Happy Holidays from the Office of the Superintendent: Reflecting on the first quarter and a half of the 2016-2017 school year, acknowledging cliché, I am truly amazed at how fast this year is going. In this holiday season, it is easy to look around at our school and community and find many things to give thanks for. Our school is currently in the process of implementing our version of the educational model R.T.I. (Response to Intervention) which is a multi-tier approach to the early identification and support of students with learning and behavior needs. At Lambert Schools, we are calling this the W.I.N (What I Need) program. Our K-6 staff has already begun the reading portion of this program with great success and the 7-12 staff is currently working on the system they are going to utilize starting in the 2nd semester. It is something special to see the powerful collaboration for student learning that is occurring with our staff. If you should have any questions about this program as we continue to move forward, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Our first Family Movie Night on November 18th was a huge success. Almost 70 people from the school and community showed up for the event and enjoyed themselves watching “Finding Dory” on the big screen as we had full concessions including our new Lambert Lion buckets of popcorn. The plan for our next Family Movie Night is to show “The Secret Life of Pets” on the evening of December 30th. Feel free to bring your lawn chairs, sleeping bags, pillows, etc. to help you watch the movie comfortably. Look for updates on our Facebook page as well as posters around town advertising the details. We would love to see you and your family there over the long Winter Break. With our 2nd semester coming to a close, please help our students to stay on top of their coursework so that they will be successful in the 1st semester this year. If there is any support that you feel we can give that we are not already doing, please contact us so we can work out a plan. Thank you for all the hard work you have put in to ensuring student success here at Lambert Public Schools. Happy Holidays and good luck finishing out the 1st semester of the 2016-2017 school year. Cordially, Mr. Sean Beddow

Lambert Public Schools

December 2016

The Lion’s Tale

Page 2 The Lion’s Tale

Principal, Kara Triplett

Happy Holidays! November seems to have flown by, and we are coming upon the end of the second quarter, which means semester exams are right around the corner. All 7-12 students will take these exams on Tue. and Wed, Dec. 20 and 21st. We will then have an early-out on Dec. 22nd, with Christmas parties and a PRIDE activity scheduled in celebration of the holidays and the end of our first semester. The 7-12 exam schedule is below: TUESDAY—12/20/16: 8:03-9:30— 1ST period test 9:30-9:40—Break with snacks (in student lounge) 9:45-11:15—2nd period test 11:15-11:45—7-12 lunch (elementary will go to recess first today, come in at 11:40 and then go to lunch) 11:50-1:20—5th period test 1:20-1:30—Break with snacks (in student lounge) 1:35-3:12—6th period test WEDNESDAY—12/21/16: 8:03-9:30—3rd period test 9:30-9:40—Break with snacks (in student lounge) 9:45-11:15—4th period test 11:15-11:45—7-12 lunch (elementary will go to recess first today, come in at 11:40 and then go to lunch) 11:50-1:20—7th period test 1:20-1:30—Break with snacks (in student lounge) 1:35-3:12—8th period test Overall, our staff strives to create units which fit our adopted curriculums, yet are also accountable to the Common Core Standards, as Montana is still in the process of change and adaptation to ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act). In further explanation, and according to Montana’s Office of Public Instruction website: “On December 10, 2015, President Obama signed into law the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), reauthorizing the Elementary/Secondary Education Act of 1965. States have been operating under the guidance of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) reauthorization since 2007. ESSA redirects former NCLB requirements in giving states the ability to develop their own accountability plans. ESSA also places a stronger emphasis on child wellbeing and recognizes there are many ways to measure performance. Montana’s state plan will continue to build on the successes of our public schools by continuing to raise graduation rates, improve teaching, learning and student achievement, identify and support schools of greatest need, and improve non-academic student outcomes in all of Montana’s public schools.” For more information, please visit http://opi.mt.gov/ Coupled with solid classroom instruction and our newly-implemented WIN program, Lambert Schools will continue to give the Smarter Balanced tests in early April (math and English), and then the Mont-Cas test for science, as well as our MAPS testing for 7-12th graders and our FastBridge for our elementary, in order to do a complete job of gathering data. With these strategies in place, we our elementary, in order to do a complete job of gathering data. With these strategies in place, we are certainly on the right track to support and carry out the direction ESSA is taking education in Montana. Our staff is also working diligently in their teams which support our Continuous School Improvement cycle. We have four teams: School and Community Relations, Safe and Orderly Environment, Curriculum, and Assessment. After doing an evaluation of our currents system, each team took responsibility for tackling areas we see in need of attention, research, or improvement. They work on problem-solving for these items, and then, when ready, bring their suggestions back to the whole group for consideration. If the teams all agree to the suggestions, we work on implementation. I’m quite proud of the progress our staff has made. It’s so awesome to see everyone working together, and the ideas have been excellent! We’ve had many other experiences which have contributed to our students’ overall education. A big thanks to our Relations Team, who put together a fun PRIDE Thanksgiving event. It is awesome to see our students of all ages interact and learn from each other. Our music program will show off their talents in their rendition of “A Blue Christmas”, with our students participating in all sorts of musical numbers. A visit from Santa will cap off this festive evening, which is scheduled for Thur, Dec 15th, beginning at 6:30 in the old gym.

