25th Anniversary Committee

The April meeting for the 25th Anniversary Committee is Tuesday, May 6th,at 7:00pm at the school. Please feel free to come and join in to various efforts that are being planned.

Science Awards 2007-2008

The following are 2007-2008 science awards:

Chemistry Week

The Cleveland Section of the American Chemical Society and NASA Glenn Research Center sponsor chemistry contests for grade-school students in grades K-5, 6-8, and 9-12, as a part of their National Chemistry Week (NCW) celebration. The contests are designed to provide students with a real world examples of chemistry. All of the contests require that students perform a task, record observations, and organize his or her thoughts to answer age-appropriate questions.

Students in grades K through 4^th made a Red Cabbage Indicator and used it to test whether various solutions (substances dissolved in water) are acidic, basic, or neutral.

Students in grades 5 through 8 made a Red Cabbage Indicator and used it to create a pH scale with various solutions and used their pH scale to determine the pH of other solutions, as well as how to make different pH solutions from their test solutions.

There were more than 952 entries from numerous schools. Birchwood School student William L, won the K – 4 level of the competition; Trevor L won the 5^th – 8^th grade level of the competition.

Young Astronaut Day

NASA Glenn held its 15th Annual Young Astronaut Day on November 3rd. The all-day program provides opportunities for teams of grades 3-12 students to focus their energies on many different tasks related to engineering problem solving. More than 325 students from 24 different schools participated.

The 7^th –12^th grade students (Commander Teams) competed in Space Spud or Spudnaut, where competing student teams use the same materials to design different protective suits for the Space Spud from an onslaught of small meteorites from an impactor Lego Microgravity Challenge THEY WON 3^rd PLACE, Space Shuttle Tile Design, where each team experiences how difficult it is to perform simple tasks when working in space and Planetary Rover Competition, in which students build a robot that can travel across a simulated planetary surface. Birchwood School’s Commander Team: Jacob B, Serena C, Oliver D, Thomas W, Sahar A, Ani D, Jacques D, Stuart F, Sarah L, and Lina W.

The 5^th and 6^th grade students (Pilot team): Nicholas J, Trevor L, Sanjana R, Susmita R, Bradley S, Hannah Y, Shawki A, Nathan C, Grant F, Jocelyn L, LuLu S, and Ben WConnect the Dots, in which the tallest tower able to hold the most weight was made of “Dots” (candy) and toothpicks, (they won an “Honorable Mention”), Egg-cellent Landing, which is the safest egg-drop made within a budget competed in (they won a first place), In-Space Repair Challenge, in which teams of students performed tasks with workman’s gloves and tongs, and Space Spud or Spudnaut (they won a first place).

Earth Day poster Contest

The annual poster contest is sponsored by the Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District to honor Earth Day through artwork. It is opened to first through eighth grade student and grade level winners are featured on an Earth Day Calendar. This year's theme related to climate change/global warming and recycling.

There were over 1,000 students from almost 40 classrooms entered this year. The following Birchwood School students were winners:

First Place –3^rd Grade, Pheby L

First Place – 5^th Grade, Alexander I

Runner-Up – 7^th Grade, Serena C

Birchwood School also had some finalists, those in the top ten:

3^rd Grade: Prathna K

4^th Grade: Katelyn V

6^th Grade: Jocelyn L, Clare P, Nina R

7^th Grade: Jacob D

8^th Grade: Shulamite C, Cait S, and Forde R

Zero Waste

A “Zero Waste” School contender will attempts to make the least amount of waste during lunch on their challenge day. This contest is sponsored by Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District. The winning school the “Zero Waste” title holder for the year and is awarded a recycled milk jug bench. There are anywhere from 6 – 15 schools that compete. Students submitted their results and will know very soon if they are winners three years in a row.

Earth Day Coalition

Earth Day Coalition is Cleveland ’s own nonprofit environmental education organization serving Ohio and the nation. They provide a broad range of community-based environmental education and leadership initiatives through our four award-winning and nationally recognized programs.

One of the contests that the Earth Day Coalition sponsors is a “Poster Contest.” Clare P’s poster was chosen from thousands of entries in 2006. During the 2007-08 school year her winning poster was, not only featured on the web page, but was on display at various libraries and city buildings. Her poster is shown.

The Northeast Ohio Science and Engineering Fair (NEOSEF) is open to grades 7 – 12 from Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage, and Summit Counties. The Fair has been held every year since 1954 and is affiliated with the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).

