American Sign Language Instructor Meets with BR 6th Graders

Todd Czubek from Clarks Summit gave a presentation to the 6th grade students on American Sign Language and deaf culture. The students have been reading portions of Helen Keller's autobiography in Reading class and showed an interest in learning about ASL. Mr. Czubek has worked as an educator and interpreter for the deaf and is currently a linguistics instructor at Boston University. The students enjoyed learning about deaf culture, practicing signing common words and phrases and even watched some YouTube music videos in ASL.

2nd MP Straight "A" Award Winners

Each marking period, McDonald's Restaurant recognizes BRES 4th and 5th grade students who have earned Straight "A's" for that marking period. Cindy Lattner, owner of various McDonald's in our area was on hand to present certificates to the students.

Students pictured are:

Seated (R-L): Taylor Brant, Gia Fiore, Savannah Glover, Tori Auckland, Lisa Colwell, Morgan Mansfield, Kayleen Conklin, Madison Welsted

Standing (R-L): Todd Hand, Tyler Six, Tyler Hillard, Adam Roe, Daniel Tierney, Spencer Renwick, Seth Anderson, Sarah Marble, Isabelle Morris

Reader's Theater in Mrs. Watkin's 3rd Grade Class!!

Mrs. Watkins class has been working on improving their fluency by using Reader's Theater. Students did such a phenomenal job practicing lines, getting into their characters and acting out the actions that they decided to invite their families to come watch their plays.

On Friday, February 3rd, Mrs. Watkins' classroom was filled with students' parents, friends and relatives to enjoy the production!

Here are pictures of the cast of characters in the plays; "The Rabbit Who Stole Groundhog's Day" and "Cupid's Day Off."

Claverack's "Safety City" Presentation Visits 4th Grade

Claverack and Education Consortium Partner for Safety and give Electrical safety presentations to area students through a partnership between Claverack Rural Electric Cooperative and the Northern Tier Industry and Education Consortium.

4th Grade students at BRES learned about electrical safety through an interactive discussion while viewing Claverack’s safety city model.

Claverack Rural Electric Cooperative is an electrical distribution cooperative serving members in 8 Northeastern counties. The Northern Tier Industry and Education Consortium (NTIEC) provides job training opportunities and career exposure to youth across 5 counties.

Fifth Grade Art Club

Fifth Grade Art club made some table centerpieces for Marley's Mission Blue Ribbon Gala. Marley's Mission is a non-profit organization that provides free equine-assisted psychotherapy (EAP) to children who have suffered trauma.

Picture is attached.bottom left to right:Natasha Johnson, Taylor Brant, Jerni Schell, Matthew Glatzel, Tommy GudykunstTop row left to right: Ben Gudykunst, Adam Roe, Luis Tobon, Daniel Tierney, Krystal Hepler, Jilly McAulliffe, Avy Mudge

State Representative Sandra Major Visits BRSD!

Rep. Major recently visited Blue Ridge School District on January 30, 2012 to meet with the Blue Ridge school board, administration, faculty, students and community members. During her visit, topics such as school funding, Senate Bill 1 (voucher program), and the impact of natural gas drilling in the region were discussed. Pictured is Rep. Major with some Blue Ridge High School students.
(Pictured (L-R) -- Tama Galu, Rep. Major, Kevin Carey, David Miller)

Art That Helps

Blue Ridge Fifth Grade Art Club is getting ready to launch this year’s Hexagon Project. Students created hexagon donation containers that they will place in local businesses. The money collected will be donated to Susquehanna County Interfaith and they will distribute the funds to people who need help heating their homes through the cold winter months.
Last year Blue Ridge Students collected $455.00 in total and also won the Community Partnership Award at the Interdependence Day Art Exhibit. This year, students hope to top that total. After the donations are counted, the containers will be headed to the art show in the fall where they will be on display at the 2012 Interdependence Day Exhibit.
When you see a hexagon shaped donation container please try to add some change and help keep someone warm this winter.
For more information on the Hexagon Project and Interdependence Day visit www.interdependencedaynepa.org
To make a donation, please contact Sarrah Dibble at dibbles@brsd.org or 570-465-3141, ext. 548.

Top row from left to right: Luis Tobon, Bobby Reynolds, Micah Mullen, Sarah Vogel, Kaleb Folk, Kyra Powell, Tommy Gudykunst, Danielle Goff, William Rudick, Autumn Perrington. Bottom row: Taylor Brant, Anna Bonner, Makayla Philllips, Mary Kerr, Tabitha Cramer, Karris Fazzi, Avy Mudge, Adam Roe.
Absent from Picture: Ben Gudykunst, Sierra Brown, Ashley Mirra, Jillian McAulliffe, Natasha Johnson, Jerni Schell, Alec Martin, Matt Glatzel, Daniel Tierney, Zachary Smith, Krystal Hepler, Todd Hand.

The Kindergarten classes at Blue Ridge Elementary School constructed a piñata shaped as the Grinch to celebrate Los Posadas. As part as our Holidays Around the World unit, the kindergartners learned how children from different parts of the world celebrate the holidays. As pictured, students used liquid starch and newspaper to form the piñata. In addition to history and art, science was integrated into this project as the students predicted what would happen to the balloon after it was covered with several layers of newspaper and glue. On piñata breaking day, Mr. Button, our elementary principal offered his assistance to the kindergartners in breaking the piñata!

OPEN HOUSE for Susquehanna County Literacy Program!

When:
Saturday, January 14th, 2012
10am to 2pm

Come Check us out!

Susquehanna County Literacy Program
(570) 465-2880 or email sclp@epix.net

You can find us on Facebook or at susqctyliteracy.org

Education IS the only way to end Poverty…

Miss Dibble's 6th Grade Hexagon Project Gets Recognized!

Click on the link below:
http://insea.org/publications/volume-3-number-3-news.

The 6th Grade Hexagon Project was mentioned in an article in "The International Society for Education Through Art publication".

Click on "Articles" on the right then scroll down to find the article.