Kennedale Wildcat News
Friday, November 2, 2018
2nd Six Weeks is a Wrap!
During the 2nd six weeks the campuses were busy outside of the classrooms wrapping up district play in athletics, performing in the UIL Area and Regional band competitions, homecoming, observing Red Ribbon Week, and even taking a trip to Washington, D.C. Inside the classrooms the students prepared for a Math & Science Fair, coding with computer programming, taking the PSAT and so much more!
Please enjoy these articles submitted by students and staff!
Patterson Elementary Students Take a Stand Against Bullying
For additional information on how to prevent bullying, please visit http://www.togetheragainstbullying.org/tab/targets/elementary-school-ages/
Wildcat Students Travel to the Nation's Capital
Students Visiting the Nation's Capitol
Albert Einstein Memorial
Visiting the Lincoln Memorial
Second Graders at Patterson Elementary Have Spirit
The Patterson second graders showed their Wildcat spirit and pride at the Kennedale High School football game on September 28, 2018 against Castleberry High School. The students were excited to have the opportunity to run through the Wildcat helmet blow up with the cheerleaders during the pregame festivities. They also participated in a pregame cheer to show support for our Kennedale Wildcats. It was an amazing way to get the game started. Our second graders would like to thank the Kennedale High School athletic program for allowing them to be a part of the team. Congratulations to our Wildcats for their victory!
Third Grade Science Projects at Patterson Elementary
Third grade students at Patterson Elementary expanded their minds with a hands on approach to science. Each group selected scientific projects to complete for RFP’s annual Science Fair. Motivated to share their projects with their friends, parents, family members and visitors of the fair, students excelled in developing and learning through science.
KHS Marching Band Advances to State & District Send OFF
The Wildcat Marching Band is led by Band Director Erol Oktay, along with Assistant Band Directors, Josie Inman and Chris Koenig.
Please come out on Tuesday, November 6th as we send the Wildcat Marching Band off to San Antonio! Bring your noise makers, posters and cheers as we all line up at 12:15 p.m. in the KHS student parking lot!
#marchingtostate #Angularity
Arthur Intermediate Observes Red Ribbon Week
Photos courtesy of Leann Vaughn, JAA GT Teacher
October 22nd - Super Hero Day, "You Have the Power to stay Drug Free!"
October 23rd - Pajama Day, "Our Choices are the Key to our Dreams!"
October 24th - Unity Day, "Leading the Way-Everyday!"
October 25th - Twin Day, "Double Up and Defeat Drugs!"
October 26th - Book Character Day, "Hooked on Books Not Drugs!"
Super Hero Day
Character Day - Little Red Riding Hood
Unity Day
Living a Drug Free Life is Sweet
Don't Let Drugs Haunt You
Don't Follow the Pac! Say No to Drugs
Science Fair Projects at Math & Science Night by Tanya Widner, RFP Teacher
Students in 4th grade at Patterson Elementary learned about the Scientific Method and how to use that information with a testable experiment. The science fair project was a project based learning activity that uses STEM education. Students were placed in teams to work together on this experiment and given a question to investigate. They had to give a hypothesis, test to see if their prediction was correct, and formulate a conclusion based on what they learned.
Their creative boards were displayed during Math & Science Night so the students could share their projects with friends, parents, and people who visited the fair. Pictured are the 1st and 2nd place winners for this year. First place went to Moldy Veggies, by students Brenden Brown, Samantha Castronuevo, Alexis Hodges and Denis Roman. The second place ribbon went to Rip the Band Aid by students Kenya Brumfield, Sydney Derden, and Alex Wyatt.
Grandparent Meredith Hightower gave the following shout out to Principal Khourie Jones and her staff regarding Math & Science Night that was held on Tuesday, October 16th.
"I wanted to commend your staff on your wonderful and engaging Science and Math Night. The diligent effort by your staff members was obvious. Students and parent alike were engaged from table to table. As an educator for 44 years, I spent a great deal of time observing the positive experience that was had by all. I was also pleased to see the parent and student turn out on such a rainy evening.
