February 16, 2018
Tuesday we will have advisory. There is a district in-service on Wednesday. On Friday, I have a Lakes Conference Principal's meeting. If you have anything you are wondering on how another school does something, let me know and I will try to find out. Melissa and Judd are closer to getting everyone registered for next year. Right now we only have 8th graders left. Thank you to them for their hard work in getting this task done.
I want to take a moment to go over the events that took place on Monday evening and Wednesday. After we had our staff meeting on Tuesday, I did talk with Chief Vande Vegte again and he reassured me that Monday's event was a routine call for them. They receive a call like this once a week, it just has never been by a school. Since this one was by the school, they took more precautions. A few concerns were expressed during the meeting regarding school security. I want to assure you that Neal and I do discuss school security with Dr. Webner and in prior years Dr. Wendt yearly.
As for the event on Wednesday, thank you for your assistance and quick response. I know there are some things we need to fine tune in case something like this would happen again, but I am very proud of our staff and students. Neal and myself will be debriefing with law enforcement to go over areas where we need to improve. Thank you for those of you who have taken the time to discuss ideas with me and to make me aware of other issues where announcements are not heard in the building.
Just to refresh everyone on terminology.
Lock Out
In the event of a school lock out, the principal or superintendent, as appropriate, shall immediately notify law enforcement authorities. The superintendent or designee shall immediately assume the responsibility for liaison with law enforcement authorities, and for the release of information through the media. In the absence of the superintendent/designee or upon mutual agreement of the principal and superintendent, the principal may assume these responsibilities.
During a lockout the following procedures shall apply:
1. All building entrance/exit doors shall be locked so as to permit no entrance from outside. Personnel shall be stationed near each door to assure that nobody exits to the outside, nor enters from outside the building without the personal authorization of the principal or his/her designee.
2. All scheduled outdoor activities (recess, lunch break, physical education classes, field trips, class projects, etc.) shall be suspended until the lockout has been cancelled.
3. Windows should be closed and if blinds/shades are present they should be kept closed.
4. The normal schedule of classes shall continue with necessary modifications made necessary due to suspension of all outside activities.
5. Take roll and account for all students. Teachers immediately report any missing students to the office.
Lock down is called when there is a non-violent threat or hazard inside the school building.
Students should:
- Get into a classroom
- Maintain Silence
Teachers should:
- Lock classroom door
- Lights out
- Move away from sight
- Maintain silence
- Wait for First Responders to open door
- Take roll, account for students.
Dangerous Individual
If a principal or his/her designee determines that an imminent danger situation exists due to the presence of a physically abusive intruder/student/staff member or armed intruder/student/staff member, the principal shall immediately notify law enforcement authorities and the superintendent’s office.
The principal’s office shall provide notice to the entire school by the most expedient and effective means possible under the circumstances. Notice can be provided by an all call intercom announcement of “THIS IS AN ALICE EVENT” or by personal communication as the situation dictates.
Upon receiving notice, staff members must proceed with ALICE:
- A – Alert – call 911, notify as many people possible by any means.
- L – Lockdown – If staying in room, students and staff need to barricade door and be ready to counter an intruder if he/she enters the room.
- I – Inform – If able, communicate location of intruder to staff, students, and law enforcement.
- C – Counter – Throw items, tackle, or whatever it takes to distract or eliminate threat if necessary.
- E – Evacuate – Get out to designated evacuation sites if reasonable.
Have a Great Weekend!
Mark
Staff News
Staff as Learners
Students as Leaders
Good luck to the LCHS Jazz Band at they will be performing on Monday here in Le Mars for the NWI Jazz Festival. Our students perform at 5:00 pm in the Little Theater.
Congrats to the Robotics team for qualifying for the state competition.
Congrats to the LCHS Jazz Band for their 1st place finish at the Morningside Jazz Festival. We had several outstanding soloist: Chloe Evans, Sam Vacura, Drake Oswald, Anna Vacura, Dalton Glawe, and Diana Loutsch. Sam Vacura was also named outstanding soloist for class 3A.
Travis Theisen won his first match yesterday at state wrestling 14-9. He will be wrestling sometime today.
Congrats to the Robotics team for qualifying for the state competition.
