Middle School

Middle School Competes in Science Olympiad Northeast Regional Tournament

Creating a model roller coaster, building a model plane, and designing a model bridge were just some of the tasks that Western Wayne Middle school students faced at the Science Olympiad Northeast Regional Tournament on Friday, March 9, at the Penn State Wilkes-Barre Campus.

Due to weather conditions, Western Wayne arrived late and competed in eight of the 23 events they were prepared to participate in. However, in the ten of the 15 events they did compete in, they ranked within the top ten schools.

Some of Western Wayne’s eighth grade students placed in the top five of their events. Jenny Guadagno received a 4th place medal in the Ecology event. She explained how for the event students had to take a test about how organisms respond to their environment. Jenny plans to pursue a career in the STEM field.

“A competition such as this helps you get to learn a lot about how to research,” she explained. “I think this will help me be better prepared for a science career.”

Jenny’s classmates, Rachel Tuman, who also wishes to have a STEM career, and Alexandra Butler, who aspires to be a surgeon or marine biologist, received 4th place medals in the Rocks and Minerals event.

The girls discussed how in preparation of the competition they spent time creating a binder of notes to help them in identifying the rocks and minerals they could encounter. They, also, feel they learned a lot about research and preparation from their experience at Science Olympiad.

“We learned about how important careful preparation is for an event such as ours,” Alex said.

The following Western Wayne Middle School students also competed and did a wonderful job: Alexandra Bien-Aime, Jenna Eldred, Sydney Ely, Bridgette Summers-Flannery, Trinity Foulds, Jaden Gregory, Rachel Hoch, Ivan Knecht, Hudson Malinowski, Anna Mangieri, Emma Pike, Stephanie Room, Kailey Tickner, and Adelaide Treibley.

Pictured are members of Western Wayne Middle School’s Science Olympiad team. From left, kneeling: Alexandra Butler, Kailey Tickner, Jenny Guadagno, Sydney Ely, Emma Pike, Jaden Gregory, and Ivan Knecht. From left, standing: Mrs. Nichole Musewicz, team advisor; Rachel Hoch, Rachel Tuman, Anna Mangieri, Trinity Foulds, Jenna Eldred, Hudson Malinowski, and Miss Elizabeth Watson, Middle School assistant principal.

Middle School Students Work Cooperatively as Leaders and Learners

At the Western Wayne Middle School some eighth grade students are taking part in a special endeavor where they get to work as student leaders by assisting some of their peers to do research. These students were given an option to use some of the time during their academic lab period to work with peers in a special education classroom to assist them in doing research for a science project.

Mr. Todd Pauler, middle school teacher, and Mrs. Elizabeth Bellush-Moore, special education teacher, collaborated for the unique project which students are taking part in during the third quarter. Pauler thought it would be a good way for all students involved to learn from one another.

“Classrooms are social environments that rely heavily on students being able to interact, socialize and communicate with others effectively and appropriately. This can be a challenge for all students but especially students with autism and other learning disabilities,” Pauler explained. “So, the main goals of this cooperative activity are to help students gain these social skills, to not be overwhelmed by the process and to become aware and accepting of the different needs that some of us may have. The secondary goal is to learn about different wetland animals.”

Pictured are some of the students and the teachers who participated in this special cooperative-learning project at the Western Wayne Middle School. From left, standing: Mrs. Elizabeth Bellush-Moore, Emily Shemanski, Riley Kennedy, Gabby Ostolaza, Owen Kotchessa, Kennedy Mistishin, Becca Boots, and Mr. Todd Pauler. From left, sitting: Braydon Christian, Daisy Ann Kuniegel, Colin Cordier, Brody Cleveland, and Jamey Christopher.

Spring Sports 2018

Spring Sports practices begin on Monday, March 5, 2018.  Sports that are available are:

High School

  • Baseball
  • Softball
  • Tennis (Boys)
  • Track & Field
  • Volleyball (Boys)

Middle School

  • Baseball
  • Softball
  • Track and Field

High school students sign up outside the AD Office and Middle School students can sign up in the nurses office.

Western Wayne Receives 7,000 Grant for Word Generation Program

Debates about banning rap music in school, using animals in cosmetics testing, and deciding who should pay for damage from a natural disaster are all topics that sixth grade students are discussing on a weekly basis as a part of a new cross-curricular program called Word Generation.

Last school year, Western Wayne Middle School Principal Kristen Donohue applied for a grant for Word Generation from the Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network (PaTTAN) and got it. Donohue first heard of the program from Mary Lou Heron from the local NEIU 19 unit.

Word Generation is a cross-curricular program that has elements that are building wide. Each week, teachers introduce their students to five new words that relate to a specific debatable topic like the use of dress codes in schools. Students study these terms in their English language arts, science, and history classes.

The ELA teacher introduces the students to the words and then students apply them in their other courses throughout the week. As a culminating activity at the end of the week, students write a brief open-ended response piece where they have to use the new vocabulary correctly in the context of their writing.

“This program seemed to fall in line with things we were already talking about wanting to do to improve learning at our Middle School,” Donohue said. “We had already been in discussions about finding ways to do more cross-curricular activities. Word Generation has lent itself to be the avenue in which we are able to have even more of those conversations.”

Recently Mary Lou Heron from NEIU 19 and Mary Ann Dudak from PaTTAN came to observe Western Wayne’s use of Word Generation.

After seeing Western Wayne’s commitment to the program in their classrooms, morning announcements, and hallway displays, PaTTAN awarded Western Wayne a $7,000 grant to use toward their continuing work with Word Generation.

Donohue explained how the money will go towards the purchase of materials for the program and to pay for more training for Word Generation teachers.

This past December Donohue, Burke, and ELA teachers Grace Piconi and Jennifer Baldassari gave a presentation about their efforts in Word Generation at a training session at PaTTAN.

The Western Wayne team discussed how they are tailoring Word Generation lessons to their individual student needs and how they are working to make the lessons as high interest as possible to lead to meaningful classroom debates with the new words.

“I am proud of how our teachers presented at the session and of all of the work they are doing with Word Generation in their classrooms,” Donohue said. “I am also proud of the work our students are doing with this program.”

 

From left: Western Wayne Middle School Principal Kristen Donohue, Seth Dedonis, Ayden Connolly, Peyton Cook, Isis Christian, Gino Alcantara, and Dylan Davitt.