November 30, 2018

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Happy Friday! Midterm was yesterday, the reports will be printed on Monday and then handed out during advisory. Also during advisory, have the students complete the midterm reflection. The shelter drill that was scheduled for Wednesday at 1:10 pm will now be on Thursday, December 6 at the same time. 

 I have been approached by several people, parents and students, about the retake policy. I have learned a few things from these discussions. The retake policy was put into place with our buildingwide grading policy. In the grading policy, summative assessments account for 85% of the students total grade. So if you only have 4 summative assessments for a quarter, one bad test could doom any student. Because of this, All summative assessments will allowed to be retaken. You have discretion on if an individual student has abused the retake policy to say no. This means the entire summative assessment and not just parts of it can be retaken. It may mean more work for us, but if you refer back to our first meeting of the year, my number one expectation is that we will do what is best for the student and student learning, not what is easiest for us. You can refer back to the teacher handbook to the page right after the table of contents. Also, please look at what you are requiring the student to complete before you allow the retake. It should not be so much that the student just gives up. The students who are giving up are the ones that are already at risk of not passing a class or not graduating. If a student is failing, we need to insist on them retaking it and not giving them the option. We can not accept anything less then their best effort given their ability.

 If you want to look at "the real world", you are able to take your driver's exam as many times as necessary, people going into our profession can take the PRAXIS as many times as necessary, students graduating from law school can take the BAR exam as many times as necessary. These are only a few examples, so the idea that you only have one shot to show what you have learned is false. If you remember back to your adolescent growth class from college, you will know that the frontal lobe on the student's brains are not fully developed at this age and many of them do not understand the long term implications of not doing well in school. I have always been impressed with the amount of dedication and empathy you all have shown. Our students that need retakes are the ones that need us the most. Let's continue to model perseverance by not allowing them to give up!

 Have a great weekend!
Mark

Students at Leaders

Good luck to the Dance Team as they dance at State Dance Team. Members are: Hannah Albert, Carlie Arens, Zoey Campbell, Grace Gerdes, Kenna Kasel, Jenna Laughton, Haley Majeres, Isabelle Majeres, Cassidy Pravecek, Megan Ruden and Anna Sullivan.

Staff News


Staff as Learners


Assistant Principal's Happenings

The LCHS Student Council is kicking off it's "Fight Cancer" campaign Dec. 4-18.  We are collecting monetary donations for families affected by cancer in the Bulldog Community.  The Student Council is accepting donations at the high school and t-shirts will be available through MJM Designs.  To order your shirt go to mjm-designs.com. Proceeds from the t-shirt sales will benefit our cause to fight cancer!  Tough Bulldogs wear pink in the t-shirt theme and we will have pink out at our January 11th game vs. Western Christian.

As part of our "Fight Cancer" campaign, we are asking our students to bring in $2.00 each with the possibility of earning a double open lunch on December 21st.  Please encourage your kids to bring in their money and make their donation.

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

Reminder to all staff.  If you are giving a test and need it read to students, please give the resource room teacher a day's notice so that they can have time to make sure they have enough supervision to help accommodate the students that you send them.

 Student council will be sponsoring the 12 days of Christmas (due to Ashley Alons' input!)
A few days are a bit different for staff. They are as follows: Dec 5 - Preview day - Wear a holiday sweater, Dec 6 Christmas Color - wear Red and/or green. Dec 7 Winter Wonderland - wear white. Dec 10: Wear a warm scarf. Dec 11: Christmas socks (but shoes must be worn) Dec 12: Wear holiday sweater: enjoy bagels in the lounge (thank you to the English department). Dec 13 Elf - wear green Dec 14: Ugly Sweater, Dec 17: Candy Cane - wear red and/or white - enjoy hot chocolate & candy canes in lounge (thank you to the library) Dec 18: Pay It Forward - wear Santa hat & do random acts of kindness. Dec 19: Christmas Spirit - wear Christmas outfit and bring a Christmas treat to share in the lounge. Dec 20: Flannel day Dec 21: Twas the night before Christmas break -- wear jammies

Book Nook - notes from the Librarian

Holidays are always a tough time for those who have lost loved ones. The library has added a number of books for teens and adults on dealing with grief, including this specific title: Surviving the holidays without you by Gary Roe. Most of the new books are non-fiction, though there are a number of fiction books that can help a person cope as well. 

