Welcome to Homecoming week at West Hancock High School! It should be a great week filled with school spirit, fun and hopefully some great victories! One of the things I am most proud of our students for, is their positive behavior during homecoming. We have great spirit and lots of fun, but we do not cross the line. Many schools have problems with vandalism and bad behavior during homecoming week. That has never been the case at West Hancock. I am confident we will have a great week!
We finished the majority of MAP testing last week. Thanks to our teachers and students for all of their efforts and cooperation. It went fairly smoothly and I was happy with most of the results. We will be completing make ups this week with Mrs. Johnson in the library.
As we get further into the school year there should be more scores published. Please make sure you are checking into JMC online access so there are not any surprises at the six week mark. If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact the instructor for your childs course. With e mail access, parent / teacher contact should be seamless.
Last Friday during advisory we watched a John Cougar Mellencamp video called "Walk Tall." The video dealt with stereotypes and prejudice. After the video we discussed in small groups the meaning of the video and how some of the prejudices play parts in our lives today. I will not get into details, because I would like you to watch the video for yourself. Please discuss your thoughts with your son or daughter. We felt it was a very powerful message. Thanks to Mr. Francis for bringing this to our advisories.
Walk Tall - Advisory video 9-16-11
Ms. Shelby Wilson is our new chorus teacher and drama director. This fall we will be presenting Grease. I am very excited about the idea of a musical at WHHS. We have not had one in my five years here. It should be an excellent opportunity for our students. Some of you may be surprised to know, but I was in four different theatrical productions in high school. I had some great times in drama and Grease should be a lot of fun. When my wife was at Waukon High School she was an assistant director and they did Grease, it was awesome! Encourage your students to get involved.
Have a great week and we will see you at all the activities this week!
Mr.Recker
This week will be very busy. The schedule will be as follows:
Sunday - Powder Puff - He Man - We moved the girls inside and had them play VB because of the
weather. It was a fun kick off to our week!
Monday - XC @ Humboldt - 4:15
JV FB @ Clarion - 6:30
VB @ Ventura with NK
School Board - 7:00 - Kanawha
Tuesday - VB - Osage - H - 6:00
Wednesday
Thursday - XC @ Mason City - 4:30
Homecoming Coronation - 7:30
Friday - FB - North Iowa - 7:00
Saturday - Dance - 8:00 - 11:00
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Monday, September 12, 2011
Map Testing Week!
Parents,
This week we will be MAP testing. Mr. Kronemann sent out a letter with details, so I will not get into that. Please encourage your students to do their best on these tests. In the HS we will be testing with the student's first period teacher. We will run a one hour late start schedule each day. Seniors need to report at 9:33 each day. Wednesday will be a 2 hour early out schedule so there will not be any MAP testing. Seniors need to report at regular times.
Things have continued to go well in the high school as we enter our fourth full week of class. Just a reminder the following options are available for your student to get extra help in any of their classes:
Success Center - 3:30 - 4:30 every night
Teacher help - 7:50 - 8:30 or 3:12 - 3:30 (at a minimum) students should make appts. with teachers
during these times.
Peer tutoring that will be set up through our advisory program.
Parents also have on line access to all student scores through JMC.
Homecoming will be next week. We will begin the festivities on Sunday. It will be a great week!
The weather has been very nice lately. Fall is my favorite season! Have a great week!
Mr. Recker
Monday - MAP testing - 1 hour late start
JV Football at BK - 6:30
Tuesday - MAP testing - 1 hour late start
VB @ BK - 6:00
Wednesday - In - service -1:12 dismissal
Thursday - MAP testing - 1 hour late start
XC - CLear Lake - 4:15
VB - Lake Mills - H - 6:00
Friday - MAP testing - 1 hour late start
FB @ Marcus Meridan Cleghorn (school in Marcus) - 7:00
Sunday - Powder Puff Football - He Man VB 2:30
This week we will be MAP testing. Mr. Kronemann sent out a letter with details, so I will not get into that. Please encourage your students to do their best on these tests. In the HS we will be testing with the student's first period teacher. We will run a one hour late start schedule each day. Seniors need to report at 9:33 each day. Wednesday will be a 2 hour early out schedule so there will not be any MAP testing. Seniors need to report at regular times.
