Louisa-Muscatine Community School DistrictDecember 2016/January 2017 Newsletter

L-M Library News

Both libraries at Louisa-Muscatine have been busy places already this Fall! Our preschoolers through sixth grade students have been enjoying their new library space in the elementary. It is wonderful to see the books flying off the shelves and kids get-ting into reading while wanting to spend time in the library. In November, I will gave 5th and 6th grade students the opportunity to apply to become a library help-er. These helpers will use some of their time to help check in books, re-shelve books, straighten shelves, and some other general library tasks at Mrs. Elliott and Mrs. Rowe’s discretion. If you think your 5th or 6th grade student would be interested in becoming a library helper, please remind them to come ask for an application in the library! One of my goals for the library this year is to begin preschool programming and book check-out to help support literacy and develop an early love for books and reading. Our preschoolers now have the opportunity to come to the library twice a month for storytime and are able to check out one book per student. The books are generously offered through our AEA and give us the ability to offer many differ-ent age-appropriate books each month. In order for preschoolers to take their checked out book home, a permission letter must be signed. Please contact Mrs. Elliott in the library or Miss Clements/Mrs. Vircks in preschool for the permission letter if you haven’t signed one yet. I would also like to thank the Grandview Women’s Club for their recent monetary donation. The money will help us add books from our wish list to both the collection at the elementary as well as the collection at the secondary building. Thank you from all of us here in the library!

3rd Annual Cake Auction

We will be holding a cake auction after the varsity basketball games against Lone Tree on December 2nd. Var-ious groups will be donating dec-orated cakes into the contest. The best cakes will be auctioned off in the gym after the conclusion of the varsity boys’ game. The remaining cakes will be sold through a silent auction in the cafeteria. If you cannot make it to the game on December 2nd and would still like to participate in the cake auc-tion, please contact Coach Wilson (twilson@lmcsd.org) or Emily Staats (estaats@lmcsd.org) for a bid form.JV games begin at 4:30 in the el-

ementary gym and Varsity games begin at 6:00 in the high school.

The seniors painted sugar skulls to celebrate El día de los muertos. This holiday is spent remembering loved ones who have died and is celebrated on Nov. 1 & 2 in Mexico and Central American. Pictured above are Randyn Carter & Lani Hillard.

Elementary DataThere are many different ways to assess the success of a child at school. One way is for teachers and administrators to look at data to help us make decisions about what students know and what support they need if they don’t know information yet. New to the elementary this year, are state screeners that students take three times a year; fall, winter, and spring. After scoring the teachers and administrator use that information and decide what type of intervention to provide. Currently there are different screeners used depending on the grade level:CBMs are used to tell us how fluently a child reads. Reading fluency is a good measure of reading “readiness” for a child. These are given 2nd through 6th grade.Composite is a score used with 1st and Kindergarten to determine their word decoding skills. A composite score tells how well they do on these skills as a combined indicator.aReader is an online test which asks foundational reading questions related to their grade level. Questions get more or less diffi-cult as students answer questions correctly or incorrectly.aMath is an online test which asks math questions related to their grade level. Questions get more or less difficult as students answer questions correctly or incorrectly.Students work on specific skills in various classrooms to strengthen their abilities in the areas of reading and math. They look at their own data and make goals for improvement too, as it helps motivate them to continue to improve.

The results of the FALL BUILDING-WIDE data from each screener is shown as percentages of those that are proficient in each screener for fall.

Screener Grade Level Percent ProficientComposite K - 1 67.3%CBMs 2 - 6 60.0%aReader 1 - 6 61.8%aMath 1 - 6 58.4%

Seniors Take Annual Trip to Des MoinesOn October 5th, the senior government class took a trip to Des Moines to visit the Judicial Department building and state capitol. While there, they took a tour of both buildings. They met Judge Edward Mansfield, who has been on the court since 2011. He answered several questions from students before moving on to the capitol. Students learned about the day-to-day life of a Supreme Court Justice, as well as details on the most difficult case Judge Mansfield had heard.After the judicial department, we moved to the capitol building to a tour. Students seemed to really love the design and architecture of the capitol, as well as several interesting stories the tour guides told. Students made it to the top of the rotunda, where you can hear someone from the other side whisper.After the tour, large groups of students registered to vote for the 2016 election with the Secretary of State on top of the Iowa Constitution.Then students met with Governor Branstad, who answered questions about the life of a governor, his proudest moment as governor, and what advice he would give high schoolers. (Work hard).

