K-12 Music Program
December 13
Thursday
7:00 PM
Walthill Public School Gym
ANNOUNCEMENT
On November
12th and 13th, 2007 the Omaha Tribe lost two well respected elders: Mr. Hollis Stabler and Elmer Blackbird. Both were World War II Veterans and both had
degrees in education. Mr.
Blackbird assisted the school with
prayer on many occasions and also worked with the multicultural committee to
bring more culture activities into the school.
Mr. Stabler was at our school on Veterans Day in 2003 and also conducted
a presentation for the 6th graders. He
brought in souvenirs from the war and ate lunch with us that day. The students enjoyed the time spent with
him. Both men will be missed by the
Walthill School.
WALTHILL
PUBLIC SCHOOLS
NEWSLETTER DECEMBER/JANUARY
07-08
FROM
THE SUPERINTENDENT:
I really want to thank everyone who attended the Parent /
Teacher conferences in October. It was
great for our students to see how proud their parents were and how much they
care about their child’s education.
Continue to share with your child the value of good attendance and
importance of an education.
December and January bring about some busy times in the
school. We are beginning the girls and
boys basketball seasons. Our drama and
music departments are busy in contests. This goes along with our students
finishing up their semester work in the classrooms.
The month of December and January can bring about more
inclement weather. Continue to watch
the local news stations for any cancellation, early dismissal or late
starts.
I encourage you to take time to visit our school and
continue supporting our students in their activities. The school has placed the photographs from the Omaha Tribal
Historical Research project in our high school hallways. I would like to thank Dennis Hastings for
his assistance to the school and being the director of this project.
It has been nice to hear that a lot of our families took
time to visit our school website. The
school website is http://walthweb.esu1.org/
I encourage everyone to take time to visit our website to see the
success stories of our students.
The State of the Schools Report can be found on:
http://reportcard.nde.state.ne.us Click
on the school district and type in Walthill.
The school report card is a site where you can look at our district
profile. You can see our reading, math,
and writing scores. The school
administrators and staff look at these scores and determine our school
improvement goals. The school is sending
staff members to workshops and restructuring our math curriculum to help
improve our math scores. The report
card scores show an increase in our reading and writing scores but the school
continues to look for strategies to improve all academic areas.
I hope everyone has a great holiday
season with your children. Take more
time to play with them and listen to their thoughts and ideas.
Sincerely,
Ed Stansberry
Students receive “Honoring the Circle” Honors
Mastery: Students who complete tasks,
set goals, or disagree appropriately
B
Honor Roll:
DaVina
Grant, HopeAnn Merrick, Jesse Tapia, Albert Robinson, Alexa Tyndall, Pearl
Moniz,
A/B Honor Roll:
Carly Harlan, Kourtney Merrick, Samone Parker, Michelle
Turner, Danna Miller Maverick Harden,
Mary WhiteEyes, Cherokee Wood, Tony Mitchell
A Honor Roll
Charity Harlan
Jr. Quiz Bowl Team
Charity
Harlan and Albert Robinson
Sr. Quiz Bowl Team:
Mary
WhiteEyes, Michael Rodriquez, Maverick Harden, CJ Harrell, and Adrian Harlan
Art Work Display at Symposium
Alexa
Tyndall, Charity Harlan, Carly Harlan, Shaq Moniz, Keene Parker, Ebony Hutchinson, CJ Free, Luke Lovejoy,
David Merrick, and Megan Dale
Independence: Students who resist
peer pressure, solve problems or identify challenges.
FCCLA
Dream Weaver Presenters:
Tony
Mitchell, Pearl Moniz, Allie Robinson, Shannon Toupin, Cherokee Wood,
Student
Leader Symposium:
Mary WhiteEyes, Adrian Harlan, Tony Mitchell
Football
Team Honorable Mention:
CJ Free, Daulton Sheridan, Adrian Harlan, DeAngelo Springer
Spirituality: Students who are generous or use their social
graces
Student leader panel discussion at
the Native American Symposium:
Tony
Mitchell
Elementary News
Elementary Leadership
Conference Shows Us “How To Serve”
Mrs. Ahlers,
Elementary Counselor
Every year I get the opportunity to choose 6 students form
the 4th, 5th and 6th grade classes, to participate in a leadership conference
at Wayne State College. This year's
group included, Jonathan Olson and Brenna Parker (6th), Jaylen Reyes and Alex
Tyndall (5th), and Dwight Parker and Heaven Cayou (4th).
