An East Penn Education is a World Class Education (Stop The Generalizations, One District At A Time)

Emmaus High School Academics

Class of 2009, 81% of students will be attending some form of higher education. The majority or 56% of graduates are attending a 4-year college or university, 23% are attending a 2-year college, and 2% will be heading to a business, nursing, or technology school.

A senior, female student won First Place in Microbiology during the 2010 Delaware Valley Science Fair. The first place award included two scholarship offers totaling over $80,000. This student also received special monetary awards from Astra Zeneca and the Parenteral Drug Association. She also received special recognition from the American Society for Microbiology/Eastern, PA and the Society for In Vitro Biology. The title of the research was “Interactions between Cohesion and RFC Complexes in Yeast”. She also competed in the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, and won a first place in her category of Life Sciences and a second place overall. This also included monetary awards. This same student has a summer internship with the National Cancer Institute. She will be spending ten weeks at the Institute this summer working on a research project related to genetic disorders. She will be compensated for her time and effort. This student has also been inducted into the DaVinci Center Hall of Fame. She was recognized for her extensive involvement in genetic research and the numerous awards she has earned. This prestigious award recognizes her as an outstanding young scientist.

A senior, male student has been selected as the recipient of the Cohen and Feeley “Best of the Best Award” for Emmaus High School. He will receive $250.00 at the awards breakfast, and in addition, a check for $100.00 will be sent to the charity of his choice.

A female member of the high school Envirothon Team was honored with the 2010 Student Ecologist award by the Lehigh Gap Nature Center. According to Dan Kunkle, director of the Center, she was recognized for her “outstanding work on the behalf of wildlife and the environment.” She has been a committed member of the EHS Envirothon Team, serving as president for the past two years. She was an exceptional student in the Environment Science AP class, and took first place in ecology at both the Cedar Crest College Biology Olympics and the 2009 PA Science Olympiad. She has been a dedicated volunteer at the Wildlands Conservancy Pool Sanctuary for eight years.

Six National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists and thirteen students commended in the 2010 National Merit Program.

Congratulations to the students who have been selected as the Academic/Scholastic Scrimmage team for 2009-10. This team competes in the western division of the League and on Channel 39's Scholastic Scrimmage program. Emmaus is the defending champions for the Lehigh Valley League. The JV Academic team had an undefeated season and came in first in the Lehigh Valley Western Division. The entire team recently competed against 678 national and international teams in the Knowledge Master Open. The team placed 3rd in Pennsylvania and 30th in the nation.

Sixty Students at Emmaus High School have earned the designation of AP Scholar by the College Board in recognition of their exceptional achievement on the college-level Advanced Placement (AP) Exams. Seven students qualified for the National AP Scholar Award by earning an average grade of 4 or higher on a 5-point scale on all AP Exams taken, and grades of 4 or higher on eight or more of these exams. Twenty students qualified for the AP Scholar with Distinction Award by earning an average grade of at least 3.5 on all AP Exams, and grades of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams. Sixteen students qualified for the AP Scholar with Honor Award by earning an average grade of at least 3.25 on all AP Exams taken, and grades of 3 or higher on four or more of these exams. Twenty-four students qualified for the AP Scholar Award by completing three or more AP Exams with grades of 3 or higher.

East Penn School District Science Department ranks in the top 13% on Science PSSA's. The district scores in the 87.4 percentile.

Lehigh County Technology Institute Academic Center Students-Skills USA District Competition Winners were in the following fields. Advertising Design (3rd place), Automotive Refinishing (2nd place), Cake Decorating (1st place), Carpentry (2nd place), Commercial Baking (1st place), Culinary Arts (2nd place), Heavy Equipment Operations (Bye to States), Industrial Motor Control (3rd place), Nail Care (3rd place), and Quiz Bowl Team (3rd place).

Emmaus High School computer science students are competing at the International INVITATIONAL All-Star Contest over Memorial Day weekend for the 25th time in the last 28 years. We are currently 10th in the nation at both the Senior and Intermediate Level among many other private academies and science and math magnet schools.

