Friday, October 31, 2008

Planting love, memories

A tree grows at Bowers.

Nearly a dozen students planted it there on Friday and they expect it to grow up big, strong and proud. On a warm, sunny Friday afternoon, they helped to pour water into a freshly-dug holed, used their hands to push small mounds of dirt into the crevasses and packed shovelfuls of loose dirt in place.

They did all of that so they could remember their friend Mr. Bob Cassie.

All of the students who planted the tree are part of the Project MORE initiative, a program that depends on community volunteers who help to tutor children struggling with reading and comprehension.

Mr. Cassie was one of those special volunteers.

“He was always nice and helped people a whole lot,” Bowers student Bre Baxter said.

Julie Brokaw, the Bowers Elementary principal, talked to the students about Mr. Cassie and how special he was.

“If he was your reading teacher,” Brokaw said, “you are so lucky.”

Cassie, 73, passed away in mid-October following a heart attack.

“He’s probably in heaven, now,” one student told Project MORE coordinator Debbie Wolfe.

He used his entire life to explore the world around him through studies, art and volunteering. A professor of geology, Cassie taught at SUNY Brockport for 33 years and, during the summer, taught field geology at Indiana University Geologic Field Station in Montana for a number of years.

“When he moved to Massillon, he wanted to come to Bowers and teach,” Brokaw told the children on Friday. “He came almost every day because he liked it so much.”

Photography was also a passion of Cassie’s. He shared his works, volunteered and spent time at the Massillon Museum. Although his time in Massillon was short, Brokaw is certain that Cassie loved it here. Especially at Bowers.

“He might be upstairs looking down on all of you,” Brokaw told the children Friday, “because he really liked to teach.”

Now, because they took the time to plant the tree, Wolfe told the children that they will never forget Mr. Cassie.

"Every time you look at this tree," Wolfe said, "you can think of Mr. Cassie."

Brand new chapters

Help the littlest of Polar Bears get a leg up when it comes to reading.

The Jackson Local Schools elementary buildings will soon be implementing the reading tutoring program Project MORE. The program's success is hinged on community volunteers who can give one or more hours of their time each week to read with children who may be struggling with reading and comprehension.

Training materials and information will be provided to all volunteers.

Additional information about the program and the volunteer's responsibilities is available at http://jackson.stark.k12.oh.us/videos.cfm

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Caught in the act

Being the good kid doesn't always bring you fame and fortune.

The Massillon Middle School is changing that.

Sixth grade unit principal Steve Reinhart noted this week that being caught in the act this year is a good thing. All of the students who don't get a detention or a referral to the principal's office while making sure they aren't failing any of their classes, get to participate in a fun social event at the end of the nine week period.

Friday, the kids caught being good all quarter long get to munch on pop corn and watch a movie with their friends. The incentive, according to Reinhart, is really catching on. The kids are encouraging their friends to study for the big test and stay on their best behavior in the classroom because they don't want to watch the movie by themselves.

Happy Halloween!

I was one of those kids.

The one who raised her hand just as the bell rang to remind the teacher he didn't collect our homework. The one who stayed so late after school working on the high school newspaper that the janitors came in and asked me to leave because it was 10:30 and they wanted to go home.

Yes, I was one of those kids who, at the lunch table, would go over my math homework with my friend Mike because algebra and geometry is not my forte. While he checked my math, I'd read through his English papers for spelling errors and grammatical mistakes.

Now that I think of it, maybe, I was destined to be the Education writer here at the Independent.

Growing up, I was one of those nerdy kids who got bummed out on snow days because I wouldn't get to turn in my homework or take that test I had studied so hard for the night before. I was the kid who walked through the GlenOak hallways with my nose pressed into the spine of book, trying to finish just one more chapter before the start of my next class.

Even now, I can't get enough of books. And so, I had to make sure that I tripped my hat to one of this generation's greatest authors, Ms. J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series.

Because I love to read as much as I love to write, I am hoping that, in addition to keeping you all up-to-date about what's going on in your children's classroom and school buildings that we connected, here about arts and cultural events and, yes, share book suggestions and book reviews.

I'm looking forward to using this as a fun and creative place to share ideas and stories about what happening with our Western Stark County schools, museums and libraries.

And so, here's to all my fellow bookworms and homework nerds. This blog is for you.