Superintendent’s Message It is the time of year

when we begin thinking

of snow! Although the

students hope for snow

days, the district takes

several things into con-

sideration when deter-

mining whether or not to

hold school because of

weather. The most im-

portant consideration is

student safety. Corey

Johnson, transportation

director, and I determine

whether or not it is safe

for the buses and other

vehicles to be on the

road. It is not an easy

call to make as Iowa

weather is constantly

changing. In case of a

late start or a school can-

celation the district im-

plements the emergency

calling system, notifies

the television stations

KCCI, WHO, and WOI;

radio stations KIIC and

WHO; and our local

channel 12. Let’s hope

for a mild winter.

The district is moving

forward with plans to

renovate the high school

building. The plans

include an addition which

houses an elevator for

handicapped accessibility

for students and commu-

nity members. The addi-

tion of an elevator has

been needed for a long

time. The design also

includes renovated rest-

rooms and concession

stand/cafeteria area for

events held in the high

school gymnas ium.

Along with the renovation

of the cafeteria area and

addition of an elevator,

the plans include class-

room updates. The up-

dates include new win-

dows for the entire build-

ing, energy efficient light-

ing in all classrooms, cos-

metic updates including

repairs to floors, ceilings,

and walls. The renova-

tion includes HVAC for

the building through a

geothermal process which

provides much needed

energy efficiency for the

building. Also included

on the renovation list is

the media center, cafete-

ria, kitchen and hallways.

The architects are work-

ing to preserve the his-

toric value of the 1923

building while updating

the facility. The plans in-

clude additional parking to

the south of the building

including visitor, commu-

nity center and activity

parking. The district has

requested the closure of

Osage Avenue to allow for

additional parking. Please

feel free to call my office

with any questions. (641)

774-5967.

The district has retained

the architect firm DLR to

design the renovation pro-

ject. The district and DLR

will conduct a public fo-

rum during the month of

December to provide plan

details and answer the

public’s questions regard-

ing the project. Please

watch the Chariton News-

paper for the announce-

ment of the public meet-

ing.

This project is being sup-

ported with state sales tax

revenue (SILO) that the

district has already re-

ceived and are expected to

receive in the future.

Volume 12, issue 5

December, 2009

Middle School-News

2

Menu 4

Curriculum Cor-ner

5

High School News

5

Events Calendar 6

Inside this issue:

Charger Pride Char i ton Community School Dis t r ic t

Volume 12, Issue 5 Charger Pride

Wow! Can it almost be time for Thanksgiving and

Christmas? We want to thank all of the parents for

attending conferences and supporting the book

fair. The students have found lots of great books

to read and will be bringing home book slips to

fill.. Please support our efforts to get your child

reading. Currently, we are having the kids partici-

pate in a weekly DEAR activity. In DEAR, the

students Drop Everything And Read for 20 min-

utes in different classes each week. Talk to your

child about what they are reading; ask them ques-

tions to help improve their comprehension. Read-

ing is a vital skill for success in every class at

CMS.

Social Studies and Reading classes will be starting

their combined Ancient Civilization unit and

working on that unit until Christmas. We invite

parents to attend the presentations of their child’s

work in December. A note will be coming home

to alert parents exact presentation times.

Dates to Remember:

12/1 - Wrestling @ Pella - 4:15

12/3- Boys BB @ Centerville - 4:15

Girls BB (Here) - 4:15

Wrestling (Here) - 4:15

12/7- Wrestling (Here) - 4:15

Parent Mtg. CMS Media Center @ 7:00

12/10- Boys BB (Here) - 4:15

Girls BB @ Davis County - 4:15

12/14-Wrestling @ Eddyville-Blakesburg 4:15

12/17- Boys BB @ Eddyville – Blakesburg 4:15

12/17- Girls BB (Here) - 4:15

12/22- 8th grade to Vision II Theatre -9:15-11:45

Seventh grade students and teachers have had a

busy beginning to our second quarter. We had

74% attendance at our Student Led Conference

this fall. We enjoy meeting and visiting with the

parents during the evening.

In Literature class, students have completed the

novel, Dovey Coe, by Frances O’Roark Dowell

and will begin reading When Zachary Beaver

Came to Town by Kimberly Willis Holt. Students

continue to identify the elements of literature and

character development. In Language Arts students

have been writing short stories and learning tech-

niques to strengthen their writing skills. They

have completed a unit on Canada and Mexico and

will begin a unit on Europe, in Geography. They

dissected earthworms and have started an insect

unit. In Math, students have been studying Great-

est Common Factor (GFC) and Least Common

Multiple (LCM). Students have completed this

year’s Iowa Tests of Basic Skills and we are anx-

ious to find out the results.

Pillars of Character awards were given to Austin

Hamilton for Respect; Logan Davis for Trustwor-

thiness; Hillary Zern for Responsibility; Taylor

Tulley for Citizenship; Drew Spinler for Fairness

and Keith Trusty for Caring. Teachers award a

number of students Pillars of Character each

month and from this group students names are

drawn. The students receive a Personal Pan pizza

from Pizza Hut.

