APRIL 2012 SPARTAN SCOOP

DATES TO REMEMBER……. March 30 NO SCHOOL – Parent-Teacher Conf. Comp Day April 2 2 HOUR LATE START April 3 1:30 p.m. – Kdg. & 3rd Grade Music Concert (H.S. Aud.) 6:30 p.m. – Kdg. Music Concert (H.S. Aud.) 7:30 p.m. – 3rd Grade Music Concert (H.S. Aud.) April 5 Kindergarten Roundup (No School for Kindergartners) April 6 NO SCHOOL April 9 NO SCHOOL – Professional Development Day April 10 8:00 a.m.-1:40 p.m. – 2nd Grade D.E.A.R. Day April 11 Midterm April 15-21 Volunteer Week April 16 2 HOUR LATE START April 19 2:40 p.m. – Volunteer Assembly (Elem. Gym) April 23 6:00-8:00 p.m. – Smart Discipline Program for Parents (Elem. Multi-Purpose Room) April 30 2 HOUR LATE START May 1 3rd Grade to Ag Safety Day at Fairgrounds

GRUNDY CENTER ELEMENTARY

903 9th Street Grundy Center, IA 50638

319-825-5461

LISA MILLER, PRINCIPAL

lmiller@spartanpride.net

MARY HINDERHOFER, COUNSELOR

mhinderhofer@spartanpride.net

TIM BURBRIDGE, AT-RISK

COORDINATOR tburbridge@spartanpride.net

A Note from the Principal... by Lisa Miller Since the warmer weather has arrived early this year, students are spending more and more time outdoors and enjoying the great spring-like temperatures. Think about how to achieve a “balance” through the spring and summer....how can you ensure that your children get plenty of fresh air and exercise, and that they are also learning new things every day? I encourage you to keep reading as a priority in your household all year ‘round. Please check out this article, shared with permission from the NAESP (National Association of Elementary Principals). Making reading fun and keeping it high priority in your daily schedule will ensure that your child is a confident, successful learner now and in the years to come.

The Rewards of Reading You know how important it is to read to your children. Children whose families read with them have better language and literacy skills in school. And the bonds that you make with your children when you read with them help them feel loved, comforted, and secure. Like most families, you want to read with your children, but somehow days can go by without you sitting down with them and opening a book. The key is to make it a priority. Here are several suggestions to help your children improve their reading skills. Fifteen minutes a day can change their lives. You may be surprised to know that educators recommend just 15 minutes a day of reading, as a minimum. Like exercise, of course longer sessions are even more beneficial. Always have a book on hand, no matter where you are. Load appropriate children’s books into your e-reader, keep a small book in your purse or your car’s glove compartment, or have a picture book or two in the baby’s stroller. Make sure that you and your children always have something to read when time is available. Focus on their interests. Reading with you should be for pleasure, so get books from the school or public library that feature characters or topics they’re really interested in. It doesn’t matter if they’re reading a book about NASCAR or NASA-either way, they’re reading! Ask them questions while you’re reading. Everyone is a better “listener” when they know they’re going to be asked questions about what’s being read. Get their brains working. Don’t just ask who the characters are. Instead, ask questions like “Why do you think he did that?” “What would you do if you were in that situation”? or “What do you think will happen next?” Be a patient listener. It can be difficult listening to your children struggle while reading. But think how terribly important it is that they succeed. Don’t jump in and finish the sentence for them, no matter how slowly they’re reading. Instead, encourage their effort and let them see that you’re proud they’re reading, and not annoyed that it’s taking so long. Get everyone involved. The more people who read with your children, the more they’ll see that reading is important. Talk with the other adults and older children in your household and let them know that reading with each child is going to be a daily activity, and that you need them to participate. But first…Kids make time for a lot of extras in their day. So do parents, TV shows, computer games, and going online can eat up surprising amounts of time. Read first—before the computer goes on or their favorite TV show comes on. There’s something special about owning a book. Libraries and garage sales offer “well loved” books for sale, often for as little as 25 cents. Keep spare change on hand so you can pick up some great reads for your children when you see a sale. When birthdays or holidays come around, make sure there’s always a good book wrapped up and waiting. Yes, you’re busy, Yes, your children are too. But reading with your children really needs to be part of your day, every day. Fifteen minutes a day is a small investment that will generate enormous rewards.

