IN Brentwood-Baldwin-Whitehall Spring 2016 | Page 85

Moore Elementary Students Participate
in CalcuSolve Tournament
Fifth grade students from Moore Elementary participated in the CalcuSolve Tournament at Duquesne
University. The students worked individually and as a team to solve challenging word problems. They
competed against over 350 fifth and sixth grade students from all over Allegheny County. The students
had a great time and did a wonderful job! This year’s CalcuSolve teams were coached by 5th grade teacher
Rebecca Hagerty and sponsored by GATE Teacher Maureen Anderson.
Participating students were: Gabrielle Sedlar, Nathan Barker, Leyna Ho, Brianna Folino, Nolan Tallat,
Lindon Arboleda, Talan Kammermeier, Jamie Kurtz, Zach Reed, and Lucas Williamson.

Brentwood-Baldwin-Whitehall | Spring 2016 | icmags.com 83

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Adorned with fall décor of fiery-red trees, gold and orange balloons, and books galore,
Moore Elementary School’s gymnasium was transformed for the first annual “Fall in Love
with Reading” Night in the Brentwood Borough School District. With expectations of
Common Core Standards becoming more abundantly clear, teachers in Brentwood have
been discovering the importance of a partnership with parents. An increasing number of
parents are expressing an interest in deciphering the new standards and have been curious
as to how they can best work with their child at home to meet the elevated academic
demands.
Teachers Rebecca Hagerty, Anne Steigerwald, Shannon Schubert, Lindsay Vinay, Christie
O’Neill, and Caitlin Caponi and interim principal, Lindsay Klousnitzer organized and
implemented an event in which parents had the opportunity to work with their children
at various stations while building a reading toolkit to take home. Parents and students in
grades kindergarten through second were welcomed with refreshments and placed into
various groupings based upon fall leaf colors. Mrs. Klousnitzer began the evening with a
presentation explaining Title I services in relation to PA Core Standards and its impact on
children.
Stations focused on strategies to use with children when building spelling, vocabulary, and
comprehension skills as well as apps to benefit reading development. Parents were encouraged to
work with their child on strategies being utilized in the classroom so they could mimic teaching ideas
and feel empowered when helping their son/daughter at home. Along with teaching strategies,
parents were shown how to best evaluate a book to determine its’ appropriateness for their child’s
reading ability. As parents moved from station to station, they also had the chance to meet with a
representative from the Brentwood Borough Library to sign-up for family library cards.
To conclude the evening, “reading nooks,” consisting of cozy bean bag chairs and new books, were
raffled-off to the boys and girls. These raffles were graciously donated to the Reading Night by the
ever-supportive Moore School PTA. However, no one left empty-handed as students were able to
scavenge a table filled with brand new books generously donated by the Brentwood Borough Library.
Enough books were donated for each child to walk away with three new books. Some little ones could
not wait to begin reading, and many found a comfortable spot in the gym to begin diving in to their
new stories.
The Brentwood Borough School District is passionate about preparing students for greater academic demands while fostering a love
for reading. Look for more Reading Nights as the school year continues across elementary schools and grade levels.
“Fall in Love with Reading”……it’s fun!

McKeespor
BrentwoodtBorough

Reading Night