Weyauwega-Fremont

February 21, 2019

Weyauwega-

School News

Elementary chemistry demonstrations

Inclement weather school make up days identifi ed March 4 and April 18

BY CHLOE HEISLERW-F HIGH SCHOOL

STUDENT

Mrs. Ponto’s Chemistry III class was given the op-portunity to teach young students the importance of science with an emphasis in chemistry.

The class divided into fi ve small groups.

Each small group chose a grade to work with – each teaching a different aspect of chemistry.

Working hard, each group created experiments to present to the elemen-tary students.

Each group had a specifi c topic to follow.

Once that was set, the groups would set up times with the Weyauwega El-ementary teachers to pres-ent.

This was found to be quite a challenge consider-

ing all the snow days that would follow!

Luckily, the groups would be able to show the students what chemistry is all about.

After they presented to the Weyauwega Elementary students, a trip was made to Fremont Elementary to teach there as well.

Each elementary class showed great joy as the groups presented their ex-periments.

Sawyer Hintz, Cristian Gonzalez, Austin Krause and Thomas Schneider taught fi rst graders differ-ent experiments with liquid nitrogen.

They made delicious ice cream with different ingre-dients, including liquid ni-trogen.

The students were so

BY SCOTT BLECKDISTRICT ADMINISTRATOR

Mother Nature con-tinues to dish out winter weather locally, our dis-trict has now exceeded its allowable inclement weather calendar days.

Wisconsin state stat-ute 121.02(1)(f ) iden-tifi es that public school academic calendars demonstrate hours of instruction must equal 437 hours for half-day kindergarten, 1,050 hours of instruction for grades K (Full Day) – 6, and 1,137 hours of instruction for grades 7-12.

Due to exceeding our allotted inclement weather days on Jan. 28, 30, 31, Feb. 4, 7, and 12 we must now make up two student contact days.

To meet state academic calendar expecta-tions, students will be in academic session on Monday, March 4. March 4, was initially iden-tified as our spring conference date. Parents/guardians who wish to conference with their child’s teacher are encouraged to communicate their intent at an alternate time.

Thursday, April 18, is now identified as our second school contact makeup date. Note that April 18 through April 22 was initially identi-fied as our Spring Holiday Break. Our Spring Holiday Break will now be recognized April 19 through April 22. If another school cancella-tion day is experienced between now and April 18, an additional school make-up day will be recognized on April 22.

Bleck

ChemistryCONTINUES ON PAGE 2

2 | February 21, 2019 | Weyauwega-Fremont School News

amazed by the liquid ni-trogen and were even more amazed to discover they could make ice cream with it.

Not only did the first-grade classes learn more about chemistry, but they also got a treat to eat!

Destiny Kempf, Taylor Nicholson and Angel Kleist taught the second grad-ers how different colored flames correlate with differ-ent chemicals.

With each new flame, the students would try to guess which color the flame would be.

The smiles on the stu-dents’ faces when they an-swered correctly was surely priceless to this group.

The children sure learned a lot, as many did not real-ize that a flame could be other colors.

Julia Rice and Kaitlyn Monty taught the third graders what catalyst was and how it works.

They did the experiment “Elephant’s Toothpaste.”

They began their pre-sentation explaining to the students that every morn-ing, they must make this “toothpaste” so they could brush their elephant’s teeth.

The children watched as the girls made this special “toothpaste.”

Adding the ingredients, one at a time, the children’s anticipation for a reaction to occur was building up.

Finally, they would add in the catalyst, and the children bounced with joy as the chemical reaction happened before their very eyes!

Alicia Lederhaus, Justin Kempf and I taught the fourth graders about com-bustion.

We did many different experiments to demon-strate the different proper-ties of a flame.

We used the Fire Triangle to our advantage to explain

to the students what it takes to have a flame occur.

Our first example was to demonstrate what would happen if the flame didn’t have oxygen.

We did this by lighting a candle and then placing a glass container over the flame.

