2007 Homecoming Week a Great Success
Congratulations to the 2007 Homecoming Royalty. They are Freshman Attendants: Taylor Housman
and Logan Lovejoy, Sophomore attendants: He-Nu Harrell and CJ Free, Junior
attendants: Des’ree Hinman and Kyle Ross, and the Homecoming Queen was Danica
Miller and Homecoming King was Shannon Toupin.
The Student Council would like to thank all those who
donated to our tailgate, dance, and after party. Financial donations were
received from the Title VII Grant, Carl T. Curtis Health Center, and Charter
West Bank. Food donations were received
from the C-Store, Wimmers, Sara Lee, and Chesterman Coca-Cola Company. The Diabetes Association donated prizes for
the after the dance party.
This year, with the help of many, we were able to pull of a
very memorable Homecoming Week. Starting with the parade, we hope everybody
enjoyed it. It was very nice to see so many people from the community and the
businesses downtown at our event. We would like to thank the judges for making
time to judge our poster/banner contest. As for the tailgate, we would like to
thank the families that donated plates and chips, and cooked our food. The
dance went off without a hitch. G and L Productions did a great job and the
students appeared to enjoy themselves. Last, the after party was a lot of fun.
We would like to thank the parents and staff that stayed up playing basketball
and watching movies. Thanks for
helping provide an alcohol/drug free option for the students after the dance.
The students had a lot of fun.
Walthill
Student Council
WALTHILL PUBLIC SCHOOLS
NEWSLETTER
OCOTOBER/NOVEMBER 2007
FROM THE
SUPERINTENDENT:
The school year is moving right
along. The students have been
demonstrating some great talents in academics and extra-curricular
activities. I have had the opportunity
to watch our teachers and students in the classrooms and during
activities. The students have
demonstrated some excellent leadership skills.
I am really proud of our staff and the great opportunities they are
providing our children. The positive
atmosphere that our staff members provide for our students is really
appreciated.
A very important part of the educational process is attendance in school. It is very critical for parents to encourage their children to attend school every day. Tardy and attendance issues dampen the opportunity for our students to excel in the academic and activity fields. Please take the time to visit with your child about their attendance and encourage them to improve if necessary.
The month of October and November
can bring about the chance of inclement weather. I will post any cancellation, early dismissal or late start on
the local news channels.
Parent / teacher conferences are
scheduled for October 25 from 4:00-8:00.
Research has proven how important it is for parents to stay involved in
their child’s educational
progress. I really hope you have
the opportunity to visit your child’s teachers and keep the lines of
communication open.
I hope you had a chance to visit our
school and our activities. I also hope that you had a chance to visit our
school website. The website is
http://walthweb.esu1.org/ Take time to
visit our website to see more of the academic and activities achievements of
our students throughout the school year.
Sincerely,
Ed
Stansberry
Superintendent
Teacher’s Corner
Submitted
by Evelyn Burcham and Lauri Bonneau
Last spring teachers attended an APL training workshop. As a
staff we have chosen strategies to implement in our classrooms.
An agenda will be posted. Objectives for each subject
will be written and discussed with students each day.
Teachers will use the pass option, check for understanding,
on the clock, and wait time/wait time extended when working with students.
Pass option allows a student to pass if they unsure or do
not know an answer. The teacher will go back to that student once the correct
answer is given to be sure the student knows the answer.
Check for understanding is when the teacher checks with students to make sure
they understand what they are to do.
On the clock is when students are given a certain amount
of time to complete a task.
Wait time/wait time extended allows students time to respond to a question.
Wait time extend allows more time for student response when the teacher sees
more time is needed.
Bell ringers are quick daily reviews of material already taught that will be
used when beginning each subject area.
No Sarcasm by students or staff will be allowed in the school. We feel this is
important for our school to be a positive learning environment.
Retrain means that students who need to be retaught a behavior will retrain
with a teacher during recess, lunch, and/or after school and only takes a short
amount of time. This process is to help students develop positive behaviors.
Show Your School Pride
Still taking orders for
Walthill Blujays
T-Shirts and Sweatshirts
Please contact Mrs.