Things have continued to go well in the high school as we enter our fourth full week of class. Just a reminder the following options are available for your student to get extra help in any of their classes:
Success Center - 3:30 - 4:30 every night
Teacher help - 7:50 - 8:30 or 3:12 - 3:30 (at a minimum) students should make appts. with teachers
during these times.
Peer tutoring that will be set up through our advisory program.
Parents also have on line access to all student scores through JMC.
Homecoming will be next week. We will begin the festivities on Sunday. It will be a great week!
The weather has been very nice lately. Fall is my favorite season! Have a great week!
Mr. Recker
Weekly schedule
Monday - MAP testing - 1 hour late start
Tuesday - MAP testing - 1 hour late start
VB @ BK - 6:00
Wednesday - In - service -1:12 dismissal
Thursday - MAP testing - 1 hour late start
XC - CLear Lake - 4:15
VB - Lake Mills - H - 6:00
Friday - MAP testing - 1 hour late start
FB @ Marcus Meridan Cleghorn (school in Marcus) - 7:00
Sunday - Powder Puff Football - He Man VB 2:30
Monday, September 5, 2011
Do the right thing!
Happy Labor Day weekend! I hope you all had a great, restful weekend. I was able to catch the UNI ISU football game in Ames. While the Cyclones were able to steal one from my Panthers, it was a great game. Former Eagle Dan Kruger did a nice job for the Panthers.
Things in the high school continue to go well. We will begin our third full week on Tuesday. Grade books are starting to have some scores in them and you can see how your son or daughter is progressing with our on line access. Success Center is up and going. I have had some students in and made some phone calls. Please remember that this is available each night from 3:30 to 4:30.
If any of you caught Coach Sanger's speech at the scrimmage, he mentioned Coach Ed Thomas from Aplington Parkersburg and his advice to "Do the right thing!" I had the pleasure of having Coach Thomas as one of my instructors when I received my coaching endorsement in college. As a football coach, I attended several clinics where Coach Thomas spoke. He has been very influential to me. This week I read his biography, The Sacred Acre, which outlines Coach Thomas' life while going through the details of the tornado in Parkersburg, the rebuilding process and Coach Thomas' unfortunate death. Weaved through the book are lessons and quotes from a great man, who was more than a football coach. Although I was pretty familiar with the story, this book really made me think about the things that are important. Coach Thomas was a teacher, a mentor, an inspiration and a man of God, while also having some pretty good success as a football coach. He saw himself as someone who was preparing his students and players to be good parents, husbands and wives and citizens, while learning about social studies and football. He regularly said "If all I taught you was how to block and tackle, then I have failed you as a coach."
Our job at West Hancock is to prepare our students to be the best people they can be when they leave our school. In academics, extra curricular activities and personal relationship skills, we are preparing them to be successful citizens in all areas of their lives. Together with parents, the community and the students themselves, we are trying to get better every day. This is a team effort and we all need to work together. One of Coach Thomas's simple pieces of advice was to "Do the right thing." We all hopefully know the difference between right and wrong. They key is making the right choice. This is something we want all of our students to know. This year our theme is simple "There are two things you can control every day - your attitude and your effort!" These things are choices - I hope we can get as many of our students and staff as possible to choose to have great attitudes and give extra effort. If we can do that, we will be successful.
The Sacred Acre is available through several book stores. I would encourage anyone to read it. It is very interesting and has some great life lessons. I purchased my personal copy on Amazon. I have also purchased a copy of The Sacred Acre for the school, which our family will donate to the library at West Hancock. Please encourage your child to check it out. It is an easy read and very powerful.
Laptop Covers - We handed out laptop covers this week. If students showed us that they had a cover or bag we did not issue them one. Everyone else received a cover. Please know that whether it is your cover, our cover or no cover; the student is still responsible for the computer.
