Washington Intermediate Newsletter October 2007

Washington Intermediate Newsletter


Washington Smiles Page 2
GuidancePoetry Page 3
Dictionary for 4th\WIS Tidbits Page 4
Mold in 5-1 Page 5
MoldPoetry Page 6
MoldMy Favorite Subject Page 7
Ms. Karwal –4thLeatha’s Rabbit Page 8
New Teachers and Students Interview ......
Homecoming WeekAt Washington
Smiles in AislesFront page cont...

Front Page
Parent Advisory Committee Meeting Notes
Monday, September 17, 2007 7:00 – 8:00 PM

Present: Doug Barry, Principal; Janet Zenor, Wendi Breedlove, Kathy Walker, Bonnie Orme
I. Review of 2006-07
a. ITBS – Doug Barry reviewed the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills data for WIS students and all district students from the 2006-07 year. Discussion about No Child Left Behind (NCLB) goals that are set for the 2007-08 school year – the goals are higher than the previous year and (if NCLB is left unchanged) will continue to increase until 2014 when 100% of students are expected to be proficient. Our students showed growth when looking at scores from one year to the next (i.e. 3rd grade to 4th grade).
b. ICAMS – was not discussed.
c. After School Math Program – students did see an increase in their math fluency (number of math facts they can correctly answer in a period of time) last year. To be proficient or to master each math probe (+, -, x, ¸), 4th grade students are expected to be able to answer at least 90 of 100 math facts in 5 minutes while 5th grade gets 3 minutes.
II. Highlights, changes and plans for 2007-08
a. Summer Projects – The sidewalk was replaced on south and east side of school. The trees were trimmed up along Broadway. The playground was resurfaced and there was an issue that we feel has been resolved – the bobcat used during trimming tore the surface up in one area and students were getting black ‘goo’ on their clothes. The surfacing company came in and resurfaced the parts that were damaged.
b. WIS & Red Oak CSD plans for professional development – handouts of the Inman, Washington, Middle School and High School goals for the 2007-08 were handed out in the packet.
c. Blog site (http://wistigers.blogspot.com) – until we update and improve our district site, WIS has started our own website to post information, pictures and updates. There is also a search link (www.goodsearch.com) on the site that donates 1 cent per search to the school. We would need to amass $20 by the end of the September to qualify for receiving a check. This year, we may not make it, but it should be easily obtained in future years. Continued on page 11….




WIS Parent Advisory Committee meetings are open to any parents.
- Thursday, Dec 6, 2007 (7:00 – 8:00 pm)
- Monday, Mar 3, 2008 (7:00 – 8:00 pm)
- Thursday, May 6, 2008 (7:00 – 8:00 pm)




Visit Artsonia.com

to see your student’s artwork on line !!!!



Page 2


You Had to Be there ! Congrats, Dylin
What: Washington Intermediate Assembly
5th grader, Dylin , had his name pulled for Hy-Vee's Smile for Education! We will receive a check for $5000 from Hy-Vee! Dylin receives a laptop computer!
Who: All students, staff, any district staff and parents available can attend! Brandon Lampkin, Hy-Vee store director & other Hy-Vee staff.
KMTV-3 & KCSI
When: Tuesday, September 11, 2007 - 10:00 AM




RED OAK COMMUNITY SCHOOLS STUDENTS
SHARE THEIR ARTWORK WITH THE WORLD!


Red Oak, IA -- Move Over Famous Artists! Red Oak Community Schools
artists are taking over the spotlight! Susan Noonan, the school's Art Teacher, has teamed up with Artsonia, www.artsonia.com -- the world's largest online kid's art museum -- to display the students' artwork.
Anyone can view the school gallery online at: www.artsonia.com/schools/red1. Visitors can browse the artwork in the school gallery by grade level, or by specific exhibits. Red Oak Community Schools students join thousands of students from over 100 countries whose artwork is showcased on Artsonia. "This program is a wonderful way to get parents and family members more involved in Art Education," said Susan Noonan.
All of Artsonia’s one million pieces of artwork are viewable online, and any teacher or parent can create an online art gallery for their child or school. Artsonia provides several online features such as fan clubs and personal guestbooks, as a way for families to encourage the creativity and imaginations of their young artists. In addition, family members can purchase keepsakes imprinted with the child’s artwork, with Artsonia donating 15 percent of their annual product revenue back to school art programs.
Headquartered in Chicago, Ill., Artsonia was established in 2000 as an online kid’s art museum providing free, educational resources for kids, families and schools to create art projects. Since its inception, Artsonia continues to integrate technology in the classroom, develop multi-cultural understanding through art and increase family involvement in children’s education. To find out more, visit http://www.artsonia.com/.



