Mrs. Gleave’s geometry class sings math Christmas carols to a seventh-grade English class.

Jacob Simmons
SJHS Staff Writer

A new tradition has sprung at SJHS in Mrs. Corrin Gleave’s most advanced math classes. A unit she started just last year is her Christmas caroling unit, which she has decided to revive again this year.

Last year Mrs. Gleave had her students take a little bit of time from math, and had them rewrite words to the tunes of familiar Christmas carols. The words the students wrote all had to relate to math formulas and theorems from their book. This year the students are required to do the same thing.

Once the masterpieces have been written by the students, the whole class learns each others songs. They then go around to different teachers throughout the school to sing their formulas and theorems.

“Last year was our first caroling event, but I immediately knew it should be an annual tradition,” said Mrs. Gleave. The unit has also proven to be a great way to help students remember the formulas; students from last year remember the songs, and even those who were sung to remember them.

“The slope formula set to ‘Feliz Navidad’ and the Order of Operations set to ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’ were both exceptionally hilarious!” Mrs. Gleave commented, “It is really difficult to choose favorites because students are amazingly adept at “spoofing” songs!” She continued.

Kenia Martinez
SJHS Staff Writer

Mrs. Corrin Gleave is the Geometry and Algebra 1A teacher at Springville Junior High School. She has been teaching at SJHS for three years. “Over the last 25 years, I’ve taught mostly by request, and not as a classroom teacher in other schools,” she said.

She’s also taught math at Le Jordan Academy in Kailua, Hawaii, dance for BYU Children’s Program, at BYU Hawaii as a quest artist and substitute teacher, and for the state of Hawaii as an “Artist in the School”

Mrs. Gleave grew up in American Fork, Utah and always wanted to be a dancer and teacher.  As part of her education, she went to AFHS, UVU  and U of U. She has a Bachelor’s degree from BYU for dance and math major.  And, finally, at SUU, she got a Masters in Education.

“The atmosphere in my class is fun and respectful-but watch out for serious.” Mrs. Gleave explained, “I think learning should be fun, don’t you?”  In Mrs. Gleave’s class, kids do a lot of group work. She said that teaching others is the best way to learn. Most people say that Geometry is easier than Algebra, but Mrs. Gleave thinks that Geometry is just Algebra in action. Algebra II comes next, and then there are a few choices such as college algebra, pre-calculus, and even statistics.  “I love SJHS, and I hope that I can make students love it here, too!” Mrs. Gleave exclaimed.

Jose Martinez is a ninth grade student in Mrs. Gleave’s algebra class. He said that the level of difficulty depends on what she is teaching. Like everyone else, he describes the class and the teacher as fun. “It is fun most of the time,” Jose explained. Usually, in her class, students can have fun and mess around, but if it gets to a point when it’s too much, Mrs. Gleave does take command. She’s not a teacher that will let bad behavior pass.

Jose likes Mrs. Gleave’s teaching style because she makes it easy and he describes the atmosphere in the class as friendly. His favorite part of the class is the being able to chat with friends while he works.

Quadrilateral art projects displayed in Mrs. Gleave’s classroom.

Christopher Taylor
SJHS Staff Writer

“What’s the point of learning math if we can’t apply it?” asked Mrs. Corrin Gleave, the geometry teacher at SJHS. Geometry students are learning to apply the math they have learned to various shapes, angles, and lines. One of these shapes is the quadrilateral, or four-sided shape. Students recently made special art projects using all seven of the special quadrilaterals which include the kite, trapezoid, isosceles trapezoid, parallelogram, rhombus, rectangle, and square.  Students can make anything from a rocket to a house, and many of them have enjoyed this activity very much.

Many students feel that using the seven special quadrilaterals to make art is a good way to help you remember and understand them. Elizabeth Elliot, a ninth grader in geometry who made a paper house for her project, said, “It’s really visual. It’s a different and fun way of learning.” Mrs. Gleave said, “We deal with so many shapes in geometry that sometimes it gets tricky keeping track of them all. By using the seven special quadrilaterals to generate an art project, each student has the chance to analyze these shapes.” Students in geometry agree with Mrs. Gleave that this project has not only been fun, but has helped them learn about the seven shapes they were using as well.

