Saturday, May 4

8:30 a.m. – Noon

Penn High School

Register online today! Early Bird Registration is available until Sunday, April 21 ($20 for adults, $10 for students)!

Do you like bubbles? Well, if you do, you’ll enjoy the Silver Mile Bubble Bash!  

Highlighted changes for this year’s event:

• Earlier start time, 8:30 a.m.
• 1.5 mile and 5K route options
• Lower early bird prices:$20 for adults, $10 for students
• The school with the most participation will win a Gaga Ball Pit or 9 Disc Golf Baskets ($2,500 value)!
• And more bubbles!

Missed out on all the bubbly fun last year? Don't let it happen two years in a row! Watch the video and see how much fun you and your whole family will have …

The Student Talent Show starts at 9 a.m.

The Health & Fitness Expo will be in the cafeteria where everything from free health screenings by presenting sponsor Saint Joseph Health System to numerous businesses showcasing their health-related items will be offered.

And don’t forget about the Silent Auction!

The Silver Mile Run is the largest fundraiser for the P-H-M Education Foundation and all the proceeds go towards providing innovative P-H-M teaching grants, scholarships to students, staff development, and other corporation-wide initiatives.

Click here to take advantage of early bird registration and for more information on the Bubble Bash.

Four times each school year, the Penn-Harris-Madison Board of School Trustees visit a school within the district to "spotlight" a particular program or accomplishment. The Board's third visit for the 2018-2019 school year was Monday night, March 25 here at Elsie Rogers Elementary School.

Principal Christy Campbell and some of the students shared information with the Board about the school’s “Lemonade War” with sister school Elm Road Elementary—a type of “One Book, One School” except with two schools! September and October, students in K-5 at both schools read Jacqueline Davies’ book “The Lemonade War.” Reading took place on multiple levels: school community reading, family reading at night and in partnership with the buddy school.

The schools took it a step further by having a friendly competition to raise money to buy teddy bears and other comfort items for children who are admitted to Beacon Health Children's Hospital Pediatric Oncology Hematology Department for treatment.  

Elsie Rogers won the “Lemonade War” by raising $1,246! Elm Road students raised $1,023. Together both schools raised a total of $2,269! That money was donated to Becky Wachs at the School Board Meeting. 

Other highlights of the evening included Music Teacher Mrs. Erin Elliott leading Elsie's “Circle the State” singers in song and a special glow and the dark performance by the Orff Ensemble.

Click here to view the full photo gallery of the student performances and check donation presentation on Elsie Rogers’ website.

With music education programs at all grade levels (K-12), Penn-Harris-Madison has once again 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. This is the sixth year in a row that P-H-M has received this prestigious national designation!

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.

Students at Penn High School who maybe interested in becoming a teacher one day have a way to explore that career path WHILE STILL IN HIGH SCHOOL!

Penn's Cadet Teaching program gives high school students a chance to student teach in PHM elementary schools. 

Hear from a couple of current P-H-M teachers who are former Penn Cadet Teachers and learn more about this #PHMExcellence program …

The Indiana Department of Education released the list of Four Star Schools and five Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation schools have earned that distinction! P-H-M is in the Top 5 of Four Star Schools in the state, out of approximately 300 public school districts.

P-H-M's Four Star Schools for the 2017-18 school year are:

1. Discovery Middle School
2. Horizon Elementary School
3. Northpoint Elementary School
4. Prairie Vista Elementary School
5. Penn High School 

To receive Four Star designation, a school must receive an “A” on the state’s A-F accountability system and have excellent ISTEP pass rates. A total of 234 schools received the award. Click to visit the IDOE website and see the full list of Indiana school districts with Four Star Schools.

• A school must have received an “A” on the state’s A-F Accountability system for the 2017-2018 school year.
• A school must have tested at least 95% of students on ISTEP English/Language Arts and Math.
• Combined ISTEP Pass Percentage (Pass Percentage of English/Language Arts ISTEP + Pass Percentage of Math ISTEP) must be in Top 25th Percentile for each grade tested (minimum of 10 students).
• Percent Passing Both ISTEP (Percent of students who passed both the English/Language Arts ISTEP + Math ISTEP) must be in the Top 25th Percentile for each grade tested (minimum of 10 students). 

As a school district, P-H-M is an “A” rated school district. We have received an “A” rating every year since 2011—making this the seventh consecutive year! Click for more details. 

Results for the Spring 2018 ISTEP standardized testing P-H-M ranks in the Top 5% (for grade 10, out of 291 Indiana public school corporations that have a high school). 

In grades 3-8, P-H-M is in the Top 6% of public school districts (out of 294 Indiana public school corporations that have grades 3-8). Click for more details. 

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 below.

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. The Bittersweet students were Collin Hickey and John Gutierrez. Click to see the full photo gallery.

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. The Disney students in the tiebreaker round were Sreeja Bhattacharjee and Joseph McQueary.

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.

To download a high resolution jpg file from the photo gallery below, just simply click the “DOWNLOAD” button on the bottom right hand corner of the photo wile viewing it in the Photo Gallery function.

This past weekend Friday, March 15th and Saturday, March 16th Penn High School hosted the Indiana State School Music Association (ISSMA) Middle School Band and Orchestra Festival. Penn hosted 34 middle school groups, including 18 from P-H-M’s Discovery, Grissom and Schmucker Middle Schools.