"And speaking of rain, I want to give a shout out to your carpool teachers. They have ensured the safety of all children on this rainy week. I see it every time I pick up the boys, but this week held its challenges and they rose to meet it head on in the rain.
"Please let them know they are appreciated. We continue to see our boys thrive under their care. We look forward to an academic future with this school."
KHS Key Club Host Stuff Animal Drive by Hannah Stephens
During the last two weeks of September, September 17th through the 28th, Kennedale High School’s Key Club hosted a “Stuffed Animal Drive”. We decided to host this, because a lot of kids’ parents do not buy them stuffed animals, because they do not have money to spend on things they do not need. We wanted to give them a stuffed animal, because something about them is special and meaningful. They provide comfort for when children are sad, they provide a friend when children are lonely, as well as providing a “pet” when you cannot have a real one. As high schoolers’ stuffed animals are usually put in a corner and rarely touched, so the idea of this fundraiser was that members could get rid of clutter as well as giving kids in need a friend.
Allie Murphy, our editor, made posters to advertise around the school with the help of Coach Beck, whom was kind enough to print them out. Then, we set up a station with multiple boxes in Mr. Aleman’s, the key club sponsor, room so members could place the stuffed animals. We hung up sign-up sheets on the wall so members could receive hours for donating gently used stuffed animals big or small. When the two weeks had passed Hannah Stephens, our vice president, drove all the stuffed animals to donate to Mission Arlington. She was greeted with smiles and thank you’s by Mission Arlington workers. Even though, the donation drive was over, we are still accepted donations on the following Monday for those students who could not bring them. After the first week of October passed, an officer will take them to Mission Arlington to donate.
Key Club wants to thank all of our members who gave up their possessions to give another child comfort. A special thanks to those members who donated multiple and to those who donated a stuffed animal close to their heart. Also, a big thanks to Hannah Stephens who came up with the idea and for Ruth Mitchell who helped execute the process. Another thank you to our amazing editor, Allie Murphy, for using her time to make posters and flyers as well as a thank you to our other officers, Cami O’Brien and Morgan Wixson, who helped as well. Thank you, Coach Beck, for printing out the posters and flyers so we did not have to spend any money to print at a printing shop. Thank you to Mr. Aleman, our sponsor, who supported us throughout the whole process and to Mission Arlington for accepting our donations.
Meet Ms. Khourie Jones, Principal at R.F. Patterson Elementary
Ms. Jones graduated from the University of Central Oklahoma with a Bachelor's Degree in Education and a minor in psychology. She also earned her Master's Degree from Texas Christian University in special education where she also obtained her Principal's Certification. Currently she is working on her doctorate in educational leadership from TCU.
Ms. Jones has three amazing daughters who are 16, 14, and 9 who she says is her constant heartbeat and drive. Being a mom is her number one priority. She says it is her job and purpose to equip her daughters with every tool to be successful, and it is her desire for them to be strong, bold, innovative, and intelligent women fulfilling their purpose in life.
In Ms. Jones words, "I am humbled and grateful that God has blessed me to be an influential educator and leader. My calling is to change the world, one student at a time."
Getting to Know Some of Ms. Jones Favorite Things!
Favorite Color: Pink
Favorite Book: Instinct: The Power to Unleash Your Inborn Drive, by T.D. Jakes
Favorite Movie: The Notebook
Favorite Subject: Science
Favorite Animal : None, they have teeth and may bite me!
Favorite Hobbies: Avid football fan and scrapbooking
Favorite Candy-: Snickers and Symphony Bars
Kinder News from Patterson by Brandie Roesler
Greetings from Kindergarten! We have been working so hard and we are learning tons! For our Fall theme, we have learned about apples and even made our own applesauce in class! It was delicious!! We have also learned about all different kinds of bats and currently learning all about pumpkins. In math, we are learning how to count and recognize numbers 0-10. We are learning how to write our letters and numbers too! We are so excited to be in kindergarten and look forward to our upcoming events and projects! Check out our roosting bats hanging in our hallway!
