August 25, 2017

By -
Happy Friday! Congrats on making through the first day of school. 

 I look forward to this time of year, it gets a little boring around here in July. It is nice to hear about all the exciting things everyone did over the summer. It is also exciting to get all the students back and meet our new ones. 

 I just want to take a moment to go over some of the reminders that we skimmed over at the staff meeting on Monday. Don't forget grades need to be updated every Monday at 8:30 am for the previous week. Obviously if you gave a large project, I don't expect you to spend all weekend grading them so the grades can be updated. But timely feedback is important for student learning. You should also make sure you update the assignment page on the website. This needs to be done Friday before you leave for the weekend. 

 This year Neal and I are going to try to get into more classrooms for walk-throughs. We are going to be looking for the APL strategies being used, mainly objectives, checking for understanding, and closure. For those of you who have not had APL training yet, Jill Brown will be doing an APL refresher during our September 6 building in-service. This is the only in-service time being allowed for the refresher, but Jill is willing to do a PD class on this topic if their is interest. 

 Our other building PD days will focus on our Iowa Core Implementation Plan. We will meet as a large group on September 20 to show the next step. Our other building PD days are 9/27,  10/11, 10/25, 11/8, 11/29, 12/6, 12/20, 1/10, 1/24, 2/14, 2/28, 3/14, 3/28, 4/11, 4/25, 5/2, and 5/9. 

 All our building PD/forms/plans etc. can be found on our website: https://sites.google.com/a/lemarscsd.org/2017-2018-lchs-professional-development/ this is where you will also upload your PLC meeting forms.

 During advisory this year we will watch "The Harbor." The discussion questions for the videos have been placed on the website listed above. Please make sure you book mark this website and it will be the main place to find our forms. The students will also do the goal setting activities like last year. I will have those copies for you in your mailbox.

 As always remember your school email is part of public record and may be requested. So, with that being said, please refrain from using your school email account to vent about students, use for non-school related business, or vent about other items or people. The other thing to remember is your email is filtered. Messages can be flagged for inappropriate words/content. If a message is flagged, it is then sent to all administration. 

 Finally, one more reminder to take the time to call home to parents, especially when their child is doing well or was helpful to you. These calls home help give a positive image of the school and you. It also helps you build an ally if you ever need one.

 Be Extraordinary!
Mark

Students as Leaders

Student Council officers and members talked with our incoming freshmen at the orientation on Tuesday night. Thank you to Sidney Baumgartner, Katie McAllister, Caden Washburn, Liz Ihrke, and JT Engebretson.

Staff News

Congrats to Kyle Gerdes and his wife on the birth of their daughter, Charlotte Marie Gerdes!

Please continue to keep Mr. Jentz and his family in your prayers as he recovers from surgery and progresses to the next step in his fight. 

Assistant Principal's Happenings

Welcome Back!  Hope you all had a great summer and found time to relax and see your loved ones. 

 Activity coaches and sponsors please remind your students that the last opportunity for a code of conduct meetings will take place on August 29th and August 31st in the high school little theater at 4:00 pm both afternoons.

 This year the LCS Homecoming theme is "Back to the Future".  We are excited about this theme and are going to try and tie alumni into our parade and festivities as much as possible.  Right now we are looking for past Homecoming Kings and Queens from different decades that may be available and willing to participate in our homecoming coronation and parade.  If you know any potential participants from years past that may be interested, please let myself or Mrs. Isebrand know and any contact information for them that you may have.

 Parade Entry forms are located on our school website: www.lemarscsd.org  for anyone who is interested in being in the parade.

 As in years past, the LCHS student council will be looking for 2-3 staff volunteers to help out with our homecoming dance on Friday, September 15th.  The dance is from 9-12 pm in Carey Gym.

 Staff sign up sheet to help with the homecoming festivities is posted in the staff lounge.  Please sign up by September 5th to help out.  

 We will have our class meetings on Tuesday, September 5th during advisory so that you can begin to plan for your class floats.  Building will take place at the fair grounds again this year and sign ups will be soon for staff to volunteer to help.  

 Class officers are as follows:
Juniors: Landen Parmelee, Joey De Boer, and Dacia Buss
Sophomores: Maddi Pippett, Anthony Lamoreux, and Chloe Calhoun
Freshman: Kutter Wright, Abby Hoss, and Donny Daggett

 Class Sponor chairpersons will want to meet with these students ahead of time to develop a plan for your meetings (come see Mr. Utesch to get details for planning).  

 Meetings will be in the following areas: (Tuesday - September 4th)

 Seniors: New Competition Gym (Meeting with Counselors)
Juniors: Carey Gym
Sophomores: Little Theater
Freshman: Commons

 Seniors will meet during this time to talk with counselors (Mrs. Hill & Mr. Kopperud) about credit checks and preparation for graduation.

 This year our theme days for homecoming week are as follows:
Monday - Marty McFly Monday - Jocks vs. Nerds
Tuesday - Time Travel Tuesday - Dress in your favorite Decade
Wednesday - Working to Save the Clock Tower - Class Color Day
- Seniors: Black
- Juniors: Peach
- Sophomores: Yellow
- Freshman: Royal Blue
- Staff: Red
Thursday - Traveling to the West - Cowboy/Cowgirl Day
Friday - Flex Capacitor Friday - Bulldog Spirit Day

 Assembly:
On Wednesday, August 30th, the LCHS student council has the "Bring your A-Game to School" BMX Ramp Show Assembly coming to Le Mars Community High School.  This assembly will feature a segment focusing on the National Guard's (7) Core Values:
                         1. Duty
                         2. Respect
                         3. Selfless Service
                         4. Personal Courage
                         5. Honor
                         6. Integrity
                         7. Loyalty

 The team will also focus on the core "A" of education.  Here they will talk about what it means to bring your "A Game".  Topics will include: 
                         1. Anti-Bullying
                         2. Achievement
                         3. Staying Active
                         4. Being Authentic
                         5. Having the right Attitude

 The assembly will start at 2:00 pm in the Competition Gym and runs about 45 minutes long.  Please wait to be dismissed with your students to the gym for the assembly and plan lesson's accordingly.

