Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Pride of Plymouth Community Performance

The State competition bound “Pride of Plymouth Marching Band” will give a community performance on Friday, October 29, 2010, at 8:30 pm at the “Rock Pile” (the Plymouth High School Football Stadium.) The students, faculty and staff have been practicing very hard in preparation for this competition. Your support would be greatly appreciated and you are going to see a great show. Hope to see you at the Rock Pile.

Core Values: High Expectations, Enjoyment

Penny War Held for United Way

Students at Riverside Intermediate School recently held a Penny War to collect dollars for United Way. Melissa Owen received the check from Travis Owen. Also in the picture from left to right: Keagan Thomas, Steven Hilty, Benji Nixon, Trevor Grimmet, and Seth Grimmet.

Core Values: Caring, Team Player

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Pride of Plymouth Strikes Again!

The Pride of Plymouth made PHS history on Saturday!

The marching band advanced to the ISSMA State Finals for the first time in school history! The band had an outstanding show at Semi-State, winning the Music Effect category (out of all 20 schools involved) and almost doing the same in Visual (marching).

The state finals will be held at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on October 30th.

The band is scheduled to compete at 2:59 pm at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on October 30, 2010, with the awards ceremony held at 3:30 pm. Ticket prices are $20.00 for adults and $18.00 for students and may be purchased in the Plymouth High School office from 7:30 am to 4:00 pm October 26 through October 29 or at the venue. Doors open at 9:00 am.

We congratulate the Pride of Plymouth band and staff on a great season and a job well done.

Core Values: High Expectations, Enjoyment

Monday, October 25, 2010

Final Marshall Co. Health Department Immunization Clinic Information

Marshall County Health Department will have a final immunization clinic on Wed. Oct. 27th, 2010, at Plymouth High School from 1-3 pm for Plymouth High School students only and from 4-6 pm for the public and all other Plymouth Community Schools students. Permission forms were mailed home to those students who still had INCOMPLETE immunization records. Permission forms can be found on the main corporation web site, as well as Plymouth High School, Lincoln Jr. High and Riverside Intermediate School web sites. Forms must be signed and completed by parents and returned to the school nurse prior to the clinic at Plymouth High School.

From 4-6 pm the clinic will be open to the public and students from Lincoln Jr. High, Riverside Intermediate School and any kindergarten students who need immunized. Only TDAP, MENACTRA, VARICELLA and KINDERGARTEN SHOTS will be given. No baby shots, preschool shots or shots for ages 6-10 year olds will be given. Forms were also mailed to Lincoln Jr. High students. Please bring those forms to clinic with a copy of your child's immunization record.

The clinic will take place in the multi-purpose room. Enter at the north doors (#5) and follow signs to the multi- purpose room.

If your child has received their immunizations at a local physician’s office, we do not have access to that information. You will need to provide a copy of immunizations to the building nurse.

Plymouth Community School Corporation will exclude students who do not have a completed immunization record on file on November 15th at 3:30 pm. This means on Nov. 16th your child will not be allowed to return to school until you have provided proof of immunization to the building nurse.

If you have questions regarding your child's record, please contact the building nurse.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Pride of Plymouth Qualifies for Semi-State Competition

The Plymouth High School "Pride of Plymouth" Marching Band has qualified for the semi-state competition to be held this Saturday, October 23, 2010. Their performance time is scheduled for 4:15 p.m. at Plainfield High School, Plainfield, IN. For driving directions, click on the following link. Congratulations Pride of Plymouth.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&safe=active&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=0,0,18187061279601133450&fb=1&hq=plainfield+high+school&hnear=Indiana&gl=us&daddr=1+Red+Pride+Drive,+Plainfield,+IN+46168&geocode=763839984654055598,39.683039,-86.377247&ei=QD2_TKKcJIL6lwfC9NThBw&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=directions-to&resnum=2&ved=0CCcQngIwAQ

Core Values: High Expectation, Enjoyment

Spell Bowl Team Headed to State Finals

We would like to announce that the Plymouth High School Spell Bowl team has qualified for the State Championships. Below are the area results for Class 2.










Area Contest Results - Class 2

Top Seven schools are State Finalists (as follows including scores)

John Glenn High School - Walkerton - 84

Bishop Dwenger High School - Fort Wayne - 75

Plymouth High School - Plymouth -71

Gibson Southern High School - Ft. Branch - 71

South Vermillion High School - Clinton - 69

New Prairie High School - New Carlisle - 66

Western High School - Russiaville - 63

The Indiana Academic Spell Bowl state finals will be held November 13, 2010, at Loeb Playhouse, Purdue University Campus, West Lafayette, Indiana.