Over 100 students attended the conference, with this year's
theme focusing on "How To Serve" Self-Others-Country-Community. Students attended sessions where they
created blankets for misfortunate children, filled care packages for troops
overseas, and discussed how to start a service project in their community. They also learned how to make friendship
bracelets and sang songs about freedom and tolerance.
During the day long conference the students
were able to tour the campus, including classrooms and dorms. They also got to eat in the cafeteria-it was
the highlight of the day! So many choices!
On the
return trip, everyone was excited about their day. They told me about the
friends they had made and all the fun activities they participated in. Everyone decided that it had been a very
worthwhile day. Also on the trip home
the group made a commitment to find a way to create a better school
environment. This was how the council
got started. Mrs. Ahlers, elementary
counselor and Mrs. Wood, 5th grade teacher, agreed to be the sponsors of the
group.
An election was held
in each grade, third through sixth, to add an additional student to each grade
level. The following students joined
the original six to form a council of twelve students:
Jayden Baxter, Trejen Ross and Alexiss Wood - 3rd grade
Daja Oliver- 4th grade
Adam Kemp - 5th grade
X'Oawinn Parker - 6th grade
We meet twice a month on Wednesdays at 2:35-3:15.
The council's first project will be to host a coffee at 1:30
pm in the cafeteria before the Veteran's Day program on Monday, November 12,
2007. All veterans and community
members were welcome.
We have discussed other community service ideas for this school year, but have not decided on a specific project yet. The students have come up with some really unique and thoughtful projects. Mrs. Wood and I are excited to be working with this great group of students.
Kindergarten Mrs. Anderson & Mrs. Rodasky
When asked
what the Kindergarten class liked about school, here are their responses:
Joshua—I
like learning and writing. Destiny—I
like coloring. Andres--I like
going outside to play. Barry—I like eating food.
Bessie—I
like learning how to count to 100 and getting a prize.
Tay-Shaun—I
like to share. Beyatae—I
like coloring and sharing.
Brandon—I
like puzzles. Zintkala—I
like to play.
Jamery—I
like recess and doing work. Ellie—I
like reading books.
Dante—I
like going to PE, riding the scooters and going to the library.
Russell—I
like reading books. Jordyn—I
like to count. Kylan—I like to
fish story.
Kalinay—I
like reading books. Quincy—I like reading books and
sharing.
Jaelece—I
like reading books. Aiden—I
like counting to 100.
Kyleigh—I like doing papers. Mareesia—I like playing outside.
2nd
Grade Mrs. Bonneau
The year is flying by for the second grade class. In math we have been working on adding and subtracting two digit numbers with and without regroup. They have all caught on to the concept with great understanding. We will be moving onto counting money next. In reading we are working on reading fluency, listening comprehension, and reading for understanding. My students are writing in their journals everyday. They edit what they write with me everyday. They are all making remarkable improvements in their writing skills.
3rd Grade Mrs. Kinnaman
Mrs.
Kinnaman's 3rd grade class has done a lot of writing this year. Attached are
some examples of some short stories. For Thanksgiving we came up with seven
reasons we are thankful. 1. Having a house 2. For having food 3. For our family 4. For the toys we have.
5. For our earth 6. For having clothes 7. For being happy.
Once upon a
time there was a girl named Maria who lost her pet poodle.
She got
worried and went to look for her pet poodle.
She looked and looked. Then she ran home to tell her mom she had lost
her poodle. Next, she called her friends and they went out and looked for her
poodle. Finally, she found her loveable
poodle. Her friends were very happy.
By Roslyn
Once upon a
time there was a girl named Jenny who lost her pet cat. She was so worried and
she wanted to look for her cat. Then
she went home and told her mom that her cat ran off. Next, she looked all
around the forest, and she went over to her friends, and they helped her to
find the cat. Finally, she found her cat at her grandmother’s garden and then
they went home. She felt very happy.
By Kia
Once upon a
time there was a girl named Allen who lost her pet chow. She got so worried and
went looking for him, and she was trying not to cry because she couldn’t find
him. Then she ran home to tell her mom
that she lost her dog. Her mom said, “I need to try to find him again.” Next, I
ran back into the woods and then I looked in the trees and in the bushes.
Finally, I found him. He was in the bushes eating blue berries. I was glad to
finally find my lovable dog.
