Keys to Success

As the 4th Quarter begins on March 24th, I wanted to take the opportunity to thank all the students, staff and parents who have consistently lived and modeled our "keys to success" at Washington, at home and in the community. We truly believe that we create a positive and welcoming environment for everyone when we live by these traits:

Respect - Responsibility - Pride - Trust - Fairness - Caring

Thank you! Mr. Barry

March - From the Desk of Mr. Barry

COME ONE, COME ALL!!

Our third Parent Advisory meeting of the year will be next Monday, March 3rd, at 7:00 PM. This meeting is open to all parents!! The meeting will held at the middle school as I will be showing parents a Smart Board located in Mr. Hardy’s room. We are considering purchasing one for our building next year and need your input. Mr. Hardy’s room is on the main floor at the northwest end of the hall. This is a great opportunity to see the Smart Board in action and there will be time for parents to interact with it too. Next, I wanted to take this time to introduce you to our website if you have not visited it yet! We continue to post current happenings, student work and student created videos on the site.

4TH Grade Field Trip a Success!
A HUGE thank you to the PTO for providing a wonderful opportunity to our 4th graders last week as they traveled to Omaha to visit the Holland Performing Arts Center. The students were treated to an interactive and engaging performance by the Omaha Symphony entitled, Concerts for Youth. We will have pictures posted soon, but to read more about what our students did on Friday, visit http://wistigers.blogspot.com/2008/02/margre-durham-concerts-for-youth.html.

Take Five…
“In five minutes, your kids could smoke a marijuana joint, have a reaction to meth, inhale from an aerosol can or have a talk with you that could save their lives.”

This is this first line of a helpful resource provided by Partnership for A Drug-Free Iowa your son or daughter will be bringing home from school the first week in March. We encourage you to take this and every teachable moment seriously to talk with your child about the dangers of non-prescription drug use.

Drug Awareness Education for Washington Intermediate students is an on-going commitment. Most of you heard about our Red Ribbon Week activities in October. These activities kick off additional teaching and activities in guidance classes related to the consequences of drug use and alternatives that contribute to start-prevention. Tobacco use and its effects will be emphasized during the third week in April.

In between those times we continue the conversation about healthy choices, being positive role models, and belonging to groups and activities that are life affirming. It is our sincere hope that you will participate in the conversation with your children at home, providing the team balance our mission statement declares as we: “work as a team of families, students, community, and staff in developing the emotional, social, and academic potential of each child.”

Ms. Jeannie Bates, School Counselor

Get Your Child Excited About Math

When you balance your checkbook, buy shoes, measure distance or check the time, you're using math. Use these tips to help get your child excited about math.

By Jesse James, GreatSchools.net Staff

Reprinted from: http://www.greatschools.net/cgi-bin/showarticle/209/print/

Be an example. Many adults say they hated math in school, according to national polls. If you are one of them, be careful that you don't communicate that attitude to your child. Help him improve his attitude toward math by showing him that you are confident when completing routine tasks like counting money from a school fund-raiser, balancing your checkbook or completing your tax return. You can also point out the importance of math in different professions including architecture, medicine, fashion design, restaurant management and computer programming.

Help your child use math every day. Encourage your child to solve problems involving math outside of school. In the grocery store, ask her to figure out the price of four cans of tuna fish. In the car, ask her how long it will take to travel to your destination based on your speed. In the toy store, ask her to calculate the price of a discounted toy and how long it will take to save up her allowance to buy it.

Familiarize yourself with learning standards. It's important to know what math skills your child should learn in his current grade. You can access the learning standards for your child's grade on the Web site for your state department of education or ask your child's teacher to outline them for you. If you know what your child will be learning, it will be easier to complement those skills with activities at home.

Monitor your child's math homework. Do your child's math assignments only call for rote work or does the teacher include a creative "problem of the week" that tests students' understanding of mathematical concepts? Ask your child's teacher which techniques he uses to help students become more comfortable with math.

Pay attention to details. You can help your child with math homework by making sure she shows all her work when solving equations and checks for correct calculations and answers. It's a good idea to limit distractions and set aside the same time every day for homework.

Play math games at home. There are many games your child can play that involve math. Beginning in the elementary years, students can learn to enjoy math by playing games such as chess, dominoes, cribbage, checkers, Yahtzee and backgammon.

Read books that incorporate math. More and more schools are starting to integrate diverse subject areas in the curriculum so that students can make clearer connections. But how do you include math in a history or English class? One way is to read books in which the main characters solve a problem using math or logic. Examples include One Hundred Angry Ants by Ellinor J. Pinczes, The King's Commissioners by Aileen Friedman and Socrates and the Three Little Pigs by Tuyosi Mori.

The bottom line: We naturally encourage our children to read, write and speak outside of school, but often leave learning math skills to 45 minutes a day in the classroom. Like everything else, your child's skills and confidence in working with mathematical concepts will improve with daily practice, support and encouragement.

