Sweeter's Tiger Tracks

Matheltes

Eight seventh and eighth grade students from Groton participated in the Simmons Invitational MathCounts Competition on Wednesday, January 21, 2009. 61 students from Britton-Hecla, Eureka, Groton, Holgate, Milbank, Roncalli, Simmons, Warner, and Temple Builders Academy participated in the event, which was sponsored by 3M of Aberdeen.

The eighth grade team of Toby Carda, Dalton Locke, Andee Geist, and Erica Schuster placed third in the combined team division. Honors in the overall individual portion of the competition were earned by Toby Carda (sixth), Camille Sippel (seventh), and Dalton Locke (ninth).

Groton students will attend the Northeastern Chapter MathCounts Competition at Northern State University in Aberdeen on Saturday, February 14, 2009. The top two teams and the top four individuals then advance to the state competition in Pierre in March.

Countdown Individual Winners

: 1st - 5th in Row 1 (left to right) and 6th - 10th in Row 2 (left to right)

1. Matthew Guthmiller - Simmons

2. Jared Geffre - Roncalli

3. Brian Peterson - Warner

4. Sam Vasser - Holgate

5. Zach Andera - Roncalli

6. Toby Carda - Groton

7. Camille Sippel - Groton

8. Kimberly Schilling - Warner

9. Dalton Locke - Groton

10. Katelyn Loutsch - Milbank

Too Far!!!!

Its official the recession has gone too far...  Now it is messing with my thin mint cookies.  I hope that Obama is addressing this in his economic stimulus plan.  I for one am livid in this news.  Next thing you know the man will be messing with my Mt. Dew.

http://www.yumsugar.com/2727272

SD vs Groton

A couple of quick facts:

88% of SD students graduate; 98% of Groton students graduate

69% of SD students seek post high school studies; in 2008 94% of Groton's graduating seniors went on to post high school studies

by 2015 85% of jobs will require post HS education

Cybersafety

As I've stated before cybersafety is a growing concern among our students.  As our students' access to technology continues to increase, so does their risk of cyber bullying.  For this reason I am including several websites that you can reference as your student/child explores the vastness of cyberspace.

WWW.stopcyberbullying.org

www.cyberbullying.us

www.wiredsafety.org

http://stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov

I found some of the videos offered on these websites to be especially eye opening.

Soapbox

I am about to hop up on my annual teacher pay soap box, so let me start by saying sorry.  The good news is the governor is proposing a 3% raise for teachers, or at least a 3% fund increase per student, which translates to a teacher raise.  You may ask why we would be excited about 3%.  Simple.  That's a huge raise usually were looking at 0-maybe 2%. 

Now comes the catch, as Uncle Dale says, "There's always a catch."  We'll pay you more, but were going to cut all of your programs.  Under this new budget there will be no more ESAs, TCAP, special ed funding, sparsity aid, etc.  For those of you who aren't totally up to speed on education programs let me sum up the results.  By cutting these programs the government would be limiting professional development; taking $25,000 from Groton's teachers; capping funding for one of our most expensive areas; killing the small school; etc.  Bottom Line:  We'll pay you more, but we are going to make your job a lot more difficult in doing so. 

http://www.keloland.com/NewsDetail6162.cfm?Id=0,79445

http://www.keloland.com/NewsDetail6162.cfm?Id=0,79446

http://www.aberdeennews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090123/FRONTPAGE/901230373

Whatever happened to the cost of living increase without attached strings.  Why do we have to continually be the lowest paid in the nation.  We consistently put out one of the best products in the nation, but get the least compensation. Talk about under appreciated.

It gets even better.  Some fools want to take our programs, and give us no raise.  Times are tough after all.  I agree times are tough, but does that mean our students need to suffer.  We're not talking about flat screen TVs, PSPs, or Corvettes.  We're affecting our futures, our kids. 

http://www.keloland.com/NewsDetail6162.cfm?Id=0,79495

I'd say sorry, but I bet its not the last time I vent this this spring.  I'll wait until after this legislative session. 

Wow!!!

As you have probably heard by now, we are in the middle of a k-12 data retreat.  This week I have been compiling data to see if there is a correlation between attendance and grades.  I also looked to see if their was a correlation between extracurricular participation and grades.  While we all had our opinions on what the information would show.  I was surprised how big the margins were.

Our students that are on the 3.5 or better honor roll were gone on average 2.8 days last semester.  Students that failed one class or more were gone on average 17 days, the number gets higher the more Fs a student receives.  Our students that failed three classes were absent a whopping 21.7 days.  For you mathematicians out there, our failing students have 6X the absences as our honor roll students.  Are there exceptions to the rule?  Some, but I think the evidence shows you need to be in school to have success.

I took it a step further and compared the number of extracurricular activities failing students are in compared to those students on honor roll.  Failing students are in an average of .33 activities while our honor roll students are in an average of 2.4 activities.  WOW!!!  That's 7X as much participation.  How does that make sense you live a busier school life, and you get better grades?  OK that might have been cynical.  Sorry.

Bottom line to get better grades:  1) come to school 2) be active in your school 

Jetsons

I saw this article today, and immediately reminisced to Saturday mornings as a child. 

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/01/22/flying-car.html

Isn't it amazing to think where we will be in 20 years.  I hope I can keep up.

The sad thing is that now I cannot get the theme song out of my head.  Meet George Jetson ... His boy Elroy...

Student Props!!!

First Prop:

The following students were selected to the Middle School All-State Band to be held in Pierre, March 6 & 7th. The highest scores are placed in the HONOR BAND with the other students selected being placed in the Festival Band. All of these students were selected to be in the HONOR BAND!!! WAY TO GO GUYS!!!!

Kelsey Weiseler & Ashley Larson will be  FIRST CHAIR in the state.  WOW!!! 

Alec Oleson also qualified for Honor Band.

Props #2:

There were several Groton students who qualified for the state pool of players for the SD Olympic Development Program in soccer. www.sdodp.comfor more info. Congrats to: Tom Sternhagen, Doug Heinrich, Toby Carda, Lucas Sternhagen and Camille Sippel.

Props # 3:

Kendly Hanson was part of the SD State 4-H Horse Quiz Bowl team that placed 2nd at the National contest in Denver this past week. California's team placed first. Brown County's team was the state winner in July which earned them the right to represent SD at the national contest.

Way to go guys and gals.  We are all proud of you.

Web 2.0

I am attaching an all-inclusive chatroom link that might be useful for your class.  The link is from one of the top techno-gurus in Kansas.

http://www.tammyworcester.com/TipOfWeek/TammyWTechTipOfWeek/Entries/2009/1/12_Tip_62_-_Stinto.html

Snow Queen Domination

We had several students do quite well at this year's snow queen competition.  Congratulations to everyone involved.  We are all proud of you. 

Below are links.

http://www.aberdeennews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090111/FRONTPAGE/901110376

http://www.aberdeennews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090105/NEWSNOTES/901050316