Congrats to the LCHS Jazz Band for their 1st place finish at the Morningside Jazz Festival. We had several outstanding soloist: Chloe Evans, Sam Vacura, Drake Oswald, Anna Vacura, Dalton Glawe, and Diana Loutsch. Sam Vacura was also named outstanding soloist for class 3A.
Travis Theisen won his first match yesterday at state wrestling 14-9. He will be wrestling sometime today.
Assistant Principal's Happenings
There will be a code of conduct meeting next Thursday, Feb. 22nd at 4:00 pm in the Little Theater. Please let any students know that they will need to attend with a parent before participating in any Spring or Summer activities, if they have not already attended a meeting. There will be no make up meetings.
As we continue to deal with new issues each day to keep students focused and on task in the classroom; keep in mind that you can reach all students, even the hard-to-reach students with the following ideas:
1. Keep them close - use assigned seating to help monitor work and behavior.
2. Put in extra effort - every student in your classroom should have the opportunity to be successful, so they may need an extra push (or many!).
3. Make your Expectations Known - Do not let students settle for bare minimum, and do not accept poor effort. Be sure students are aware of what you expect from you each and every day.
4. Model and Practice - Show them how to do something, give them a chance to practice, and provide positive explicit feedback.
5. Teach in Different Ways - Brush up on your differentiation skills as well as your theory of multiple intelligence's - ask yourself, "How can I change my lesson to meet the needs of every student".
Special Education Reminders:
1. Please make sure you are reviewing the IEP requirements outlined for special education students in your classroom. These have been shared with you at the beginning of the school year in a google document.
2. Remember that it is your responsibility as the classroom teacher to make sure that accommodations are being made as well as provided. If you are not sure how to provide them, then consult one of the special education teachers for ideas.
3. Do not expect that special education teacher to make the accommodations to your test, quiz, or assignments without ample time to review the material. You need to make the accommodations, give the item to the special education teacher to review the accommodations, then take recommendations on how to change instruction to meet the student's needs.
4. Reminder that not providing appropriate accommodations to student's on IEP's or denying them the rights to these accommodations will be hard to defend in a court case, if an issue should arise.
5. If it says that it should happen on the IEP, then it must happen in the classroom!
As we continue to deal with new issues each day to keep students focused and on task in the classroom; keep in mind that you can reach all students, even the hard-to-reach students with the following ideas:
1. Keep them close - use assigned seating to help monitor work and behavior.
2. Put in extra effort - every student in your classroom should have the opportunity to be successful, so they may need an extra push (or many!).
3. Make your Expectations Known - Do not let students settle for bare minimum, and do not accept poor effort. Be sure students are aware of what you expect from you each and every day.
4. Model and Practice - Show them how to do something, give them a chance to practice, and provide positive explicit feedback.
5. Teach in Different Ways - Brush up on your differentiation skills as well as your theory of multiple intelligence's - ask yourself, "How can I change my lesson to meet the needs of every student".
Special Education Reminders:
1. Please make sure you are reviewing the IEP requirements outlined for special education students in your classroom. These have been shared with you at the beginning of the school year in a google document.
2. Remember that it is your responsibility as the classroom teacher to make sure that accommodations are being made as well as provided. If you are not sure how to provide them, then consult one of the special education teachers for ideas.
3. Do not expect that special education teacher to make the accommodations to your test, quiz, or assignments without ample time to review the material. You need to make the accommodations, give the item to the special education teacher to review the accommodations, then take recommendations on how to change instruction to meet the student's needs.
4. Reminder that not providing appropriate accommodations to student's on IEP's or denying them the rights to these accommodations will be hard to defend in a court case, if an issue should arise.
5. If it says that it should happen on the IEP, then it must happen in the classroom!
Librarian's News
Success Center Update
Still thinking ahead toward Iowa Assessments, I heard a speaker this week who said research has shown that feedback is critical to closing the achievement gap. We all know the importance of feedback, right? What I found to be truly eye-opening, however, was the statement that feedback as a continuous process that is accurate, specific, and timely is not only powerful, but is almost twice as impactful on student achievement as all socioeconomic factors! I challenge you to consider a time in your classes this week where you offer feedback to your students that fits this description of accurate, specific, and timely, and target a skill will be tested on Iowa Assessments. Maybe it will be your comment or encouragement that is what that child on "the bubble" needs to become proficient.