Great job and good luck Spell Bowl Team!

Core Values: Commitment to Students, High Expectations














Monday, October 18, 2010

2010 New Staff


Emily Samuelson is the new science teacher at Lincoln Jr. High School. She is a graduate of Indiana University -South Bend.

Emily is married to Mark. Mark grew up close to Plymouth and his family owns a dairy farm close to town. Emily’s step-daughter will be in 4th grade at Culver Elementary.

Emily is excited to be teaching in Plymouth because the community values education and producing great, well-rounded citizens. She looks forward to getting to know the students and their families through the fun of science.

Core Value: High Expectations

Pride of Plymouth Band Results

Congrats to the Pride of Plymouth Marching Band!!!

The students advanced out of the ISSMA Regional Contest and on to Semi-State. This is only the second time in PHS history that the marching band has made it out of Regionals (PHS advanced two years ago).

Pride of Plymouth also ranked near the top of the field (17 bands) and that will place the band in a great position for a hopeful FIRST-EVER trip to state finals.

The band will compete against 19 other schools for a trip to state finals this weekend at the ISSMA Semi-State held at Plainfield H.S. 10 (of the 20) Semi-State bands will advance to the ISSMA State Finals.

Core Value: Enjoyment and High Expectations

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

PHS Spell Bowl Results

The Plymouth High School spell bowl team scored their first win ever at the Northern Lakes Conference invitational held at NorthWood. The won with a score of 72 points. From word #1 a-b-h-o-r-r-e-d to word #90 p-h-a-r-m-a-c-o-p-o-e-i-a, the PHS team produced a grade A performance. Good luck at regionals next Monday! The team is coached by Amy Schmeltz.

First row: Tori Godwin, Pauline Dagaas, Olivia Houin, Angel Figueroa
Second row: Krissy Wieringa, Kelsey Schnieders, Abby Schumacher, Grace Stokes, Ashley Stokes, Zach Mahan, and Rachael Garcia
Back row: Dakota Bradley, Elizabeth Oviedo, and Nate Mahan










The Plymouth High School spell bowl team had three perfect spellers at the competition. They were Pauline Dagaas. Grace Stokes, and Nate Mahan.









Two students spelled 8 out of the 9 difficult words correct. The near perfect spellers were Zach Mahan and Elizabeth Oviedo.
Core Value: High Expectations

Friday, October 08, 2010

PHS Fall Choir Concert

This Sunday, Oct. 10th, @ 3:00 in the PHS Auditorium, the Vocal Department will be hosting our Fall Choir Concert.

We are featuring 3 choirs this year, the PHS Chorale, the Crimson Connection and our new choir, PHS Counterpoint.

The show is an exciting celebration of music. Admission is free.

Core Value: Enjoyment

Thursday, October 07, 2010

Marshall Co Health Department - Vaccination Clinic

LOCATION: Marshall County Building
112 W Jefferson Street Rm 103
Plymouth, IN 46563

WALK-IN VACCINATION CLINIC
For grades 6th – 12th and Kindergarten

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 13TH, 2010
MONDAY OCTOBER 18TH, 2010
4 P.M. – 6 P.M.

VACCINATION RECORDS REQUIRED!!!!!!!!!!

ONLY TDAP, MENINGOCOCCAL, VARICELLA (CHICKEN POX) AND KINDERGARTEN SHOTS WILL BE GIVEN TO WEDNESDAY WALK-INS.

· No Baby Shots
· No Preschool Shots
· No Shots for ages 6,7,8,9, & 10 yr olds !

Core Value: Integrity

2010 New Staff




Nicole Walters is the new reading teacher at Menominee Elementary. She is a graduate of Purdue University.

Nicole is the oldest of her siblings. She has a brother that will be a senior at Tri-State and another brother who will be a junior at Ball State.

Nicole is pleased to be teaching in Plymouth because it has a strong sense of community and family. Plymouth Community School Corporation seems like a great corporation to grow and learn and become a better educator.

Core Value: High Expectations

Tuesday, October 05, 2010

Vote for Tyler Langdon

Tyler Langdon (2004 PHS graduate) is in Hollywood trying to make it to stardom. He appears to be on his way! In fact, he has been nominated by the Hollywood Film Festival for the 2010 Discovery Award (an award given to the up-and-coming star). It is the first award of the award season and is like the Golden Globes in that the “people” vote.

Please take a few second to vote. There are four categories - top movie, top female, top male, and top new star.

