Spring Break Kids Club

April 5 – 9, 2021

6:00 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.

Northpoint Elementary School (Door E)

Cost is $35 per child, per day or $150 per child for the full week. If you are not currently enrolled in Kids Club, you must also pay the $25 registration fee per child. Registration and payment are due, and non refundable, by Tuesday, March 30, 2021. 

Click here for more details and online registration.

During a normal school year, Penn High School students enrolled in Childhood Development classes would be offering two unique programs for preschoolers in our community, Playschool and Toddler Time.

However due to COVID suspending these programs for the time being, Penn Child Development teachers Mrs. Kylee Wetzel and Ms. Rachael Meyers have created lessons that children can do in their own homes. 

The Penn High School Early Childhood Education Classes are offering free eLearning lessons to children in the P-H-M community within the age ranges of 1-10 years old.

Children can participate at home with a caregiver, or during the school day via Google Meet with the Penn student facilitating the lesson.

Please fill out the Enrollment Form by Friday, Jan. 15 in order to participate.

Please contact Kylee Wetzel at kwetzel@phm.k12.in.us for any further information.

Please use the links below for important information regarding the 2020 School Year.

Information for ALL students:

• Virtual Learning, Pick Up Dates, Meals and More
• Welcome Back

Want to help prevent the “summer slide”? Help keep your students motivated with these grade specific lessons:

P-H-M Virtual Learning Summer Resources

Also, the IDOE has provided summer resources for parents to use with their children, grades 1^st – 8^th, to help keep their math and reading skills up over the summer.

Parents and students have access to the Lexile® Find a Book tool and the Quantile® Summer Math Challenge.

The Lexile® Find a Book tool helps students create a personalized reading list and then locate those books at the nearest library or bookseller.

The message below was sent out to all P-H-M staff and families the afternoon of March 3, 2020.

Dear P-H-M Families,

The health, safety and well-being of Penn-Harris-Madison students and staff are our top priorities. With the ongoing elevated discussion regarding the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the world news, we are reaching out to remind everyone in the P-H-M family about the preventive safety measures we can all take, as well as to inform you what we at P-H-M are doing.

As a school district, we are closely monitoring the situation via the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website. The CDC is providing local expert and community guidance through the St. Joseph County Department of Health and the Indiana Department of Health. We are also receiving information from the U.S. Department of Education and the Indiana Department of Education, as well as a host of other state and national professional organizations. The one good thing about this situation is that there is an abundance of expert guidance. We are following the advice and direction of the governmental entities in charge. As a district, we are focusing on the things within our control.

All of the health officials are uniformly reiterating that the best preventive measure that each and every one of us can do is practice good hand hygiene. The same precautions that we annually remind our students, at all grade levels, during the cold and flu season are the exact same practices that the CDC is recommending to help prevent the spread of COVID-19:

1. Clean hands. Washing your hands often will help protect you from germs. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
2. Cover your mouth and nose. Remind your students to cover their mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing. The best thing to do is to cough/sneeze into your elbow. Second best is to cover the mouth and nose area with a tissue and then throw the tissue away.
3. Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs are often spread when a person touches something that is contaminated with germs and then touches his or her eyes, nose, or mouth.
4. Avoid close contact with people who are sick. When you are sick, keep your distance from others to protect them from getting sick too.

P-H-M’s janitorial staff already cleans common areas and disinfects common touch surfaces regularly. We ramp up these efforts during the cold and flu season. Under the current circumstances and in an abundance of precaution, P-H-M is taking extra steps to increase our normal diligent disinfectant measures.

As stated in all P-H-M Student Handbooks if students are sick please keep them home. Students should not return to school until they are fever and symptom free for 24 hours. We are constantly reminding families to practice this ongoing safety practice year round.

As it pertains to concerns over COVID-19 symptoms, the CDC has very specific recommendations if the symptoms coincide with recent travel to specific countries on their watch lists.

This situation continues to evolve. P-H-M Administrators are staying abreast of the information, as we have since the beginning. If the need should arise to change or defer from our normal operations, rest assured we will communicate with our families and staff immediately.

Thank you for your ongoing support,

Dr. Jerry Thacker

Superintendent of Schools

Grissom Middle School Principal  Jean Milfort invites 5^th grade parents and students to attend an informational session about Grissom Middle School to be held at Grissom on 

Tuesday, April 14

6:00 – 7:30 p.m.

For 5^th graders currently attending Moran, Elm, Meadow’s and Madison Elementary Schools, Grissom will be their middle school.

During this informational session, Principal Milfort will visit with students and parents discuss the transition into middle school. He will also explain the many opportunities available to incoming Grissom 6^th graders.

Please make time to attend this valuable session.

Mark your calendars for Saturday, March 14 & Sunday, March 15 for the FIRST Robotics St. Joseph District Event. Penn High School is once again hosting more than 40 high school FRC robotics teams from Indiana and Michigan who will battle it out for the title. Join more than 5,000 students, coaches, mentors, parents and fans during this one-of-a-kind two-day FREE event!

