The Monthly Howl - Burlington Community School District

ALDO LEOPOLD MIDDLE SCHOOL
November 2013
Volume 1, Issue 2
The Monthly Howl
Eligible VAAP students worked hard on their peace
posters for the first quarter of the school year for the annual Lion’s Club International Peace Poster Contest. This
year’s theme is “Our World, Our Future.”
Special points of interest:
*Students
are collecting canned food
items for a food
drive for the Salvation Army Thanksgiving Dinner
*The annual Penny
War will start on
Monday, November
25th. It will last
through Monday,
December 9th.
Our World, Our Future
Seventh grade student, Tiffany Conrad, won top prize
for Aldo Leopold and for the Southeast Iowa District. Her
poster will now advance to the State Competition. Eighth
graders, Vidya Mullangi and Tionne Kearney received
second place honors at Aldo and five additional students
received honorable mention: Parker Adam, Remy Cradic,
Anikka Cook, Lillian Marsden, and Morgan Rachowicz.
Tiffany Conrad
Vidya Mullangi
Congratulations to the winners! Tiffany, Vidya, and
Tionne will be honored at the Lion’s Club luncheon on
December 3rd.
Remy Cradic
Parker Adam
Tionne Kearney
Morgan Rachowicz
Anikka Cook
Lillian Marsden
First Quarter Honors ~ Chloe Nungaray
A total of 190 Aldo Leopold students made it onto the honor roll first quarter.
A special assembly was held on Friday, November 15th to honor the students. Students were called up by Mr. Gravel, students walked up on the stage, shook Mr.
Benge’s hand, and walked back to their seats with their certificates. These students
try hard for their standing as honor roll students. 30% of our students had perfect
attendance. Selena Richardson’s name was drawn from this group to receive a gift card and Wolf Pride ticket.
Page 2
The Monthly Howl
What’s Been Happening Here at Aldo
Art for the Community
~Vidya Mullangi
An all day VAAP experience was held the last
week of October. VAAP students developed their
peace posters and other community art projects for
the day. The 6th, 7th, and 8th graders had separate days and VAAP students from Edward Stone
also came to Aldo to work on reading posters for
Sunnyside Elementary School. Mr. Onesto, the art
teacher of Aldo Leopold was happy and pleased
with the work of his students.
Time to Learn about the Revolutionary War
~Emily Mercer
Mr. Heath’s 8th grade social studies started a new project on October 28th. Each class made a
timeline about the Revolutionary War. They worked in groups of two to three students. First, they had
to start the timeline project by writing down the dates of twenty-one events that occurred within the
time span of the Revolutionary War. Next, they wrote about three sentences for each event. Third,
they drew at least six pictures to put on their final draft. Last, each individual worked on doing their
part to put the project on the final piece of poster board. It was due November15th, which gave all
class periods three weeks to complete all of the requirements. The completed project was worth one
hundred points. This project was fun and taught us the necessary things to be remembered about
The Revolutionary War. The students’ posters are displayed throughout the 8th grade hall.
Celebrating our Veterans
~Emily Mercer
On Veterans Day this year, our school decided to honor those who served in any branch of the military with an assembly consisting of student’s speeches from each grade level, guest speakers, and
the choir and band playing. The assembly started off with the choir reciting The Star Spangled Banner. Next, a guest speaker sharing his stories from when he served for the U.S. military. Then, three
students, one from each grade level, gave a speech on what Veteran’s Day meant to them and how
they chose to honor the troops that fought for our country. The assembly ended with the band playing
a piece of patriotic music they had been practicing.
Page 3
Burlington By the Book Fundraiser
~Emily Bolander
We celebrated National Young Reader’s Week by having a fundraiser to fill
the Aldo Leopold Library with Books at the little book store downtown! On November 11,2 013 from 6:008:30 p.m. books, prizes, and treats were shared. A big thank you to all the teachers, parents, and
students that attended the fundraiser at Burlington By the Book.