During the four day event, approximately 500 students from over 80 schools in the area set up their science fair displays, discuss their projects with judges and compete for more than $20,000 in prizes.

At the fair students compete in nine categories which are subdivided by grade levels. NEOSEF awards one 1st place, and multiple 2nd place, 3rd place and honorable mentions per subdivision. Students also compete for over 300 Special Awards totaling more than $15,000.

NEOSEF selects students in grades 9 – 12 to move on to the next levels of competition, ISEF where they compete with almost 1,500 students from all over the world for over $4,000,000 in scholarships and prizes.

Anirudh D won a third place for his project titled: Is Skeletal Muscle Mass Depletion Related to the Worsening Severity of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD)? Anirudh was also accepted as a Discovery Young Scientist Applicant.

Science Fair

The 5^th and 6^th Grade Students are not “old enough” to compete in the NEOSEF science fair, but have an “in-house” science fair.

This year the 6^th Science Fair Projects were:

Energy

Brian O: Cool Coal - 1^st Place

Carlf C: Electrical Generators - 2^nd Place

Nabil J: Wind Turbine - Governor’s Energy Award

Trajectory

Zaeem M and Miguel P: Thrown for a Curve - 1^st Place (tie)

Hannah K: Egg-A-Pult - 1^st Place (tie)

Zach I: 3-2-1 Blastoff

Health

Tia L: Calorimeter - Special Award for Complexity of problem,

Mohammad M: A Peek into the Circulatory System - 1^st Place ,

Clare P and Nina R: Zoom to the Tune - 2^nd Place

Chemistry

Miranda M: Salt Crystals - Superior Award in Chemistry

Nardine T: Disappearing Liquid - 1^st Place

Deepak K: Egg Power - 2^nd Place

The 5^th Grade Science projects were:

Aeronautics

Nikola D: Paper Airplanes - 1^st place

Alexander I: Paper Airplanes - Special Award

Health

Hassan S: Heavy Heart Rates - 1^st place

Marla and Hannah Y: What is the effect on your pulse when you listen to music?

Susmita R: How does running affect Heart Rate? - 2^nd place (tie)

Brad S: Exercising hearts - 2^nd place (tie)

Life Science

Sanjana R and Sarah D: How plants are affected by different colored light? - 1^st place

Vikas N: Dominant Handedness Affects Motor Speed.

Chemistry

Alex P: Battery Battle - 1^st place

Max L and Amir F: What is the most efficient substance for melting ice? - 2^nd place

Sean F: Rust and What Removes It

Physical Science

Trevor L: Surface Tension

Nicholas J: Which bridge is Stronger?

Clean Up Big Creek on WVIZ

Several years ago Birchwood School students helped clean up Big Creek, part of the Cuyahoga Watershed. They appeared for a few minutes on Return of the Cuyahoga River , which premiered on WVIZ/PBS Tuesday, April 22 at 9:00 PM (Earth Day). Repeat broadcasts: Thursday, April 24 at 8:00 PM; Saturday, April 26 at 9:00 PM; Sunday, April 27 at 7:00 PM.

~ Linda Brown

Lecture at Westlake Rec Center

I wanted you to know that as a part of our community service and efforts to market our educational program, I will present the lecture on Identifying and Developing Talent in Gifted Students at the Westlake Recreation Center on Thursday, May 8 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. If you have friends who are interested in this topic it might be a good time to invite them.

Sincerely,
Mr. Debelak

SCHOLASTIC AWARD WINNERS

The following are 7-8 grade language arts Scholastic Awards:



SCHOLASTIC AWARD WINNERS



Birchwood students grab national limelight. Four middle grade students were recognized on the national level for the Scholastic Writing Awards of 2008! Sahar A (8) received the coveted national gold award. Receiving the national silver awards were George B (8), Thomas W (7), Isaac Y (7). This distinction placed these four students at the top one percent of all submissions across the country in this prestigious competition.



Seventh and eighth grade students each submitted longer narratives in their category of choice after many revisions. Sahar’s short short story entitled “Bird” was an allegory of how a young person struggled to overcome destitution and fly free of his bounds. George wrote a humorous piece called “Hang On, Sloopy” to portray the perspective of a teen as he coped with football-fanatic of a dad, obsessing over his favorite team during the National Championships. In “Wings”, a fantasy by Thomas, a boy discovered his roots even as he is faced with tough decisions when his long lost father reclaimed him. Finally, Isaac’s “Ninth Section” centered around two special agents in a secret organization who ventured into space to save Earth from a dying sun.



