Sparta School District
December 2017
HOME OF THE TROJANS
Empower all students to be lifetime learners who are responsible, productive citizens in a changing, global society.
Email: enews@sparta.k12.mo.us
Website: www.sparta.k12.mo.us
Location: 217 Division Street, Sparta, MO, United States
Phone: (417)634-4284
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Sparta-R-3-School-District-139853506073532/
Twitter: @SpartaR3Schools
DISTRICT-WIDE ATTENDANCE
'Twas the Night Before Christmas
PRESCHOOL UPDATES
The preschool is currently doing an in-depth study of trees. As a part of our study, the children and their families have collected tree parts. We have also taken tree walks to observe trees and have even sampled foods from trees. We have read many books about trees as well. As a part of our study, we have explored the characteristics of trees in our community, who lives in trees, what food comes from trees and are currently investigating who takes care of trees.
Our guest speaker for this unit was Peggy Otten, a parent from Mrs. Beeler’s class. She demonstrated how she uses a hand saw to care for trees. Each class developed questions to interview her, so we could learn more about how she helped take care of trees. The children were excited to be able to see several of the tools and the equipment she uses as a part of her job.
In the upcoming weeks, we will explore the ways trees change and what we can do with parts of trees. After we complete our tree study, we plan to have a special event to celebrate our learning and invite our families to join us.
LIBRARY HAPPENINGS
4th Grade
2nd & 3rd Grades
Second and third graders have been diligently working on their keyboarding skills and are showing great improvement since we started! They work hard on using their home row keys, not looking at their hands and keeping all their fingers on the keyboard.
1st Grade
SCIENCE
1. It must hold weight at the top (measured in pennies)
2. It must hold up to wind (waving a plastic tray near it)
3. It must survive an earthquake (shaking the table)
First, the students explored the strength of certain shapes (squares and triangles) when pressed on the top of their structures. They learned that a cylinder is a very strong shape by placing books on top of a paper cylinder. Nearly every structure passed the three tests!
REVOLUTION RACKET
KINDNESS & WONDER
ATTENDANCE & REWARDS
Our goal is to get 90% of our kids (or better) in school 90% of the time (or better). As a building, 237 students have been in school 90+%. That represents 92% of our building! On top of that, 36 of those students have perfect attendance! Those students with perfect attendance will get to go see the movie Coco at B & B Theatres on Monday, December 18th.
The 6th grade students have the highest percentage of attendance for the semester. Only TWO students in that class are under 90%! Bill’s Mobile Laser Tag will be setting up in the old gym on Tuesday, December 19th for the 6th grade students to enjoy an afternoon of laser tag before they leave for break. The students with perfect attendance will be allowed to join in the fun as well.
HOLIDAY PARTY
STUDENTS OF THE MONTH
5th Nichole Williams & Hunter Martin
6th Madison Greenbough & Jesse Ash
8th Shayln Morris & Zane Wigton
CHANGE FOR CHANGE
Our 6th annual Change for Change Day was yet another success this year! Our high school students competed among grade levels to bring in the most change for the teachers to count and roll. Their reward for keeping the teachers busy counting was a day of movies, video games, volleyball, karaoke and more. The students brought in a total of over $1,200 and the freshmen won the grade-level contest, bringing in close to $400. With that win they will be receiving a pizza party next week. The best part about this event is where the money goes; it buys Christmas gifts for students right here in our school district. Thank you to all the students that support this wonderful cause!
CHRISTIAN COUNTY COURTHOUSE VISIT
ELA UPDATES
SciFi/Fantasy students finished creating their game boards based upon their reading of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, then read Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes, and are finishing 1st semester reading Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Prior to reading this latest novel, students first viewed the movie version, and their biggest surprise as they opened the pages of the novel was that the main character, Ender, is only 6 years old, which is much younger than how the character is portrayed in the movie! Students are enjoying comparing and contrasting the events of the written story with the movie script version, as well as applying the underlying issues and conflicts to contemporary occurrences found in our own society. Those who cannot wait to find out how the novel ends versus the movie have been reading ahead of the class reading schedule and struggling not to blurt out spoilers for the rest of the class!
REAL WORLD MATH
STUDENT COUNCIL
SHS STUCO recently enjoyed a team building activity by taking on the challenge of creating a float for the Sparta Christmas Parade! Students and sponsors shared a fun time in creating a tree and present filled float, covered in tinsel and festive wrapping paper. Singing and dancing to Christmas music, while throwing candy to the crowd was a true treat for everyone. The parade was an introduction to the 12 Days of Christmas event sponsored in the high school, where each day staff and students dress up as a favorite Christmas character or item. Days include wearing Santa hats, dressing like a Christmas tree or ornament, reindeer day, Grinch day, and of course, the classic ugly sweater day will be celebrated on the last day of the semester. Participants' totals are calculated daily and count towards class points in this year's theme of Through the Decades. Additionally, STUCO is planning assemblies and working on finalizing plans for our homecoming court, coronation, and dance to be held on January 12, 2018. It is a busy time for STUCO members but a fun time for everyone involved!
SPEECH & DEBATE
Sparta Speech & Debate team is off to a fantastic year! The team has traveled to Strafford, Republic and Buffalo in the early part of the season, bringing home trophies and medals from every tournament. Team members are excelling in events such as storytelling, radio speaking, extemporaneous speaking, and prose reading. Encouraged by their success, they look forward to traveling to Fair Grove, Marion C. Early, Clever, Central, and Hillcrest in the latter part of the season with confidence and anticipation of bringing home even more trophies and medals as rewards for their hard work.
BOYS BASKETBALL UPCOMING GAMES
12/11 Billings (C Game) Home 5:00
12/12 New Covenant Away 6:00
12/14 Bradleyville Home 6:00
12/21-30 Walnut Grove Tournament Away TBA
GIRLS BASKETBALL UPCOMING GAMES
12/12 New Covenant Away 6:00
12/14 Bradleyville Home 5:00
12/18 Forsyth Away 6:00
ACADEMIC TEAM
Curriculum
As we wrap up the first semester, we are focusing on vertical alignment and preparing for a great day of professional development upon our return in January. To kick off the 2nd semester, we are going to have PK-12 vertical teaming to discuss expectations, power standards and assessments. The curriculum department is excited to be working closely with teachers to lead to greater student success!
Instruction
“Instructional rounds are one of the most valuable tools that a school or district can use to enhance teachers’ pedagogical skills and develop a culture of collaboration.” (Marzano) This quote sums up our decision to create the opportunities for faculty members to participate in instructional rounds/observations within the building/district.
Marzano presents a two-fold purpose of this initiative. First, he mentions the enhancement of teachers’ pedagogical skills. As educators, we know it can and does take many different tools in our belts to be prepared for the variety of students we experience in our classrooms. Sometimes it may be behavior, others times it may be a struggling learner or the challenge of an advanced learner. The reality is our teachers experience all three of these on a daily basis. The benefit of being in others’ classrooms is to add tools to the belt, so when faced with a similar situation, student or behavior we are more equipped to meet the needs of students.
The second benefit that Marzano speaks about is developing a culture of collaboration. We are encouraging the faculty to be collaborative, share ideas and work together to create environments, lessons, units and ultimately a school/district to be a great experience for our students.
These instructional rounds are just beginning at Sparta and we are excited to see the benefits for our teachers and students. We have great things going on behind the doors of our classrooms and being willing to open those doors for others to see has the potential for greater impact for the students of our district.
Assessment
Benchmark assessments are underway and we are excited to see the progress our students are making in the classroom. Check in with your students to ask about their progress and goals for their next benchmark.