February 2016 Dispatch

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Students who have been selected to participate in the UNO Honor Band are Dalton
Ashby, Tessa Stevens, Savannah Pace, Justin Drowne, Amanda Hansen,
Aaron Johnson and Christopher Lopez.
Volume 25 No 7
Fort Calhoun Community Schools
February 2016
FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT’S OFFICE
Celebrating the “FORT”
COMING
ATTRACTIONS
Kindergarten Round-Up
Kindergarten Round-Up is scheduled for April 29,
2016. Residents with children slated to register will
be contacted by the elementary school. If you have
not been contacted, call 402-468-5714 for information. Children must be 5 years old by 7/31/16 for
the 2016-17 school year.
2/8
2/15
2/17
2/19
2/28
School Board Meeting
Parent Teacher Conferences
Elementary School
Parent Teacher Conferences
High School & Elementary School
Inservice-No School
Elementary Book Fair
Now and then it is important to sit back and reflect on all the good things happening here at the “FORT”; we are
blessed with great kids, great staff, great community. This article is a celebration of some of the many accomplishments we are experiencing here at the “FORT”. First and foremost we celebrate the fact that our community supported the bond and now our kids are experiencing life in beautiful and safe renovated school building. We hope
to celebrate with the whole community in April once the new gym is complete, details to come.
As wonderful as the building is, I believe the cooler celebrations are that of student accomplishments that we
have been enjoying lately. One that I am super proud of is from the Valentino restaurant staff who after our Sixth
grade students ate at their restaurant gave several compliments to the teaching staff that the students were so
well behaved. Great job kids and parents for such accolades. Ms. Juranek’s first grade class won an opportunity
to participate in the Kat 103.7 Book Tour program, where a Kat 103.7 personality will read to the class and then
record the class saying the Pledge of Allegiance, which will be played Friday morning the 12th of February.
Over my 26 years here at Fort Calhoun our district has never had a Presidential Scholars Program candidate. This
year senior Tessa Stevens has been selected as a candidate for this prestigious program. Annually up to only 161
seniors are selected to be a U.S. Presidential Scholars, one of the nation’s highest honors for high school students.
The scholars represent excellence in education and the promise of greatness in young people. Tessa Stevens is an
outstanding student and scored a “35” on her ACT. Tessa is also involved in other activities including Cross Country
and Band. Congratulations Tessa on this outstanding selection.
Fort Calhoun just implemented a new program called Robotics, where students build robots to perform various
tasks and compete with other schools at several competitions around the Metro area. Fort Calhoun has one of the
only Class “C” teams in the state, so when we go to competitions we are often competing against Class “B” and
Class “A” school districts. At our first competition of the year, the VEX Robotics Contest, a team of Fort Calhoun
students consisting of Bret Klabunde, Zane Fickbohm, Colton Edie, and Eric Wolfe won the Championship!
There are several other students who are having outstanding years here at the “FORT”, but the above examples
are not the everyday time run-of-the-mill accomplishments. This Fort Calhoun Community has a lot to be proud of
where both current and past Pioneers are accomplishing great things. It is our pledge to continue that trend and
to build on it.
Good Job and God Bless!
Don Johnson, Superintendent of Schools
Mr. Jerry Green
Secondary Principal
MR. NICK WEMHOFF
Assistant Principal/AD
KEEPING CONNECTED
Parent Teacher Conferences
Parent Teacher Conferences will be held at the junior/
senior high school on Wednesday, February 17th from
2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Teachers will be taking a supper break
from 5:00 to 5:45 p.m. Please enter the junior/senior
high through the main entrance and teachers will be
set up in their new classrooms. It is important that only
one family be in the room at any given time to ensure
privacy. We will have chairs set up outside the classrooms for you. We will also provide you with room
maps so you can easily find your student’s teachers. I
would encourage you to bring your student along to
visit with the teachers. Grades 9-11 should be sure to
stop by to visit with homeroom teachers to review and
sign off on your student’s four-year plan.
Please look for a Parent Teacher
Conferences letter to arrive with
more specific details.
All of our school activities are published on the school
website using the “rSchoolToday” website. This website
offers a variety of functions that includes: printing of individual sport schedules, looking ahead on the calendar
to future dates, and also email and text message reminders, alerts, etc. If you would like to sign up for alerts and
reminders, you can do that directly through the website.
On the top right of the calendar click the “notify me” link.
