Webster City Idol!

{In Ryan Seacrest’s voice} “…And THIS…is…WEBster CITY Idol!”

They might not have had the gigantic stage, the special lighting effects, the fancy makeup and clothes, or a large audience in-person with viewers at home. But their vocal prowess was unmistakable!

Students in the Jazz Vocal ensemble at Webster City High School showcased their skills on Thursday, May 23, 2013, when they gave a free performance at Morning Glory Coffee House. Students began at 7:00 pm.

The atmosphere was calm, where people could drink coffee and enjoy the show. It also gave students another chance at performing before the end of the school year. They performed solos, duets, and in small groups.

“It was just a time where kids could perform pieces they had worked on for a small audience,” music instructor Nicole Farley said. “We hope to do these a couple times each year.”

Below are some of these performances.

So, turn up your volume and get ready to be wowed!

“Anthem Lights Mash-Up” by students Lucas D., Alex H., Lucy B., and Chelsea E:

“I.L.B.” by student Tyler P:

“Just the Way You Look Tonight” by student Zane W:

“It Don’t Mean a Thing” by student Becca G:

“Pretty/Unpretty” by students Harleigh M. and Becca G:

“All These Little Things” by student Jenna S:

“Shake it Off” by student Cole H:

“Your Song” by student Lucy B:

“Nature Boy” by instructor Nicole Farley:

“Iris” by student Taylor B:

“What’ll I Do” by the Varsity Jazz Vocal:

“Take Five” by the Junior Varsity Jazz Vocal:

“Misty” by the JV Jazz Vocal:

WOW! Great job, students!

Trigonometry Project!

Nim. 15 Puzzle. Magic Squares. Tower of Hanoi. Ever heard of these?

…Surely you’ve heard of Tangrams, Sudoku, or Mancala?

If not, students in some Trigonometry classes at Webster City High School could teach you what these are.

Trish Bahrenfuss recently gave the juniors and seniors in her Trigonometry classes a project that incorporated Math, English and Speech in order for students to learn about and then teach a subject to other students.

In her class, students researched different math games, either working alone or in small groups of 2 or 3.

These games included Nim, 15 Puzzle, Tangrams, Sudoku, Magic Squares, Tower of Hanoi and Mancala.

Students then had to create a report about these games. These reports had to include the history of the game, as well as an explanation of how math is used in the puzzle. Students then had to create their own replica of the game—this could not be a purchased or online version. Students also had to create handouts, or use a PowerPoint, Smartboard, video or posters to help demonstrate.

Finally, students had to teach the class how to play the game.

Below are some photos from Bahrenfuss:

 

Making Music Stars!

Fifth grade students have begun a new project at the Middle School, and they’re really rockin’ at it!

Gary Scholtens is a teacher at Webster City Middle School who focuses on computer applications.

Students have been working with and learning Microsoft Publisher in his 5^th Grade Computer Apps Concert Tour unit.

“Nothing elicits more ‘Ooo’s’ and ‘Cool’,” Scholtens said. “The idea behind the unit is this: Each student is in a band and wants to make their band famous. To do this, they must create the documents that will propel them to stardom.”

Recently students invented a band, and since then they have been creating the documents that would make their band more visible and famous. These documents include a beginning planning form where they come up with a name for their band, the band members, what type of music it plays and all contact information for the band. After that they work on a logo, a letterhead, t-shirt, and a bumper sticker. If they have time they can also do a CD case cover and insert, a concert ticket, a backstage pass, and their tour bus graphics.

Scholtens said the students are presented with the basic knowledge of desktop publishing in the fall. Then they do some practice products together as a class.

When Scholtens feels like they are ready, each person starts working individually on their Concert Tour projects.  The students are allowed to move at their own speed and level of understanding.

“This helps differentiate the learning to match each student’s needs,” he said. “Most students would say this is the favorite thing they work on in Computer Apps.”

Below are some pictures of students working on their projects:

Spring into Fitness!

Webster City Community School staff sure did blossom into a fitness community!

Starting on April 1, 2013, staff members were encouraged to participate in the “Spring into Fitness” program. For six weeks, participants exercised and kept track of their minutes to get healthy and win prizes.

Webster City School registered nurse Eva Powers reported that Pleasant View Elementary had 10 staff members participate, Sunset Heights Elementary had 12, the Middle School had 26 participants, and the High School had 11.

“The total minutes of exercise for the program was 71,450,” Powers said. “Or 1,190 hours! Wow!”

…or 4,287,000 seconds…or 49 continuous days of exercising 24/7…

The program was free for staff members, and encouraged them to exercise at a fitness center, outside, or even at home.

For every 60 minutes staff members exercised during the program, they received a flower to be placed on the “Field of Fitness Poster” in their building.