Page 3 December 2016

First Grade

Mrs. Combs

Preschool

Mrs. Killick

Kindergarten

Miss Schultz

We are having fun in preschool! Working on our numbers and letters, sequencing and patterning, etc.

We also work on how to play with one another and everyone taking their fair part in cleaning up…which you

can imagine, some of them love the play part but not the pick-up part, but some actually enjoy putting things

away and making it all look very nice!

Miss Jami has been fun to have in class as well…she brought pumpkin and apple pie mix in and the

kiddos rolled out their own pie dough and made pies!!!

We have also started practicing with Miss Chantel (Mrs. Verschoot) right after breakfast to learn our

part in the Christmas program. I must say, they are doing an excellent job at learning our two songs! So we

will all look forward to hearing them sing at the Program!

Have a wonderful Holiday Season!!!

I can’t believe that it is already December. This year is flying by, but maybe it’s just because of all the fun we

are having in the kindergarten room! The kindergarteners have been working so hard in school, and it is

starting to show. In math we have mastered the concepts of composing and decomposing number which

means that we will get to start adding this month! Watching five year olds learn to read is one of my favorite

things about teaching kindergarten, and it has started to happen. We know all of our letter sounds and have

started putting them together to make real words.

When we come back from break we will be learning about different holidays around the world. Our

kindergarten gingerbread man is going to go missing (if you have a kindergartener in our class, please play

along with this). He will send us packages from all over the world to teach us about different Christmas

traditions. We can’t wait! This past month we spent a lot of time talking about all we have to be thankful for.

We hope that you are able to do the same this holiday season! Thanks for reading about us!

Happy Holidays from the 1st grade! First graders have been learning about Columbus, Pilgrims, and Squanto. They have a good understanding of why the Pilgrims came to our country and what went on when they landed. In reading, we continue working with our current curriculum. In addition, we run intensive intervention groups to allow for beefing up our reading rules, fluency, and comprehension skills. Math has us learning many addition strategies when working with single digit numbers. They’ve also been practicing their fact families. We will begin a basic research project in Science this next month. We will learn how to use our resources, find facts, and turn the facts into “our” words so that we don’t plagiarize. This project will not only be fun, but helps us to meet State Standards and Expectations in first grade Science. Be watching for it to come home before the long break! Wishing you and yours the very best!

Page 4 The Lion’s Tale

Third Grade Mrs. Schields

Second Grade

Mr. Carda

This is the time of year that gives us the opportunity to be thankful for our families, friends, school,

community and all that we are so fortunate to have here in this part of the great state of Montana! (I could use a

little help with the purple and gold guys in Minnesota though!) Here is wishing you the best during the coming

holiday season!

