Hamilton Township Homecoming Put On Central Ohio Stage - If you aren't aware, this is Homecoming Week 2014! It's a week when our students throughout the district show their spirit by participating in different themed days that lead up to the Friday night homecoming festivities like the crowning of the queen and king, cheering our Rangers to victory over their opponent, and welcoming back all of our alumni. This year, thanks to the many votes from our students, employees, and community, NBC4's Football Friday Nite Tailgate Bash will be setup outside of our HTHS Alumni Stadium. To promote the Friday Nite game, NBC4 invited members of our marching band and varsity cheerleaders to their studio on Friday morning. Our students proudly represented all Rangers through their interviews and performances, and it was great hearing our fight song and cheers being broadcast to the NBC4 viewing area.
Those who represented our district had a very early wake-up call on Friday morning because they had to be at the studio ready to be on air at 5:45 a.m. I want to say thank you and share my appreciation with all of the cheerleaders, band members, Mr. Frazier, Mrs. Heaton, Mr. Payne, and sub bus driver, Tammy Bowman for their commitment to our district even in very early morning hours.
Hamilton Local Participates in Three Straight A Grants Totaling 18 Million
Ohio Arts Assessment Collaborative. Hamilton Local is the lead district in a statewide arts assessment project. This week 40 educators from across the state convened in Columbus for intensive assessment training provided in partnership with Battelle for Kids and the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education. Dr. Witten serves on the planning team and art teachers Katie Nunn and Elizabeth Enright attended the training and have been selected as assessment writers.
Data Strong. Hamilton Local participates in the Central Ohio Compact, comprised of school districts, universities, and industries, which addresses college and career readiness. The Educational Service Center of Central Ohio received funds to help achieve Compact goals. Funds from the grant will focus on middle grades and be used to develop technology to connect performance data to learning opportunities and career needs. The grant will also promote career awareness and exploration and provide funds to the district for implementation. Principal Jeff Endres will coordinate this effort for the District.
Math Matters. Hamilton Local is among several districts participating in a grant, managed by the Fairfield County Educational Service Center, to implement ST Math programs. The grant pays for program licenses, related professional development for teachers, and a 30-unit cart of computers. Kate Miller, instructional support teacher, is coordinating the district’s implementation of this K-6 grade leveled instructional program with assistance from 3rd grade math teacher Ami Gaus. ST Math is designed to help all students reach math proficiency through self-paced, language-independent, mastery-based objectives that integrate with core instruction.
Graduation Requirements Frequently Asked Questions - These answers address many of the implementation details for the new Ohio graduation requirements. Two essential elements of the new requirements include the graduation points system and a list of tests student can take in lieu of Ohio’s tests.
OFFICE OF TEACHING & LEARNING
Encourage reading – We know that the more students read, the better they read. Charlie Boss, a Columbus Dispatch reporter, recently wrote about resources for parents to help them select material and to get ideas to encourage their children to read:
She also recommended finding books related to a favorite movie to encourage non-readers to read.
HAMILTON TOWNSHIP HIGH SCHOOL
Capitol Square Foundation Transportation Grant - Congratulations to Mr. Lanthorn, Social Studies Department Co-Chair, and the entire Social Studies Department for applying and receiving the Capitol Square Foundation Transportation Grant, funded by Honda of America and Wal-Mart. Cheryl Straker, Deputy Director of the Ohio Statehouse Museum Education Center will be scheduling and coordinating transportation and educational visits with Mr. Lanthorn and his students beginning immediately.
High School Faculty Prepares For New State Assessments – During the September 22nd Professional Development day, all of the high school teaching staff focused their shift on the on-going transition from the Academic Content Standards to Ohio's New Learning Standards. Miller agreed that it is essential that the entire staff understand the state's assessment and accountability requirements for all students and the district. Mrs. Carole Morbitzer presented a detailed layout of new Graduation Requirements, Performance Based Assessments (PBA) and End of Course Exams (EOY) expectations including scenarios and student examples. This school year brings many changes and challenges, but because students are affected the most, the HS staff is remaining positive and focused throughout this transition.