And every flower earned also entered participants in for a chance to win weekly prizes, as well as the grand prize at the end of the program.

The weekly prizes included local gift cards, water bottles, healthy snacks and a Persona first aid kit.

The Grand Prize Winners received larger gift cards. Great job, Evan Mossman, Megan Wihlm, Pat Ribby, Roger Steig, and Seth McGrane!

Many staff members used this program as an incentive to either get started or to continue to exercise and stay fit.

Below are some photos of the flowered posters, put into bloom by many hours of activity.

“It was a lot of fun,” Powers said. “The posters represent the hours of activity for the staff.”

Powers would like staff members who chose not to participate to know it was “a lot of fun,” and she hopes they will join in the fun next time.

“I hope to do a “Fall into Fitness” program next year,” Powers said.

Sounds like a very successful program!

Project Lead the Way!

Some students at Webster City High School are learning the ins-and-outs of engineering and architecture. Some are even earning college credit!

Webster City High School is a certified school that is able to offer Engineering credit to high school students that pass their National final exam at the end of each engineering course, according to science instructor Matt Manson.

For the past five years, Webster City High School has been a PLTW (Project Lead the Way) school, and in this program they offer Introduction to Engineering (IED), Principles of Engineering (POE), Civil Engineering and Architecture (CEA), and Biotechnical Engineering (BE).

This year, five of the 13 students in Manson’s CEA class are eligible to earn Iowa credit. And all of the students in POE and IED will receive ICCC credit.

Below is a video that shows what this program has to offer as well as some of the activities students do in class.

The CEA class had been working on their final project and presented them to the public on May 14, 2013.

“This was a real world activity where students were placed in engineering teams and told to develop a plot of land that can be used by the public,” Manson said. “The land given to students was located around the High School tennis courts.”

Students then had to research the zoning laws, building codes, soil properties, and existing utilities before creating their building. Students also learned how to survey the land.

They created 3D buildings on Revit as well as detailed plans about how to construct their buildings that can be used by contractors. Students also estimated how much their proposal would cost to build and created a timeline of the construction.

“The CEA class is a hands-on class that challenges students to think like an engineer to solve problems,” Manson said.

Below are some photos of the student groups presenting their projects.

Students Bryan J. and Blake N. created an indoor pool:

Students Shane G. and Austin K. created a hockey complex:

Students Chris P. and Cooper J. created an indoor football/tennis stadium:

Students Samuel B. and Cameron A created the Lynx Palace:

And students Colin H. and Kenton J. created a paintball arena:

In the POE class, students had to create a device that would shoot a ping pong ball. Students had to adjust their devices to see how angle and velocity would change the distance their ball traveled.

The final activity was to calculate the angle and force needed to land the ball at a specific distance.

Below are videos of the students discussing how their machine works and then watching the machine shoot the ball a certain distance.

Student Chris T. explains their device with fellow students Noah E. and Cooper J. in the background:

And students Daniel T. and Ryan G. explain their air-powered device:

“All engineering classes are hands-on and integrate a lot of science and math,” instructor Manson said. “Students need to be able to explain their ideas in a descriptive and persuasive manner.”

Way to go, students!

Project Explore Fun!

Certain students at Sunset Heights Elementary learned that it WAS all fun and games (and nobody got hurt)!

On Wednesday, May 15, 2013, 3^rd and 4^th Grade Project Explore students were busy playing board games. They learned valuable skills through the creation and eventual playing of these games.

During the past few weeks, the 4^th Grade Project Explore classes worked on their creative thinking and the invention process for their newest project: the creation of math games. They also talked about what qualities make up a good game.

While developing their games, the students soon learned that it wasn’t as easy as they thought it would be. They learned that sometimes failure can be a good thing because one learns from it and can then make improvements.

After brainstorming their ideas, creating the game boards and accessories, and then testing them out with their fellow classmates, these students were ready to share them with the 3^rd Grade Project Explore students.

The games varied and involved multiplication, money skills, strategy planning, addition and subtraction, and tangrams (mixed in with a little fun). The names of the games were D.I.V.A., Bucket Ball, Shopping is Life, Pet Shop Run, Trash Run, Zombopolis, Car Rush, and Tangram Multiplication.

Yesterday, the 3^rd Grade Project Explore students got to test-drive these games!

“They all enjoyed playing the games and being able to work with the 4^th Grade students also,” Project Explore instructor Julie Pagel said. “The interaction between the two groups was amazing!”

The 3^rd Grade students will be writing an evaluation for each of the games they played that will later be shared with the game creators.

Below are some photos from yesterday:

Looks like they had fun!

Fun Times at Pleasant View

Elementary students at Pleasant View sure know how to party!

Through the course of the 2012-2013 school year, they have had many fun experiences to make their stay at PV “pleasant!”

