Hawkeye News
What's Happening in the Classroom
Happy Spring West Harrison!
Spring is a season of change and that is the case at school as well. As many of you probably already know, Mrs. Ring has accepted a position as the High School Principal at Harlan. She has done an outstanding job of providing leadership for the staff and students through three of the most difficult years educators and students have faced in a very long time. Her positive attitude and calm demeanor will be missed and we wish her the best of luck in her new position. I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with Mrs. Ring over the last two years.
We have begun the process of finding a new PK-12 principal. We are currently collecting applications and have been fortunate to have many quality candidates inquire about our position. Tentatively we are hoping to determine which candidates to invite for interviews during the week of April 18th and hold interviews April 27th. The interview teams will include parents, staff, and board members with several students guiding facility tours for the candidates. I am confident we will be able to hire an excellent leader to serve West Harrison as PK-12 Principal.
To assist us with determining qualities we want to see in our next principal, I would ask that you use the link below to complete a very short survey of the most desired characteristics you would like to see in our next PK-12 principal. The survey will ask you to identify the five characteristics you value the most, in rank order, and should take no more than a few minutes.
Have a great week!
Marty
ISASP Testing This Week!
(Iowa Standardized Assessment of Student Progress)
As a reminder, the ISASP is NOT a test of intelligence and IS NOT graded. The ISASP does indicate how well our school is teaching the state standards and at what level your child is understanding them. The information provided as a result of the ISASP is extensively used by the district and classroom teachers in order to better help your child as they continue to learn.
Students spent this week prior to ISASPs preparing for the online assessment. This is done in order to teach them how to use the digital tools (the test isn't only multiple choice) and then make sure they understand the expectations and how to answer the questions. We want to do all we can to help our students show us what they know when it comes to ISASP time!
During our ISASP week, we will follow a different schedule. It is linked below. Attendance during our administration times is very important. Students who miss a testing timeframe will have to miss class in order to complete the test, as it is a state requirement. We would love to see any additional class time missed be at a minimum, if at all possible.
Seniors will not have to attend school during the testing times; they need to be present when regular class begins, according to our revised schedule.
The Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress (ISASP) is aligned with the Iowa Core standards, providing a clear and accurate assessment of student learning outcomes.
- The assessments are developed for the state of Iowa and align with the grade-specific Iowa Core standards.
- The assessments were developed in collaboration with Iowa educators.
- The assessments will be administered each Spring in the following subjects and grade levels:
- Math: Grades 3–11
- English Language Arts, including reading and writing: Grades 3–11
- Science: Grades 5, 8, and 10.
The assessments will provide parents with actionable information about their child’s learning.
- The results will provide a detailed analysis of how students performed relevant to the proficiency definitions set on the Iowa Core standards.
- Over time, parents will also be able to access year-over-year analysis of how their child performed from one year to the next.
Let's See What's Happening in Mrs. White's Life Skills Room
Hello!
We might be a small group but we are mighty! In our class we work on core curriculum but we also get to have a little fun and learn some important Life Skills. Many Fridays you can find us at Fiesta Foods in Onawa. Every student has got to pick a meal that we prepare and eat. Things we have made are fried chicken, walking tacos, pizza, chicken and noodles, chicken nuggets and french fries, and we also made holiday meals.
We are also able to take field trips this year. Our first field trip was to Vala's Pumpkin patch. We rode on the trains, jumped on bags, and fed some animals. In February we took a trip to the Crew Center in Woodbine. We swam in the awesome pool and then played in the gym. On April 5th we will be heading to IWCC to watch Special Olympics Track and Field Day. Towards the end of April we will be visiting the Zoo.
We have a great time in Life Skills. We are a great group that works hard and plays hard.
April is Autism Awareness Month. I will wrap this up by spreading some awareness.
8 Facts About Autism Spectrum Disorder
1. 1 in 68 are on the spectrum. Boys are 5 times more likely to have ASD than girls.
