SCHLESWIG SCHOOL DECEMBER 2017/JANUARY 2018 HAPPENINGS Please check out the school s website at http://www.schleswig.k12.ia.us/ for school calendars, bus routes, emergency bus routes and school cancellations. PRINCIPAL S REPORT By Mr. Galvin I know I may tend to sound like a broken record quite often, but this school year is going by quickly. They all seem to do that anymore. November has become December and very soon we will be into 2018. We have one round of Parent/Teacher Conferences in the books, as well as the 8 th Grade Play (which was very well done, congratulations Mrs. Kuhlmann and Miss Totten!) and Fall Sports. Basketball is starting its schedule of games, and concerts are just a few days away. We look further ahead to the Middle School Academic Fair in March as well as our winter screening window and students completing the Iowa Assessments and our second set of conferences. Please take advantage of the various means to keep up to date with what is going on in the classrooms. Every classroom teacher has an online planning tool, Planbook.com where parents and students can see what is planned for the day. Links to those resources are on the teacher pages on the school webpage. Bullying/Harassment Reminder The State of Iowa continues to place a strong emphasis on handling situations of bullying with students. Schleswig School staff works hard to ensure that all students have a safe learning environment free from bullying and harassment. Bullying can and unfortunately does take place at school. It also happens outside of the school day. With communication technology so advanced and in the hands of young people, it is easier than ever for students to stay in contact outside of the school day, which can be both a positive and a negative. No matter where the unwanted behavior takes place, one thing remains the same. It is difficult to address bullying behavior (or most inappropriate behavior) without knowledge. Schleswig students are taught to report instances of bullying to an adult at school and also an adult at home. If a child makes a report at home, do not assume that the school is aware of what is going on. Contact the school with what was reported at home. This will help ensure that school and home are working together to appropriately respond to these situations to get them resolved. Winter Clothing As winter starts to look like it will be upon us soon, please make sure your children are dressed for the weather. Dressing in layers is great for the days that start cold but end up a bit warmer in the afternoon. If there are any problems acquiring appropriate clothing for the weather, such as coats, snow pants, boots, etc., please call the school. Winter Break We will be getting out at 1pm on Friday, December 22 nd and returning to school on Wednesday, January 3 rd.
Book Fair by Mrs. Collins Schleswig School would like to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who supported the fall book fair. The book fair was a success! With profits from the book fair, we are able to purchase more books for our school. Your purchases are greatly appreciated! SCHOOL COUNSELOR By Mrs. Koch Mrs. Koch is on Facebook! Search @MrsKochSC or Mrs. Koch - School Counselor and like her page! Congratulations to Sara Rosener, Jacy Boyens, Roslyn Velasquez, and Trevor Ransom, who were chosen to be the Students of the Quarter for 1st Quarter. You all did a great job with following the rules and directions, being a good listener, and being an active class participant. Keep up the good work! During Guidance this month, we have continued with our Second Step lessons. The main focus has been around empathy, which is feeling or understanding how someone else is feeling. Students in all grade levels have discussed the importance of empathy and how you can use this skill in your life. We have also started talking about feelings in all elementary classrooms. Students practice identifying feelings beyond mad, sad, and happy, and think about how sometimes, feelings can be very complex. It s important to understand your own feelings so you are able to relate to other people s feelings and show empathy. 5th graders started Guidance 2nd quarter, and have been discussing many of the same ideas. 8th graders also began Guidance 2nd quarter, and have their own version of Second Step that they are working through. We discussed being welcoming to all students in the school and how to set good goals for yourself. TRANSITIONAL KINDERGARTEN By Miss Furne In recognition of Veteran s Day, TKers took a closer look at the meaning behind the words of The Pledge of Allegiance to gain a better understanding of why we say the pledge
