Proud to be EV... Week of October 20-26, 2013

This was a great 1st week to the start of the 2nd quarter!

On Wednesday, the Iowa Hall of Pride came to our building. They held three separate 1 1/2 hour presentations/activities for students. The 9th & 10th grades went first, then the 6-8th grades, and finally the 11th and 12 grades. I sat in each session and was very pleased and proud of the way that our students listened and participated. Chad and Shelly, the speakers, introduced themselves. They set the expectations for the day.

The focus was on developing leadership. As students arrived in the gym they were each given a playing card. This card determined the group that they would be in. The first activity that they were asked to do was a nonverbal activity. They were given a rope and had to get in order of their birthday month and year without talking. This was very interesting to watch! Our students are so creative with the ways they come up with to find out the information they needed in order to complete this activity. One of the points of the activity was that a leader had to emerge to direct how they would find the information they needed.

After this activity, students were asked to sit down where they were and write down two qualities that make a great leader. Each group had to designate a recorder to write down the qualities that each person wrote on their sheet.

The next activity involved dancing. Each member of the group had to lead a dance move. Chad and Shelley would play different clips of songs. This was very entertaining to watch.

The students watched a short video clip of Bernie Saggau speaking about leadership. They also watched another video of a Cedar Rapids Kennedy graduate, Salvatore Giunta, the first living Medal of Honor recipient.

To conclude the assembly, Chad and Shelly had each student write how they would be a leader on a card. The students gave their cards to Chad and Shelly who would read these and then send them to me. Students signed a poster designating us an "Iowa Hall of Pride High School 2013".

This poster is displayed outside of our gym doors. Chad and Shelly did a wonderful job and we are thankful to them for coming to our building.

Congratulations to Allison Hewitt! She qualified for the State Cross Country meet! We are very proud of her~

We are very proud of our junior high and high school athletic teams as the fall sports season comes to a close~

On Friday we held our Achievement Assembly in place of our Spirit Assembly. We honored members of clubs/organizations in the school and those who were on the A & B Honor Roll list. Each student was given a certificate. Those in 9-12th grades were given honor roll pins. One of my goals this year is seeing that each student makes the honor roll at least one time. The honor roll lists were sent to the area newspapers. I have many pictures available from this event. We did not have time to give the "Golden Grizzly" medals. These will be announced before Miss Iowa speaks this upcoming Tuesday. For this award, a student had to be chosen based on the content area. For junior high these areas are: Math, Science, Social Studies, and English. For high school these areas are: Math, Science, Social Studies, English, Art, Music, Spanish, CTE- Agriculture, CTE- Industrial Arts, CTE- Business, CTE- Family and Consumer Science. Students were chosen based on exceptional hard work and diligence within the classroom. These medals will be given on a quarterly basis.  I am so very proud of all of our students...

As we rushed to end the assembly, it is tradition that students do not leave until we sing the school song. It was unbeknownst to me that the Student Council had the entire student body and staff sign a banner that said "Thank you Mrs. Lightfoot". I was overcome with emotion at this. There are no words to describe how I felt receiving this... it is the students and staff that I have to thank for making this a wonderful place to be a principal...

I believe that we are going to accomplish great things at English Valleys Junior/Senior High School. I am working with the staff on ways to increase student involvement and achievement. Everything that we do must center on these things. I will continue to inform you of how we plan to do this. I ask for your continued support as we continue on our journey to instill pride in each and every one of our students. Thank you so much for all of your support...

Go EV Bears!

Proud to be EV... Week of October 13-19, 2013

A great end to the 1st quarter at English Valleys Junior/Senior High School. On Monday we ran on an Advisory Schedule in order to plan for the Friday activity. The last week of a quarter is typically pretty busy!

The gym addition is progressing nicely. The west parking lot is nearly complete. If you have not been by to check the progress lately, take some time to do so. This is a new adventure for all of us and we are truly excited to see the end result!

On Friday, school was dismissed at 2:20 p.m. for the end of the quarter. We ran on a 1:00 dismissal schedule in order to celebrate the end of the quarter. Students worked in their advisories as part of a competition to create the best Halloween decoration. The decorations from this activity were used to decorate for the Junior High Halloween Dance on Saturday night.

