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
Sunday, August 28, 2011
New School Year!
Parents and students,
Welcome back to the 2011-2012 school year. It is a very exciting new year and we are well under way. We have many new things at WHHS this year.
This is my blog and I plan to update date it at least once a week.
1. The lap tops have been pretty good so far. We are still working out the bugs. Please be patient with us as we figure out the best way to utilize these tools for your child's education. We are very excited about how these have already changed how teachers are teaching and students are learning.
2. The Geo Thermal heating and cooling is working very well. There are some things we will be working out with this also. But I was very happy to have our new system in place at the beginning of last week. While it was very hot outside, our students and staff were quite comfortable inside.
3. The bathrooms in the main lobby are done and are very nice. We put all new partitions and mirrors in along with tile and paint. There are also baby changing stations for our guests at evening activities.
4. Mrs. Winter and Ms. Wilson have gotten off to good starts in our English and Music programs. I feel they will be great additions to our staff.
Feel free to stop in and check out our new things when you have some free time. We always encourage visitors. Just check in with Peg at the office. If I am available I will give you a personal tour.
With the new laptops we will really be expanding our use of Sharepoint in the high school. If you do not know what Sharepoint is, I encourageyou to ask your son or daughter. They can show you and explain how it is being used in their classrooms. All lesson plans will now be on Sharepoint.
So far things have gone very smoothly at the high school. Just a couple of quick reminders for parents as we start the school year.
1. If your son or daughter will be absent from school please let Peg at the office know as soon as you can. E mail works great for Peg, so do not be afraid to use that. If you do not contact us, we will contact you. Remember our attendance policy no longer effects semester testing, but we do want every student here every day. If they are not here we need to know that you excused them. As parents it is your responsibility to make sure they are in school if at all possible.
2. If a student is in an activity and they miss one period or more (half of first period counts as a period) they will not be allowed to practice or perform in their activity. Pre-approval is fine for the following: medical appointments, legal obligations, funerals, obtaining a drivers license, college visits and things at the discretion of the principal. Please remember that we need to know about these things before school starts. E mail would be fine for pre approval as well. Just know that you are not approved until Peg or I responds to your e mail.
3. Please keep track of lunch accounts. Peg tries to keep students aware of where they are at but remember you can access that information on JMC and also pay online through our pay-schools link. Any questions contact Peg at the office.
4. JMC grade books should be starting to have some scores. Please use this tool to check your student's progress through the semester. We do not anyone to be surprised in December.
5. Yes I said December. With our new calendar we will wrap up the semester tests before Christmas break.
Academic Letters
We have began an academic lettering program here at West Hancock. Any student who maintains a 3.5 GPA for the year will receive a letter for the year. This will look like an activity letter but include the inscribed word "academics". We handed our first ones out Friday at our pep rally based on last years grades. As students become 2,3 or 4 time letter winners we will have a pin for each year they can add to the letter. We feel this is just another way to honor our high achieving students.
Advisory Update
For our first activity we had 40 minutes of time to get reacquainted and meet new people. We did a couple of group activities and discussed many new school policies. It was a nice beginning to our advisory year. This Friday we met and discussed goals for our academic year. Each student got to see their transcript and was to think about how they can improve this year. Don't be afraid to contact your student's advisor to check in on how things are going with them. Coaches Bob Dodge and John Paulus will be joining our male group of advisors. This will help our numbers be a little more manageable of the boys end of things.
For those of you who made it to the football game Friday night (judging by the crowd I would say that was most of you!) you saw a great display of our community support and school spirit. It was also a heck of a game. Let's keep up the support as we get into Volleyball and Cross Country seasons and our fine arts groups begin their performances.
This weeks calendar:
Monday - JV FB - Newman - H - 6:30
Tuesday -XC @ Newman - 4: 30
VB @ Forest City - 6:00
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday - 1 hour early out
V FB @ Lake Mills - 7:00
Weekend - Draft horse show
Monday - No school - Labor Day parade @ Kanawha - WHHS Marching band
Tuesday - XC @ BK - 4:15
VB - GH - H - 6:00
JV FBGH - H - 6:30
Welcome back to the 2011-2012 school year. It is a very exciting new year and we are well under way. We have many new things at WHHS this year.
This is my blog and I plan to update date it at least once a week.