Instructional Coaches Corner
Iowa STEM Scale-Up Applications are due by March 5. Click here to apply for one of the 10 programs.
Are you currently using a Google Team Drive? If so, Google has now made it possible to email all the members of that team drive. Click here to learn more.
This is an interesting blog article titled Flip your parent-teacher-student conferences with Google Forms.
Do you have students turn things in to you via Google Docs and you are suspicious that sections have not been written by the student but were "cut and pasted." If so, then you should give the Google Chrome Extension Draftback a try. Draftback lets you play back the revision history of any Google Doc you can edit. It's like going back in time to look over your own shoulder as you write.
Google is making some changes to the menus in the web versions of the Google Docs editors. These are similar to the changes were made in December and in January and will make it easier to find certain items. Click here to read more.
This tip was brought to me by Kimberly Mattina. This could be a real time saver for those of you giving feedback to student writing in Google Docs. It is another Google Chrome Extension called CheckMark. After you install the extension, be sure that it is enabled. It will display as a green check mark at the top right side of the screen. Once this is done, then you can open a Google document, highlight the text, click on the comment tool, and a floating keyboard will appear. On the floating keyboard there are codes that reference a specific skill or feedback comment. Simply click on the button and the feedback will be inserted as a comment in the document.
In a Google document, you can format specific words in your comments while using the commenting tool. Simply open the comment tool and type your comment.
Insert an * (asterisk) before and after the word to bold the text.
Insert a - (dash) before and after the word to strike through the text
Insert an _ (underscore) before and after the word to italic the text
The final tip is designed to help students who have learning disabilities. First, download the BeeLine Reader Chrome extension and the Select and Speak Chrome extension.
The BeeLine Reader extension will help make reading faster and easier because it uses color gradient to guide your eyes from the end of one line to the beginning of the next.
The Select and Speak Chrome extension is a text to speech extension that will read any webpage to the user.
Are you currently using a Google Team Drive? If so, Google has now made it possible to email all the members of that team drive. Click here to learn more.
This is an interesting blog article titled Flip your parent-teacher-student conferences with Google Forms.
Do you have students turn things in to you via Google Docs and you are suspicious that sections have not been written by the student but were "cut and pasted." If so, then you should give the Google Chrome Extension Draftback a try. Draftback lets you play back the revision history of any Google Doc you can edit. It's like going back in time to look over your own shoulder as you write.
Google is making some changes to the menus in the web versions of the Google Docs editors. These are similar to the changes were made in December and in January and will make it easier to find certain items. Click here to read more.
This tip was brought to me by Kimberly Mattina. This could be a real time saver for those of you giving feedback to student writing in Google Docs. It is another Google Chrome Extension called CheckMark. After you install the extension, be sure that it is enabled. It will display as a green check mark at the top right side of the screen. Once this is done, then you can open a Google document, highlight the text, click on the comment tool, and a floating keyboard will appear. On the floating keyboard there are codes that reference a specific skill or feedback comment. Simply click on the button and the feedback will be inserted as a comment in the document.
In a Google document, you can format specific words in your comments while using the commenting tool. Simply open the comment tool and type your comment.
Insert an * (asterisk) before and after the word to bold the text.
Insert a - (dash) before and after the word to strike through the text
Insert an _ (underscore) before and after the word to italic the text
The final tip is designed to help students who have learning disabilities. First, download the BeeLine Reader Chrome extension and the Select and Speak Chrome extension.
The BeeLine Reader extension will help make reading faster and easier because it uses color gradient to guide your eyes from the end of one line to the beginning of the next.
The Select and Speak Chrome extension is a text to speech extension that will read any webpage to the user.