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FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT’S DESK………. Every month of the school year seems busy, but April and May seem to top the charts! This year will be no different. The spring weather is already upon us, and I highly encourage you to venture out and support our students in a variety of extra-curricular activities. The updated calendar of events can be found on our www.spartanpride.net website as well as the http://www.northiowacedarleague.org website. There will also be several “behind-the-scene” tasks taking place this month. In March, the school board approved moving the 5th grade to the middle school next year, so those classrooms are being renovated. We are also interviewing for a new 3rd grade teacher, elementary guidance counselor, and middle school science teacher. The facilities committee is working on their list of recommendations for summer improvement projects which will be presented to the school board at their April meeting. A significant item on this list is the addition of four classrooms at the middle school that would also serve as a community tornado safe room. This is still in the very preliminary stages as it includes applying for a Homeland Security & Emergency Management FEMA Grant. It is a rigorous process that could result in having 85% of the construction project paid by the grant. We have cleared the first stage of being accepted to apply. During this time, we submitted certified documents of our enrollment and logs of additional events and people that utilize our building. The Mitigation Project Manager determined that our “at-risk population” to be served by the tornado safe room is 485. This number is inserted into a formula that calculates the square footage of the tornado safe room from a funding perspective. Our tornado safe classrooms are anticipated to be 3,850 square feet in total size. The next step is to publish a request for proposal for architectural services. A small committee of school employees and community members will score the proposals using a rating scale approved by HSEM/FEMA and make a recommendation to the school board next month. Once this step has been completed and a contract has been secured, the firm will provide several opportunities for all stakeholders to give input during the design and planning stage. After the construction documents are created, they will be submitted with a very detailed application to HSEM/FEMA for approval. At that stage we will be notified if we will receive the funding or not. Hopefully this will occur in July. Until then, we have many other projects that will be completed to improve our school facilities! With Spartan Pride~ Mrs. Murra

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News from Kindergarten Kindergarteners took their very first field trip this month. The kids were

excited to go to UNI’s Gallagher Bluedorn to see the play Treasured Stories by Eric Carle. After reading several Eric Carle books in class, the kids loved seeing their favorite stories, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, and Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me come to life in front of their very eyes.

Enjoying these classic stories in the weeks before going to the play showed the influence reading can have in a child’s life. Please continue to read to your children at home and also encourage them to read to you. Making reading a part of a daily routine is important for the growth of your child’s literacy skills.

FIRST GRADERS ARE FRIENDS WITH FROG AND TOAD First Graders enjoyed learning about frogs and toads by reading the book, Frog and Toad Are Friends. We wrote what we know and what we want to know about frogs. We made the frog life cycle, sequenced the months of the year (to go with the “Spring” story), played a frog strategy game in math, and sequenced one of the stories. We performed a play to the story, “The Swim”, and wrote a riddle in a letter, and had a friend guess who we were. We designed a swimsuit for Toad to display in the hallway. We ended the unit by having a “frog day,” when we played a variety of games and learned different frog sounds. We have had a HOPPING good time learning about frogs and toads.

D.E.A.R Day By Second Grade The second graders are looking forward to celebrating National Drop Everything and Read Day (D.E.A.R). We will be celebrating this day on Tuesday, April 10th. The purpose of this day is to recognize the importance of reading and set aside a special time where reading becomes the number one priority. During this special day student guests will be coming to read with the students. Everyone is allowed to invite one or two people to come read with them between 8:00 and 1:40. When the guests come they will take their special student to the I.M.C., find a good book and enjoy reading together for 20 minutes. They will also get a special treat when they are finished. This is an enjoyable day for parents, students and teachers. We can't wait!

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University Of Iowa Children’s Hospital Burn Unit Staff Visits Third Grade On Monday, March 26, staff members from the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital gave an entertaining and educational presentation on burn safety using songs and a puppet show. They showed the third grade students the bandages and wraps used when someone comes to the hospital with a serious burn. They reviewed fire safety tips with the students, such as: stay calm, stay low since smoke rises, and have a home fire escape plan because smoke rises. They presented the information with an entertaining puppet show with puppets, Rinaldo, Melody, and JoAnn.

