The Case for Change...

Throughout this year, a continuing theme within our district is raising student achievement. One way of raising our district's achievement is clearly identifying which students are not proficient in reading. While reviewing data, there is a clear achievement gap between students who are categorized as low SES and those who are not. A major goal of mine throughout this year is to increase the number of proficient readers in our at risk population by empowering teachers to improve our identification and instructional strategies to meet their needs, to ensure a positive future for all students.

So how are we doing this?

• Identifying which students are non-proficient readers (and why)
• Implementing Second Chance Reading at the middle school level
• Continuing our commitment to SCR at the high school level
• Early intervention and identification at the primary grade level
• Continual evaluation of primary curriculum
• Professional development to improve how ALL teachers can help improve reading

So what is at stake if our district DO NOT improve our reading scores?

• Labeled a School/District In Need of Assistance
• Increased number of students who are not successful in our school and could possibly drop-out
• Negative publicity which can lead to decreased enrollment
• Our students students do not have the workplace readiness or the 21st century skills to be successful coming out of high school

At Graettinger-Terril, we are working very hard to provide the best education for ALL students. By improving the way we identify which students actually need help, and new and improved strategies on how the help is given, we will be able to serve our students to their full academic potential.

Our First Group of Right Knights!

back row- Cormick, Claudia, Kelsey, Dorothy, Dalton, Mackenzie, Kate, and Laura.

front row - Clayton, Benny, Hailey, Delaney, Halie, Natalie, and Tony

The Science Behind the Music...

Inspired by the BlueMan Group, Zac is working on constructing some musical instruments. He is using a program on his laptop to be able to measure the frequency of the sound being made so he can construct an accurate musical model!

Breckyn Marie Ulrich

Well...here is the reason I missed the first day of school!

Breckyn Marie Ulrich entered the world yesterday at 5:53pm. She weighed 8lbs 4oz and was 21 inches long.

Amy is doing very well. The Graettinger-Terril Family just got a little bigger!

It's About Here!!!! (a 2 sided story)

August 19th has a very significant meaning to me...

1. It is the first day of school!
2. It is the due date of Amy and I's first child!

Hmm...that was well planned.

SO...summer is about over, and I've been reflecting about it. I had a wonderful summer! Last week I attended SAI (school administrators of Iowa) annual conference. I listened to speakers talk about the importance of setting expectations for those around you so everyone knows the positive things that will happen! I also listened to speakers talk about the importance technology is for our generation of students (huh, what a novel thought). The most intriguing speaker I listened to was Alan November; his challenging talk focused on "What do your students contribute to their school?". More on that later.

I've had many people say "so what does a principal do all summer?" A recap: read, prepare, move offices, sort junk that I didn't get to all year, read more, start my doctorate, schedule classes, hire new staff, keep sorting junk, and think about taking a vacation. About that last one, I did something I have never done before. I took 1 week and did nothing! really, didn't even check the emails beeping on my phone. I did however, manage to watch a ton of Cub's baseball (that wasn't really relaxing).

So, I will keep you posted on the baby situation. At the end of the week our new teachers will report. We are very excited to welcome the following staff:

Kayla De Vos (special education)
Stephanie Hanson (special education)
Nikki Pals (special education)
Karen Naig (FCS)

I hope you all had as an enjoyable and relaxing summer as I have had...but, luckily it is time to start another great year! I'm looking forward to working with students, parents, and the community to show the world class education we are providing for our students!

SMART Table in the PK

A HUGE thank you to Land O'Lakes and Pro Cooperative for their donation towards our PK SMART table! Land O'Lakes granted us $1000, and Pro Coop matched the grant with another $1000! All of this was in combination with the Kiwanis club fundraiser for the SMART table. Here is just a quick sample of what the SMART table can do.

Again, a big thanks to Land O'Lakes, the Pro Coop, and the Terril Kiwanis Club!

26 Students Publish Poetry!!!

Twenty-six Graettinger-Terril Middle School students now have the honor of saying they are published writers! On May 11, 2010, Mrs. Barb Larson, 6th - 8th Grade Reading and Language Arts teacher, was informed that of 44 entries submitted in a poetry contest, 26 of them would be published in A Celebration of Poets published by Creative Communication. The student's in Larson's class worked on a poetry unit during February and March. They learned about literary tools poets use to make their writing more interesting to the reader, as well as a variety of different types of poems. The 7th grade class worked with found poetry, identified literary tools in those poems, and then posted their work on a blog at teachthemtoreach.blogspot.com. The 6th and 8th graders wrote poetry; some of the different types of poetry being published are odes, cinquains, "I am" poetry, biography poems, and Dadas. "I am so proud of all of the students and their poetry work; they really put themselves into the project," Larson said.

(Thank you Mrs. Miller for the write up!!)