Members of the journalism staff dividing up the school newspaper to pass out to the student body.  Left to right:  Max Schreiner, Kara Dunn, Christopher Taylor, Morgan Bowser, Jacob DeRosia and Cody Woolsey.

Cody Woolsey
SJHS Staff Writer

Springville Junior High school’s faculty and students are buzzing about the first school newspaper to be released in seven years. The Journalism class worked for weeks to get enough articles to be published into a newspaper. Students’ and teachers’ reactions were astounding!

“It was cool to know what was happening in the school,” said Seth Daybell, an eighth grader at Springville Junior High. When students woke up and groggily made their way to their first period class, they were surprised to hear on the morning announcements that there was going to be a school newspaper released that morning.

“How cool to have an actual newspaper! I was excited to see SJHS students’ work in print!” said Mrs. Gleave, a math teacher at Springville Junior High. The whole school raved about the first school newspaper and is excited for the ones to come!

Christopher Taylor
SJHS Staff Writer

Every year in school brings changes, but math is something that remains constant for your entire education. SJHS is just like any other school in this regard.  However, our school is different from others because of the kids and teachers that participate in the math program. We not only learn, but many kids have fun as well.

There are five different math classes offered at SJHS: Seventh grade math, Pre Algebra, Algebra 1a, Algebra 1, and Geometry. Next year there will also be an Algebra 2 class. The classes are similar in many aspects, but move at different paces. Seventh grade math is a slower paced Pre-Algebra, and Pre Algebra and Algebra 1a are slower paced  versions of Algebra 1.  According to Mr. Dallin Krebs, an Algebra 1 teacher, his class is fun because it is like solving a puzzle.  Geometry takes the things that you learned in Algebra 1 (as well as the preceding classes) and applies them to real life.  Mrs. Corrin Gleave, the Geometry and Algebra 1a teacher said that “Geometry is my favorite! You get all the satisfaction of solving for x, but you also get the shapes, colors and, wait for it… ANGLES!”

Teachers are probably one of the most important factors in learning math. Students at SJHS feel that we have very helpful teachers. Many teachers feel the same way about the kids at our school. Mrs. Kaycie Sorenson, a new math teacher at SJHS, said “The students are great, they are so excited and willing to learn, which makes it 100 times better for me!”  An example of this willingness to learn is seen in Lear Burton, an eighth grader.  He said, “I like being in Geometry because it’s fun and it makes me feel high and mighty to be in an advanced math class.”

Mr. Mikesell, Tanner Gervais, and Mrs. Gleave, believe it or not.

Jack Setzer
SJHS Staff Writer

Thursday was crazy at SJHS! Students dressed like teachers, and teachers like students! What’s going on? Why, it’s Swap Day, part of Red Ribbon Week. Swap Day represents “Swapping Drugs for Education.” On this day, students were SUPPOSED to wear what the teachers wear, and vice versa. The Red Ribbon effort was organized by the Service Learning class.

Many students and teachers think Swap Day was a good idea, and therefore tried to participate. Hadley Roberts, a seventh grader at SJHS, said Swap Day is “Fun, because once you dress up like the teachers, it helps you know how the teachers feel.” Mrs. Diane Bird, Service Learning teacher at Springville Junior High, said Swap Day was “A great idea, because I [was able] to wear a tee shirt, jeans, and flip flops.”

Some people really dressed up. Mr. Trent Mikesell, one of the Springville Junior English teachers, wore purple skinny jeans. You could hardly tell Mrs. Corrin Gleave, math teacher, from one of her students. “I had absolute blast!” said Mrs. Gleave. “I think we should keep [Swap Day for Red Ribbon Week] every year.”

Mr. Mikesell and seventh-grader Indy McRae in Swap Day attire.

Student teacher Mrs. Murdock and seventh-grader Andalyn Hall.

Sariah Morris
SJHS Staff Writer

Mrs. Natasha Shurtz, a Springville Junior High School math teacher, is leaving us. Mrs. Shurtz is moving to Memphis, Tennessee. She is pregnant with a baby boy and will be due in August. She and her husband hope to be settled in by then and will be moving in the end of June.  Mrs. Shurtz is moving so her husband can go to optometry school to be an eye doctor. He will be attending Southern College of Optometry for four years.

Ms. Rachel Neeley, an English teacher, said, “Mrs. Shurtz has a great ability to create a safe and happy environment in her classroom.  Her students were lucky to have a teacher that was so knowledgeable about math and cared about them so much.”

