Miss Zimmermann on Desmos!

Patton teacher Megan Zimmermann had one of her activities selected to be in the Desmos.com Hall Of Fame!  She created an activity to help her students understand systems of equations.  The Desmos team periodically searches through the activities that users create and select a few to be featured.  Her activity will now appear in user searches at the site teacher.desmos.com with her name and collaboration from the Desmos team.

Grant Program Winner

The American Immigration Council is proud to announce Brian Kelley as one of two winners of the 2015-2016 Community Grants Program. The grant program is an initiative to provide educators and/or community organizers with the resources they need to implement a successful immigration curriculum or community-based project. Both winners have developed student-centered storytelling projects that engage students and families in writing and sharing immigration stories, past and present, while also demonstrating the important and varied contributions of immigrants to our country. Congratulations to Brian! Read all about it here.

Patton Presenters

Congratulations to Patton 8th grade Creative Writing teacher Brian Kelley as he co-presented on November 21 at the NCTE National Convention in Minneapolis. The presentation, "Seeking Authenticity: Student-Produced Media in a Participatory Culture" is a panel presentation to advance the composition and wide distribution of student-generated media. We are Patton Proud!

On October 16, Patton social studies teachers Janice Lear and Josh Thomas co-presented a workshop at the Pennsylvania Council for Social Studies annual meeting in Harrisburg. Their presentation is titled, "Using DBQ's to Drive Deeper Understanding". DBQ's are document-based questions, where students are given opportunities to practice analyzing primary source documents, and synthesizing what they have learned into a cohesive writing piece. Patton was represented at our state capital!

Patton math teachers Stacy Remphrey and Glen Lewis presented at the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Regional Conference on October 23. Their presentation was entitled "Desmos + Algebra 1 = Deep Understanding x Fun" and is all about the awesome Desmos graphing software they use in their classes. Patton Proud in AC!

Pie In The Face!

The annual Unionville Relay for Life raised lots of money to combat cancer and Team Patton Power raised close to $5,000. And 7th grade made a big contribution to that with the Pie A Teacher Contest! Here's how it looked -- up close!

Guest Blogger!

8th grade Creative Writing teacher, Mr. Kelley, was invited to be a guest blogger at "The Nerdy Book Club"-- a piece about the classroom novel the kids wrote. The post was published today! Check it out right here.

Inside The Dunk Tank!

A BIG thank you to all the Patton teachers, Mr. Hoffman, our elementary school principals and Dr. Sanville for taking their turn in the Dunk Tank at the recent Patton Spring Carnival. The tank was the place to be as lines formed as students from all over the district took a turn to dunk their favorite staff member. Want a closer look from inside the tank? Check out the video!

Mrs. Quinn at the Marathon!

Did you know that Patton Physical Education teacher, Mandi Quinn, finished first in her category at the Run for Our Sons? And, since she didn't get enough running in on Saturday she traveled to Boston to run in the BOSTON MARATHON on Monday!! The weather in Boston was terrible but volunteers and spectators enthusiastically lined the streets all day standing in the cold, rain and wind for hours to cheer on the participants. AND  she got to meet Kathrine Switzer, the first female to run Boston in 1967 -- women were not allowed to run in the Marathon in 1967 and officials tried to pull Katherine off the race course! Since then, Katherine has championed equal rights for female athletes!! Mrs. Quinn got to meet her and was very excited. Way to go Mrs. Quinn!

Spring Break at Temple

Spring Break? WHAT Spring Break?! Patton's Brian Kelley spoke with future teachers about his experiences as a writing teacher on March 31 at Temple University's College of Education. Brian spoke to more than 25 aspiring teachers at his alma mater about Nanci Attwell's Workshop Approach in a writing classroom. It was a great evening of sharing and learning. Patton Proud at Temple!

Who Are You?

