This Week in Our Schools - 11/23 - 11/25

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:

• Colorado - Mrs. Hines' Kindergarten class.
• Colorado - Mrs. Schumaker's Kindergarten class.
• Colorado - Mrs. Hartman's 5th grade class.
• Franklin - Mrs. Week's 2nd grade class.
• Franklin - Mrs. Hawkins' Special Education class.
• Jefferson - Mr. Loos' 3rd grade class.
• Madison - Mrs. Morter's 5th grade class.
• Madison - 4th & 5th grade Harry Potter Club.
• Mulberry - Kindergarten and 3rd grade Buddies/Thanksgiving Feast.
• Mulberry - Mrs. Dindinger's 2nd grade class.
• Central Middle School - Principal of the Day.
• Central Middle School - Miss Walgren's 7th and 8th grade math class.
• West Middle School - Spear Award students
• West Middle School - Art Students
• MHS ESL - Mrs. Brecht-Kwirant, Mrs. Johnson, and Mrs. Walker's students.
• District-Wide Staff - District Counselors

Colorado Elementary

Mrs. Hines' kindergarten class enjoyed a Thanksgiving Feast!

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Mrs. Schumaker's kindergarten class also enjoyed a Thanksgiving meal in their classroom.

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Mrs. Hartman's 5th grade class participated in Mustache Monday!

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Franklin Elementary

The following photos are students in Mrs. Week's 2nd grade class. The students with white boards are completing the "word work" daily 5 rotation. Students on the bean bags are "reading to self." The students at the desk working with rulers were learning how to measure the length and width of their desks.  

...and enjoying the snow that fell over the weekend!

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Mrs. Hawkins hardworking special education students wrote about Thanksgiving Dinner. They made a paper turkey and wrote Thanksgiving words (word bank) to inspire their writing capabilities.

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Jefferson Elementary

Central 6th grade students came over to Jefferson to read 7 Habit stories to 3rd graders in Mr. Loos' class.

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Madison Elementary

Mrs. Morters 5th graders collaborated on posters that display their learning of the Mayflower. Each group shared their learning through a presentation to their peers. 

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Ms. Maida offers lunchtime Harry Potter Club for 4^th and 5^th graders at Madison School. Students enjoy really getting to love the series of books by J.K. Rowling, as well as the book characters! Madison School is also always trying to be Blue Zone friendly and get kids active and healthy. Mrs. Eserhaut, Ms. Maida, and the students teamed up to learn how to play the game of Quidditch. The students are enjoying the after school program once a week, are having a great time, and getting some healthy exercise. Go team Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Slytherin, and Ravenclaw!

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Mulberry Elementary

Kindergarten and 3rd grade buddies had a Thanksgiving feast together in true Thanksgiving spirit!

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Students in Mrs. Dindinger's 2nd grade class have been determining the purpose of different pieces of text using the PIE strategy - (Persuade, Inform, or Entertain.)  To celebrate the mastery of this strategy, they had a pie party where they were able to sample many different kinds of pie.  Who knew learning could be so sweet? 

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Central Middle School

Keira Kreuzenstein was principal for the day with Mr. Hogenson. She earned this reward for being respectful, responsible, and ready to learn!

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7th graders in Miss Walgren's math class worked on multiplying and dividing integers using questions on JENGA blocks.

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Miss Walgren's 8th graders used Cheez-Its to understand how and why the pythagorean theorem works!

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West Middle School

7th grade students at West celebrated their use of Spear Awards for PBIS with pizza!

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Pictured below are West students who will have their art work displayed in the new Hancher Auditorium when it opens!

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Muscatine High School ESL

On Wednesday, November 25th, twenty-four MHS students in grades 9-12 who participate in the Muskie ESL program shared their personal narrative stories with classmates and staff. All hands were on deck to help out for this culminating celebration of learning, as MHS ESL teachers, Linda Brecht-Kwirant, Olga Johnson, and Christina Walker arrived early to buzz about the auditorium, setting up this opportunity to showcase writing projects students had been working on as part of their first ELA unit this 2015-2016 academic year. (For more on this story, go to: MHS ESL Students Share Personal Stories).

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District-Wide Staff

Muscatine School Counselors participated in a photo booth at the Iowa School Counselors Association Conference in Des Moines.