Mrs. Shurtz said, “There are a lot of things I will miss about this school. Most of all, I will miss the people though. This school really has a lot of good students, and I am glad that I have had the opportunity to meet them and teach them. I have also really enjoyed working with all of the faculty and staff.”

Mrs. Linton, the seventh grade counselor, said, “Mrs. Shurtz always seems happy to give her time and energy to anyone who needs it. She’s willing to do extra work with students during class or after school to help them catch up or get ahead and feel successful.”

Mrs. Shurtz has decided that after she has her baby she will be a stay at home mom. Mrs. Shurtz said, “I might go back to teaching when my kids are all grow up, or maybe when they’re in high school.”

Ashley Crookston, a student for two years of Mrs. Shurtz, said, “I will be really sad when she leaves. She is a good teacher. One of my favorite things that we do in her class is play Bingo to study for tests, and then get lots of candy.”

When Mrs. Shurtz was asked what she would do once her husband finished schooling, she said, “I’m not really sure, we will move wherever he gets the best job offer, we might even move out of the U.S.”

Mrs. Corrin Gleave, math teacher said, “Mrs. Shurtz has been a huge asset to our school!  She is crazy intelligent, dedicated to her students, and a dear friend!  She is an outstanding teacher who made our school a better place. We will miss her immensely!”

Obviously lots of people at this school love and appreciate Mrs. Shurtz. We will all miss her very much.

SJHS student Delon Lier shows off the origami airplane he made in math.

KresLynn Knouse
SJHS Staff Writer

Although end of level testing has been winding down, classes have not stopped just yet. Every teacher at Springville Junior High has been coming up with creative ideas on how to end the year with some interesting assignments.

Mrs. Corrin Gleave, a math teacher at SJHS, is one of these teachers. “We experiment with origami airplanes and modify the folding and paper used to achieve a desired result. For example, some students choose to fold a plane for distance where others prefer height, tricks or aesthetics. The students then conduct test flights and gather data. This data must be represented in an infomercial and be mathematically accurate. I film the infomercials, and we spend a couple of days watching them.”  She assigned all of her math classes the same project, and the classes have been working on them all week.

The Spanish and Chinese classes plan to celebrate by playing a game of soccer.  “We’ve been waiting to play for a while now, I’m so glad we’re finally doing it. I heard the Spanish classes won all their games, I guess we’ll find out soon!” said Dean Robertson, a ninth grade student currently taking Mandarin Chinese.

The Honors English classes have been finishing up their unit on Dracula, and Mrs.  Rice’s classes have started their own “To Do Lists.”

“The To Do lists are student generated lists of projects to complete before the end of the year. They represent a chance to revisit and revise assignments completed earlier in the year according to a writer’s workshop model which helps the students maintain an identity as a writer,” said Mrs. Rice, “I love to observe and participate in the literate practices of my students. I am really fascinated with the artistic sophistication, which includes writing that lives and grows in this community.”

Although some may be guilty of counting down the days until the last day, students have been enjoying these final weeks of school, thanks to our creative teachers here at SJHS.

Corieshae Nunley
SJHS Staff Writer

Here at Springville Junior High School, we are flipping some things around with the last parent-teacher conference of the year. The school has decided to add a little bit of a twist; SJHS still does the regular parent teacher conferences, but we also added a student-led conference last year.  Mrs. Gleave, math teacher at SJHS, said, “I prefer student led-conferences because the parents get to look at more positive accomplishments.” So parents come to SJHS student-led conferences on April 30th from 3:30-8:30pm.

Student led conferences are where the student and the parent come in and sit down in the students homeroom and go through a folder of the student’s work that they have chosen from other classes. This allows the student and their parent to interact and talk about some of the things they do in class and how this affects them here at school.

Corieshae Nunley
SJHS Staff Writer

Here at Springville Junior High School, we have some amazing teachers. One of them is Mrs. Corrin Gleave; she is a math teacher here at SJHS–a truly outstanding teacher!

Mrs. Gleave enjoys learning new things and wanted to become a math teacher because of the not so great math teachers she had. She thought, “there’s got to be a way to have a little fun!”

Mrs. Gleave also enjoys dancing. She has a bachelor’s degree in dance and had done some professional dancing and theater, and now she enjoys doing choreography.

