Published: February 26, 2009 11:58 am      

Palestine ISD happenings for 2-23

PISD NEWS

• Web Site — Log on to the Palestine ISD Web Site for teacher web pages, Skyward Family Access, school menus, athletic schedules, parenting information, and much more. www.palestineschools.org.



MIDDLE SCHOOL

• Band Solo and Ensemble — On Feb. 6, Palestine Middle School Band students competed at the Texas Music Educator’s Association Region 21 Solo & Ensemble Contest held at Nacogdoches High School. The Band had much success, winning 66 1st Division “Superior” Ratings Medals. The Band also had 41 medals for solos and 25 for ensemble performances.

Students who received “Superior” ratings for solos are: Flutes: Amber Magee, Cheyenne Masters, Anna Phelps, Alex Wehling. Clarinets: Sara Coleman, Brittany Collins, Erin Foley, Jordan Hafner, Alicia Guzman, Jaqueline Pace, Jeanna Mankins, Gabrielle Meyers, Katherine Fort, Lesly Rubalcava, Breshauna Moise, Gabrielle Steele, Evan Fuller. Bass Clarinet: Elizabeth Ruiz. Alto Saxophone: Caleb Ellison, David Gean, Gabriella Hudson, Alex Meyers. Trumpet: Eunice Casas, Gabrielle Dantin, Caleb Lawson, Taelor Maciel, Elliott West. French Horn: Tyler Perkins, Amy Witt. Trombone: Virginia Thigpen, Branden Dantin. Euphonium: Kierra Carr, Andrew Hall, Jonah Ellison, Jeremiah Stacy, Blake Williams. Tuba: Danequa Dickson. Snare Drum: Chris Chaillott, Chris Chapman, Brian Thlang, Nathan Webb.

Ensembles receiving 1st division “Superior” ratings are: Flute Quartet: Amber Magee, Cheyenne Masters, Anna Phelps, Alex Wehling. Clarinet Quartet: Sara Coleman, Brittany Collins, Erin Foley, Jordan Hafner. Clarinet Choir: Alicia Guzman, Gabrielle Meyers, Jaqueline Pace, Elizabeth Ruiz, Gabrielle Steele. Trumpet Trio: Eunice Casas, Gabrielle Dantin, Caleb Lawson. Brass Ensemble: Danequa Dickson, Taelor Maciel, Tyler Perkins, Virginia Thigpen, Elliott West, Blake Williams. Snare Drum Trio: Chris Chaillott, Brain Thlang, Nathan Webb.

Students receiving “Excellent” ratings were: Snare Drum Solo: Manuelta Ferreitz, Clarinet Quartet: Katherine Fort, Jeanna Mankins, Breshauna Moise, Lesly Rubalcava. Congratulations to all of these Outstanding Students representing Palestine M.S.!

l Black History Month — On Feb. 27, the Palestine Middle School will be having a Black History Month Assembly. The speaker will be Charlene Hutchinson of Charlene and Associates. Charlene is a retired History Teacher from Westwood ISD. She will present art pieces with extended explanations on the accomplishments of various characters from African American History. Each grade will have an opportunity to hear the speaker in their session.



STORY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

• Third Grade — In Math, we have just finished up number lines and what a fun unit it was! This week we are learning about solid figures in the world around us. We have lots of new and exciting geometry vocabulary words for the Math unit that will be used to describe the shapes. Math Academy has turned out to be a great success and keeps the students motivated to learn!

For Language Arts, we will be on list 21 and will have several reading activities that will incorporate Black History Month, Valentine’s Day and President’s Day. Those topics will be discussed in Social Studies as well. Keep up the hard work by reading AR books and studying Math facts. The TAKS test is right around the corner!

• Fourth Grade —  This week in 4th grade, students will continue gearing up toward their Writing TAKS test coming up in early March. Students are enjoying the “Penny Palooza” fundraiser for the Student Council and the African American Heritage trivia provided by Nurse Jackson every morning.