The national winners together with six other Birchwood students have been recognized with Gold Key Awards at the regional level. As the Senior Manager of this national program noted: Only the most accomplished works submitted to the regional programs of The Awards earn Gold Keys; out of 5000 submissions in the writing category of the Region-at-Large this year, 1000 works were given this distinction, which were then submitted for consideration at the national level.



Recognized for their creative achievement at the Regional:

Sahar A - “Bird”, Short Short Story Category

George B – “Hang On, Sloopy”, Humor Category

Nathan C – “The Easy Way Out of It”, Short Story Category

Jacques D – “Beyond Haven”, Science Fiction Category

Oliver D – “The Evil of Greed”, Short Story Category

Sam J – “They Called Them Thieves”, Science Fiction Category

Jocelyn L – “Dragons, Hawks, and Moonstones”, Science Fiction Category

Sarah L – “Shot to the Heart”, Short Story

Thomas W – “Wings”, Science Fiction Category

Isaac Y – The Ninth Section, Science Fiction Category



The national award winners were also invited to join the celebration in New York at Carnegie Hall from June 4 – 6 which includes creative industry workshops. View their names on the recipient list and find out more about the competition at http://www.artandwriting.org/assets/pressreleases/2008/National_Recip.pdf.

25th Anniversary Committee

Reminder: The April meeting for the 25th Anniversary Committee is Tuesday, April 22,at 7:00pm at the school. Please feel free to come and join in to various efforts that are being planned.

Thank you.

Power of the Pen results

The following are 5-8 grade language arts Power of the Pen competition results:

Power of the Pen

Birchwood School has participated in this writing competition since its inception in the 1980s. Designed for seventh and eighth grade students to foster creative writing, 500 schools with over 7500 students from Ohio are involved yearly. Each registered school can send a team of six members for each grade and vie for individual and team trophies. It is "an exclusive interscholastic competition using many features which make interscholastic athletics so appealing among young students. …What is normally regarded as a private activity—writing—is turned into a competitive team effort." At each level, students write three pieces to respond to prompts not known in advance. In a forty-five minute period, students attempt to develop plot, character, and the elements of a short short story in a manner that is both original and creative. Because of classroom size, Birchwood has not been able to send full teams until the last few years and have been proudly displaying our team trophies in our hallway.

District Results

This year on February 2, Birchwood seventh and eighth graders joined twenty-four other area schools to compete in the district tournament. Our creative writers fared well.

Team Competition

Eighth Graders – Third place

Sahar A, George B, Shulamite C, Ani D, Stuart F, and Sarah L

Seventh Graders – Fourth place

Jacob B, Serena C, Jacob D, Sam J, Ilona K, and Thomas W

Individual Competition

Eighth Graders

Shulamite C, eleventh place, “Best of Rounds” award

Seventh Gaders

Ilona K, third place

Thomas W, eleventh place

Regional Results

Competing against more than forty schools at the regional level on March 1 at Wiley Middle High School are the following regional qualifiers:

Eighth Graders – Second Place

Sahar A, George B, Shulamite C, Anirudh D, Stuart F, and Sarah L

Seventh Graders

Jacob B, Jacob D, Sam J, Ilona K, and Thomas W

A big thank you to Mrs. Kufahl who devoted her Saturday to help judge in the competition.

State Qualifiers

Congratulations to Jacob D, Ilona K, and Thomas W who will compete at the state Power of the Pen in Wooster College on April 23, Friday.

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Future Problem Solving Program competition

The following are 5-8 grade language arts Future Problem Solving Program competition results:

BIRCHWOOD GOES INTERNATIONAL

Birchwood School represents Ohio at the International Conference for the Future Problem Solving Program at Michigan State from May 29 through June 1. At both the junior and intermediate divisions, Birchwood teams placed first at the state to earn the invitation to the international competition. Junior team members consist of sixth graders: Deepak K, Munim, Clare P, and Nina R. The intermediate winners from seventh and eighth grade are George B, Serena C, Anirudh D, and Forde R.

Future Problem Solving Program (FPSPI) engages students in the creative problem solving. Founded in 1974 by creativity pioneer, Dr. E. Paul Torrance, FPSPI stimulates critical and creative thinking skills while encouraging students to develop a vision for the future. The program itself charters forty-three affiliate programs throughout the United States , Australia , New Zealand , and Korea , involving 250,000 students annually. It is also mentoring programs in Canada , Hong Kong , Japan , Malaysia , and Singapore .

