Sweeter's Tiger Tracks

Is it my birthday?

Every once in awhile I come across something that so excites me that I just have to have it.  The latest treasure to catch my eye is an editable textbook, and the catch is that it costs about 1/2 as much as a regular textbook.  As a teacher I would have loved to have this resource at my disposal.  I regularly supplemented my lessons with material that I read or saw on TV.  With this new technology that incorporation would be seamless.  All I need to know is when and where.

http://www.committedsardine.com/blogpost.cfm?blogID=892

Math Excellence

Congratulations to Alec Oleson for placing fifth in the 2010 South Dakota Northeastern Chapter MathCounts Competition held Saturday at Crothers Engineering Building on the campus of SDSU in Brookings and for thereby qualifying for the state competition in March!  Congratulations to his team, including Regan Lewandowski, Luke Smith, and Gaby Tinglund for placing third in the team division!  Well done, mathletes!

Another Parent Moment

I had to share this because...well for many reasons.

Notice how we did take her shirt off so she wouldn't get arts and crafts on her clothes.  At least it wasn't on the dog, furniture, or flat screen.

Kids, you have to love them.
 

Sneak Peek

I have a special treat for all of my Tiger Tracks peeps.  Next week we will be moving in to the new addition, and I am going to reward my faithful followers with a first hand glimpse of the new facility.  I have to say that I am most excited about the new science room and library.  They both look new and hip, and will be things that Groton can be proud of for years to come.

Wow

In today's world you never know if videos or pictures are real, so I usually don't broadcast these types of media.  However with soccer season just around the corner, I thought I would share this.

http://www.committedsardine.com/blogpost.cfm?blogID=786

Student Creativity

Another example of student ingenuity.

http://www.committedsardine.com/blogpost.cfm?blogID=822

Too Much Free Time

Another example of someone that needs a hobby.

http://www.committedsardine.com/blogpost.cfm?blogID=828

He shoots; He scores

Well another weekend has come and gone and our students continue to shine.

Let me start by congratulating Leah Davis, Annie Hockhalter, Kelsey Wieseler, and Ashley Larson for being selected to the 2010 South Dakota High School All State Band.  Way to go!!!  This is another example of just how awesometabulous our music department is.

 

I also need to once again congratulate or Debate standouts for their outstanding performance at Harrisburg this weekend:  Spenser Kavanaugh for placed 2nd in Novice Lincoln Douglas debate and 2nd in Novice Extemporaneous speaking.  Michalea Oleson placed 3rd in Novice Extemporaneous Speaking.  Once again these two strutted their debate stuff.

 

Finally our wrestlers placed 2nd in districts.  Brooke Anderson and Charlie Pray both finished with firsts, and Ryan Delzer, Matt Thorson, and Sam Thorson all finished 3rd.  In addition to this success Jerric Albrecht, Conner Blumhardt, and Dalton Locke added to the excitement by winning their final matches to get 3rd.  Throw in Derrick Lone and Greyson McCranie's 4th place finishes, and Groton Area is going to be well represented at Regions.  Good luck at regions next weekend in Webster.

 

Wow!!!  Good thing we had an extra day on Monday to recover from all of the excitement.

 

Legislative Day

Last week Mr. Thorson 
  took a group of students to Pierre to experience a legislative session and visit with the governor.  This is another example of bringing students to the information, and enhancing an already great education.

Small Group Contest

44 Groton music students recently participated in the Region IV Solo & Ensemble Contest held in Aberdeen on February 10th.  These students prepared a variety of instrumental and vocal solos and ensembles to perform for a judge and their peers.  The adjudicator provides written comments and a rating to each performance.  The performances are judged upon musical factors such as tone quality, intonation, rhythm, technique, interpretation, musicianship, articulation, and diction.  A "I" signifies a superior performance.  A "II" represents an excellent performance; a "III", good; a "IV", fair; and a "V", poor.  The use of plus or minus signs are sometimes used to represent slightly better or slightly less than the given rating.

Later this year, the full concert band and choir plan to attend the Region IV Large Group Contest.  Both of these contests provide a wonderful opportunity for students to perform and recieve valuable feedback from highly qualified music professionals.  This feedback helps the participants become better students of music by reinforcing areas of musical strength as well as pointing out some areas that could use improvement.  Attending this contests is almost always a positive and valuable learning experience for the students.

 

Download Contest Results 2010