L-M’s TLC Grant in ActionThis year L-M was given funds from the state to begin the Teacher Leadership and Compensation (TLC) initiative. Through this grant a team of administrators and teachers set guidelines for different positions to help improve student learning. There are three tiers within our TLC initiative and three areas of focus in the grant: literacy, numeracy, and student engagement/technology. The state’s goal for each district applying was to have at least 25% of the district’s certified staff involved in TLC positions. Louisa-Muscatine currently has 35% of the certified staff taking on additional TLC positions in order to work towards achieving the district’s goals.

Tier I instructional coordinators consist of three teachers who are full-release from the classroom: Jill Co-chran, Amanda Key, and Kelley Emke. These three teachers observe classrooms, mentor new teachers, coach fellow teachers, interpret student data, and assist in the roll out of major initiatives within their area of focus. One of their biggest areas of enhancing student learning is more intense mentoring and coaching with the new teachers in our district. In the past, new teachers met with their mentors one day each week for a half an hour before or after school to work on better teaching practices using the teaching standards. Currently, new teachers still receive that same support from mentoring, but in addition to that, Instructional Coordi-nators are taking a more active role in their classroom as their coach too. This additional support includes being in the classroom, modeling strategies, and ongoing coaching throughout each week related to district goals and individual teaching goals.

Tier II instructional coaches are full-time teachers in the classroom and serve as model classrooms for observations. There are nine Tier II teachers: Trish Parsons, Debbie Luttrull, Tenneil Register, Michelle Helscher, Stacy Peterson, Andrew Genz, Dottie Lawrence, Brennan Gerst, and Tammy Walsh. Their main focus is coaching fellow teachers in order to help improve practice and in turn improve student learning. These classroom teachers are also integral to L-M’s process for the state-required peer review process.

The final positions are Tier III PLC coordinators in grade levels and subject areas: Cindy Wehrle, Trish Parsons, Kristen Brant, JoLynn Bohlen, Lynne Lackey, Michelle Helscher, Becky Feldman, Teilsen Hennen-fent, Laura Shoultz, Vicki Shady, Heidi Sievert, Brennan Gerst, Stacy Peterson, Mark Wehrle, Andrew Genz, and Tammy Walsh. These teachers are also full-time classroom teachers who are in charge of organizing their specific PLC or professional learning community. All teachers at L-M are assigned to a PLC and attend weekly meetings. At these meetings under the direction of the PLC coordinator, the teams look at curric-ulum standards, student data, and come up with action plans to help make sure all students are learning at high levels of learning.

Chess Club

7th - 12th gradeThursdays after schoolSra. Earnest’s Room

NON-DISCRIMINATION POLICYIt is the policy of the Louisa-Muscatine CSD not to discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, gender, disability, religion, age, political party affiliation, socioeconomic status, or ac-tual or potential parental, family or mar-tial status in its programs, activities, or employment practices as required by the Iowa Code.

Smarter Balanced Assessment

Iowa will put in place the Smarter Balanced Assessment System starting in the 2017-2018 school year for stu-dents in grades 3-11. We are excited to roll out this new assessment system that is aligned to Iowa’s statewide standards with formative, interim, and summative components.

For more information about the transition to Smarter Balanced, the Iowa Department of Education developed a webpage with details about the rationale for change, answers to common questions, links to practice tests, and additional resources: https://iowacore.gov/content/smarter-balanced-assessments

In addition, the Department of Education developed a document with talking points that is attached to this message.

There will be a face-to-face professional learning expectation for all teachers, administrators, and supports. This professional learning will focus on the assessment system, resources, and score report interpretation. Next year, there will be online modules for administration of the assessments.

Each AEA will be conducting training sessions to build district capacity. You will be notified of those sessions once they are established.