Math classes will be learning measurement including: length, perimeter, and area. Science classes are engaging in Earth Science as it pertains to the earth’s precious resources. Please help your student stay active in AR reading and studying those Math facts.

• Fifth Grade —  We will continue with Earth Science. This week’s topic is “Learning about Earth’s Past”. Our weekly vocabulary words include: sedimentary rock, metamorphic rock, igneous rock, and fossil.

In Math, our students will finish volume, capacity, weight, and mass. They will begin to convert measurements. We will also review some questions from the practice Math TAKS test that was given earlier this month.

The Language Arts grammar topic of the week is adjectives: demonstrative, superlative, and comparative. We will be studying fact and opinion while reading, “Sea Maiden”. Reading comprehension will focus on multi-meaning words, summarizing, and use of the Dictionary.

• From the Palette of Debbie Nethery — The 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders are learning about Pablo Picasso (1881-1973). We looked at examples of his abstract portraits and created our own by using geometric shapes, lines and bright colors.

• Yearbooks — The Story 2008–2009 yearbooks are still on sale for $20. Get your “Road Trip” yearbook before they are all sold out. They will be arriving soon!!

• Students of the Month for February — 3rd grade – Joseline Garcia-Oscoy, Kalie Ervin, John Cook, Nicholas Calhoun, Destiny Nix, Isaiah Thomas, Julian Benton, Mykala Hickman, Madison Munoz, Andres Chicas, Josue Bermudes, Ly Hieng Te, Ashton Vasquez, Ja’Nae Beavers.

4th grade – Aaron Jackson, Sabrina McCarthy, Braxton Miles, Lynzie Holland, Christa Smith, Ashley Rodriquez, Dennis Smith, Sky Yearout, Claude Rodgers, Peyton Hunt.

5th grade – Megan Smith, David Retana, Lane Lisiecki, Paulina Sanchez, La’Dasia Johnson, Braiden Hardin, Timothy West, Sarah Singletary, Brenda Reyes, Ryan Jenkins, Agustin Ledesma.

• Coming Up — A.M. Story Elementary will be holding our annual “Jump Rope for Heart” event on March 11th. Story raised over $13,000 last year for the American Heart Association. We are happy to support this organization in their efforts to fight against our nation’s Number 1 and Number 3 killers, heart disease and stroke.

Here is our grade level schedule: March 11, 4th grade 8:15 to 10:15 a.m.; third grade, noon to 2 p.m.; March 12, fifth grade, 9 to 11 a.m.



NORTHSIDE EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER

• Field Trip — Northside students enjoyed a field trip to the Civic Center, on February 10, to watch the play, presented by the Omaha Children’s Theater, called “Mrs. Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten.” This was a nice play from the book that encourages reading, calms first day fears about kindergarten, and delights the eyes and ears at the same time. Catchy rhyming sentences introduce children to the school environment and the concepts of self-reliance and respect. Young readers can relate to skills they are learning, such as dressing themselves and tying shoelaces. All the students were excited about watching a play. We thank the bus drivers for safely transporting our students to and from the Civic Center. Thank you to the Palestine Junior Service League for covering the entire cost of the play.

• RIF Day — Feb. 20 was RIF day in the library at Northside.  The theme was “Curl up with a Good Book”. The students dressed up in their pajamas for the day! 

• Kindergarten Learning — Mrs. Allen’s kindergarten classes have been studying and learning about rocks. Mr. and Mrs. Keith Harmon, rock collectors from Tyler, recently donated 16 geode stones to Mrs. Allen’s class. On Monday, February 9th, Mr. Glenn Pinson helped us crack open the geodes with a hammer and chisel.  When water that contained silica evaporated, quartz crystals were left inside.  One geode had formed layers of quartz.  They were amazed to find these wonderful formations inside the rocks. We want to thank Mr. and Mrs. Harmon for their contribution and Mr. Pinson for his help.