Miss Sorrowfree won a $25.00 gift certificate. Ethan Zaiser won The House of Hades and Paige
Clements won a book of choice! Mr. Benge purchased some great books and brought his son to the
event! Over $100.00 was raised for the Aldo library!!
For the Birds
~Abby Peters
Mrs. Bolander, our teacher librarian, helped start the Aldo Leopold Nature Club this year to help connect
the school to the outdoor classroom. There are six students currently participating. To begin their bird
watching project, the students set up birdfeeders throughout the outdoor classroom. The students went to
Hussman’s to buy the birdfeeders and then went back to school to hang them up.
Now there are feeders for many beautiful birds that visit the outdoor classroom area. Visitors can now observe these birds and learn more about nature.
The library has selected some books that relate to Aldo Leopold and nature in
honor of the club’s efforts. Keeping a Nature Journal by Claire Walker Leslie and
Charles E. Roth and The Backyard Bird Feeder’s Bible by Sally Roth. Both of these
books were leant to Mrs. Bolander by Mr. Lavon Worley. Mr. Worley is part of the
Aldo Leopold Foundation and has contributed to the management of the outdoor
classroom.
Ask Leo!
Is there anything weighing on your mind?
Do you need help problem solving? Well we
have an answer for you! ASK LEO!
8th graders Anikka Cook and Mason Leinbach on KBUR
Monday, November 11th sharing good news for our
Aldo Leopold is starting an advice column! Teachers, students, and parents, if you ever need help, Ask
Leo! All you have to do is submit your question to the
box in the library and all of your problems will be
solved! Remember, don’t use your real name!
Page 4
The Monthly Howl
Melodious middle school presents… The Stunning
Strings, the Blasting Band, and the Choir!
Bringing you the monthly music notes!
~Vidya Mullangi, Presley Carmitchel & Forrest Carper
Orchestra
The middle school and high school orchestra concert that performed on October
2nd, was truly entertaining! They played a nice variety of exciting songs. Some songs they played
were, “Play Ball!”, “Dragon Hunter”, “Pyramids”, “An Irish Party in 3rd Class”, and “All Star”. Conductors Millie Comisky and Diana Novak were proud of their students. Like all performances,
there are always places where improvement and extra practice was needed, but overall, everyone was satisfied. Members from the audience enjoyed the music the young talented students
had to offer and gave their thanks to them. You could see the improvement in all the orchestras,
and how the difficulty of the pieces increased. If you didn’t go to this past orchestra concert, you
surely should make time for yourself to attend for the next one. I sure know I will!
There was a splendid Band concert on October 29th in the Aldo Leopold school auditorium featuring the 6th, 7th+8th, and Jazz bands. It was a success and a plentiful amount of
people came. There were even a few solos performed by Logan Ziegler, Vidya Mullangi, Anikka
Cook, and Aaliyah Hays in the Jazz Band.
Band
The Clarinets, Trumpets, Flutes, French Horns, Saxophones, and many more, gathered together to perform a beautiful performance. “It was so much fun.” said an anonymous Trumpet
player. “I loved it!” The sounds and music danced around on stage, grabbing the audience’s attention even more. It was a very graceful and joyful performance.
The conductor, Jacob Davis, was very proud of his students for putting up a great concert. He
felt that the improvement level for these students was increasing greatly and congratulated us.
Most of the students started playing in 5th grade, when they first got a hold of their very own instrument! Playing any instrument teaches kids responsibility, time management, and even increases their creativity levels. Hopefully, all the parents, relatives, and friends that attended the
concert were awed and inspired by the musical talent.
Mr. Davis announced that the next concert will be on March 27, 2014 at the Memorial Auditorium. It will be held at 7:00 PM. Remember, come to the next band concert if you haven’t got anything else planned. It’ll be a night of pure fun and joy!