Mrs. Gleave said that Springville Junior High School is her dream job and she loves it here and hopes she sticks around for a very long time!

Robin Anderson
SJHS Staff Writer

At Springville Junior High, there is one particularly small class- this class is algebra 2. All the students in algebra 2 are ninth graders, yet they are learning eleventh grade math. How is this possible?

The students in algebra 2 got to where they are by taking a test and skipping pre-algebra. By doing so they were able to take algebra in seventh grade, geometry in eighth grade, and moved up to algebra 2 in ninth grade.

Although it may sound like a hard class, the students say it isn’t hard. There is not much homework, and Mrs. Gleave explains things really well, which makes it easy to understand.

“If you don’t get it, you ask,” said Kenzee Hargett, a student in algebra 2.

“It’s my favorite class,” said Makenzie Milner, another student in algebra 2. In Algebra 2 they do interesting activities. One time they made up Math carols by taking Christmas carols and putting algebra equations as the words, and caroled in classes around the school.

The students in algebra 2 like it very much. According to the students, Mrs. Gleave makes it fun.

Kristi Hatch
SJHS Staff Writer

Excited parents, students, and friends lined up at Springville Junior High School on Wednesday, October 8 through Saturday, October 11, highly anticipating the start of the school play, Fiddler on the Roof Junior. Mrs. Walker, Mrs. Bailey, Mrs. Gleave, Springville Junior High School and Mapleton Junior High School students put countless hours of hard work and effort into making this a great production.

Students were nervous and excited before putting on the show. “It’s always hard putting on the first show because you don’t know if people will like it,” said Julianna Sheffield, who played the Fiddler. Malary Hatch, who played one of the mothers, said, “I was excited because I love putting on shows…I wasn’t nervous at all.”

Students thought that they did really well. “I think it went good. I tried my best, and I felt like I did a good job,” said Mike Bartholomew, who played one of the Russians. Students also thought that the audience liked it. “I think they really liked it. They gave us a standing ovation on opening night,” said Julianna Sheffield. Malary Hatch remarked, “They were screaming after every song, so I think they liked it a lot.”

Mrs. Walker, one of the directors of Fiddler on the Roof Junior believes that all the hard work of the students paid off, “There is great satisfaction in putting your whole heart and soul into a project. And we all did that!” Elizabeth Elliott, who played a daughter, agrees with her, “The audience enjoyed it, and if I can make people happy it’s worth my time.”

The audience really liked it, also. “I saw all of my friends and they did a good job,” said Holly Sumsion, an eighth grader at SJHS.

Everyone loved being in this production of Fiddler on the Roof, and many students are looking forward to next year’s play. Mrs. Walker said, “I think there will be many students who want to try out for next year’s play after seeing this one!” The students and directors put a lot of effort into this play, and they all are happy that they participated.

by Brooke Caswell
SJHS staff writer

Lights! Camera! Action! This year Springville Junior High is putting on the play Fiddler on the Roof. It is being produced by Mrs. Walker, Mrs. Gleave and Mrs. Bailey. It will be coming to the stage October 8th through the 11th, at 7:30 each night.

Mrs. Walker, the director, is in charge of all the acting and the script. “Mrs. Walker is hilarious, and she is not afraid to show how she wants it done,” says villager Alyssa Nance. “I love directing the play every year. I love it so much; I even directed the play last year when I wasn’t teaching school! It’s a lot of hard work…but I like how it turns out, and I like how the students grow from the experience,” says the director, Mrs. Walker.

The actors attend practice every school day morning at 6:00 a.m. until the start of school. The cast also has practices on Saturday afternoons to practice the whole production all together. The actors have rehearsed dances and songs until they can’t get them out of their heads.

The cast is trying to make the play as realistic as possible. Some villagers in the play say that the costumes and sets are going to make the play as realistic as they can. The parents have been putting in tons of work for the sets to be perfect.

“I know that the play will be a success; we have an excellent cast and a wonderful staff,” said Mrs. Walker. Some of the cast members said that the cast is wonderful, some of the members even said the main characters voices are funny; they sound just like the movie. “Luckily, the kids are so well behaved that it is easy to keep them organized,” Mrs. Walker continued.

All the actors and actresses want as many people to come as possible. The cast and directors need our support to do another play next year. Tickets will be on sale at the door to the play on October 8-11 at 7:30 pm.