The web address to vote is:

http://movies.yahoo.com/hollywood-movie-awards

Core Value: High Expectations

Monday, October 04, 2010

Menominee Elementary - Good News

The National Association of State Title I Director’s Title I Schools Recognition Program for a second year in a row has chosen Menominee Elementary school as one of the schools in the running to represent the state’s Title I schools that have made the most progress in significantly closing the achievement gap between student subgroups.

· Ten schools in the state of Indiana have been identified for site visits based on a review of the following criteria:
· Student Achievement Data (Exemplary Progress);
· Meets or Exceeds Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) 2008-2009 and 2009-2010;
· Poverty Data of 35% or higher;

Menominee’s principal, Mr. Mike Dunn, will undergo a phone interview with the State Title I Director. If the interview goes well, the Title I Director and a few staff members will do an onsite visit at Menominee Elementary School. One school in the state of Indiana will then be chosen as Indiana’s top Title I School. If chosen as the top school, Menominee Elementary School will be recognized at the National Title I Conference which will be held in Tampa, Florida on January 31-Februray 3, 2011.

In the last three years, four Plymouth Elementary Schools have been chosen as a participant in the first part of this process. Menominee and Washington Schools last year made it to the site visit and were recognized as one of the top four Title I schools in the state. Two years ago, Webster Elementary School was chosen Top Title I School in Indiana.

Core Value: Commitment to Students

Pride of Plymouth Band Results

The band advanced out of the ISSMA District competition this weekend hosted by Concord H.S. The band will now move on to the ISSMA Regional contest on the 16th.

Plymouth competed against 7 schools on Saturday and earned a Gold Award rating. This advanced the band to Regionals. The "Pride of Plymouth" also won 2 of the 3 caption awards (Best Music and Best Visual).

At the Regional event on October 16th, there will be 17 schools competing for 10 spots in the ISSMA Semi-State competition. Plymouth band received a GREAT "seating" in the Regional contest and will perform 16th out of the 17 bands at the event.

Congrats to the Pride of Plymouth marching band!

Core Value: High Expectations

Purdue, school districts get $6.7 million grant to improve science education

Press Release:

September 21, 2010

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University and four Indiana school districts have received the first three years of a five year $6.7 million National Science Foundation grant to improve science learning in third through sixth grades.

The work will focus on the use of engineering design-based teaching. The concept teaches problem solving in math and science through design projects.

Partnering in the effort are Purdue's colleges of Education, Engineering, Science and Technology, the Discovery Learning Research Center, regional industries, and the Lafayette, Tippecanoe, Taylor Community and Plymouth school corporations.

During the five-year project, engineering, science, technology and education faculty will interact with 200 elementary and intermediate school teachers, 100 student teachers and 5,000 students. In the final year, the project will be expanded to additional school districts.
"The use of engineering design principles to affect how science and math are taught has been demonstrated for higher grad levels," said Keith Bowman, head of the School of Materials Engineering and the project leader. "But it is almost nonexistent in elementary classrooms. With the support of our school corporation partners, we seek to develop a program that will prepare teachers to impact students earlier in their academic development."

Goals of the project are to improve science learning in grades 3-6 through implementation of engineering design, prepare practicing and prospective teachers to use a design-based curriculum, adapt existing materials and tasks and develop new ones where necessary, and provide an understanding of how engineering design is used by teachers to teach science and students to learn science.

"Engineering design-based standards are being adopted across the nation. Within the next year, elementary school science teachers, including those in Indiana, will be required to demonstrate the knowledge, skills and practices needed to teach science through engineering design," said Brenda Capobianco, an associate professor of curriculum and instruction in the College of Education and project co-leader. "Our work will create Indiana's first engineering design-based model for science teacher professional development at both the preservice and inservice levels and an innovative, research-based program for using engineering design-based strategies."

The funding comes through NSF’s Math and Science Partnership program, a research and development effort that supports innovative partnerships to improve K-12 student achievement in mathematics and science.

Writer: Judith Barra Austin, 765-494-2432, jbaustin@purdue.edu
Sources: Keith Bowman, 765-494-4100, kbowman@purdue.edu
Brenda Capobianco, 765-494-9635, bcapo@purdue.edu

Related Web sites:
Purdue University Home Page: http://www.purdue.edu

Core Value: Team Player

Friday, October 01, 2010

PHS Speech Team

The National Forensic League recently recognized the PHS Speech Team for placing in the top .5% of NFL chapters nationwide and earning membership in the NFL's prestigious Societe' De 400.

In addition, the Plymouth Speech Team earned the leading Chapter Award in the Northwest Indiana district.

Congratulations to the coaches and students of the Plymouth High School Speech Team.

Core Value: High Expectations