CCOMMUNICATOROMMUNICATORThe

April 2013A supplement to the

Estherville DailyNews and Spirit

ELC fifth grade experiences ʻsnow dayʼAs if the weather hasnʼt been harsh enough this March, the fifth graders experienced a “Snow Day” on March 1! This interdisciplinary day encouraged creative thinkingand focused on snow activities through all cores of curriculum. Students enjoyed being mixed among their peers in smaller groups and were exposed to thoughtprocesses of students from different homerooms. Students were able to convert measurements, discover metaphors in music, compare/contrast fictional characters tohistorical figures, and experiment with changing forms of matter. All lessons also focused on snow or ice! We “wrapped up” the day with a building of 5th grade snow-people, above.

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2-Estherville (Ia.), Daily News and Estherville Spirit - 2013

First grade startsMarch with a roarThe ELC first grade started March with a roar! On Friday, March 1 first graders celebrated the literature

of Dr. Seuss by having a reading celebration day. Studentscame to school with three things: a snack, a book fromhome, and some cuddly pajamas. Throughout the day, stu-dents read Dr. Seuss books and then participated in learn-ing activities based on the story. Students read One Fish,Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish and then graphed a randomsample of edible colored fish. Students read, The ButterBattle Book and then made their very own butter by shak-ing jars of whipping cream and serving the butter on gra-ham crackers; butter-side up or down. Students read, TheCat in the Hat and then made a striped top hat to wear.When students weren’t reading their favorite Dr. Seussbooks, they were reading with a buddy, sharing books theybrought from home, or reading in fun places like undertheir desks or in camping tents set-up inside the classroom.Students and teachers had a lot of fun sharing the joy ofreading.

Kelly Thelen ELC First Grade

Estherville LincolnCentral first-gradestudents pair upto share theirfavorite booksinside tents atDemoneyElementary.

Making butter in a jar

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Estherville (Ia.), Daily News and Estherville Spirit - 2013 -3

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

April 2013

1No School @ District Wide5:30pm Patrons of the Fine ArtsMeeting @ ELC High SchoolMedia Center

2 37:45am Middle School StudentCouncil5:15pm Elementary Site Council

44:00pm Golf-B/Varsity-JV-FroshAway vs. North Union4:00pm Tennis-B/Varsity-JV-Frosh Storm Lake4:30pm Tennis-G/Varsity-JV-Frosh Away vs. Storm Lake5:00pm Track-B/Varsity-JV-FroshAway vs. Cherokee

55:00pm Track-G/Varsity-JV-FroshAway vs. Cherokee

6

84:00pm Tennis-B/Varsity-JV-Frosh Cherokee4:30pm Tennis-G/Varsity-JV-Frosh Away vs. Cherokee4:30pm Golf-B/Varsity-JV-FroshEstherville / Lincoln Central vs.Multiple Schools

7 94:30pm Track-G/Varsity-JV-FroshAway vs. Spirit Lake CommunitySchools4:30pm Track-B/Varsity-JV-FroshAway vs. Spirit Lake CommunitySchools4:30pm Golf-G/Varsity-JV-FroshAlgona4:30pm Golf-B/Varsity-JV-FroshAway vs. Algona

10Middle School 7-8 Band & VocalFestival in Jackson7-8 Jackson Band & VocalFestival @ Jackson, MN7:45am Middle School BuildersClub

114:00pm Tennis-G/Varsity-JV-Frosh LeMars4:30pm Tennis-B/Varsity-JV-Frosh Away vs. LeMars4:30pm Golf-G/Varsity-JV-FroshStorm Lake vs. Multiple Schools

12Midterm 4th quarter @ DistrictWide4:30pm Golf-B/Varsity-JV-FroshJackson County Central5:00pm Track-G/Varsity-JV-FroshAway vs. Spencer High School5:00pm Track-B/Varsity-JV-FroshEstherville / Lincoln Central vs.Multiple Schools

138:00am Golf-B/Varsity-JV-FroshAway vs. Spencer High School7:00pm Middle School DramaPerformance @ RooseveltAuditorium

142:00pm Patrons of the Fine ArtsMembership Drive @ ELC HighSchool Gym

167:00am HS Site Council @ HSICN Room4:00pm Golf-G/Varsity-JV-FroshEstherville / Lincoln Central vs.Multiple Schools4:30pm Track-B/Varsity-JV-FroshAway vs. Spirit Lake CommunitySchools

