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Giants to participate in Unified Game Day (5/10)

Posted: Apr 15, 2019 by Patricia Gibson, Communications Director

Select Marion Community Schools students in grades kindergarten through eight will be participating next month in Unified Game Day, a Special Olympics-style friendly competition in a variety of unified track and field events.

Unified Game Day will be hosted by the Grant County Special Education Cooperative, of which Marion Community Schools is a member. The event will be at Taylor University from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 10. The day will begin with an opening ceremony, and student competition is set to begin at 10 a.m. Parents, school supporters, and community members are invited to cheer on our young athletes!

More information, provided by GCSEC:

Grant County Special Education Co-op and Taylor University are working together this school year to engage students in activities designed to promote school communities where young people are agents of change — fostering respect, dignity, and advocacy for people with intellectual disabilities. Through this program, known as Unified Champion Schools, children of all abilities are provided opportunities to develop self-confidence and social skills while learning the fundamentals necessary for future participation in Unified Sports training and competition.

Grant County Special Education Co-op is among hundreds of preschools, elementary, middle, and high schools across the state to embrace Special Olympics’ innovative approach to improving social inclusion while simultaneously developing motor skills through curricula which aligns with Indiana State educational standards.

The annual culmination of all Unified Champion Schools programs is one or more Unified Game Day, held each spring and featuring a Special Olympics-style competition in a variety of unified track and field events. Grant County Special Education Co-op will host its Game Day May 10, 2019 at Taylor University this year. From 10am through 2pm students will be engaged in highly competitive events with their age appropriate peers. Various levels of “heats” have been created to ensure student athletes are participating with others who have a similar skill set.

“Indiana has been recognized as a national leader in the realm of Special Olympics’ Unified Sports and social inclusion initiatives, and it’s thanks in large part to the support of faculty, administrators, and students in hundreds of schools throughout the state,” said Special Olympics Indiana President and CEO Jeff Mohler. “The Special Olympics movement is still about sports — but it’s also about changing the way the world sees people with intellectual disabilities by targeting younger generations through programs like Unified Champion Schools.”

According to Lisa Graham, Executive Director of the Grant County Special Education Co-op, this event was so successful last year with all five districts in the county participating. Our county, with each of the 5 districts competing together, operates much like an athletic tournament or Grant Four-type competition. It has all of the components that make athletics a reason to participate: sportsmanship, teamwork, competitiveness, high energy, friendship and thrilling outcomes!

Hundreds of athletes from Grant County in grades Pre-K through 8th are expected to participate in this year’s event. The preschool students will be competing at their local schools while the older students will be together on May 10th at the George Glass Track and Field Complex. The day will begin at 9:30 a.m. with community, parents and school supporters invited. Beginning with an opening ceremony featuring a Law Enforcement Torch Run by officers from the University Police Department and firemen from the Upland Volunteer Fire Department, each district will parade around the track to start the festivities and open up the day’s competition.

Special Olympics Indiana’s Unified Champion Schools initiatives are supported in part by the Indiana Council of Administrators of Special Education (ICASE), the Indiana Middle Level Education Association (IMLEA), and — through a partnership known as Champions Together — the Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA).

Click here to learn more about Unified Champion Schools. For more information about the implementation of these programs in Indiana schools, contact state Director of Unified Champion Schools Mark Booth at mbooth@soindiana.org.

ABOUT SPECIAL OLYMPICS INDIANA
Special Olympics Indiana is a not-for-profit organization that provides year-round sports training and athletic competition in more than 20 Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, reaching more than 14,000 athletes across Indiana. The organization receives no federal or state appropriated funds, is not a United Way agency, and relies entirely on corporate, civic and individual donations. For more information about Special Olympics Indiana, call (317) 328-2000 or visit www.soindiana.org.

ABOUT UNIFIED CHAMPION SCHOOLS
Special Olympics’ Unified Champion Schools program is defined as a pre-school, primary school, secondary school, college, or university offering Unified Sports® opportunities to its students across the world. Unified Champion Schools programming is designed to facilitate Special Olympics Unified Sports®, provide classroom and community experiences that reduce bullying and exclusion, promote healthy activities, combat stereotypes and negative attitudes, eliminate hurtful language in schools, and engage young people in activities that lead to improved behavior and school climate.