OPEN ENROLLMENT DEADLINESPursuant to the laws that govern open enrollment, applications filed after the March 1, 2017 for the 2017-2018 school year will not be approved unless the reason for late filing qualifies for “good cause”. “Good cause” means a change in the status of a child’s resident district for any of the rea-sons listed below. The deadline for kindergarten students is September 1. *Family moved to a new district of residence *Change in the marital status of the student’s parents *Placement of the student into foster care resulting in new resident dis-trict *Adoption resulting in new resident district *Participation in a foreign exchange program *Participation in a substance abuse or mental health treatment program resulting in new resident district*Failure of negotiations for reorganization or rejection of proposed reor-ganization plan

*Failure of negotiations for whole grade sharing or rejection of whole grade sharing *Loss of accreditation or revocation of a charter school contract *Severe health and/or pervasive harassment (If the application is being made in response to an alleged severe health need or pervasive harass-ment of student, the RESIDENT district will notify the applicant of status. The applicant must provide resident district with status of health concern or history of harassment occurring after March 1 deadline.

Island Lighthouse Food Pantry

Tuesday, December 20 Tuesday, January 17

The food pantry is open the 3rd Tuesday of every month from 9:00-11:00 am and 4:00-6:00

pm. It is located at Island United Methodist Church, 2598 Stewart Road, Muscatine IA and is open to

residents in the Louisa-Muscatine School District. You will be required to show identification with

your name and current address.

Election Results

On Tuesday, November 8th, L-M JH/HS held its own mock election. Unfortunately, only 39% of the student body participated by casting their vote. But the results are in:

Donald Trump - 96 VotesHillary Clinton - 38 Votes

Senator Chuck Grassley & Former Lt. Governor Patty Judge TIED in our election.

Wendy from the AEA will be here Tuesday December 13th conducting hearing screen-ings beginning about 8:30. She will be testing all new students as well as any students with a known hearing loss.ThanksKathy Will, R.N.

Please call the office if your child is sick or going to be absent from school.

HS Office: 319-726-3421Elementary Office: 319-726-3634

December Activity Calendar

Sun Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday1

*JH Girls BB @ Mediapolis 4:30

pm*HS Wrestling vs.

Muscatine 6:00 pm

2*JV/V Girls &

Boys BB vs. Lone Tree 4:30 pm

(Cake Auction afterwards)

*JV Wrestling Tournament @

Wapello 5:30 pm*5ht/6th Grade choir @ Mus-catine Holiday Stroll 5:30 PM

3*V Wrestling

Tournament @ New London

10:00 am*Bowling @ Mt. Pleasant 1:00 pm

4 5*JH Wrestling

@ New London 4:30 pm

*JH Girls BB @ Pekin 4:30 pm

*JV/V Girls & Boys BB vs. Danville 4:30

pm*Music Booster

Meeting 6:30 pm

6* V Girls & Boys

BB @ Wapello 6:00 pm

7*Athletic Boost-ers Meeting 6:00

pm

8*JH Girls BB @ Highland 4:30

PM*HS Wrestling @ Lone Tree

6:00 pm*JV Girls &

Boys BB @ Wa-pello 6:15 pm

9*NO SCHOOL, teacher in ser-

vice*JV/V Girls

& Boys BB vs. Highland 4:30

pm

10*PTO Pajama Party 8:00 am

*JV Wrestling @ Marion 9:00 am

*V Wrestling @ Mt. Vernon

10:00 am*Girls Bowling

@ Cedar Rapids Prairie 1:00 pm

11 12*JH Girls BB @ Wapello 4:30

pm*PTO Meeting

5:00 pm

13*JV/V Girls &

Boys BB @ Co-lumbus 4:30 pm*JH Wrestling @ WACO 4:30 pm

*Bowling vs. West Central

5:00 pm

14 15*JH Girls BB vs. Columbus 4:30

pm*HS Wrestling vs. Highland,

WACO 6:00 pm

16*K-3 Concert

1:00 pm*JV/V Girls

& Boys BB vs. WMU 4:30 pm

17*V Wrestling

@ Ft. Madison 10:00 am

*Boys Bowling @ Cedar Rapids Prairie 1:00 pm

18 19*School Board meeting 6:00

pm*JH/HS Winter

Concert 7:00 pm

20*JV Boys, V

Girls & Boys BB @ IMS 4:30 pm*V Wrestling @

WB/ND 5:00 pm

21 22 23 24

25 26 27 28 29 30 31

No School, Winter Break

No School, Winter Break

January Activity CalendarSun Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Sat1 2