17Early Dismissal-Pro. Dev. @District Wide

184:00pm Tennis-B/Varsity-JV-Frosh Spencer High School4:30pm Tennis-G/Varsity-JV-Frosh Away vs. Spencer HighSchool5:00pm Middle School SiteCouncil

195:00pm Track-G/Varsity-JV-FroshEstherville / Lincoln Central vs.Multiple Schools5:00pm Track-B/Varsity-JV-FroshAway vs. North Union

209:00am Golf-B/Varsity-JV-FroshAway vs. Spirit Lake CommunitySchools8:00pm Prom @ ELC HighSchool Gym

22No School @ District Wide4:00pm Tennis-G/Varsity-JV-Frosh Storm Lake4:15pm Track-Middle SchoolAway vs. Emmetsburg4:30pm Tennis-B/Varsity-JV-Frosh Away vs. Storm Lake5:00pm Track-G/Varsity-JV-FroshAway vs. Humboldt

21 234:00pm Tennis-G/Varsity-JV-Frosh Cherokee4:00pm Golf-B/Varsity-JV-FroshWestern Christian High Schoolvs. Multiple Schools4:00pm Golf-G/Varsity-JV-FroshEmmetsburg vs. MultipleSchools4:30pm Tennis-B/Varsity-JV-Frosh Away vs. Cherokee5:00pm Track-B/Varsity-JV-FroshAway vs. Emmetsburg

24

293:00pm Golf-G/Varsity-JV-FroshAway vs. Sibley-Ocheyedan4:00pm Tennis-B/Varsity-JV-Frosh LeMars4:15pm Track-Middle SchoolSpencer Middle School4:30pm Tennis-G/Varsity-JV-Frosh Away vs. LeMars5:00pm Track-B/Varsity-JV-FroshAway vs. Storm Lake

282:00pm HS Band/Vocal SpringConcert @ Roosevelt Auditorium

303:00pm Golf-G/Varsity-JV-FroshAway vs. Spirit Lake CommunitySchools4:30pm Golf-B/Varsity-JV-FroshAway vs. Spirit Lake CommunitySchools5:00pm Track-G/Varsity-JV-FroshAway vs. Spirit Lake CommunitySchools

254:00pm Preschool/HeadstartRegistration @ DeMoneyElementary4:30pm Golf-B/Varsity-JV-FroshSpirit Lake Community Schoolsvs. Multiple Schools5:00pm Track-G/Varsity-JV-FroshAway vs. Storm Lake

264:30pm Track-Middle SchoolAway vs. Bishop Garrigan

278:00am Golf-G/Varsity-JV-FroshAway vs. Bishop Garrigan9:00am Tennis-B/Varsity-JV-Frosh Away vs. Storm Lake9:00am Tennis-G/Varsity-JV-Frosh Away vs. Spirit LakeCommunity Schools9:00am Golf-B/Varsity-JV-FroshAway vs. Storm Lake

Information on this calendar from

www.lakesconference.org

10 N. 7th Street, Estherville, IA

362-2622 The Insurance Center

www.blumandleonard.com418 Central Avenue

Estherville, Iowa 51334-2237712-362-7272

154:00pm Tennis-G/Varsity-JV-Frosh vs. Spirit Lake 4:30pm Golf-G/Varsity-JV-FroshEstherville / Lincoln Central vs.Multiple Schools4:30pm Tennis-B/Varsity-JV-Frosh Away vs. Spirit Lake 4:30pm Golf-B/Varsity-JV-FroshAway vs. Cherokee5:00pm Track-G/Varsity-JV-FroshAway vs. North Union5:15pm School Board Meeting

1736 Central Ave., Estherville, Iowa712-362-7415

1202 Central Ave.Estherville

712-362-5000

4-Estherville (Ia.), Daily News and Estherville Spirit - 2013

BY DAVID FINLEY

The purpose of this article is to giveparents some information that they canuse to help them decide how muchSpanish their children should take inhigh school. This information includesreasons that are both immediate andlong-range, and financial as well asmedical.