every morning. Posters of recognition were displayed in the hallway when everyone was able to recite the words on their own. As many of us prepare to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends giving thanks for the blessings of harvest and of the preceding year, this is what the TK students are most thankful for: Collin - my dad, I work with him on the tractor. Sophie- my mom, my sister, and everyone in my family. Albert- when my dad is in Iowa and my family is all together. Carson- my baby sister, Beva. Averi- moving to my new house. Paul- my mom, she brings me milk, and my sister Kelsey. We continue to be busy bodies working with partners during stations, making class books, exploring during free choice, and singing songs. ABC Bootcamp continues to keep EXCITEMENT in our learning. I often hear students talking about not only the focus letter but the letter for the next day as well. What is most exciting for me as a teacher is when students continue to make connections with the past letters and sounds to form new learning! This introduction to letters and sounds helps us to move the focus to reading and writing words and more! Soon we will begin working in our Guided Reading groups. Groups are based on student s ability, where instruction is then driven by specific abilities and needs assuring every student will have the opportunity to learn, experience success, and be on the path to becoming a reader. Be watching for your child s reading bag to come home some nights, please take just a few minutes to talk about what s inside, practice skills, and most importantly read with your son/daughter. The bag and its contents should be returned to school each day. In Math, we are working on counting objects in a group and comparing sets, counting on, identifying teen numbers, understanding the terms fewer and more, and distinguishing the difference between combining and separating story problems. As we continue counting the days of school with our friend Zero the Hero, we anxiously anticipate the 100th day of school and our BIG celebration sometime in January. How wonderful it would be if we had everyone in our counting club on the 100th day! Can we do it I think WE CAN! As winter approaches, the weather is getting chilly. Please make sure students are dressing appropriately. Warm coats, hats, and gloves will be a must very soon, followed by snow pants and boots. Thanks for your help with this! The upcoming month will bring Christmas spirit into our classroom. We look forward to our upcoming holiday music program, writing letters to Santa, again joining the preschoolers for a visit to the Christmas House and Schleswig Library, our third visit from the Nature Center, and of course our class party!
Five Green and Speckled Frogs and making ten with partners.
KINDERGARTEN By Miss Tschetter This last month we enjoyed learning all about turkeys! We learned how to make patterns in math using turkey colors, and all the parts of a turkey in science. Kelly came to visit and taught us more about turkeys and let use make turkey ornaments. We also got to talk about all the things that are important to us and how we are thankful for those things. We are all turkeyed out and are very excited to start winter activities this month!
1 ST GRADE By Miss Hibma As a class we read the story Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano, in this story the turkey had to disguise himself in order to be saved from being eaten at Thanksgiving Dinner. Each student was given the assignment to disguise a turkey any way that they wanted to in order to save him from getting eaten for Thanksgiving dinner. Below are each student's turkey disguises. Jack - As a clock because then he can tic tock all day long. Matthew- As camouflage in the corn because he can hide in the corn and be safe. Haxton- As a race car flag because my brother races. Charley- As a book because I wanted mine to be a book so the turkey can read. Gavin a Fly because no one would want to eat a fly. Carter as a cow because it would look funny. Ezden- As a skunk because it was easy and no one would want to eat a skunk. Avery- As a ballerina because no one would want to eat a ballerina for Thanksgiving. Noah- As a peacock because peacocks are beautiful and people wouldn t eat such a beautiful sight. Andrew As a king because he wouldn t act or talk like a turkey. Nathalie- A chicken so he would be a tricky bird. Kyson- a book because I like books.