Choir
Aldo Leopold has two main choirs. One for sixth graders and another for seventh
and eighth graders. There is also an acapella choir for the seventh and eighth graders too. The
two choirs seem to be doing pretty well. The kids need to work on a few spots but most things are
good. The first concert is December 10th at 7 pm in the auditorium so please come out and support us!
Page 5
The Monthly Howl
Student Spotlight!
Hello Aldo Wolfpack!! Welcome to the student spotlight! This month we will be
taking a look at some of the students of the month from November! Remember, if
you would like to be interviewed, stay on your best behavior and you can be student
of the month too! ~Anikka Cook
Dylan Wirtz: Dylan Wirtz, a 6th grader here at Aldo, has recently been voted as
November’s student of the month. Dylan is a very enthusiastic student and is
excited about this award. He believes that he was chosen to be the student of the
month because he has a 3.7 gpa, he made his AR goal, and he helps conserve by
picking up trash in the lunchroom. He loves football and all sports in general, and
when he’s not playing sports or studying, he enjoys suspenseful novels.
Megan Paladino: Megan is also November’s student of the month. She is the
student of the month because she is on honor roll and she made her AR goal. She
plays flute in band, she is on the swim team and she loves to read.
Emily Bolander: Emily is a 7th grader who enjoys reading, art, and writing. She
works hard, gets good grades, and follows the rules. She participates in VAAP and
has been contributing to our monthly newsletter.
Evan Youngquist: Evan is a 7th grader who enjoys art and looks forward to
attending VAAP. He describes himself as hardworking which has helped him earn a
4.0 gpa. Evan also plays tennis.
Mason Leinbach: Mason is an 8th grader at Aldo. He feels truly honored and
amazing to be recognized like this. Mason loves sports and participates in football,
basketball, and baseball.
Vidya Mullangi: Vidya is also an 8th grader and November’s student of the
month. She is the student of the month because she is on the honor roll, she made
her AR goal, she works hard, and she is a great influence for younger generations.
She is excited about this and she is very honored. She participates in band,
orchestra, basketball, and VAAP.
Page 6
Library News
First Quarter AR Goals
59 sixth grade students, 85 seventh grade students, and 78 eighth grade students
met their AR goals for the first quarter. These students received ice cream sundaes as a
reward for meeting their goal.
Second quarter, students are eligible to receive pizza if they meet their
goal. Our school’s goal is to try and increase each grade level’s number of students who meet their goal by 20. Keep up the reading so we can reach that goal!
Check out our Aldo Leopold Library Blog
http://aldoleopoldlibrary.blogspot.com/
Visual Thesaurus
The Visual Thesaurus is a 3D interactive reference tool, powered by Thinkmap that gets
students of all ages excited about words. Using our visualization technology, the Visual
Thesaurus takes a matchless, and remarkably striking, approach to offering the results of
a word lookup.
The Visual Thesaurus creates an energetic display of words and meanings — a visualdepiction of the English language. The Thinkmap visualization places your word in the
center of the display, connected to related words and meanings. You can then click on
these words or meanings to explore further.
Visual Thesaurus transfers beyond strictly synonyms to display and animate connections among word definitions, multiple word meanings, and even antonyms. A user can
broaden and narrow search interactively by selecting parts of speech or type of relationship
among
Inside Story
Headline the words displayed. Color, shape, and rollover displays enhance both the
usefulness and beauty of its visual representation of the English language. The Visual
Thesaurus provides guidance and inspiration for anyone interested in words and conversation — writers, professionals, and students. Through its emphasis on exploration and
vocabulary building, the Visual Thesaurus improves reading, writing and communication
skills.
To find Visual Thesaurus go to the Great Prairie AEA site and click on the Visual Thesaurus box. Students will be receiving individual Usernames and passwords soon! You can
use your students U.N and P.W. to log into Visual Thesaurus. You can travel to Britannica
through Visual Thesaurus. The login for Britannica is: 31burlington/gpaea. You can also
find Britannica online at the Iowa AEA online under the left hand side tab Britannica. Enjoy our online data bases that the AEA provides for free for you and your student.