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SIGNS OF SPRING By the Fourth Graders Spring has sprung, and along with it lots of things change in Iowa. The fourth graders recently wrote about the changes they see with the coming of spring. See if you agree with their observations. :) Amanda Spring is when flowers bloom and trees grow and the grass turns bright green. Spring is one of my favorite seasons. All the other seasons are good, but spring is the best because flowers bloom, grass grows and dandy lions are as bright as the sun. Brayden The changes that I see are that the beautiful flowers are starting to bloom and they look so beautiful. There are a lot more birds back here at Grundy Center, and they all sing in the morning. The clocks go back and you lose an hour of sleep. Soccer is going to start and other sports like baseball, golf, and basketball are going to start. School is going to end soon. Lauren D. The changes I see from winter to spring are right here in this paragraph. I see beautiful sprouting flowers that show their growing petals. I also think of nicer weather and we can go ride bikes. I think of the bikers that get a gush of wind in their face. I think of plants that turn as green as a leprechaun on St. Patrick’s Day. That’s what I think of when spring comes. Megan When spring comes I see lots of changes like red, pink, purple, and blue flowers come and many more come up and sprout. It rains instead of snows, and the rain comes hard and soft. The rain is sparkly. I see the birds are coming out, and they sing early in the morning. The time changes and the time goes an hour earlier and the sun stays up longer. The weather goes from cold to warm and the hot sun comes out. The grass is green and the flowers grow. The birds come back and that is what I see. Molli Spring is now in Iowa. I have seen changes like, flowers, red, yellow, and blue. (Beautiful too.) People mowing their lawns and playing too. I’ve seen, tulips, daisies, daffodils too, and four leaf clovers. I’ve heard people say, “The grass is now green, hip-hip hurray!” I’ve seen trees come back to life with those itsy little buds, shimmering in light. I’ve seen robins, and birds like that, and Daylight Savings Time. Spring came so I suggest you go outside, see the sproutings and say “hip-hip hurrah, spring has come to save the day!!” Alex Spring is here. The animals are waking up and the birds are coming back. The beautiful blue birds are out and so are the sneaky raccoons too. The huge hawks are out and the small rabbits are out too. The flowers are sprouting and the evil weeds are out too. The trees big and small are all getting their leaves back, and the grass is looking great! Nicholas The changes in spring are the grass is getting longer and greener. People are getting outside and walking more, playing football, basketball, and playing more games outside. You see more animals like bunnies, squirrels, and snakes. You see people watching March Madness. People are getting upset because their favorite team lost. Some people are happy because their favorite team won!

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Hunter The stuff that comes to my mind with spring is the flowers that are blooming everywhere you go. The smell of spring coming to Grundy Center. The robins chirping in the air. The tree’s leaves are growing. That’s what I think about spring!!! Kyah The changes in Iowa that I have seen since spring has come is all the flowers that have bloomed. There are colorful tulips, dandy lions, that are fun to pick, roses (my middle name), and beautiful violets, clovers that are fun to find, especially 4-leaf ones, and all the other pretty, beautiful colorful flowers. Another thing I have noticed is the grass. It is turning really green and is going to have to get mowed pretty soon. Maleah What I see in spring is beautiful red flowers and a lot of other flowers too. If you line them up it would look like a rainbow. Spring turns frowns from the stormy weather to a smile because it is such nice weather, very cool and nice. New sports come up, like soccer starts again and there is baseball and softball coming up. The birds come back and talk in the morning and wake the kids up on time. We also change to Daylight Savings Time when you set your clock an hour forward. Claire Some changes I see from winter to spring are the beautiful buds on the bushes starting to bloom. It’s the time of year you’re even excited when the dandy lions are sprouting from the ground. In spring I hear all the mowers starting up. I can even smell the gas that the owner of the mower is filling the tank up with! Some people rake in the spring after all the beautiful leaves fall off the tree in the winter. Those are only some things I see, smell, and hear in the spring. Marissa Just think about the little baby rabbits that hop around your yard, and the birds singing in the beautiful trees that are just turning green. Don’t forget that we lose an hour. Think about the small green flowers popping out of the ground, like roses, the daffodils, and the tulips. Look at the green grass that is especially beautiful after all that snow. Oh, and it gets warm. The water gets warm and you can swim. Andrew When spring comes there are a lot of changes in Iowa. One of the changes is the grass goes from ugly brown, to dark green. When the grass is green you see, hear, and smell lawns being mowed. Matt When spring comes it is warm, and the flowers start to grow. The sky is blue. The grass is green. Everyone is happy in the fine spring. The birds start to sing. The frogs start to spring. When spring is near everyone is here. Austin In spring people start to mow their lawn because the grass is getting too long and it is turning a cool, dark green. Tyler Spring is in the air. It is time to make a garden or just ride your bike. It is mostly breezy and sunny. Some rain falls, but mostly perfect weather. And summer is just around the corner. You might think about camping or doing fun stuff with the family. And pretty soon we can swim in that cool summer pool.