The students watched as the flame slowly extin-guished.

The second example of a flame was called the “Whoosh Bottle Test.”

The inside of a small glass jug was coated with alcohol, and when a match was placed over the lid, the students watched in amaze-ment.

The third experiment used to demonstrate flame was “Flash Paper.”

It is a chemically treated piece of paper.

When it is lit, it disap-pears within seconds with-out a trace.

The students watched in amazement, and it is safe to say that the children’s in-terest in chemistry sparked that day.

Morgan Monty, Anna Bubolz and Taylor Folk presented to the fifth-grade class.

They taught about how oxygen will be produced when certain metals react with other chemicals.

They placed the metals and the chemicals into test tubes and then placed bal-loons over the mouths of the test tubes.

The students watched in amazement when some of the balloons began to in-flate.

If the balloons inflated, it meant that a gas was pro-duced.

After each group gave its presentation to classes at Fremont Elementary, each Chemistry III student was paired up with a fifth grad-er to aid the students with their science fair projects.

The students enjoyed working together using the scientific method.

The high schoolers were happy to help and were amazed at the creative proj-ects the fifth graders had.

The science fair is be-ing held from 4:30-7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 21, in the W-F Middle School Cafe-torium.

We hope to see you there!

CHEMISTRYFROM PAGE 1 Transportation needs, changes, updates

BY DON LEDERHAUSSAFETY COORDINATOR/

TRANSPORTATION SUPERVISOR

This article is going to ad-dress some challenges affect-ing the Transportation De-partment and give direction to where this department is headed over the next few years.

As with many other school districts and busing companies, finding the right person to drive a school bus is a huge need.

You may have seen a school bus in the area with a banner looking for driv-ers, or the marque sign in front of the elementary with information about looking for drivers, and there was also a story about the bus driver need in the Waupaca County Post.

We also have newspaper ads and the bus driver job description on the Weyau-wega-Fremont School Dis-trict website.

If you haven’t guessed by now, we need people to be bus drivers for daily routes and for extracurricular trips.

Transportation staff will be meeting with local com-panies to see if there are cur-rent employees looking for part-time work or employ-ees close to retirement who could be the right candidate for this position.

The pay rate for AM and PM routes starts at $18.27 per hour and has a guaran-tee of 1.5 hours per route or three hours per day.

The extracurricular trip rate is currently at $14.10 per hour from when you leave until the trip is back at the school.

This means you get paid to drive the students and also get paid to watch the extracurricular event.

If you are interested in taking on this role or know someone who could be the right person, please contact the Transportation Office at 920-867-8943 or the school

office at 920-867-8800.Driving bus is an excel-

lent opportunity to be in-volved in students’ educa-tional experiences and help both the school district and the community.

The school district offers paid training and assistance with obtaining the proper licensing and required en-dorsements if driving bus interests you.

The driver shortage was discussed at a school board meeting, and some ideas were brought up to help cover the daily AM and PM routes, along with multiple extracurricular trips.

In some cases, three or four buses are needed for extracurricular trips before the PM routes are back to the school.

This means either the ex-tracurricular trips will not be able to go, will have to go later, have a private bus-ing company take them or combine other PM routes.

If a student takes part in an extracurricular event, they would not need to take the bus home on the PM route.

The combining of PM routes is being looked at and will be used on a day-by-day basis as needed to meet the needs of the students riding home on the PM route and the students in extracurricu-lar events.

What this means is if a student rides home during a combined route, they may need to ride a different bus home and may be on the bus longer.

The goal would be to have all students on the PM route be dropped off by 4:45 p.m. each day.

Each student, parent, guardian and school dis-trict staff will know when there is a combined route and which bus the students will need to be on if they are riding a PM bus route after school.

This communication

may be used through a Sky-ward message or email.

If you currently don’t have an email in the system for your students, please add one.

The last part of this ar-ticle is around communi-cation and how the school district and families will be able to communicate better together.

