SOCKTOBER WAS A HUGE SUCCESS. The total count as of 3:30 Friday was 4,902 pair s of

socks and people are still dropping them off at the school! We live in such an amazing community!

Parents, family, neighbors, teachers, businesses, the News-Herald, even strangers, have done so

much to support our students in this service project to help those in need! The students gained valua-ble experience and learned a great lesson in what it means to truly be charitable. A special thank you

to all that have helped in some way! WAY TO GO SOI COMMUNITY!

As I explained to the students at Friday’s morning meeting, there is only one problem with having

such an amazing event be so successful; you have to live up to that success for your NEXT project.

Being AWESOME is hard work! So, before we lose steam as the holidays approach, here are the

next two service projects students and staff will be working to support.

1. A Humane Society drive to assist our local agency in its mission to help animals (November).

2. A stocking drive to make sure needy children have toys to being them joy (December).

More to come on these worthwhile service projects later in the Spark Remark.

Have a great weekend!

A message from Mr. Patrick

Election day is Nov 3rd!

It has been more than 45 years since the

Willoughby-Eastlake School District has

asked for money to rebuild facilities.

Currently our buildings are in need of $30

million in roof repairs alone. It is time to

address the failing facilities so that our

schools will remain viable.

Please visit Supportweschools.org in order

to learn more about your opportunity to

change the future. Don’t forget to vote on

Tuesday!

The W-E School of Innovation

The Spark Remark

Important dates:

11/2 Green Day

Conference Night 1

4:00-7:00 pm

11/3 No School

Election Day

Prof. Development Day

11/4 White Day

11/5 Blue Day

Conference Night 2

3:30-6:30 pm

11/6 Green Day

11/10 Conference Night 3

3:30-6:30

11/11 Veteran’s Day

School picture retakes and

Class Pictures (in AM)

Inside this issue:

News you can use 2

Grade 3 page 3

Grade 4 page 4

Grade 5 page 5

Encore and PTO page 6

Professional Speakers

and Staff update

7-8

Pictures 9-11

#WEMATTER

Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SOInnovation

Follow us on Twitter: @WES_Innovation

Contact the office by phone: 440-942-1525

Contact the office by e-mail: dawn.igarashi@weschools.org

Page 2

The Spark Remark

Our local Girl Scout Troop 70973 is collecting items for the Humane Society. Any-

thing you could donate would be appreciated! Here is a sample list:

Cat Litter – Clay, Scoopable & Yesterday’s News (We use 1,300 lbs. of litter per week)

Gift cards for: Gas (to fuel our emergency van), Pet Supply Stores, Home Depot, etc.

Bleach, Dish Soap, laundry detergent and dryer sheets

KMR kitten milk replacement

Dog Cages – Portable/Foldable cages

Hair/lint rollers

Paper towels, facial tissue and toilet paper

Canned cat and kitten food

Cat toys or ping pong balls

Kong’s and other safe dog toys

Dog treats and Cat treats

Hand sanitizer and Clorox wipes

Copy paper – both white and colored

AA batteries

Pens, packing tape and heat seal laminating pouches

Bunny toys and treats

Puppy playpens (metal) for mobile adoptions or events

Postage stamps for 1st class mail.

33 gallon size garbage bags and contractor bags

Solid color 2 pocket folders

You can send items in or drop them off at SOI any day in November!

Girls Scouts Humane Society Service Project

Fall Conferences

Fall conferences will be held on November 2nd from 4:00-7:00 pm, November 5th from

3:30-6:30 pm, and November 10th, from 3:30-6:30. If you have not yet scheduled a con-

ference please contact your child’s grade level teaching team as soon as possible. Students

will be required to attend as they will be leading the conference along with a parent

and selected staff member. Capstone projects will be discussed, along with other specifics

about student growth and performance. Our hope is that every family attends a conference

night.

Each week this space will be dedicated to general information about what 3rd graders

are learning at the School of Innovation. Our curricu-

lum is generally blended (trans-disciplinary) so con-cepts are taught together whenever possible using

real-world examples and hands-on situations.

ELA—Reading Skills - Summarizing and Unit 1 Assess-ment

Grammar Skills—Subjects and Predicates,

Simple/Compound Sentences Unit 1 Assessment

Some conversation prompts for you to ask your

child:

“Explain what a TREBUCHET is

(counterweighted lever that launches things)?”

“How did you blow up your ghost balloon at

the party?”

“Tell us all about SOCKTOBER?”

3rd grade Weekly Update

3rd Grade Capstone Update

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The Spark Remark

Math—finishing up Ch 3 this week

test coming this week

math contracts due this week

will begin Fractions soon for capstone

Sci/SS

history of communication and transportation

sources of information - primary and

secondary sources

we will begin Matter Ch 11 for science

Capstone updates will happen at

conferences!

Enjoy your student presenting

their 1st quarter Capstone and

explaining what they are work-

ing on for 2nd quarter!

Hot Topics

Page 4

The Spark Remark

Each week this space will be dedicated to gen-

eral information about what 4th graders are

learning at the School of Innovation. Our cur-riculum is generally blended (trans-

disciplinary) so concepts are taught together

whenever possible using real-world examples

and hands-on situations. This week in 4th

grade we learned how to read a nutrition la-

bel. Students brought in labels from home to

study.

