music!department!!jennifer’coutts’...series of tongue-twisting word warm-ups and laugh-out-loud...
TRANSCRIPT
November-December Parent Update
Celebrating 108 Years 1906 - 2014
Connecting Our School and Our Community Our mission is to support and challenge al l students to
reach their maximum potential through a r igorous curriculum in a safe, nurturing, and
orderly environment. We are committed to building posit ive relationships between students, staff,
administration, and community in order to provide effective student achievement through high expectation and frequent
assessment.
Dear RLHS Parents,
We have had an outstanding fal l with many success stories, including our State Championship Win for the RLHS Cross Country Team. Boys sweeping f irst place three years consecutive and Gir ls taking 2nd
place. A Three Year State Championship is a f irst for our distr ict. What an accomplishment for our athletes, coaches and school! ! In addit ion, Gir ls Vol leyball Team taking us al l the way to state competit ion with a fourth place overal l . Even more impressive thirty-five students were recently recognized receiv ing Academic All-State. Academic All-State rewards students who have maintained a minimum 3.5 GPA and lettered in varsity fal l Sport. Outstanding work---we need to be proud of our Hometown RAMS!!
One of the joys of the Holiday Season is remembering those persons who are important to us -- our students and parents. As we pause to celebrate this most joyous occasion, the faculty
and staff of Red Lodge High School wish to extend warm greetings for a happy and safe hol iday season.
We truly appreciate the confidence that you have placed in our professional staff of educators. The confidence, loyalty and support of our parents enable al l of us to succeed. We look forward to your continued support.
Sincerely,
Rex Ternan, Principal Red Lodge High School Music Department Jennifer Coutts RLHS Band and Choir
I would like to applaud the High school Choir and Band for a job well done on their first concert. The
students performed
well and the community sure enjoyed listening to them. I am so proud and happy to work with these students. Everyday is a new challenge and they really come to the plate when it comes to learning new music and working hard to make sure they get it right. RLHS Pep Band Bravo to the RLHS pep band. These students went above and beyond each game for their teams. Unfortunately, we were rained out of 2 football games, but managed to make almost all of the Volleyball games. We rehearsed a lot. We also managed to pick up some students who were not in band class, but wanted to play. Some of them are in Jr. High. Hats off to those young people. Some of our behind the scenes prep for this past fall sports season included: 7:00 AM practices, moving equipment to and from the football field and then moving it to the gym, arguments about tempo, bus trips, trying to figure our schedules out, playing the same songs over to get it right, laughter, silly messages on the
dry erase board, coaxing our friends into being there, and playing until our faces were numb. Also, a big thank you to parents and the booster club! We couldn’t have made it through tournament season without you. We are looking forward to Basketball Season. Thank you RLHS Band for making my first Volleyball/ Football Season a great one and keep up the good work. Pep Band Recruitment I hear there are quite a few musicians out there who aren’t in my band and I certainly didn’t see you during pep band this past fall. I would love it if you could join us for a little music on Basketball game nights. On Thursday, November 20, during first snack break at RLHS, I would like to meet with the musicians in my school to discuss the upcoming pep band season. We will be discussing rehearsals and t-‐shirt design. Be there! You may obtain volunteer hours by playing in pep band. You may also have fun. What have you got to lose? Tri County Honor Choir This Tuesday, November 18, 2014, the entire RLHS choir will travel to Park City, MT to participate in Tri County Honor Choir. This is a great opportunity for the students to get an idea of what it feel like to sing in a large choir and of course learn music and have a great time while doing so. Students will arrive at school and depart at the beginning of first period. They will rehearse all day. The concert will be that night at 5:30 in the Park City gym. Please join us at the concert! Hol iday Concert Our 6-‐ 12 Holiday concert will take place on Tuesday, December 16, 2014 at 7:00 PM. Be sure to join us once again for a fun filled Holiday concert featuring: guitar class, 6th grace band and choir, 7/8th grade band and choir, RLHS band and RLHS choir. Please bring a tray of edibles so we may have a reception in the commons afterward and visit. Also, don’t forget to wear your ugly Christmas sweater. Ms. Hyvonen and I are asking our students to wear an ugly Christmas sweater, for fun of course. If you don’t have one, then normal concert dress is just fine. I’ll be wearing mine. Music Parents Parents, I would love to include you in our music lives. Occasionally, I may need chaperones, baked goods, things moved, or just any kind of favor. I would like to know who out there is interested in being a music parent I may contact if we need anything. Please email me if you are interested.
