PANTHER PRESS
October 23, 2020
Dear Parents/Guardians:
The Knoxville CSD will be hosting virtual parent-teacher conferences (via Zoom or phone) on October 28th and 29th. Below you will find links for each school building. Please click to schedule your conference(s) with your student's teacher(s).
- ​West Elementary (PK-2)
- Northstar Elementary (3-5)
- Middle School (6-8)
- High School (9-12)
​Thank you,
Oct. 27: School pictures for West Elementary students & staff
Oct. 28: School pictures for all other students & staff
Oct. 28 & 29: Parent/Teacher Conferences & 2 Hr. Early Dismissals
Oct. 30: No School
Nov. 25-27: No School
An unexpected snow squall in October and additional snow in the forecast have people all over Iowa talking about snow days. Governor Kim Reynolds included the option of virtual learning instead of making up snow days through the duration of our State of Emergency that is due to the pandemic. You may have heard some schools are planning to use this option.
Here at KCSD, we plan to continue with our traditional “snow days” at this time. Many kids, staff, and parents look forward to these surprise vacation days. Having school at a distance on short notice is also quite complicated for our families and staff.
As of now, KCSD has 34 hours (approximately 5 full days) that we could miss due to weather before needing to make up any time. Since all of our classrooms now have air-conditioning, we did not miss any time due to heat this fall and all of those hours are still available for snow days. We will use those first to satisfy the state requirement for meeting instructional time.
If the winter is bad and those days are all used early, we may consider moving to the virtual option later in the winter. The other option would be to make up the days at the end of the school year. We will keep our families informed of our plans.
Any parent, student or community member interested in serving on our School Improvement Advisory Committee, please contact me at cassi.pearson@kcsd.k12.ia.us.
Cassi Pearson, Superintendent
Knoxville Community School District
309 W Main Street, Knoxville, IA 50138
o: (641) 842-6551
Students of the Month
- Personal Responsibly -Grace Irving (not pictured)
- Respectful Collaboration - Katelynn Beck
- Is Adaptable -Luka DeJong
- Demonstrating Critical Thinking- Zoe Chavez (not pictured)
- Effective Communication- Myah Carmona
The students are holding locker magnets that will be displayed on the outside of their lockers for the month. The locker magnets spell out “Pride” with the letter that represents their award being enlarged (ie “R” in enlarge for responsibility). We are especially proud of these locker magnets because they were designed and created by our Advance Manufacturing students. Below is the criteria the staff uses to select students for this recognition.
STATE BOUND!!!
Congratulations to Norah Pearson and Seth Walraven on qualifying for the State Cross Country Meet!
They will run on Friday, October 30 in Fort Dodge at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course - Norah at 330 PM, Seth at 400 PM
To qualify for the State Meet, you must finish in the top 15 at the State Qualifying Meet - Seth finished 14th in the boys race, Norah 4th in the girls race!
Big wins this past week/Upcoming Postseason:
Our Volleyball team won two Regional matches this week…..defeating Clarke on Monday and Centerville on Wednesday!
They play in the Regional Final (the game to get to State) on Tuesday, October 27 against Red Oak at Creston High School at 700 PM
South Central Conference Champions for the 4th consecutive year!
27-7 overall
Best of luck to our students performing in these upcoming postseason contests:
Choir: All-State Auditions on Sat, Oct. 24
Varsity Volleyball: Regional Final on Tue, Oct. 27 v. Red Oak, at Creston, 700 PM
Varsity Girls & Boys cross country: State Meet on Fri, Oct. 30 at Fort Dodge
Varsity Girls Swimming: Regional Meet on Sat, Nov. 7 at Southeast Polk High School, 1200 PM
Dance Team: State Championships on Wednesday, November 18 in Des Moines at Wells Fargo Arena, first performance at 824 AM
Middle School winter sports started this week with girls basketball and wrestling (MS boys basketball starts in January). High School winter sports information will be included in next week’s Panther Press!
THE KNOXVILLE STORE
In partnership with Ramaeker Enterprises Inc., we are excited to offer the Knoxville Store - the online apparel store for Knoxville Panther gear!
- This link can be found on our school website: https://www.knoxville.k12.ia.us/ and then click on the "Knoxville Store."
- This store features apparel/gear with items from our new brand system with logo marks that have never been on the market! These are exclusive Knoxville Panther items you will only find here!
- Some items on this store will stay from month to month - some items will change so that there are constantly new items to choose from for Panther fans!
- Orders will be processed twice a month - on the 15th and at the end of the month and Ramaeker Enterprises will email you when your order is ready.
- Some new items will be unveiled on November 1!