Go through the steps and set up an account. If you have
any questions, feel free to give me a call.
One of the newest features this website offers, is a mobile
app. The app is called activity scheduler. It is a free app.
The logo for the download is a blue hat with “rST” written
on it. You can download the app. You will have to set it
up for our school and that is an easy process to do. When
you set it up, select Nebraska for state, then Nebraska
Capitol Conference, then Select Fort Calhoun. This app
gives you a 1-week schedule. It will include whatever is
on the school calendar from activities to lunch menu. You
can also search schedules by individual sports. Again, if
you have questions on it, feel free to give me a call.
-Elementary NewsWe continue to stay busy with activities at the elementary. This month has been filled with activities such as Family Game
night, Math Committee meetings, Nebraska State Writing Assessment for 4th grade only and our usual high-level engagement in the classrooms. February won’t slow down so be prepared.
Family Game night had another great turnout. What a great opportunity to spend time with your child at the school. CR
Toys puts this event on for us annually. A percentage of the profits come back to the school to purchase games to incorporate in your students’ learning environment. Please remember our main purpose for this event is for you! We love opening
the building to increase parent involvement. Thank you all who attended. I believe it was our best turnout yet! If you
didn’t get a chance to attend, please consider it next year.
A quick update on the math program adoption. The committee continues to meet once a month. Those discussions have
been rewarding. Last Friday, January 29, our staff met to review the four programs that we are currently investigating.
In that staff in-service we brainstormed, discussed and created great dialogue to narrow our search down to two. The two
programs we have narrowed it down to are Envisions Math and Go Math. Next step is to invite the company representatives from the two programs to come in and present their programs to our staff. Also through this dialogue, we reemphasized the importance of common language throughout each grade level to create a smooth transition of math skills as your
student transitions to the next grade. Another key part of this discussion involved communication/support to you. There
are plans getting put in place to ensure you receive appropriate communication to eliminate frustrations at home. We continue to be on track with our timeline for the math adoption. If things go as planned, we should have the materials in our
hands by early May. We will continue to keep you updated as we go through this process.
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ELEMENTARY CONTINUED
My final thoughts as we roll into February, a month full of activities to encourage your involvement, are these. It is so
important for your child to be in school on a daily basis. We continue to see challenges when students are out of school
for a long period of time. Don’t get me wrong, I am a firm believer in spending quality time with your child and providing them life-long experiences/memories. The challenge is finding that balance. I know the summer months are always
a perfect time to spend that quality time to provide those memories that last a lifetime. Lastly, we always appreciate
you working with your child at home. It makes a HUGE difference in their life. With that said, I would like to send a
HUGE THANK YOU for your partnership with the school. Your child is in great hands.
As usual, if you have questions or concerns, please let me know.
Remember to be thankful, stay positive, and live like there is no tomorrow.
Go PIONEERS!
Respectfully,
Drew R. Wagner
Your proud elementary principal
Upcoming Events in February
February
February
February
February
February
February
February
February
February
1: Jump Rope for Heart begins
3: Preschool Advisory meeting
9: School Spelling Bee – 9:30 a.m.
15: Elementary Parent-Teacher conferences; 4-8pm
17: Parent-Teacher conferences; 2-8pm, Early out; 1:15pm dismissal
19: No School
19: County Spelling Bee
24: Morning with Mom, 7:30
29-March 4: Book Fair
PIONEERS FOR EDUCATION
The second half of the school year has begun along with the activities of students, families and teachers.
As always it is best to start from a place of gratitude. The basket raffle was extremely successful due to
the support of the community and sponsors. Funds generated from the basket raffle support the music
programs in the Fort Calhoun School District. A special thanks to Anna Barta for her coordination of this
annual event.
PFE had its business meeting on January 13th. Several events are scheduled that we would like you to be aware of for the second
part of the year:
February 18-26, Original Art Works. Artworks will be sent home to parents for ordering on the 18th. Orders due back to
school by the 26th.
February 24, Donuts/Muffins at the elementary school. Information on reservations will come in Thursday folders.
February 26, Fish Fry. PFE will be supporting the Fish Fry. If you are interested in participating with this fun, busy event,
please contact Pauline Pechnik.
March 2, Donuts/Muffins at the elementary school. Information on reservations will come in Thursday folders.
May 2-6, Staff Appreciation week. More information will follow as the dates draw closer.
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