We did it! We finished our first reading textbook and will be moving into the second one. Our reading

skills have been improving as the class continues to build reading comprehension as well as fluency. We have

been using our iPads and laptops to help enhance our reading experience with several helpful programs available

to us. We have been putting our creative minds to work as we write in our journals and other various forms of

writing activities!

The class has been diligently learning how to regroup in subtraction and are quickly learning how to

master the concept. It has been challenging and exciting to learn. The class works with several math programs

on their laptops to help build math skills and fluency.

In Science we have been studying what causes night and day and how the seasons occur in our

hemisphere. We have also been looking at and discussing constellations. In Social Studies we will be discussing

goods and services and how taxes help to pay for those services. Our Language Arts program has us

alphabetizing and preparing us for the use of pronouns.

We hope to see you soon! Stop by and say “Hi!” if you are in the school!

The third graders are anxiously looking forward to the holiday season and the activities it entails. Our Book-It goal remains at 70 pages for the month of December. Participation in Book-It has been exceptional! Math concepts being looked at are division and relating that to a multiplication fact. Mad minute timings are increasing our math fluency. Be sure to include this as part of your math homework! We completed a chapter on rocks, minerals, and fossils in Science. A highlight was making a fossil cast and a fossil. mold. We are moving on to the many forces that shape the land. As future farmers, we are even learning farming methods that will help conserve the soil for the next generation of farmers! We will end the month with a party on December 21st where we will have a gift exchange. Our hostesses will be Brynne Hill, Cade Verschoot, Quaid Marsall, and Matthew Hill. Feel free to exchange with someone if this has become inconven-ient for you. Happy Holidays! Miss Schields

Page 5 December 2016

Resource Room news Mrs. Patterson

Fourth Grade Mrs. Beddow

Fifth / Sixth Grade Mrs. Clausen / Mrs. Pust

Our Month…by Mrs. Beddow’s 4th Graders

Grace: I love doing math…we are learning multiplying a 4-digit number by a 1-digit number

Will: Our science project…researching an assigned habitat

Jayla: PE…playing Buffalo Hunt

Bobby: Math…I’ve been doing Math Beasts

Caitlynne: Habitat research projects

Keira: watching movies in reading…The Little Princess

Gus: finishing Mr. Popper’s Penguins and comparing the book to the movie

Michael: reading a book outside of class to give a book talk

Tyler: learning states and capitals

The Resource Room continues to be a busy place, where the paras and I enjoy helping students be more successful in school. Below is one way you can help your child succeed in school. It is taken from an online article entitled Twenty Ways You Can Help Your Child Succeed in School http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/twenty-ways-you-can-help-your-children-succeed-school "Demonstrate a positive attitude about education to your children. What we say and do in our daily lives can help them to develop positive attitudes toward school and learning and to build confidence in themselves as learners. Showing our children that we both value education and use it in our daily lives provides them with powerful models and contributes greatly to their success in school.

November has FLOWN by...What a lovely FALL we have had. Hope everyone's Thanksgiving was AWE-SOME!! We had a special substitute teacher the day before Thanksgiving break...Mrs. Clausen subbed for her sub. We look forward to Mrs. Clausen's return to teaching after Christmas Break. We have been very thankful to Ms. Euston for long term subbing. We look forward to the Holiday Season. We have some fun projects planned for Dec. We will have the school Christmas Concert on Thur. Dec. 15 at 6:30. The beginning of that week is when the 6th Graders will decorate gingerbread houses with our Lovely Cooks assisting. More information and dates will be sent home with the 6th graders. Our 5/6th Grade class Christmas party will be held on Thur. Dec. 22. We will be sending info home to the parents with all the details. Receive a mini CANDY CANE from me if you can name the movie this quote is from: "Unless we make Christmas an occasion to share our blessings, ALL the snow in Alaska won't make it white."

Page 6 The Lion’s Tale

Music/Band Mrs. Verchoot

Gym Mr. Sommerfeld

Social Studies Mr. Anderson

English Miss Alexander

The fifth through tenth graders are finishing up a badminton unit the first week of December. The elementary have worked on some basketball in preparation of the little lion’s basketball later in the year. The kindergarten has playing Simon Says. The high school have finished up a unit with different variations of dodgeball. In the elementary students will be taught about the social issue of tattling and bulling.