Of the 18 P-H-M Orchestras and Bands that participated, 17 of these ensembles received Gold Ratings! In addition, 11 received superior scores indicating a “With Distinction” status! 

The “With Distinction” status indicates a near perfect score and is achieved by less than ten percent of all groups across the state of Indiana.

Congratulations to the following P-H-M Ensembles and their Directors …

Discovery:

• 6th Grade Orchestra, Directors: April Oppenheim/Carol Weirich, Gold Rating (With Distinction)

• 6th Grade Band, Directors: Murray Weaver & Carol Weirich, Gold Rating (With Distinction)

• 7th Grade Orchestra, Director: April Oppenheim, Gold Rating

• 8th Grade Orchestra, Director: April Oppenheim, Gold Rating (With Distinction)

• Symphonic Band, Directors: Murray Weaver & Carol Weirich, Gold Rating (With Distinction)

• Honor Band, Directors: Murray Weaver & Carol Weirich, Gold Rating (With Distinction)

State Show Choir ISSMA competitions were also held on Saturday, March 16. Discovery’s three choirs all received Gold “With Distinction”:

• 6th grade Choir, Group 4, Director: Jennifer Graybill, Gold Rating (With Distinction)

• 7 & 8th grade Male Choir, Group 2, Director: Jennifer Graybill, Gold Rating (With Distinction)

• 7 & 8th grade Treble Choir, Group 1, Director: Jennifer Graybill, Gold Rating (With Distinction)

Grissom:

• 6th Grade Orchestra, Director: Vickie Marshall, Gold Rating
• 6th Grade Band, Director: Heather Baker, Gold Rating
• 7th Grade Orchestra, Director: Vickie Marshall, Gold Rating
• 7th Grade Band, Director: Heather Baker, Silver Rating
• 8th Grade Orchestra, Director: Vickie Marshall, Gold Rating (With Distinction)
• 8th Grade Band, Director: Heather Baker, Gold Rating

Schmucker:

• 6th Grade Orchestra, Director: Dodi Carnall, Gold Rating (With Distinction)​
• 6th Grade Band, Directors: Jeff and Dodi Carnall, Gold Rating (With Distinction)​
• 7th Grade Orchestra, Director: Dodi Carnall, Gold Rating (With Distinction)​
• 7th Grade Band, Directors: Jeff Carnall, Gold Rating (With Distinction)​
• 8th Grade Orchestra, Director: Dodi Carnall, Gold Rating​
• 8th Grade Band, Directors: Jeff and Dodi Carnall, Gold Rating (With Distinction)

This year’s Young Authors' Conference, held this past Saturday, March 9, was a huge success with 215 students in attendance with their parents! Troy Cummings was this year’s celebrity author and illustrator of the popular series “The Notebook of Doom.” 

During this unique learning experience, P-H-M students in grades K-5 have the opportunity to learn directly from a well-known children’s writer. Through interactive, engaging Q&A with the children, Cummings led the students through the process of creating colorful storylines. He and the students also came up with offbeat book characters like a ice cream eating monster and a cow-dog. See the photo gallery below.

Students also participate in small group sharing sessions, led by P-H-M teachers, where they share stories they’ve created. Students give each other positive feedback, encouraging and inspiring their fellow students.

Students aren’t the only ones that benefit from the Young Authors’ Conference, parents do too! While students were participating in their small group writing sessions, parents attended a special presentation by Bethel College education professor Dr. Michelle Fish who gave parents fun tips on ways to inspire ideas for creative writing with their children. Click here for Dr. Fish’s presentation and list of Mentor Texts.

Students and parents also enjoyed a presentation of “Tuck Everlasting, The Musical” by Penn High School students. This was the 11th year for Young Authors’ Conference; it is sponsored by Corporations for Education, a division of the P-H-M Education Foundation. 

To download high resolution jpg files from the photo gallery below, just simply click the “DOWNLOAD” button on the bottom right-hand corner of the photo while viewing it in the Photo Gallery function. We are happy to provide this service to you free of charge.

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.

Northpoint Elementary students and programs were the stars of the show at Monday night’s Board meeting (Feb. 25, 2019). Every year, the Board chooses a few schools to hold their Board meetings at. The school meeting sites are a way for the Penn-Harris-Madison Board of School Trustees to not only visit the schools, but to also give the schools a chance to highlight their successes. The March 25 meeting will be held at Elsie Rogers Elementary, another one of our “A” rate schools just like Northpoint!

This year Northpoint is celebrating its 20^th anniversary. As part of that celebration Principal Diane Wirth had a group of students give “presents” to the School Board Members by sharing with them some “points of pride.” Another group of Northpoint “stars” sang for the Board and their parents. It was a full-house and a good representation of P-H-M’s Triangle of Success, which connects parents, students and teachers! Northpoint is the #2 public elementary school in the state, and last night it was clear why!

Check out the photo gallery below to see the highlights. To download high resolution jpg files from the photo gallery below, just simply click the “DOWNLOAD” button on the bottom right-hand corner of the photo while viewing it in the Photo Gallery function. We are happy to provide this service to you free of charge.