Jennifer Laughlin
In her Earth & Space class students were presenting their Human Impact projects.  Like many classes that consist of a research component the students presented to their classmates the information they collected and analyzed.  What made this class unique was the role of the students watching.  Many times student led presentations only benefit the presenter with the work done through research, and the recipients are sometimes bored or less engaged.  To combat this Ms. Laughlin had each student watching complete a participation worksheet that asked them to list an interesting fact, why they should care about this topic, something they could do to help the situation, and one thing they found interesting.  This subtle technique, pictured below, ensured the engagement of every student in the room.

Jason Romanishin
Art therapy was on display in his class.  Students were asked to convey an emotion about school in their paintings, either positive or negative, about one of their classes.  A couple of things to note in this assignment, students were engaged because it was relevant and the final product had both student and teacher revision to ensure quality in the final product.  Enclosed are some photos of the artist and their creation.  Please note the student with two paintings.  When I asked her why she had different color backgrounds she indicated the white background was used to explore different color combinations and the blue background was the final product, check out the quality of the final product when compared to the first draft.  Also, see if you can tell which students like the class depicted in the painting and who does not.

Marsha Nelson

French II was combining art and language.  Students were first instructed to draw four people with various clothing and styles.The variation from student to student was fun to see as well as their ability to put their language skills to work.  Once the figures were constructed they were then asked, in French, questions about the people drawn and their clothing.  It was a fun vocabulary activity that students enjoyed as they sharpened their listening skills.  Pictured below are two of the artists with their work. 

Brian White

Bravo to Bravo!  On Thursday November 10th I attended the Bravo Pop Show, with all four of my kids, and was impressed with the quality of the show.  The productions at BSHS are always of high quality and this one was no exception.  However, the highlight of the night for me had to be when Kevin London paid tribute to our veterans by singing "Tell My Father"as pictures scrolled behind him of our local veterans and current service men and women.  The crowd rose to their feet as he hit the last note and the reverence and respect for those who serve our country was inspiring.  Pictured below are a few of the other acts from the front row.

Heather Campbell
In her Geometry class students were searching for triangles. Students were paired up and scouring the building for seven different types of triangles; right, acute, equilateral, obtuse, scalene, isosceles, and equilateral. When they found the different triangles, students used their cell phone to take pictures, and sent them to Mrs. Campbell. The photos were collected and the triangles were labeled. Students then measured the sides and angle to support their classification. As I followed a group around it was easy to see the great application of geometry in their discussion as they found triangles and classified them by their angle and side length. Enclosed are some photos of the mathematicians as they hunted as well as a scavenger hunt sheet.

Ann Smith
English II is going to the theatre. Students will be going to the Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre to see an Arthur Miller production, All My Sons, on Friday November 18th. Mrs. Smith's passion for the theatre and willingness to sponsor a Kanza Tribe trip are both commendable. Many students will be exposed to the theatre for the first time as a result of her efforts. In the class I visited she was leading a discussion about the play. She began with very clear expectations for student behavior, and then went through a study guide about the play as her pre-field work preparation. She outlined the historical background of the time period, the biography of the author, and the main characters in the production. As the group discussed the elements of the plot and potential conflicts you could feel the excitement in the room rise in anticipation of opening night. Through her personal connections she has arranged a private viewing for our students, and I am sure it will be an experience they will never forget. Enclosed is a picture of her leading the discussion.

Art Department Highlights
Congratulations to Jay Romanishin, who's student Junior Winter Luttrell was accepted as a finalist in the 15^th Annual High School Visual Arts Competition at the Irene B. French Community Center!  Winter's photographic portrait titled "Time Frame" was one of 47 selected works out of 222 submissions.  The opening reception will be held on December 8^th at the Irene B. French Community Center from 7-8:30 pm.

New Mural Goes Up. Check out the new mural going up down by the art room! Jay Romanishin's 6th hour class has painted over the old mural outside the door at the end of the hallway to make room for some current student work.

Need a computer?
Many students have issues getting a computer or access to the internet. Please check out this resource, they can help.
http://www.entrustus.org/joomla/

Live Stream
BSHS Productions will again be providing Live Stream coverage of home boys and girls basketball games, boys basketball at the Baldwin Tournament, as well as Bravo. Check out BSHS events live at:

www.usd204.net/live

Sounds of the Season
Congratulations to Brian White for having our choir selected to participate in the NBC Action News Sounds of the Season program.  Check out this link to see the story that aired on the news.

http://www.nbcactionnews.com/dpp/lifestyle/holiday/sounds-of-the-holiday-are-already-floating-around-the-nbc-action-news-station

 
Brave Cave
Congratulations to Bryce McFarland who recieved a Fund-a-Need grant to purchase a 32 inch flat screen TV for the Brave Cave.  His students recently used some profits to purchase a 42 inch flat screen TV, so now the Brave Cave will have a new feature soon with a multiple TV setup.

