|
Inspire 199 - January 2016
Published on Jan 28, 2016 14:35
Highlights of the Jan. 25 school board meeting
Paraprofessional week
The week
of January 11-15 was designated Paraprofessional Recognition Week by
the Minnesota Department of Education. Paraprofessionals serve our
students in positions that do not require a teacher’s licensure. This
evening we would formally like to recognize the 82 paraprofessionals
that service our school district.
Our
paraprofessionals provide services in multiple settings within our
schools including support for instruction, in our media centers, in the
health office, on buses and in Spartans Kids Care. These supports and
services are integral to student success achievement. We are committed
to excellence driven by our mission of Inspire. Innovate. Excel. A
Community Commitment and recognize the role paraprofessionals play in
our mission to ensure student success.
Thank you paraprofessionals for your service to ISD 199!
Word Masters recognition
A team
representing Inver Grove Heights Elementary Schools achieved Highest
Honors in the recent Word Masters Challenge — a national vocabulary
competition involving nearly 150,000 students annually. The third grade
team scored an impressive 193 points out of a possible 200in the first
of three meets this year, placing first in the nation.
Competing in the difficult Blue Division of the Word Masters Challenge, third
graders Ashley Lynner, Angelina Marino, Alyssa Olund and Jenna
Schmotter each earned a perfect score of 20 on the challenge.Nationally,
only 19 third graders and 52 fifth graders achieved this result. Other
students from Inver Grove Heights Elementary Schools who achieved
outstanding results in the meet include third graders Myles Feldman,
Quynk Gingerich, Grace Ho, Kevin Moore and Wayne Seelhammer.
The Word
Masters Challenge is an exercise in critical thinking that first
encourages students to become familiar with a set of interesting new
words(considerably harder than grade level), and then challenges them to
use those words to complete analogies expressing various kinds of
logical relationships.
Working
to solve the analogies helps students learn to think both analytically
and metaphorically. Although most vocabulary enrichment and
analogy-solving programs are designed for use by high school
students, Word Masters Challenge materials have been specifically
created for younger students in grades three through eight. They are
particularly well suited for children who are motivated by the challenge
of learning new words and enjoy the logical puzzles posed by analogies.
Legislative priorities
Priority #1 – financial stability:
-
Increase funding for special education in order to reduce the cross subsidy.
-
Allow locally elected school boards to renew existing operating referendum at the same level.
-
Fully fund
statewide college/career readiness tests at the high school level;
utilize the ACT Plus Writing as the nationally recognized college
admission test.
-
Expand the
allowable uses of the building lease levy to include remodeling and
expansion of core facilities as well as classroom space.
-
Provide
funding needed to ensure prekindergarten programs have essential
components including teachers, support staff, transportation and
classroom space.
Priority #1 – increase school district control and fund, or reduce, unfunded mandates:
-
Allow locally elected school boards to adopt the school calendar that best meets the needs of their students and community.
-
Allow districts the flexibility to design the early learning programs that best meet the needs of their students and families.
Action items
A. Approval of the Award Bids for the HVAC Project.
Motion by Member Mandell and Second by Member Stensgard to accept the proposed Award Bids for the HVAC Project.
Motion carried 7-0.
B. Approval of the Budget Guiding Change.
Motion by Member Gliva and Second by Member Hanson to accept the proposed Budget Guiding Change.
Motion carried 7-0.
Simley Theatre presents: winter one acts
A double
feature night starting out with the one act play “The Lottery.”This
unusual play has proven so successful it has become an internationally
known classic. The play starts as people are assembling for the lottery.
What family will it be this time? Which member? Only gradually do we
begin to suspect the true nature of the lottery as the play builds
swiftly to its crucial and moving climax.
The
second feature of the night is the one act play “Take Five.” Imagine you
are an actor on opening night, acting on a set that is not completed;
actors who don’t show up. props either don’t work or are missing,
lighting and sound cues are all off and two silly incompetent stages
hands do their worst. This award winning show is filled with surprises,
zany characters and pure entertainment.
The Lottery and Take Five
-
Senior & staff preview: Thursday, Feb. 4 at 3:30 p.m.
-
Performances: Friday & Saturday, Feb. 5 & 6 at 7 p.m.
-
Sun., Feb. 7 at 2 pm
Simley High School Performing Arts Center: 2920 80th St. E., Inver Grove Heights
Tickets may be purchased online at simleytheatre.org or by calling the Community Ed office at 651-306-7870. Tickets will also be sold at the door 30 minutes prior to the show.
