April 22, 2016

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Happy Friday! It is midterm of the 4th quarter today. I am some of you just shouted for joy, while others are thinking of everything they have to get done yet. As we wind down the school year, keep pushing the students academically to the end. They are not going to be as motivated with the nice weather so it is important that we keep the focus and exercise extra patience with the students. This will make the time easier on you as well.

I wanted to give everyone a remodel update. The de-construction is set to begin on May 2. At that time, all the cabinets that are left in the rooms will be demolished. Mr. Moss and Mr. Gerdes will move out of their rooms on Thursday next week. Josh, Scott, Tim, and Mike will remove cabinets and shelves the district is going to keep. Any cabinets left in there Friday after school are up for grabs, but you will need to remove them by Sunday.

Once the cabinets and labs have been removed, the asbestos removal will begin. After that, the fun really starts. Their will be times when they will need to jackhammer concrete out in order to rough in the new plumbing, sewer, and gas lines. This will create a little noise and dust. Please be patient with the process. They will do everything they can to try to help us out. They will also be removing materials through the hall. It may be wise if your room is close to the construction area to keep your door closed to minimize the sound and the distractions.

Once school is out, we will want to keep traffic in this part of the school to a minimum. If moving from the weight room to the locker rooms, please use the hall that wraps around to the office.

On Monday, I will need to meet with Seniors in the competition gym during advisory to do our final survey and to go over dates and times with them regarding their last week of school. We will also be taking the class picture at that time.

On Wednesday next week, we will have a student recognition in the competition gym. We will dismiss students at 1:50 to go into the gym. Mr. Johnson and myself will recognize several different activities and those students who have been named as all-staters in those various activities. Once we are done, we will dismiss back to 7th period. I anticipate this taking 15-20 minutes.

Staff News

Congratulations goes out to Barry and Vicki Borchers on the birth of their grandson. Carter was born to Bryan and Ali Borchers.

Prayers go out to Neal Utesch and his family as he lost his grandfather on Sunday.


Students as Leaders

Good luck to following students who will represent us at the State Honor Orchestra Festival in Waterloo on April 30th. Jacob Burrell, Kajsa Hallberg, Kitty Hungwattanakul, Dominic Loutsch, Hannah McDougall, and Natalie Siebens. Sarah Meis from the middle school is also attending.

Members of the Le Mars FFA Chapter attended the State Convention on Monday and Tuesday. Some highlights include:

  1. Mitch Renken, Cody Laughton, Logan Niehus, Jacob Holck, and Denton Ohlrichs all received the Iowa FFA Degree.
  2. Jacob Holck, Denton Ohlrichs, Keaton Koerselman, Whitney Ten Napel competed in the AG Business Managment CDE and finished 14th out of 85 teams and received a gold rating. Jacob finished 8th out of 340.
  3. Claire Ohlrichs and Christian Koch both competed in the Greenhand Exam CDE and received Silver rating.
  4. Cody Laughton applied for the Proficiency Award in sheep production. He finished 6 and received a Silver rating.
  5. Jacob Holck received an Academic Achievement Award.

Librarian's Corner

Technology and teaching ideas are constantly changing, and it is difficult to keep up with all of the ideas. One concept I had not heard of (but just found out it's origins actually stem back to the 1950s) is 20% Time. The concept is to allow students 20% of class time, or one hour a week, to work on and explore the topic of their choice. This can be difficult to do when teachers have so much to teach, but it ties in directly with 21st century skills:

21.9–12.ES.2  Essential Concept and/or Skill: Adapt to various roles and responsibilities and work flexibly in climates of ambiguity and changing priorities.  

and

21.9–12.ES.4  Essential Concept and/or Skill: Demonstrate initiative and self–direction through high achievement and lifelong learning while exploring the ways individual talents and skills can be used for productive outcomes in personal and professional life.


While it can't always occur in the classroom, it is part of the reasoning for the creation of a makerspace in the library. A makerspace is a work space that allows for hands-on experiences and opportunities to design and create, as well as fail, problem solve, and collaborate. 

Google is actually credited with the 20% Project as they ask all of the employees to spend 20% of their time on a pet project not related to their job description. This has actually created such results as gmail, Google news, and even, Google classroom.  To learn more, go to 20-Time in Education

Instructional Coaches' Corner

If you ever use url shortners such as bit.ly or goo.gl I would recommend you check out bit.do.
Not only does it shorten your url, but it allows you to choose the last part of the address. so your address will be http://bit.do/________ and you fill in the blank.

For those of you who like Kahoot, now there is a team mode!

If you gather information into a Google Sheet but would prefer to read the data in a Google Doc, the "Save As Doc" Add-on might be for you.

The Gmail compose window has some interesting features. Here are 6 features you may not have realized were available to you.

If you use the Google Drive shortcut on your desktop, one drawback to that is it synced ALL of your files. If you are like me you have a LOT of files in there. You now have the ability to sync only the subfolders you want synced up.


Upcoming Events

Friday, April 22
  • Midterm
  • 7:00 pm Festival of Orchestras
Monday, April 25

  • 4:00 pm Girls Varsity/JV Tennis @ ELC
  • 4:00 pm Boys Varsity/JV Tennis vs. ELC

Tuesday, April 26
  • 4:00 pm Boys Varsity/JV Golf vs Spencer and Spirit Lake
  • 4:00 pm Girls Varsity/JV Golf vs@ Spencer Country Club
  • 4:00 pm Girls Varsity/JV Tennis @ Spencer
  • 5:00 pm Boys Varsity/JV Track @ Cherokee
Wednesday, April 27
  • 6:30 pm Foundation Banquet
Thursday, April 28
  • 4:00 pm Girls Varsity/JV Tennis vs. Cherokee
  • 4:00 pm Boys Varsity/JV Tennis @ Cherokee
  • 7:30 pm Parade of Bands
Saturday, April 30
  • 8:00 am State Honor Orchestra @ Waterloo West High School
  • 9:00 am Boys Varsity/JV Golf @ Storm Lake
  • 9:00 am Girls Varsity/JV Tennis - Lakes Conference Meet @ Le Mars
  • 9:00 am Boys Varsity/JV Tennis - Lakes Conference Meet @ Spencer

Monday, May 2
  • Boys Varsity/JV Golf vs. Cherokee
  • 2:00 pm Girls Varsity/JV Golf @ Sibley-Ocheyedan
  • 4:00 pm Boys Varsity/JV Tennis vs. Spirit Lake
  • 4:00 pm Girls Varsity/JV Tennis @ Spirit Lake
  • 5:00 pm Girls/Boys Varsity/JV Track @ Storm Lake
Tuesday, May 3
  • CPT Exams
Thursday, May 5
  • 4:00 pm Boys Varsity/JV Golf @ Five Island Golf Course
  • 4:00 pm Girls Varsity/JV Tennis vs. Spencer
  • 4:00 pm Boys Varsity/JV Tennis @ Spencer
  • 5:00 pm Girls/Boys Varsity/JV Track - Lakes Conference Meet @ Le Mars
Friday, May 6
  • 4:00 pm Girls Varsity/JV Golf vs. Western Christian @ Prairie Rose in Brunsville
  • 4:00 pm State Large Group Contest
Saturday, May 7
  • 8:00 am Boys Varsity/JV Golf - Le Mars Invite
  • 8:30 am Girls Varsity/JV Tennis @ Spencer
  • 5:30 pm Promenade
  • 9:00 pm Prom


Be Extraordinary!
Mark

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