March 24, 2017

Happy Friday, 3 quarters down, 1 more to go. Make sure you continue to push the students for this final quarter. With the weather warming up, this would also be a good time to remind students of the dress code. If you see a dress code infraction, please address it with the student. If the student does not respond to you, then let Mr. Utesch or myself know and one of us will talk with the student. Please take this time to refresh yourself on the dress code as well. 

On Monday, the 27th, please do the third quarter reflections sheets with the students. The assembly that was going to be on April 3, will now be on April 10 during advisory. The assembly will be in the competition gym.  On April 3, we will have a Sophomore class meeting in the little theater. Rich Zitlo and Becky Klohs will talk with the students about the Youth on Main Street Program. The Youth on Main Street Program was designed by Rich and Becky with the hopes of getting students interested in the history of Le Mars. This will be the fourth year of the program. Students in the program meet with Rich and Becky during our 2 hour early outs each month and other times they can agree upon. They will also do a community betterment project during the year. We do give the students a graduation credit for taking part in the entire program.

Just a reminder that Iowa Assessments will be on April 4-6. Mrs. Addison will get more info out to you prior to this time. We will use the formative assessment schedule in the handbook.

One final time, if you haven't taken the TLC survey that was forwarded last week and this week, please do so. The report I received shows only 31% of the staff has done this. If we get it to 50%, the district gets information back giving us another data point for the effectiveness of our TLC program. If you forgot what our TLC program encompasses it is the Instructional Coaches, Model Teachers, Mentor Teachers, and CIA members.

Our two open positions close next week. I hope to conduct interviews during the first couple of weeks in April and have the hiring done before spring break. We do have multiple applications for both openings. 

If you are not busy Tuesday night, please take the time to join us at the NHS induction ceremony in the auditorium. Mrs. Addison and Mr. Borchers do an excellent job with this program to honor our new inductees. 

Have a great weekend!

Staff News

Please continue to keep Susan Reed in your thoughts as she had her operation on March 22.

It has been great to see Tracy Meylor back at work. She is continuing to recover from her surgey and will be having another one coming up. 

Staff as Learners

Students as Leaders

Doug Martin will be taking these students to the NASA Space Settlement Design Competition in Houston: Colin Nemmers, Kelli Susemihl, Colton Webner, Walker Raymond, and Justin Tyler.

The following FFA members attended the Agri-Business Luncheon on March 21: Whitney Ten Napel, Claire Ohlrichs, Christian Koch, Cheyanne McGee, Kennedy Schilmoeller, Brandon Neyens, Keaton Koerselman, Kaleb Koerselman, and Camden Schroeder.

Good Luck to the music students performing at the Solo/Small Group Ensemble on Saturday.

Good Luck to the students performing at the IE Speech All-State Festival.

Good Luck to Kelli Susemihl and Jessica Hinds will be presenting their National History Day project at the distrct contest held at the AEA. 

Assistant Principal's Corner

Congratulations to our student's who were selected to take part in this year's Boy's State.  Boy's State will be from June 11th - June 18th, at Camp Dodge in Johnston, IA.  The two representative chosen this year are Alec Rieken and Noah Watson.  Our alternates for Boy's State are Caden Washburn and Morgan Boehme.  Congratulations to all of these young men and thank you to the teacher's for their nominations.

Reminder that it is not too late to sign up for the Student Council Blood Drive.  Sign up's are in the office and we will be taking blood from 9:00 - 2:30 pm on Friday, March 31st.

Librarian's Update

You just ever know what you might find in the library! Right now we have some of Mr. Smalley's sculptures on display. These ghostly figures have startled a few students! We also have a board display on the Bill of Rights provided by the National Archives. We also have a new link that provides practice tests for driver's ed. There are 11 car tests, 9 motorcycle tests, 12 CDLs, handbooks, and even offers options in Spanish. The link is Driving tests. 

Instructional Coaches Tid Bits

First of all, Technology Applications are due to Dr. Wendt by March 31, 2017. If I can be of any assistance with this process be sure to contact me soon.

Click here if you are interested in viewing 30 good infographics for language teachers.  Some examples are "44 Overused Words and Phrases To Be Aware Of", "147 Words To Use Instead Of Very", and "Affect vs. Effect & 34 Other Common Confusions."

Have you seen Quizlet Learn yet? It customizes the review materials based on material and dates that you input. It identifies patterns as you go through it and increases or decreases the difficulty. It is currently available in iOS only but an Android version is coming soon. Click here to learn more.

Google has recently created a way for families to create accounts for students under the age of 13. There are some limitations. Click here to read more.

Lastly, did you enjoy getting stickers on your paper as a student? Well how about putting digital stickers on your students' papers. DocStickers combines Google Keep with Google Docs to provide you and your students the joy of digital stickers on their digital work!

Success Center Update

Articles Worth Reading

Three Misunderstandings About Open Resources
Do You See and Engage Your Hidden Figures? - Math Focus
Standards-Based Grading Made My Kid Average - I am not promoting SBG, the article makes some interesting grading comments in general.

Upcoming Events

Saturday, March 25
- State Solo/Small Ensembles Contest
- Noon - Boy/Girl Track @ SDSU

Monday, March 27
- 8:00 am IE Speech All-State Festival

Tuesday, March 28
- 6:30 pm NHS Induction

Thursday, March 30
- 5:00 pm Boy/Girl Track @ Unity Christian

Friday, March 31
- National History Day District Contest
- Blood Drive @ LCHS

Tuesday, April 4
- 4:00 pm Boy Tennis vs. Sioux City East
- 4:30 pm Girl Track vs. Cherokee, OABCIG and SBL
- 4:30 pm Boy Track @ MOC

Thursday, April 6
- Sine Nomine Honor Band @ MS Auditorium
- Orchestra Festival @ UNI
- 9:30 am Robotics @ Des Moines
- 4:00 pm Boy Golf vs. Western Christian
- 4:00 pm Girl Tennis vs. Cherokee
- 4:00 pm Boy Tennis @ Cherokee
- 5:00 pm Boy Track @ Cherokee

Friday, April 7
- Music Booster Auction
- 4:30 pm Boy Golf @ Hinton
- 5:00 pm Music Booster Pancake Supper
- 5:00 pm Girl Track @ Cherokee

Be Extraordinary!

Mark