Once such experience occurred in back in January (January 28th-February 1st), when students celebrated the 100^th day of school.

Each class did a special project to reflect the momentous occasion. Kindergarten and 1^st Grade classes were asked to do a home project with 100 items. They were to create something (anything they wanted) and use 100 items. These projects were to be displayed at the school.

Some projects used 100 crayons to make a picture, some used fruit loops, some used toilet paper tubes, and some used cotton balls (among other things)! The projects were displayed in the hallways for all students to enjoy.

This fun activity helped the kids count to 100, and they also got to use their imagination to be creative and show their interests.

Below are some photos from this fun project:

 

A certain class at PV got to experience a day at the beach at school!

Back in April, 1^st Grade teacher Kelsey Meyer’s class earned a Beach Party in the classroom, thanks to exceptional behavior.

They “brought the warmth of summer into the classroom while it was still cool outside,” Pleasant View secretary Meredith Mickelson said. “It was lots of fun!”

Below are some fun photos from their Beach Party:

And the whole school got to participate in what must have been a really fun experience back in October: Fire Safety Week!

Below are some photos from this event:

Kids Against Hunger

Middle School students are helping others in need!

On Wednesday, May 8, 2013, 7^th Grade Student Council members partnered with the Noon Kiwanis group to package meals for Kids Against Hunger.

The mission of Kids Against Hunger is to “significantly reduce the number of hungry children in the USA and to feed starving children throughout the world.” They ship meals to starving children and their families in over 60 countries through partnerships with humanitarian organizations worldwide.

Earlier this spring, the Student Council held a fundraiser and donated $200 to help pay for the food and transportation of the meals.

The packaging event was held in the Multipurpose Room at the Middle School, and the students and Kiwanis members filled 27 ¾ boxes with meals!

It is estimated that the food will provide 20,000 meals to help feed 5,000 children in Tanzania!

“The Kids Against Hunger meals have been formulated by food scientists to provide a rich source of easily digestible protein, carbohydrates, and vitamins needed by a malnourished child’s body and mind,” their website said. “The Kids Against Hunger meals have been formulated by food scientists to provide a rich source of easily digestible protein, carbohydrates, and vitamins needed by a malnourished child’s body and mind.”

The students are hoping to partner with Kiwanis members again next fall.

Helping others is a great way to show the importance of Character Counts!

Below are some photos from this great event:

Way to go, Middle School!

First Grade Science Center Visit

Not to be outdone by Middle School students, 1^st Grade students recently had a field trip too!

On Friday, May 3, 2013, our six 1^st Grade classes traveled to the Science Center for a fun day of learning and exploring!

Students got to see the famous T-Rex named Sue, and they got to learn about water flow and energy output. They even got to check out the wall of mazes, where they had to discover what needed to be done to the different pathways to make the ball reach the opposite side of the wall.

Below are photos of this adorable group:

5th Grade Field Trip!

Middle School students sure are getting around town these days!

On Thursday, May 9, 2013, 5^th Grade students from Webster City Middle School attended the Environmental Agriculture Day in Eagle Grove. Iowa State University puts on this event, along with New Cooperative.

“This is a great trip for our students to learn some really good information that affects them every day,” teacher Kelly Johnson said.

She’s not the only teacher to think so.

“Environmental Agriculture Day is always full of great information for our 5^th Grade students,” teacher Rochelle Sadler said. “They learn so much about the various aspects of how our state’s agriculture helps the world, as well as ways to be safe in today’s society in terms of chemicals and the sun.”

Stations are set up on the Wright County Fair Grounds. These stations are interactive for students to learn where our food comes from.

One of the stations was called Sun Safety.

“Sun Safety was the best because we got a bracelet,” student Hannah D. said. “It has two beads and when you’re in the sunlight, the beads change from white to a bright color. The UV rays hits the beads to change the color.”

Another station was about water.

“Why Water was fun,” student Lincoln L. said. “The water table was a good way to see how a river flows and what can happen when trash, cards, and other things that don’t belong in the river get into the flow.”

Students also learned that humans eat DNA!

“It’s hard to believe we eat miles of DNA each day,” student Xavier A. said.

“This is a great educational experience for the students,” teacher Megan Wihlm said. “What is common knowledge to most adults, students were hearing for the first time.”

Iowa is known for their sweet corn, but what else did students learn about corn?

“A lot of things we buy in the grocery store are made from corn and soy beans,” student Claire G. said. “Golf tees, socks, and credit cards can all be made from corn and soy beans.”

Below are some more photos from this fun and educational field trip:

And luckily, the weather cooperated this year!

“I’m just happy it didn’t snow,” teacher Christina Moline said. “The kids enjoy having some hands-on learning and realize that Iowa agriculture has a big impact on our world.”