What's Happening at School?
Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire Schools
Conflict and Compromise - National History Day 2018
The sophomore and junior students in Mr. Olesen's classes participated in the National History Day projects. This year's theme was Conflict and Compromise. Students participated in a local competition. Five projects went on to the state competition on Thursday, March 15. The projects were digital or 3-dimensional on a presentation board.
What Will Happen?
The bell ringer for students in Mrs. Guthrie's science class was to predict what will happen to the pop can full of hot water when placed in the cold water? See the video below for what happens!
https://youtu.be/QEZSI98jlsI
Art at GT/RA
Running Records
The Graettinger-Terril and Ruthven-Ayrshire reading teachers use a running record to listen to students read. This allows teachers to listen to reader's fluency and record reading behaviors. Teachers then evaluate the strategies that students use and what needs to be taught. Below GT's first grade teacher, Mr. Jorgensen, listens to a student read as Tricia Christopher from Prairie Lakes AEA observes.
An Experience with Antigone
Mrs. Kirk's sophomore English students have been reading the Ancient Greek Tragedy Antigone by Sophocles. Students use inference to understand character traits. The students wrote letters as if they were one of the characters in the story.
PRESS Interventions
The Graettinger-Terril and Ruthven-Ayrshire elementary teachers are all trained to provide PRESS interventions for reading. These interventions are used with individual students, small groups, or a whole class. Mrs. Smith works with a student on making CVC words with magnetic letters.
Congratulations to Fisher Morris-McEwan
Fisher has advanced to perform at the Iowa All-State Speech Festival. Enjoy part of his performance in the video below!
https://youtu.be/XgkprmNPnyU
Anchor Charts
Many of our teachers use anchor charts to give students a visual of relevant information. These visuals are used on what students are currently learning.
Text
A small group in Mrs. Jacobson's classroom reads informational text on sea turtles. They were able to compare and contrast them with turtles in our area.
Writing
After reading informational text, students are able to use this anchor chart to write about what they have read.
Ruthven-Ayrshire 7th-Grade Social Studies
Mr. Dyhrkopp's 7th-grade social studies class works together to find the chapter vocabulary by creating a Google Document that they can share information.
4th-Grade Students Study Genetics
Mrs. Klepper's GT 4th-grade class studied the traits that a calf may receive from its parents. Students flipped the coin to get a trait from the mom or dad.
Women in Science and Engineering
Mrs. Cook and Mr. Benedict took the 7th and 8th-grade girls to the Women in STEM conference at Iowa Lakes Community College. The girls were able to explore and learn about the careers in science and engineering.
7th Grade Language Arts
Students read three articles about young people who faced adversity.
Theme
Students created posters about the theme of each reading.
Students Evaluate
Students evaluated the mind maps to determine best theme representation and creativity.
GT/RA Seniors Visit the Iowa State Capitol Building
RA Preschool
Ms. William's preschool class were hunting for zoo animals.
Zoo Animals
The preschool students searched for animals to match their graph.
1-1 Match
Students graphed the results as they found the zoo animals.
Teacher Leadership Team attend National Conference
Several members of the GT/RA Teacher Leadership team attended the National Institute of Excellence in Teaching (NIET) National Conference in Washington, DC. The team uses the TAP Rubric supplied by the NIET for their planning of professional development to improve instruction and student achievement.