2 ND GRADE By Miss Allen Wow, can you believe it is November already! The second graders have been busy learning about the Wampanoag Indians and the Pilgrims. We have read many different articles, books, and watched videos learning about the First Thanksgiving. They are finishing up a Webquest about the Pilgrims journey and what life was like when they first reached the New World. The kids have been very interested in how things were different than they are today. We will also be diving into our solids and liquids FOSS kit this week. The kids will get to see how solids and liquids react together, can they change forms, and learn their characteristics. This FOSS kit is very hands on and allows awesome observations! Revising and editing has been our focus in writing and we are tying that into our Guided Reading as well. We learned how to write a story and then revise it to make it even better. They had to ask themselves does the story make sense? Can I add or take our anything? How can I make it sound more exciting? Next, they began to edit their papers. They had to look and see if they capitalized when they were supposed to. Did they use the correct punctuation marks? Are their words spelled correctly? As we are working on spelling words correctly we have started to use the dictionaries as a reference. They love getting to use the dictionaries to check and see if they spelled their word correctly! In math the students are learning about mental addition. They will be able to add multiples of 10 to a number and add ones to find the next ten. They get to use a variety of methods to help them become better adders using mental math. They sure have been busy learning all sorts of new things! One of their favorite things to look forward to is when Kelly with the Nature Center comes to teach them! This past month they got to learn all about the turkey.
3 RD GRADE By Miss Head 3 rd grade has dove right into multiplication facts and strategies. Everyday these kiddos take a timed math test for one minute. Many of them have passed their facts all the way up to 12 already. They have many of their facts memorized and know many strategies to help, as well. Thank you for all your assistance at home. We encourage all of our students to practice every night, even if it s only for a few minutes. The more they know these math facts, the easier division (which is coming up soon) and solving real life word problems will be. Division and multiplication go hand in hand, so any practice is highly recommended. We have a new and improved Science kit this year about Water and Climate. Students will be conducting many investigations learning about water and its properties. We will also be talking about temperature, using thermometers and learning how they work. Soon, our investigations will include density and how water expands when it freezes. Again this year, Harvest Publication is taking 2 student writing pieces for a contest. Students have written poems describing a chosen color based on their senses. They have done a spectacular job on this assignment and even typed it up as a google document. Soon, the poems will be judged and 2 will be sent to participate in the contest. Lastly, there has been a huge improvement in reading and motivation to reach AR goals, compared to last quarter. They have a great start! Students are still bringing home an AR book every night. Please encourage them to keep reading. As winter approaches, the weather is getting pretty chilly. Please make sure students are dressing appropriately. Warm coats, hats, and gloves will be a must very soon! Thanks for all your help!
4 TH GRADE By Mrs. Petersen and Mrs. Buck We finished reading the book titled, Ferret in the Bedroom, Lizards in the Fridge by Bill Wallace. This was very fitting for the month of November with elections because that is what was happening in the book, two students were campaigning to be the class president. There were quite a few humorous parts with Liz s many animals and the things they did to Liz s friends. Ask your child about what crazy things happened with the turtle and Ivan, the ibex. Lol! Next, students will be partnered with another student in their reading range and read a partner book together. It is SO fun to just enjoy some of the many, many wonderful books out there and to find books that students really love and have a hard time putting down. Then, we will start the book called Santa Paws. It is about a homeless puppy trying to survive in the dead of winter, cold and alone. If we have time, the students will read another Santa Paws book titled, Santa Paws on Christmas Island. The students continue to practice their basic math facts with apps on the ipads, classroom math games, paper & pencil, and different games at various websites. This new math series requires knowledge of our basic facts in order to figure out real-life type problems. We have been working a lot of different ways to multiply 2, 3, & 4-digit numbers by 1-digit numbers. It s fun to see the kids lightbulb go on when they figure out more than one way to solve the same math problem. They also are getting better at explaining in words how to solve a problem. Here are some pictures of the kids doing Multiplication Array puzzles. They had fun figuring these out. In Iowa History, the students learned about the 3 branches of government and discussed how a bill becomes a law. Currently, we are working on learning about all of the different industries we have right here in Iowa and all of the many things that are manufactured right here in our great state. Student are using a video creator at animoto.com to teach us about their Iowa industry they chose to research information about. They are adding pictures with captions to share with us what they know about their industry. The Soils, Rocks, and Landforms is the unit we are working on in Science. Students have been completing many fun and engaging experiments. We started out by describing the properties of rocks and found out what soil is composed of. We caused quite a commotion shaking different rocks in jars to demonstrate physical weathering. Ask your child about the experiment we did to show the effects of acid rain! The crystals formed when we evaporated vinegar from marble and limestone!