1. The lap tops have been pretty good so far. We are still working out the bugs. Please be patient with us as we figure out the best way to utilize these tools for your child's education. We are very excited about how these have already changed how teachers are teaching and students are learning.
2. The Geo Thermal heating and cooling is working very well. There are some things we will be working out with this also. But I was very happy to have our new system in place at the beginning of last week. While it was very hot outside, our students and staff were quite comfortable inside.
3. The bathrooms in the main lobby are done and are very nice. We put all new partitions and mirrors in along with tile and paint. There are also baby changing stations for our guests at evening activities.
4. Mrs. Winter and Ms. Wilson have gotten off to good starts in our English and Music programs. I feel they will be great additions to our staff.
Feel free to stop in and check out our new things when you have some free time. We always encourage visitors. Just check in with Peg at the office. If I am available I will give you a personal tour.
With the new laptops we will really be expanding our use of Sharepoint in the high school. If you do not know what Sharepoint is, I encourageyou to ask your son or daughter. They can show you and explain how it is being used in their classrooms. All lesson plans will now be on Sharepoint.
So far things have gone very smoothly at the high school. Just a couple of quick reminders for parents as we start the school year.
1. If your son or daughter will be absent from school please let Peg at the office know as soon as you can. E mail works great for Peg, so do not be afraid to use that. If you do not contact us, we will contact you. Remember our attendance policy no longer effects semester testing, but we do want every student here every day. If they are not here we need to know that you excused them. As parents it is your responsibility to make sure they are in school if at all possible.
2. If a student is in an activity and they miss one period or more (half of first period counts as a period) they will not be allowed to practice or perform in their activity. Pre-approval is fine for the following: medical appointments, legal obligations, funerals, obtaining a drivers license, college visits and things at the discretion of the principal. Please remember that we need to know about these things before school starts. E mail would be fine for pre approval as well. Just know that you are not approved until Peg or I responds to your e mail.
3. Please keep track of lunch accounts. Peg tries to keep students aware of where they are at but remember you can access that information on JMC and also pay online through our pay-schools link. Any questions contact Peg at the office.
4. JMC grade books should be starting to have some scores. Please use this tool to check your student's progress through the semester. We do not anyone to be surprised in December.
5. Yes I said December. With our new calendar we will wrap up the semester tests before Christmas break.
Academic Letters
We have began an academic lettering program here at West Hancock. Any student who maintains a 3.5 GPA for the year will receive a letter for the year. This will look like an activity letter but include the inscribed word "academics". We handed our first ones out Friday at our pep rally based on last years grades. As students become 2,3 or 4 time letter winners we will have a pin for each year they can add to the letter. We feel this is just another way to honor our high achieving students.
Advisory Update
For our first activity we had 40 minutes of time to get reacquainted and meet new people. We did a couple of group activities and discussed many new school policies. It was a nice beginning to our advisory year. This Friday we met and discussed goals for our academic year. Each student got to see their transcript and was to think about how they can improve this year. Don't be afraid to contact your student's advisor to check in on how things are going with them. Coaches Bob Dodge and John Paulus will be joining our male group of advisors. This will help our numbers be a little more manageable of the boys end of things.
For those of you who made it to the football game Friday night (judging by the crowd I would say that was most of you!) you saw a great display of our community support and school spirit. It was also a heck of a game. Let's keep up the support as we get into Volleyball and Cross Country seasons and our fine arts groups begin their performances.
This weeks calendar:
Monday - JV FB - Newman - H - 6:30
Tuesday -XC @ Newman - 4: 30
VB @ Forest City - 6:00
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday - 1 hour early out
V FB @ Lake Mills - 7:00
Weekend - Draft horse show
Monday - No school - Labor Day parade @ Kanawha - WHHS Marching band
Tuesday - XC @ BK - 4:15
VB - GH - H - 6:00
JV FBGH - H - 6:30
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Mrs. Reiter's Technology Class!
Welcome class! If I can Blog - then you can Blog. Mrs. Reiter is very helpful!
Monday, November 29, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving!
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving break!
Things have been busy here at West Hancock in the last few weeks. We ended Hex 2 and grades were sent home. If you did not recieve your student's grades please ask them about that. There are less than six weeks remaining in the semester so please remind your children that they need to do their best and finish strong. Please continue to check your students' grades and teacher's lesson plans on line. Many of our teachers are now utilizing Sharepoint. I know several of them have been in contact with their parent groupings and made this known. We are very excited about the potential of this new tool.
