East High School hosts Blackhawk, O'Keeffe, and Sherman Middle Schools in strings workshop

East High School hosted a strings workshop for seventh and eighth grade orchestra students on January 17, 2006. Students participated in sectionals, techniques classes, and a large ensemble rehearsal. Songs selected for the workshop included: jazz piece "Night Train," "William Tell Overture," and a Broadway selections piece. This event was a collaboration between East H.S. and Black Hawk, O'Keeffe, and Sherman Middle Schools. MMSD Staff involved in the event included: Jackie Dhoore-Becker of East High School, who coordinated the event, Jason Jacobs of O'Keeffe M.S., Levi Olson of Sherman M.S., and Matan Ruinstein of Blackhawk M.S.

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Memorial High's South African HIV-AIDS Project

Memorial High School students and staff recently donated $766 to the Magdalene Scholarship Fund, to fund school fees for South African students who couldn't otherwise attend school for lack of the $20 annual fees. With families decimated by AIDS, there is no breadwinner to provide the necessary funds to cover uniforms, books and school fees.

Having received letters from students in Kwa-Bhekilanga High School in Alexandra, South Africa, telling personal stories about how AIDS had affected their lives and their families, students in Sue Simon's Family Life classes and Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA ) organization were so moved that they spearheaded a fundraising effort that resulted in an outpouring of support from students and faculty.

One letter in particular, penned by a 13 year old girl, who wrote: "Mine is a hopeless life....I easily get tired, my legs and ankles are swollen, but I like to go to school. I miss my friends and my lovely teachers," devastated us when we learned she died before her letter even reached us. This tragedy really raised our consciousness and sympathies. So Memorial's Family Life classes conducted several fundraisers, joined by Sue Lyth's English class for a bakesale, and faculty donations were solicited as well; HOSA conducted a pamphlet sale, resulting in enough money to fund a whole classroom of students in South Africa!

This is one of many such exchanges between Memorial High School and South Africa this year, and was mutually beneficial.

Pictured are Family Life students Carry Nordby, Mia Maysack, Leah Vandenlangenberg, teacher Sue Simon and LeNeal Clendening at their bagel sale for So. Africa.

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Sherman Middle's Project Excel Students Honored
 
On January 25, Sherman Middle School's African-American Parent Group hosted a dinner to honor Sherman's Project Excel students.  Project Excel is a district-wide, middle school program that provides sytematic academic support to and recognizes academic achievement of students of color.

After attendees enjoyed a delicious meal, they learned about academic and other opportunities available to Sherman students from a panel made up of persons representing programs such as the PEOPLE Program, Gear-Up, Project REACH, ITA-UW-Madison & Centro-Hispano.

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Lapham El. second graders performed a musical version of the folk tale "Country Mouse, City Mouse" under the patient and prodding direction of music teacher Lynn Najem. While the city "mice" scorned the bumpkin ways of the country "mice," the country "mice" wondered why the city slickers had stinky cheese.
 
The "mice" danced and sang, but when the "cats" came ransacking the city "mice," they realized that maybe country-living wasn't so bad after all.

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Playback Wisconsin performed on the Rotunda Stage at the January 31st Staff Development for Arts Educators at the Overture Center. Sara Cutler, Playback's Artistic Director, is also a full time teacher at Leopold Elementary. Sara guides the troupe as they listen to personal stories told by audience members and turn them into theatre pieces. The stories are then "played back" using spoken improvisation, movement and music. During Tuesday's performance teachers from around the district told tales from their daily life as educators and from their memories as children.

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Sherman M.S. Holds "Battle of the Teams" Food Drive

In December, the Sherman Middle School Equity Leadership Council organized a school-wide food drive.  The council, made up of 7th grade students, set up the drive to be a "Battle of the Teams" with the 4 teams at each grade level competing against each other to win an ice cream sundae party.  The two week food drive featured a theme each week, the first week being "Meal in a can or box" and the second being "Personal Care Week."  A total of 3,130 items were collected school-wide!  The JSZ Team at 6th grade collected 1,296 items, the SUM Team at 7th grade collected 146 items, and the FDB Team at 8th grade collected 1,215 items.  All items were donated to the Bashford United Methodist Food Pantry which services our Northside families.  Way to go Sherman students!

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Lindbergh Elementary 2nd/3rd grade teacher Kate Reich's article submission to Scholastic's Instructor magazine was selected in the "Idea Swap" section. If you have a copy, check out Kate's idea on page 58 of the January/February 2006 issue! She will receive a $50 Scholastic gift certificate and a complimentary copy of the magazine.  Kate has a clever way to help her students come up with story ideas by making snow globes from old photos in magazines. After the student has completed their globe, they are asked to imagine what is going on in the snowy scenes they've created and write about it.

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Huegel Elementary - In celebration of Martin Luther King Jr., Black History Month and as a special tribute to the late Coretta Scott King, Huegel held an "I Have a Dream" assembly — complete with some students and staff donning PJs.  Presenters included Mike McKinney from NBC 15 and Johnny Winston Jr., Board of Education Vice President. Memorial High students performed musical solos and a group skit. The Huegel Student Break Dancers displayed their talents with an exciting dance routine (pictured). Principal David Bray, in his own PJ's (pictured), spoke with students and highlighted "Huegel has heart!", an all-school positive behavior initiative.  The entire student body concluded the program by singing "Free at last!"

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Spanish Spelling Bee at Sandburg

In addition to the traditional annual elementary school spelling bee, Sandburg School hosted a Spanish spelling bee for their ESL students that was attended by all 3rd-5th grade students. Twelve students participated in this bee. Sandburg is looking to expand the Spanish spelling bee in future years to include advancement for winners to another level with other Spanish bee winners from other schools.