Homecoming Spirit Week – The students and faculty of Hamilton Township High School, demonstrated school spirit and pride as they participated in this week’s themed events. Although the regular school days were business as usual, students and staff had fun in fashion while learning.
Monday Sept. 22 – Teacher In-service
Tuesday Sept. 23 - Neon Day
Wednesday Sept 24 - PINKOUT - VOLLEY for the CURE
Thursday Sept 25 - 80s Attire
Friday Sept 26 - Green and Gold Day HT Football vs. Amanda Clearcreek
GO RANGERS!
Students capped off the fun-filled week with a formal Homecoming Dance on Saturday, Sept 27th from 8pm - 11pm located at HTHS commons.
HAMILTON MIDDLE SCHOOL
Chosen by the Ohio Lottery - Student of the Month, Daniel Hayner, and Teacher of the Month, Kate Mayhew, were not only chosen by the Hamilton Middle School Family as the best of the month, but they were also chosen by the Ohio Lottery as their Student and Teacher of the Month! Congratulations go out to Daniel and Kate on this well-deserved recognition!
Is it 18 or 19? - As part of the district-wide Homecoming Spirit Week, students and staff participated with the dress-up days. There appeared to be slight confusion as the meaning of “80’s Day” on Thursday. Some students were decked out for the 1980’s while others went for the retro 1880’s look!
HAMILTON INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL
Teachers Collaborate On The Ohio New Learning Standards (ONLS) - During the professional development work day on September 22, teachers at the Intermediate School worked together as grade levels to discuss strategies using the ONLS and plan for the year. Teachers also shared short videos of what each house is doing to make sure students and families know what is expected with the ONLS. Along with the collaboration time, administration also shared the latest data from last year’s OAA and discussed how well student attendance was going this year.
Spirits Flying High At The Intermediate School - During the Fall Homecoming Week, students totally rocked their school spirit! Many of the students wore their Green & Gold, Neon, Pink and favorite 80’s Fashions to school throughout the week! Teachers and staff even shared in the fun, especially wearing their favorite retro attire on Thursday! Thank you to all who participated!
HAMILTON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
HES Tailgate Party – The elementary school hosted its third annual “Teacher-on-the-Town” tailgate party before the varsity football game vs. Worthington Kilbourne. The tailgate was a huge success, with over 1,000 elementary parents and students attending. Families were treated to free hot dogs and snacks and enjoyed the multiple games that were available to play. Students especially enjoyed using a real fire hose to put out faux flames in a model house constructed by the Hamilton Township Fire Department. A special thanks to all of the firefighters who were able to attend, the HES parent involvement committee, the HES PTO and all of the volunteers who helped make the event the great time it was.
HES Students Prepare for New Assessments – Third graders will be taking new math assessments this year called PARCC assessments in place of the traditional Ohio Achievement Assessment. One test, which will be a project-based assessment, will have students apply skills, concepts, and understandings to solve multi-step problems. This year students have been working hard to develop strategies to solve these higher-level thinking problems. Students in Mrs. Starkey’s class worked in small groups to solve word problems. First, they solved the problem by themselves. Next, they discussed their answers with their group and supported their answer. Last, they worked together to create a poster to show how they solved the problem to share with the class.
HAMILTON PRESCHOOL
The Preschoolers Have School Spirit - This is always a fun themed week for the kids to show their school spirit and the Preschoolers were all in! From neon day to 80’s to pink out day the kids had a blast getting involved with the district’s Homecoming week! Ranger Pride starts early and we sure could tell this week! GO RANGERS!!!
OFFICE OF SPECIAL EDUCATION
State Support Team Offers Parent Workshops - The State Support Team, Region 11 is offering a series of high-quality training and community engagement workshops throughout the 2014-15 school year.
