Nail biter, suspenseful … not terms you usually hear to describe a Spell Bowl, but that’s what happened at last night’s (Tuesday, March 20) 33rd annual P-H-M Elementary Spell Bowl. Click to see the photo gallery on the PHM District website (you’ll be able to view & download a high resolution jpg file from the photo gallery by simply clicking the “DOWNLOAD” button on the bottom right hand corner of the photo wile viewing it in the Photo Gallery function).

It was a packed house at Penn High School’s Center for Performing Arts filled with more than 200 third, fourth and fifth graders from all of P-H-M’s 11 elementary schools, along with their family, friends and P-H-M staff from the students’ home schools. Click to see the full list of winners listed below.

Preparation for the Spell Bowl takes weeks, as the students work with their teacher coaches. Each school has three teams (representing each grade) made up of six students, plus one alternate. Preparation includes spelling under pressure, studying word lists, learning about word sources (e.g., Latin roots) and rules such as capitalization and pluralization.

The format of P-H-M’s Spell Bowl is very much like a written test. Similar to a traditional spelling bee, the emcee reads a word aloud and then uses it in a sentence. The students then have 15 seconds to write the word on paper. The words get progressively more difficult through each round. A panel of judges reviews the answers and then posts the scores for the audience to see. 

The 4^th and 5^th grade rounds had to go into “extra innings” for tiebreakers. Bittersweet and Northpoint’s 4^th grade team of two students each went into the tiebreaking round with 29 points. Students had to spell appendicitis, hieroglyphic, reverberate, and Mozambique to win. Eventually Bittersweet beat out Northpoint by successfully spelling Mozambique. Click to see the full photo gallery on the PHM District website.

After that close match, it was time for the 5^th grade round, which also had to be finished with an additional tiebreaker round. This time it was Walt Disney going head to head with Northpoint. Students went through all five tiebreaker words: antiperspirant, spelunking, westernization, putrefy, and Okeechobee Lake.  Judges then had to pull from their “secret bag of words,” giving the students the word affiliate to spell. Finally in the end, Walt Disney came out on top spelling affiliate correctly. 

Each first place winning team got their picture taken with their coach and P-H-M Superintendent Dr. Thacker. See the full list of winners below …

3rd Grade Winners: 1st place – Northpoint with 26 points, Coach Deb DeLaurelle (team pictured to right) 2nd place – Prairie Vista with 23 points, Coach Katie Harris 3rd place – Bittersweet with 20 points, Coach Sheri Hedrick

4th Grade Winners: 1st place – Bittersweet with 37 points, Coach Leslie Metcalf​ (team pictured to right) 2nd place – Northpoint with 36 points, Coach Rosan Morehouse 3rd place – Horizon with 26 points, Coach Jeanne Rehlander

5th Grade Winners: 1st place – Walt Disney with 42 points, Coach Kristie Reynolds​ (team pictured to right) 2nd place – Northpoint with 41 points, Coaches Jen Payne & Charity Grimes-Ford 3rd place – Mary Frank with 29 points, Coach Christine Nisley

Special thanks to P-H-M’s K-5 High Ability Coordinator, Mrs. Anne-Marie Reininga, who is the Spell Bowl manager. This year’s emcee was Kate O’Brien, Penn’s Spell Bowl Coach.

Kids Club 2019 Spring Break registration is now open! Click here to download, complete & print the registration form.

Full-day childcare will be offered at Mary Frank Elementary School for Monday, April 1 – Friday, April 5, 2019, from 6:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. This service is a available for students in all P-H-M schools, families do not have to be currently enrolled in Kids Club to take advantage of this service. The cost is $25 per child per day or $100 per child if attending all 5 days. 

Children will enjoy a variety of educational and recreational activities, as well as crafts for this week.

Registration form and payment are due together no later than Tuesday, March 26.

Children need to bring their own lunch and drink (no pop please).  Morning and afternoon snacks will be provided.

Please click to download, complete and print the registration form. Please return the form send it along with your payment to your child’s school.

If you have questions, please contact Kids Club at (574) 258-9514 or at 258-9587.

*Adobe Acrobat Reader will be required to view these PDFs. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader, please visit Adobe’s website at this link www.get.adobe.com/reader/ to download your free version. If you need more help accessing Kids Club information, plesae call (574) 258-9514.

Penn High School is bringing the famed children’s book “Tuck Everlasting” to the stage. This musical adaptation is a show that the whole family can enjoy

The Penn Fine Arts and Communications Academy is presenting, “Tuck Everlasting, the Musical” on the following dates:

• Friday, March 1, at 7:00 p.m.
• Saturday, March 2, 7:00 p.m.
• Sunday, March 3, 3:00 p.m.

The showings will be held within the Center for Performing Arts (enter through Door C).

Tickets are $10 pre-sale by clicking here to access Penn Theater’s TicketTracker.com online ticket store, or $12 at the door.
 

“Tuck Everlasting” is about a magical spring found deep in the woods that has the power to grant immortality. To drink or not to drink is the question that each character must answer for themselves.

On a deeper level the story wrestles with is living forever as desirable as many people think it is?

So make sure you bring out the whole family, you will not regret it!

Saturday, March 9, 2019

8:45 – 11:30 a.m.

Schmucker Middle School

P-H-M Elementary students, grades K-5

Registration Fee: $5 per child

Click here to register and pay online
*Registration deadline has been extended to Friday, March 1

The Young Authors’ Conference is an annual, beloved event for P-H-M students in grades K-5. The event, sponsored by Corporations for Education, a division of the P-H-M Education Foundation, provides an opportunity for students and their parents to meet and hear from a well-known children’s authors. Click here to view the photo gallery of last year’s event.