Birchwood had a total of seven teams attending the State Bowl at Solon High School on April 4 and 5. Students were given a future scenario about “debt in developing country” from which they used the six-step problem solving process. They derived a final underlying problem and solution, after a long process of divergent and convergent thinking in a two-hour period. In addition students learned to work with the different personalities in a team and to convey their ideas with clarity.

Many other Birchwood teams did well at the state level:

Intermediate Division

Fourth Place : Shulamite C, Jacob D, Sam J, Lina W

Third Place : Jacob B, Jocelyn L, Thomas W, Ben W

Junior Division

Fifth Place : Miranda M, Zaeem M, Miguel P, Nardine T

Second at the skit presentation of their final solution - to “sell” their final solution

Other state bowl qualifiers:

Junior Teams:

Carlf C, Alexander I, Trevor L, Hassan S

Alex P, Sanjana R, Susmita R, Hannah Y

Individuals:

Nathan C

Lulu S

A big thank you to all the parents who coached, judged, drove, prepared lunch, gathered the memorabilia, or simply assisted in various ways. Your presence and show of support was phenomenal.

A final word of thanks to Mr. Hageman, who broached this topic to the teams and whom many cited as a research source at the state bowl.

Recent story-writing contest winners

Here are the recent third and fourth grade story-writing contest winners along with the writing prompt.

Cricket magazine is a literary publication for readers aged 9 to 14. During its over 30-year history, it has won numerous awards and praises. The Los Angeles Times, called Cricket “ad-free, with high-quality pages and top-notch writing and illustrations." Each 64-page monthly issue contains fiction, fantasy, folk tales, adventures, poems, history, and biography as well as cartoons, crossword puzzles, crafts, and recipes. Cricket also offers a story, poetry, art, or photography contest each month that is open to a national audience. Birchwood students regularly participate in these contests and many of them have
earned prizes and had the honor of seeing their stories and/or names published in Cricket magazine.

September 2007 Cricket Writing Contest: Students were to write an original story about a "quest." Stories and/or name were published in the December 2007 issue:

1st place: The Pirate and the Treasure by Nizar D.
3rd place: The Birthday Gift by Maya F.
Honorable Mention: Beneath the Bone by Michael "M. J." M.
Honorable Mention: The Unicorns' Quest for a Home by Haley Y.
Honorable Mention: Mother's Day Bouquet by Prathna K.
Honorable Mention: Halloween Quest by Jamie S.

Here are more third and fourth grade winners from the November Cricket magazine writing contest. The prompt was to write a story about the origin of something. The winners were published in the February
2008 issue:

First place: Faithful Sneezes by Jorgen K. This story tell about the fanciful origin of the Old Faithful Geyser in Yellowstone National Park.

Second place: How Dussera Came to Be by Dhweeja D. It's about the origin of an Indian holiday.

Third place tie: How Leaves Became Green by Darius Z. and Why Humans Love Dairy Products by Alexis H.

Honorable Mention: How the Parrot Got Its Colors by Boshy D.

Fandangle Magazine. This is an online magazine for children that was published once per month for several years. Student writing and artwork were welcomed via contests that were held every few months. Birchwood students participated and were awarded prizes on several occasions. Early last fall, students were asked to write a story about Sam, a chameleon who loved to skateboard and the adventure he embarked upon. Grand prize winner ($25 gift certificate from amazon.com) 4th grader
Cameron S. Runner-up ($10 gift certificate from amazon.com) 3rd grader Pheby L.

Creative Communications sponsors a fiction and non--fiction writing contest each year as well as several poetry contests. They accept approximately 40% of the entries they receive, since their goal is to
encourage student writers by allowing them to experience the joy of seeing their work in print, while still setting a fairly high standard for good writing. Due to the quality and creativity of Birchwood students' entries, 75-80% are typically accepted for publication. About six months after each contest, the winning entries are published in a high cover book, which is available for purchase, although buying the book is not a condition for entering the contest or being recognized as a winner. The Birchwood fourth grade students entered the fall essay-writing contest on any non-fiction topic of importance to children. The following fourth graders had their entries accepted for publication in an anthology that came out this spring: (Essay titles follow student names.)

