February 22, 2019

Happy Friday! The week goes by a little faster when you don't have school on Wednesday.

One final call for summer maintenance. I will be turning this into Dr. Webner later today. I am also taking a final call for next school year calendar feedback. We have option 1 that starts school on August 23 and option 2 that starts school on August 26. Both plans have the same vacation days. Option 1 last day of school will be May 21 with teacher checkout on May 22. Option 2 last day of school will be May 22 with teacher checkout on May 26.

Since we missed our extra hour meeting this past Wednesday, we will make it up on 2/27. Our first March meeting will be on March 6 and we will meet in the library to go over the ISASP. We have our district in-service on March 13 and our second building in-service on 3/20. 

For those of you who have trimester classes, the 2nd trimester ends on 2/25. I will need to store grades on 2/28, so please make sure grades are updated by 8:00 am that day.

Don't forget to get requisitions into me by 3/11. Please make sure you follow the instructions on the sheet that was in your mailbox. 

I am hoping we will hear something about our PE waiver soon and the legislature will do something with financial literacy. Once that happens, I will have department meetings to go over numbers. 

As we get into second semester, please do not wait too long to meet with parents for PASS Plans, especially seniors. If you have a senior struggling, please keep me in the loop of communication so I can also be talking to parents.

The foundation is in search of nominations for employee of the month. If interested in nominating one of your peers, please fill out the form. This can be found online on the www.lemarscsd.org website.

Have a great weekend!
Mark

Students at Leaders

Congrats to Travis Theisen on his 4th place finish at the state wrestling tournament!

Congrats to the girls bowling team on their runner up finish at the state bowling tournament.

Congrats to members of our FFA who competed at districts. 
Kerstin Thoms, Jaiden Davison, and Jaycee Davison -- Chapter Program -- Gold (First) Advanced to Districts 

Wade Fisher -- Creed Speaking and Greenhand Test -- Gold (First) Advanced to Districts

Kiley Allan -- Public Speaking -- Gold (First) Advanced to Districts

Mia Haage and Layla Searl -- Chapter Test -- Gold 

Claire Ohlrichs -- Job Interview -- Gold (Third) Alternate to Districts

Brayden Utesch -- Ag Sales -- Silver (Fourth) 

Staff News

Staff as Learners

Assistant Principal's Happenings

Resources of all kinds - notes from the Librarian

Love your gmail, but don't have time to read them all at once? Or is there a time when you really want a certain message to pop up again at a certain time so you remember something (without having to put it in your calendar). Try some of these new options with the RIGHT CLICK of your mouse. 

Instructional Coach's Technology Tid Bits

Success Center

One of the most important ways to meet the needs of the diverse population of learners in our classrooms is to differentiate the process.  In other words, how do your students make sense of the content?  Providing a variety of methods to explore the content gives learners different ways to connect with the learning.  The more students interact with the content, the more they will not only retain, but will also be able to transfer that knowledge to other situations. And, literacy - reading, writing, speaking, and listening - is critical to make that happen.

So, consider your classroom.  In a learning context, who is doing the most talking in your room?  Your students, or you?  Is your class mostly teacher driven?  Teachers often complain that a lecture format or a teacher-driven approach is easier - students will get the information quicker if we tell them what they need to know; taking the time for students to figure it out takes too long; or that's the way it has always been done.

But, we all know that students learn more and retain more when they have the opportunity to interact with the learning.  In other words, we need to get our students actively reading, writing, speaking, and listening in the context of the classroom.

Here is an article by Feldman and Kinsella (2005) that offers guidance for improving the academic discussion in secondary content-area classrooms.  Their methodology infuses academic vocabulary and language structures into the classroom, requires active and participation while providing support for lower proficiency levels, and demonstrates scaffolding to meet the needs of students, regardless of their level of proficiency.  In addition, here are language strategies and prompts you can use to encourage students to be more active participants in their own learning.

Video Worth Watching

Parent-Teacher Conference -This will give you a laugh.

Upcoming Activities

Friday, February 22

State Robotics @ Coralville
HS Show Choir Home Performance

Saturday, February 23

Show Choir @ Bishop Heelan Show Choir Invite
State Robotics @ Coralville
8:00 am District IE Speech contest @ Whiting

Monday, February 25

7:30 pm Orchestra Winter Concert - MS Auditorium

Saturday, March 2

Show Choir @ Lewis Central Show Choir Contest

Tuesday, March 5

6:30 pm Spanish Club Field Trip

Saturday, March 9

8:00 am State IE Speech Contest @ Woodbury Central

Tuesday, March 12

4:30 pm Varsity/JV Boy/Girl Track @ Buena Vista University

Saturday, March 16

Show Choir @ Hinton Show Choir Invitational

Sunday, March 17

Show Choir Banquet

Monday, March 18

7:45 am NHS Induction practice

6:30 pm NHS Induction Ceremony

Tuesday, March 19

7:30 pm HS Vocal Recital

Saturday, March 23

State Solo/Small Ensemble Contest

12:00 pm Varsity/JV Boy/Girl Track @ SDSU

Monday, March 25

8:00 am IE Speech All-State Festival @ Cedar Falls

Tuesday, March 26

5:00 pm Varsity/JV Boy/Girl Track @ Unity Christian