Two eleventh grade English classes took their show on the road and voluntarily read and prepared activities for second graders within the district. The experience improved the reading skills of the readers and the readees. These eleventh graders performed a community service, served as role models, and enjoyed the experience.

A female student placed in the top 20 in the annual Penn State Writing Contest.

Two students recently represented Emmaus High School at the National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine, an extraordinary program that inspires and motivates our nation's most promising future physicians. These students were nominated by EHS science teacher, Mr. Keith Butler. Mr. Butler has been recognized as an honorary member of the National Nominating Committee for the National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine.

The French Honor Society inducted twenty-one members, the Latin Honor Society gained five members, the German Honor Society added ten members, and the Sociedad Honoraria Hispanica Capitulo Miro gained fifty eleventh graders and sixteen twelfth graders.

A female student presented her abstract paper titled, "Interaction between Structural Cohesin and Replication Factor Compleses in Yeast," at the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Conference organized by Lehigh University.

Twenty-seven students from Emmaus High School were selected to perform at the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association District 10 Chorus Festival. Nineteen students were ranked in the top 10.

The Alliance for Young Artists and Writers sponsors The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. Nearly 100,000 students accept the challenge to submit work on the regional level. Any student receiving a gold award on the regional level then competes on the national level. Students who receive silver or honorable mention awards will display their works at the Allentown Art Museum. There are nine students competing on the national level, twenty-five students received a silver medal, and seventeen students had a honorable mention. One student received the Dr. Christine Oaklander Merit Award.

Thirty-one Emmaus High School Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) won awards at the Region 28 Leadership Conference. Sixteen students will continue on at the PA FBLA State Leadership Conference.

To celebrate Computer Science Education Week, Carlen Blackstone sponsored "Design Your Best Algorithm". An 11th grade male student won first place by creating an algorithm for grading multiple choice tests and another 11th grade male student won second place with an algorithm to calculate the compound interest in a bank account. The American Computer Science League also had its first contest and the Intermediate Division of first-year programmers got an 49 out of 50 and the Senior Division of more advanced students got a 46 out of 50. Both teams are ranked nationally in the top 10 schools.

PA Math League Three students had perfect scores on at least one of the 6 contests throughout the year:

American Math Competition Two Emmaus students achieved high enough scores to advance to the next level of competition, The American Invitational Math Exam (AIME). One student advanced to the AMC-10 and the other advanced to the AMC-12.

Lehigh University Math Contest The Emmaus teams came in 7th among 10th grade teams, and 8th among 11th grade teams. This contest had 308 participants from 52 schools. Also, based on the Lehigh University test scores, three students have been selected to participate in the American Regions Math League (ARML) competition in June.

Moody’s Mega Math Challenge On a March weekend, 633 teams from 18 states competed in Moody’s Mega Math Challenge 2010, submitting solution papers that attempted to aid Congress in matters related to the census. The Emmaus team worked for 14 hours on a Saturday, using mathematics modeling techniques to develop and defend their answers to the problem. The team received one of 31 honorable mention prizes of $1000 toward college expenses.

Calculus League This year Advanced Calculus students participated in the National Calculus League contest.

Bucknell University Contest The Emmaus High School team came in first place.

Muhlenberg University Contest The Emmaus team came in second place.

Three students represented Emmaus High School at the 37th Professor John Steiner Gold Mathematical Competition at Bucknell University. The team competed against students from 31 other high schools. These students received 1st place team, a 3rd place and 6th place for individual winners, and a honorable mention.

For the third consecutive year, The Steel Hornets Robotic Team traveled to to compete in the WorldChampionship Event held by FIRST, the organization that runs the league. Of over 1300 teams worldwide, the best 100 are invited to the World Championship event. The Steel Hornets placed 42nd at World, a great finish. The team received the “Inspire Award” which is the highest honor that our league has to offer. In the words of the judges, the Steel Hornets are “the prototype, the team that other teams should strive to be.”

Envirothon Team 1 won first place and will advance to the PA State Envirothon, and Team 2 won the third place award. The Emmaus High School Team has earned the first place award for the past fifteen years!