Kelly came to visit us before Thanksgiving. She talked to the kids about the different kinds of turkeys. She told the kids how the Dad & Mom turkeys are called the Tom & hen, while the young boy & girl turkeys are called the Jake & Jenny. She also had a turkey craft for them to make and take home. Happy holidays and travel safely if you are traveling. Enjoy some precious and valuable time with your families! 5 th and 6 th Grade Mrs. Pritchard and Mrs. Moeller Mrs. Pritchard is using ClassDojo as a classroom management tool this year. Class codes were sent home at conference time so that parents and students can access the Class Story and see pictures and comments about their son or daughter. If you did not receive this code, please email stacypritchard@schleswig.k12.ia.us and I will send you another one! Mrs. Moeller is on Facebook!! Please visit- @MrsMoellersClassroom56 or simply search Mrs. Moeller s Classroom, on Facebook, and like the page. This page will be used to share information happening in class on a regular basis. HOT This month in HOT we recorded a video about our winter memories. These videos along with pictures were added to a PowerPoint and sent on to some 7 th and 8 th graders for the finishing touches. This will be shown during the concert on Monday, December 11 th. Math 5 th graders have been dividing some really big numbers. The 2-digit divisors scared them at first, but now they are following those same steps they learned last year (divide, multiply, subtract, check, and bring down) and are doing well. In our next topic we will learn to multiply and divide decimals. We will continue to use those multiplication facts! The 6 th graders have been reviewing their fraction concepts so that they will have sufficient knowledge to add, subtract, multiply and divide fractions and mixed numbers. Sometimes there are a lot of steps involved in these problems, so we want to be sure they know
the basics of finding common denominators and turning improper fractions into mixed numbers and vice versa. Practice, practice, practice! More practice can be found on www.ixl.com! 5 th and 6 th ELA (English Language Arts) The 5 th and 6 th graders have just wrapped a reading unit. The comprehension focus was determining main idea by making connections and asking questions while reading. The genre study was informational or biographical text. Throughout the unit, students read multiple examples of informative or biographical text. We compared the texts, looking closely for genre features, and were talking closely about finding the main idea. To end the unit, students wrote a short piece starting with a main idea and expanding the idea with details to support it. It was neat to see them look at main idea from the writer s perspective rather than always as the reader. Next, we will be digging into a writing unit and writing memoirs. In less than a month, 2 nd quarter will be coming to a close. Please continue to encourage your child to read and work on their AR goals at home. Many students have been very successful throughout the quarter and are thrilled to be caught up or ahead of the game! Keep it up! Social Studies The 5 th grade learned the National Rollercoaster and are exploring various landforms found in the states. Ask your child to take you on the Coaster ride! As always, the 5 th graders should continue to practice the 50 states. www.sheppardsoftware.com is a great website for state practice. There are various free apps out there as well for fun state practice. The 6 th graders are learning about Earth s human geography. They learned why there are large populations in some parts of the world and what limits population in others. They also discussed population density and how it is measured. The push-pull theory was a big part of our discussion too. It helped to realize why people migrate to new places. We continue to talk about the low latitudes (between the Topics), middle latitudes (between the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Circle and between the Tropic of Capricorn and Antarctic Circle), and the high latitudes (Arctic Circle and Antarctic Circle). Science 5 th graders are nearing the end of our Living Systems unit. Now we are looking at the sensory systems. We have done some fun investigations with stimulus and response and animal adaptations. 6 th graders just finished exploring the vascular system of plants. Transpiration is a somewhat confusing process by which water is carried through the plant from the roots to stomata, ensuring that all the cells have access to water. We used our microscopes again to check out the stomata on a real leaf.