October
8 – Learning Differences College Fair @ Gahanna Lincoln High School
9 – A Parent’s Guide to Early Literacy
15 – Transition Night @ Westerville South HS
November
4 – Surrogate Parent Training
11 – Columbus City Schools Transition Night @ Columbus Downtown HS
13 – A Parent’s Guide to Assistive Technology, 10 Things a Parent Should Know
December
11 – Who We Are and What We Do, A Parent’s Guide to Ohio Coalition for the Education of Children with Disabilities
January
8 – A Parent’s Guide to Understanding Dyslexia: An Introduction to Effective Intervention
February
8 – A Parent’s Guide to Understanding Dyslexia
March
11 – Surrogate Parent Training
14 – Empowering Parents in the IEP Process: IEP clinic, break out sessions, resource fair.
April
9 – What Parents Need to Know - Guardianship, Transitioning, and Special Needs Planning.
Contact Tina Forshey at 614-753-4681 or e-mail her to register. For more information, and a more detailed description of the training sessions, download the complete schedule.
DEPARTMENT OF ATHLETICS
Rangers Volleyball and Boys’ Soccer Host Volley and Kick for the Cure Events - The HTHS Varsity Volleyball and Boys’ Soccer teams hosted their annual “cure” games this week. On Wednesday evening, the Volleyball program welcomed WBNS 10TV Morning Anchors Mike Davis and Angela An to HTHS as part of the Volley for the Cure matchup with Groveport-Madison. The Rangers won 3-0 in front of the pink-filled gymnasium.
On Thursday evening, the Boys’ Soccer team hosted Circleville as part of their Kick for the Cure evening. The Rangers defeated the Tigers 4-0.
The Girls’ Soccer team will host a similar event next Tuesday evening as they take on Teays Valley at 5:30pm.
You can see photos from these events on our Hamilton Local Schools Facebook page.
Varsity Boys’ Soccer Athlete Named Dispatch Boys’ Soccer Performer of the Week - HTHS senior, Will Garcia was recognized by the Columbus Dispatch as their Boys’ Soccer player of the week in Saturday, September 20th’s publication. To view the online version of this recognition, click here. Congratulations to Will for being honored!
Softball Program Holds Youth Camp - Head Coach Sam Long and the Rangers Softball team held their second annual fall softball camp last week. They welcomed 24 K-6 graders to their camp. Campers learned many important skills that are needed for softball including base running, hitting, throwing and fielding. Campers were able to make new friends and had a ton of fun in the process. There were 19 different High School Softball players that helped with the camp. A special thanks to our new middle school coach, Coach Kim Miller for all her help!
7th and 8th Grade Football Remain Undefeated - Both MS football defeated Logan Elm this week to remain undefeated. The 8th grade Rangers defeated Logan Elm Tuesday night 32-0. The Rangers had 4 different people score last night. Tion Williams scored twice on the night. Isaiah Murphy threw 2 touchdown passes and scored another. Blake Newsome and Alex Mathias both caught TD passes. The defense smothered the Braves allowing no points for the third time this season.
The 7th grade Rangers improved to 5-0 Monday with a 36-12 win over the Logan Elm Braves. Jalen Baldwin and Trent Salyers both scored a pair of touchdowns in the win for the Rangers.
Girls' Tennis Defeats Westland - Girls' tennis defeated Westland Tuesday evening 3-2. Wins came from junior Khloee Rowe at second singles 6-1, 6-4, junior Samantha Scase at third singles 6-4, 6-1 and senior Alisa Askew and junior Brandy Garrett at first doubles 6-4, 6-0. The Lady Rangers have won seven straight matches and are now 12-6 overall.
Boys’ Soccer Wins on the Road - Varsity Boys’ Soccer defeated Harvest Prep 8-0 on the road Tuesday evening. Their overall record improved to 7-3-1 and 3-0-1 in the league.
UPCOMING EVENTS
See what’s happening in our district this week!
Remember to “Like” us on Facebook & “Follow” us on Twitter.