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Jack The beautiful and colorful flowers start to bloom. That’s just one of the ways in Iowa to tell spring’s coming. There’s also the leaves come back to the trees. The birds start singing and all the snow goes away. The kids start playing, laughing and wait for school to end. They also can’t wait for a visit from the Easter Bunny. It starts to warm up, and the wind gets just right to fly a kite. These are some of the ways to tell that Spring is coming in Iowa. Joe It’s spring! Flowers are blooming everywhere! (Well, not exactly everywhere but still.) Robins are coming back from the south. March Madness is on. I bet the Kentucky Wildcats will win. Maybe on a buzzer beater. Anessa

The changes I see in the spring are flowers blooming. Peas are sprouting. Birds are singing. Love is spreading through the air. Kids are being tucked in early at night. Those are the changes I see in the spring. Ana

When I think of winter changing into spring in Iowa I think of the wet, green grass after a storm. The smell of fresh air. The sound of the birds chirping and the hammock creaking. The feel of wet gunk in your toes over by the creek. The sound of the water pouring down. The feeling of sleepiness from waking up an hour earlier. The beautiful flowers growing. Getting backaches from kneeling all day planting flowers. The excitement of going to the cabin hearing the geese honking and the frogs croaking. Hearing the birds chirping and the wind howling at night. Watching the water crinkle when you throw a rock in. That’s what I think of.

Cameron

The green leaves are growing and they are brighter than ever. The sunflowers are so bright that you can see them from a mile away, and they are bigger than ever. The animals are coming back and the animals are coming out of hibernation.

Jenna I hear nice beautiful songs from birds. The beautiful flowers all around. All the people outside enjoying the sun with their families and friends. Nice gardens, green grass, and people in their swimming pools. Corn starting to grow. Soccer, baseball, and softball are starting. March Madness, getting wild, NBA championship coming up!

Grundy Center Wins 1st Place at Battle of the Books By Hailey Wallis

It all started back in November when we got a letter asking if we would like to join Battle of the

Books. At the first meeting we had to come up with a name. In the end we had decided we would be the Legit Readers and would represent Grundy Center in the battle. All we needed then was to get our list of the forty books we needed to read, our notebooks to write notes in, and of course, the books.