Multiplication by Tanya Widner, RFP Teacher
Fourth graders are taking off with multiplication this six weeks. Students are introduced to multiplication of multiple digit numbers in 4th grade. One way to learn to multiply a two-digit number by a two-digit number is the the Area Model.
The area model is a model for math problems where the length and width are configured using multiplication to figure out the size of an area. Using this strategy, the numbers are decomposed using expanded form. This makes the large rectangle become 4 smaller rectangles giving each a length and width to be multiplied. The result is 4 partial products. The last step is to add the 4 partial products to find the total area for the rectangle.
The students in Mrs. Widner’s and Mrs. Hamilton’s class practiced this strategy by using their desk as their work space. This helps them to see the bigger picture, all students are an active part of the lesson, and it helps the teacher see that they are understanding the steps to the concept.
As an added bonus, it's always fun to learn something by writing on your desk with an expo marker and not the traditional way of pencil and paper.
Coding in the Challenge Lab by Erin Speegle, RFP Teacher
Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumpkins by Dakota Greenfield-Dunn, RFP Teacher
First grade students at R.F. Patterson spent a week learning about pumpkins in October. We read several fiction and nonfiction books about pumpkins, discussed the different parts of a pumpkin, and wrote about the life cycle of a pumpkin. At the end of the week, students had a chance to feel the pulp and seeds inside the pumpkin. Many students described the pulp as “slimy” or “gooey,” while others thought that it “smelled like old socks!” Students used what they had learned throughout the week and what they felt inside of the pumpkin to write descriptive sentences about pumpkins.
Key Club Hosts Foam Festival, by KHS Student Ruth Mitchell
On September 15th from 5:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. the KHS Key Club hosted a Foam Carnival in the student parking lot. Key Club officers arrived at 11:00 a.m. to begin setting up. We had to set up a plan A and a plan B for our event. There was a forecast that it may rain, but it kept getting pushed back, so we crossed our fingers that it would not rain. We had to lay out mats in the gyms and have a grill set up in the cafeteria as our plan B. Then, we began to set up plan A by pulling out and laying out all the games and activities that Key Club was putting on in the parking lot. Our members began to arrive around 1:30 p.m. to help us set up and we provided all our members who came out and helped Chick-Fil-A sandwiches, chips, and a drink. Clubs within our school hosted booths, which provided games, prizes, food, and more. They had to arrive around 4:30 p.m. to begin setting up their activities and booths. We provided Cici’s Pizza and Kona Ice. Our event began at 5:30 p.m., we had just finished setting everything up and people had just began to arrive when it began to rain. Luckily, we had a plan B and were able to rush everything inside to our gym and cafeteria. The gym was stacked high with hula-hoops, jump ropes, 4-square, board games, pinatas, bowling, face painting, and so much more. In the cafeteria, we had hot dogs, pizza, chips, cotton candy, funnel cakes, caramel apples, candy and everything you could imagine. Music was blaring as swarms of people came inside to join in on the fun. We had every age, teacher, parent, and grandparent in our school. When they thought it couldn’t get any more fun than this, we held our shaving cream/silly string war outside in the parking lot as our last hoorah of the night. It was an all-out war where people were hard to recognize, because they were covered in shaving cream. Parents and teachers even joined in on the fun. Once every bottle of shaving cream and silly string was empty, everyone was hosed down from their heads to their toes and sent home. The event was a huge success that everyone was boasting about on social media days after the event. It truly brought the community of Kennedale together.
Thanks and recognition to KHS Key Club Sponsor and KHS Teacher Jose Aleman for his dedication, hard work and long hours of preparation in making this event a great success! Mr. Aleman was recognized at the October School Board Meeting with a proclamation!