Physical Education Student Leader Awards

Third Quarter Honor Roll Announced
The third marking period ended on April 3 and report cards were issued to Knox students on April 9. Those grades have been used to calculate the third quarter honor roll. Congratulations to all of our academic achievers!

Revolutionary Times
Seventh graders in Mrs. Schuttenberg's English classes and Mrs. Sweeney's social studies classes have been studying the American Revolution. The students are learning about the time period in social studies and reading Avi's The Fighting Ground in English. A work of historical fiction, The Fighting Ground highlights the facts of the Revolutionary War through the story of thirteen year old Jonathan, who experiences the hardship and heartache of war over a twenty-four hour period.

To supplement the interdisciplinary unit, Mr. Neil Martin, an active Revolutionary War re-enactor, was invited to share his story. He arrived dressed in Colonial fashioned clothing and brought several props to share with the students. Mr. Martin told the story of John Brothers, a soldier who actually fought in the war. His assistant portrayed Bob, a young fife player fighting with the Patriots. Mr. Martin entertained several questions posed by the students and shared albums containing several Revolutionary War re-enactment photographs.

The students will conclude this unit with a Revolutionary War battlefield project. They are researching Revolutionary War sites that have been turned into either state or national parks and are creating a travel pamphlet, brochure or collage of the location. They will also assume the role of a person who was at the site during the war and write a diary entry or letter to a loved one from that person's point-of-view, followed by a current diary entry, letter or postcard from the point-of-view of a tourist visiting the site in 2009.

The Votes are In and the Winner is...
A total of 204 Knox students made use of an actual voting machine on November 4, following a special interdisciplinary election project. Prior to a mock debate on November 3, students in Mrs. Keller's social studies class researched such political issues as the war in Iraq, healthcare and the economy; Mrs. LaMena's science students researched alternative energy; Mrs. Hart's math class learned about the electoral college; and Mr. Greco's English students wrote a business letter to their representatives. Following the tallying of the votes, 115 students (56%) chose Obama, while 89 (44%) favored McCain. Click here to see pictures from the student debate and election.

Revisiting the Knox Knights
As part of Homecoming Weekend and Johnstown’s 250th Anniversary, guest speakers were invited to Knox for an assembly on October 10, to talk about Knox history and share recollections of what it was like to attend school there in 1933 and later years. Of special interest was the information that, at one time, Knox had its own logo, the Knox Knight, as well as its own colors of orange & black. Knox eventually adopted the Sir Bill logo and purple & gold colors of the high school, in part to save money on uniforms and decorating/painting their shared gym facilities. Students and staff were encouraged to wear orange and black for the assembly and, in the photo above, current Knox students proudly display orange & black "Knox Knights" t-shirts they made.

History Fair
Students in Mrs. Bruno’s eighth grade social studies classes culminated a six-week unit on American History with a “History Fair,” covering the time period of 1865-1890. Working in small groups, the students researched and created a fictional identity based on the following "characters" of this time era: cowboys, ranchers, carpetbaggers, immigrants, Plains Indians, sodbusters, railroad workers and robber barons. On October 15, each group presented their fictional character through visual displays and games they had created and the projects were judged by four JHS seniors. Knox students and staff also had a chance to visit the cafeteria to view and evaluate the projects.

Seventh Grade Scientists Celebrate the Cell
Mrs. Lamena’s seventh grade science students have been learning about the organelles of plant and animal cells and, as part of their studies, were recently assigned the task of creating a cell model using one of five methods. Working alone or in pairs, and based on their own interests, the students selected either a writing project, a drawing project, a building project or a cooking project, each of which needed to include information on major cell parts, including the nucleus, cell membrane, mitochondria, ER, ribosomes, Golgi bodies, vacuoles, chloroplasts, cell wall and lysosomes. Displaying amazing creativity, the students constructed models of a “Cell City”, assigning cell parts to buildings (i.e., a nucleus as city hall or the library); drew posters and maps of cells in great detail; and made cell models out of edible ingredients. In the photo above, a student prepares to take a bite out of the “nucleus” of a cell. See additional photos of the cell projects here.

Knox Students take part in Johnstown’s 250th Anniversary Essay Contest
The Johnstown Celebrates 2008: Time Marches On Committee has invited Johnstown junior and senior high students to participate in an essay writing contest as part of Johnstown’s 250th Anniversary Celebration. The committee plans to announce two winners from Knox and two from JHS during October, with the winning authors each receiving a U.S. savings bond and the winning entries being placed in a historical time capsule to be buried near City Hall.

As part of an interdisciplinary unit developed by English teacher Laura Schuttenberg and social studies teacher Jennifer Jurica-Sweeney, Knox students will brainstorm, research and organize essay material as part of their classroom experience during the week of September 22, while also working on the project at home. Seventh graders will focus on Sir William Johnson and the trials and tribulations the colonists and Native Americans faced during the 18th century, while eighth graders will discuss Rose Knox and the trials and tribulations faced by women in the 19th through mid-twentieth centuries. On Monday, September 29, students will turn in two copies of their essays. One copy will be delivered to the Johnstown Celebration Committee on September 30 for consideration in the contest, while the other copy will be graded in social studies and English and returned to the student.

For more information on the contest rules and classroom assignments, download the seventh grade essay assignment, the eighth grade essay assignment and the essay assignment timeline.

Best of luck to all essay writers and thank you to the committee for the invitation to participate!

What do you know about the history of Knox Junior High? Members of the Knox Yearbook staff, together with their advisors,  visited the Greater Johnstown School District Museum, located behind Knox Junior High School. The museum curator, Bill Pollak, helped them to locate items for use in their 2007-08 yearbook, the theme of which was based on the 75th Anniversary of Knox. 75 Fascinating Years of Knox Heritage is ours to remember!