*No School - Last Day of Winter Break

3*JV/V Girls & Boys BB @ West Burling-ton 4:30 pm

4*Athletic Boosters Meeting 6:00 pm

5*V Wrestling vs. Mercer County 6:30 pm

6*JV/V Girls & Boys BB vs. Pekin 4:30 PM

7*V Wrestling @ NE Gooselake 9:30 am

*Bowling Tourna-ment - HOME - 2:00 pm

8 9*JH Boys BB vs. Mediapolis 4:30 pm

*PTO Meeting 5:00 pm

*JV Wrestling @ New London 5:30 pm

10*JV/V Girls & Boys BB vs. Mediapolis 4:30 pm

11 12*End of 2nd Quarter, 1st Semester

*JH Boys BB @ Pekin 4:30 PM

*HS Wrestling @ WB/ND 6:00 pm

13*No School, Teacher In Service

*JV/V Girls & Boys BB @ Lone Tree 4:30 pm

14*Girls & Boys Bowl-ing @ Clinton 10:00 am

*V Wrestling @ Marion 10:30 pm

15 16*No School, MLK Jr Day

*JH Boys BB @ Wapello 4:30 pm

*JV/V Girls & boys BB vs. West Liberty vs. 4:30 pm

*School Board Meet-ing 6:00 pm

17*Start of 3rd quarter

*JV/V Girls & boys BB vs. Wapello 4:30 pm

18 19*JH Boys BB @ Columbus 4:30 pm

*V Wrestling vs. Cardinal 6:00 pm

20*JV/V Girls & Boys BB @ Highland 4:30 pm

*HOME JV wrestling tournament - 5:00 pm

21*HOME V Wrestling Tournament 0 10:00 am

*Bowling @ Fairfield 1:30 pm

22 23*JH Boys BB vs. Highland 4:30 pm

*Girls & boys Bowl-ing vs. Camanche 5:00 pm

24*JV/V Girls & Boys BB vs. Columbus 4:30 pm

25 26*JH Boys BB @ Lone Tree 4:30 pm

*HS Wrestling @ New London 6:00 pm

*JV Girls & Boys BB @ WMU 6:00 pm

27*V Girls & Boys BB @ WMU 6:00 pm

28*State Jazz Band Contest -TBA

*V Wrestling @ Car-dinal 10:00 am

*Bowling @ North Scott 1:00 pm

29 30*JH Boys BB vs. WMU 4:30 pm

*JV/V Girls & Boys BB @ Wilton 4:30 pm

31*JV Boys, V Girls & Boys BB vs. IMS 4:30 pm

*Bowling vs. Fair-field 5:00 pm

December Lunch MenuMonday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

1Waffles, fruit &

juice

cook’s choice

2muffins, fruit &

juice

pizza, salad, mixed vegetables

5french toast, fruit &

juice

crispitos, nachos, corn, grapes or

banana

6*breakfast casserole, toast, fruit & juice

baked potato bar, *ham, roll, pears,

salad

7egg, *sausage, toast,

fruit & juice

*egg casserole, toast, hashbrowns, apple-

sauce

8pancakes, fruit &

juice

popcorn chicken, mashed potatoes & gravy, bread & butter, Mandarin

oranges

9

NO SCHOOL

12*breakfast pizza,

fruit & juice

falcon bowl, roll, salad, peaches

13oatmeal, toast, fruit

& juice

spaghetti, garlic toast, green beans,

fresh fruit

14*biscuits & gravy,

fruit & juice

*egg rolls, orien-tal vegetables w/

noodles, mandarin oranges, cookie

15*mess, toast, fruit &

juice

Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes,

corn, bread & but-ter, pineapple

16biscuit & egg sand-wich, fruit & juice

macho nachos, refried beans, top-

pings, pears

19muffins, fruit &

juice

orange chicken, rice, oriental vegeta-

bles, pineapple

20PBJ, fruit & juice

*cheddarwurst, broccoli & cheese or cooked carrots,

salad, peaches(HS Only: french

fries)