As many of you know our middle school will be implementing one to one laptop computers starting in January. The plan right now is to move ahead with these in the high school starting in August. We are very excited about the potential that this will bring for our students.
We had two interesting speakers here shortly before the break. Don Denkinger spoke to our students about working hard and chasing their dreams. He was an American League Umpire for many years. His presentation was very interesting. Paul Dunbar came and spoke to us on Monday before Thanksgiving break. He talked about substance abuse, bullying, and suicide. He encouraged students to make good choices and really think about the choices they make and how they effect our lives. He was a very powerful speaker and our students responded very well.
Our winter activities are in full swing. As a reminder, in order to play or practice in an athletic, music, speech, drama or other extra curricular or co-curricular event students need to attend all of their classes each day. If they have an appointment, funeral, college visit, driver license appointment, or court appearance and they let the office know beforehand they are prior approved to be absent. If you have any questions about attendance issues please contatct us in the office.
As we get into the winter season please make sure that if you want to be on our alert system you sign up on our website under parent access.
Things have been busy here at West Hancock in the last few weeks. We ended Hex 2 and grades were sent home. If you did not recieve your student's grades please ask them about that. There are less than six weeks remaining in the semester so please remind your children that they need to do their best and finish strong. Please continue to check your students' grades and teacher's lesson plans on line. Many of our teachers are now utilizing Sharepoint. I know several of them have been in contact with their parent groupings and made this known. We are very excited about the potential of this new tool.
As many of you know our middle school will be implementing one to one laptop computers starting in January. The plan right now is to move ahead with these in the high school starting in August. We are very excited about the potential that this will bring for our students.
We had two interesting speakers here shortly before the break. Don Denkinger spoke to our students about working hard and chasing their dreams. He was an American League Umpire for many years. His presentation was very interesting. Paul Dunbar came and spoke to us on Monday before Thanksgiving break. He talked about substance abuse, bullying, and suicide. He encouraged students to make good choices and really think about the choices they make and how they effect our lives. He was a very powerful speaker and our students responded very well.
Our winter activities are in full swing. As a reminder, in order to play or practice in an athletic, music, speech, drama or other extra curricular or co-curricular event students need to attend all of their classes each day. If they have an appointment, funeral, college visit, driver license appointment, or court appearance and they let the office know beforehand they are prior approved to be absent. If you have any questions about attendance issues please contatct us in the office.
As we get into the winter season please make sure that if you want to be on our alert system you sign up on our website under parent access.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
A Great Time to be an Eagle!
There have been many of positive things going on at West Hancock in the last few weeks. We have a lot to be proud of in our academics and activities. I am very proud to be working with our staff and students so far this year. It has been an exciting year. This week is no exception as we will be very busy.
We will be hosting our fall parent-teacher conferences this Tuesday and Thursday. Conferences will be in the high school from 4:00 until 7:45. Conferences will be in teacher's classrooms. Maps will be available for those parents not familiar with our layout. Please make an effort to get to school on one of these nights to speak with your children's teachers. If you cannot make it to conferences, make sure you contact teachers that you have questions for. Teachers all check their e mail regularly and have phones in their rooms. They are available from 7:50 - 3:30 each day. We will also be hosting a college fair on Tuesday night in the high school gym from 4:15-6:15. We will also have a FAFSA meeting for parents of juniors and seniors Tuesday at 6:30pm in the high school lunch room. The college fair and FAFSA meeting are great opportunities for students interested in college. Please make plans to attend. We will have one hour early outs on Tuesday and Thursday. There will be no school this Friday.
I hope you were able to see the article in the newspaper discussing our increased MAP scores. I was very happy with how our students responded to our increased focus on MAP improvement. I really feel that increased student awareness and effort helped drive the scores up. Hopefully, the education the students receive from now until May, along with their continued effort, will really show what our students were able to learn this year.
Congratulations to our Band on their 2nd place finish at Algona Band Days! The band has also done a very nice job for all of our half times this fall. The Chorus had a great concert on Thursday night. It was a great first performance. Our speech team has begun practicing, and looks forward to their contests down the road.