Learn what your child should learn in math each year:
Kindergarten First grade Second grade Third grade Fourth grade Fifth grade

Try these activities to build math skills:
Counting Coins Number Sense Beach Ball Math Reading Recipes

Related Links:
Math Literature

Children's literature that incorporates mathematical concepts:
Mrs. Glosser's Math Goodies: Resources for Parents

A parents' forum, homework tips and helpful newsletters

10 Ways to Improve Math Skills

Ms. Hughes' Students Create Fun Art!

By Cameo Stephens and Makayla LeRette

In our art class (with Ms. Noonan) we are making books. It is so much fun! We have made many small, medium, and big books. We have also been making flowers with pastels. This was fun, although it was messy. You can pick any kind of flower, but it has to be realistic. If it was realistic and you were in a dream, you can smell the flower.

MARGRE DURHAM CONCERTS FOR YOUTH

The fourth grade students at Washington Intermediate will be attending the Concerts for Youth on Friday, February 22nd, at the Holland Performaning Arts Center in Omaha. The students will join the Omaha Symphony as they explore “The Composer’s Craft.” Through interactive and directed listening, students will explore how composers put all of the notes together. Whether it’s joining the orchestra on stage, answering questions from a seat in the audience, or working together to compose a piece of original music, the Omaha Symphony’s Concerts for Youth acknowledges that students learn by doing.

Thank you to PTO for helping provide this opportunity by paying for the cost of the transportation and a portion of each student's ticket.



From the Omaha Performing Arts website...


Omaha, Neb – Join the Omaha Symphony and 10,000 area elementary students as they
participate in Concerts for Youth, February 21, 22, and 23 at the Holland Performing Arts Center. The Omaha Symphony Concerts for Youth performances feature an exciting repertoire and interactive student activities throughout the concert created to engage the students and follow this year’s theme of “rhythm.”



“With each performance, students gets to explore and experience the sounds of a full
symphony orchestra – some for the first time,” said Jennifer Boomgaarden, director of education and community partnerships with the Omaha Symphony. Students will get to be a part of the final song as the Symphony will have the students use an unusual instrument for the first time in history!

This year’s Concerts for Youth are supported by First Comp and the Omaha Symphony Guild.
Performances will be held each day, February 21-23, at 9:45 a.m. and 11:10 a.m. at the Holland
Performing Arts Center, 1200 Douglas Street.

Meet Mr. Maurer

Olivia sits down to interview Mr. Maurer. Learn more about Mr. Maurer by clicking on the video below. Continue to check our website for more student interviews and videos!

From the Desk of Mr. Barry

From the February 2008 Washington Intermediate Newsletter (click to visit)

Starting 2008 Off On the Right Foot!
If your house is anything like mine after the holidays, it may be hard for everyone to get back into a routine! Students return to school after being on different sleeping, eating, studying and playing schedules. It usually takes a week or so to get back on track and get focused on the task at hand. I was very impressed with how our students returned from the holiday break and got back to work so quickly and so efficiently! They deserve a pat on the back!

Mid-Year Testing
The students took our mid-year (winter) reading comprehension and fluency (rate and speed) assessments the first two weeks of January. We measure these two reading areas three times a year to monitor progress. As a building, we saw an average growth of over 8 months since September. This was twice the normal growth for 4 months time between tests and I am proud of the students and teachers work with their reading comprehension skills. Your child’s individual growth will be shared with you during our February Parent-Teacher conferences on February 25th and 28th.

After School Math
A note came home this earlier in January with the final 6 dates for the After School Math program and an explanation of our year end Math Celebration and Contest. We are asking students who want to participate in the May math contest to attend 4 of our final 6 after school dates. All students will be welcome to attend the celebration in which we will hand out certificates, awards and crown our Washington Math Team Champions. Last year the students had a blast and we hope to repeat the success and fun this year! Remaining dates as of now are Feb 12 & 26; March 11 & 25 and the May 6th Celebration.

Pain Free Fundraiser!
Before break, we received a $15 check from the Goodsearch.com. This money came from searching done from the www.goodsearch.com site by staff, parents and anyone else who indicated “Washington Intermediate” as the charity of their choice. The $15 may not seem like much, but it was only for 3 months time. We hope to increase our numbers this year! This is one fundraiser that does not cost anyone a dime! Visit the site, search and bookmark it for later use! More information is listed on our website (http://wistigers.blogspot.com). If you have questions, do not hesitate to call, email or stop in my office.

Student Advisory
The students at Washington Intermediate collected, organized and delivered nearly 600 food items to the local food pantry the week before break. It was quite a group effort as every class collected over 30 food items and one class, Ms. Linn's, collected nearly 200 food items on their own! The November and December Student Advisory groups helped load the food items into Mr. Barry and Mr. Maurer's vehicles. Then, the 5th grade Student Advisory students helped take the items to the food pantry near the Square and unload all the items. Mr. Barry is extremely PROUD of each and every student at Washington Intermediate for taking part in this program. It is a very CARING act of kindness before the holidays.