By Jaeclyn
Once upon a
time there was a girl named Ally who lost her pet cat. She got worried and went
to look for her cat. She looked and looked around. Then she ran home to tell
her mom. Next, she called her friends. They went out to look for her cat.
Finally, she found her cat. Her and her friends were very happy.
By Ally
Once upon
a time there was a girl named Ally who lost her pet horse. She cried and she got worried and went to
look for her horse. Then she looked and
looked around, then she ran home. She told her mom she lost her dog. Next, she
called all her friends and they went out to look for her dog. Finally, she
found her dog and her friends were very happy.
By Tristan
Once upon a
time there was a girl named Brenna who lost her pet dog. She looked all over
her house. Then she asked her mom. Her mom said, “I hadn’t see him.” Then she
went out to look around the town. She asked her friend and her friend said,
“they haven’t seen him.” Next, she called her other friends. They went out to
look further for the dog. Finally they found her dog by the store. They took
him home and they loved him again.
By DaJuan
Once upon a
time there was a girl named Marquel who lost her pet puppy. She was sad because she thought she wouldn’t
see her puppy again. Then she went to go look for her puppy. Next, she went
home and asked her mom, and her mom said, “no, I did not.” Finally, she found
her. Her puppy was under her bed all this time, and Marquel was happy.
By Marquesa
Once upon a
time there was a girl named Nakiah who lost her pet cat. She was worried and she looked for it and
she looked and looked but she could not find it. Then she looked around but she still could not find it. She told
her mom. Next, she told mom, “ can you take me to find my cat please?” Finally
she found her cat under a house and she hugged it and the cat said, “Meow!”
By Nakiah
4th Grade Mrs. Modlin
Mrs.
Modlin's fourth grade class has been working hard in many different subject
areas. Math has focused on learning
multiplication facts and graphing. The
students surveyed the elementary classes and found that most of those students
liked pumpkin pie better than lemon, apple, cherry, or pecan. Bar graphs and picto-graphs were created to
show the results of their survey. The
fourth graders have studied a great deal about Plains Indians in our Nebraska
history class. Students have made earth
lodges and tipis to show what they have learned. Many wonderful stories have been written by the fourth grade so
far this year. Their writing skills are
improving greatly each week. One
writing activity that was highlighted this past week was the letters written to
the veterans by the fourth graders.
They each wrote a thank-you to the veterans and those letters were
displayed in the Walthill Post Office for all to enjoy. Several were read during the Veterans' Day
Program at the school on Nov. 12. We
would like to share those with you now:
Dear
Veterans,
Thank you for fighting for our freedom
from Iraq. You have always been there
for us. You Rock! Sure you can lose some soldiers but you can
fight on. Every day some troops come
flying in a helicopter then you'll have more troops. Someday I will be in the army.
How about that. I like the
military. I'll fight for my country if
I get shot or not. I will die trying
for our USA. I will live to be a
general. God bless the USA.
Sincerely,
Cameron Freemont
Mrs. Modlin's Class
Dear
Veterans,
Thank you for always being there fighting
for us and giving us more freedom each day.
What made you decide to be in the military? Was it hard? Well, it
probably is pretty hard. I think I
might want to grow up like you and help our state. Thanks again. I can't
wait to meet some of you at Walthill School for the Veterans' Day program. See you there.
Sincerely,
Daja Oliver
Mrs. Modlin's 4th grade class
Dear Veterans,
How is it in the Military...were you
scared? I know I would've been. I want to be in the military when I grow up. But thank you for bringing us freedom and
saving the U.S. You were brave to go
out there in the Army. Thank you for
always being there when we needed you.
You were always helping others.
Your One and Only true friend,
Shanna Merrick
Mrs. Modlin's 4th grade
Dear
Veterans,
Thank you for always being there. Thank you for fighting for freedom. Veterans did you take an oath to protect the
USA?
Doctors and Nurses, thanks for helping
the other veterans. Thanks for being
great. Thanks for doing your
responsibility.
I really didn't like when they bombed the
twin towers. That was when I was only
three years old. When I got older I got
mad. But good thing you are or were in
the military. I would be too scared!
Love Always
Your Best Friend
Kassie Skye Phillips
Mrs. Modlin's 4th grade class
5th Grade Mrs. Wood
The fifth
graders have completed their study of the Revolutionary War, and all managed to
pass social studies standard test 8.1.3.