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This Week in Our Schools - 11/16 - 11/20

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:

• District-Wide Elementary - 5th grade band rehearsal.
• Franklin - Miss Clemens' kindergarten class.
• Grant - Rocco with a Grant student.
• Jefferson - Mrs. Strouf's 1st grade class.
• Jefferson - Mrs. Todd's 3rd grade class.
• Jefferson - Mrs. Klein's 5th grade math class.
• Madison - Miss Skidmore's kindergarten class.
• Madison - Mrs. McGill's 3rd grade class.
• Madison -  Miss Lofgren's 4th grade class.
• Madison - Ms. Connor's 5th grade class.
• McKinley - Mrs. Hill's 3rd and 5th grade art classes.
• Mulberry - Mr. Carlson's 3rd grade class.
• Mulberry - Mrs. Story's Deaf and Hard of Hearing class.
• Mulberry - Mrs. Hill's 5th grade art class.
• Washington - Mrs. Baars' 2nd grader class.
• Washington - Mrs. Kiefer's 5th grade class.
• CMS - Mrs. Stogdill's 6th and 8th grade students in G/T.
• CMS - Central's Student Leadership Group.
• WMS - Mrs. Schroeder's 7th grade science cell projects.
• MHS - Mrs. Ralston's Honors Geometry class.
• MHS - Mrs. Paulsen's French IV class.
• MHS - Collaborative Student Project.
• District Teachers - 8th grade Science & Math teachers.
• District Teachers - Gradual Release of Responsibility class.

District-Wide Elementary

Mrs. Spoto's 5th grade band rehearsal.

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Franklin Elementary

Miss Clemens' kindergarten students were busy working on retelling stories using key details, retelling stories to a friend, Thanksgiving activities, and Word Work during Daily 5.

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Grant Elementary

Rocco, Grant Elementary's therapy dog, wanted to show everyone how hard he works giving his students attention and love.

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Jefferson Elementary

First grade students in Mrs. Strouf's class were 'student experts' while playing a making 10 math game.  Student experts play the game under the document camera to serve as a guide for the rest of the class.

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Jefferson 3rd graders in Mrs. Todd's class were working on finding the moral of a fable. They used the QTEL strategy of jigsaw to share the fables and morals with the whole class.

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Mrs. Klein's 5th grade math class worked on math in groups and also did "talk and share."

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Madison Elementary

Miss Skidmore's kindergarteners are working hard on their letter sounds!

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Students in Mrs. McGill's 3rd grade class are working together to find the locations of places in Muscatine. They were using the compass and map legend to help them find locations.

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Miss Lofgren's 4th grade students are working on their Daily 5: reading to self, listening to reading, reading with someone, working on writing, and playing vocabulary games.

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Ms. Connor's 5th grade class explored the concept of response time to a visual stimuli. The first picture shows students playing Slapjack, and the second picture shows students recording the data in their science notebooks.

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McKinley Elementary

Mrs. Hill's 3rd and 5th grade students worked on name projects that followed the artist Matisse's work (3rd graders) and owl projects (5th graders).

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Mulberry Elementary

Mr. Carlson's 3rd grade class measured length, mass, and liquid volume during a recent math lesson on adding and subtracting with estimates.

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Mulberry Deaf and Hard of Hearing students in Mrs. Story's class went on a community field trip to the Muscatine Fire Department.

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Mrs. Hill's 5th grade art class made paper cranes.

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Washington Elementary

Mrs. Baars 2nd grade class performed their first reader's theater - the Ugly Pumpkin. It was a huge success!

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Students in Mrs. Kiefer's 5th grade class used TrueFlix this week in social studies to research information about the Louisiana Purchase and Lewis and Clark. Each table group researched one chapter and used the main idea and supporting details (what the students are learning in English/Language Arts) to present the information to the rest of the class. 

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Central Middle School

Mrs. Stogdill's 6th grade Gifted and Talented students prepared for their Science Bowl.

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Mrs. Stogdill's 8th grade Gifted and Talented students attended the International Day Learning Opportunity in Coralville, Iowa.

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Central's Student Leadership Group and Assistant Principal Ms. Dennison work on posters for upcoming events!

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West Middle School

Students in Mrs. Schroeder's 7th grade science class have been working on the cell. They were given the task of creating a 3D cell from materials in class or if the creative side craved more, they could create a 3D model from materials at home. The round cells are representing the animal cell and the square or oblong are the plant cell. Each 3D model had to illustrate the different parts of the cell.

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Muscatine High School

Students from Miss Ralston's Honors Geometry class created proportional models of their zip lines. 

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French IV students in Mrs. Paulsen's class created and acted in videos demonstrating in French how to drive and how to utilize a service station.  The students then voted, and César Awards (the French equivalent of an Oscar) were given for best actor/actress/film/editing/music/script.

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Students present an Economics Consultant project on the Cattle Industry. The project is a collaborative research project between teachers Abbey Goodale (Economics) and Jen Keltner (Teacher-Library).

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District-Wide Staff

Eighth grade science and math teachers together with ICs and CPDLs collaborated to design and test catapults in order to learn better how to integrate science and math.

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MCSD teachers practiced effective questioning during their Gradual Release of Responsibility class using the Heads Up! app.

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