Page 3
Poetry from Mrs. Guinn’s Class


Island
Sitting, waiting
Smelling real stinky
Mad to come to this bad island
Prison
Shayla Duplain




Waiting
Cannot leave here
Smells bad, really bad
I hate it. Have to go home now
Waiting
Cara Hale

Waiting
Days are passing
Listening to questions
Nervously waiting to be asked
Waiting
Ethan Hewett

It stinks.
I try to breathe.
It smells very bad.
Dreaming of good smells and freedom
It stinks.
Hannah Shalters

Waiting
Waiting for a sign
It smells horrible.
Thinking about my family
Waiting
Maria Pendleton


It smells
It stinks like cows
Stinking like horses
Smelling like flowers that just rose
Stinky
Jasmine Forward

Held here
I count the days
Looking through the fence
Dreaming of running free again
Waiting
Hayley Benedict

Held here
I count the weeks
Looking through the glass
Dreaming of people free again
Waiting
Parker Wagaman


Waiting
The day is long.
I see a good book.
I wanted to read the good book.
Waiting
Leatha Bennett

Page 4

Washington Tidbits

Check out student artwork
Artsonia.com
Add your comments and join your friends ‘ fan clubs. Awards given on-line see if you are one!
Parents can add artwork and purchase gifts for Grandma,
Grandpa,
Aunts or Uncle
Or
For the Artist’s
Christmas gift
Artwork from the United States and many other countries
Check it OUT !

Wanted: Master Gardener Volunteers

Volunteer in your school
Contact Mr. Barry for
Ideas of how you can help

Check out our blog...http://wistigers.blogspot.com


Chad Johnson, Fareway manager
and Rotary Club members
and came in and gave each 4th grader
a dictionary to use in school.
on September 26.

Principal’s Student
Advisory Group
for September 2007

Page 5
5th Grade Science


Mold Experiment
By Savanna Abraham 5-1
My Hypothesis: My bread is going to grow fuzzy mold.
Day 1: Got bread wet
Day 2: After exposing bread to the air in 5-1 class room for 24 hours, put bread in air tight bag in a dark warm place.
Day 5: It’s fuzzy and it is black, blue, orange, yellow, and green. The mold is growing on the back.
Day 6: nothing happen.
Day 7: It is black, blue and a little orange and yellow. The size has grown to that of a half dollar. It is fuzzy.
Day 8: Fuzz is growing.
Conclusion: I proved my hypothesis: I think it will grow fuzzy mold. It DID grow fuzzy mold.
Comparisons of the molds
The ones in 5-1 are the ones that have the most mold. The ones in the art room had weird mold. The one in Mr. Barry’s office does not have that much mold.
Mold Experiment
5-1
My Hypothesis: My bread is going to grow fuzzy mold.
Day 1: Got bread wet
Day 2: After exposing bread to the air in 5-1 class room for 24 hours, put bread in air tight bag in a dark warm place.
Day 5: It’s fuzzy and it is black, blue, orange, yellow, and green. The mold is growing on the back.
Day 6: nothing happen.
Day 7: It is black, blue and a little orange and yellow. The size has grown to that of a half dollar. It is fuzzy.
Day 8: Fuzz is growing.
Conclusion: I proved my hypothesis: I think it will grow fuzzy mold. I DID grow fuzzy mold.
Comparisons of the molds
The ones in 5-1 are the ones that have the most mold. The ones in the art room had weird mold. The one in Mr. Barry’s office does not have that much mold.