The EHS Science Olympiad team took 3rd place in regional competition and 8th in the state at Juniata College.

Twelve Emmaus High School students participated in the regional History Day. Five student will be continuing on to the Pennsylvania State History Day.

Fourteen students from Emmaus High School’s AP Physics B and C classes participated in various facilitated activities that allowed them to experience some engineering aspects of various attractions and rides at Walt Disney World.

In the regional competition for Odyssey of the Mind, the Emmaus High School team earned 4th place. The team is made up of nine students and two teachers that serve as coaches. The team participates in problem solving.

In order to learn more about Argentina, and also practice research and technology skills, Janelle Hess’s Spanish II class completed a web quest pretending they were staying with their grandmother, who lives in Argentina. While there they attended school, made friends, and took several trips. They sent a series of five emails home to their family and friends in which they told about the food, culture, and history of Argentina. Photos were also utilized to tell the story.

Beside high school students visiting the district planetarium for astronomy classes, second, fifth, and eighth graders also utilize the planetarium with Andrew McConville, planetarium director. Twenty-three classes of second graders learn winter/spring constellations and how to find planets in the night sky. The twenty-four classes of fifth graders focus on visible constellations, planets in the night sky, motions of the sky, and moons of other planets. Every eighth student at Eyer and Lower Macungie Middle Schools visit the planetarium twice during the year. First they learn about the circumpolar constellations and types of galaxies Hubble has discovered. On the second visit they discuss the stellar diversity of the constellation Orion, from supernovae and black holes to solar system formation in the Orion Nebula.

National Honor Society worked with over 230 freshmen to prepare for midterm exams. At any given session, at least 50 NHS members were in attendance. The NHS members broke the students into groups organized by subjects and began tutoring.

The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) selected Emmaus High School to receive a rank of Excellent in the 2009 NCTE Program to Recognize Excellence in Student Literary Magazines.

Athletics

Class of 2010 Student-Athlete Profile There were 24 NCAA National Letters of Intent. The estimated amount of scholarships is $1.5-$1.6 million, and 6 sport teams were represented. These teams were cross country and track, , , soccer, and . The average GPS of these students was 3.395, and 7 students were also academic All-Americans. Seven students were also members of the National Honor Society. There were 9 team captains, and a total of 103 letters were earned. Emmaus High School had 11 All- Americans, 14 All-State, 11 All-Area, 1 Morning Call Player of the Year, and 20 All- Conference athletes. There is 1 National Championship Team, 10 PIAA Championship Teams, 17 District XI Championship Teams, and 18 LVC Championship Teams.

National Letters of Intent were to Bellarmine University/Business, Temple University/Art Education, Delaware State University/Physical Therapy, University of Akron/Graphic Design, University of Connecticut/Education/Kinesiology, Temple University/Advertising, California University of Pennsylvania/Athletic Training, Quinni8piac University/Physician Assistant, Quinnipiac University/Physician Assistant, Quinnipiac University/Physical Therapy, University of Hartford/Physical Therapy, Columbia University/Psychology, University of Notre Dame/1st Year Studies, University of New Hampshire/Molecular & Cellular Biology, Virginia Commonwealth University/General Science, Saint Joseph's University/Physical Therapy, Bloomsburg University/Health Sciences, United States Naval Academy/Political Sciences, Longwood University/Elementary Education, Lehigh University/Business & Finance, West Chester University/Political Science, Ohio University/Undecided, Gannon University/Physician Assistant, and Bloomsburg University/Special Education.

Emmaus High School ranked No. 7 in the list of TOP TEN fundraisers by the Pennsylvania State Athletic Directors Association. The Emmaus Athletic Department has participated in the Coaches vs. Cancer School Initiative for the past four years, contributing over $12, 000 to the fight to cure cancer.

Field Hockey Accomplishments: Three students were All-Conference First Team. One Morning Call Co-Player of the Year, and four students made the Morning Call All-Area First Team. Four field hockey players made All-State Team, first team and three made the All-State second team. One Regional All-American and one All- American Academic Squad.