The school district has been using a software sys-tem to track the current fleet of buses.

This type of technology has been improving and will be ready to be sent out to the school families in the second semester.

This technology will not replace the ability to call the Transportation Office and talk to someone, or the abil-ity to leave a voice message to make changes, report a concern or ask questions, but it will greatly improve it.

Parents, guardians or students will have the abil-ity to see the bus’s location on their phone or electronic device that is connected to cellular data or an internet connection.

This technology will help with timing of when students should be outside waiting for the bus.

There are many times the bus has to stop traffic and wait while students scram-ble to get all their belong-ings and get to the bus.

These few minutes add up throughout a route and can cause other students un-needed delays.

With this technology, parents or guardians will be able to more easily request the bus pick up or drop off students on a daily basis.

This way, if routes need to be combined, the Trans-portation Department will know ahead of time which students need a ride home on the PM route.

TransportationCONTINUES ON PAGE 3

Weyauwega-Fremont School News | February 21, 2019 | 3

This will also help bus drivers in the AM route know they don’t have to stop and wait at houses if no AM pick up is needed.

For families that have mul-tiple addresses, they will have the ability to select an address that their student(s) need to be picked up at or dropped off at.

As stated before, this technology will not replace calling the school or Trans-portation Offi ce for a quick change or to update a stu-dent’s transportation needs, only improve it.

An email address will be re-quired to use this system.

If an email address is not available, you will have to call the school and Transporta-tion Offi ce for any changes with transportation.

The Transportation Offi ce is also working on getting a Facebook page to help share information.

The last part of this tech-nology will also help in maxi-mizing route effi ciency and reduce the amount of fuel used in the AM and PM routes.

This part of the system will be used over the summer and may change the current route layouts for the 2019-20 school year.

Plans are also in the works to have all the transportation forms and information avail-able online.

There still would be paper forms available if needed.

More information on changes to the routes and the registration process will be communicated before the start of the next school year.

All of the bus drivers and Transportation staff work tirelessly to ensure the safety of all of the students during AM and PM routes, extracur-ricular events and fi eld trips.

Any questions or com-ments can be sent to trans-portation@wfsd.k12.wi.us or call 920-867-8943.

Thank you for your time.

TRANSPORTATIONFROM PAGE 2 Laughter is the best medicine

A special Green and Gold visit

BY DOUG NOWAKELEMENTARY PRINCIPAL

As I pen this article, we are in the midst of the third week of extreme win-ter weather causing school cancellations and delays.

According to reports, we endured the coldest re-corded stretch of winter in Wisconsin.

Even the days when school was in session, the blistering cold kept our stu-dents inside for recess until the mercury rose above zero with the wind chill.

I’m certain your house-holds recorded many addi-tional hours inside as well.

When the school has indoor recess, the recre-ational patterns and op-tions for the students are altered dramatically.

Children pass the time playing board games, building with Lincoln Logs and Legos, play-ing card games or with matchbox cars and trucks as opposed to playing on swings and slides and building forts.

It turns out to be a little old school fun, or perhaps better stated, unplugged fun.

The hallways and gym are crowded with teams of children teaching one an-other the rules to a game or the best way to build the tallest structure – only to enjoy crashing it down in a heap.

This got me thinking about the students’ days away from school and wondering how the time is fi lled during cancellations.

While the frigid tem-peratures of the past few weeks undoubtedly caused vehicles to stall and pipes

to freeze, my fondest hope for our families is you were able to maximize the indoor time enjoying the warmth of each other’s company playing games, catching up on house-work that sometimes takes a backseat when life be-comes busy, and laughing together.

After all, when faced with the stress of Arctic cold temperatures, noth-ing is better than warm laughter to quickly lighten your spirits.

Nowak

Green Bay Packers players De-Shone Kizer and James Looney visit-ed the Weyauwega-Fremont School District on Tuesday, Nov. 27.