They had the opportunity to analyze the label as

well as research the ingredients. Students are in

the process of comparing a food item and trying to find a healthy alternative. Students also spent time

learning about the Archaic Indians. They made

slide shows telling a story from the perspective of

an early Native American.

Early in the week, students learned that "Punkin

Chunkin" is actually a world-wide event. In

reading, students read an article about the history

of punkin chunkin and watched videos from the

World Championship Punkin Chunkin

event. On Friday, they participated in a design

challenge to make their own punkin chunkin cat-

apult launcher to launch a pumpkin candy

corn. The students were SO excited to see how

far they could make their pumpkins fly!

Some conversation prompts for you to ask your

child:

“What design did your group come up with for

your punkin chunkin catapult? “

“What was the name you have your fictional Na-

tive American for your slide show?”

“What foods did you compare when reading the

nutrition labels and what grade did you give

each food? “

Hot Topics

4th grade Weekly Update

4th Grade Capstone Update

Page 5

5th Grade Capstone Update

5th grade Weekly Update

Each week this space will be dedicated to

general information about what 5th grad-

ers are learning at the School of Innova-

tion. Our curriculum is generally blended

(trans-disciplinary) so concepts are taught

together whenever possible using real-

world examples and hands-on situations.

In social studies we finished up learning

about the types of government. In science we

are working on a design challenge that has

students make a model of the size of the

planets. They need to figure out there size

and come up with a proportionate size to use

on a poster board.

The students continue to discover how people and events impact the world. They

have been working on their biographies

and getting ready for the biography tea

that will be December 8th at 1:00 pm.

Hot Topics

Some conversation prompts for you to ask your child:

“What flew through the air in the back

parking lot?“

“Can gummy worms come alive? “

“How did the Ghost Balloons work?”

Page 6

The Spark Remark

Physical Education This week the children started into their unit on soccer and team skills (standards 1B, 5B) We worked on grade level bench-marks for kicking, dribbling with their feet, safety, and teamwork. Next week weather permitting we will extend these skills into game play activities. Skill dif-ferences of students at this level are mod-erate. My goal was to challenge advanced players by appointing them as group lead-ers, encouraging them to coach and assist their fellow classmates, and help with demonstrations.

Music 3rd and 4th grade and 5th grade choir are completing our String Thing challeng-es. The challenges are progressively more difficult and require students to manipu-late different characteristics of a string (length, tension and thickness) to create different notes.

5th grade band took their first test on Wednesday (over pages 4-7) and will start being required to complete weekly prac-tice records beginning in November.

W-E SOI PTO UPDATE

Please join us to support our kids at the W-E SOI PTO Fundraiser at Willoughby Brewing Company!

Friday, November 20 from 5:30-7:30 pm. Appetizers, soft drinks, raffle, and more. Kids are welcome too!

Let's jump start the PTO with a bang! You can purchase your

tickets at: https://www.picatic.com/wbcevent

Professional Speaker Series

Page 7

Carly Martin visited us this Wednesday as part of our Professional Speaker Se-ries. Mrs. Martin is a naturalist for the Cleveland Metroparks. She loves her job

and enjoys getting dirty working outdoors! She even shared how she has caught

animals, including snakes! Students loved hearing about the outdoors and hope Carly comes back with some animals! Thank you for a job well done Carly!!

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The Spark Remark

SOI STAFF SPOTLIGHT

My name Is Mr. Gallagher. I am currently the Physical Education/ Health teacher at the School of Innovation. I graduated from Kent State University in 1995 where I earned a degree in Sports Nutrition and played baseball for the Golden Flashes. After graduation, I was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates Organization where I played 4 years in their minor league system as a pitcher. Upon returning to Ohio, I worked 10 years for Progressive Insurance as an Account Sales Manag-er in their Strategic Alliance Division. While working at Progressive, I went back to college at Cleveland State and earned 3 more degrees because I had always wanted to be a teacher/coach. I have been teaching in the Willoughby-Eastlake School District since 2006. I currently split my days teaching between Willowick Middle School, as a 7th Grade Health teacher and SOI. I live in Aurora with my wife (Shari), who is also a teacher, my 2 kids, Hayden (4th grade), Ryan (2nd Grade) and our 2 yellow labs Mia and Brutus. My family and I are big fans of the outdoors and love to vacation in different places every year. One of the big factors that drove me towards my first degree in Nutrition and drives me to-day as a Health/ P.E. teacher is helping young kids make smarter decisions with their health and eating habits. Kids need this guidance at an early age so they can develop healthy habits that will carry into adulthood. I have created a fun Physical Education program were the students get the opportunity to practice their individual skills so they can develop into life -long believers in fit-ness. In my spare time, I love to vacation with my family, I am an avid fly fishermen and I build an-imatronic halloween props were I have sold many to local haunted houses. I have been in the local newspapers and on fox 8 for my animatronic halloween yard display. I am excited to be here at the School of Innovation and look forward to expanding my role as a teacher for your children into middle school and high school.

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The Spark Remark

Page 11

Special Update

In downtown Willoughby there was a scarecrow design

contest recently. SOI students Zoe Ayala (grade 3) & Emma

Norris (grade 3) won the individual category with a Harry

Potter scarecrow and Jeannie Flemming-Gifford had a group

of 3rd graders that won for the group category. They created

GROOT! Congratulations students!!!