The students studied incidents that fueled and eventually started the
war. They studied major battles and
their outcomes, even lining up and walking closer and closer together until
they could see the whites of the other groups eyes. The fifth graders even learned about what took place after the
war. Intertwined throughout the unit
were the perspectives and involvement of:
the Eastern Native American, Patriot, Loyalist, French, German, and
British people. To wrap up the unit the
students will present a Newscast (for the class) choosing a major battle and
reporting on it as a newscaster would.
Mrs. Wood's and Mrs. Stark's classes had a small quiz bowl about the
war. Mrs. Stark's class won this
Revolutionary battle and the prize was a day off from studying history. " The game kept us going by helping us
study for our test and the day off was really good," said Jaylen Reyes
(5th grade student)
The fifth graders are currently studying several different Native American Tribes and building villages showing different aspects of their tribe's lifestyle. Tribal villages were displayed on Friday, November 30th and families, students, and faculty came in to see them.
6th Grade Mrs. Wood
The 6th grade students have been studying Ancient Greece for the last two weeks. The class is currently involved in independent study of topics such as Greek Women, Greek Gods and Goddesses, Greek Entertainment, Spartan Women, Spartan Weapons, Spartan Warriors, and Spartan People. As you can tell, many of the students are interested in Sparta. After they finish researching they will put together projects that will display their knowledge. Projects were displayed on Friday, November 30th and families, students, and faculty came in to see them.. Shyvonne Tyndall stated, "This is a fun because you get to go on the computer and you get to learn about what you want to".
6th Grade Mrs. Ferris
The 5th grade and Mrs. Ferris’s 6th
grade students enjoyed a trip to the IMAX and the Henry Doorly Zoo in
September. At the IMAX we watched the
Egyptian Mummies. What an experience
since the 6th grade students were studying about Egypt at the time. In math the 6th grade students are having
fun with graphing. We get to make our
own graphs while working out of our math books with Mrs. Ferris, and while
doing a weather project with Ms. Phillips that started out in science. We also had the best time scaring the rest
of the elementary students (and some adults) at our famous 6th grade Haunted
House on Halloween. Another project we
have going is our 6th Grade Book Store.
We sell books to the elementary students during math on Wednesdays to
make money for our 6th grade graduation.
It also helps us work with money and doing a business. This is our second year for the project.
Secondary News
Mary WhiteEyes
Selected for Honor Choir
Ms. Dianna Spirk
Each year, the Lewis
Conference holds a conference choral festival
in the fall. Each of the eight
schools bring choirs to work all day, polishing music together for an evening
performance of about 250 voices. In
addition, students are allowed to audition for a select group of 24 known as
the honor choir. The students must send
in a recording of scales, arpeggios and a selected passage of music.
Mary WhiteEyes has auditioned for the last 3 years and has been selected all three years as an alto in the honor choir. Congratulations to Mary for this distinctive honor. Mary will also be attending an honor choir festival at Wayne State College on Feb. 1, 2008, for which she has been nominated by her director, Ms. Dianna Spirk.
Junior High Math
In the
junior high math classroom, we have been working with fractions and
decimals. We have also spent time
solving story problems and reading charts and graphs. The past few weeks have been dedicated toward our math
assessments.
Junior High
Volleyball
The junior
high volleyball team finished a successful season. Thirteen girls represented the Lady Blujays. They were very competitive in every
match. The girls showed great
improvement and, more importantly, had fun.
Junior High Girls
Basketball
The junior
high girls’ basketball team has started practicing. With four girls choosing
not to participate, we only have nine girls for competition. We will continue to work on fundamentals and
learn the game of basketball.
High School Girls
Basketball
The high
school girls’ basketball team has also started practicing. With fifteen girls
starting the season this year, we look to be very competitive. The girls have shown a lot of enthusiasm and
dedication so far this season. I am very excited about this season and look
forward to seeing many of you at the games.
Mr.
Singer
Greetings from the
Art Room! Ms.
Brenda Murphy
Hi, my name
is Brenda Murphy and I am the new art teacher this year. I’ve always enjoyed
art and being given the opportunity to teach and work with your kids has been
such a blessing. We are having lots of fun learning from each other. There are
days when I think I have a class all planned out someone comes up with a great
idea so, of course, we have to run with it! Many new projects come from
interests and suggestions from the class itself. Of course there are still the
basics to be covered, which are not always what everyone wants to do, but in
the end it shows in the increased quality of their work.
