june 2014volume 5, issue 2p6cdn4static.sharpschool.com/userfiles/servers... · such as “read,...

Dear Parents and Community Members,

THE YEAR IN REVIEW The 2013-14 school year has been one marked by growth and success. Systematic efforts to improve student academic performance and build students’ character have been combined under a common, continuous and community-wide initiative called Antigo Pride. We are proud of our students and staff and the efforts they are making to create systematic improvement in our district! We want our community to be proud of them, as well; and we want our students to take pride in their accomplishments and value the learning that will prepare them to thrive and be contributing citizens throughout their lives. These things are the essence of what we mean by “Antigo Pride,” and we invite you to join us in this collaborative effort. I’ve addressed the need for dramatic change in how we conduct public education on numerous occasions, acknowledging that change does not come easily to most of us. But change we must; and seeing the results of that change takes time. It can take as much as seven years for system changes to become fully effective, so patience is a critical element! That said, the changes are underway in earnest in USDA. We have adopted and begun teaching the common core standards adopted by the state in language arts (reading, writing, speaking, listening) and mathematics. Come September, we will have new math curriculum from kindergarten through high school; and we will have new approaches to literacy in the elementary grades. A new, three-year plan for professional development for teachers will begin with teachers learning collaboration techniques to address the following critical questions about student performance:

Are students “getting it?” (i.e., are they learning what we’re teaching?)

How do we know?

Who’s not getting it, and how do we know?

What will we do about it?

Who already knew it, and how do we know?

What will we do about that? The answers to these questions will allow us to build a scaffold of support that will increase the learning of every student. That may mean that different students’ school days will look very different from one another. Strategies such as “double-dosing” – giving students the regular instruction, and then providing small-group or individualized assistance – will help struggling learners increase their mastery of skills and content. That means that, within the context of the traditional school day, school schedules may look very different for different students and teachers. Both the high school and the middle school will have modified block schedules to extend learning time within the school day. Another strategy is to extend learning time outside of school. Every freshman will receive a tablet computer for her/his own use, and can access teacher-directed materials and ask questions from home or library and at almost any time. For families without internet access, our middle school instructional resource center will be open later hours during the week for students and parents to use. Meanwhile, what has happened this year? Teachers in some schools have successfully piloted methods of intervention with students with learning disabilities, and have seen the growth of those students exceed the learning targets they were expected to achieve! In several of our elementary schools, reading proficiency improved by as much as 30% from fall to spring. Attendance improved across the board, while disciplinary referrals declined. And our varsity boys’ basketball team achieved the highest cumulative grade-point average of any high school basketball team in the State of Wisconsin! Antigo Pride has us well on our way to becoming the school district we want to be! We wish you a very fulfilling summer, and we invite you to join our efforts to make Antigo Pride the brand of the Unified School District of Antigo!

Sincerely,

Donald B. Childs, Ph.D.

Interim Superintendent

June 2014 Volume 5, Issue 2

RED ROBIN NEWS

The Unified School District of Antigo does not discriminate on the basis of age, sex, race, religion, national origin, ancestry, creed, sexual orientation, pregnancy, marital and parental status, or physical, mental, emotional or learning disability.

District Administrator Board of Education

Donald B. Childs, Ph.D. Mike Bolding, President Tim Fuller

School District of Antigo Tara Guelzow Gary Jaje

120 South Dorr Street Scott Jensema, Vice-President Jeanne Long Antigo, WI 54409 Patrick McKenna, Treasurer Jessica Meade, Clerk

(715) 627-4355 James Schulz JaCey Yonke, Student Representative

Unified School District Of Antigo

Volume 5, Issue 2 RED ROBIN NEWS

Antigo Pride - High School Mural - Anita Mattek, High School Associate Principal

Antigo High School presents…

Our mural!

Antigo High School worked together to complete a beautiful mural. Connie and Tim Friesen from Wabeno, Wisconsin were the brains behind the creation. The Friesen’s helped create murals for many different organizations, schools, and clubs. Ms. Cain, our high school art teacher, played a large role in making the contact with the Friesen’s, gathering students, and making this happen.