Where does the time go, when you are having so much musical delight!! The Kindergarten are so happy to be learning about the string instruments! Their favorite by far is the Ukulele, and they are in hopes that St. Nicholas has them on his list. The 1st and 2nd grade are just learning about the bells and are excited to learn their first song. All the Recorders are improving every day, while learning songs to earn their Karate Belts. Jingle Bells are on their way with the 5th and 6th grade band, they are in hopes of learning many more Christmas songs. The High School Band is in hopes of a Blue Christmas! More to come.... I hope everyone enjoyed the Honor Choir and Band Concert in Glendive. Inchon was an amazing tribute to the American Soldiers that served our country. The Choir song Sing Me To Heaven still gives me goosebumps, I am so proud of our 12 students that represented our school. Way To Go!! Our Christmas Program will be December 15th at 6:30 p.m. Remember to wear Blue, We'll have the Best Blue Christmas Ever!!

The junior class are wrapping up their World War II reading of "Farewell to Manzanar." The sophomores are

still working through the ancient Greek tragedy of "Oedipus Rex." The freshmen, eighth and seventh grade

classes have finished their reading, and have been learning about different figurative language terms for poetry

and creative writing. The creative writing class is working on, and polishing up, their semester final writing

assignment.

Hello Lambert Lions, more exciting stuff headed your way in the social studies classes. In Government we have

just finished the text of the United States Constitution and we're getting ready to dive into the Bill of Rights.

Montana History has the 7th graders drawing maps of the railroads crisscrossing the state. U.S. history finds us

in the aftermath of the American Revolution and in World history we are examining the Romans. Psychology

has us studying a wide variety of subjects inside the human mind. Happy Holidays from the history department!

Page 7 December 2016

Art/Guidance Mrs. Rehbein

Seniors:

FAFSA When you make application for college you will be asked to also fill out a FAFSA, Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSASM). Federal Student Aid, is a part of the U.S. Department of Education, it is the largest provider of student financial aid in the nation. The FAFSA will determine how much aid you can receive for your college education. Aid will include work study, loans and grants. Go to the FAFSA site for more information, generally your parents have to have their taxes done before filling out the FAFSA form, in some cases they can use last year’s taxes. http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/ ACT Test, sign up now if you haven’t. Please be sure to sign up for the writing section on the ACT most

colleges will require a writing assessment which is easily done with the ACT test. Dates for sign up:

Test Date Registration Deadline Late Fee Required

Sign up for

the ACT at www.actstudent.org/start Lambert School Code is: 270-540 Go to school wires, staff, ChrisTina Rehbein, TESTING information you will find a link to the ACT site and testing dates. As scholarships come in I will post them. Remember to watch for college rep visits and make arrangements ahead of time to meet with them. Check for postings for College Visits outside the Student Lounge. MUS Scholarship information has been passed out to all seniors, as well as Montana's Best & Brightest scholarship information. Watch for a date for the FAFSA meeting for parents and students, you and your parents will want to make this if they have never filled out the FAFSA forms before. I will also go over scholarship information with you and your parents at that time.

Juniors:

The state ACT plus Writing test for all Junior students, it will be given here at the school on April 19. It will include the writing assessment.

You may get Boys State and Girls State applications now, from Mrs. Rehbein. Research college choices ( smartaboutcollege.org ) Schedule college visits if you have narrowed down your college choices

TEST DATE Registration Dead-line

Late Registration Period

Photo Upload Deadline

December 10,2016 November 4, 2016 November 5 -18 December 6

February 11, 2017 January 13, 2017 January 14 - 20 January 31

April 8, 2017 March 3, 2017 March4 - 17 April 4

June 10, 2017 May 5, 2017 May 6 - 19 June 6

Ag-Ed/Shop/FFA Mrs. Verschoot

Page 8 The Lion’s Tale

Sophomores:

Sophomores need to pick up an application for HOBY from Mrs. Rehbein. Careers Class will begin next Semester.