At the
beginning of November the entire education staff went to Wayne State College to
attend a Native Education conference. We were asked to bring some of our
students art to put on display. Several students were willing to show their
work and I quickly matted them and off we went. Many wonderful comments came
from people who attended the conference on the quality of the work and the
obvious talent our students display. Even though we could not bring everything,
I thoroughly agree with the comment that there are a lot of talented artists in
our school. I have the pleasure of seeing this first hand. Maybe we should have
a student art show during the next parent-teacher conference so you can all see
for yourselves.
The K - 2
classes made Indian corn prints using bubble wrap this month. The students each
cut a piece of paper in the shape of an ear of corn. Then they took a piece of
bubble wrap and painted it using several different colors. Finally, they put
the paper on the painted bubble wrap and when they lifted it off it looked like
an ear of corn! To make it look right from the field we put 2 pieces of dry
cornhusk around them. The kids did such a nice job that they have been used for
decoration in the school. The finished pieces from Mrs. Simonsen’s class
decorated the bulletin board in the cafeteria. The other students corn was used
to create a corn patch (wahaba u’we) outside of the Project Washkon
office. The few that were left over made a festive wreath for our art room
door! Thanks to all who participated.
We are always looking for local artists in the community that are willing to come up and visit with the students, to talk about what they do, and maybe even teach a short class. The junior high and high school are especially interested. If you are willing, or know someone who is, please give a call or stop in and talk to me about what you have in mind.
Walthill Junior High
Football Mr.
Glen Randel
The Watlill Blujays
Junior High Football team finished the 2007 season with a 1-3 record. The losses were to Bancroft Rosalie 46-18,
Omaha Nation 22-20, and Winnebago 44-12.
The win came in the first game of the season against Parkview Christian
24-6.
The
team consisted of 8th graders Shaquille Moniz, Narcisse Wood, Keene
Parker, Chantler Lovejoy, Jesse Tapia, TaeRyan Parker, Kendall McCauley, and
Brandon Charley. The 7th
grade players were Jonah Lovejoy, Lucas Lovejoy, and Anthony Knudsen. The managers were Andy Tyndall and Miguel
Moniz. The team was coached by Glen
Randel.
Weightlifting Class Mr. Glen Randel
A new class that is being offered at Walthill High School
during the 2007-2008 school year is Weightlifting. Eleven students are enrolled in the class, which is taught by
Glen Randel.
During the first week of the class the students did a one-lift maximum in the five required lifts. They are the bench press, military press, incline press, squat and the power clean. After doing the max lifts, the class will then work on the program of 3 sets of 10 reps in each lift. The students then will do 5-5-5 sets followed by 3-3-3 sets. Highlights during the first quarter were Micheal Rodriguez lifting 365 pounds in the squat which is almost 3 times his body weight. Dale Grant increased his bench press to 215 pounds. Adrian Harlan increased his bench press from 175 pounds to 210 pounds. Nolan Grant also hit 200 pounds in the bench press. Kyle Ross lifted 390 pounds in the squat while C.J. Harrell and Daulton Sheridan each lifted 400 pounds in the squat.
December 2007
|
Sun |
Mon |
Tue |
Wed |
Thu |
Fri |
Sat |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
2 |
3 JHBBB home vs. Omaha Nation at 3:00 |
4 |
5 |
6VGBB & VBBB at Santee at 6:15 & 8:00 |
7 VGBB & VBBB home vs. Bancroft at 6:15 & 8:00 |
8 VGBB 9-10 Bancroft Tourney at Bancroft 9:00 am |
|
9 |
10 JHGBB at Winnebago at 3:00 |
11 |
12 |
13 JHBBB at Winnebago at 3:0010:00 am Student StartK-12 Music Program at 7:00p.m. |
14 |
15 VGBB & VBBB home vs. Freeman Academy at 6:15 & 8:00 |
|
16 |
17 JHGBB & JHBBB at Omaha Nation at 2:30 |
18 |
19 |
20Early Dismissal at 1:30 |
21Early Dismissal at 1:30End of 2nd Quarter |
22 |
|
23 |
24No School |
25No School |
26No School |
27 No School |
28 VGBB & VBBB Mead Holiday Tourney at Mead at 1:00No School |
29 VGBB & VBBB Mead Holiday Tourney at Mead at 1:00 |
|
30 |
31No School |
|
|
|
|
|
`