This Week in Our Schools 10/26- 10/30

Scroll down to view pictures of students and staff engaged in learning this past week throughout our district! We have a lot of exciting learning opportunities happening district-wide!

Table of Contents:

• Jefferson - Mrs. Reichert's Title One Room.
• Jefferson - Mrs. Strouf's 1st grade class.
• Grant - Boy Scout Troop with a special delivery.
• Grant - Parent-Teacher Conferences.
• McKinley - Ms. Pedersen's 2nd grade class.
• McKinley - Mr. Schroeder's and Mrs. Williams' 5th grade classes.
• McKinley - Mrs. Youngbauer's and Mr. Othmer's 4th grade classes.
• McKinley - West Reading Partnership.
• Mulberry - 3rd Graders in Mrs. Meyer's Music class.
• CMS - 7th Grade Physical Education classes.
• WMS - PBIS Celebration.
• WMS - Ms. Ralston's 8th grade math class.
• MHS - Mrs. Kramer's PLTW Biotech Engineering class.
• MHS - Mrs. Reade's German class with their German peers.
• District-wide - Elementary Principals, CPDLs, ICs, teacher mentors collaborated for student learning.

JEFFERSON ELEMENTARY

Kindergarteners in Mrs. Reichert's Title One room are working on uppercase letter recognition and alphabetical order. 

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Mrs. Strouf's 1st grade students are working hard during Daily 5 Reading!  These students are demonstrating "Word Work" activities and "Read to Self"!! Look how engaged they are!!

Mrs. Strouf's class celebrating Crazy Hair Day as part of Red Ribbon Week.

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GRANT ELEMENTARY

The Boy Scouts delivered a meal to all the Grant teachers on Parent/Teacher Conference night.  It was appreciated and delicious!

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Grant students participated in a growing trend where they "lead" their own conference with their parents. They share their strengths as well as talk about the areas that they need to work on.

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MCKINLEY ELEMENTARY

Ms. Pedersen's 2nd graders are "Reading to Self" as part of their Daily 5 lesson. 

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Mr. Schroeder's and Mrs. Williams' 5th grade students are hard at work! The pictures below show students: 1) practicing multiplication with a two-digit multiplier with area models in math, 2) kicked back and reading during language arts, 3) sharing opinions about school lunch through a writing assignment on a MacBook Air laptop, and 4) in Mrs. Williams' class learning about living systems. The unit allowed students to observe the lifecycle of a painted lady butterfly.

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McKinley had their Fall Festival on Friday, October 30th. Students in Mrs. Youngbauer's and Mr. Othmer's 4th grade classes participated in some friendly competition during P.E. Below shows them in a tug-o-war battle. The theme this year was "Under the Sea." In this short video: https://youtu.be/F9oY1-_BV8Q  the first class to get all of the "fish" off of the parachute first wins! Their P.E. teacher is Mr. Randleman.

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MCKINLEY - WEST MIDDLE SCHOOL PARTNERSHIP

WMS students have been coming to McKinley every morning before the school day to help McKinley first graders work on reading fluency and sight words.

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MULBERRY ELEMENTARY

Third graders in Mrs. Meyer's Music class worked on rhythm with words and movement. Ask them how to do "double-double-ice-ice-cream-cream."

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CENTRAL MIDDLE SCHOOL

Monsanto volunteers Don Hanft, Heidi Anderson, and Kevin Christensen provided CPR Training for MCSD 7th graders during their PE Classes. (Pictured are Central Middle School students.) 

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WEST MIDDLE SCHOOL

West students took part in a building-wide PBIS Celebration for significantly reducing tardies to class. PBIS stands for Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports and is West's building-wide program for climate and culture. 

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Mrs. Ralston's 8th grade math students are designing their own zip lines with the help of technology and the Pythagorean Theorem! 

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MUSCATINE HIGH SCHOOL

Students solved blood spatter angle shapes in Mrs. Kramer's PLTW Biotech Engineering class. (Return to Table of Contents)

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Mrs. Reade's German Exchange program students (Germans and Americans) toured the John Deere Pavilion in Rock Island.

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DISTRICT-WIDE

Elementary principals and their Instructional Coaches (ICs) met for the day to take a look at their use of Tier 2 and Tier 3 instruction in their buildings. Elementary Curriculum and Professional Development Leaders (CPDLs) learned from and supported their discussions.

Model Teachers participated in training on special populations.

Model teachers were also trained by CPDLs and ICs on Jim Knight strategies (Thinking Prompts, Using Stories , Student Voice & Choice).

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This Week in Our Schools 10/19 - 10/22

Scroll down to view pictures of students engaged in learning this past week throughout our district! We have a lot of exciting learning opportunities happening district-wide!

Table of Contents:

• Elementary - 5th Grade Students - STEM
• Colorado Elementary - Mrs. Hines' Kindergarten Class.
• Franklin Elementary - Ms. Clemen's Kindergarten Class.
• Grant - Miss Dindinger's Begindergarten Class.
• Grant - Mrs. Abbott's Kindergarten Class.
• Mulberry - Mr. Carlson's 3rd Grade Class.
• Mulberry - Mrs. Steele's 5th Grade Class.
• Mulberry - Mrs. Goodman's Challenge to Students.
• Washington Elementary Family Gathering and Reading Night.
• Central Middle School - Mrs. Mullikin's 6th Grade PLTW Class.
• Central Middle School - 6th Grade Biz Town Field Trip.
• Central Middle School - Masquerade Orchestra Concert.
• West Middle School - Mr. Yerington's 6th Grade Science Class.
• West Middle School - Ms. Meyer's 6th Grade Math Class.
• West Middle School - Mrs. Schroeder's 7th Grade Science Class.
• East Campus - Pumpkin Carving.
• MHS - Ag 2 Soil Science Class.
• MHS - Ms. Hawkinson's PLTW Introduction to Engineering Design Class.

