October 23, 2015
Happy Friday! We are now entering the last week of the first quarter. Time is certainly moving. As we end the quarter, please take the time to call parents of students who are struggling. If a student is at risk of failing, make sure the PASS Plans are done in a timely fashion. As a parent, you would want a chance to be able to help your child if needed. There is no reason to have a influx of PASS Plans towards the end of the semester as that really doesn't allow much time to make a difference for the parents. Grades will be due on November 2 at 8:30 am. We will run report cards that day and will pass them out at parent/teacher conferences like past years.
Looking ahead, our building extra-hour meeting will be on Wednesday, October 28. At this meeting you will meet with your mixed group that you made your SMART goal with. During our last SIT meeting, the group thought it was important to be able to talk with this group about what you did and how it went since this is the group you made your goal with. You will follow the same procedure that we used with your department PLC group at the October 14 building in-service. We do come right back and have another whole group meeting on November 4 to go over the next round of Star Assessment data. The English teachers will be giving the assessment during the week of October 26. A big thank you to them for doing this.
Just a reminder we have an assembly on November 4 at 9:15 am. We will drop 2nd hour that day and 3rd may be 15 minutes shorter. The assembly shouldn't take longer than a hour.
We also have parent/teacher conferences coming up. If you have a parent you really want to come in, it would not hurt to call and personally invite them. You could even schedule a time. That way we get the student's parents who are struggling into the school.
Congratulations to Andrew Tonner who finished 11 at the district cross country meet. He qualified for the state meet. The boy's team finished in 8th place. Congrats to all the boys and Coach Engebretson for an excellent season.
Congratulations to Maddie Hurt who finished 4th and also qualfied for the state meet. The girl's team finished 6th. Congrats to all the girls and Coach Moss for an excellent season.
Good luck to all the students trying out for various All-State Music positions. They will have their auditions on Saturday. I know the time and effort the students and directors put into this event is tremendous. The school is proud of you all.
Have a great weekend!
Tuesday, we had our first vocal concert of the year and the students sounded fantastic. Great job choir members and Mr. Ewing! The orchestra will have their first concert Tuesday night and band has a performance on Friday.
Looking ahead, our building extra-hour meeting will be on Wednesday, October 28. At this meeting you will meet with your mixed group that you made your SMART goal with. During our last SIT meeting, the group thought it was important to be able to talk with this group about what you did and how it went since this is the group you made your goal with. You will follow the same procedure that we used with your department PLC group at the October 14 building in-service. We do come right back and have another whole group meeting on November 4 to go over the next round of Star Assessment data. The English teachers will be giving the assessment during the week of October 26. A big thank you to them for doing this.
Just a reminder we have an assembly on November 4 at 9:15 am. We will drop 2nd hour that day and 3rd may be 15 minutes shorter. The assembly shouldn't take longer than a hour.
We also have parent/teacher conferences coming up. If you have a parent you really want to come in, it would not hurt to call and personally invite them. You could even schedule a time. That way we get the student's parents who are struggling into the school.
Congratulations to Andrew Tonner who finished 11 at the district cross country meet. He qualified for the state meet. The boy's team finished in 8th place. Congrats to all the boys and Coach Engebretson for an excellent season.
Congratulations to Maddie Hurt who finished 4th and also qualfied for the state meet. The girl's team finished 6th. Congrats to all the girls and Coach Moss for an excellent season.
Good luck to all the students trying out for various All-State Music positions. They will have their auditions on Saturday. I know the time and effort the students and directors put into this event is tremendous. The school is proud of you all.
Have a great weekend!
Students as Leaders
We had several students attend a Drone Workshop as part of the FFA program on October 16. They learned about many applications of drones and different careers out their for certified drone pilots. Morningside College came up and worked with our students.
The some of the FFA members also harvested their test plot on Tuesday. After talking with the students, it appears they had a successful year. The corn tested between 15 and 17 for moisture content and they were getting anywhere between 235 and 263 bushels per acre. The average for the plot was 245.
Finally 10 members from our FFA will be attending the National FFA Conference in Louisville, Kentucky next week.
Staff as Leaders
Doug Martin and Tracy Wingert will take several members of the robotics club to Des Moines for a work day on their robot on Saturday. LCHS will be fielding a robotics team in several competitions this year. If you get a chance, stop by Mr. Martin's room to see what they are doing.Staff News
I will be gone Tuesday and Wednesday next week as Kristin is going to have a procedure done. If you need a sub, please call Mr. Utesch those mornings as my mother-in-law probably won't want to call and get subs.
Librarian's Corner
As teacher librarian, I teach media literacy to a group of 6th graders once a week for 7 weeks. That is not long enough for everything to sink in, and I was shocked to find that so many of the sophomores and juniors do not know how to use the library catalog. I will be glad to either come into your classroom and have students come in and walk them through that again, especially as they approach research projects. We have many books in print, and even some ebooks, that can help them in their search. I will be glad to walk them through accessing MackinVia or any of the databases to which we subscribe.
As teacher librarian, I teach media literacy to a group of 6th graders once a week for 7 weeks. That is not long enough for everything to sink in, and I was shocked to find that so many of the sophomores and juniors do not know how to use the library catalog. I will be glad to either come into your classroom and have students come in and walk them through that again, especially as they approach research projects. We have many books in print, and even some ebooks, that can help them in their search. I will be glad to walk them through accessing MackinVia or any of the databases to which we subscribe.
The end of ‘just Google it’: Why students need to be digitally literate
Up Coming Events
Friday, October 23 5:00 pm Music Booster Soup and Pie Supper7:00 pm Varsity Football vs. Bishop Heelan
Saturday, October 24 District All State Music Auditions @ Storm Lake
ACT Testing
Monday, October 26 7:00 pm Varsity Volleyball vs. Spencer - Regional
Tuesday, October 27 7:30 pm 6-12 Orchestra Concert
Friday, October 30 7:30 pm Indoor Marching Band Concert
Tuesday, November 3 7:00 pm DLIIT meeting
Articles Worth Reading/Teacher Resources
Making Failure Harder Work Than PassingDigital Citizenship Week: 6 Resources for Educators
Five Obstacles to Grading Reform
Videos Worth Watching
Be Extraordinary,
Mark
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