well as public humiliation for breaking the law.
By violating the law, you are sending every child you know a message that can have risky consequences.

History of the Kansas Social Host Law - (Social Hosting)

Kansas passed a social host law in 2004, a.k.a. Paul's Law, named for Paul Riggs, a Lenexa teen who was killed while driving home from a friend's party, where he and other teenagers had been drinking. The friend's parents were home during the party while the teens drank alcohol. After Paul's death, his mother, Debbie Riggs, attempted to have a social host law passed in the Kansas legislature to protect the youth of the state.

The social host law established a new crime of "unlawfully hosting" where persons under the age of *18 consume alcoholic beverages or cereal malt beverages. Unlawfully hosting minors consuming alcoholic liquor or cereal malt beverage is now a Class A person misdemeanor, for which there is a minimum fine of $1,000.

During the 2007 Legislative session, the law was changed to define a minor as "under the age of 21" instead of *18. A minor in Kansas is defined as under the age of 21.

During the 2009 Legislative session, a bill was passed to add the words "or recklessly" to the phrasing 'Unlawfully hosting minors consuming alcoholic liquor or cereal malt beverage is intentionally or recklessly permitting a person's residence or any land, building, structure or room owned, occupied or procured by such person to be used by an invitee of such person or an invitee of such person's child or ward, in a manner that results in the possession or consumption therein of alcoholic liquor or cereal malt beverages by a minor.'

Student Centered...Skill Driven...Post-Secondary Minded