21*biscuits & gravy,

fruit & juice

*chef salads or corn dog, french fries,

baked beans, apple-sauce

22

WINTER BREAK BEGINS

23

Elementary Alternate: PBJ, cheese stick, yogurt, fruit or vegetable

Elementary Alternate: cereal, toast, cheese stick, yogurt, fruit & vegetable

Elementary Alternate: cereal, crackers, cheese stick, yogurt, fruit & vegetables

Elementary Alternate: PBJ, yogurt, fruit & vegetable, cheese stick

**This institution is an equal opportunity provider.

Alternate lunch en-tree offered for grades

3-12JH/HS may purchase addi-

tional entree for $1.40

Available daily for JH/HS: turkey

or ham deli, chef sal-ad, pizza, fresh fruit &

vegetable trays.

~All meals are served with a choice of milk.~Carrots are served daily.

~Food items marked with (*) contain pork.

Jr/Sr High alternate breakfast entree: assorted cold cereals, toast w/ margarine,

fruit or Juice High school ala carte available for breakfast.

January Lunch MenuMonday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

2

No School - Last day of Winter Break

3*breakfast pizza, fruit & juice

*pizza casserole, garlic toast, green beans, grapes or banana

4waffles, fruit & juice

chicken fajitas, refried beans, top-pings, mixed fruit (HS Only: rice)

5donuts, fruit & juice

chicken strips, potato casserole, mixed vegetables, pears

6egg, *sausage, toast, fruit & juice

tator tot casserole, green beans, pea-nut butter sand-wiches, Mandarin oranges

9french toast, fruit & juice

*ham & turkey sandwiches, french fries, fresh carrots, fresh fruit salad

10*mess, toast, fruit & juice

chicken tetrazzini, mashed potatoes, corn, bread & but-ter, peaches

11cook’s choice

walking tacos, rice, toppings, apple slices

12*breakfast casse-role, toast, fruit & juice

maid-rites, baked beans, chips, cookie, apple slices

13

No School

16No School

17egg & biscuit sandwich, fruit & juice

salisbury steak, mashed potatoes & gravy, corn, roll, pears

18pancake, fruit & juice

chicken patty, mixed vegetables, fruit salad, (HS Only: french fries)

19*breakfast pizza, fruit & juice

macaroni & hot dogs, green beans, bread & butter, mixed fruit

20waffles, fruit & juice

cook’s choice

23muffins, fruit & juice

pizza, mixed veg-etables, salad

24french toast, fruit * juice

crispitos, nachos, corn, grapes or banana

25*breakfast casse-role, toast, fruit & salad

baked potato bar, *ham, roll, salad, pears

26egg, *sausage, toast, fruit & juice

*egg casse-role, toast, hash browns, apple-sauce

27pancakes, fruit & juice

popcorn chicken, mashed potatoes & gravy, bread & butter, Mandarin oranges

30*breakfast pizza, fruit & juice

falcon bowls, rolls, salad, peaches

31oatmeal, toast, fruit & juice

spaghetti, gar-lic toast, green beans, fruit salad

Elementary Alternate: cereal, crackers, cheese stick, yogurt, fruit & vegetable

Elementary Alternate: PBJ, cheese stick, yogurt, fruit or vegetable

Elementary Alternate: cereal, toast, cheese stick, yogurt, fruit & vegetable

Elementary Alternate: cereal, crackers, cheese stick, yogurt, fruit & vegetables

Elementary Alternate: PBJ, yogurt, fruit & vegetable, cheese stick

Alternate lunch entree offered for grades 3-12

JH/HS may purchase addi-

tional entree for $1.40

Available daily for JH/HS: turkey or ham

deli, chef salad, pizza, fresh fruit & vegetable trays.

Jr/Sr High alternate breakfast entree: assorted cold cereals, toast w/ margarine, fruit or

Juice High school ala carte available for breakfast.

~All meals are served with a choice of milk.~Carrots are served daily.~Food items marked with (*) contain pork.

**This institution is an equal opportunity provider.