NFHS Network
For events in our high school gym, we will stream on the NFHS Network (https://www.nfhsnetwork.com and then search for Knoxville), a subscription-based service.
When our team is on the road and the host school offers a livestream - we will post that link on Facebook with the host school spectator guidelines that have been sent to us - this will ensure to our viewing public the post/link is authentic. We will also stream all concerts in KPAC on there as well.
SCHEDULES
Get schedules for all extra-curricular middle school and high school activities by going to www.knoxville.k12.ia.us and then clicking on "Activities Calendar". You can even sign-up for email notifications so whenever we make a change to a schedule - you can be notified immediately.
Follow the Knoxville Activities Department on Instagram! @knoxvilleactivities
What's Happening at KHS
- A Day or B Day
- Weekly Panther Pride Focal Point
- Meeting information for clubs and organizations
- activities schedule
Before School at KMS
Thank you!
Mr. McNeill & Mr. Keefer
News from 6th Grade ELA
The 6th grade language arts teachers have started teaching point of view. This is the second unit for this year. Students learn the different types of perspective and how they affect a story. This is not just a reading skill; it applies to real life situations. The perspective a story is told in can determine the information that is relayed. The first story we read in this unit was called “Eleven”. In this story, the main character just turned eleven and has to deal with an issue at school. It is a first person account, so the narrator is the main character of the story. We have how she thinks and feels about what is happening, but we don’t have the perspective of any other characters. We only have their dialogue and actions. As a writing extension to the story, the students had to rewrite a part of the story as a different character. That character was involved with the issue at school. The students got to determine who this character was because they wrote it as first person. There was not a lot of background information about this character, so they got to be creative. Below are some examples of their work.
Tristan Stevenson
I am at school today and my plan that I have on Rachel is ready. I've been waiting a while to get payback on her. In kindergarten she was always borrowing my stuff but never giving it back then I would get in trouble because my mom thought I lost them and was making up excuses. I am now in 2nd grade and my plan is that Phyllis Lopez has a sweater that he doesn’t like anymore so I asked him if he would help with this plan and he said yes. I told him he would get it back after the plan was done so what I did was I spilt some cottage cheese on the sweater then I left it at school for a month. Then when the teacher asks whose it was I would say that it is Rachel’s. My plan was going the way that I wanted it to go I said it was Rachel’s then Mrs. Price put it on her desk and she was pushing it with a ruler not even touching it around her desk cause she knew it wasn’t hers than Mrs. Price told her to stop pushing it around and put it on. Then after she put it on and smelt the month old cottage cheese she started crying and put her head down on her desk with the sweater on making animal noises. I was so happy my plan went the way I wanted it to go and I got the revenge that I’ve wanted since kindergarten. That was my whole plan though so before the lunch bell rang Phyllis Lopez said that it was his and he forgot it, so she took it off and gave it to him and Mrs. Price acted like she was never crying and like nothing ever happened and the best part was that it was her birthday.
Abbigayle Wiand
Today is Rachel’s birthday. I was planning on giving her my gift during recess. As I’m going up to her to tell her happy birthday Mrs.Price asks whose red sweater was and I said it was Rachel’s because I thought I saw her in it once. Then Mrs.Price gave it to her and she put it on her desk. I didn’t know why she was pushing it around her desk like it was a bomb or something but I wasn’t gonna ask. Mrs.Price made her put it on when she noticed she was moving it. When she started crying I thought she was allergic to the wool or something. When Phyllis said it was hers I realized I made a mistake it was Phyllis in the sweater not Rachel. They look so much alike I sincerely thought it was Rachel. I feel so bad it’s a really ugly sweater and if I wouldn’t have said anything she wouldn’t have had to wear it. When Phyllis said it was hers Mrs.Price didn’t even say sorry. I don’t think Rachel will forgive me.
Kendra Garcia
Rachel and I were good friends. We used to be close in 2nd grade then she decided to become best friends with the new girl and forgot all about me. I have been planning the best comeback for a long time now and I finally found a way to get her back. Today I walked into class and sat down. Not short after many followed. The second person in the room was Phyllis Lopez. We are now best friends and we set up a plan to get her back. Last month we left a raggedy old gross looking sweater in the room before we left, and we are going to say that it is hers. Class starts and the teacher brings up the sweater. “Whose is this,” Mrs. Price demands. “It’s been sitting in the coat room for a month!” She holds up the nasty looking red sweater in the air so everyone can see. “Not mine,” everyone says. “Not me.” “It has to belong to somebody,” Mrs. Price keeps saying. I call out, “I think it’s Rachel’s.” Rachel looks at me with a snarl and starts to finally says, “It’s..but...Not mine.” The teacher gives it to her anyways and puts it on her desk. Rachel pushes it to the corner and the teacher yells, “That’s enough Rachel, you're not three years old!” She starts to cry and says, “But it’s not mine!” The teacher makes her put it on. Rachel starts to ugly cry then I start to feel bad. Once she is done throwing a fit class is over and Phyllis Lopez says, “Hey I just remembered that that’s my sweater..” Rachel gladly takes it off and leaves as soon as she can.
