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Vol. 122 No. 9
THE BACK MOUNTAIN’S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1889
SUNDAY MAY 5-11, 2013
50¢
WILKES-BARRE, PA.
www.mydallaspost.com
AN EDITION OF THE TIMES LEADER
OOM
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ANEEENEEEE EEE EERE EERE EEE REE EEREERRREEERRANANAAANINNNNAINAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAA
veyors Jess Kronenwetter and Bill Bolton from Borton
Lawson Engineering Firm.
See BRACELETS, Page 7
rincipal Donny James held the stick wound tight
with brightly-colored string high above his head
and the Ross Elementary School students cheered.
Art teacher Jill Vanderhook took a victory lap, hold-
ing the stick like an Olympic torch, and students
roared while “We Are The Champions” blared through
disc jockey Frank Prest’s speakers.
Although still unofficial, the record of the world’s
longest friendship bracelet belongs to the Ross Ele-
mentary students with a measurement of 2,678.02 feet
(816.262 meters) measured by professional land sur-
For seven months, students at the school have been
tying friendship bracelets, using colored embroidery
string. They tied in homeroom. They tied at lunch.
They tied at recess. They tied at home.
They tied and tied and tied.
If you think getting into the Guin-
ness Book of World Records is easy,
think again.
As the official witness to the Ross
Elementary School students’ attempt
to get into the book for the world’s
longest friendship bracelet, I learned
firsthand that having your name
entered into the official world record
book for anything is no easy task and
I’m now even more impressed with
anyone who does get their name in
the book.
After intense research as to the kind
of project to be attempted, there’s all
kinds of documentation to be com-
pleted before your record-breaking
attempt even begins. Ross Elementary
School Principal Donny James can
attest to that.
Everything - and I mean everything
- has to be done exactly as Guinness
requires it to be done.
In the Ross Elementary case, the
measurement of the length of the
bracelets needed to be recorded by
Ross Elementary students attempt to make world's longest friendship bracelet
AIMEE DILGER PHOTOS/ THE TIMES LEADER
Ross Elementary school art teacher Jill Vonderhook takes a lap after finishing measuring a chain of friendship bracelets over 2,000 feet long.
TYING
bracelets
STORIES By DOTTY MARTIN / dmartin@mydallaspost.com
friendship
Breaking a world record is
fun, but not easy to do
Bracelets chained together.
professional land surveyors. Don
Bolton and Jess Kronenwetter of the
Borton Lawson Engineering Firm did
just that. Their boss, Don Spencer, is
the father of Ross fourth-grader Jes-
sica Spencer. Because of his relation-
ship to the school, Spencer could not
participate in the official measure-
ment so he volunteered the services
of Bolton and Kronenwetter, who not
only offered their expertise but their
See RECORD, Page 7
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1 LL music students head
to regional competition
Dallas, Lake-Lehman girls square
off in annual benefit game.
TOM ROBINSON
For The Dallas Post
What do James Bond, mirrors and
a GPS have in common? They are the
themes of three award-winning shows
by Lake-Lehman musical groups. And
Lake-Lehman students are aiming for
bigger wins at the regional champion-
ships in Wildwood, New Jersey this
weekend.
The student musicians performed
their programs for the public on May 1
in the high school gym before packing
up to go to the Tournament of Bands
competition this weekend. The Tour-
nament of Bands (TOB) is one of the
RX
largest competitive band organizations
in the United States.
James Bond is the theme of the El-
ementary Percussion program. The in-
door percussion group just won a silver
medal at the Chapter 7 regional com-
petition in the Tournament of Bands
program.
Fifth and sixth-graders dressed in
tuxedo-print T-shirts played a variety
of percussion instruments, including a
wide range of drums. The melody was
provided by marimba, xylophone, vi-
braphone and synthesizer and included
jazz elements, tricky rhythms and even
a voice clip of the famous Mr. Bond
himself.
The group is directed by Patrick
See COMPETITION, Page 7
5
BILL TARUTIS/FOR THE DALLAS POST
Lehman-Jackson Elementary fifth-grader Sarah Salus performs ‘James
Bond, 007’ with the Elementary Percussion Ensemble during a preview
show at the high school gymnsaium.
CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK/ FOR THE DALLAS POST
Lindsey Jorda, a student in the
Dallas Middle School, holds up the
Ipad she uses to present her science
project.
A new kind
of apple for
the teacher
Dallas Middle School science
students use iPads to learn.
By SUSAN DENNEY
Dallas Post Correspondent
Sir Isaac Newton said that a falling
apple taught him the law of gravity.
And today, Apple iPads are helping Dal-
las Middle School students learn about
Newton’s laws of motion.
Sam Barbose’s sixth-grade science
class at the Dallas Middle School re-
cently used a class set of iPads to create
impressive multimedia presentations
about Newton’s three laws of motion.
Although the topic may seem diffi-
cult for sixth-graders to grasp, Barbo-
se’s students used graphics and created
videos to illustrate a law of motion.
Barbose explained that the students
used the iPads to make the videos and
then used an application called Key-
note to create their slideshows.
The iPads connect with the Internet
via the school’s Wi-Fi network. The
classroom uses Airplay, a go-between
device which allows students to stream
their presentations to the large digital
whiteboard in the room.
While the presentations were being
given, students were expected to take
notes on the presentations of other stu-
dents and most chose to use their iPads
for note-taking. Barbose said students
could then email their notes to them-
selves. Students also liked making their
own flashcards on the devices.
Sammy Dixon, 12, of Dallas, chose
Newton’s first law to present. “I learned
a lot about Newton,” she said. “I learned
that if you roll a ball, eventually it will
stop. The friction against the floor or
the wall will stop it.”
Of the iPads, she added, “Theyre re-
ally fun. It makes class more fun and
not boring like reading from a book.”
Ryan Schmid, 12, of Dallas, chose
Newton’s second law. “It seemed the
easiest at the time,” he said. He, too,
likes using the iPads. “We use them
a lot in science. We have a lot of apps
that help us with everyday stuff we do.
Instead of writing things, we use the
notes app.”
Barbose showed off the specialized
cart which contains the iPads and a
MacBook Pro computer. All the units
can be recharged and downloaded with
new applications at the same time. He
said the iPads have been in place since
October and there hasn’t been a single
incident of damage to the devices.
About 100 students use the iPads,
including science and reading classes.
Barbose’s dream of using iPads in
his classroom came true because of the
Dallas Foundation for Excellence in
Education, Inc.
The foundation is a non-profit orga-
nization which was created in 2011. It
is a 501 (c) 3 organization which can
provide tax credit benefits to business
contributors.
According to Kristin Gattuso, the
foundation’s treasurer, the iPad cart
with MacBook Pro computer and 30
iPads cost $16,448. The money was
donated by local businesses who took
advantage of the state’s tax credit pro-
gram.
20079
See IPADS, Page 7
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