CARLYNTON SCHOOL DISTRICT NEWS

In January, high school English teacher Wendy Steiner accepted the position of Fluency Project Instructional Coach. This position was created through a Ready to Learn Grant and aims to strengthen and propel learning in the classroom. Steiner and Language Arts teacher Kristen Fischer have been working with the Carnegie Mellon University Create Lab to explore resourceful methods to inspire students. As Fluency Project Coach, Steiner is leading students in self-discovery projects by enabling youngsters and teens to learn by doing. Currently, ninth grade students have teamed up with the Andrew Carnegie Free Library in Carnegie to develop an audio-vista of the Capt. Thomas Espy Room. An audio-vista is a sequence of 360 degree images accompanied by narration or other recorded audio. Students will capture historical images within the room, write a dialogue and narrate their work. At the elementary schools, kindergarten students are using Genius Kits from OSMO to key in on spelling, math, geography and trivia. The educational gaming platform is accessed with iPads and allows students to work collaboratively in teams. The Genius Kits bring the iPads to life. Instead of tapping and swiping, players are guided to draw on paper, identify coordinating letter tiles for spelling and fit geometric shapes together to design puzzles.

Learning can be fun with Genius Kits, as evidenced by kindergarten students Kaycie Chapman, Brooklyn Harvey and Maddy Soloway.

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The birthday of late author Dr. Seuss is celebrated nationally as Read Across America, and every year, children, teachers and parents of Carnegie and Crafton elementary schools participate with an emphasis on reading. The event was observed with special guest readers, story tellers, riddle challenges and furry friends. Youngsters laughed out loud at the antics of story teller Kim Adley, a. k. a, the Queen of Hearts, who used volunteers to share a tale about living in a castle. Carnegie Chief of Police Jeff Kennedy visited Carnegie Elementary kindergartens to read“ Officer Buckle and Gloria,” a tale about honesty. Therapy dogs from Reading with Rover sat quietly at Crafton Elementary while books were read in classrooms. Local author

Crafton Police Officer Brian Tully read“ A Bike Like Sergios” to third graders at Crafton Elementary.

Sophomores Patrick Carlson and

Zachariah Spragg represented Carlynton High School at the 2017 State Unified Youth Committee Conference in Hershey, Pa in March. The duo spoke before state-wide superintendents, principals and teachers to share social inclusion outcomes as a result of their participation in Unified Sports. As members of the Carlynton interscholastic Unified Bocce team, Patrick and Zach serve as mentors and roles models to teammates with physical and intellectual disabilities. The high school’ s Unified bocce team boasted a winning season this past fall and hosted a regional match in the high school gymnasium in February.

Howard Shapiro visited the school, too, to discuss books he has written about his favorite sport, hockey. The Read Across America celebrations were capped with well-attended family reading nights at both schools, featuring arts and crafts, book fairs and enjoyable reading activities.

The Queen of Hearts, otherwise known as Kim Adley, brought smiles to faces of Carnegie Elementary students as she involved youngsters in her make-believe world.

Guest speaker Howard Shapiro drew questions from a student audience who asked about the books he has written. Crafton second grader Riley Mauro wanted to know why the author wrote about hockey.

The team competes against peers from the Avonworth, Baldwin, Elizabeth- Forward, Moon Area and Mt. Lebanon school districts. The high school has been deemed a Champion School for its

A regional Unified bocce tournament against Baldwin High School was hosted in the high school gym.