Check out this latest edition of Fun Friday! It's a special "Who Are You?" featuring staff member photos using some awesome effects and filters! Want more photos? Check out the Patton Photos Page on Google+ as well as the Patton Instagram page -- we're Patton Hawks! To check out the latest Fun Friday, click here.

West Side Story - Mrs. Stratton!

One of Patton's own music teachers, Yvette Stratton, had a direct hand in this excellent production. Mrs. Stratton served as the Vocal Director for the show. She began working with the students at the beginning of the year as they learned the challenging and beautiful Bernstein music. Mrs. Stratton also helped with scene work and blocking work as the students finalized and polished their performance. The students put in hours and hours of hard work to pull off this masterpiece of a show. Congratulations on a fine production!

Congratulations, Dr. Fulton!

Patton staff member Jennifer Fulton recently earned her doctorate in Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania. Her dissertation was entitled "Evidence Based Social Skills Interventions for Young Children with Asperger's Syndrome and the Montessori Educational Method: An Integrative Review." Jennifer, a Unionville High School alumnus, is the mother of three UHS grads as well! Way to go!

Patton Teacher at Temple!

Dr. Joseph Haviland, a Temple University associate professor of Teaching/Learning in the Education Department, has reached out to 8th grade teacher Brian Kelley to speak to undergraduate and graduate education students about the teaching of writing. Specifically, Dr. Haviland asked the Patton teacher to talk about the influence of Nanci Atwell's In the Middle on his classroom. Mr. Kelley will lead a mini-lesson of the writer's workshop method and then will field questions from the students and faculty. Atwell's research-based and evidence-based methods stress the importance of developing student choice, conferring with students on a daily basis, and taking the approach of teacher as mentor. Mr. Kelley will be sharing his classroom experiences with Temple University on March 31st.

Patton Math at NCTM!

Mrs. Remphrey and Mr. Lewis will be presenting "Desmos + Algebra 1=Deep Understanding x Fun" at The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Regional Conference in Atlantic City this October! Spreading the love for Desmos -- and representing our school! Patton Proud!

Empty Bowls

Mrs. Schultz and Mrs. Ferron L-O-V-E the bowls they made with the art class and art club students. Some students made paper maché bowls shown on the right and painted them with watercolors in cool designs while others made small clay bowls  on the left and demonstrated their slip trailing techniques on them. Mrs. Ferron and Mrs. Schultz both made the large bowls and serving platter in the center to raffle off to our staff so we could donate money as well as the bowls to such a great event in our community. The Empty Bowls organization is in communities across America and more. They hold events that help raise money for our hungry and give away a bowl to those who gave as a remembrance. Here's a link to their site. http://www.emptybowls.net.

PTO Family Fun Night!

A great time was had by all at the PTO's Family Fun Night on February 20! The crowd was entertained by an exciting Students vs. Staff basketball game AND a surprise flash mob as Patton staff rocked the floor at halftime. Now, the students may have won the game but the Patton staff won the crowd at halftime! Check out the awesome dance moves right here!

Patton Presents at PAMLE

Kudos to Patton teachers Ms. Ballard, Ms. Hisler and Mr. Walsh as they presented at the Pennsylvania Association for Middle Level Education Conference in State College on February 23. Ms. Ballard and Ms. Hisler presented on our outstanding Patton Gardens Project while Mr. Walsh presented a session entitled "Modeling Digital Citizenship for Students". We are Patton Proud in Happy Valley!!

Mrs. Quinn - Photographer!

Mrs. Anita Quinn is our very quiet unofficial in-house photographer. Visit her classroom and you will see a wall of fame featuring her students in activities in her classroom, on the sports fields, in concerts and many other activities around Patton Middle School. Mrs. Quinn attends student sporting events, musical productions and concerts photographing Patton students and sharing her photographs with the Patton web page, coaches and teachers. Her students really enjoy seeing their photographs in her room as well.  You may also view her Patton Photography right here!

Hall of Fame!

Check out this Fun Friday from the Hall of Fame students on A Team!