TECH CLUB By Mrs. Gurney Have you noticed the early morning traffic at school this fall? There could only be one reason for it Tech Club has started! Tech Club is open to all middle school students who love technology and want some extra time to work with all of the great technology we have here at the Schleswig School. We meet every morning with an official start time of 7:30, but many of the students are here working by 7:00 (or earlier) on their projects. Right now we have fifty-one students that come in and work on at least one of the designated days. Our areas of study this year include: Minecraft, Robotics, Memory Book, School News, 3d Printing, Vinyl Cutting, and Video Production. I am so excited to watch these kids grow both their confidence and skill sets this year. Please stay posted for more updates on our learning. We are busy creating projects for the hallway TV s and working on solving real world problems that help out our school family.
7th and 8th Grade By Miss Totten The 8th graders are pretty close to being masters at solving any linear equation they are given! They are able to solve equations with variables on both sides, multi-step equations, equations with no solutions or infinitely many solutions and have made accurate connections of linear equations to proportional relationships and slope. Just from looking at a linear equation, they are able to manipulate the equation to slope-intercept form and graph it just by looking at the equation itself! For the rest of December and into January, we will be moving onto using functions to model relationships, briefly touch bivariate data and hit hard into analyzing and solving systems of linear equations. In the next week we will be finishing up Water and the Atmosphere for the 8th grade science class and moving onto our next Interactive Science book Sound and Light. I think this will be a good change of pace for them, as we have been spending quite a bit of time on the first book. Some of the 7th grade class is excited to get started in the Astronomy and Space book soon also! In social studies, the 7th graders have really been enjoying presenting to the class. Currently they are working on a small group project that they are to teach the class about a bit of the US or Canada. Each group has a different piece containing culture, geographics, economic and/or social characteristics that when they complete, it will all piece together nicely. The 7th graders are able to apply percent problems to real life situations such as tax, discount, mark-ups, mark-downs, and interest. This is usually a tough topic for 7th graders, and I feel this class is doing very well on understanding and applying it to real world situations. Soon, we will be moving forward to generating equivalent expressions which is a touch into prealgebra; writing and evaluating algebraic expressions, simplifying, expanding and factoring expressions as well as adding, subtracting and analyzing expressions. 7th and 8th Grade By Mrs. Kuhlmann 8th Grade ELA has been filled with a diverse assortment of things. We finished Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes by making mazes with quotes or important facts from the story written on the paths around it. I was extremely proud of the effort most students put into this project. The mazes will be on display during academic fair in the spring. We also watched the movie, Flowers for Algernon, and compared it to the book. Everyone agreed that the book held more detail. We have now started on the disabilities and differences quarter. The students are reading books on disabilities such as depression, down-syndrome and more, as well as books on racial tension. We have watched clips on U-Tube showing how segregation caused tension throughout the country. Writing directions has been one of the writing assignments. Students wrote out step-by-step directions on doing different tasks. During class, one of their classmates read the instructions, did the activity as best they could with the directions and graded how well the instructions were written. In American History, we have been learning about the reasons for the Revolutionary War, reading Longfellow s famous poem The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere and an excerpt from Johnny Tremain. Learning about the beginning of the United States, as we know, it is very interesting.
Delaney Lutz and Westley Summers Katie Steinbach and Tessa Petersen 7 th Grade ELA In reading and writing, the 7 th graders have been reading books that are humorous. This includes graphic novels as well as several titles of fiction. The students wrote an explanatory essay on an animal of their choosing, peer reviewed and edited it. These papers helped them to refresh their memories of always having a thesis statement, purpose, body and conclusion. They will be writing many more papers as the year progresses. In keeping with the humorous theme, they will begin writing a comic page sharing a funny even that happened in their lifetime. I can t wait to see what they come up with.
Art Happenings By Mrs. Godbersen 2 nd Grade Artists viewed and discussed wild animals then cut a paper animal that could stand up. This was not so easy as students went from a 2-D animal to a 3-D animal. Shown are: Bryli B., Charlie B., Chloe G., Shelby K., Clare B., Karsen B., and Ethan A. 3 rd Grade Artists are experiencing the technique of printmaking and learning the vocabulary words of: printing plate, brayer, barren, inking, and edition. Students drew from the subject of a garden gourd. Once drawn, students transferred that drawing to a styrofoam plate. Orange printing ink was rolled onto the plate, which was then printed, on a piece of printmaking paper. Shown here are: Aden H., Kinley W., and Morgan W.