• Head Start Learning — Mrs. Garcia's Head Start class has been learning their colors and numbers in English, Spanish, and Sign Language.  On Feb. 12, with the help of the class puppets (Shubert and Valerina), the students have been putting on quite a show. The teachers are using the puppets to make learning fun. Mrs. Garcia would like to invite you to come by and see all the wonderful learning that is taking place! Mrs. Carrizales’ class made volcanoes using the letter V and watched them erupt.

l Celebration Assemblies — The Northside Early Childhood Center held it’sthird Celebration Assembly February 13, 2009. Students came down the school hallways to the beat of the song “Come to the Circle” and formed a large circle of students and teachers in the cafeteria. Each class was recognized by their special class name and welcomed to the circle by Mrs. Myers. Students sang “This Is My School Family” – helping build a feeling of community among the students. Teachers and staff honored the students by reciting and performing the “I Love You Rituals” of “Twinkle, Twinkle,” “Georgie, Porgie,” and “A Wonderful Woman.” Students energized their brains with a brain boogie called “Move and Freeze.”

We all celebrated as students from each class came to the microphone to announce their personal celebrations which ranged from: “My mom has a new baby,” to “I can read a book!” Birthday celebrations were next as we recognized and celebrated all the people from Northside who were born in the month of January and February. We calmed ourselves down with “Peace Like a River” and held hands as we sang “Love Is A Circle” after which students and teachers quietly returned to class.

• Upcoming — March 9-13: Texas Public Schools Week and Book Fair; March 13: RIF day for Texas Public Schools Week – All you Cowgirls and Cowboys can wear your Western Day get up.



SOUTHSIDE PRIMARY

• Black History Month — February morning announcements continue to focus on famous African Americans. This week we celebrated the accomplishments of Benjamin Banneker, a mathematician, astronomer and inventor; Mae Jemison, the first African American woman to enter space; Coretta Scott King, wife of Martin Luther King, Jr., and a noted civil rights leader as well as an author, singer and founder of the King Center in Atlanta, Georgia; and Garrett A. Morgan, the inventor of the automatic stoplight.

• First Grade — First grade enrichment groups met again this week and Mrs. Barnett's group continued to explore the "Properties of Movement" by exploring how things move. Some objects spin, some roll, some move in a straight path, and some zig zag. Students explored how different objects move, such as rocking in a rocking chair, they experienced the back and forth repetitive movement, caused by the forces of push and pull (the subject of last week's study). Students then documented their experiences in a journal.

• Second Grade — Mrs. Bergman's second-grade class welcomed Mrs. Gracie Cook to their room this week as a special guest speaker in honor of Black History Month.

Mrs. Cook was the first black person to hold an office job in the city of Palestine. She was hired in 1967 by the telephone company and worked there until 1995. Mrs. Cook told the class about some of the problems she encountered on the job because she was black.

• Box Tops — Feb. 27 is the deadline for submitting Box Tops for this school year. Our school receives 10 cents for each box top we mail in and they add up quickly!

• Pro-Social Skill Awards — The Pro-Social Skill for the week of Feb. 2-6 was "Dealing with Teasing.” We congratulate the following first graders for doing an excellent job this week: Pablo Aguilar, C'shanti Davis, Jesus DeLeon, Devon England, Kati Fields, Alan Howell, Jakerian Lockett, Tra'Voriyae Martin, Anderson Morales, Micah Moreno, Kimberly Payes, Kemon Ross, Omareon Royal, Jacob Serralde, Anahi Villalobos, Gerald Yarbrough, and Brianna Zarate. Congratulations, also, to these second graders: Kayla Adams, Makenzie Bearden, Noah Cargill, Serenity Cato, Jeramiah Davis, DeJaun Ealy, Alexi Florian, Christian Hull, Santiago Ledesma, Eleana McEwen, Chris Perez, Jesse Rodriguez, Erik Rojas, and Desirae Yarbrough.