Troy Cummings is this year’s celebrity author and illustrator of the popular series “The Notebook of Doom.” Cummings’ illustrations have also been featured on magazines, puzzles, and games! Click hear to learn more about Cummings’ other work. 

As part of the morning activities, participants and parents will not only enjoy a presentation by Cummings, but also a short performance by Penn High School Theater students from their upcoming musical “Tuck Everlasting” (March 1, 2 and 3).

Elementary student attendees will also work in small adult-led breakout sessions sharing their own writing pieces with other P-H-M students.

Parents will attend a special presentation by Bethel College Education professor Dr. Michelle Fish.  Dr. Fish will share how parents can use children’s literature to connect with writing at home. *One parent must accompany students! However, keep in mind that students and parents will separate for a portion of the day.

REGISTRATION: Click here to register and pay online. If you don’t have a PHM Revtrak account, you will need to create one. There is a fee for using this service. If you prefer to register via paper, please fill out the front of the blue envelope that was attached to the hard copy of the flyer that came home with your student. Fill out the blue envelope completely, insert your payment, and return it to your child’s school. Checks should be made payable to: Young Authors’ Conference. Cash is also accepted. The deadline for registration is Friday, February 22, 2019!

CONFIRMATION: Participating students will receive additional information prior to the conference through their home school at the beginning of March.

QUESTIONS: If you have any questions, please contact Lisa Russell at lrussell@phm.k12.in.us.

Monday, April 29 (Rain Date Wed., May 1)

3:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

behind Elm Road Elementary School 

59400 Elm Road, Mishawaka
 

“Running is Elementary” is gearing up for another great year! This is the 11th year for the one mile, non-competitive run which will feature the participation of almost 700 fourth and fifth grade students from all 11 P-H-M elementary schools. This event is FREE to students and takes place on the Penn cross-country course located behind Elm Road Elementary School.

Each school year fourth and fifth graders are encouraged to join the running club at each of P-H-M’s elementary schools. The kids go through this six-week club trained by designated coaches at each school. The end of the six weeks is then celebrated by participating in the Running is Elementary run.

Click to download the RIE forms to sign your student(s) to participate. 

Mary Frank physical education teacher and P-H-M’s 2009 Teacher of the Year Cindy Batalis began this event in 2008. Running has always been a true passion for Batalis and she shares that passion with students by organizing this yearly event.

The event is hosted by the P-H-M Education Foundation and Corporations for Education.

Penn High School will once again host the FIRST Robotics St. Joseph District Event on Saturday, March 9 and Sunday, March 10.

Plan on coming out and enjoying the excitement of more than 40 high school FRC robotics teams from Indiana and Michigan battling it out on a basketball court-sized field with four-foot tall, 120-pound robots! Join more than 5,000 students, coaches, mentors, parents and fans during this one-of-a-kind two-day event! WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW to get a taste of all the excitement!

Cheer on Penn’s Team 135 and make sure to bring your Robotics fans to enjoy 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. The entire event is FREE ADMISSION!

Grissom Instrument Selection Night

Thursday, March 7, 2019

4:30 – 7:30 p.m.

Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation is nationally recognized as one of the “Best Communities for Music Education” offering choir, band and orchestra at P-H-M’s three middle schools: Schmucker, Discovery, and Grissom Middle Schools.

Every P-H-M 5th grader who will be attending a P-H-M middle school as an incoming 6th grader in the Fall 2020 has the opportunity to join an instrumental music class, which includes either band or orchestra. “Instrument Selection Night” is when students and families get to make their choice!

In order to join 6th grade band or orchestra, students must select an instrument that they will learn, practice and perform for the school year.  Click this link to sign-up for your appointment at your designated school and date. *If you have not received a letter with details about this process, please contact Glenn Northern at gnorthern@phm.k12.in.us.

At “Instrument Selection Night,” a music professional will be available to give students advice about which instrument may be best suited for them. They will be allowed to “try out” instruments from various instrument groups.

Parents, your child’s teacher is using either Google Classroom or Canvas for their curriculum assignments. (If you are unsure, please contact your child’s teacher via email ASAP). Classroom teachers are reviewing with students the process today in case they have any questions.

In either situation, you will begin by going to the primary launchpad (primary.phmschools.org) and selecting either Canvas or Google (then Google Classroom). From there, you will sign in by entering your child’s username and password. Your child should be familiar with this username/password from regular use, but if you are unsure, please contact your child’s teacher.

After logging in, you should see a class from your child’s teacher. Click to proceed and follow the prompts.

As general reminders, you are not required to print any of the assignments, but you may do so if you choose. Students will have 5 days to submit the assignments after the missed school day. Keep in mind that the computer lab will be opened, when school is back in session, as an option before or after school for students as needed. Please contact your teacher for specifics if necessary.

Also remember that your primary contact on eLearning days is your child’s teacher. They will be accessible by email and will help to answer any questions you may have.

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.

The first day for students of the 2019-2020 school year is Wednesday, August 21, 2019 and the last day for students is Wednesday, June 3, 2020.

Other important dates include:

• September 2, 2019: Recess Day – Labor Day
• October 25 & 28, 2019: Fall Recess Days
• November 5, 2019: Recess Day – General Election
• November 27-29, 2019: Thanksgiving Recess Days
• December 23-Jan. 3, 2020: Winter Break
• January 20, 2020: Recess Day – Martin Luther King Jr. Day
• February 17, 2020: Recess Day – Presidents’ Day
• April 6-10, 2020: Spring Break
• May 5, 2020: Recess Day – Primary Election
• May 25, 2020: Recess Day – Memorial Day

Click here for a one-page pdf copy of the 2019-2020 school year calendar.

If you need copies of the 2018-2019 school year and activity calendars, please click here.