U.S. Congressman Rush Holt Visits LIS

A few weeks ago, we received a call from Congressman Rush Holt's office. He said he had heard good things about our Talent 21 laptop initiative and wanted to know if he could stop by and take a look for himself. Well, how could we say no? We were ecstatic that Congressman Holt wanted to visit our school.

Mr. Holt visited a few classrooms in 6th grade to see the infusion of technology. Given his background as a physicist, he felt right at home in Mr. Mielcarek's science class and became somewhat of a guest lecturer. The most interesting and personal part of the Congressman's visit, however, was the round table discussion we put together between him and a small group of students. They spoke to him about all the ways their learning and teachers' instruction has changed with the use of the laptops, Smartboards, etc. this year. Our students also impressed the Congressman with their knowledge of government (special thumbs up to Rithvick for getting the Connecticut Compromise question right)!

We were very happy that Mr. Holt took the time out of his busy schedule to visit our school. It was a great opportunity to share some of the great things that we do at LIS and a nice opportunity for us to learn a little about our Congressman as well. We appreciate his time and support!

LIS Night a Blast for Everyone

On Friday, January 14th, over 250 LIS staff members, students and families joined each other in Alumni Gym to support the Rider Men's Basketball team as they took on the Iona Gaels. It was an amazing game that went all the way to overtime! The home team led for the first 4:30 seconds of the 5 minute overtime period, before falling by a final score of 100-96.

It was great to see so many families at the game! I know a lot of great memories were made for our students that will last for a long time. It was a great time for my family and me as well. This was our son's first basketball game and although he had to leave at halftime due to his 8pm bedtime, I could tell by the look on his face that he enjoyed every minute (so much that he tried to run on the court every chance he got).

A Great Big Thank You to the LTEF

Hooray! LIS was very fortunate to receive grant funding from the Lawrence Township Education Foundation at last week's Board of Education meeting! The Foundation agreed to support our grant proposal "Fostering 21st Century Tech-Literate Students," that will begin next year, to the tune of $35,000!!! I had the opportunity to pitch our grant request to the LTEF board of trustees the week before and I am truly amazed at the level of support they showed our school.

Along with the Talent 21 grant existing in 6th grade, this opportunity will allow us to develop a comprehensive technology program at LIS that touches each child in the school. We are very excited to get to work on developing the program.

Congrats also goes to Lawrence High School as LTEF agreed to support their grant request for "The Career Academies" with a check for $10,000. Pictured with me from left to right include, David Roman- LHS Principal, Pepper Evans-LTEF President and Ivy Cohen-LTEF Executive Director.

Coming Soon: Science and Inventions Fair

The 2nd annual Science and Inventions Fair will be taking place at LIS on Saturday, February 12, 2011. Last year, well over 100 LIS scientists and inventors were part of this inaugural event that was held at our school. It was a landmark event that allowed students and their families to get together in the name of science and fun. This year we are anticipating an even larger turnout! Registration will be open until January 14th. Please contact Mrs. Heller for more information at jheller@ltps.org. Good luck to all of our students!!

LIS Night at Rider U. Men's Basketball Game

We are happy to support the student-athletes at Rider University by attending the Men's basketball game next Friday (January 14th) at 7pm. We have worked with the both the men's and women's teams at Rider over the past few years and we are glad we can make it back to see them again this year.

Tickets for LIS students are free and adult tickets are $3.00. If for some reason you did not receive a permission slip, please contact your child's homeroom teacher. If you have any other questions, feel free to email Cindy Westhead at cwesthead@ltps.org.

LIS night at Rider has become somewhat of a tradition at our school. It is always a great time for students and their families to get together and cheer on our local team.

I am sure it will be a lot of fun. We hope you can make it

Gamestar Mechanic Comes to LIS!!

Dear 5th and 6th Grade Parents,

I am happy to announce that LIS will be piloting an innovative and exciting program this year with our 5th and 6th grade students. Gamestar Mechanic is a gaming development program designed to foster 21st century skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, collaboration, digital media literacy and a motivation for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) learning. All of these skills are increasingly important in our highly-networked, digital and rapidly evolving world.

The Gamestar program is an enrichment opportunity for our students to work on at home by connecting to the internet website http://ltps.gamestarmechanic.com. Students can learn how to develop electronic video games, publish these games as well as play and critique the games built by other LIS students. Students will be given their own username/password so they may be able to enter a closed network that only LIS students will be able to access. Our technology team will be able to monitor and manage student Gamestar accounts.

Gamestar Mechanic will operate in a similar fashion to Study Island, which is a web-based tutorial program LIS students have used at home for several years. During the month of February, we will hold a Family Game Night at LIS. In addition, we will be developing an after-school schedule for our technology lab, so students may work on game development after school. More information about both of these will be distributed at a later date.

While I do support this opportunity for students to develop these 21st century skills and I believe students can gain a lot from Gamestar Mechanic, I need to remind families that this is an enrichment program. There is nothing mandated about it and it is to be utilized only after classroom assignments have been completed.

I appreciate your support as we look to expand our learning opportunities for LIS students. If you have any questions, feel free to call me at school.

Sincerely,


Jonathan J. Dauber
Principal