They presented a $10,000 grant from the Green Bay Packers and Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin to the school district.

The grant is going to Weyauwega Elementary, Fremont Elementary and W-F Middle School to fund new healthy eating and physical ed-ucation equipment for the schools.

Each school has a Fuel Up to Play 60 team.

Students got a chance to submit a question for the players, along with a poster contest of a student-made Packers poster.

Fuel Up members, along with classmates and faculty, got to meet the Packers where they answered student’s questions, talked about their career and life with the Pack-ers.

Fuel Up Members then got a spe-cial time where they did an obstacle course with Kizer and Looney.

They also stretched and talked and asked more questions with the Packers.

Fuel Up to Play 60 is honored to have gotten such a special visit and thankful for the schools’ hard work preparing for this event and making it a success.

James Looney, a defensive end for the Green Bay Packers, makes his way out of Weyauwega-Fremont High School’s new gym on Nov. 27. Angie Landsverk File Photos

The Weyauwega-Fremont School District is the recipient of a $10,000 NFL Fuel Up to Play 30 Hometown Grant.

4 | February 21, 2019 | Weyauwega-Fremont School News

Lessons of the Heart

Mr. Feldt’s and Mrs. Hanten’s fifth graders learned about anatomy and systems.Mrs. Dykes’ Intro to Ag students and FFA

members helped them, dissect deer hearts to learn the parts of the heart and how they function.

Weyauwega-Fremont School News | February 21, 2019 | 5

FFA members In Intro to Ag classes had the opportunity to learn how to hold various domesticated animals correctly and how to properly clip the nails of rabbits, dogs and guinea pigs.

By learning these skills, they can save money by grooming and trimming the nails of their own animals, instead of paying someone else to do it.

GROOMINGTIME

6 | February 21, 2019 | Weyauwega-Fremont School News

Academic and career planningBY JODI ALIX

MIDDLE/HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL

As we celebrate the joys of a winter in Wisconsin, we know all too well that dpring will be upon us be-fore we know it!

The students at WF Mid-dle and High schools are al-ready anticipating the start of the Course Selection pro-cess for our 2019-20 school year.

With the passing of Wis-consin law Chapter PI 26, which requires schools to have Academic and Career planning services in place for grades 6-12, we look for stu-

dents to choose courses that meet their college and career readiness long-term goals.

As a learning community, we have many resources for our students to explore their post-high interests.

This includes the follow-ing types of high school credits: traditional, dual credit, AP, CAPP and Ad-vanced standing classes.

The school also offers Youth Apprenticeships and School to Work options for students.

At the middle school level, we offer a variety of rotations that explore Agri-culture, Engineering, Fam-ily and Consumer Science, Technical Education, Com-puter Science and Fine Arts.

Some students in the eighth grade will choose to engage in high school Span-ish or advanced math courses.

Alix

Juniors take ACT Feb. 20BY KANDI MARTIN

PUPIL SERVICES/ CURRICULUMN DIRECTOR

Weyauwega-Fremont High School juniors pre-pared for the ACT test.

All juniors at Weyauwe-ga-Fremont High School and in public high schools across the state took the ACT plus writing on Feb. 20, and the ACT Work-keys on Feb. 21.

This is the fifth year the state of Wisconsin has re-quired all juniors to take this test as a measure of school accountability.

Previously, this test was given to students who were

pursuing four-year college entrance, and it was used as a tool to determine the student’s college readiness.

There were no fees for these tests, and scores may

be reported to the colleges your student chooses.

Teachers helped prepare students within their class-es to take these tests.

Students prepared on their own by using web-sites such as: http://www.actstudent.org/testprep/ and http://www.act.org/qotd, books and social me-dia sites such as: Twitter (follow @actstudent) and Facebook (follow ACT-STUDENT).

For more information on this test or any assess-ment within the district, please contact me at 920-867-8860.