Shown are third graders during printmaking, Brayton J., Corvin G., and Lydia H. Three 3 rd graders during printmaking shown are: Kali S., Haley L., and Lucas S.
MUSIC By Mrs. Rosener Christmas is just around the corner and music is in the air! All of the students have been working very hard to perfect their upcoming performances. The TK-4 th grade Christmas concert will be held in the gym on Monday, December 4 th at 6:30 p.m. This year s 3 rd -4 th grade operetta is entitled, Arf on the Housetop. It s a cute show that you don t want to miss! The middle school Christmas concert is scheduled for Monday, December 11 th at 6:30 p.m. We have been incorporating ELA and technology into our program this year and have entitled our show, Home for the Holidays. Both band and chorus groups will be performing a variety of Christmas pieces as photos of the students are projected on the wall of their favorite Christmas memories. These students are filled with anticipation for the big event! Students should be there at 6:00 to tune their instruments, line up in riser order, etc. We hope to see you there to share in the sounds of the season! UPCOMING MUSIC EVENTS Monday, December 4 th =TK-4 th grade Christmas concert at 6:30 p.m. in the gym Monday, December 11 th =5-8 th grade Christmas concert at 6:30 p.m. in the gym Saturday, January 27 th =WSC honor band festival @ Wayne, NE (7-8 th grade band) Pictured are TK and kindergarten students filling out worksheets and drawing pictures of instruments that make up the percussion family. Ask any TK or kindergarten student and they will tell you that the percussion family includes any instrument that makes a sound when it is hit, shaken, or scraped. These students had a blast playing various percussion instruments like snare drum, timpani, maracas, tambourine, and more. They also watched videos about the percussion family and then drew pictures of instruments that belong in that family. It was a hit!
`
DECEMBER 2017 ACTIVITIES Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 4:00 Boys BB @ Boyer Valley 2 Santa Claus Day & Craft Show & Dinner @ CB 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 6:30 TK-4 Winter Concert 3:45 Girls BB @ Ar- We-Va 3:45 Boys BB vs Ar- We-VA 2:00 Early Dismissal 4:00 Girls BB @ Zion 4:00 Boys BB @ Zion Enterprise Steak Fry @ CB 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 4:00 Girls BB vs West Monona 4:00 Boys BB @ West Monona 2:00 Early Dismissal 4:00 Girls BB @ Boyer Valley 4:00 Boys BB vs Boyer Valley 3:45 Girls BB vs COU 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 5:30 School Board Mtg 2:00 Early Dismissal 4:00 Boys BB @ MV- AO 1:00 Early Dismissal 4:00 Girls BB vs OA- BCIG 4:00 Boys BB @ Westside 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 NO SCHOOL NO SCHOOL NO SCHOOL NO SCHOOL NO SCHOOL 31
JANUARY 2018 ACTIVITIES Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 2 3 4 5 6 NO SCHOOL NO SCHOOL Teacher In-service Classes resume 2:00 EARLY DISMISSAL 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 4:00 Girls BB @ OA- BCIG 3:45 Girls BB @ Charter Oak 2:00 EARLY DISMISSAL 3:45 Girls BB vs Ar- We-Va Community Club Mtg @ CB 14 15 NO SCHOOL Teacher In-service 16 4:00 Girls BB vs Boyer Valley 17 2:00 EARLY DISMISSAL 18 4:00 Girls BB vs Whiting 19 20 Ike s Annual Fundraiser @ CB 21 22 Life Serve Blood Mobile @ CB 5:30 School Boar Mtg 23 24 2:00 EARLY DISMISSAL 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 2:00 EARLY DISMISSAL