February 2015 Board Highlights
Oblock Junior High
Equations Tournament
On Friday February 6, Mrs. Barker, AEO math teacher and fifteen members of the Oblock GATE program traveled to Woodland Hills for the 31st annual Equations Tournament. According to Mrs. Barker, “Equations is a game played with 24 cubes containing numbers and operators. The cubes are shuffled to reveal the resources for that round. A number goal is set and students take turns placing the cubes into 3 categories: forbidden, permitted, or required. Students are challenged to find complex solutions to average goals. The game takes a lot of forward thinking, logic, and reasoning skills.” Congratulations to Team Oblock for finishing in 4th place and to Jonah Albert, Kali Minick, and Matt Brown for being Oblock's top three scorers!
Wrestling
AEO’s Wrestling Team, coached by high school social studies teacher Stephen Stremple finished their season with an awesome record of 11-6. Members of the team are Cooper Aubele, Tallon Auth, Denny Ayres, Dakota Bollinger, Tanner Conklin, Jared Citrano, Joe DelPino, Michael DelPino, Dom DePastino, Dom Dreano, Logan Foster, Luke Foster, Luca Fratangelo, Ryan Gallagher, Shane Hutchinson,
Gavin James, Rocco Knauss, Tommy Lindsay, Anthony Little, Max Majocha, Danny Mccaffrey, Anthony Napoleon, Lauren Newton, Seth Norcutt, Hunter Osche, Sam Pagano, Nick Rende, Michael Saikaly, Larry Scafuri, Mason Spears, Colin Stecik, Evan Stinson, Tom Stitt, Nick Stitt, Miles Tush, Akil Washington, Dylan Watkins, and Luke Wolfe.
The wrestlers placed 3rd as a team at the South Fayette Invitational. Wrestlers who placed individually at the invitational in various weight classes are as follows: 1st place- Denny Ayres, 2nd place- Gavin James, 3rd place- Rocco Knauss and Collin Stecik 4th- Ryan Gallagher and Nick Stitt. Team Record Leaders are as follows: Most Wins: Gavin James – 23; Most Pins: Gavin James – 11; Ryan Gallagher – 11; Most Takedowns: Tanner Conklin – 23; Fastest Pins: Dakota Bollinger – 0:13; JV Record Leaders: Most Wins: Evan Stinson – 7. Congratulations to the all of the wrestlers on a very successful season!
AEO Celebrates Black History Month
To celebrate Black History Month, Mr. Fishell's February's Book Challenge was to read a book from a list of fiction and nonfiction books addressing Black History. The student that met this challenge for the second year in a row was Cassidy Schrencongost.
Reading Hall of Fame
As of February 28, 2015, 127 students had achieved Reading Hall of Fame status. Another 121 are just points away at the All-Star level. At the Varsity level are 221 students and now we have 107 students who have made the Junior Varsity level. The goal is to have all students at the Junior Varsity level or higher by the end of the year. Currently, 94.1% of the students have reached that goal.
Other milestones include one student with 500 points and a record 27 students with 300 points. The previous record for 300 point students was only 20 by February. Great job students!
Professional Learning Communities
Dialogue and collaboration continue in all areas at Oblock Junior High as teachers meet in PLCs before and after school, during common open periods, in-service days, and even informally during their lunch periods. PSSA preparation, 9th grade scheduling, and Moodle were the subjects of several February meetings. The English/reading teachers met to discuss Text Dependent Analysis review materials, writing prompts, PSSA prep, and necessary vocabulary. The social studies teachers discussed lesson plans, curriculum, and alignment between classes. The seventh grade reading teachers also talked about AR results and success. The seventh and eighth grade math teachers discussed PSSA preparation, PVAAS scores, pacing for the Keystones, and resources. Social studies teachers conversed about the pacing of the curriculum, strategies for reading and writing, and current events. The science teachers adjusted their curriculum and content, discussed on-going projects, lab technology, and Moodle. The foreign language department discussed putting together language questions in the same format as the PSSA tests to ensure more practice for the upcoming tests. Across the curriculum parent phone calls and communication, discipline issues, and student failures. Other PLC activity included lesson plans and Sapphire.