Martin

Talking horsesRylee Farkus presented information about her horse to her seventh-grade Ag Class. She taught them how to take care of them, how to ride, horse showing, health care and equine nutrition. Thank you, Rylee and family.Submitted Photos

Horse talkA huge thank you is extended to Ellie Pomering, her family and her trainers for taking the time and effort to bring horses to present to the Intro to Ag classes. She taught them proper care, grooming, nutrition and how to ride western style.Submitted Photos

Weyauwega-Fremont School News | February 21, 2019 | 7

Middle School Students of the MonthDecember

Kris Carpenter was chosen by Ms. Brace.

Ms. Brace nominated Kris as he works very hard in math class.

He always has his work completed with 100 per-cent effort, does extra credit and participates in class discussions.

When Ms. Brace wants someone to go and do a problem on the board, he is one of the first ones to volunteer.

He has a good sense of humor and is fun to talk to.

Kris comes to class with a smile on his face and ready to work hard every day, which is why Ms. Brace nominated him as Student of the Month.

Kris is surprised as he fools around a bit, but he guesses he is a good worker.

Some of Kris’s favorite things are tuna casserole, collecting Pokeman and the color dark blue.

His favorite movie is “Spirited Away,” and his favorite book is “The Un-wanteds.”

Kris is the son of Gin-ger Carpenter and Corey Melzer, of Weyauwega.

Congratulations, Kris!

Emma Hansen was chosen by Mrs. Pope.

Mrs. Pope nominated Emma because she is a

very hard worker who puts forth her best effort in everything she does.

Emma is very respect-ful to all her fellow class-mates and her teachers.

Thank you, Emma for always doing your best!

Emma was scared when Mrs. Pope told her to come to her desk, think-ing she was in trouble.

She was happy when she found out instead that Mrs. Pope nominat-ed her for Student of the Month.

Some of Emma’s favor-ite things are jello, the color teal and reading.

Her favorite movie is “Home Alone 2,” her favorite book is “Harry Potter” and her favorite class is Mrs. Pope’s fifth-hour Literature class.

Emma is the daughter of Steph and Mike Han-sen, of Weyauwega.

C o n g r a t u l a t i o n s , Emma!

Seth Malueg was cho-sen by Mrs. Betz.

Mrs. Betz nominated Seth because he is a re-sponsible student who has a strong work ethic.

Seth always has a good sense of humor and a pos-itive attitude.

He is creative, a leader in class and motivated to succeed.

Seth is an outstanding candidate for Student of

the Month. Seth feels honored to

be picked out of quite a few others.

Some of Seth’s favor-ite things are waffles, the color blue and reading.

His favorite book is “Eragon,” his favorite movie is “A Series of Most Unfortunate Events” and his favorite class is Eng-lish.

Seth is the son of Tam-my and Adam Kons, of Weyauwega.

Congratulations, Seth!

Kylee Taylor was cho-sen by Mrs. Eskildsen.

Mrs. Eskildsen nomi-nated Kylee for Student of the Month because she is a persistent student with a strong work ethic.

Kylee persists even when work is challenging for her.

She asks questions to develop an understanding and to learn more.

Kylee displays a strong work ethic daily.

She completes work in a timely manner and is motivated to do more.

It is a pleasure to have Kylee in class.

She is kind, caring and helpful to others.

Kylee feels it is cool to be nominated because she doesn’t always get recog-nized in middle school.

Some of Kylee’s favorite

things are salad, the color purple, reading and art.

Her favorite movie is “Polar Express,” her fa-vorite book is “Things Not Seen” and her favor-ite class is Read 180.

Kylee is the daughter of Jillian Taylor and Josh Shields, of Waupaca.

Congratulations, Kylee!

JanuaryAva Loehrke was cho-

sen by Mrs. Tomaszewski.Mrs. Tomaszewski

nominated Ava because she is always on task and holds her interest in each unit they study in Health class.

Mrs. Tomaszewski re-ally enjoys the way Ava thinks outside of the box and uses her creativity to work on projects.