Sandy Ostrand
402-846-5432
Back
to School Reading at the Book Fair
by Paula Low, Library Media
Specialist
The Fall
Book Fair will be held in the Walthill Public Schools Library from Monday,
October 22nd to Monday, October 29.
Once again, we will serve food and give prizes on Parent-Teacher
Conference Night, October 25th from 4:00 to 8:00. Of course, $1.00 books will be available so
you can keep building your home library.
It is so important to read and talk with your children. Why? Because parents and other family members are your child’s first teachers. Learning about reading and writing starts long before kids go to school. The early years are the most important because that is when children learn to talk and understand words. The good part is you don’t have to spend a lot of money. Here are some tips on how you can help your child be a better reader.
· Sing, talk and play with your
child. Children learn language from
being with people who talk and listen.
So turn of the TV and talk, sing, take a walk--whatever you and your child
likes, and talk about what you see and do together.
· Read with your child—a few minutes a
day is all it takes. Books that have
rhyming words are great. Read the same
book over and over again so he/she until tell you the story. Only have a magazine or newspaper? Great!
Read whatever you think will interest your child. Newspaper comics are a great way to get
started.
· Write with your child. Have he/she tell you a story and then write
it down, and read it back to them. When
you child knows that words can be written as well as spoken, he knows they are
important. Your child can write too,
but be aware, this is a developmental process, and scribbling is the first
phase.
Children who are successful in
school have parents who follow their progress closely.
So lets “progress” to the Parent-Teacher Conference on October 25th. The Book Fair will be open from 8:00 a. m. to 8:00 p. m. See you there!
October 25th ~ 4:00 pm -
8:00 pm
Parent –Student –Teacher Conferences
Elementary News
Kindergarten
Mrs. Anderson and Mrs. Rodasky
From the Kindergarten's view, here is what is
happening in the Kindergarten classrooms:
We ate sharks.
We played with shaving cream. We
looked for shapes. We did letters. We played outside. We made sharks in jello.
We did closure. We played the
fly swatter game. We made music. We played a fishing game. We read books. We went to rotations. We
played with frogs. We ate
cupcakes. We put flies (chocolate
chips) on our cupcakes. We got out
tubs. We wrote on the board. We pinched out pencils. We wrote words in our journals. We moved to music. We made pull down straights.
We had our ears checked. We
played "Johnny Johnny, May We Cross your Blue Blue River". We made an eagle. We labeled things in our room.
We had a tornado drill. We did
estimation. We counted to a35. We sorted shapes. We washed our hands and looked for germs. We played noodle tag. We ate jelly beans
from Ms. J. We played what number is
it. We made groups that were some
shape, same thickness, same color and same size. We drew our favorite toy in our journals. We played freeze tag. We did drops in the bucket. We worked on the letter people map. We read plaidypus. We had crazy hair. We
wore sunglasses. We wore hats to
school. We learned how to make 2's and
capital A's.
As you can see, we have been very busy in school, learning new things daily.
1st Grade
Mrs. Simonsen and Mrs. Kramer
Mrs. Simonsen and Mrs. Kramer are “sharing” students
again this year. We mix our students
together and divide them into new groups for Reading and Math to better meet
our students needs.
We still enjoy our Reading series that was purchased
last year. It meets our state standards
and incorporates many cross-curricular ideas.
We are also seeing great improvements in our students Math skills by
continuing our use of the TouchMath series.
This week has been fun! We have had several students participating
in the various dress-up days for Homecoming Week. We have been working hard to make our posters for the Homecoming
parade. To go along with the theme
“Tame the Wildcats”, we are also making ourselves into lion tamers!
2nd Grade
Mrs. Burcham and Mrs.
Bonneau
Our second grade class is learning about the life cycle of the butterfly and frog. We learned the difference between urban and rural communities. We live in a rural community. We are adding and subtracting to 18 and doing Rocket Math every day. We read stories about astronauts, the desert, and friends. On Fridays high school students come to our classroom. We are teaching them how to interact with young children. So far we have read books, played games, and played kickball together. We are going to cook, too. We think those big kids might be having fun with us. Mrs. Burcham’s Second Grade
3rd
Grade
Mrs. Fernau and Mrs. Kinnaman
Our Elementary School is getting to use the new Science equipment that Mrs. Stark and I
received after going to a SEPA Science class this summer. Especially notable are the 2 new compound
microscopes worth over $300/each. The
SEPA organization is VERY generous.
