Mr. Tim Hartman visited Howe School on March 1st to help the students learn how to build strong foundations for their own story writing through the hilarious French fairytale, "How Johnny Pancake Almost Married the Princess of France." The students had a chance to enjoy a play based on the wonderful story, "If You Take a Mouse to School," on February 24th. This opportunity gave the students a chance to see a very well-known book in a new perspective. The Pittsburgh CLO visited Howe to present the Gallery of Heroes Musical entitled, "Pioneers of Flight." The musical covered many of the breakthroughs in aviation throughout history. February 2010     On Thursday, January 28th, 4th and 5th grade students participated in the Howe Spelling Bee.  All students displayed tremendous courage throughout each round.  Congratulations to all participants!  The winner of the Spelling Bee was Annie Mosesso!  Annie will represent our school at the Western Pennsylvania Spelling Bee on March 20, 2010 at Children's Hospital.  Best of luck, Annie!    The students at Howe celebrated the Holiday Season with a great winter party. The students participate in a fun craft and played fun games while enjoying delicious snacks! Thank you to all of the parents who volunteered to be part of the celebration!   On December 18th, the 4th and 5th grade students at Howe put on a wonderful Winter Concert under the guidance of Mrs. Froelich, Mrs. Ketter, and Mr. Capaldi. The band, orchestra, and chorus worked together to put on a very festive performance!   On December 11th, the students had the opportunity to see violinist, Mrs. Caryn Lin, perform at Howe School. Her assesmbly, entitled "Bach 2 Rock," initially presented the simplicity of the acoustic violin and then led into complex sound effects made by the electric violin. It was a great show! Mr. Charlie Aeschliman from the National Character Education Foundation visited Howe Elementary School on Friday, November 13th as one of the best basketball handlers in the world. Mr. Aeschliman talked with the students and staff about the importance of setting goals, never giving up, and believing in themselves and in dreams.     HOWE HELPERS is a new program where 5th Grade student volunteers are paired up with teachers in the building to lend a helping hand!     The Safety Smart Super Challenge came to Howe on Tuesday, September 29th. This event, sponsored by Radio Disney and Underwriter's Laboratory, shared critical safety messages with our students.     Howe students, Kindergarten through 5th Grade, took the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) Assessment. This is an adaptive achievement test given in math and reading which are taken on the computer. The reading portion was given September 14th - 18th and the math portion was given September 21st - 25th. There is going to be a second testing window in January and another in May. The results will give the school district specific information on student progress.     Howe Elementary School kicked off the OLWEUS  Bullying Prevention Program in a school wide assembly on Thursday, August 27th. The students were introduced to the program and the Pirate Parrot made a special appearance. Enjoy the pictures from the event!     For more information about the OLWEUS Bullying Prevention Program, please view the following presentation:  http://www.mtlsd.org/howe_elementary/stuff/olweus presentation.pdf     Our fifth grade students, under the direction of vocal music teacher, Mrs. Froehlich, kicked off the Labor Day weekend by singing the National Anthem at the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball game on Friday, September 4, 2009.