Coupon Books Without further delay, the RLHS music students will be selling the blue coupon books. Please find a high school music student. They are $20.00 and are a great investment! Contact If you ever have any questions or concerns regarding anything, feel free to contact me by my staff email at [email protected] G O T D R A M A ? L i b b y J o h n s o n
Red Lodge High School Speech and Drama welcomed RLHS Science instructor and dramatist, Kate Belinda to the team this fall. She can be heard guiding our young thespians through a series of tongue-twisting word warm-ups and laugh-out-loud improvisation exercises weekly. Individual competitors worked hard to memorize
their lines and hone their speeches for their debut competition in Roundup on November 15.
“We are very pleased with the team’s performance at this first meet.” Said Coach Libby Johnson, “they had tough competition from experienced competitors.”
Senior Nate Polakoff and freshman Travis Mckenney led the Ram squad with second place finishes in serious solo and expository speaking. Additional drama points came from the humorous duo teams of Vance Thuesen and Cole Daily swashbuckling their way to a third place finish, and Tim Urbanik and Sabrina Mann placing fourth debuting "Caution, Librarians Ahead."
In speech, first time competitor junior Abbie Nordstrom finished third in impromptu speaking, while freshman Hannah Johnson had a solid debut, ranking fifth with her performance of poet Shane Koyzcan's "Troll." Sophomore Heidi Hicks finished sixth in serious oral interpretation, and freshman Aidan Heidinger earned a respectable seventh place in humorous oral interpretation.
Other team members competing were Mackenzie Morean in impromptu speaking. The team travels to Hardin on December 6, and we are looking forward to a fantastic season in Red Lodge High School Speech & Drama!
R L H S M a t h B e n S t e v e n s I would like to take just a moment to introduce myself; my name is Ben Stevens and I am another one of the new faces here at Red Lodge High School this year. I recently moved here with my wife and our two sons after
living for several years in a remote corner of Idaho. We are all very excited to be part of this community and so far feel that it is a great fit for us. I grew up in Dillon, Montana and after spending 11 years in Michigan and Idaho I am happy to be able to return to the state that I call home. I have taken over for the legendary Mike Kosorok and although I realize that I have some big shoes to fill, I am excited and feel that I am up for the challenge. This semester I am teaching a section of: Algebra II, Trigonometry/Pre-‐Calculus, Advanced Calculus and Technical Math. In Algebra II students have recently finished working with quadratic functions and has started on exponential and logarithmic functions. Our Trig/Precalc class has been working to solve trigonometric functions and learning how to graph them. The new iPads have been exciting addition to class and allow us to graph and manipulate the different functions while watching the graphs change instantly on the 9.7 inch Retina displays (quite an improvement over the old graphing calculators with pixels that you could actually see and count). Advanced Calculus has started off slowly as I worked to figure out, and the students tried to remember, where exactly they were in the calculus sequence. The fact that 80% of our class was on the state winning Cross Country team has also meant that we have had to deal with a significant amount of school excused absences. Despite the slow start I feel confident that our students will be prepared for their future math classes as they look forward to college next fall. In Technical Math students have learned about employment basics, filing their taxes, and renting or buying a home. They have also started on a project that will incorporate writing and drawing and allow for some creativity as they design a floor plan of a house, calculate the square footage and property tax and prepare a newspaper ad to sell their house. This first quarter has been remarkable; I am truly impressed with the maturity level and determination of our students and I look forward to continuing to help them succeed in their math classes as they prepare for their futures.
R e n e e R o d e n b a c k
Mrs. Rodenbeck’s English 12 class just completed reading Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley. As a culminating activity student groups created a “Frankenstein” as described in the book. Monsters were displayed in the hall for Halloween. The English 11 students created the "Headless Horseman" since they just finished reading, Sleepy Hollow, by Washington Irving. Both classes created some very realistic monsters, and showed great effort! This month all classes will be researching and completing a research paper. Papers will be due before Thanksgiving so that everyone will be able to take a well deserved break.