ELEMENTARY - 5th Graders

Fifth grade students had the opportunity to participate in activities tied to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) at the Muscatine Ag Learning Center on October 14. The theme "Where Does Our Food Come From?" included stations such as corn dissection, biotechnology, light refraction, beekeeping, livestock care and much more. A big thank you to Monsanto, Iowa State Extension, and the high school Ag students for a great day of learning! (Return to Table of Contents)

COLORADO ELEMENTARY
Mrs. Hines Kindergarten class worked on a sorting and graphing activity.  The students were given a bag of bones (Cheetos skeleton pieces) to sort out and graph.  Then students were provided a skeleton template to label the parts of the skeleton. (Return to Table of Contents)

FRANKLIN ELEMENTARY

Mrs. Clemen's kindergarteners enjoyed a nice fall day by working on their Daily 5 word work outside and writing numbers to 20! (Return to Table of Contents)

GRANT ELEMENTARY
Miss Dindinger's Begindergarten class at Grant School is studying pumpkins. They made predictions and then tested if a pumpkin would sink or float when put in water. (Return to Table of Contents)

Mrs. Abbott's Kindergarten class worked on their Daily 5 lesson. Daily 5 involves: Read to Self, Listen to Reading, Work with Words, Work on Writing, and Reading with Partners. The kindergarteners will begin Reading with Partners this Spring. Take a quick peak into their class through the following video: Classroom Video - Daily 5 Lesson - Mrs. Abbott's Class  (Return to Table of Contents)

MULBERRY ELEMENTARY
Mr. Bakke gave a live owl presentation to Mr. Carlson's 3rd grade class. Then the class investigated owl pellets. What are owl pellets? Check HERE for information. It might surprise you! (Return to Table of Contents)

As part of their daily math lesson, students have three rotations. One is Math By Myself, another is Math Writing, and the third is Math With Someone. This picture shows students in Mrs. Steele's 5th grade class taking part in Math With Someone. When students have challenging problems to solve, it helps to have some friends to talk through the math problem to help solve it. (Return to Table of Contents)

Mrs. Hill, Mulberry Elementary's art teacher, dyed Mrs. Goodman's hair a rainbow of colors.  Mrs. Goodman challenged students that if they sold over $5,500 in raffle tickets for Mulberry's school carnival, she would dye her hair for the day.  To the student's delight, they sold over $5,800 worth of tickets, and now they get to see her colorful hair all day! (Return to Table of Contents)

WASHINGTON ELEMENTARY
Washington Family Gathering and Reading Night was held last Thursday, October 15th.  Families were able to listen to Mrs. Collins (from Musser Library) read. Students could read books and take an AR test for it. Once they tested and scored 80% or higher, they received a free book of their choice.  After the activities, the families were served a meal and had time to socialize.  Turnout was great and Washington loved having its families attend. (Return to Table of Contents)

CENTRAL MIDDLE SCHOOL

Mrs. Mullikin's PLTW (Project Lead the Way) Energy & the Environment's 6th grade students are shown here working on their wind turbine: blade design project.They had to research, design, build, test, & calculate power produced throughout this project. (Return to Table of Contents)

Central Middle School 6th grade students attended Biz Town - Junior Achievement's on-site simulation of a town which includes a town hall, post office, bank, etc. is located in Davenport. Students then toured various local businesses and government entities to understand how the city of Muscatine operates. (Return to Table of Contents)

Central Middle School had their Masquerade Orchestra concert on October 13^th  (West had theirs on October 15^th.) They dressed up in costumes and played lots of spooky pieces some of which included: a scary story with sound effects, a piece based on Edgar Allen Poe’s “A Tell-Tale Heart," and the crowd favorite “Phantom of the Opera." All students did an amazing job and their hard work showed! (Pictures are from Central Middle School's concert.) (Return to Table of Contents)

WEST MIDDLE SCHOOL

Students in Mr. Yerington’s sixth grade science class studied how color affects solar water heaters. (Return to Table of Contents)

Ms. Meyer's 6th grade math students worked on finding the value of a ratio using skittles. (Return to Table of Contents)

Mrs. Schroeder's 7th grade science class had a guest speaker, Patti Fuller-Bloechl

Chemist - Lab Supervisor  with the Muscatine Water Pollution Control Plant, come and talk to the students about single cell micro-organisms. She brought with her what she calls "poo water" for the students to study. She required them to dress the part of how a chemist would have to dress in the real world when studying organisms by wearing gloves, goggles, and pulling long hair back. She talked about the educational requirements for becoming a chemist and about the Muscatine Water Pollution Control Plant--i.e. the cost, where and how they clean the water, etc.The most fun for the students was trying to spot a water bear amongst all of the microorganisms.  (Return to Table of Contents)

EAST CAMPUS
East Campus students carved pumpkins for the Muscatine County Conservation Board's 27th Annual Halloween Hike as one of their community projects. (Return to Table of Contents)

MUSCATINE HIGH SCHOOL

Members of the Agriculture 2 Soil Science class were able to get hands-on experience evaluating soil. Soil pits were dug so all students were able to participate and put their soil science knowledge to the test. In all, 80 students went through the practice pits and then were assessed on a final pit.  (Return to Table of Contents)

Ms. Hawkinson's PLTW Introduction to Engineering Design class created devices to launch cotton balls. They started by brainstorming ideas and then created a launcher with no more than 6 common items.  The cotton balls were launched 5 times with the length of the launch recorded.  The lengths will be used to discuss statistics, accuracy and precision.

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