This upcoming week on Wednesday, the Iowa Hall of Pride will be in our building holding 3 sessions on student leadership with all 6-12th grade students. On Friday we will be holding our end of 1st quarter Achievement Assembly. We will recognize honor roll students, "Golden Grizzly" recipients, and members of clubs/organizations in our junior/senior high school. Our volleyball team will be playing their regional meet at HLV on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. The cross country team will travel to Jessup for the regional meet on Thursday night. Our last Varsity home football game will be held this upcoming Friday night. I wish the best of luck to all of our athletes~

I am looking forward to the 2nd quarter at English Valleys Junior/Senior High School. I try to conference with students on a weekly basis if they are struggling with their grades. I am finding that students are taking responsibility and learning to make goals for themselves in order to increase their achievement in academics.

I am proud to be a part of this wonderful school district. As a staff we are seeking ways to increase student achievement and I believe that we are capable of more than we ever thought we could do...

Go Bears!

Proud to be EV... Week of 10/7/2013-10/11/2013

I truly feel so lucky to be a part of English Valley Junior/Senior High School. There is never a dull moment. It is such a joy to see the students and staff each and every day...

On Wednesday the 7-12 students and staff participated in the Healthiest State Walk/Fall Fitness Day. We walked around the track from 8:40-9:15 a.m. The students are already asking about next year! It is important for students to realize that exercising could be something as simple as walking. If students try to have a healthy lifestyle, this will in turn help with student achievement.

On Friday, Mrs. Colbert and myself took a group of 11 students to the 2013 Construction & Building Trades Expo in Iowa City at the Johnson County Fairgrounds.

This was absolutely amazing! Lunch was provided for us. After this the students visited a variety of booths such as "Virtual Welding", bricklaying, carpentry, masonry, plumbing and pipe fitting, electricians, and Teamsters. The presenters at each booth were very informative and students were given opportunities to ask further questions.

One of the best parts of this expo was the "hands on" activities. Students were given an opportunity to drill:

... and they were challenged to put tennis balls into the backhoe...

"Spirit Friday" this week included "Pink Out" day. The halls were filled with students dressed in pink, or blue/gold, or English Valleys attire, or in some cases, all of these!

The cheerleaders asked to hang up the banner they created for the football players to run through at the "Pink Out" game that night.

Mrs. Francis's advisory group hosted the "Spirit Assembly" this week... starting with our school song and cheers...

 Then a balloon popping game...

Then a card game involving spoons...

The week concluded with a home "Pink Out" football game against BGM~

This upcoming week will be a busy one! There will be home events on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. On Thursday, we will hold the "Pink Out" game for volleyball. As always, we welcome everyone to come out and support our players.

Thank you again for your continued support...

Go EV Bears!

Proud to be EV... Week of September 30-October 4

Still going strong at EV~ We are seven weeks into the school year, and students are settling into their routines.

"Pink Out" nights are coming to EV! October 11 will be the football night and October17 will be the volleyball night. Please come out and help us support the efforts of Marengo Hospital and the Hope Foundation~

This month, the Iowa Hall of Pride will be holding three different sessions in our gymnasium with every student involved in one of the sessions. These sessions will focus on leadership. Every student is capable of being a leader and as educators we want to equip students with the knowledge needed to be successful leaders.

The junior/senior high school students will attend an assembly on October 29 in which the reigning Miss Iowa, Nicole Kelly will speak about "The Power of One". We are honored to have her as a guest in our building.

On Friday, the spirit assembly was hosted by Carrie Burdick's advisory group. They chose to have a contest that involved throwing on costume-type clothes over regular clothes, topping it off the attire with a hat and racing to shoot a basket relay. It was rather interesting to watch!

I am still in awe of the students and staff who continue to show pride in our district. It isn't just about wearing our colors or attire (which is always a joy to see), it is about feeling a sense of pride in having those not associated with our district knowing that we are proud of who we are and what we represent.

Go EV Bears!