Back in the Water!

The Wolves spent Wednesday afternoon splashing around in the familiar waters of Ralston Creek.  Oh how we missed our muddy Wednesdays!  On this first trip, students worked in teams to create habitat assessments of the area.  Using math and science skills, they determined the length of riparian zones, number of microhabitats, types of stream banks at the stream transect and stream reach, and much, much more!  We're now moving on to discussing parameters for water quality including nitrogen, phosphorus, dissolved oxygen, and pH tests.  If the weather continues to stay warm, we'll spend Wednesday afternoon collecting water samples so that we begin testing water quality at the creek.  

Trip to State Science Fair is ON!

A big thank you to both Gretchen and Kim for making our trip to the State Science Fair this Friday possible!  As a reminder, we will be leaving school at 8am on Friday morning.  The students will return at approximately 5pm.  The competition runs for two days so while I will be riding out with the students, Gretchen will bring the students back that evening so that I do not have to drive back and forth between Ames (thanks again Gretchen!).  We will be going out to eat on Friday.  Please send your child on the trip with $10 - $12.  If you would prefer for them to eat a sack lunch, please just pack it as normal.  Also, even if you are sending your child with money for lunch, please send along a few snacks for the long drive.  Thanks and please let me know if you have any questions.

Regional National History Day Contest

On Friday of spring break, three of our students went back to work a little early by spending the day participating in the regional National History Day contest. Both junior and senior high students came to the Old Capital Museum to compete in several different categories including websites, performances, historical papers, exhibits, and documentaries. Our sixth graders presented their work to a panel of judges and competed against sixth through eighth graders from the surrounding areas. Only one student from each category was chosen to represent our area at the state competition in Des Moines in May. I am extremely excited to announce that two of our students, Halle and Emma, were chosen to present at the state competition in their respective categories. Please join in me in congratulating all of our students that participated in the fair on their hard work and dedication to this project!

History Fair Student Work

What an amazing night! From the Cottontails reminding of us "all we need" to the Wolves entertaining us with their engaging performances and informative websites, it was definitely a night to remember. Watching these performances reminded me of the amazing foundation that the K-4 teachers build before sending their students to the Wolf classroom - our work would NOT be possible without this incredible base.

I only wish that we had enough time to allow families the opportunity to see all of the students' work. Unfortunately, with the time constraints of the evening and the length of our performances, this was not possible (I would have had you here all night!). If you'd like to get a closer look at the students work or see the work of a child that you missed, please visit the History Fair tab under Student Work. Under this tab, you'll find links to student websites as well as short clips of performances.

Trip to State Science Fair

On Friday, March 30th, three of our sixth graders will be participating in the Iowa State Science Fair in Ames, Iowa. This is a great opportunity for the rest of the class to support their peers and get a preview of the work that many of them will be doing as sixth graders next year. Because of the length of the drive, we will need to leave school by 8am and will not return to school until 5pm. We are in need of drivers for that day. Please let me know as soon as possible if you can drive and how many students your car can hold. Thanks in advance for your help!

History Fair, Just a Little Over a Week Away!

The History Fair is just over a week away and the Wolves are busy making last minute preparations for this exciting event. A few reminders:

• Treats
• Please sign up on our treats sign-up sheet to bring in a treat to share with the Willowwind community.
• Because of the size of the event, we need treats, a drink, napkins, and cups to serve 175 - please therefore include on the sign-up sheet how much of an item you will be bringing.
• We are still in need of a volunteer to coordinate set-up, service, and clean-up for the treats; please email me if interested

• RSVP via email by this Friday
• Please include how many family and friends will be joining us so that we can plan out space accordingly.

• Schedule
• Please have your child back at school and ready to present (i.e. dressed in costume for performances or in business casual for websites) by 3:30pm on Thursday, March 8th.

• Pizza on the day of the event
• Judging will take place from 3:30 - 5:30pm. Since your child will not be with a judge for the entire time, we will have a room set up with pizza so that students can eat and relax while they're waiting their turn.
• If you would like your child to have pizza, please send $4 to school by next Monday, the 5th of March

• Presentation Boards
• Every student will be asked to make a process board that depicts the work that they did to come to their final product.
• If you would like to purchase a board from me (I have enough boards for every student), please send them to school with $3.50 by Thursday, March 1st.
• You are also welcome to purchase your own board. If you do, please email me so that I can give you the dimensions of our boards (I'd like all of the boards to be the same size); please also have these boards at school by Thursday of this week so we can begin work.

Thanks and please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Can't wait to see it all come together!

Literature Circle with Janet is Back!

After a short break, our 6th graders have returned to their weekly discussions of Little Women with board member, Janet Freeman. These conversations give the students the opportunity to really dig deeply into the text and make important inferences about characters and plot development. I especially enjoyed hearing one student dissect the character of Laurie and his relationship with Jo.