October 19, 2018

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Happy Friday! I hope everyone has had an excellent week. Next week marks the end of first quarter. Second quarter begins on Friday, with first quarter grades due on Monday, Oct. 29. When I ran our "F" list, it showed 99 students are failing one or more classes right now. Many of the students were put into the success center or had their opens removed. The success center will assist the student, but you still need to insist the student comes before or after school to get extra help. If a student is not following the PASS Plan, you will need to call home to the parent to communicate that. We need to be persistent, and almost wear the student down so he/she complies with what we want from them. 

 I will be out of the office all day today as I will be assisting in the approval of Ag programs in our region. 

 Looking ahead, we have our extra hour meeting on Wednesday. Please don't forget to change the time for the November 28 extra-hour meeting. We will meet from 4:00 to 5:00 that day to learn some ELL strategies that can be used with our students. As our EL population increases, it will continue to put more pressure on our resources. If you read the research on EL students, it takes 5-7 years for them to learn our academic language. With the increase in students, we are also looking at what we currently do and what we need to do differently. We do not have the luxury of being a bilingual school. 

 Have a great weekend!
Mark

Students at Leaders

Ms. James and the following members will be attending the National FFA convention in Indianapolis: Jordan Berkenpas, Mia Haage, Kaleb Koerselman, Camden Schroeder, Brayden Utesch, Kerstin Thoms, and Jaiden Davison.

 Mr. Fischer took Robert Murra, Kaden Ostermeyer, Caleb Jungers, and Brenick Hoppe to the DMACC Troubleshooting Contests on Wednesday.


Staff News

On Tuesday next week, the Science Department will be attending a training on the Next Generation Science Standards.

Staff as Learners


Assistant Principal's Happenings




Librarian's News

Thank you to all who are supporting the student council's campaign to support our soldiers. If your box gets full, please feel free to send the items to the library. We get them out of your way, and we start sorting for packing. It's a win-win for everyone. We do currently have 22 addresses for those deployed. If you know of anyone who has a loved one deployed, please ask them for an address so we can send a care package. There are very few deployed from the Siouxland area this year, so our program is becoming more of Support Our Soldiers. 

 New library feature: You and students can now renew their own books online (high school only). Go to lemarscsd.org  - go to media (right side), click on catalog search, and then high school. Upper right hand side click Log in. Usernames are firstnamelastname (all little letters)  Pw: bulldogs  then go to My Info. Books can now be renewed online unless it is on hold for someone else. 

 Fake news continues to be a problem. John Spencer's short video gives some input on how to teach this: https://youtu.be/xf8mjbVRqao.

Instructional Coach's Technology Tid Bits

PurposeGames is a site that allows you create and play games. It seems well suited for you to upload an image and have students identify something in that image.

 It happens. You close a browser tab and then, oops, you realize you actually wanted to keep that tab open. The next time this happens, try the keyboard shortcut of Shift + Control + T. This key combination reopens the last tab that you closed.

 Is That a Big Number is a website that puts numbers into context: 

 The Science Behind Student Stress: A new study shows how a growth mindset helps students cope with academic setbacks.

Success Center Update


Friday, October 19
4:00 pm Freshmen Football @ Denison-Schleswig
7:00 pm Varsity Football @ Denison-Schleswig

Saturday, October 20
District All State Music Auditions - Storm Lake
8:00 am Robotics League Tournament @ Le Mars

Monday, October 22
7:30 pm 6-12 Orchestra Concert

Thursday, October 25
End of First Quarter

Friday, October 26
7:30 pm Indoor Marching Concert

Saturday, October 27
ACT Testing

Saturday, November 3
8:00 am NWI Honor Band Auditions

Thursday, November 8
7:00 pm High School Musical

Friday, November 9
7:00 pm High School Musical

Saturday, November 10
8:00 am IGCA Girls Basketball Scrimmage
7:00 pm High School Musical

 Thursday, November 15 
All State Music Festival in Ames

 Friday, November 16
All State Music Festival in Ames

 Saturday, November 17
All State Music Festival in Ames

 Monday, November 19
3:30 pm JV/Varsity Bowling vs. Sioux Central

 Tuesday, November 20
6:00 pm JV Girl Basketball @ Hinton
7:45 pm Varsity Girl Basketball @ Hinton

 Monday, November 26
6:00 pm Freshmen Girl Basketball @ Sioux Center
7:15 pm Freshmen Boy Basketball @ Sioux  Center

 Tuesday, November 27
3:45 pm JV Girl Basketball @ Unity Christian
5:00 pm JV Boy Basketball @ Unity Christian
6:15 pm Varsity Girl Basketball @ Unity Christian
7:45 pm Varsity Boy Basketball @ Unity Christian

 Friday, November 30
4:30 pm JV/Varsity Wrestling @ Hinton Tournament

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