A g r i c u l t u r e C o l t o n H e l l w i n k e l
Five Red Lodge FFA members have returned from a cross-‐country adventure to Louisville, Kentucky after seven days of agricultural commodity tours, public networking, and leadership seminars. Our trip departed from Joliet High School
with 34 total FFA members and 5 advisors. Students were taken on a three-‐day drive across the central United States stopping along the way to tour the diversity of agricultural production and processing. It was a trip that will undoubtedly hold lasting memory for everyone involved. Future events for the Red Lodge FFA include several of the yearly meets and competitions that numerous members will attend; including District events in December, February, and March. The chapter goal for this year is also to bring a leadership focus to our organization that we can return home and share with the school and community through a number of community service projects. The Montana FFA Foundation will host our first leadership training on December 5th in Billings, Montana. If you are curious about other involvement opportunities be sure to follow us on Facebook, check out our Red Lodge Schools website, or just visit with one of our chapter officers!
Spanish-Foreign Language Jack Clinton The numbers in this years Spanish classes have remained constant with those of past years. We will once again offer 3 sections of Spanish 1, two sections of Spanish 2, and one section of Spanish 3-College Spanish 101. The 101 will be offered for college credit through Montana Tech at Butte. This class will complete some students college requirements and help others fulfill there requirements. The class is offered for 3 college credits and the cost is really a very good deal CloseUp will go to Washington DC and NYC this year. We have 18 kids and Tracy Fox is traveling as the second adult. We have been very busy with the concessions and most have noticed that the prices at concessions have risen. This is due to very low profits last year. The cost generally reflect the inflation of all food costs across the board. All the Spanish students and CloseUp kids are really looking forward to another year.
The Office of Public Instruction and Montana GEAR UP will continue providing licenses for ACT Online Prep (AOP). Those licenses will continue through August 2015, and will allow all students in Red Lodge high school (grades 9-12) to use AOP at no cost to the
student, school or system. What is ACT Online Prep? ACT Online Prep is an online test preparation program. With AOP, students will have access to: -Practice tests with real ACT test questions -‐Practice essays for the ACT Writing Test, with real-‐time scoring -‐Comprehensive content review for each of the ACT’s four required tests – English, Math, Reading, and Science. They will also be able to take a test that will diagnose their skill levels and develop a personalized Study Path to help them attain the scores they want. AOP can be used anytime and anywhere they have access to the internet.
Why Career And Technical Education Is Important for RLHS Students Janet Walsh
Why CTE? The case is this: in order for students to succeed, we need to prepare them for the ever-changing world of work, which means not only college readiness, but career readiness—students with access to postsecondary education and skills attainment possibilities that will prepare them to achieve in the 21st century.
We ask the question, “Why Career and Technical Education?” with honesty. Why, among the many competing education demands, student needs, and graduation requirements, does a program that has its foundations in the 1917 Smith-Hughes Act hold relevancy still? Between emphases on early learning to college preparation, where does Career and Technical Education (CTE) fit in and merit consideration? Why should students who barely have an opportunity to explore the arts, health and fitness, or social studies, be directed to courses in Agriculture, Horticulture, Animal Science, Industrial Technology/Trades and Industry, Welding/Metals, Construction Trades, Prostart/Family and Consumer Sciences, Business and Computer/Technology Applications?
The answer to the above questions, we believe, is that CTE offers a unique opportunity to engage students in an enormous variety of subjects, incorporating academic, creative and technical skills, with the specific goal, nowhere else represented in education, of preparing students for all of life that comes after high school.
CTE needs to be an integral part of every student’s education so that all students graduate from high school globally competitive for work, prepared for postsecondary education, and ready for life as positive, contributing members of society in the 21st century. With CTE, students succeed.
Education After High School
A broad choice of jobs — some of them very well-paid — are available to those who further their education and training after high school. You don’t have to get a bachelor’s degree in order to find a career that you are passionate about and allow you to financially support a family. Montana post-high school offerings include:
• Apprenticeships leading to certification and jobs • Internships (paid and unpaid) • Community and Technical Colleges (two-year degrees) • Four-year colleges and universities (bachelor’s degrees)
Student Leadership Organizations
• Career and Technical Education student organizations help you grow and learn how to compete. These organizations are specifically designed to increase the confidence and leadership potential of members. Red Lodge High School is proud to offer our students FFA through the Agriculture Program, Family and Consumer Sciences offer FCCLA, Business offers BPA and our Trades and Industry program provides the Skills USA program. These four organizations provide RLHS students an opportunity to travel and engage in important leadership opportunities at local, regional, state and national competitions.
Be sure to visit our website for periodic updates, announcement, teacher lesson plans and now our quarterly Parent Newsletter as well as other important district-wide information at: www.redlodge.schoolwires.com