Our 13 member class also had a visit from Kim and
Kylie Bearnes from the Extension Office about heart health. .Kylie presented a
short talk. Then we went outside and put large “heart” puzzles together. They also gave us handouts.
The entire 3rd Grade class went to the Farm Safety
Day in Pender again this year and it was enjoyed by all. As usual the Pender
community members and students did an excellent job.
We are implementing the behaviors training in our
classroom. It’s fairly new to the students since we just started late last
Spring, but we’re all trying our best.
All parents/guardians are encouraged to make an
appointment and come visit our room.
Mrs. Fernau
5th
&6th Grade
Mrs.
Richling-Wood
Michelle Wood, 5th and 6th grade History teacher, made a trip to Concordia Lutheran College to take part in a multicultural presentation in September. Nancy Gillis, from the Neihardt Center, was the main presenter discussing background information on Indian Removal policies, tribal homelands, and inappropriate materials used to represent Native Americans. Mrs. Wood presented to students interested in becoming elementary teachers during the break out session. Mrs. Wood discussed how to accurately incorporate Native American History into United States History classes. She also showed and discussed appropriate books and websites that can be used in classes. Last year the college asked Mrs. Wood to talk about things that might be important for teachers to know about Native Americans, in case they should ever have a Native American child in their classroom. Mrs. Wood asked the 6th grade class for help. She had the class write about what they thought would be important for a Non-Native teacher to know about them. The students came up with responses that ranged from how important it is to teach about tribes during history classes to the significance of funeral leave. Mrs. Wood then used the students' quotes to shape that part of her presentation. The class received a thank you note from Concordia Lutheran College that stated, "The college students thought the 6th graders quotes were the most significant and memorable part of the presentation."
6th
Grade
Mrs.
Richling-Wood
The sixth grade students at Walthill Public School study the water cycle in science every year in order to meet State Science Standard 8.5.1. This year the students were able to study the water cycle, learn about water pollution, and water wells from the State of Nebraska Water Supply Specialist, Jerry Richling. Jerry sent charts and diagrams to the class showing different kinds of pollution and how that pollution can enter into ground water. He also sent information on the distance that needs to be between wells and areas of pollution. The class also received pictures of an actual well being drilled and down hole footage of a well. The science teacher used the items to help teach about the water cycle, aquifers, and pollution. The students created their own aquifer using sand, gravel, and clay. They also designed posters demonstrating what they learned from the materials. Finally Jerry Richling visited the classroom. He listened to the students' presentation of their posters and offered insight and advice on any information they were struggling with. Then he showed the down hole footage and explained to the class what they were seeing and the significance of it. Jerry also went through pictures of a well being drilled explaining the process and equipment used. He had many questions to answer during and after his presentation. The presentation ended with Jerry handing out water wheels, magazines, and suckers to the students. One 6th grader, Maria Limon, added, "He answered all of my questions and I enjoyed learning about it. I hope he comes back."
Secondary News
ILC
Mr. Stankiewicz
Recently we had an updated version of the A+ Learning System installed. The new system includes more class offerings, larger print and more reference features. The new system in conjunction with our older system allows our students to continue to work on their educational goals, as well as graduation goals.
Learning
Communities
Mrs.
Burgett and Mrs. Meyer
Individuality
Shines in Learning Communities
Our Learning Communities have been working on the
Circle of Courage. The Circle of
Courage includes four elements; Belonging – a sense of community, Mastery –
competence, Independence – being responsible for success and failure,
Generosity-be able to contribute to others.
This week three learning communities joined together
to work on the element of belonging and independence. One activity the team created was a web. Each student had to identify a fact about
him or herself that others may not have known when the ball of yarn was thrown
to him or her from another student.
When the activity was complete we had created a web. Then the communities discussed how the web
showed how each student had an individual role of belonging in the community.
The last activity of the week
concentrated on independence. Each
student created a unique poster identifying his or her strengths. The teachers then spent one on one time with
each student to identify successes and challenges and then set individual
goals.