Seventh Grade Happenings!

With the wild winter weather of Iowa, the atmosphere

has been the main topic of study in science. The stu-

dents have been excited to learn about how things

work together and affect our world.

Graphing is the main focus of math with the students

learning how to graph temperature changes and how to

change decimals to fractions.

Words can paint a picture. In Language Arts the stu-

dents are busy painting-using word choice to create

vibrant visuals throughout their writing.

6th Grade News

Volume 12, issue 5 Page 3

Message from Ms. Scott-Thomas

The Middle School staff would like to wish you

a very happy holiday season filled with family

and friends. Get plenty of rest and curl up with

a good book.

Our students took ITBS during November.

Winter sports have begun, and the students are

excited to be competing. On November 25, our

students took a bullying survey that will help us

identify areas of concern. In language arts, stu-

dents finished their memoirs, which they had

worked on for almost a month, and are working

on subject- verb agreement. Students are read-

ing Touching Spirit Bear in literature. For math

classes, students are working on algebra skills.

Revolutionary War is the topic for American

History. In science, students finished studying

Bernoulli’s Principal.

Eighth Grade News

Inclement Weather!

The district will announce delays, cancellations, and early dismissals because of weather by using our

emergency calling system, D.M. TV stations 5, 8, and 13, WHO radio, local station channel 12, and KIIC

radio.

In the event of school cancellation, the district has designated three snow make up days in the calendar.

Missed days will be made up in the following order—12/23/09, 2/22/10, and 5/28/10. All additional days

missed will be made up after Memorial Day. If we have not experienced school cancellations, we will not

hold school on these designated snow make up days.

Next After-Prom meet-

ing will be Monday,

December 14 @ 6:30

pm in the CHS cafete-

ria.

2010 After Prom Bench Raffle Iowa Hawkeye & Iowa State Cyclone

Tickets: $1 each or 6 for $5 Drawing to be held December 21st at the

G/B Varsity Basketball Game Need not be present to win.

See Tammy Trenary at the High School office or raf-fle table at all home basketball games .

The Department of Education visits every school district

in Iowa on a five-year rotation. The purpose of the visit

is to take a general look at a district’s educational prac-

tices, to offer recommendations for improvement and to

determine if the district is in compliance with accredita-

tion standards. Chariton Schools will host a site visit

team beginning on December 8.

Members of the site visit team will be employees of the

state along with administrators from other school dis-

tricts and the Area Education Association (AEA). The

team will examine documents and visit with groups of

students, parents, teachers, and other school district per-

sonnel. After 45 business days a written report will be

sent to the superintendent. District leaders will draw

upon the recommendations from the report and other

needs assessment information to plan district improve-

ments.

Volume 12, Issue 5 Charger Pride

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

LUNCH MENU SUBJECT TO CHANGE

All lunches served with 1/2 pint of milk. M.S. & H.S. have a salad bar daily.

1 Cereal Hamburger Sandwich French Fries Corn Mandarin Oranges

2 Biscuit & Gravy Chicken Nuggets Potatoes & Gravy Bread & Butter Pineapple

3 Egg Cheese Burrito Rib Sandwich Tater Tots Peas Pears

4 Cereal Ham & Cheese Sand. Carrots Chips Apple

5

6 7 Cereal Hot Dog French Fries Green Beans Mixed Fruit

8 Breakfast Bar Grilled Chicken Sand. Potato Wedges Peas Pineapple

9 French Toast Burrito & Cheese Lettuce Salad Peaches Cookie

10 Pancake on Stick Turkey & Noodles Potatoes Green Beans Tropical Fruit

11 Cereal Pork Fritter French Fries Corn Pears

12

13 14 Cereal Sloppy Joe Sandwich French Fries Peaches Cookie

15 Cereal Chicken Sandwich Broccoli/Cheese Tater Tots Pears

16 Sausage Biscuit Pizza Lettuce Salad Mandarin Oranges Cookie

17 Pancake Ham Potatoes & Gravy Green Beans Bread & Butter Cake

18 Cereal Cheese Dipper Marinara Sauce Lettuce Salad Mixed Fruit

19

20 21 Cereal Corn Dog Mac & Cheese Peas Pears

22 Breakfast Pizza Cold Cut Sandwich Carrots Chips Oranges

23 Winter Break (can be used as a snow make-up day)

24 25 26

27 28 29 30 31 Breakfast is served in each building and includes milk and fruit/juice.

Classes Resume January 5, 2010

December Menu

Department of Education Site Visit

The Chariton Community School District

Alternative Program will be moving to a new

location over the winter break. The program

will relocate to 1516 Court Avenue. Begin-

ning January 5, 2010, the students who at-

tend the Alternative Learning Program will

report to the new location.