Congratulations to our Cross Country team on their state performances. We combine with Garner Hayfield and Ventura and run in the 3A division for Cross Country. The girls finished fourth in the State and the boys were ninth! It was a great year for our Cross Country team.
On Monday night, our football team will host West Sioux - Hawarden. Game time will be 7:00 pm and no passes will be accepted. For those of you who traveled to Moville, you got your money's worth. Our boys were down by 22 and came back to win 28-22. A great team effort by our boys. Our volleyball team had their ups and downs this year, but finished on a high note advancing to the second round of tournament play before falling to WCLT in round two.
It is a great time to be an Eagle and we have many things to be proud of. Let's keep up the good work! As a reminder to parents, you can always access student's grades and teacher's lesson plans through the school's website. We continue to have Success Center each night after school from 3:30-4:30. Please encourage your child to take advantage of this opportunity to catch up on missing work or just to complete regular homework.
We will be hosting our fall parent-teacher conferences this Tuesday and Thursday. Conferences will be in the high school from 4:00 until 7:45. Conferences will be in teacher's classrooms. Maps will be available for those parents not familiar with our layout. Please make an effort to get to school on one of these nights to speak with your children's teachers. If you cannot make it to conferences, make sure you contact teachers that you have questions for. Teachers all check their e mail regularly and have phones in their rooms. They are available from 7:50 - 3:30 each day. We will also be hosting a college fair on Tuesday night in the high school gym from 4:15-6:15. We will also have a FAFSA meeting for parents of juniors and seniors Tuesday at 6:30pm in the high school lunch room. The college fair and FAFSA meeting are great opportunities for students interested in college. Please make plans to attend. We will have one hour early outs on Tuesday and Thursday. There will be no school this Friday.
I hope you were able to see the article in the newspaper discussing our increased MAP scores. I was very happy with how our students responded to our increased focus on MAP improvement. I really feel that increased student awareness and effort helped drive the scores up. Hopefully, the education the students receive from now until May, along with their continued effort, will really show what our students were able to learn this year.
Congratulations to our Band on their 2nd place finish at Algona Band Days! The band has also done a very nice job for all of our half times this fall. The Chorus had a great concert on Thursday night. It was a great first performance. Our speech team has begun practicing, and looks forward to their contests down the road.
Congratulations to our Cross Country team on their state performances. We combine with Garner Hayfield and Ventura and run in the 3A division for Cross Country. The girls finished fourth in the State and the boys were ninth! It was a great year for our Cross Country team.
On Monday night, our football team will host West Sioux - Hawarden. Game time will be 7:00 pm and no passes will be accepted. For those of you who traveled to Moville, you got your money's worth. Our boys were down by 22 and came back to win 28-22. A great team effort by our boys. Our volleyball team had their ups and downs this year, but finished on a high note advancing to the second round of tournament play before falling to WCLT in round two.
It is a great time to be an Eagle and we have many things to be proud of. Let's keep up the good work! As a reminder to parents, you can always access student's grades and teacher's lesson plans through the school's website. We continue to have Success Center each night after school from 3:30-4:30. Please encourage your child to take advantage of this opportunity to catch up on missing work or just to complete regular homework.
Monday, October 4, 2010
The Start of the Second Hex!
Well it's hard to believe, but October and the start of the second Hex are here. Things have gone well in the high school and we continue to have a lot of positive things happening at West Hancock! Congratulations to our high school and middle school bands who both finished 2nd in their divisions at Algona Band Days!
Grades will be handed out to students on Tuesday. Please ask to see your student's grades and have a discussion with them about their scores. We will devote our advisory time on Friday to discussion of Hex 1 grades.
We are finishing up MAP testing today and tomorrow. I really feel it went much better this time around. I hope the score reports will reflect our students increased efforts. We have spoke with students in advisory about their MAP tests and will also be discussing the results.
Homecoming went very well. We had a whole week of positive activities. Thanks to Mrs. Lang and student council along with Mrs. Sanger and pep club / cheerleaders for their efforts in planning and carrying out our homecoming activities.
We had our first parent advisory meeting and it went very well. We discussed several topics and had some good discussion. Any parent is welcome to come to these meetings. We will meet three more times throughout the year.
