February 9, 2018

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Happy Friday! As I prepare to give the school board an update on our professional development plan, I can't help to reflect on what we have done so far this year. I have heard more discussions on depth of knowledge and how to increase the depth of knowledge in the classroom, than I have heard in previous years. Yes, I do realize that we have focused on DOK this year, but this is a way to increase rigor in the classroom with our current content that I haven't heard in the past. Please continue to think of ways to push our students. If we don't continue to push and ask for more we will not meet our goals. If you don't remember, our goals for this year are for 87.47% of students in grades 9-11 to be proficient in Math, 86.22% proficient in reading, and 83.10% proficient in Science. Last year, we met 2 of the 3 goal areas.

 When we started this school year, many us thought this was going to be the last year for Iowa Assessments. The Department of Education had even picked a new assessment for the 18-19 school year. This may be on hold and we may be giving the Iowa Assessments or something similar a little longer. There is legislation in the Iowa House and Senate to stop the DOE recommendation and authorize Iowa Testing to design a test that measures the Iowa Core.

 During advisory on Monday have the students complete the 3rd quarter reflection. They should be in your mailbox if you haven't picked them up yet. Also, grades will be due Monday morning so Amy and Beth can get the midterm reports printed. 

 Have a good weekend,
Mark

Students as Leaders

The Large Group Speech team closed out another successful season. A big thank you to Erin Ohrlund, Sherri Permeswaran, and Shawn Starr for all their extra work in preparing our kids and hosting State Large Group. We had numerous groups selected to perform or be recognized at the All-State Festival. Performing: Group Improv: "Boehme", Group Mime: "Cinderella", Radio Broadcasting: "KWXT", Musical Theater: "Hello/I Am Africa", and Short Film: "Illusion"  Non-Performing: Readers Theater: "How to Succeed in High School Without Really Trying". Students in the Musical Theater group "Book of Mormon" will sing the National Anthem to open the festival.

Assistant Principal's Happenings


Librarian's News

It's that time of year to start considering requisitions for next year. If there are certain titles you would like to see in the library for student use, please let me know. I like to supplement your curriculum as much as I can. We did just purchase the entire Wicked History series. These books are high interest/lower reading level for kids about famous leaders (the not so nice ones) in history. Kids often ask for new titles as well, and I try to keep up on the latest series and new titles by favorite authors.

 Tracy often supplies you with many tech notes, but here are some apps that work with Google classroom. SHAKE UP LEARNING  I have not tried them all, but they look worthwhile for investigation. 

Success Center Update


Instructional Coaches Corner

If you are a user of the Google Chrome extension, Grammarly, you may want to read the following article. Grammarly's flawed Chrome extension exposed users' private documents

 Do you or your students need to check their work for plagiarism? Try Plagiarism Checker. It's free too!

 Google Classroom users would you like to customize the appearance of your Google Classroom? Click here to learn how to create a custom header.

 Citation Machine is a website that assists you in citing your sources. You can choose from APA, MLA, Chicago, and thousands of other styles. It most likely would be used in a "copy and paste" environment. You would generate the citation using Citation Machine and then pasting it into your Word or Google Doc.

 If you have a Lenovo computer at home you should probably read this article to determine if this security breach affects you.

Article Worth Reading

Homework vs. Practice

Upcoming Events

Friday, February 9
- 4:00 pm Freshmen Boy/Girl Basketball @ Vermillion
- 5:15 pm JV Boy/Girl Basketball @ Vermillion
- 6:30 pm Varsity Girl Basketball @ Vermillion
- 8:00 pm Varsity Boy Basketball @ Vermillion

Saturday, February 10
- ACT Testing
- 10:30 am Robotics Super Qualifier at WITCC
- 2:00 pm Freshmen Boy/Girl Basketball @ SC West
- 4:00 pm JV Boy/Girl Basketball @ SC West
- 5:45 pm Varsity Girl Basketball @ SC West
- 7:30 pm Varsity Boy Basketball @ SC West

Monday, February 12
- TBD Freshmen Girl Basketball Sioux City City Tournament
- 6:00 pm Freshmen Boy Basketball @ Heelan

Tuesday, February 13
- TBD Freshmen Girl Basketball Sioux City City Tournament
- TBD Freshmen Boy Basketball @ Sioux City City Tournament
- 11:00 am Varsity Bowling State Qualifying @ Sweet 16 Lanes
- 6:15 pm JV Boy Basketball vs. S.C. North
- 7:30 pm Varsity Boy Basketball vs. S.C. North

Thursday, February 15
- TBD Freshmen Girl Basketball Sioux City City Tournament
- TBD Freshmen Boy Basketball @ Sioux City City Tournament
- 4:00 pm Spring Code of Conduct Meeting

Saturday, February 17
- 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

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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