Six Emmaus High School swimmers swam with Michael Phelps, 2008 Oympic Gold Medal Winner at a Mid-Atlantic Region Meet.

Track coach, Shannon Petrunak and her athletes held their first ever St. Baldrick’s fundraiser for childhood cancer research, and honored 8 local families affected by childhood cancer. Seventy people shaved their heads for donations, and they raised a grand total of $24,340! The original goal of $5,000 was exceeded by nearly $20,000.

The Varsity Cheerleading Squad competed at the Mardi Gras Nationals Competition in Hershey, Pennsylvania and won 1st in the Level 4 Varsity Division.

Dennis J. Ramella, CMAA, Athletic Director at Emmaus High School has been selected as the recipient of the 2010 Pennsylvania State Athletic Director Association’s Citation. This award is given recognition of exceptional time, effort and energy devoted to the Pennsylvania State Athletic Directors Association (PSADA). Mr. Ramella earned the Certified Master Athletic Administrator (CMAA) designation in 2002 and is a National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) Leadership Training Course Instructor. At the national level, Dennis currently serves as a member of the NIAAA Awards Committee and is a member of the LTC National Faculty.

Extra Curricular

Kid to Kid Performing Arts members presented an outreach show for the district’s 8th graders. The show was comprised of scenes, monologues, and musical numbers to deal with the issues of substance abuse, peer pressure, and bullying. Kid to Kid members have also presented for the district’s 4th and 6th graders in an effort to become positive peer models.

The Drama Department recently produced Sweeney Todd School Edition. The production involved approximately 150 students in a positive collaborative experience involving cast, crew, and pit orchestra members. Students will perform at this year’s Tony Awards-inspired show, The Freddy Awards, at the State Theatre in Easton.

The Emmaus High School Women’s Choir traveled to Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and France this spring and performed in various acclaimed venues.

The Emmaus High School Concert Choir performed in Epcot as part of the Disney Magic Music Days.

Seventeen students from Emmaus High School were selected to perform at the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association Region V Chorus Festival. Three students made the PMEA All-State festival: All-State Orchestra –both a female and male student, All-Chorus – female student. A sophomore was selected to sing in the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association All-State Chorus. She ranked first in the Soprano I audition.

Eleven students were selected to participate in the Lehigh County Honor Band, and two students were selected to Pennsylvania Music Educators Association District 10 Honor Band.

The Debate Team finished first in the LVIAC's western division. They won first place in the semi-final debates against Nazareth and Northampton. This is the second year in a row that the team has won first place.

"Empty Bowls" raised $1640.00 for hungry people right here in the East Penn School District by filling simple stoneware bowls with soups from local restaurants. The stoneware bowls were created and decorated by both art students in the high school and their teacher, Lisa Caruso. High School students in art, humanities, or Latin classes visited and Greece. These fortunate students hiked up Mt. Vesuvius and visited Pompeii in the same day!

Key Club members collected 3,100 books for the Lehigh Valley Cops N' Kids book drive. Members also took gloves, mittens, and books to Sheridan Elementary School in Allentown. At the annual Key Club state convention the club and its officers received several awards. The officers were recognized as Distinguished which requires a great deal of time commitment and dedication. They also received the UNICEF patch for raising money, the Dome award for an increase in membership of 10%, and the Bob Bagan Unsung Hero Award. The largest award was for Major Emphasis Project Award, and they received a 1st place in the state.

The students of the American Red Cross Club of Emmaus High School collected and distributed over 2,300 books.

Members of the Latin and French Clubs entertained the residents of Emmaus Village for Assisted Living. The Spanish Club made and decorated holiday cards in both English and Spanish for the Allentown Boys and Girls Club.

Teachers

The East Penn School District has a total of 527 professional educators and 480 support staff. The majority or 73% of the professional educators hold a master’s degree or higher certification.

Lori Sheipe, M. ED., Health & Wellness Teacher received the Pennsylvania Health Teacher of the Year Award 2009.