Page 6

Mold Experiment
By Vincent Breedlove
My mold will start in the music room. My hypothesis is, that I think it will be very moldy.
The process is: you get a piece of bread wet. Expose it to the air in the music room for twenty-four hours. Put bread in a air tight bag, in a dark and warm place. Then we observe.
9-9-07 It’s still wet and really squishy.
9-10-07 it’s almost covered in mold, the colors are red, green, black, and it cracked
9-11-07 it has blue and white mold, the crust is starting to peel, and the mold is starting to grow on the back, it is still all soggy
9-12-07 the colors are red, blue, green, black, yellow, and white. The size is covering the whole top and a little of the back. it’s texture it’s all soggy.
9-13-07 its mold is hard. There is a lot of white mold circles everywhere.
9-17-07 there’s a lot of black mold on the top and a lot of white mold. There’s orange mold. One whole corner is covered in a type of slime. It looks like it’s growing by the second. It’s smelly.
Classroom mold had fuzzy. Some were really bad.
Art room mold has blue or black.
Mrs. Bates room mold is fuzzy.
P.E. supply room mold it’s all blue.
Mr. Barry’s office mold. Is fuzzy.
Media center has no mold at all.
Music room mold is nasty.
Mr. M mold. Is all fuzzy.
Conclusion
1. I proved my hypothesis that it would be really moldy.
the worst was the music room mold

More Poetry:

It stinks.
Smells really bad
Some fresh air will help
It will smell good if we had air
It stinks.
Chelsea Green


Anger
They’re mad at them.
Mad people are here.
They are all very, very poor.
They’re sick.
Brooke Samms

Alone.
Separated
Seeing sad faces
Hoping to see my Mother and Dad
Alone.
Brittney Schwartz

It stinks.
Smells really bad
Food smelled really good.
You feel free when you’re with family.
Alexis Wall

Questions
Coaching papers
Hearing it just right
Scared to give
the wrong answers
Questions
Joseph Shipley

Page 7

Mold Experiment
5-1 Mold Experiment by Karen Miller
First, we put the bread on a paper plate and got it wet. We left it out for 24 hours. Then we put the bread in an airtight bag.
Monday, Sept. 10, 2007 - I got mold on mine. It was yellow, green, and red.
Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2007 - I got different colors: pink appeared.
Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2007 - I have the same colors. The mold is now the size of a golfball.
Thursday, Sept. 13, 2007 - It got bigger but it is the same color.
Monday, Sept. 17, 2007 - It got bigger, but the colors are the same. I have a whole lot of fuzzy stuff on it.
I had fun!


My Favorite Subject is…..
Reading – because it makes me feel good when I read. Some books are very good. – Dallin
-- because I can read instead of doing homework. Also, I can read all of my favorite
books. Also, I can read about George W. Bush, and I can read in my science
book. – Devin
Math – because I am really good at it and it is fun. Unknown 5-1
P.E. – because you can learn and have fun at the same time. It is active.
The teacher is nice. – Dylin
Science - because there are a lot of things to do. You learn a lot. You can unlock a whole
new world. You can learn a bunch more words. There are a lot of experiments
and other fun things to do. – Vincent
Social Studies - because you get to learn about immigrants and the Native Americans
and your ancestors. We learn about directions. Unknown 5-1


Ms. Karwal Visits With Fourth Graders
By Jamie Storesund & Megan Roberts
Deb Karwal recently came to talk to the fourth grade class. She came to talk about weather, and she did many experiments. She put fire in a jar to see the smoke fall. She made the temperature go up and down. She made a cloud on a sheet of glass. She put a red ice cube in warm water to show that colder air sinks. She made the fire by a match and put it on a plate and put a jar over it. She made the temperature by putting warm water and some ice cubes around it. She made the clouds form on the glass by putting warm water in the pan and put a glass over the top and ice cubes on top. She made the red ice cube dissolve in warm water. The warm water made it dissolve fast!