Book bash has started. Book Bash is a friendly competition in which teams of 2-6 students read from a list of 20 books and then participate in quiz format against over teams in NW Iowa. We have 2 full teams right now, with about 7 other kids reading but not forming a team yet. If you know of some readers that you think will enjoy this, please send them to the library. 

Instructional Coach's Technology Tid Bits

Sign-up Now for Google Forms Locked Mode. Now pump the brakes a minute here. It will currently work on Chromebooks. Maybe computers will be added down the road?

 Half of all Phishing Sites Now Have the Padlock.  Maybe you were once advised to “look for the padlock” as a means of telling legitimate e-commerce sites from phishing or malware traps. Unfortunately, this has never been more useless advice. New research indicates that half of all phishing scams are now hosted on Web sites whose Internet address includes the padlock and begins with “https://”.

 Intriguing Strategy In Assessing Multiple Choice Tests -- Giving Credit for Explaining Which Options Are Wrong. 

 This Emoji Builder is just for fun.

Success Center


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Upcoming Activities

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

 Monday, December 17
3:30 pm Boy/Girl Bowling vs. Sioux Central
7:30 pm High School Holiday Concert

 Tuesday, December 18
4:45 pm Boy/Girl JV Basketball @ Spirit Lake
6:00 pm Spanish Club Christmas Party
6:15 pm Girl Varsity Basketball @ Spirit Lake
7:45 pm Boy Varsity Basketball @ Spirit Lake

 Wednesday, December 19
7:00 pm Athletic Booster Club Meeting

 Thursday, December 20
5:00 pm JV/Varsity Wrestling @ Sioux City West
5:30 pm Girl Varsity Basketball @ Heelan
7:00 pm Boy Varsity Basektball @ Heelan

 Thursday, January 3
3:30 pm Bowling @ Remsen
4:45 pm Boy/Girl JV Basketball vs. SBL
6:00 pm JV/Varsity Wrestling @ Sibley-Ocheyedan
6:15 pm Girl Varsity Basketball vs. SBL
7:45 pm Boy Varsity Basketball vs. SBL

 Friday, January 4
3:45 pm Boy Varsity Basketball vs. Sioux City East @ Tyson Events Center

 Saturday, January 5
TBA - Northwest Iowa Honor Band @ Morningside
10:30 am JV/Varsity Wrestling @ West Sioux

 Monday, January 7
6:00 pm Girl Freshmen Basketball vs. Gehlen
7:15 pm Boy Freshmen Basketball vs. Gehlen

 Tuesday, January 8
4:45 pm Boy/Girl JV Basketball @ Sioux Center
6:15 pm Girl Varsity Basketball @ Sioux Center
7:45 pm Boy Varsity Basketball @ Sioux Center

 Thursday, January 10
4:00 pm Bowling vs. Sioux Central @ Spencer Bowl
4:45 pm Girl Freshmen Basketball vs. MOC
6:00 pm Girl JV Basketball vs. MOC
7:30 pm Girl Varsity Basketball vs. MOC

 Friday, January 11
4:45 pm Boy/Girl JV Basketball vs. Western
6:15 pm Girl Varsity Basketball vs. Western
7:45 pm Boy Varsity Basketball vs. Western

 Saturday, January 12
Robotics League Tournament @ WITCC Sioux City
9:00 am Girl Freshmen Basketball @ Sioux City East
10:00 am JV/Varsity Wrestling Home Tournament
10:15 am Boy Freshmen Basketball vs. Sioux City East (A and B games)




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