Librarian's News

There is a lot to comprehend already, so I will be brief. I will be traveling more to the other buildings this year, so if you need me to collaborate or coteach, please, schedule a time. I want to help in anyway I can.  I will provide more information next week! 

Instructional Coaches Tid Bits

Welcome back to school! For the YouTube users out there, this is an article that consists of 20 tips, hacks, and features of YouTube that you will want to know about. I think you will either find a friendly reminder of something you may have forgotten about or will find a hidden gem in there.

 As always if you have a project you would like assistance with, you would like to bounce some technology ideas for your classroom off of someone, or you have an idea for a PD class you would like to see offered, contact me and we will get to work on it! 

Success Center Update

The Success Center is off and running!  It's great to see that more students are requesting to be included, and we still have a core group of students who have been assigned.  If you have students you believe would benefit from a smaller, more focused study atmosphere, please let me know.  Special thanks to Jodi and Kristen for testing the 9th graders next week. 

Upcoming Activities

August 25, 2017
- 7:00 pm Varsity Football @ Sioux Center

 August 28, 2017
- 5:00 pm Freshmen/JV Football @ Central Lyon

 August 29, 2017
- 4:00 pm Code of Conduct Meeting
- 4:30 pm JV Volleyball @ MOC
- 4:30 pm Varsity Volleyball @ MOC
- 5:00 pm Varsity/JV Cross Country @ Spirit Lake

 August 31, 2017
- 4:00 pm Code of Conduct Meeting
- 4:30 pm Freshmen Volleyball @ Western Christian

 September 1, 2017
- 7:00 pm Varsity Football vs. MOC

 September 5, 2017
- 4:30 pm Varsity/JV Cross Country @ Brunsville
- 5:00 pm Freshmen/JV Football @ Western Christian

 September 7, 2017
- 5:30 pm Freshmen/JV Volleball vs. Sioux City East
- 6:50 pm Volleyball vs. Sioux City East

 September 8, 2017
- 7:00 pm Varsity Football @ Spirit Lake

 September 9, 2017
- ACT Testing
- 8:30 am Varsity Volleyball Invite @ Le Mars
- 9:00 am Varsity/JV Cross Country @ Holstein

 September 12, 2017
- 5:00 pm Varsity/JV Cross Country @ Sunrise Pointe Golf Course
- 5:30 pm Freshmen/JV Volleyball vs. Storm Lake
- 6:50 pm Varsity Volleyball vs. Storm Lake

 September 15, 2017
- 1:00 pm Coronation
- 2:15 pm Parade
- 4:30 pm Freshmen Football vs. SBL
- 7:00 pm Varsity Football vs. SBL
- 9:00 pm Homecoming Dance

 September 16, 2017
- 9:00 am JV Volleyball @ Unity Christian





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

March 7, 2025

By -
Image
  Friday Focus  Happy Friday! I hope everyone had a great week.  On Monday, I attended a DCAP workshop. You may be asking what is a DCAP workshop? DCAP is our District Career Academic Plan. Just like the student ICAP, Individual Career Academic Plan, the district must have one also. In the DCAP, we spell out what we are doing to prepare our students for college career readiness and employability skills. The DCAP consists of 7 sections, the main sections deal with course planning, work-based learning, and 5 essential components of ICAP.  The course planning section deals with the students 4 year plan and how the students and parents are advised on progress towards graduation. This is why we have the grade level registration meetings, our 8th grade CTE day, 8th grade parent meeting, etc so we can meet this requirement.  I am sure by this point, you are asking yourself how does this apply to me? This gets us into the next few sections with what we do in class matte...
Read more

May 16, 2025

By -
Image
  Friday Focus Happy Friday! I hope everyone had a great week. We made it through graduation breakfast, practice, and award night. I was thinking that Wednesday is just as about as busy of a day as the Friday of homecoming for me.  This will be the last Friday Focus for the school year, so I'll try to remember to have everything you need to know to get through the last week of classes. Please remember contracts are due to Central Office on the 23rd. I do have a basket on my desk where you can turn it into me and I'll get it to Central Office.   We will be running the advisory schedule on Monday. On Tuesday, we will use the last day of school schedule. On the last day of classes students will be checking out. Please sign their check out sheets. If they have school property that needs to be returned, please document it on the sheet. During advisory that day, they will turn in their laptops. Please look at each laptop and make them turn it on for you. If there is any da...
Read more

September 19, 2025

By -
Image
  Friday Focus Happy Friday!   I hope everyone has had a great week. Today is midterm of the 1st quarter. Please make sure all grades are up to date. Amy will run midterms and we will hand them out during 8th period.   I have had my first PASS plan turned in, congrats to Ms. Hommes to be the first one to get one done. Unfortuately is is for a senior that needs his credits. Next week is homecoming, let the fun begin. Monday night at 7:30 pm is the coronation. Come out to the competition gym to see who will be crowned this year's King and Queen.  On Monday, we will have class meetings so students can sign up for the different competitions. Freshmen will be in the Little Theater, Sophomores in the Library, Juniors in the Commons, and Seniors in the Competition Gym. Teachers with the asterick by their name in the Teacher Handbook are the lead teachers and will need to take charge of these meetings.  Dress up days for Homecoming Week. YOU CAN PARTICIPATE!...
Read more