This Week In the Ann Arbor Public Schools

November 1, 2010

This Week’s Good News!

  • On Saturday, October 23, 49 7th, 8th and 9th grade singers from the Ann Arbor Public Schools traveled to Monroe to participate in the Michigan School Vocal Music Association Regional JH/MS Honors Choir.   These students rehearsed and performed in a large choir with other select singers from the southern half of the state, and also auditioned for the State level Honors Choir by singing in small ensembles, one on a part, a required audition piece.  They represented AAPS very well, and we celebrate their accomplishments!
    Congratulations to these MSVMA Regional Honors Choir participants:
    Clague:  Sophie Lin, Alexis Jules, Eleanor Olsen, Rose Meehan, and Madeleine Barker.
    Forsythe:  Riley Beemer, Sorbie Richner, Gianna Zampardo.
    Tappan:  Sarah McCurrach, Tasia Gibson, and Layla Ameen.
    Scarlett:  Anna Bailey, Margaret Boerst, Veronica Centeno-Cruz, Emily Cole, Amanda Goodman, Javairia Johnson, Natae Laurant, Andrea Watts.
    Slauson:  Luke Lee, Tim Krivtsov, Austin Wylie, Josh Forrest, Carmen Mateo, Asia Fields, Abigail Schmid, Ellen Sauer, Christina Alaniz, Lauryn Comer, Isidora Kecman, Rebecca Lister, Saloni Jaikamal, Samantha Torres.
    Pioneer:  Joseph Brabenec, Samuel Kidd, Emmalee Mills, Sophie Morris, Maks Muno, Jake Norton, Chelsea Racelis, Remington Reackhof, Elise Reichard, Parker Sanford, Daniel Wu, Kenny Xue.
    Skyline:  Adrianna Hassan, Sophie Leshan, Olivia Merritt, Verona Pinto.
  • Our student delegation just arrived in Nagoya, Japan at 6:00 PM (Nagoya time) and 5:00 AM (Ann Arbor time) today.  The project directors are Carol Mohrlock (teacher, Slauson Middle School) and Nancy Burke (retired teacher, Ann Arbor Public Schools).  Below find the students names and schools.
    Bob Niemi - Scarlett Middle School
    Jora Wayne - Scarlett Middle School
    Maggie Sowder - Community High School (representing Forsythe Middle School)
    Emily Davila - Skyline High School (representing Forsythe Middle School)
    Emi Jackson - Forsythe Middle School
    Amelia Clark - Clague Middle School
    Nathan Grosh - Clague Middle School
    Jakob Kiel-Locey - Ann Arbor Open
    Larkin Babbitt - Ann Arbor Open
    CJ Williams - Tappan Middle School
    Adrian Reed Twiss - Tappan Middle School
    Thomas Uhler - Slauson Middle School
    The student delegation will be in Japan from November 1 through Saturday, November 13.  They will be staying in the homes of Japanese students and attending school with them as well.  Other highlights of the student exchange include a trip to Hiroshima, Kyoto and Miyajima Island.  They will visit the Peace Park in Hiroshima and place 2000 paper cranes at the Statue of Sadako the young girl who died of leukemia as a result of radiation exposure from the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in August of 1945.  One thousand of the cranes were made by Leslie Lawther's Ann Arbor Open Focus Studies classes and the other thousand cranes were made by members of the 2010 Ann Arbor student delegation.
  • The Ann Arbor Public Schools Educational Foundation has awarded $22,606 in funding for grants to our teachers.  The project name, school, teacher and amount are:
    Scarlett Bands Clinic/Remix Day, Scarlett, Deborah Katz, $1,000;
    Murals at Skyline, Skyline, Ann Hendrick, $1,000;
    Haisley Summer Learning Program, Haisley, Sarah Keith, $1,000;
    Art and Music Month, All Schools, Peggy Leonard, $1,000;
    7th Grade Trip to Arab American National Museum, Forsythe, Semra Koknar, $1,000;
    Summer Learning, Lawton, Karen Gerhart, $1,000;
    Hardcover Read-Alouds for Bryant’s School Library, Bryant, Ann O’Keefe, $1,000;
    Crash Test, Skyline, David Coupland, $936;
    Stone, Stop and Shop, Stone, Joanna Johnson, $500;
    Farm Life Cycle Experience, Abbot, Laurie Gause, $640;
    Home Link for Reading, King, Lynne Schaffer, $792;
    Open Events for Science, Pattengill, Susan Beech, $1,000;
    Stand Up Desks to Increase Attention and Achievement, King, Kevin Karr, $1,000;
    Mitchell Humanities: Authentic Latin Percussion Instruments, Mitchell, Rosalie Koenig, $1,000;
    Set Building and Design for August Wilson’s “Fences”, Roberto Clemente, Jonathan Royce, $1,000;
    Life Skills Classroom – Sensory Area, Pioneer, M. Adams, $85;
    Check Mate, Roberto Clemente, Ben Edmondson, $500;
    Gardening at Clemente, Roberto Clemente, Mike Smith, $570;
    West African Percussion Ensemble, AA Open, Dan Tolly, $806;
    Fifth Grade Students Experience C.H. Wright Museum of African American History, Lawton, Gayle Richardson, $1,000;
    Pioneer Trailblazers, Pioneer, Don Packard, $1,000;
    Listening to Stories to Enhance Literacy Skills, Logan, Ann Borders, $940;
    Museum Visits, Carpenter, M. Giltner, $500;
    Environmental Awareness Through Science, Huron, Michael Damron, $1,000;
    Huron High School Science Extravaganza, Huron, Don Yeatts, $1,000;
    5th Grade Butterfly/Moth Mural, Wines, Janet Hendrick, $337;
    K-2 Science Enrichment Library, Carpenter, Shelley Brower, $500;
    3-5 Science Enrichment Libray, Carpenter, Shelley Brower, $500.
  • Congratulations to Logan teachers Katy LaCroix, Amy Patrosh and Heather Gray for being selected to have Environmental Educators from the Ecology Center teach lessons to their students regarding the importance of preserving our environment. Last year Logan earned Emerald status as a 'Michigan Green School' and continues to seek environmental learning opportunities for students.  Congratulations to the students in Ms. LaCroix, Ms. Patrosh and Mrs. Gray's class.
  • Skyline High School has been selected as a second place winner of a Technology Award in the Institutional Building Category by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).  The ASHRAE award recognizes outstanding achievement in the design and operation of energy efficient buildings.
  • The Neutral Zone's annual poetry extravaganza will join Ann Arbor's electric high school poets on stage with world renowned poet Martín Espada and emerging dynamic voice Samantha Thornhill. Espada has been called the "Pablo Neruda" of the United States and is arguably the foremost Latino poet in the country right now. The author of 17 books of poetry and prose, he has been an American Book Award Winner and a Pulitzer Prize Finalist. Thornhill, from New York City, has performed her work to great acclaim across the country and overseas. Nafis, VOLUME and Wordworks alum., returns to Ann Arbor from Brooklyn to bless us with her powerful voice. In addition, the show will feature poems from the local collegiate performance poetry troupe Ann Arbor Wordworks and members of the nationally renowned VOLUME Youth Poetry Project as well as U-M poets from the U-Club Poetry Slam.
    Thursday, November 4, 7:00 p.m. at Lydia Mendelssohn Theater in the Michigan League, 911 N. University Ave.  Admission is $5 for students in advance, $7 at the door; $10 for the general public in advance, $12 at the door.

Robert Allen
Interim Superintendent