Every Wednesday we had a meeting to have some extra time to read and to write about a book. We had to know the author, the major plots, little details, and just other additional information. After some weeks we had to take a pretest to determine who the finalists and the alternates were. All twenty-four of us were so nervous and walking in circles around the room. When Mrs. Rickert announced the six finalists and the seven alternates, we were happy for the people who got to go and some were not so happy. The six people that got the highest scores were Joseph Janssen, Cora Saak, Lauren Wegmann, Adam Hoy, Andrew Warnell, and Jack Kelley. But the next meeting we found out that Lauren Wegmann wasn’t going to be able to go, so I got to go with the next highest score. Also each of the finalists had his/her alternate. They were: Brianna Brown, Elle Block, Madison Ruth, Ethan Murra, Abigail LaVelle, and Lauren Dirks. The next step was that the six finalists had to choose his/her six or seven books. After that we had to reread the books, so we could know them inside and out, cover to cover. “It was almost more hard work for the alternates than the finalists because they had to read all of the books that their person chose, so that if the person they were matched with wasn’t able to make it, they would have to fill in their shoes,” said Mrs. Rickert. Later on we started meeting two times in a week to get ready for the competition. On Monday our last meeting before the big battle our coaches, Mrs. Rickert and Ms. Doubet told us to have a good night sleep and have some protein in the morning. But it turned out that not all of us got a good night sleep because we were all so nervous and excited. The next morning all of the finalists showed up, and we took a group picture. The finalists hopped in the school van and headed off to Cedar Falls, where the AEA 267 is located. When we got there, we didn’t know what anything was going to be like since it was our first time. When we entered the building, we were seated at a table with our school name on it. We waited for every school to get there and then came the battle. There were two parts of the battle, a written test and the oral test. First came the written test. The written test was where we had a sheet of paper with two questions on each of the forty books. But we had to be really quiet because there were other tables around us. We scored a sixty-seven out of 80 questions, and the closest score to us was a fifty-nine held by South Tama. That score earned us first place in the written part of the test which also meant that we got to move to the next round with South Tama, Sacred Heart, East Buchanan, and Montezuma. In between the two tests we got to listen to an Iowa author, Maribeth Boelts. This is what she had to say to us. “Writing is a gift; writers write what they know, remember, and imagine; and writers write what they want to read. They also write what stirs their emotions and they often make their characters struggle,” Maribeth said. She also told us that people who like to read, like to write. One of the funny things she told us was that her new method of writing was walking on a treadmill and typing on her computer at the same time since she can’t sit for a long time. Also another thing she said was that she spent 50% reading other authors books, 30% revising, and only 20% actually writing. Afterwards was the oral test.

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In the oral test the lady asked us a question aloud, and we had to answer it in thirty seconds, then gave our answer aloud. We ended up getting all eight of ours right which gave us the victory and the gold medal. If it had been a tie, they would have asked us the authors’ names of the books. We were so disappointed because we knew all of the authors. The second and third place teams got medals too. They were South Tama(2nd) and East Buchanan(3rd.) Next came the book signing of Maribeth Boelts. She was selling The PS Brothers, Before You Were Mine, and Those Shoes. They are all based on things she remembered. Next we went to the University Book and Supply Store and ate pizza with her. “Just sitting there and talking to her made it feel like we had known her forever, and she was just really nice,” all of us agreed. After we ate, we got back in the school van and headed home.

Once we got in the school our principal greeted us and congratulated us. Mrs.Miller told us that she had told everyone on the loudspeaker of our victory. She said she could hear clapping and screaming all over the place. Then when we walked upstairs, there was this huge tunnel of screaming students waiting for us! “It was crazy. That, I think, might have been one of my favorite parts,” I said. Finally we took a group picture, and Battle of the Books was over. But just for this year. Afterwards this is what we had to say. Adam Hoy and Andrew Warnell said, “I feel like I could have run a 5k. I’m so excited.” Both Cora Saak and I said,”I don’t think I ever would of pulled any of those books off the shelf if I wasn’t in Battle of the Books.” Finally Joseph Janssen and Jack Kelley said,” It doesn’t even feel like reality. I feel like someone is playing a joke on me.”

Front Row: Cora Saak, Author Maribeth Boelts, Hailey Wallis Back Row: Andrew Warnell, Adam Hoy, Joseph Janssen, Blake Kelley

3.6.3 Seconds 6.6 Seconds Cycle Seconds 1st Matthew Sternhagen 3.64 1st Matthew Sternhagen 3.45 1st Ethan Murra 10.94 2nd Ethan Murra 3.72 2nd Drake Thran 3.55 2nd Carsen Hamann 12.46 3rd Brady Appel 4.19 3rd Brady Appel 3.80 3rd Drake Thran 12.50 4th Drake Thran 4.37 4th Hunter Hawk 4.12 4th Travis Kuester 14.54 5th Derek Ciddio 4.67 5th Jenna Bonorden 4.81 5th Brady Appel 14.67 6th Anessa Smith 4.99 6th Carsen Hamann 4.82 6th Jacob Ascher 17.03 7th Hailey Wallis 5.01 7th Anessa Smith 4.87 7th Matthew Sternhagen 17.17 8th Aleasia Clay 5.34 8th Jack Kelly 6.03 8th Hunter Hawk 18.15 9th Jenna Bonorden 5.69 9th Haliley Wallis 6.76 9th Jenna Benorden 25.27 10th Hunter Hawk 5.83 10th Ethan Murra 7.22 10th Thomas Sager 27.71

