Bonner Springs High School

Principal's Newsletter for Parents


	Classroom Highlights

Chris Wood
Beowulf out of bottle caps? That's what students were asked to do in Mrs. Wood's class as part of her never-ending effort to require students to think creatively. Students used a variety of sizes and shapes to represent the characters, plot, theme, and setting of the epic after being grouped by their shirt color. Having visited her class many times over the last five years, and being married to a woman who was inspired to be an English teacher by her, I often think "how did she get to be so good?" One of the many reasons has to be that she gets bored easily. This is tremendous strength for a lifelong educator. In college you read about, and hopefully never experienced, the teacher with 25 years of experience, who really only had one year of experience because he/she taught the same year, 25 times. As a master teacher she continues to try to make her lessons better, look for new ideas, and sharpen her skills. In this class, Mr. Streit was recording to make the video submission for the National Teachers Hall of Fame, and hopefully that committee sees what we see every day, and students have for years in room 228, a teacher worthy of the highest honor.

Ryan Hull
Ninja Turtles in World History? Only Mr. Hull could make that connection. As part of a unit on the Renaissance, student's assumed the role of either Leonardo de Vinci, Michelangelo, Donatello, or Raphael to make a 30 second podcast in character. As we have learned in our differentiation studies during professional development, role playing involves higher order thinking skills and is a preferred activity over simply reporting out on research, plus it's kind of fun with a little integrated technology sprinkled in. The more unique the learning experience, the greater the likelihood it's retained by students. Who could forget the time in high school they were a ninja turtle?

Hannah Oberg
If you need to know how to make cupcakes, pork chops, origami, paper planes, or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, all you have to do is visit her 7^th hour English I class. As part of a "How To" project that included writing a paper and giving a presentation, students selected their area of expertise to present to the class, as a way of demonstrating a logical process. Students were given the option of performing live or showing a video, many of them choose the latter for demonstrations done at home. The options provide by Ms. Oberg allowed students the opportunity to be an expert in a topic they are comfortable in, as they developed the organization and logic skills necessary to write and communicate effectively.

Jennifer Schlicht
Train you brain. That was the theme in her psychology class this week as she continued to teach how the brain learns new things. Students were outfitted with custom, prism-mounted, goggles that skewed the visual field, making it more difficult to throw a tennis ball. Located across from one another, with a task many of them have performed multiple times, they tried to have a catch. After several attempts they were able to do it, demonstrating what we all hope is possible, the brain can learn new things.

Jim Mitchell
Rain, hurricanes, snow, and other forms of severe weather were on display in Mr. Mitchell's direct science class. Using real-time weather maps and student experience Mr. Mitchell helped students understand why it does what it does when they go outside, but that was not the most impressive thing on display. The traditional method of teaching begins with the instructor stating the learning target for the lesson and plowing ahead with classroom activities to try to meet that target, regardless of what the students know and can do. Master teachers assess along the way, and modify their instruction, because they understand that nothing is really ever taught until it's learned. This concept was on display in Mr. Mitchell's class. Each new idea was clearly explained and discussed with students, building on their own experiences with weather, and it felt like he was very comfortable going where the class took him, but somehow they ended up right where he wanted them to be, with a full understanding of weather patterns.

Jennifer Stricherz

Love is in the air in her English I class. The Capulets, the Montagues, and the freshman are all in love in February. As part of her Shakespeare unit students have read the play, acted it out, discussed the themes, and made displays of the characters to help organize their thoughts. In the hallway outside her room students made drawings of the different characters to try to remember who was a Montague, a Capulet, and an "other". In the enclosed video students have acted out a scene, and in the picture you can see how they discussed the distribution of wealth in the play. Teaching these classic pieces of literature provides access to all students. Her hands on approach enable all our love crazed freshman the ability to explore the themes that make Shakespeare so valuable.

http://qik.com/48111230/046de63e


	BSHS February Highlights & Announcements

ACT Test Prep Boot Camp in the Auditorium
March 22^nd from 8:00am -2:30pm

This is an intensive 6-hour ACT workshop designed to provide effective test taking and time management strategies, to help boost their performance.
March 20^th is the final day of registration.
The normal cost of this Boot Camp is $250.00. However, BSHS is so committed to improving test scores that not only is Bonner Springs High School going to offer this workshop during the school day for added convenience, but they are also making it available to each of their students for only $55!
Materials include 2 books for each participant, including 27 practice tests with detailed answers and explanations, along with a strategy book to further complement your child's learning.
Don't miss this opportunity! Registration is handled at the Main Office until March 20th, by cash or a check for $55 payable to Test Prep Seminars.

Mr. Addington Wins Horizon Award
On February 24th Mr. Addington was recognized as one of 31 recipients in the state of Kansas to be awarded the Horizon Award. The banquet began with a welcome from Governor Brownback and included remarks from the Commissioner of Education, Dr. Diane Debacker. In addition, one of our current student-teachers, Ms. Amie Rieddle, was recognized as a Teacher of Promise as one of two nominees from St. Mary's College.

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

New Volleyball Coach Named
We are happy to announce the hiring of Jan Madlock as our new volleyball coach. Coach Madlock has an extensive college and high school coaching background having served as an assistant coach at Illinois State, University of Iowa, and the University of Kansas. In addition, she was the head volleyball coach at Blue Valley Northwest, winning a 6A State Championship, and most recently at Avila University. Please welcome her to our staff!
http://www.bonnersprings.com/news/2012/feb/08/madlock-be-introduced-new-bshs-volleyball-coach/

Braves Bring Character
Check out new Braves Bring Character yard signs. Our Character Education Committee, led by Mr. Romanishin, are working on a plan to get them out in our community. If you would like one to put in your yard, please contact him at romanishinj@usd204.net

Courtwarming Court

Front row from left to right:

Dyan Mackey, Hannah Mauk, Eliza Scott, Meagan Stice, Emily Wilson
Back row from left to right:

Austin Clouse, Joseph Dooley, Daemon Franklin, Mark Hobson, Stevie Williams


	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