December 4, 2015

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Happy Friday! Today is midterm of 2nd quarter! We will be sending out the midterms today. As of now, we are not going to move the end of the semester back a day. If we would have more snow days, we will revisit if we need to. but the plan now is we won't. Semester tests will be on January 13 and 14 with a make up day on the 15th.

As some of may have seen, the House has passed the new ESEA legislation that gives control back to the states. The House version gets rid of the prescribed goals and punishments and allows the states and school districts to set their own goals. The House version still requires the states to have some plan on what to do with continually low performing schools. The bill still retains the testing requirements. The Senate still needs to act on the ESEA legislation, however, according to many of the "experts" the House was seen as the major hurdle. What this means for us is still unknown and we will have to see what guidance the state puts out if this version is passed by the Senate and signed by the President.

On Monday, we will be starting our weight room flooring project. There will be a 40' trailer dropped off that will need to park on the west side of the weight room. It will be parked so the doors of the trailer are on the north side of the double doors and will extend into the parking area on the north side of the weight room. Please do not park on the gravel/snow on the west side and the last couple spots on the northwest. Once the trailer has been dropped off, you may park where there are spots left.

Also next week we have our building in-service time. We will have you meet with your mixed group PLC to go over your reading strategy and your data. The English teachers will be giving the 3rd assessment the week of the 14th, and we will go over that data on 22nd. We are going earlier this year because we felt it was too rushed when we came back after break to give this assessment and get ready for semester tests.

I hope you enjoyed you extra days off this week. This could be a tough winter if we are starting like this.

Have a Great Weekend!

Students as Leaders

Good Luck to the Dance Team as they compete at State. Members are: Madi Martin, Ashley Perera, Amanda Schwartz, Hannah Dreckman, Ericka Cockburn, Janae Casson, Katelyn Lewis, Regan Albers, Sydney Louison, Samii Murra, Cassidy Pravecek, Haley Majeres, and Jayden Wiltgen.


Staff as Leaders

A BIG THANK YOU to our CTE teachers, Mr. Dalton, Mr. Wichers, Mr Utesch, Mrs. Cronin, Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Wright, Mr. Irwin, Mr. Jentz, Mr. Oetken, and Mr. Fischer for organizing your speakers and running a smooth 8th Grade Career Day. I was able to get into each classroom and saw engaged 8th graders listening to your presenters and asking good questions.










Librarian's Corner
For those of you interested in how to access ebooks through the AEA and the AEA online databases, another course will be offered Dec. 10 at 7 a.m. in MS library lab and 4-5:30 in the afternoon (2-part session).
I enjoy reading a blog by John Spencer. Here is a recent blog on alternatives to standardized tests:

Math, science, and CTE teachers: if you haven't tried ScienceFlix yet, please take a look at it. The log in for this is the same as all AEA databases: 3600lmhs and nwaea The site is organized by subject areas of science, but includes Tech, math, and engineering. I just clicked on the numbers one and there were related sites that included games and study help for up to pre-calculus. Each topic is broken down into a short video, an article or more to read, a "dive deeper" section with related information, explore more (article to read), related websites, science lab, "what do you think?," a quiz, and career information. Go to http://auth.digital.scholastic.com/login/scienceflix/login.php and check it out

Articles Worth Reading
5 Tips for Avoiding Teacher Burnout
When Grading Harms Student Learning

Video Worth Watching

Productive Struggle in Math

Up Coming Events

Friday, December 4                4:30 pm Varsity/JV Wrestling @ Hinton
                                                Madrigal Dinner - Old MS Gym
                                                Dance Team Competition in Des Moines

Saturday, December 5            Spirit Lake Quiz Bowl
                                                Madrigal Dinner - Old MS Gym
                                                Dance Team Competition

Monday, December 7             3:30 pm Bowling vs. Sioux Central
                                                4:45 pm Varsity/JV Wrestling @ MOC Floyd Valley

Tuesday, December 8             4:45 pm Boys & Girls JV Basketball @ Western Christian
                                                6:15 pm Girls Varsity Basketball @ Western Christian
                                                7:45 pm Boys Varsity Basketball @ Western Christian
                                                6:00 pm JV/Varsity Wrestling @ Sheldon

Thursday, December 10         Show Choir Choreography
                                                6:00 pm JV/Varsity Wrestling vs. Spencer & Storm Lake
                                                6:30 pm Girls Freshmen Basketball vs. MOC @ New MS Gym
                                                7:45 pm Boys Freshmen Basketball vs MOC @ New MS Gym
                                                5:30 pm 8th Grade Registration

Friday, December 11             12:30 pm Bowling @ Council Bluffs TJ
                                               1:00 pm Wrestling @ Council Bluffs TJ
                                               4:45 pm Girls JV Basketball @ Spencer
                                               4:45 pm Boys JV Basketball @ Spencer
                                               6:15 pm Girls Varsity Basketball @ Spencer
                                               7:45 pm Boys Varsity Basketball @ Spencer

Saturday, December 12         Show Choir Choreography
                                               Wrestling @ Council Bluffs TJ
                                               8:30 am Quiz Bowl @ South O'Brien
                                               10:00 am Girls Freshmen Basketball vs. Sioux City West
                                               11:30 am Boys Freshmen Basketball vs. Sioux City West
                                               4:00 pm Girls JV Basketball @ Sergeant Bluff-Luton
                                               5:45 pm Boys JV Basketball @ Sergeant Bluff-Luton
                                               6:15 pm Girls Varsity Basketball @ Sergeant Bluff-Luton

Monday, December 14          3:30 pm Bowling vs. MMC and RU
                                               7:30 pm HS Holiday Concert - Competition Gym

Tuesday, December 15          4:45 pm Boys JV Basketball vs. Cherokee
                                               4:45 pm Girls JV Basketball vs. Cherokee
                                               6:15 pm Girls Varsity Basketball vs. Cherokee
                                               7:45 pm Boys Varsity Basketball vs. Cherokee

Wednesday, December 16     Inservice
                                               7:00 pm Athletic Booster Club Meeting

Thursday, December 17        4:00 pm Bowling @ OA-BCIG
                                               6:00 pm Girls Freshmen Basketball vs. Western
                                               6:00 pm JV/Varsity Wrestling @ Spirit Lake
                                               7:15 pm Boys Freshmen Basketball vs. Western



Be Extraordinary
Mark




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