2. ASD is more common than childhood cancer, diabetes and AIDS combined.
3.There is no cure for ASD.
4. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder have communication deficits. It is important to distinguish between spoken language and social communication deficits.
5. Individuals with ASD often want to socially interact but lack the ability to spontaneously develop effective social interaction skills.
6. Each child with autism spectrum disorder is a unique individual; people with ASD differ as much from one another as do all people. Children and adults with ASD may speak or interact with others. They may have good eye contact. They may be verbal or non-verbal. They may be very bright, of average intelligence or have cognitive deficits.
7. It is widely speculated that Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Andy Warhol and Bill Gates are on the autism spectrum.
8. 35% of young adults with autism spectrum disorder have not had a job or received postgraduate education after leaving high school.
The kids love riding the train at Vala's!!
Ms. Tara and Korbyn playing with some shaving cream!
Kenzie is all smiles in her Autism Awareness shirt
Timmy loved preparing his fried chicken dinner!!
Easton and the girls played a little volleyball at the Crew Center
Vala's is always a fun place to go!!
Mr. Maasen shares what he has been busy with this year!!
This has been an exciting semester for our Physical Education Department and mainly our Weight Training Classes as we have made quite an addition to our Wellness Center. Through the support of the Jimmy King Foundation and the King Grant award we purchased 6 new custom power racks with bumper plate additions to these racks along with new custom benches. We have also obtained attachments for these power racks which include dips attachments, a speed rope attachment, as well as pullup bars for each rack. Other additions to the room include a new hack squat rack and full set of dumbbells up to 85. We have also utilized space for our vertimax trainer and now have capabilities to upload training videos to our new flat screen as well as display workouts or other training techniques. Our new record boards are also up and we have been adding names to these boards. Finally our sound system took a bit of an upgrade as well as additions to various cable attachments, inflatable yoga balls, soft jump boxes, ect. A big thanks to those who donated to our Lift A Thon as we had some major support from some certain families in this fundraiser. And again a big thank you to the King Foundation for their continued support with not only our School and Community Wellness Center but for all of our projects here at WH.
The 6th grade PE students are beginning to get ready for our track and field practices and signups in the month of April. We are excited to show off what we can do for our Elementary Track and Field Day on May 6th. More info to come for this student activity in the next few weeks.
Our Drivers Education Program is starting our classes April 20th. The informational meeting is held April 5th and students will go up to the 17th of June for Driving Schedules. Our classes will run up to the second week of June so please plan accordingly for vacations or any special summer planning around this to be able to complete the course if your child is participating. If you have questions, please contact me at tmaasen@westharrison.school
Our Junior High Track season is under way with a great turnout for our junior high this year! The team is as follows: Sadie Larson, Paige Perry, Sophia Blue, Trinity Armstrong, Trinity Marr, Tia Heilig, Addison McWilliams, Zoe McWilliams, Brooke Cooper, Danielle Cooper, Erin Lewis, Layton Ring, Carson Hopkins, Markus Tyson, Julyan Tyson, Isaiah McNally, Kaden Fink, Trevvin Pfeifer, and Kendal Baldwin. We have some good athletes doing good things and are working extremely hard! Coach Stoltz and I are very proud of your efforts and are excited for some meets. We hope everyone can find some time to come out and support us this season.
A final note to all is that I am very excited to be taking over as Interventionist/Activities Director for West Harrison. After 19 years and meeting so many great people, families, and kids and now teaching some of their kids it really feels like home here. I have gained so much knowledge from so many before me and I am eager to pass it on. I know there are passionate people and families willing to keep this great place strong and prideful for many years to come. It is my goal to give our students and parents/community the best we can possibly give them through proper planning, budgeting, fundraising and hard work. Again, I am excited to start this process. To finish, if anyone with background in athletics has interest in looking into coaching endorsement opportunities please contact myself or Mr. Nunez. We are also always willing to help anyone get going in the opportunities of officiating/refereeing as this is another area of need.
GO HAWKEYES!