The seniors on the varsity football team and cheerleading squad chose educators that they felt had a lasting and positive influence on their educational careers. Megan Behr, Michele Fedorov, Michael Nytz, Cynthia Brashear, Josh Ziatyk, Ed Anthony, Thad Smith, Denise Teles, Rachel Kramer, Carole Wilson, Mark Spengler, Doug Hunsicker, Brett Snellman, Melissa Moxley, Anne Nero, John Gallagher, Julie Williams, Linda Stankas, Shannon Petrunak, Bonnie Raub, Maria Russo, Todd Breiner, and William Montepeque.

Each month faculty and staff members nominate colleagues who they think contribute to a positive and successful school environment. These Hallowed Hornet Teachers are Dusty Springer (English), Anna Andrew (Special Education), Will Montepeque (World Language), Mike Mihalik (Science), and Michael Carolla (Social Studies).

Biology and Environmental Science Teacher, Steve Baier organized four groups including a high school cleanup group to do storm drain stenciling thoroughout the borough for Earth Day.

Congratulations to Brent Ohl for being the latest teacher to be inducted into the DaVinci Science Center Hall of Fame. Brent was nominated by fellow inductee, Mark Case, for this honor. The induction took place on Saturday, April 24, 2010.

The National Society of High School Scholars (NSHSS) has selected Bruce Denmead as a Claes Nobel Educator of Distinction. He was nominated by a student for outstanding dedication and commitment to excellence in the classroom. The Claes Nobel Educator of Distinction award recognizes teacher role models who have made a lasting difference in their classroom by encouraging students to strive for excellence.

In November 2009, Deb Kaplan became a National Board Certified Teacher in the area of Exceptional Needs Specialist. Obtaining this certification was a 3 year process, which required her to video-tape lessons she taught, reflect on best practices of teaching and the standards of the National Board, and provide about 20 pages of written documentation per lesson to support what she did and how she did it, and how she could improve in the future. She also submitted evidence of professional growth beyond ED hours and college classes, and passed a 6-part test encompassing general education knowledge and specifics of special education kindergarten through twelfth grade. Deb was required, as part of this process, to get letters from her supervisors and others to verify what she had done. National Board Certification is recognized throughout country as having a significant impact on student achievement. Deb Kaplan has received letters from Arlen Specter and Charlie Dent acknowledging her achievement.

Eyer and Lower Macungie Middle Schools

Eyer MathCounts Team -- First place at Regional Competition among 37 schools, One female student had a 1st place written exam, 2nd place overall out of 240 kids and one male student placed 6th. The team then went to states where they placed 13th.

The Reading Olympics team, dubbed The Eyer Bookdogs, took first place at the Spring Reading Challenge held at Easton High School. This was the second year that the Eyer team competed. The team is responsible for reading, understanding, and recalling 45 books that have been previously selected by the Bucks County Intermediate Unit.

An Eyer Spelling Bee participant qualified for the oral round, and made it through Round 3.

Eyer had 10 History Day entries for the Regional History Day. One student had a 1st place and two students took 2nd place to qualify for states at Millersville University.

Two 8th Grade students at Eyer are enrolled in Alg 3/Trig at Emmaus High School.

The Eyer Spring Musical involved over 130 kids and sold out 2 shows.

Author Jordan Sonnenblick came to Eyer and gave two assemblies, a lunch-interview session, and a writer's workshop.

Eyer is proud to announce that they had some winners for the Women's History Bookmark Contest. Two students received a second place award and one received a third place award. Each student had to illustrate their significant woman of history and write a short summary about her accomplishments. They were honored with a banquet.

The Environthon Teams tied for first place in the Lehigh Valley Middle School Environthon competition.

Once again, Eyer had many participants in the annual Poetry Slam in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade. Each poet was judged on projection, inflection, pacing, eye contact, and stance. Winners received a special certificate and paws stickers.

The 8th grade will be hosting Chef Andy Coulsy in June, and he will be doing a cooking presentation. Fortunately, for the students they will be treated to a breakfast.

