November 16, 2018

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Happy Friday! Since we don't have school next Friday, this will take care of the next couple of weeks. Remember we run the one hour early out schedule on Tuesday. We will have several students missing today for the funeral. Please encourage those attending to come back here afterwards. We don't want them to comeback because of missing class, but for the support that can be offered to them. Being alone after a classmate's funeral will be hard, we can be there for those who need us if they are here. 

 If you gave summative assessments this week, please note how the students did. Some of them may have not have had their head into the test, as a result, may not have done as well as normal. Please consider reassessing those students, as we want what is best for them. 

 As I reflect on how this week went, I am left wondering what we could have done differently or better. If you have an idea on how to handle incidents like this, please share them with me. Losing a student never gets easier and several of us have been through this a few times. Each time something like this happens, I can not help but think back on the other students I have lost. I can still see their faces and their smiles and I wonder what could have been. If you need someone to talk with, know the door is always open.

For those of you who may be struggling, but don't want to talk with someone from the school, remember we do have the Employee Assistance Program through Plains Area. The district pays for up to 3 sessions. I will have copies of the pamphlet in the lounge for those interested. 

 Looking ahead the midterm of 2nd quarter is 11/29. Reminder I will not take any more PASS plans after this date. If we are going to come up with a plan, it will take longer than 4 weeks to make up for 14 weeks of not meeting expectations. 

Next extra hour meeting is on November 28 and will be from 4:00-5:00 pm. We will meet in the library for that meeting. 

The foundation is still looking for Employee of the Month nominations. Please take the time to nominate a colleague. Forms are found on the www.lemarscsd.org website under the employee tab.

Have a great weekend!
Mark

Students at Leaders


Staff News


Staff as Learners


Assistant Principal's Happenings

Student council will begin their "Fight Cancer" campaign on December 4th.
Each class will have a donation bucket in the office and will collect money for
local LCS citizens affected by cancer. Each class is expected to donate
$2.00/person and the campaign will run through December 18th. Each class
that raises their goal amount will earn double opens on December 21st.
Below is the breakdown of how much each class must raise:

9th Grade - $318.00
10th Grade - $354.00
11th Grade - $338.00
12th Grade - $318.00

 We will also be starting the 12 days of Christmas on December 5. Calendars with each day's
theme will be availabe by December 1st.

Instructional Coach's Technology Tid Bits
I got a little long last week so I'll try to shorten it up this week :-)

Amazon’s Alexa might be a key witness in a murder case

 In December Chrome's latest update will  start warning users if a site might unexpectedly bill them.

 Since 1996 the Internet Archive has kept a digital time capsule of the World Wide Web. You can access this enormous archive using the Wayback Machine at archive.org/web. Enter a web address and the Wayback Machine lists dates you can click to view the webpage as it appeared on that date. Besides using the Wayback Machine for nostalgia, it can be handy for viewing broken links and websites that are no longer online. It’s also an interesting way to explore recent history. 

Success Center

I read an interesting article last week that explores the mismatch between content-area textbooks and students' reading levels.  Especially as students reach the secondary grades, reading becomes significantly more demanding and complex.  Even in our classrooms, textbooks may be written two or three grade levels above the average level of students.  That mismatch also affects math science, and other classes that are not typically considered text-based.  The article suggests that rather than "dumbing down" the text and/or finding texts at lower levels of reading comprehension, change the way the text is used to provide more direct instructional support for students.  It's an interesting approach to a problem that is not likely to go away any time soon.

 If you have specific skills that you would like us to work on with your students, especially those who are failing, please let me know!  Have a great Thanksgiving break.  

Article Worth Reading

Upcoming Activities

Friday, November 16
All State Music Festival in Ames

Saturday, November 17
All State Music Festival in Ames
Robotics Club League Meet #2 at Trinity Christian High School

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

Monday, December 3
4:45 pm JV Wrestling @ MOC Floyd Valley Tournament

Tuesday, December 4
4:45 pm JV Boy/Girl Basketball vs. Spencer
6:00 pm JV/Varsity Wrestling @ South O'Brien
6:15 pm Varsity Girl Basketball vs. Spencer
7:45 pm Varsity Boy Basketball vs. Spencer

Thursday, December 6
3:30 pm JV/Varsity Bowling vs. OABCIG
6:00 pm Freshmen Girl Basketball @ MOC
6:00 pm Varsity/JV Wrestling vs. Storm Lake and Spencer
7:15 pm Freshmen Boy Basketball @ MOC

Friday, December 7
TBD Varsity Wrestling @ Council Bluffs
1:00 pm JV/Varsity Bowling @ Council Bluffs
4:45 pm Boy/Girl JV Basketball @ Cherokee
6:15 pm Varsity Girl Basketball @ Cherokee
7:45 pm Varsity Boy Basketball @ Cherokee

Saturday, December 8
TBD - Varsity Wrestling @ Council Bluffs
10:00 am Freshmen Basketball @ Sioux City West
11:30 am Freshmen Basketball @ Sioux City West

Monday, December 10
3:30 pm JV/Varsity Bowling vs. MMCRU
6:00 pm Freshmen Girl Basketball vs.Unity
7:15 pm Freshmen Boy Basketball vs. Unity

Tuesday, December 11
4:45 pm Boy/Girl JV Basketball vs. ELC
6:15 pm Girl Varsity Basketball vs. ELC
7:45 pm Boy Varsity Basketball vs. ELC

Thursday, December 13
6:00 pm Freshmen Girl Basketball vs. Western Christian
6:00 pm JV/Varsity Wrestling @ Cherokee
7:15 pm Freshmen Boy Basketball vs. Western Christian

Friday, December 14
4:45 pm Boy/Girl JV Basketball @ Storm Lake
6:15 pm Girl Varsity Basketball @ Storm Lake
7:45 pm Boy Varsity Basketball @ Storm Lake

Saturday, December 15
TBD - JV/Varsity Wrestling @ Spencer Tournament
8:00 am Robotics League Tournament @ Le Mars
10:00 am Freshmen Girl Basketball @ Heelan
11:30 am Freshmen Boy Basketball @ Heelan
1:00 pm Boy JV Basketball @ Heelan

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