Elementary Art/Guidance Classes

Students have been glazing their pots and working on friendship building.

High School Art Class

6th Period Art Class have been knitting, they have all made a scarf for the Red Scarf Project, for the state’s Child

and Family Services Division (CFSD). The red scarves will be put in care packages for all Montana youth

currently or previously in care who are pursuing postsecondary education.

8th Period Art Students continue to work with a carving project and glazing pots.

Jr. High Art Classes

7th & 8th grade Artist have been glazing their clay pots and will be making a basket for their last project.

For All Jr high and High School students, classes will change coming the new semester. Please talk with your

teachers and check with Mrs. Rehbein about any classes you will be changing for the new semester.

FFA News This month was a busy one for the FFA. The FFA has just returned from AG Days which is an event that is held in Bozeman. At Ag Days the students competed in many contest such as: Quiz Bowl, Agronomy, Food Science, Meats, Horse Evaluation, Livestock and Job interview. Ag Days is a great opportunity for our students to compete in some contests we normally don’t get the chance to. We had a lot of Fun also!!

Thank you to everyone who bought spices from the FFA, we appreciate all of your support and would not be successful without it. They are scheduled to arrive before Christmas.

Ag classes Wow, I can’t believe Thanksgiving is here already. Students are busy working on projects in the agriculture classes. The shop classes are working on small engines and many different independent wood projects. The introduction to agriculture class is starting a woodworking unit and are very eager to see their finished product of an Adirondack chair as well. I hope everyone has a good break and look forward to seeing you all after.

Science Mrs. Knotts

Business/Computer/BPA Mrs. Carda

Page 9 December 2016

Business News In Junior High Keyboarding, the students will continue to work on their keyboarding skills. They are learning about Microsoft PowerPoint and how it can be used for many tasks. In Computer Applications, the students are working on a project that utilizes the different Office programs. At this time, they are concentrating on the Excel portion of Office. They are learning about some its advanced features. In Programming class, we are creating a troubleshooting all aspects of 3D Printing. Some Video Editing students are finishing one of the stories that are contained in The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg. Others are creating projects for their upcoming competitions. In Photography, the students will be learning and creating using flash photography. Have a Merry Christmas! BPA News The next few months for BPA will be busy ones. The students have chosen their competition topics, and are working hard to create their products. If you are ever curious and want to learn more about BPA, go to www.bpa.org. Our Region 8 conference will be in January in Sidney. Business Professionals of America-Today's students, tomorrow's Business Professionals.

Spanish

Ms. Killick

Del Escritorio de Profe Killick

We have been working hard on our verbs and subject-verb agreements! We have also started working

on Duo-Lingo. This program is online and the students are somewhat drilled and MUST speak into the

computer. It has been fun to watch them as the computer lets them know if they are understandable or not. I

look forward to using this more as we move on in our studies!

¡ Feliz Navidad!

Earth Science students are modeling components of continental drift as they study Earth’s changing geology.

Chemistry students are learning the characteristics of elements and how those relate to the organization of the

periodic table. Physics students are using the principles they’ve learned to conduct rocket experiments and

explain the results. Physical Science students are also applying their knowledge to conduct experiments, and

they took a day to make and launch rockets with the First Graders. Biology students have been in the lab

etting up ecosystem investigations, which has been a little messy, literally and figuratively, but that’s typical of

ecology studies. Check the science room webpage for pictures and videos of students at work (on the school

website under “Staff”, then “Libby Knotts”). Also, feel free to visit our science room any time – during class or

otherwise.

Library Mrs. Denowh

Math Mr. Pust

Page 10 The Lion’s Tale

Thanks to everyone who supported the Book Fair. We were able to buy some books for the library that seem

very interesting. If you missed this one, there will be another Scholastic Book Fair in the spring.

With Christmas right around the corner, Christmas story books are being featured in the library this month.

There are a lot of good stories just waiting to be read! So hopefully you can take a few moments from your busy

schedule to read with your child.