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Speed Stack Championships in Physical Education

We have just completed our Speed Stack Unit in PE. This unit culminates with 4th and 5th grade students vying for a school Sport Stacking (official name) championship. The students who post the 10 best times in the 3-6-3, 6-6, and Cycle compete in the finals. This is always a nerve racking but exciting time for students. Results of this years contests are as follows: included were school records set by winners in all three divisions, two by Matthew Sternhagen and one by Ethan Murra.

NEWS FROM THE ART ROOM By Mrs. Leverton

Kindergarten has been busy learning about a beautiful form of folk art from the Ukraine called pysanky eggs. Students had a chance to learn about this special kind of egg painting and have seen many examples. Students are in the process of creating their own paper egg using crayons and watercolors. 1st graders have been busy working on a variety of things in art class. Students have been working on or have just finished a lesson creating textured flowers. 1st graders are using tag board, shiny metallic paper, green construction paper, markers, as well as using crumpled tissue paper to add texture to a large construction paper flower. 2nd graders are learning about the idea of a windsock. Students have seen a few examples and are working on making their own windsock using white drawing paper, tissue paper, and markers to design their art piece. 3rd graders are have been learning a little bit about the artist Paul Klee. Students compared and contrasted several of this art pieces and discussed what they thought of a few of his abstract works. Students are working on creating their own abstract piece using a variety of symbols to tell a story. 3rd graders are also using paint and colored chalk pastels to add color to their piece. 4th graders are working on their clay project. Students are creating an ocean scene on a slab of clay shaped like that of a fish bowl. Students are adding a variety of shapes, textures, and images to this piece. When students have finished creating their clay ocean and the clay is dry, they will be using acrylic paint to add color to their scene. 5th graders are working on the idea of silhouettes. Students are creating a landscape silhouette. Students are drawing their scene on a piece of large white drawing paper, filling in the silhouette images using black oil pastels and will then be coloring in the background using colored oil pastels to indicate a sunset or sunrise.

Grundy Center Elementary

Notes From the Nurse and PE Staff:

The Blue Zones Project - Live longer, better! Previously we explained the Blue Zones as places in the world where people live healthy, happy lives well into their 90s or even 100s. They share 9 lifestyle habits - Power 9™ - responsible for their remarkable results. Power 9™ shows you how to live longer through specific lifestyle habits.

In the past 2 months we covered Just Move, Purpose Now, and Downshift.

Eat Wisely – Gain 8 Years 80% Rule Marketers tell us we can eat our way to health. America has been eating its way well beyond health. The Okianawan, 2500-year old Confucian mantra said before meals reminds them to stop eating when their stomach is 80% full. The 20% gap between not being hungry and feeling full could be the difference between losing weight or gaining it. Serve food at the counter, store leftovers, then sit down to enjoy the meal. Replace your big dishes with 10” plates. Remove TV’s from the kitchen. People in the Blue Zones eat their smallest meal in the late afternoon or early evening and then they don’t eat any more the rest of the day. Plant Slant Go ahead and eat meat if you want. But consider it a condiment and try the leanest, finest meat you can afford. Try to limit it to a portion the size of a deck of cards and only twice per week. Beans, including fava, black and soy and lentils are the cornerstone of most centenarian diets. Snacking on nuts–about a handful a day has been associated with and extra 2-3 years of life expectancy.

©Copyright 2009 by Blue Zones, LLC. All rights reserved.

For more information go to: www.bluezonesproject.com

903 9th St. Grundy Center, IA 50638 Phone: 319-825-5461 Fax: 319-825-6817

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