Leatha’s Rabbit Visits Mrs. Guinn’s Class

The Afterschool Math Program
By Ms. Linn
It is going great! We had a wonderful turnout our first night, on September 11. We would like to thank TierOne for providing treats for us that night. On September 25, we had even more students than before. Houghton State Bank was generous enough to provide a snack for the students this time. We have really been working on the basic math skills in all of our sections. The students are working hard and having fun doing it. Several of the 5th grade students have passed all 4 levels of basic skills testing (+, -, *, /). Congratulations! We would like to encourage parents to get their children involved in the after school math program. It can only help!


New
Teachers
Ms. Linn
and
Mrs. Hughes

Don’t Forget to Use GoodSearch.com and earn pennies for Washington School !

More Poems:

Waiting
It is painful.
It is always stinky.
I am dreaming of freedom, yes.
Can’t sleep well.
Corrina Budka

Nervous
I can’t sleep well.
Feeling very sick
I can’t wait to see my brother.
Nervous
Bailey Bruce

Trapped here
It is a bad place.
Waiting a long time
Waiting to be free of prison
Trapped here.
Eric Roberts

Alone
None of my friend
Dream to see my mom
Praying to God they ask me soon
Alone.
Shane Cox

During Western day of Homecoming week Mrs. Sampers dressed in style. She visited Mrs. Guinn’s room and shared information about her outfit, noting the importance of each item she wore or carried. Mrs. Sampers knew what she was talking about because she lived on a ranch in Wyoming for 20 years.


Our custodian, Kevin Schwartz, and his daughter Brittney shared details about the Statue of Liberty when Mrs. Guinn’s class studied Ellis Island.

Football
By Colin Bruce & Murphy Porter
This article is about the new tackle football program. It includes 4th, 5th and 6th grades. The program is called JVAA. It stands for Jordan Vannausdle Athletic Association. It is very fun. Our head coaches name is Doug Mertz. We are going to be on a float in the parade because of the JVAA. Practice is every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Colin’s positions are defense safety and offense guard. Murphy’s positions are defense middle line backer and offense guard. Colin’s number is 62 and Murphy’s number is 77. We’re both on different teams. Colin is on the black team and Murphy is on the orange team. If we win all the football games, we get to play at Graceland University Stadium. We have to win 5 games. Both of our teams are very good and fast, and we have to wear pads so we don’t get hurt.

Smiles in Every Aisle cont….
Mr. Lampkin introduces his management staff. Mr. Barry ask the important question, “How many items will $5000.00 buy?


Parent Meeting continued from page 1
d. Online Surveys – Doug Barry shared with the parents an online survey (also linked on our website) that parents could use to give feedback on the $5,000 from Hy-Vee. The results (so far) were shared with the parents. WIS will use the survey site to poll parents, staff and community members on various concerns, issues, ideas in the future.
e. Savings account program – Doug Barry had sent each bank a letter in August expressing his interest in starting a savings program for students at Washington. An article, Financial Literacy Curriculum Pays Off, was handed out to the parents. Discussion about how we could set it up here and the consensus is listed below. Barry will pursue what the parents suggested. Article found at: http://www.naesp.org/ContentLoad.do?contentId=2194
i. The need and importance is evident;
ii. Have one bank do it each year instead of multiple banks as that may be confusing;
iii. Rotate banks each year if there are more than one bank interested;
iv. Students/parents would participate if they wanted
f. After School Math Program – WIS is in the 3rd year. We had 76 students present at our first session and there will be 11 more sessions this year and a party/contest at the end of the year. Parents suggested that students who participate in more than ½ the sessions should be allowed to participate in the contest at the end as it was a lot of fun last year.
g. Hy-Vee Smiles for Education ($5,000 ) – A sheet with ideas from the students on how to spend the $5,000 was in the packet. Discussion resulted in the idea of spending a portion of it on the playground area and a portion of it on technology. Playground ideas the parents liked were: a mural of some sort that could be inserted into the chain link fence to block the view of street and jail; another slide; a basketball hoop; something the kids would like. Technology ideas were a Smart/Interactive Whiteboard system; laptops
III. Other Input, Ideas, and Suggestions – Kathy Walker was going to look in to replacing the bush/tree out front that had been donated to the school when Jennie Paulus passed away in 1993. It was suggested that staff either not park on north side of Washington street as cars picking up students after school sometimes do not have room. Mr. Barry would talk to staff.