The Alternative Learning Program serves

students in grades 9-12 who seek an alterna-

tive learning environment than the traditional

high school setting.

Alternative Program New Location

Curriculum Corner By Cindy Butler

Volume 12, Issue 5 Charger Pride

Chariton School District Mission Statement – Successful Learning for All Students

The mission statement for the Chariton School District guides the actions of the district. It pro-vides an overall goal, with a sense of direction. This particular mission statement also raises questions for those of us striving to achieve the mission. Those questions are 1) What do we expect students to learn? 2) What do we do if they don’t learn? 3) What do we do if they have already learned?

These questions guide the professional develop-ment offered to the teaching staff this year. The answer to the first question, what do we expect students to learn, can be found in the district’s standards and benchmarks. However, the an-swer will soon be – the Iowa Core Curriculum. The Iowa Core is to be implemented in every high school in Iowa by July 1, 2012 and in grades kindergarten through 8th grade by 2014-15. Therefore teachers have spent part of their professional learning time studying the essential concepts and skill sets of the Iowa Core. If you

would like to read more about the Iowa Core visit t h e w e b s i t e a t http://www.corecurriculum.iowa.gov/.

The second and third questions mentioned above are also covered in professional development this year. Teachers are learning about using ―informative‖ assessments to guide their instruc-tion. This means teachers periodically plan to pur-posefully take a ―dipstick‖ reading of the level of understanding of students. The results of this read-ing are used to determine the next step in instruc-tion. Many teachers have always asked students if they understand or watched for the confused look on faces to decide if they need to re-teach, but by using a process of planned purposeful assessments, teachers are more likely to get an accurate reading of student learning and can adjust teaching for both those students who are struggling and those who have already mastered the skill or content.

Successful Learning for ALL Students – our teach-ers work toward this everyday. Professional develop-ment is designed to support their work.

HIGH SCHOOL MID TERMS

11/25/09 SECOND QUARTER MID TERM

12/02/09 MID TERM GRADE REPORTS WILL BE SENT HOME WITH STUDENTS

Please review your student’s mid-term report. You can also check grades online at chariton.k12.ia.us (click on JMC on the left, go to High School, click on Parents-Grades and enter your username and password.) If you need an ad-ditional copy of the mid-term report, please stop in the high school office. Sorry- they won’t be mailed. Thank you.

Volume 12, issue 5 Page 6

T

December 2009 Events Calendar

Volume 12, issue 5 Page 7

EAT SMART! Be sure kids (and adults) get at least five servings of fruits & veggies each day.

Kids need good nutrition to help them stay alert and learn at school. Fruits and vegetables are a big part of good nutrition.

Breakfast

Start the day off right with a nutritious break-fast.

Have a Breakfast Burrito—combine scrambled eggs, your favorite breakfast meat, and cheese in a tortilla.

A glass of milk, a piece of fruit and a serving of yogurt is a great quick way to start the day. Or, how about peanut butter and bananas on toast with a glass of milk?

Lunch

Do you pack a lunch for your children?

Consider filling a thermos with their favorite vegetable soup, such as tomato or vegetable and noodle soup. Take the children to the grocery store and let them choose their favor-ites!

Add chunks of fruit to low-fat plain or flavored yogurt. Don’t have fresh? Use canned pineap-ple, peaches or pears packed in juice (drain the liquid out before adding). No sugar added is the best!

Have your kids help you fix their lunches the night before to avoid a mad rush in the morn-ing. Let them choose which fruits and vegeta-bles they want.

Visit www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov for more great tips and recipes!

Snacks at School

Often times, students want to bring snacks to

school to share with their classmate to celebrate

special occasions such as birthdays. The district

encourages healthy snacks for all occasions! Ideas

encouraged include fruits, veggies, trail mix, pret-

zels, cheese and crackers, etc. We are encouraging

healthy eating for all areas of life.

Simple Snack Mix

4 cups whole grain cereal (squares or Os work best

1 cup dried fruit of your choice

1 cup nuts, such as walnut pieces, slivered almonds, or pistachios

1 cup small, whole-grain snack crackers or pretzels

Measure out ingredients and combine in large bowl. Serves 12 to 16 1/2 cup servings.

It is the policy of the Chariton Community School District not to illegally discriminate on the basis of race,

color, national origin, gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion, creed, age or marital status in its

educational programs or employment practices. If you have questions or grievances related to this policy

please contact the Equity Coordinator, 140 East Albia Road, PO Box 738, Chariton, Iowa 50049.

140 East Albia Road

PO Box 738

Chariton, IA 50049

Chariton Community School District

District Mission Statement

Successful Learning for ALL Students

PRESORTED

STANDARD

US POSTAGE

PAID

PERMIT NO.

258

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

DO YOU KNOW YOUR LUNCH ACCOUNT BALANCE?

Check online through JMC or call (641) 774-5048.

Keep your lunch account balance current!