Hajira A. No Polluting!
Nate C. My Family
Dhweeja D. The Most Important Person in My Life
Sebastian D. Being Healthy
Peter A. H. Recycling
Phillip H. No Smoking: Or Pay the Price!
Jorgen K. Nature
Kavya R. Halt!
Jamie S. Chui
Cameron S. Quit Smoking
Kareem T. Soccer
Katelyn V. Trash or Treasure
Nathan W. Recycling for Our Earth
Naomi W. Saving Lives

Third grader Maya F. is a Grand Prize winner of the "Be a Good Sport" essay contest that the Birchwood third and fourth graders entered last winter. This is a national competition open to students between the
ages of eight and eleven who are legal residents of the fifty United States or the District of Columbia. NFL Players and Weekly Reader Custom Publishing teamed up with Backyard Sports, creators of the
popular Backyard Football video game, to help children recognize that good sportsmanship is just as important as winning the game. Therefore, students were asked to think about what good sportsmanship means to them and then write essays describing times when they were "good sports." This could be exhibited as fair play, courtesy, enthusiasm, and losing with pride--even if the students were not involved athletically. Maya's essay described a time when she visited her native Syria and observed a poor boy who looked at her with longing eyes as she left a store with an ice cream cone. When the store owner came out to shoo the boy away, Maya decided to give her ice cream treat and change to the boy. In so doing she experienced the joy that came from being a good sport by helping a person less fortunate than herself. As one of only five Grand Prize winners in the nation, Maya will receive a prize package that includes a Backyard Sports T-shirt and hat, a Nintendo DS console, and a free lunch party for her entire class. Her lucky teacher, Mrs. Kufahl, will receive a $1,000 grant. Maya's winning essay was chosen from almost 500 entries that the contest received.

Interview with Birchwood School co-founder Helene Debelak

Birchwood Alumni Association presents an interview with Birchwood School co-founder Helene Debelak, known affectionately to her reading and social studies students as “Mrs. D.”

Let’s start with the most action-packed place in the school — the playground. What is your favorite recess game?

Four-square.

Which historical character would you most like to have met?

Abraham Lincoln. His wisdom, compassion and humor. I believe he would have taken time out to talk to me.

Which books have you read aloud from most frequently over the years?

Peppermints in the Parlor, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.

Between reading and social studies, which do you like better?

This is a cheater answer. I liked reading historical fiction.

If you wrote a book purely for enjoyment, would it be a collection of poems, juvenile fiction, a historical novel, or a professional development text?

Yikes. I am working on each of those a little bit. I have been writing more poetry. I am dabbling on something that is a cross between a memoir and a children’s story. Mr. D and I are starting to publish some of the programs at Birchwood.

Over the years, we’ve had openings everyday, five days a week. We’ve accumulated enough character lessons to make an anthology for teachers. The book will come out during 25^th anniversary celebration next year. We always felt if we could learn anything we would want to share it, to give back to education.

Teaching has changed a lot over the past 25 years. What are some methods that you have stuck with?

We never threw out phonics. You learn to read by reading, you learn to write by writing. Some of these things that are as old as the hills.

We didn’t throw away grammar either. The education bandwagon would say “Teachers, put away your red pens. That hurts a child’s self-esteem.” But we looked very carefully at what was research based and time-tested.

Who are some teachers who inspired you?

My mom was always a reader and enthusiastically guided my reading childhood…We would walk to our local library and she would recommend authors to me. She’d make me feel my selection was important. She read to me every night. She read poetry and Laura Ingalls Wilder. My love of reading, I have to say, she was my prime influence.

I had my dad as a teacher in 7^th grade at a parochial Lutheran school. His standards of character and how children responded to him. He had a lot of humor. Somehow he had the mix of “ You really wanted to behave in his class” but you enjoyed his presence.

He also directed the best choirs in Illinois. I learned whatever you do, you do well.

Growing up or while studying to become a teacher, did you ever have the aspiration to start your own school?

I was always teaching my little brother and sister. I was always making them do plays and be in my school.

But it took being married to Chuck to start talking about Birchwood.

You’re a grandma now. How has that changed your life?

It keeps me giggling and delighted. I’ve started to dabble in poetry for children.

What does it mean to you that Birchwood School has endured and grown for a quarter of a century?

It’s exciting that what began as an experiment.. to see that certain things did work and are true.

It also means a lot to work with families who share the same values and to see what together we could do to help children grow and realize their potential.

It’s been a worthwhile, never-regret- it adventure.

Any plans for retirement yet?

We always say “We’ll teach til we fall over or until we get gently nudged out.”

We have begun plans for transition. It will take ten years. It will take a lot of work to make what we have done sustainable.

Mrs. Debelak spoke recently with Joe Parrino, one of her social studies disciples. Joe was a third grader during Birchwood School’s inaugural year and graduated in 1990. He is now a staff writer for a daily newspaper in western Kentucky.