How the process worked…

All students and staff were invited to participate in the different steps in creating our mural. Connie and Tim visited our school only three different times during the process and during that time we created this beautiful piece. Students, staff, and the Friensen’s met during a 46 minute class period to discuss ideas and images to display that represent our school. The challenge for most of us was turning our words into images. This is where Tim and Connie really shined; they drew many images to represent Antigo High School on three large mural boards for us to paint. The Friesen’s arrived on the painting day with all of our words and images in one place. It was amazing!

Our next step was the painting process. Our students and staff signed up to help whenever they could. Some students helped all day while others visited during their study hall. Af-ter an entire day of painting our mural was complete!


Antigo Pride - High School Mural cont’d

All students and staff involved in the ideation and painting process really showed creativity, responsibility, and character. Thank you to all that were involved.

In addition, a poem was written in honor of our mural by Wes Fick, a senior at Antigo High School…

On a single day

the spirit of the school joined together

in an inspired way

to create a self portrait

that is sure to stay.


The 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program (21st CLC) at Antigo Middle School offers a safe environment for students to complete homework, receive academic help, interact with their peers, and participate in new and exciting activities.

The program is divided into AM and PM offerings. The AM program allows students to start their day in a friendly and relaxed environment. Computers are available for school work, projects, and Accelerated Reader testing. Crafts, community service opportunities, and activities are offered throughout the week. Students may also play Chess, Checkers, Apples-to-Apples, cards and other board games. Special morning activities are offered once a month as part of our Morning Glory Café presentations. Recent offerings of Morning Glory Café include a pottery demonstration, jazz and blues guitar guest artist, Open Mic / Poetry Slam, karaoke, bingo, and surprise pancake breakfasts.

The afternoon portion of the program is housed mainly on the second floor of the middle school and focuses on academics. The program is modeled after guidelines set forth by the DPI. We aim to provide a variety of “high-quality services to support student learning and development.” This includes tutoring and small group instruction, homework help, academic enrichment, community service and volunteerism opportunities, arts, and physical recreation activities. In addition, we utilize the computer-based program, REFLEX Math. REFLEX Math allows students to develop and maintain automaticity of basic math facts. The program takes 15-20 minutes and uses games and puzzles to increase math fact fluency. Students may also access this program from home at any time for additional practice using their unique log-in and password.

Antigo Middle School 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program Brian Misfeldt, Middle School Principal


21st Century Community Learning Center - continued

All students start out the afternoon with a nutritious snack and then proceed to homework help, REFLEX, or “Cleared Club” for the first half of the program. “Cleared Club” is an extra dose of academic enrichment for students who are in good academic standing, with no missing or late work. Using our district-wide school information system, Infinite Campus, we are able to monitor missing work. In addition, teachers provide information and assignments for students who attend the program.

The second portion of our program consists of enrichment activities, REFLEX for those who did not have a chance to do it during homework time, and a quiet area for students who would like to read, journal, or continue with their homework.

The Boys and Girls Club of Langlade County (B&GC) is one of our enrichment partners, providing an activity four days a week. The topics for these activities range from physical fitness and healthy lifestyles, to leadership and community building opportunities. We supplement this with 2-3 additional offerings each day such as “Read, Write, Draw”, Mancala, Technology Lab, KAAD (Kids All About Drawing) club, quilling, knitting, art projects, cooking, and open gym to name a few. Students who register for the after school program also receive a free one-year membership to the B&GC and are included in activities hosted at the club outside our normal program hours such as Teen Night and summer programs.

Recently the Middle School 21st CLC program was evaluated by the Wisconsin Department of Instruction (DPI). The DPI report stated, “The department is extremely pleased with the program quality and impact the program is having on students and their families,” and no corrective action was recommended. During the 2014-2015 school year, we look forward to expanding our community partnerships while also developing adult education and family programs in order to continue to build strong partnerships in the education of all students.