As part of implementation of a professional development course taken this past summer called "The Reading Zone," Alice Boulrice’s language arts class at LMMS has read 473 books this year. Our goal is 600 books by the end of the year. In addition, we are filming book trailers for our top reads from our class from this year and are planning on showing them to next year's incoming class.

LMMS Science classes are using computers to generate virtual roller coasters and then applying that knowledge to make physical roller coasters with foam insulation and marbles utilizing Newton's Laws of Motion.

LMMS Science, as part of our energy unit, did an integrated project with language arts. The students researched a source of energy in language arts and wrote an essay about it. They then took this information and made it into an animoto video in science. Students posted their videos on the class moodle and were able to share their information with each other.

The LMMS sixth grade students will be participating in the annual Ancient Civilizations Fair. Students will spend the day going to classes related to the ancient civilizations that they have spent the year learning about. These classes are selected and taught by every homeroom teacher in sixth grade. Topics cover aspects of the ancient cultures not necessarily covered by the curriculum, including Indian hand art, the Assyrian catapult, Egyptian headdresses, some unusual aspects of the Roman culture, and nine others. In many of the classes, there are also some hands-on activities to help make the information more intriguing for the students. LMMS students will also either watch or participate in a game with the teachers (reflecting on the Greek Olympics) and watch an age-appropriate video on Roman gladiators. Students are also encouraged to wear a costume based on one of the ancient cultures they have studied for bonus points added to their grade. The entire day was created to be an extension of the curriculum and an exciting day for our students!

Lieutenant Colonel Platte Moring visited LMMS and did a presentation on Afghanistan. This presentation was a culminating activity in grade six after reading Breadwinner by Deborah Ellisa book on the region.

LMMS has seen a significant improvement in the number of books children and faculty have been reading during this 2009-2010 school term. This has been evidenced by the number of book reviews being displayed around the school and the list of books read by classrooms.

There is a new activity at LMMS with 7th graders in art, and it's working great! Recycling with art is a new direction that many artists and creative people are involved. All of us are trying to find more uses for old materials, and art is a prime spot where this happens. In honor of Earth Day's 40 years anniversary, 58 plastic 2 liter soda bottles were collected. The bottom 3 inches of the bottles were cut off for use in a paper mache bowl project. The top bottle portion is being formed into a character with props and accessories, (from football players to aliens). Every day this project has brought more awareness to the subject of less wasteful habits. The teacher and students agreed to limiting the use of masking tape in the construction of the project, and limiting lengthy water use and too many paper towels in the clean up process. Each day another recycling fact is discussed by the class. As a culminating recycling activity, Kathy Thomas, art teacher intends to melt down old collected crayon bits, and reform them in molds. The new recycled crayons will be donated to a local children's charity.

The following is an editorial that appeared in The Morning Call (newspaper) for Thanksgiving. It was written by a LMMS English as a second language learner.

Thanksgiving is a time for which I am very grateful. I have several family members who are serving in our military. My sister, Patricia, is in the Army in Afghanistan. My brother, Nelson, and sister, Wendy, are Marines in Iraq. I am appreciative of the veterans for honoring our country and giving their lives so that we can live in peace in America. I am dedicated to my family for protecting me and giving me what I need: clothes, school supplies and food. On this holiday, food means “arroz con maiz,” rice with corn. My dad spends fun time with me, playing and pool. Finally, I am glad to have had the opportunity to move here three years ago from Bani, Dominican Republic. I have learned English and made many friends. God has been good to me.

LMMS raised $250 for UNICEF Children's fund by doing the Trick-Or-Treat for UNICEF, and $400 for Autism Speaks and 12 students walked in the Walk for Autism.

LMMS students dressed up like elves and held an Elves' workshop for the Emmaus Old Fashioned Christmas Celebration for the community. Students also wrapped presents and decorated the hall for the Emmaus Kiwanis Club annual handicapped Children's Christmas Party. LMMS is also involved with cleaning up, planting flowers, and painting rocks in the Kiwanis Park. They are participating in the Earth Day Cleanup in Emmaus, along with the LMMS Global Citizens' Club which also promotes and collects all recycling at LMMS throughout the entire school year.