A night of thanks
On January 26, members of the Simley Girls hockey teams personally
thanked teachers between the JV and varsity games. Each player invited a
special teacher to the game.
It was a
wonderful way for our student athletes to show their appreciation to
just some of the fabulous teachers we are fortunate to have at Simley
High School,” said hockey mom Amy Woog Patnode, who also submitted this
photo.
Lessons in kindness
Pine Bend 5th
graders recently participated in a kindness retreat. The following is a
summary of the fun and exciting day by Sara Pachl's class:
“The kindness
retreat was amazing,” said everyone when we got back. First when we got
there we played a game so we knew almost everybody there.Then we got to
get into groups to talk about unkindness.
We got back
together as a group to talk about things we see at Pine Bend that
shouldn’t happen. We got to play the train game too. Then we got back in our small groups and talked about things that are kind.
We got to talk
about the kind things we all thought of. We took a break to have lunch
and have a dance break. Then we got to sing some songs. We got back into
our small groups and made a short skit on some acts of kindness. We got
to have 3 groups share theirs.
The last thing we
got to do was go and thank someone for what they did and someone who
you need to forgive. That was our trip to the kindness retreat. Kindness
has a great impact on students no matter what.
Engineering lessons
Pine
Bend fourth graders have been learning about engineering. On Jan.22,the
Science Museum of Minnesota visited the school to explore what it's like
to be an engineer. They learned the engineer design process:
ask,imagine, plan, create and improve. They will be venturing off to the
Science Museum in February to explore the wonderful world of science.
Trivia and pizza at Hilltop
Thanks to the trivia know-how of their classmate Abigail Cheyka, 5th graders
in Stephanie Taufen’s class at Hilltop enjoyed an Old World pizza lunch
on January 25. Abigail was recently announced as her school’s winner of the
50th Anniversary of Inver Grove Heights Trivia Contest and the pizza lunch was one of her prizes.
The class also received a visit from Rep. Joe Atkins, Mayor George Tourville and Superintendent Dave Bernhardson.
Abigail also received a special pen from the Gov. Mark Dayton
History and a slice at Salem Hills
5th grader Tanel Endrizzi was the Salem
Hills winner of the 50th Anniversary of Inver Grove Heights Trivia
Contest. As one of her prizes, Tanel and her classmates won a pizza
lunch from Old World!
Additionally, Rep. Joe Atkins, Mayor
George Tourville and Superintendent Dave Bernhardson visited the class
to congratulate Tanel and visit with students.
A walk in the woods
Third,
fourth and fifth graders at Pine Bend have recently been out in the
school forest behind the school enjoying some snowshoeing with physical
education teachers Kelly Darrow and Andrea Koch.
Darrow
explains that the kids have come to love the snowshoeing unit for the
activity itself, but also because it allows them to spend more time in
the forest, where they’ve seen deer, countless birds and once, during a
night visit, an opossum staring at them from a tree.
Spartan nation celebrates more all-conference announcements
Girls tennis all-conference
- Annika Iverson
- Britta Iverson
- Sophia Dahlke
Girls tennis honorable mention
- Lily David
- Julie Malyshev
Football all-district
- Michael Busch
- Joe Matthews
- Cody Albright
- Jack Warrick
Football all-district honorable mention
- Elliot Kirchert
- Tyrese Beards-Borney
- Jake Binley
- Nathan Voegele
- Joel Woja
Football East Metro District Offensive Player of the Year
Volleyball all-conference
- Chelsea Kiewel
- Anna Scheffley
Volleyball all-conference honorable mention
- Abby Kain
- Kendra Sandkamp
- Ashley Perrin
Girls soccer all-conference
- Maria Retting, also named to an MSHSSCA All-State Team
- Sarah Kruse
- Lexi Muller
Girls soccer all-conference honorable mention
- Mackenzie Sullivan
- Melissa Tinucci
Boys soccer all-conference
- Nathan Stone
- Jack Stensgard
- Jacob Myran
Boys soccer all-conference honorable mention
- Billy Ross
- Tyler Prifrel
- Ryan Hostager
Cross country all-conference honorable mention
Girls swimming all-conference
- Alaina Friske
- Brittany Raab
Girls swimming all-conference honorable mention
- Hailey Anderson
- Emily Stang
- Sarah Anaya
|