Advisory update - This week we discussed peer tutoring. We are looking at piloting a peer tutor program at West Hancock. Students were given sheets with two sides. One side was an application to be a peer tutor. The other side was an application to get help from a tutor. Students also put study hall times or times they could be involved. If students are interested, we will match up tutors with students desiring tutoring. Teachers are always available for help, we just felt this might be another avenue to get help for those wanting extra help. Please speak with your child about this. The applications are due back on Friday.
Have a great week!
Schedule for the week:
Monday - Labor Day - No School
Tuesday - XC @ BK - 4:15
JV FB - H - Garner Hayfield - 6:30
VB - H - Garner Hayfield - 6:00
Wednesday - Athletic Booster Club Meeting - 5:30
Thursday - VB - Newman - H - 6:00
Friday - FB - Gehlen - H - 7:00
Things in the high school continue to go well. We will begin our third full week on Tuesday. Grade books are starting to have some scores in them and you can see how your son or daughter is progressing with our on line access. Success Center is up and going. I have had some students in and made some phone calls. Please remember that this is available each night from 3:30 to 4:30.
If any of you caught Coach Sanger's speech at the scrimmage, he mentioned Coach Ed Thomas from Aplington Parkersburg and his advice to "Do the right thing!" I had the pleasure of having Coach Thomas as one of my instructors when I received my coaching endorsement in college. As a football coach, I attended several clinics where Coach Thomas spoke. He has been very influential to me. This week I read his biography, The Sacred Acre, which outlines Coach Thomas' life while going through the details of the tornado in Parkersburg, the rebuilding process and Coach Thomas' unfortunate death. Weaved through the book are lessons and quotes from a great man, who was more than a football coach. Although I was pretty familiar with the story, this book really made me think about the things that are important. Coach Thomas was a teacher, a mentor, an inspiration and a man of God, while also having some pretty good success as a football coach. He saw himself as someone who was preparing his students and players to be good parents, husbands and wives and citizens, while learning about social studies and football. He regularly said "If all I taught you was how to block and tackle, then I have failed you as a coach."
Our job at West Hancock is to prepare our students to be the best people they can be when they leave our school. In academics, extra curricular activities and personal relationship skills, we are preparing them to be successful citizens in all areas of their lives. Together with parents, the community and the students themselves, we are trying to get better every day. This is a team effort and we all need to work together. One of Coach Thomas's simple pieces of advice was to "Do the right thing." We all hopefully know the difference between right and wrong. They key is making the right choice. This is something we want all of our students to know. This year our theme is simple "There are two things you can control every day - your attitude and your effort!" These things are choices - I hope we can get as many of our students and staff as possible to choose to have great attitudes and give extra effort. If we can do that, we will be successful.
The Sacred Acre is available through several book stores. I would encourage anyone to read it. It is very interesting and has some great life lessons. I purchased my personal copy on Amazon. I have also purchased a copy of The Sacred Acre for the school, which our family will donate to the library at West Hancock. Please encourage your child to check it out. It is an easy read and very powerful.
Laptop Covers - We handed out laptop covers this week. If students showed us that they had a cover or bag we did not issue them one. Everyone else received a cover. Please know that whether it is your cover, our cover or no cover; the student is still responsible for the computer.
Advisory update - This week we discussed peer tutoring. We are looking at piloting a peer tutor program at West Hancock. Students were given sheets with two sides. One side was an application to be a peer tutor. The other side was an application to get help from a tutor. Students also put study hall times or times they could be involved. If students are interested, we will match up tutors with students desiring tutoring. Teachers are always available for help, we just felt this might be another avenue to get help for those wanting extra help. Please speak with your child about this. The applications are due back on Friday.
Have a great week!
Schedule for the week:
Monday - Labor Day - No School
Tuesday - XC @ BK - 4:15
JV FB - H - Garner Hayfield - 6:30
VB - H - Garner Hayfield - 6:00
Wednesday - Athletic Booster Club Meeting - 5:30
Thursday - VB - Newman - H - 6:00
Friday - FB - Gehlen - H - 7:00
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