Many of you have already seen this article, but wanted to bring it to your attention in case you have not. Check out this link to a great write up about how some of our students are using the Brave Cave to build skills.
http://www.bonnersprings.com/news/2011/oct/18/new-class-gets-bshs-students-outside-box/

In addition, check out the Brave Cave Online to see the Nike Braves Gear you can now order online. Spread the word!

http://www.usd204.net/education/components/whatsnew/default.php?sectiondetailid=12907

Braves System Savers
You can now hire a BSHS student for all your computer repair needs!  Check out this link to save your system.

http://www.usd204.net/education/projects/projects.php?sectionid=773

Scott Lero Hired as Baseball Coach
Please check out the enclosed press release for our new head baseball coach, Scott Lero.

In order to better communicate, and facilitate a healthy relationship between school and home, we will have four parent meetings this year. Enclosed are the topics and schedule for each meeting. Please note the meetings are different for each grade level, and specific to the time of year the meeting is held. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Over the summer, USD 204 converted our student data managment system from PowerSchool to Skyward.  This new integrated system will allow us to better coordinate all the services our district provides from grades, attendance, food service, fee payment, and student activities.  Enclosed is an instruction sheet on how to access Skyward.  We will also provide training sessions for parents at Back to School Night, Fall Parent-Teacher Conferences, Spring Parent-Teacher Conferences, and by appointment by contacting our Registrar, Linda Francis. 

Some new features available in Skyward that were not in PowerSchool:

Student information - Confirm all of your contact information is correct, if changes need to be made, click in the upper right hand "Request Change" to electronically submit a request to have your demographic information updated.

Message center - Teachers and staff will be able to send messages to parents about upcoming and assignments and other school events.

Attendance - In addition to being able to view your son/daughter's attendance, you can also excuse your student absences, eliminating the need to call the student in to the nurse or secretary.

Schedule - Review your student's current class schedule.

Food Service - This feature allows you to track your student cafeteria purchases and add money to their account on-line.

Fee Management - Pay and track any fees your student has accrued throughout the school year.

Activities - View a list of activities your student is involved in, with a link to send an email to the staff member in charge, to help create a resume of their high school activities.

In 2007, the Kansas Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free unveiled a new campaign called "Not In Our House," aimed at educating parents, the public and key leaders about reducing access to alcohol by Kansas youth in our homes and our communities.  Kansas Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free tied their campaign to materials that The International Institute for Alcohol Awareness, Scholastic and The Century Council had published in 2006.  This presented an even greater partnership to distribute awareness materials regarding social hosting and underage drinking.      

You may have heard the term, "social hosting," but were unsure of it's meaning.  Social hosting or unlawfully hosting is generally defined as providing and/or serving alcohol to a young person who is under the minimum legal drinking age.  It can take place in a party-like atmosphere or by any adult simply providing alcohol to young people and their peers for them to drink.  It can even extend to parents and homeowners who are not on the premises and/or did not provide the alcohol.

• Social host liability refers to laws that hold non-commercial individuals responsible for underage drinking events on property that they own, lease or otherwise control.
• You may not need to actually serve or provide alcohol to underage guests to violate these laws.
• The penalties for breaking this law include possible jail time, and the potential for criminal or civil lawsuits, as well as public humiliation for breaking the law.
• By violating the law, you are sending every child you know a message that can have risky consequences.

History of the Kansas Social Host Law  - (Social Hosting)

Kansas passed a social host law in 2004, a.k.a. Paul's Law, named for Paul Riggs, a Lenexa teen who was killed while driving home from a friend's party, where he and other teenagers had been drinking.  The friend's parents were home during the party while the teens drank alcohol.  After Paul's death, his mother, Debbie Riggs, attempted to have a social host law passed in the Kansas legislature to protect the youth of the state.

The social host law established a new crime of "unlawfully hosting" where persons under the age of *18 consume alcoholic beverages or cereal malt beverages.  Unlawfully hosting minors consuming alcoholic liquor or cereal malt beverage is now a Class A person misdemeanor, for which there is a minimum fine of $1,000. 

During the 2007 Legislative session, the law was changed to define a minor as "under the age of 21" instead of *18.  A minor in Kansas is defined as under the age of 21.

During the 2009 Legislative session, a bill was passed to add the words "or recklessly" to the phrasing 'Unlawfully hosting minors consuming alcoholic liquor or cereal malt beverage is intentionally or recklessly permitting a person's residence or any land, building, structure or room owned, occupied or procured by such person to be used by an invitee of such person or an invitee of such person's child or ward, in a manner that results in the possession or consumption therein of alcoholic liquor or cereal malt beverages by a minor.'

The Bonner Springs High School Booster Club is in the process of securing advertisement for the BSHS Winter Sports Program and Calendar. If you are a business owner or know a business owner that would like to support the student/athletes at BSHS and advertise your business in our sports programs, please read the attached information."  Our next meeting will be in the BSHS Cafeteria from 6:30-7:30 on 12/7 - please join us!