For more information about Grant County Special Education Cooperative, contact Lisa Graham, Director, at lisa_graham@olemiss.k12.in.us or 765-677-4456

VIDEO: Choose To Be Nice program spotlights Riverview!

Posted: Apr 11, 2019 by Patricia Gibson, Communications Director

Riverview Elementary is currently the featured school on the Choose To Be Nice program's website!

Choose To Be Nice is a social enterprise dedicated to encouraging and inspiring kindness, through a comprehensive curriculum available to schools. Riverview is the first school in Indiana to implement this program!

The mission of Choose To Be Nice make the world a nicer, kinder place one individual, one interaction, one school, one company, and one community at a time. And it all starts with a simple promise:

"I promise to help spread kindness wherever and whenever possible. And to the very best of my ability, I’ll be nice to those with whom I come into contact on a daily basis."

YOU can make the promise too! Click here to sign up.

At Riverview this program program has been a GIANT help with teaching our students how to be RESPECTFUL, RESPONSIBLE, how to ACCEPT others, be PATIENT, be a TEAMMATE, be HONEST, FRIENDLY, KIND, and COURAGEOUS. Our GIANTS are AWESOME!

>> Click here to hear from some of our students about how this program has affected them and our school

>> Click here to read the Chronicle-Tribune's report on our culture of kindness!

YOU'RE INVITED: All-City Art Show (5/10 & 5/11)

Posted: Apr 11, 2019 by Patricia Gibson, Communications Director

Marion Community Schools' All-City Art Show is coming to Marion High School's Walton Performing Arts Center once again!

All MCS buildings will be showing student artwork, and MCS choral and band programs will provide music from all ages. Come see outstanding artwork created by our own Marion Giants. You can also join in some hands-on activities!

The All-City Art Show will be open to the public from noon to 7 p.m. Friday, May 10. At 7 p.m. the Marion High School band will put on a movie-themed concert in the Walton Performing Arts Center auditorium. The Art Show awards will be presented during the concert.

On Saturday, the Art Show will run from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. There will also be featured performances by Marion Community Schools music groups, and the high school choir will put on their spring Sing on the Green show in the evening. (Watch for more details about the Saturday schedule as the event nears.)

Marion Community Schools’ art programs have consistently offered students outstanding opportunities, and in the last few years several students have had their works chosen for regional, state, and even national competitions, including the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra’s Symphony in Color awards and the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. Our art programs culminate with a wide array of courses at Marion High School, including drawing, painting, ceramics, sculpture, photography, and more.

ILEARN - what you need to know

Posted: Apr 02, 2019 by Patricia Gibson, Communications Director

ILEARN is the annual test the state of Indiana requires students take starting in grade three. (It replaces the ISTEP.)

Tests are given in grades three through eight, and also for high school courses Biology and U.S. Government. For information about when your student will be testing, contact your school building office.

>> Click here to view an ILEARN fact sheet for families from the Indiana Department of Education

>> Haga clic aquí para ver una hoja informativa de ILEARN para familias del Departamento de Educación de Indiana

For more information, you can visit the IDOE's website.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

Make sure your student gets plenty of rest during testing periods.
Make sure your student eats a healthy breakfast (either at home or at school, where all of our students have free breakfast available).
Encourage your student to do the best that they can, and to work with their teacher every day to improve.
If you feel your student is feeling extreme testing stress or anxiety, please reach out to your student's teacher, principal, and/or social worker.

ILEARN begins this month

Posted: Apr 01, 2019 by Patricia Gibson, Communications Director

Our third- and fourth-graders will be taking the ILEARN assessment this month.

Third-grade testing starts the week of April 22. Fourth-grade testing starts the week of April 29.

If you have a third- or fourth-grader, please make sure that your student is at school and on time every day during ILEARN testing. Students who miss tests will have to make them up, and this makes it very challenging and causes students to miss out on other activities and/or lessons.

Please also make sure your student is getting to bed early each night that week so they are well-rested and have the best opportunity to stay focused.

Finally, please make sure your student eats breakfast each morning, either at home or here at school, where free breakfast is available to all students. Trying to take a test with an empty and growling stomach makes it difficult for students to give their best.

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