Ben Neer
Mrs. Price was asking the class whose sweater it was. I knew that this was my time to strike. I raised my hand and Mrs. Price said “do you know, Sylvia”. And I said “ the sweater belongs to Rachel”. As I watched Rachel deny the sweater, I said to myself “payback”. I remembered the time that she stole my gummy snacks in kindergarten (they were the good ones.) and from that day forth I swore I would get revenge. Rachel pushed the sweater to the corner of her desk and I almost laughed. Then it happened. Mrs. Price yelled at Rachel to put on the sweater. I knew it smelled bad and it felt worse. Then my day got better. Rachel started to cry. I almost laughed out loud but held it back. I did let out a little chuckle. This was the best day ever.
What's Happening at KMS
- Panther PBIS Focus
- Meeting information for athletics organizations
- birthday announcements
- activities schedule
4th Grade Spreads Kindness
4th grade has been focusing on kindness in their morning meeting. We have read friendship books. Mrs. Sprigg’s class made kindness hearts and delivered them around the school. Mrs. Dingeman’s class is helping others by celebrating “Socktober”. Students are bringing socks in to donate to Helping Hands.
Students were also excited to get their hands on brand new dictionaries provided to us by the Knoxville Rotary Club. What a KIND thing to do!
Ms. Haning’s class is spreading kindness in October by trying to complete as many items on an October Kindness Calendar as possible. Each student has a goal of completing 10 kind acts throughout the month.
Mrs. Gullion’s class loved their dictionaries!
Mrs. Hardman’s class also loved receiving new dictionaries!
I'm the Best of West!
Has your child come home saying this and showing you a colorful certificate?
Each Friday we celebrate with our students for being Safe, Respectful and Responsible at school. When students are selected as a Bucket Filler, they have demonstrated these PBIS expectations with flying colors! They are honored with a certificate, prize, and picture on our West page.
The Best of West Award is also announced on Fridays. The award is for academic achievement. We honor our students for working hard and growing their brains in the areas of reading and math. The students get a certificate and a Best of West sticker to take home. We hope to see some of the stickers on car windows so that you as parents can brag to others that your child is The Best of West!
Mrs. Helle's Online Learners
Mrs. Helle spends thirty minutes each day with her kindergarten, first grade, and second grade online learners. They learn and practice social skills such as how to be safe, respectful, and responsible. This week they are learning about emotions. They also practice reading and math skills. They are trying to figure out what Mrs. Helle's costume might be and using persuasive writing to support their costume choices. In addition to the thirty minute Zoom sessions, each student is practicing math and language arts on a program called Edgenuity. They watch videos, play interactive games, and complete assignments in workbooks and on their iPads.
Drumming it Up in 1st Grade!
- Reminder: Please make sure your student has a clean mask every day! Put a couple extra in their book bags in case a backup is needed. Thanks.
- The I-Smile @ School sealant program is for free for West & Northstar Elementary students. Touchless Consent form: https://is.gd/ismileconsentmcph
2020-21 KCSD Academic Calendar
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Register now for a remote learning course to obtain your substitute authorization! Learn more at at Heartland.aea.org or register for the class that works for you schedule: http://ow.ly/q7vA50zA9Hi.
KCSD Admin. Office
The Panther Press is a weekly collective newsletter for parents & community members. If you have an article or flyer to share, please submit to Lisa.Willis@kcsd.k12.ia.us for consideration. We love to hear from you so please send us your submissions and feedback. The regular weekly deadline is Thursday at noon.
Stay connected by frequenting our website or following us on social media!
- KHS: www.facebook.com/KHSPanthers/ & twitter.com/KHS_Panthers
- KMS: www.facebook.com/PanthersKMS/ & twitter.com/Panthers_KMS
- Northstar: www.facebook.com/NorthstarElementary/ & twitter.com/MrKeitges
- West: www.facebook.com/knoxvillewestelementary/ & twitter.com/pantherswest
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Email: lisa.willis@kcsd.k12.ia.us
Website: https://www.knoxville.k12.ia.us/departments/district-office/people/1988396/lisa-willis
Location: 309 W Main St, Knoxville, IA, United States
Phone: 641-842-6551
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KnoxvilleCSD
Twitter: @KCSD_Panthers