Chromebook Pilot for Incoming Freshmen It is our pleasure to announce that next year our incoming freshmen will be given a Chromebook as a resource for their schooling as they enter Antigo High School. This opportunity was approved by our School Board this year, with implementation the fall of 2014. We are hopeful that this pilot will continue into future years. In preparation for this, visits have been made to the schools with a short presentation and some basic information. This summer, at Freshman Survival, another informational session will be held, as well as before school starts during registration time. There will be a Chromebook Handbook provided at registration, which has much more detail. If you would like to visit this, please use this web address: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uaRy6qyTtt6HWAtwAo2e0bV6vtlT5N1-YEBhev3iJYw/edit?usp=sharing We look forward to implementing these devices in the classroom and hope that our students’ educational experience will be enhanced by it. Schools Need YOUR Help for Technology Survey Antigo School District has enlisted the help of a company, Clarity, to assess the technology needs of our parents, students and staff. Parents and students, please visit the Antigo School District website at: http://www.antigo.k12.wi.us/ and click on the blue Clarity link. The survey will take about 5-8 minutes to complete and will give us an idea of what we need to do to help our parents, students and staff better use technology for student learning. If you have more than one child, please fill out the survey for the school your oldest child attends. If you have other questions regarding this company, please visit this link for a short explanation: http://www.antigo.k12.wi.us/clarity/about.html. Thank you for helping us as we move forward with bettering our technological needs.

Chromebook Pilot Pleasant View “Character Counts” Amy Dahms, Instructional Technology Director Scott Farmer, Principal

Pleasant View classroom "character counts" winners. Throughout the year the teachers at Pleasant View Elementary pick a classroom "character counts" winner. This is based on behavior displayed by the student throughout the school day in all activities. Each winner has their certificate and picture displayed in the school throughout the duration of their time as the winner. Each quarter the winners are entered into a drawing for a lunch with building principal, Mr. Farmer. Throughout the year there were 76 students in the building winning the award.

“Congratulations to all the award winners and continue to display your

great character.”

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uaRy6qyTtt6HWAtwAo2e0bV6vtlT5N1-YEBhev3iJYw/edit?usp=sharinghttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1uaRy6qyTtt6HWAtwAo2e0bV6vtlT5N1-YEBhev3iJYw/edit?usp=sharinghttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1uaRy6qyTtt6HWAtwAo2e0bV6vtlT5N1-YEBhev3iJYw/edit?usp=sharinghttp://www.antigo.k12.wi.us/http://www.antigo.k12.wi.us/clarity/about.htmlhttp://www.antigo.k12.wi.us/clarity/about.html


Crestwood, North and West Elementary Sharon Kind and Scott Farmer, Principals

Walk a Thon Pledges

Students at North and Crestwood Elementary Schools raised money through student pledges to walk.

Monday, May 12th

North Elementary students walked in the

afternoon for the pledges they earned. Students earned tokens for every $5.00 they received pledges. Red

sports bags were given to students with pledges of $25.00 and a T-shirt for $50.00. Over $2,000.00 was

raised to help pay for the cost of spring field trips.

Friday, May 16, 2014 Crestwood students walked for the pledges they raised. The top 15 pledge earners

received Packer Sportswear for their efforts. Crestwood

students totaled the number of laps they walked to discover it added up to 224 miles! Numbers of laps

each class walked ranged from 85 laps by kindergarten students to 251 laps by 5th grade students.

Students took pride in the opportunity to raise money

themselves to help pay for their spring field trips.

BIG thank you to PTO’s for sponsoring and supporting

the walks.

District 3rd and 4th grade Battle of the Books Winners

Austin Helms, Abbigail LaQue, and Olivia Braun


Unified School District of Antigo School Calendar of Events

2014-2015

August 21, 22, 25 New Teacher Inservice

August 26, 27 Teacher Professional Development

August 28 Teacher Record Day

August 29 Teacher Welcome Back Day

September 1 Labor Day

September 2 First Day of School for Students

September 29 Teacher Inservice Full Day - No School for Students

October 23, 24 Vacation Days - No School for Students

October 27 Teacher Inservice Full Day - No School for Students

November 5 End of First Quarter

November 26 Teacher Compensation Day - No School for Students

November 27 Thanksgiving

November 28 Vacation Day - No School for Students

December 24 - January 2 Winter Break

January 22 End of Second Quarter

January 23 Teacher Record Day - No School for Students

February 26 Teacher Inservice Full Day - No School for Students

February 27 Parent/Teacher Conferences (AM) - No School for Students All Day

March 27 End of Third Quarter

April 1 Teacher Inservice Full Day - No School for Students

April 2 - 6 Vacation Days - No School for Students

May 4 Teacher Inservice Full Day - No School for Students

May 25 Memorial Day

May 31 High School Graduation

June 4 Last Day of School for Students

June 5 Teacher Record Day

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