Counselor’s Corner
Socializing Online: What Can You Do?
Social networking sites, chat rooms, virtual worlds, and blogs are how teens and tween socialize online. Kids share pictures, videos, thoughts and plans with friends, others who share their interests , and sometimes, the world at large. Socializing online can
help kids connect with friends, and even their family members, but it’s important to help your child learn how to navigate these
spaces safely. Among the pitfalls that come with online socializing are sharing too much information, or posting pictures, video ,
or words that can damage a reputation or hurt someone’s feelings. Applying real—world judgment and sense can help minimize
those downsides.
REMIND YOUR KIDS THAT ONLINE ACTIONS CAN REVERERATE: The words they write and the images they post have consequences offline.
EXPLAIN TO YOUR KIDS WHY IT’S A GOOD IDEA TO POST ONLY INFORMATION THAT THEY ARE
COMFORTABLE WITH OTHERS SEEING: Some of your child’s profile may be seen by a broader audience than you or they are
comfortable with, even if privacy settings are on. Encourage your child to think about the language they use online, and to think
before posting pictures and videos, or altering photos posted by someone else. Employers, college admissions officers, coaches, teachers, and the police may view your child’s posts.
REMIND YOUR KIDS THAT ONCE THEY POST INFORMATION ONLINE, THEY CAN’T TAKE IT BACK: Even if they delete the information from a site, they have little control over older versions that may exist on other people’s computers and circulate online.
KNOW WHAT YOUR KIDS ARE DOING: Get to know the social networking sites your kids use so you know how best to understand their activities. If you’re concerned that your child is engaging in risky online behavior , you may want to search the social
sites they use to see what information they are posting. Are they pretending to be someone else? Try searching their name, nickname, school, hobbies, grade or community.
ENCOURAGE YOUR CHILD TO TRUST THEIR GUT IF THEY HAVE SUSPICIONS: Encourage them to tell you if they feel threatened
by someone or uncomfortable because of something online. You can then help them report concerns to the police and to the social networking site. Most of these sites have links for users to report abusive, suspicious, or inappropriate behavior.
TELL YOUR CHILDREN NOT TO IMPERSONATE SOMEONE ELSE; Let your kids know that it’s wrong to create sites, pages, or
posts that seem to come from someone else, like a teacher, a classmate, or someone they made up.
CREATE A SAFE SCREEN NAME: Encourage your kids to think about the impression that screen names can make. A good screen
name won’t reveal much about how old they are, where they live, or their gender. For privacy purposes, your kids’ IM names
should not be the same as their email addresses.
HELP YOUR KIDS UNDERSTAND WHAT INFORMATION SHOULD STAY PRIVATE: Tell them why it’s important to keep some things
– about themselves, family members, and friends – to themselves. Information like their social security number, street address,
phone number, and family financial information – say, bank account or credit card numbers – is private and should stay that way.
SEXTING: Sending or forwarding sexually explicit photos, videos, or messages from a mobile phone is known as “sexting”. Tell
your kids NOT to do it. In addition to risking their reputation and their friendships, they could be breaking the law if they create,
forward, or even save this kind of message. Teens may be less likely to make a bad choice if they know the consequences.
EMAIL, CHAT, IM, VIDEO CALLING AND TEXTING ARE FAST AND CONVENIENT WAYS TO COMMUNICATE. BUT THE FUNDAMENTALS – WHAT WE SAY, WHEN WE SAY IT, AND WHY WE SAY IT - ARE THE SAME ONLINE AND OFF. COMMON COURTESY
AND COMMON SENSE ARE IMPORTANT PARTS OF ALL COMMUNICATION, REGARDLESS OF WHERE AND HOW IT TAKES
PLACE.