Article Worth Reading
Upcoming Events
- 8:00 am IHSAA Large Group Speech All-State Festival
- 7:00 pm Varsity Girl Basketball vs. Winner of SBL and Spencer
Monday, February 19
- MS/HS NWI Jazz Festival @ Le Mars
- 6:30 pm Varsity Boy Basketball vs. Algona
Tuesday, February 20
- 10:00 am Bowling State Meet @ Waterloo
- 7:00 pm Varsity Girl Basketball Regionals
Wednesday, February 21
- 7:00 pm Athletic Booster Club meeting
Thursday, February 22
- 4:00 pm Spring Code of Conduct meeting
Friday, February 23
- Robotics at Iowa Championships @ Coralville
Saturday, February 24
- Crimson and Black @ Bishop Heelan Show Choir Invite
- Robotics at Iowa Championships @ Coralville
- 8:00 am IHSAA Individual Events Speech Contest @ Woodbury Central
Monday, February 26
- 7:30 pm MS/HS Orchestra Concert
Tuesday, February 27
- 7:30 pm HS Vocal Concert
Saturday, March 3
- Crimson and Black @ Clash of Titan Show Choir - Lewis Central
Tuesday, March 6
- 6:00 pm Spanish Club @ El Ranchito
Saturday, March 10
- 8:00 am IHSAA Individual Speech State Contest @ Kuemper Catholic
Tuesday, March 13
- 4:30 pm Varsity/JV Boy/Girl Track @ Buena Vista University
Wednesday March 14
- 1:00 pm Assembly
Thursday, March 15
- 6:30 pm Speech/Drama Banquet
Friday, March 16
- End of 3rd Quarter
- 6:30 pm Dance Exhibition
- 9:00 pm Swinter Dance
Saturday, March 17
- Hinton Show Choir Competition
Sunday, March 18
- Show Choir Banquet
Monday, March 19
- TBD Varsity Boy/Girl Track @ USD - Vermillion
Wednesday, March 21
- 7:00 pm Athletic Booster Club Meeting
Saturday, March 24
- TBD Varsity Boy/Girl Track @ SDSU - Brookings
- 8:00 am State Solo/Small Ensemble Festival
Monday, March 26
- IHSAA Individual Events Speech All-State Festival @ Cedar Falls
Tuesday, March 27
- 5:00 pm Varsity Boy/Girl Track @ Unity Christian
- 7:00 pm Varsity Girl Basketball vs. Winner of SBL and Spencer
Monday, February 19
- MS/HS NWI Jazz Festival @ Le Mars
- 6:30 pm Varsity Boy Basketball vs. Algona
Tuesday, February 20
- 10:00 am Bowling State Meet @ Waterloo
- 7:00 pm Varsity Girl Basketball Regionals
Wednesday, February 21
- 7:00 pm Athletic Booster Club meeting
Thursday, February 22
- 4:00 pm Spring Code of Conduct meeting
Friday, February 23
- Robotics at Iowa Championships @ Coralville
Saturday, February 24
- Crimson and Black @ Bishop Heelan Show Choir Invite
- Robotics at Iowa Championships @ Coralville
- 8:00 am IHSAA Individual Events Speech Contest @ Woodbury Central
Monday, February 26
- 7:30 pm MS/HS Orchestra Concert
Tuesday, February 27
- 7:30 pm HS Vocal Concert
Saturday, March 3
- Crimson and Black @ Clash of Titan Show Choir - Lewis Central
Tuesday, March 6
- 6:00 pm Spanish Club @ El Ranchito
Saturday, March 10
- 8:00 am IHSAA Individual Speech State Contest @ Kuemper Catholic
Tuesday, March 13
- 4:30 pm Varsity/JV Boy/Girl Track @ Buena Vista University
Wednesday March 14
- 1:00 pm Assembly
Thursday, March 15
- 6:30 pm Speech/Drama Banquet
Friday, March 16
- End of 3rd Quarter
- 6:30 pm Dance Exhibition
- 9:00 pm Swinter Dance
Saturday, March 17
- Hinton Show Choir Competition
Sunday, March 18
- Show Choir Banquet
Monday, March 19
- TBD Varsity Boy/Girl Track @ USD - Vermillion
Wednesday, March 21
- 7:00 pm Athletic Booster Club Meeting
Saturday, March 24
- TBD Varsity Boy/Girl Track @ SDSU - Brookings
- 8:00 am State Solo/Small Ensemble Festival
Monday, March 26
- IHSAA Individual Events Speech All-State Festival @ Cedar Falls
Tuesday, March 27
- 5:00 pm Varsity Boy/Girl Track @ Unity Christian
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