As part of our Social Studies unit on life long ago, Mrs. Wunschel's and Mrs. Bisenius's classes had the opportunity to experience first hand what our ancestors may have enjoyed in the past.

     Rene Stroud came to visit the 2nd grade on Friday, November 18.  She demonstrated how to use the Navajo loom as well as a spinning wheel and drop spindle to make yarn from wool.  Rene also showed us how our ancestors shelled and ground corn to make food and wash clothes on an old washboard.  The students loved looking at the different animals hides and elk antlers, too.  They also enjoyed playing games from the past and making music from spoons and an old washboard.  It was a wonderful hands-on experience to enrich our students' learning.

Mrs. Wunschel & Mrs. Bisenius

The following article is provided courtesy of Scholastic Inc. and thought it was important to remind you of all the fun you can have with your child while learning to read at the same time!  Principal Pickhinke

Tips for Encouraging Early Literacy

Encourage your child's literacy skills — well before he learns to read!

• Reading together, playing together, and just enjoying each other's company will all go a long way toward building pre-reading skills.

• Form a close bond. This one is easy! Your relationship with your child is very important to his ability to learn. If you are interactive, close and loving, your child will reap the rewards.

• Get in on the fun. Being a participant at playtime can bring you closer and help you learn useful information about your child's habits and emotions.

• Tell tales. Build narrative skills by gathering family members at meal times and having them tell the story of their day.

• Play rhyming games to build phonemic awareness ... and just for fun.

• Bring reading and writing into everyday life. Encourage literacy in your child's daily routines by writing thank-you notes or making shopping lists together.

• Be attentive and engaged when you communicate with your child.

• Read together. Make story time a daily ritual that your child can count on and look forward to.

TrueFlix for 3-5th Graders

TrueFlix™, is an online resource that leverages the award-winning True Books content to help students hone literacy skills, build knowledge of subject-area content, and cultivate 21st Century Skills through the inquiry process. All of the True Book titles are supported with a deep and diverse reservoir of related content and primary sources featuring videos, audio, images, and text.

Each TrueFlix™ title includes the following elements:

·         Watch the Video: A streaming video that engages the student and introduces the topic. The video is strategically placed—and supported by reading research—to enable the student to build crucial background knowledge before accessing the book.

·         Read the Book: A flipbook version of the True Book with page-turning and read-along features, chapter tabs, and vocabulary terms identified and defined. The "book" has been transformed into a versatile digital resource enabling the student to exercise the nonlinear reading and viewing behaviors that we know take place with digital content.

·         Explore More: Related content that provides opportunities for further research and reading across a variety of text types.Includes one or more of the following: fiction, primary-source documents, related articles from Grolier Online. This section also helps students with a key competency—gathering and synthesizing accurate and related information in one place—a crucial 21st Century Skill.

·         Lesson Plan: Every Trueflix™ topic is accompanied by a lesson plan with teaching activities that are tied to the specific content of that Trueflix™ topic. Every lesson plan includes a discussion of the Trueflix™ video and a review of vocabulary words used in theTrueFlix™ flipbook. Each also provides a small-group activity based on the flipbook and a project idea.

·         Project Idea: For beginning researchers, this includes a project goal and ideas or questions on how to kick-start research—perfect for a class activity or homework assignment.

·         Activity Center: Includes a "Show What You Know" 10-question multiple-choice quiz, and a Word Match game based on the important words included in each title. Teachers and librarians can utilize the quizzes as soft assessments to gauge a student’s understanding of the content.

·         Explore the Web: Related Web links to help further extend learning, broaden the content area, and provoke further research.

This is an amazing site for kids to get into and have fun while learning.  They have all received passwords and the correct info. to access it!  If you can not find it please contact the school or email our chief librarian Mrs. Nehring at mnehring@rvraptors.org

Thanks.......and please check it out!

Principal Pickhinke

Reading Plus Update

Reading Plus is a computerized reading program we use with all 4th and 5th grade students.

Kids, Teachers and the Principal are seeing the results and we are pleased with the program.

In Bellcocks, according to your Class Detailed Skills report, students in the class are doing well with the following comprehension skills:

·         Recalling Information and Details

·         Following Sequence, Ideas, Events

·         Identifying Speaker

·         Main Idea

·         Making Inferences

·         Drawing Conclusions

·         Paraphrasing

·         Recognizing Cause & Effect

·         Classifying

·         Recognizing Emotional Reactions

In Mentzer, according to the Class Detailed Skills report, the class is doing well with the following comprehension skills:

·         Recalling Information and Details

·         Identifying Speaker

·         Main Idea

·         Making Inferences

·         Drawing Conclusions

·         Paraphrasing

·         Recognizing Cause & Effect

·         Recognizing Emotional Reactions

·         Reasoning

Way to Go!

A picture of my students around our butterfly pavillion with all our new painted ladies from our insect unit.  We have been busy, busy! We are loving our learning of insects and fasinated with the knowledge we have gained from this unit!

Mrs. Wunschel

Mrs. Wunschels Second Graders performing their reader's theaters for the 3rd and 4th grade on Halloween, and they also shared their Halloween stories with the preschool kids!

Ross Mentzer reads to a few little friends!

Juilanna Delao is a good role model for a younger reader.

Ian Shepard gets involved with his halloween story!

Readers Theater Presentation

Look at them READ!

Holiday Toy and Clothing Drive

The Schaller-Crestland Ministerial Association, along with other area organizations, is

sponsoring a toy and clothing drive to help parents provide for their families during the holiday

season. If you would like assistance and would appreciate receiving items, please fill in the

information below and return it to Pastor Jess Rockhold-Gaul, United Methodist Church, 209

West 3

rd, Box 416, Schaller, Iowa 51053. If you would appreciate the extra gift of a food basket,

provided by the area food pantries, please check the box on the bottom of the form. The Family

Development Center in Sac City runs a similar program. In order for us to best serve all

families, we request that you participate in only one of the programs. Families will be contacted

at a later date with the pick-up date and locations. If you have questions, please call Colleen

Hansen at

712-275-4351 or Kari Hansen-Limbert at 712-273-5015.

The Holstein Kiwanis presented dictionaries to our third graders today. Each student was introduced and came to the front of the room to receive a dictionary. Following the presentation of dictionaries, we played, "Stump the Teacher". The class was divided into four groups. Each group chose a word from the dictionary and the teachers had to give the definition. It was a tie! Two correct guesses and two incorrect guesses from the teachers. We used the Smartboard for writing. The Kiwanis were impresssed with the board and how much the students were able to interact with it.
The Kiwanis that visited today include the following:

Sherry Gerbers
Keith and Sylvia Carstens
Dick Brosamle