The first grade will be doing dinosaur reports so they needed good research books. They found more than 25

nonfiction books about dinosaurs in the library. You may learn some new words from the little explorers.

If you need a good read for these longer fall evenings, come check out a book from the library!

12th Grade English

Mrs. Triplett

In English 12, we just finished an English Renaissance unit and have begun Macbeth. We will be viewing Hamlet

when the students return from Christmas break, so they have exposure to both pieces of classic Shakespeare

literature. We will then review the research process and will be writing 5-7 page research papers.

In speech, we have begun a persuasion project, where the students will be creating advertising campaigns for an

upcoming fundraiser, featuring Madison Patterson’s music. Their final prepared speech will be persuasive, and

their final will be given during semester exam week. You may be asked to listen in.

As winter edges its way towards us, our Math 7 students find themselves playing with linear expressions. Math

8 continues working with functions. Pre-Algebra is having fun graphing data. Math I students are graphing sys-

tems of equations and inequalities. Math II is using logic to prove congruency in triangles, while Math III is

finishing a unit on arithmetic and geometric sequences. Our Advanced Mathematical Concepts class continues

to enjoy a unit on trigonometry and our seniors who are in Calculus are having fun working on limits and

derivatives.

Merry Christmas

Last Month’s Math Puzzle:

Perfect numbers <100: only the numbers 6 and 28. Perfect numbers <1000: 6, 28, and 496.

Math Continued...

This Month’s Math Puzzle: Can you solve shoe digit number sentences?

High School Basketball is off to a good start. The R & L Tip-off Tourney will be held in Lambert. Friday’s (Dec. 9th) games will feature teams from Savage, Froid/Lake, Terry, and R&L, while Wibaux will take the place of Terry on Saturday. We are excited to host this event, and hope to see all of you there for the kick-off to our season. The JH bball season is going strong, but coming to a close. The District South Round girls’ tournament will be Monday, Dec 12th in Lambert, while the boys’ tournament will be in Richey. The top two finishers in each of those tournaments will advance to the Final Four Tournaments in Fairview on Dec 17th. Little Lions basketball, elementary playing at ½ time of the Lambert home HS basketball games, will begin in January. Parents and students, please watch for a note coming home, giving more information about those programs. We have 4 young ladies who have committed to winter cheerleading, along with some young men who will help with stunting. Korsika Storms is their advisor. What a busy, but fun time of the year! ENJOY!!

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STEM Club is moving to Wednesday, with our next club meeting on Wednesday, November 30 after school.

This move is to allow basketball players who don’t have practice on Wednesdays to attend STEM Club if they

would like. Please continue to check the weekly bulletin or the school STEM webpage as to whether STEM

will be happening each week. Also, look for pictures and videos of past STEM activities on the STEM

webpage (under “Clubs” on the school website).

A Tip from the Small Animals Class! We have finally reached the Christmas break we have all been waiting for, and there are a few things you should all keep in mind with your pets: Remember to keep any lit candles up and away from your animals so they don’t get burned! Make sure the cords to your decorative Christmas tree lights are up high and out of sight so they don’t get

chewed up by your cat or dog. Remember, if you go on vacation, not only do you need certain things, but your

animals will too. The pine needles from your tree will really hurt your cat’s intestines if they happen

to eat them, so be sure to clean them up as much as possible.

By: Taylor Sheehan

Madison Patterson, along with a few friends, will be giving a concert January 8, 2017 from 6pm-

7pm in the Old Gym in order to raise money for a five month long mission trip. (Many of you

have heard her sing the national anthem at games and a few songs at the senior center on the 4th

of July.) Madi will be training with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) for two months in Colorado

Springs, Colorado. Her mission focus is

Worship Music. She will be learning to write music and lead music (worship) teams. Madi will then

spend three months in a third world country putting into practice what she has learned. The

concert is free but there will be donation baskets at the concert where you can contribute to her

endeavor. It will be like a coffee house concert with chill music including Christian and secular

music appropriate for the occasion. There will be coffee and dessert served during the concert

with a free will donation.