Ava is going to move on to great things in her future!

Ava feels thankful and appreciates the nomina-tion.

Mrs. T. is a wonderful teacher, and she is very encouraging.

Some of Ava’s favorite things are tacos, the color yellow, art and playing sports.

Her favorite books are “Life As We Knew It” and “Harry Potter.”

Her favorite movie is “Divergent Trilogy,” and her favorite classes are all

of them. Ava is the daughter of

Rachel and Neal Loehrke, of Weyauwega.

Congratulations, Ava!

Caitlyn Norby was chosen by Mr. Schmidt.

Mr. Schmidt nominat-ed Caitlyn because she is always working very hard on her instrument and has made great progress already this year.

Her tone is very nice, and her counting is excel-lent, too!

Caitlyn works very hard in class and is a won-derful example for others to follow.

Thank you, Caitlyn. Caitlyn is so happy to

be nominated for Student of the Month.

She feels it is a pretty big accomplishment and is really excited she is a January Student of the Month.

Some of Caitlyn’s fa-vorite things are straw-berries, the color teal and volleyball.

Her favorite book is “One of Us is Lying,” and her favorite movie is “A Dog’s Purpose.”

Her favorite class is So-cial Sudies.

Caitlyn is the daughter of Amanda Villalobos, of Fremont, and RJ Villalo-bos, of Waupaca.

Congratulations, Cait-

lyn!

Madeline Pope was chosen by Mrs. Stelter.

Mrs. Stelter nominated Madeline because she is a kind and patient person who works very hard.

She is an excellent group member and works to improve and excel in her writing.

Her warm personality welcomes questions from her peers and advice from adults.

Madeline is very de-serving of this award!

Madeline is very sur-prised she was nominated for Student of the Month.

She was also very grate-ful.

She works hard every day to spread kindness and to make the world a little happier.

Some of Madeline’s favorite things are fried chicken, the color yellow and creating art.

Her favorite book is “Second Change Sum-mer,” and her favor-ite movie is “All of My Heart.”

Madeline’s favorite class is English.

Madeline is the daugh-ter of Chad and Mary Pope, of West Bloom-field.

Congratulations, Mad-eline!

PopeNorbyLoehrkeTaylorMaluegHansenCarpenter

8 | February 21, 2019 | Weyauwega-Fremont School News

Weyauwega-Fremont School District Fitness CenterThe Weyauwega-Fremont Fitness Center opened for

community usage on Jan. 21.Scheduled open public usage hours are Monday through

Friday from 5:30-7 a.m. and then open again from 6:30-8:30 p.m.

Saturday open hours are 7-10 a.m., with Sunday evening hours of 5–8 p.m.

Monthly and annual fitness center fees are established for in and out of district residents.

The fees are:District Resident Individual Monthly - $10Non-Resident Individual Monthly - $30Resident Individual Yearly - $20Non-Resident Individual Yearly - $300Resident Family Monthly - $30Non-Resident Family Monthly - $40Resident Family Yearly - $40Non-Resident Family Yearly - $400Resident Senior Citizen (Age 60 or older) - Free

All individuals wanting to utilize the fitness center dur-ing designated public hours of operation must complete the waiver of responsibility and fitness center rules of recogni-tion before usage.

Adult patrons of the fitness center are considered individ-uals 18 years of age or older who are not currently enrolled in the W-F School District.

Students in grades 6-12 who are enrolled in the school district are permitted to use the fitness center during public usage hours.

Such students may use the fitness center at no cost with the completion of the waiver of responsibility and fitness center rules recognition.

District locker room services are only available to school-age children who are permitted to be in the fitness center.

Public usage of the high school locker room amenities is not allowed.

Memberships may be purchased at the high school or dis-trict office Monday through Friday.

For additional information about Weyauwega-Fremont School District Fitness Center opportunities, please visit our district webpage at http://www.wegafremont.k12.wi.us.