One LMMS student recently went to regional Spelling Bee competition.

The 8th grade team, HERO Squad, also held the Olympics during the actual Winter Olympics. We held opening ceremonies, complete with torch lighting, national anthem singing by students, and the Olympic rings, one representing each homeroom. We created a competition among our homerooms on the team, where they competed in events such as , an adapted version of Curling, hockey, and winter sports relay. We were filmed by WFMZ, who created a 4 minute film clip featuring some of our academic and sports competitions, along with interviews by students and Jane Shingler, Language Arts teacher. The clip was aired on Ch2 during the Sports Scene program several times.

Alburtis, Jefferson, Lincoln, Lower Macungie, Macungie, Shoemaker, and Wescosville Elementary Schools

All the students in Pam Briody's Alburtis class write their stories using Kid Writing and then work with me on editing and proofreading. I type their manuscripts and they draw the illustrations for each page of text. I then laminate and bind their books. We celebrate by having an author's tea in June where they share their books with friends and families.

The Alburtis fifth grade Garden Club is learning about sustainability, nutrition, math, the sciences, while providing healthy spring vegetables for their salad bar. This is an extra curricular activity that extends learning outside of the classroom in an experiential format. An award was received from the Pennsylvania Advocates for Nutrition and Activity (PANA) for our “GO FOR THE GREENS” celebration which promotes both the garden and eating green veggies. A letter and recipe was also received from Michelle Obama regarding the garden.

The fifth graders at Alburtis Elementary School were visited by 10 Japanese college students who were being hosted by Moravian college. The Japanese students, who all plan to pursue a career in teaching spent time talking with the Alburtis students and answering questions about life and education in Japan. The fifth graders were taught Japanese phrases and numbers, a Japanese song, and origami designs.

A group of students from Lincoln Elementary School in Emmaus walked away with awards at the Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit's recent Regional Computer Fair. The award recipients won first place for a digital movie; first place for a computer fair logo; first place for desktop publishing; and second place for desktop publishing. All are fifth grade students, with the exception of one, who is in fourth grade. Fifty- five students from seven school districts competed at the event. Nine Lincoln Elementary students, led by advisors Alma Hazel and Bryan Svencer, participated.

Lincoln students have met the goal both in fall and spring to read a total of 1000 minutes. On Tuesday and Thursday mornings and afternoons, Lincoln students have the opportunity to participate in a reading, math or homework club. Skills are worked on to improve student performance or assistance is provided in completing homework.

Fifth graders in Alma Hazel’s class run a school-wide recycling program. Bins are collected monthly and sorted to assure proper items are being recycled. To date, over a ton of paper has been recycled.

The Lincoln family raised over $1, 500 for the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society. Kindergarten teacher, Karen Gennaro, and her students made play-dough and sold it for ten cents a bag to raise money for autism. Students are also participating in a walk for autism with the help of Eileen Crompton. To date, they have raised $8,000.

Genise Bishop (guidance counselor) heads up a program for girls in grades 3-5. It is held after school, and the goal is to promote healthier living and self-respect. The culminating activity is a 5K race in late May.

Under the direction of Alma Hazel and Erin Dry, fourth and fifth grade students have been selected to participating in a (first time ever) school musical. Students are involved in all aspects including stage crew, set design, and performing.

Grades 1-5 students at Macungie Elementary School are being recognized for their efforts in reading daily to raise money for the Lehigh Valley Child Advocacy Program. Noble efforts for children that are less fortunate than we are here at Macungie Elementary School.

A third grader at Macungie Elementary School received a letter of recognition from the American Heart Association in April for being the top money raiser in the entire school for his efforts in Jump Rope for Heart~a program that raises awareness about Heart disease, funding for research, and healthy habits!

Grade Four students at Macungie Elementary School were recognized this spring by the St. Jude's Children's Hospital for a Math-A-Thon that raised thousands of dollars for the patients and families of St. Jude's.