The first reason for students to takeSpanish in high school is the collegeadmissions requirement. Many col-leges and universities require a mini-mum of two years of a foreign lan-guage in high school in order to beaccepted into that school. Collegesthat require two years of a foreign lan-guage in high school include IowaState (College of Liberal Arts andCollege of Engineering), theUniversity of Iowa, and MinnesotaState University in Mankato. Collegesthat do not require foreign languagestudy in high school may recommendstudents take it to strengthen theirapplication and to be better preparedfor college. Colleges that recommendtaking at least two years of a foreignlanguage in high school include theUniversity of Northern Iowa, LutherCollege, and Buena Vista University.

In addition to being required foradmission to certain colleges, foreignlanguage study may actually help yougain admission to college. Foreignlanguage classes count as core courseson the Iowa Regents Admission Index(RAI), along with English, math, sci-ence and social studies. So taking fouryears of Spanish at ELC would boost astudent’s RAI score, helping him orher gain admission to Iowa, IowaState, or UNI. Spanish 4 is now aweighted class, which means that it isgraded based on a five-point scaleinstead of the traditional 4.0 gradepoint average (GPA). So an A or B inSpanish 4 would boost a student’sGPA, also helping to gain admissionto any college.

Beyond admission requirements,many colleges and universities have aforeign language requirement for

graduation from college. At theUniversity of Iowa, for example, thegraduation requirement is four semes-ters of college foreign language orfour years of high school foreign lan-guage. I have heard from several for-mer students who took two years ofSpanish in high school, wishing thatthey had taken four years in highschool because they had to take morein college. The two years they took inhigh school was enough to be admittedinto college, but they didn’t realizethat the college they attended requiredmore for graduation. I always tell mystudents that they probably don’tknow which college they’ll pick whenthey’re in 10th or 11th grade, so thesafest bet is to take as many years ofSpanish in high school as they can.

Another reason to take Spanish atELC (and beyond) is a financial incen-tive. Studies have shown that workerswho speak a second language earnmore money than those who don’t.Given the choice between two jobapplicants whose abilities and skillsseem equal except that one of them isbilingual, most employers would hirethe bilingual applicant. In this globaleconomy, employers are looking forpeople who would be able to travel orlive in Spanish-speaking countries.Also, many employers need peoplewho can communicate with the 37million Spanish-speakers living in theUnited States.

Recent medical studies indicate alink between knowing more than onelanguage and mental health. It seemsthat bilingual senior citizens are lesslikely to have dementia orAlzheimer’s disease. There also seemsto be a connection between knowing asecond (or third!) language andimproved brain performance. In otherwords, knowing another language maymake you smarter.

As you can see, there are many rea-sons to take Spanish at the highschool. Please contact David Finley atthe high school if you have any ques-tions.

Seventh graders learn about bacteriaThe 7th grade science classes studied bacteria in February. They ran an experiment to grow bac-

teria and test cleaners that claimed to kill bacteria. The first picture shows bacteria that were on a7th grade student’s hand. This was the control sample and the bacteria grew. The second pictureshows the same student’s sample that was sprayed with a school cleaner. The cleaner killed thebacteria and it did not multiply. We also tried other cleaners to see how well they worked. Studentswere surprised at how fast the bacteria multiplied in such a short time. This experiment reallydemonstrated how important it is to wash our hands before eating.

Why Spanish?

Poetry in 4th gradeWhat is poetry? Ask a 4th grader. Students

have been exploring this special form of writ-ing. Poetry looks different, speaks to theheart and mind, says a lot in a few words,says things in special ways, and is pleasingto the ear. Have you ever heard of a trashcompactor poem or a Diamante poem? Onceagain, ask a 4th grader. These are specialtypes of poems that give a basic structure forstudents to explore and create. Students typetheir poetry and compile their creations into abook to be shared with family and kept as akeepsake for generations to come. So whatis learned? Finally, ask a 4th grader. Not onlydo 4th grade students learn what poetry is,they end up finding a new love for poetrythrough this special form of writing.

8TH GRADE SOLAR SYSTEM PROJECTDuring the week of March 4th through 8th

the ELC science students worked on a SolarSystem Project. In groups of 3-4 students,they prepared a newscast that informs peopleabout a day on their object in the solar sys-tem (planet, comet, asteroid, or meteor). Allof the students chose to create their newscaston one of the planets. They were theanchors, sportscasters, and weather people sothey needed to come up with a script for eachstory that included facts from the planet. Asa group they prepared a PowerPoint back-ground to be shown during the presentation.They then presented the newscast live to theclass. During their presentations they werewell rehearsed and knew what they weretalking about.