February 3, 2017

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Happy Friday! It is hard to believe we are already in February. We are getting closer to having numbers for courses for next year and should have these meetings soon. We have about 30 kids yet to register. 

 Midterm will be on 2/14 with grades due at 8:30 am. Please put your comments under Q3 so they will run on midterms. After midterms would be a good time to start looking at PASS Plans. I know last semester we had a lot packed into a short amount of time. As we get closer to the end of the school year, we seem to get busier.

 We have several groups that have or will be participating in state events. Thank you for having patience with our students and please continue to work with them as they may miss class. Without your cooperation, and the work of our students and fellow staff members, these opportunities for our kids would not be possible. 

 I will be coming around to get summer maintenance request. These requests should be for things that can't be repaired right now. If you have something that can be fixed now, please let Mike know.

 Looking ahead on the calendar, we have our regular February early morning meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 8, district in-service on Feb. 15, and an early morning meeting on Feb. 22. That will leave only 6 extra meetings for the rest of the year. 

 On Feb. 10, Dave Irwin and I will be going to the Sioux City district to see how they have their CTE Academies set up.

 Finally, I will be gone on February 16 and 17. I will put out a reminder as those dates get closer, but you will need to contact Neal if you need a sub on those days plus Feb. 21.

 Have a good weekend!

Staff News

Continue to keep Tracy Meylor in your thoughts as she continues to recover from her surgery. 

Students at Leaders

Good luck to the Robotics team as the attempt to qualify for the state competition on Saturday.

Good luck to all our State Large Group Speech participants. They will be competing Saturday in Spencer. 

 Good luck to the Jazz Band as they perform at the Morningside Jazz Festival today.


Mrs. Rust will be taking the following students to the Morningside Science and Math competition on Feb. 7: Jeff Ahlers, Kelli Susemihl, Kyle Marek, Justin Tyler, Zach Spieler, Ote Albrecht, and Chloe Evans.

Assistant Principal's News

Le Mars Student Council did a Hope for Cancer victims (at LCS) fundraiser by selling t-shirts and asking for free will donations during the halftime of the Jan. 31 basketball game. Over $900 has been raised to help out the five families with costs. It is not too late to donate. Drop your money off at the office for the Hope fund.

 Junior class representatives from student council will be attending the annual START leadership conference in Council Bluffs on March 3rd.  Students attending are Katie McAllister, Grace Milbrodt, Ote Albrecht, Caden Washburn, and Elizabeth Ihrke.

 Student Council's annual SWINTER dance is February 11, 2017.  The dance is from 9-12 in Carey Gym, following the varsity game again Sioux City West.  If you are able to attend and help out as a chaperone, please let Mr. Utesch or Mrs. Isebrand know as soon as possible as we are still in need of helpers.

 Reminder to staff to give Mr. Utesch your nominations for Boy's State representatives for summer 2017.  Remember that your nomination needs to be a Junior boy who shows great leadership skills and responsibility.  Nominations are due February 17th by 3:30 pm.

 What are some classroom management strategies for teachers?

 1. Keep the lesson moving - if the lesson is long, plan a few different activities throughout, getting the students out of their seats at lease once during the class.
2. Do more than simply lecture - work toward actively engaging students with hands-on activities.
3. Show caring and interests - talk to the student in the hallway, congratulate them when appropriate, take an interest - call home with a positive comment to parents to reinforce that students behaviors, don't wait to call home only when their is a problem.
4. Stand next to disruptive students - this sends them a direct message to stope their disruptive behavior - address the issues and be consistent with consequences.

Librarian's Corner

Students have started showing interest in the Makerspace. Students are not quite sure what is all available, so initial interest will just be taking the tour. The biggest interest is designing 3D objects to hopefully print on our 3D printers. I currently have two of the printers working. Both projects have been created on Tinkercad, converted on Cubify and then sent to the 3D printer. A standing egg dude is the first project printed. These printers were part of a grant I wrote last year. They are not high quality, but it will be good enough for students to start thinking on what could be created through 3D options.
Mr. Wingert and I will be gone Monday and Tuesday, February 6 & 7 to attend a Makerspace workshop to learn more on integrating such a space into the curriculum. 

 In the meantime, Mr. Gerdes' biology class are doing research for an ethics debate they will hold in class. They are utilizing SweetSearch and the SIRS Issues Researcher database (provided by the AEA) and must evaluate the credibility of their sources. Helping students and classes utilize resources we have in the school and through the AEA is how I can help you. Just let me know! 

Instructional Coaches Tid Bits

My last few submissions were pretty lengthy so I thought I would keep this one pretty brief with just one tidbit. The True Size of is an interesting website. It allows you to type the name of a state or country. It then allows you to drag that state or country around to see how it really compares in size to other states and countries.

 As always please contact me if you have any technology ideas you would like me to assist with in your classroom.

Articles Worth Reading

The Critical Thinking Skills Cheatsheet

5 Ways to Strengthen Student Questioning

Upcoming Events

Friday, February 3
- Morningside Jazz Festival
- 4:45 pm Boy/Girl JV Basketball @ Spirit Lake
- 6:15 pm Girl Varsity Basketball @ Spirit Lake
- 7:45 pm Boy Varsity Basketball @ Spirit Lake

Saturday, February 4
- Robotics Competition @ WITCC
- State Large Group Speech Contest @ Spencer
- 9:00 pm Boy Varsity Basketball vs. Sioux Center @ Sioux Fall Pentagon

Monday, February 6
- 3:30 pm JV/Varsity Bowling vs. MMCRU & West Sioux
- 6:00 pm Freshmen Girl Basketball vs. SBL
- 7:30 pm Freshmen Boy Basketball vs. SBL

 Tuesday, February 7
- 4:45 pm JV Boy/Girl JV Basketball vs. Emmetsburg
- 6:15 pm Varsity Girl Basketball vs. Emmetsburg
- 7:45 pm Varsity Boy Basketball vs. Emmetsburg

 Thursday, February 9
- 8:00 am NWI HS Honor Choir @ Dordt
- 7:30 pm HS Band Winter Concert

 Saturday, February 11
- 12:00 pm Freshmen Boy Basketball vs. Sioux City West
- 12:00 pm Varsity Wrestling Districts @ Fort Dodge
- 2:00 pm JV Boy/Girl Basketball vs. Sioux City West
- 3:30 pm Girl Varsity Basketball vs. Sioux City West
- 5:15 pm Boy Varsity Basketball vs. Sioux City West
- 9:00 pm Swinter Dance

 Monday, February 14
- TBD - Varsity Bowling State Qualifying
- 5:45 pm JV Boy Basketball vs. Sioux City North
- 7:30 pm Varsity Boy Basketball vs. Sioux City North

 Wednesday, February 15
- 7:00 pm Athletic Booster Club Meeting

 Saturday, February 18
- 8:00 am Large Group Speech All State Festival @ Ames
- 7:00 pm Girl Varsity Regional Basketball vs TBA (Heelan or Spencer)

 Monday, February 20
- TBD Bowling State
- MS/HS NWI Jazz Festival @ Le Mars
- TBD Boy District Basketball

 Tuesday, February 21
- 7:00 pm Girl Basketball Regional Final @ highest remaining seed
- 7:30 pm HS Vocal Concert

 Thursday, February 23
- 7:00 pm Boy District Basketball @ TBD

 Saturday, February 25
- Bishop Heelan Show Choir Invite
- 8:00 am IHSSA Individual Events Speech District Contest

 Monday, February 27
- TBD Boy Substate Basketball

 Tuesday, February 28
- 7:30 pm MS/HS Orchestra Concert

 Be Extraordinary!
Mark

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