English
and Reading
Ms. Dawn Woeppel
The Junior High classes spent our
first month of school learning about John G. Neihardt and his involvement with
Native Americans. We enjoyed his
account of an Umo ho boy in “The Look in the Face”, and we learned of Wounded
Knee from excerpts from his books Cycle of the West and Black Elk
Speaks. We viewed the photographs
taken afterward the massacre that had
been in newspapers across the Nation, and we tried to understand the impact
that everything has on America. We hope
to make a trip to the Bancroft Neihardt Center and possibly see some of the new
movie about Wounded Knee.
In our journey to become “articulate
people”, we are adding more vocabulary words every week. Parts of speech are being examined, and we
are now starting on stories dealing with the Viet Nam veterans and the building
of the Memorial Wall in Washington, DC.
Those stories will be followed by scary legends and stories to lead us
into Halloween. It should be a very interesting
Autumn in our Reading Room.
Business
Education Highlights
Mrs.
JoAnn Schmedding
Desktop Publishing--This has been a very busy group of students. To begin the year the desktop publishing students did a final proof of the 2007 yearbook. After the proofreading, they printed the book. A backup of all the contents in our 2007 yearbook folder was burned on a CD by the students for archive purposes. At the present time, it is being sent to the bindery in Omaha. There are a couple of extra books being printed if any of you are interested in purchasing one. The cost is $28. These students have also been working on setting up the yearbook ladder for the 2008 school yearbook. The ladder is a form where the students decide how many pages will be in the yearbook and what will go on each page. They chose the theme “Hotter than the Sun” for this year’s yearbook. As a fundraiser, these students are in charge of making the individual picture buttons of the athletes and cheerleaders. The cost is only $2 for a picture button. Contact Mrs. Schmedding at the school if you are interested. The students in the class are having fun taking pictures of homecoming events, volleyball and football games. They are also beginning to understand how it takes patience to get a good variety of action pictures at a football or volleyball game.
Junior high computers— In seventh grade computers we began the year by going over the software program “Getting Along with Others.” At the present time, the seventh graders have mastered more than half of the alphabet on the keyboard. The biggest challenge for them is using the shift keys. The eighth graders spent a couple of days viewing a video explaining the harmful effects of gossiping and bullying. The eighth grade computer students have reviewed the keyboard and learned the correct fingering for the numbers and the symbols. These students are doing drills reinforcing the fact that language arts skills such as proper capitalization, correct grammar and number writing rules also apply when writing using a word processor.
Thank you to Mila Wolfe for sharing her cooking expertise with our Health 1 class on Sept. 25! The fry bread was delicious, as usual and we really appreciate you sharing your time with us. Mrs. Spoeneman's Health 1 class
We, the people of Walthill Public
School District,
are committed to generating a caring, respectful,
and safe learning environment, which promotes positive self-realization and
high academic success.
October 2007
|
Sun |
Mon |
Tue |
Wed |
Thu |
Fri |
Sat |
|
|
1 |
2 JHVB & VVB home vs. Santee at 3:00 and 5:00 JHFB home vs. Winnebago at 4:00 |
3 |
4 |
VFB at Omaha Nation at 7:00 |
6 VVB Gayville Tourney at Gayville, SD at 9:00 am |
|
7 |
8 VVB at Siouxland Christian vs. Whiting/Siouxland Christian at 5:30. JVFB home vs. Omaha Nation at 6:00 |
9 |
10 |
11 10:00 Student Start/Teacher In-service |
12 VFB home vs. Bancroft-Rosalie at 7:00 |
13 |
|
14 |
15 |
16 JHVB home vs. Emerson at 3:00 |
17 |
18 End of 1st Quarter E/O at 1:30. VVB at Omaha Nation vs. Brownell Tal./Omaha Nation at 5:00 |
19 2nd Quarter Begins VFB at Winnebago at 7:00 |
20 |
|
21 |
22 VVB Conference Tourney TBA |
23 VVB Conference Tourney TBA |
24 |
25 E/O at 1:30 P/T Conferences from 4:00-8:00 VFB Playoffs 1st Round TBA |
26 No School |
27 |
|
28 |
29 VVB Sub-Districts TBA |
30 VVB Sub-Districts TBA |
31VFB Playoffs 2nd Round TBA |
|
|
|
November 2007