Saturday, March 14 

10 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Next Gen (K-8): 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Sunday, March 15 

9 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Click to watch the video below to check out all the upcoming excitement, then come out to cheer on Penn Robotics Team 135!

Make sure to also bring your young Robotics fans to “Next Gen,” an area for students ages K-8, who can get hands-on engaging fun with some of Team 135’s other robots. Next Gen will be open Saturday from 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. This event is also FREE ADMISSION!

Registration for kindergarten students for the 2019-2020 school year opened on Tuesday, January 22, 2019.

This registration opportunity is for youngsters who live within the P-H-M district and who will be five-years-old on or before September 1, 2019. 

Registration for Elm Road Elementary will take place during the hours of 7:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. A parent or guardian must appear in person to register their child. 

Click here for more registration forms and more details on P-H-M Kindergarten Registration.

Penn-Harris-Madison also operates two preschool programs: Early Learning Academy (ELA) and Penn PALS. Elm Road is home to the Penn PALS program.

Click here to learn more about Penn PALS and download a registration form. Registration for the 2019-20 school year opens Monday, March 11, 2019.

Click here to learn more about ELA and to download a registration form. Registration for the 2019-20 school year opens Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019.

With music education programs at all grade levels (K-12), Penn-Harris-Madison has been named  one of 2019 Best Communities for Music Education for its outstanding commitment to music education. P-H-M is one of only 623 districts nationwide and 12 in Indiana to receive the honor from The NAMM Foundation. 

The Best Communities for Music Education designation is awarded to districts that demonstrate outstanding achievement in efforts to provide music access and education to all students. The BCME award acknowledges the commitment of P-H-M’s music teachers and administrators in the District’s 11 elementary, three middle schools and Penn High School.

In our elementary schools, music class is part of the regular curriculum following state standards. Students are instructed in both vocal and instrument classes. Beginning in 6th grade, P-H-M students at our three middle schools (Discovery, Schmucker and Grissom) have the opportunity to choose choir, orchestra or band as their music elective. Students at Discovery also have the option of choosing Piano Lab. 

Penn High School offers the Fine Arts & Communication Academy as part of its unique academy structure. The seven academy design provides Penn students with relevant and meaningful coursework taught in smaller, supportive environments where each student is known well by his teacher and peers. Nearly a third of Penn’s total 3,500 students are enrolled in the Fine Arts Academy with the majority being involved with music programs, either Choir, Orchestra, Band or another music program.

To qualify for the Best Communities designation, P-H-M answered detailed questions about funding, graduation requirements, music class participation, instruction time, facilities, support for the music program, and community music-making programs. Responses were verified with school officials and reviewed by The Music Research Institute at the University of Kansas.

Research into music education continues to demonstrate educational/cognitive and social skill benefits for children who make music. In a series of landmark studies by scientists and researchers at Northwestern University a link was found between students in community music programs and life-long academic success, including higher high school graduation rates and college attendance. In another study from the University, it was discovered that the benefits of early exposure to music education improves how the brain processes and assimilates sounds, a trait that lasts well into adulthood.

Beyond the Northwestern research, other studies have indicated that music education lays the foundation for individual excellence in group settings, creative problem solving and flexibility in work situations, as well learning how to give and receive constructive criticism to excel.

Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation serves more than 11,100 students in 11 elementary schools, three middle schools and Penn High School. The School Corporation has consistently received an “A” rating from the Indiana Department of Education since 2011. With the release of the Spring 2018 ISTEP+ results, Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation ranks in the state’s Top 5% of public school districts for grade 10 ISTEP+ results and in the Top 6% for grades 3-8. Northpoint is Indiana’s #2 public elementary school and Discovery ranks #3 out of the state’s public middle schools. Penn High School ranks in the Top 5% of all Indiana public high schools and has a 97% graduation rate, exceeding the state’s graduation rate. P-H-M’s “Triangle of Success” connects students, teachers and parents for excellence in education. 

About The NAMM Foundation: The NAMM Foundation is a nonprofit supported in part by the National Association of Music Merchants and its approximately 10,300 members around the world. The foundation advances active participation in music making across the lifespan by supporting scientific research, philanthropic giving, and public service programs. For more information about the NAMM Foundation, please visit www.nammfoundation.org.

Mrs. Garton’s 2^nd grade class celebrated World Down Syndrome Day (WDSD) yesterday (Thursday, March 21, 2019).

Down Syndrome International “encourages our friends all over the world to choose their own activities and events on WDSD to help raise awareness of what Down syndrome is, what it means to have Down syndrome, and how people with Down syndrome play a vital role in our lives and communities. …The date for WDSD being the 21st day of the 3rd month, was selected to signify the uniqueness of the triplication (trisomy) of the 21st chromosome which causes Down syndrome.”

One of the most visual ways that World Down Syndrome Day is recognized is the wearing of crazy, colorful socks. Mrs. Garton’s class rallied around their fellow student Ethan Ryckeart wearing bright, multicolored socks  on Thursday. Many others in school also sported their own wacky combinations. Take a look …