We have had some issues concerning some bullying and harassment in the school and community. I have had some parents in and we have had good discussions. Mrs. Clark, the staff and I are making every effort we can to prevent this from happening. I know some of you have had some involvement in these cases. I encourage you to support your children but also act as a model for appropriate behavior. Our actions as parents have a direct impact on how our children act. Some of our advisory sessions have been focused on bullying and we will continue that into October. We will have one session discussing Internet safety and bullying. Technology is a great thing, but like anything else, if it is used inappropriately it can be a negative. Facebook and texting have made it easy for people to say things that they might not say in person. My message to the students has been that we do not have to be friends with all of our schoolmates, but we do have to be decent and civil. In the last week things have calmed down and hopefully we can move on and have a great year.
This is a link to the video we watched in relation to bullying: Advisory bullying video
The Lutheran church will be having a pork burger supper this Friday night when we play Belmond Klemme. All proceeds will go to the Cody Schmitt scholarship fund. They will be set up in the South parking lot. The cost will be a free will donation. On another note please remember that the Chamber of commerce's Chili Cook off will be the following Friday when we play host to Bishop Garrigan. This is a really neat event. It will be held in the Elementary Gymnasium. Please stop in and support the Britt Chamber of Commerce.
I know many of you have heard, but I am happy to announce that a nationally known Christian Radio program has chosen West Hancock from a national contest. The contest was designed to pick one place in the United States where the DJ's would visit and cheer on a high school football team with an inspirational story. People from our community nominated our football team for their determination in dedicating this season to Cody Schmitt's memory. They will be here on Friday night before the Garrigan game. They will be talking with the team and several members of our community before the game. We will have a pep assembly at the end of the day on Friday and are hopeful the DJ's will be here for that. This is a great honor and we are very excited for Ron and JJ to visit us.
I hope everyone has a great week!
Mr. Recker
Grades will be handed out to students on Tuesday. Please ask to see your student's grades and have a discussion with them about their scores. We will devote our advisory time on Friday to discussion of Hex 1 grades.
We are finishing up MAP testing today and tomorrow. I really feel it went much better this time around. I hope the score reports will reflect our students increased efforts. We have spoke with students in advisory about their MAP tests and will also be discussing the results.
Homecoming went very well. We had a whole week of positive activities. Thanks to Mrs. Lang and student council along with Mrs. Sanger and pep club / cheerleaders for their efforts in planning and carrying out our homecoming activities.
We had our first parent advisory meeting and it went very well. We discussed several topics and had some good discussion. Any parent is welcome to come to these meetings. We will meet three more times throughout the year.
We have had some issues concerning some bullying and harassment in the school and community. I have had some parents in and we have had good discussions. Mrs. Clark, the staff and I are making every effort we can to prevent this from happening. I know some of you have had some involvement in these cases. I encourage you to support your children but also act as a model for appropriate behavior. Our actions as parents have a direct impact on how our children act. Some of our advisory sessions have been focused on bullying and we will continue that into October. We will have one session discussing Internet safety and bullying. Technology is a great thing, but like anything else, if it is used inappropriately it can be a negative. Facebook and texting have made it easy for people to say things that they might not say in person. My message to the students has been that we do not have to be friends with all of our schoolmates, but we do have to be decent and civil. In the last week things have calmed down and hopefully we can move on and have a great year.
This is a link to the video we watched in relation to bullying: Advisory bullying video
The Lutheran church will be having a pork burger supper this Friday night when we play Belmond Klemme. All proceeds will go to the Cody Schmitt scholarship fund. They will be set up in the South parking lot. The cost will be a free will donation. On another note please remember that the Chamber of commerce's Chili Cook off will be the following Friday when we play host to Bishop Garrigan. This is a really neat event. It will be held in the Elementary Gymnasium. Please stop in and support the Britt Chamber of Commerce.
I know many of you have heard, but I am happy to announce that a nationally known Christian Radio program has chosen West Hancock from a national contest. The contest was designed to pick one place in the United States where the DJ's would visit and cheer on a high school football team with an inspirational story. People from our community nominated our football team for their determination in dedicating this season to Cody Schmitt's memory. They will be here on Friday night before the Garrigan game. They will be talking with the team and several members of our community before the game. We will have a pep assembly at the end of the day on Friday and are hopeful the DJ's will be here for that. This is a great honor and we are very excited for Ron and JJ to visit us.
I hope everyone has a great week!
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