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North Dickinson County School
Nordic Tribune
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Felch, MI 49831
ECRWSS
Postal Customer
January, 2015
Kindergarten
By: Mrs. Amy Hord
Class of 2017
Mrs. Jennifer Slagle
First Grade
By: Mrs. Angie Mattson
It's hard to believe that Christmas
break is here already. Our kindergarteners have been busy making holiday projects, singing songs, adding
numbers to 10 and learning how to
read word families. Please remember
to practice the sight word lists that
came home in their agenda books
over break. We will hopefully begin
reading books after break! Enjoy the
holidays with your families and thank
you to those who sent in canned
goods to donate to the local food pantries.
The Sophomore Class of 2017 is still
collecting raffles items to be used to
earn money for class activities. If any
parents have any fundraising ideas or
raffle items to donate, please contact
Mrs. Slagle, Mrs. Johnson, or Mrs.
Williams.
We are currently working on subtraction patterns and fact families
in math. We welcomed a new student in first grade before Christmas
and we are now at 19 students! The boys are still outnumbered by the girls! Please keep up
with the homework each night. It
makes a huge difference in our daily work. It has been a great year so
far and we are looking forward to
2015!
Third Grade
By: Mrs. Jennifer Slagle
The third grade has been learning about simple machines in science
and experimenting with them. In
math, they are learning about division. Please keep practicing both
multiplication and division facts.
Thank you to everyone who has donated craft supplies to our classroom.
Fourth Grade Science
Mrs. Jennifer Slagle
Mrs. Slagle's 4th grade science class
has been dissecting and learning
about the anatomy and physiology of
starfish, clams, crayfish, frogs, fish,
and worms. I would like to say
thank you Dickinson County's chapter of MARSP (Michigan Association
of Retired School Personnel) for the
mini-grant to purchase the dissecting
specimens.
Reading Olympics
By: Mrs. Jennifer Slagle
Reading Olympics grades 3-8 have
until January 9th to read 6 books and
complete the journals from the list.
All of the books are in the library.
They will then be put on a team the
week of January 12th. Opening Ceremonies will be Monday, March 2nd
at Kingsford from 4:00-5:00. If you
have any questions please contact
Mrs. Slagle.
Reminder to Seniors
Seniors are reminded to turn in three
graduation pictures to the office as
soon as possible. They will be used
for the class composite, the yearbook, and The Daily News senior
edition.
Messages / Phone Calls for
Students
Our school policy does not permit
us to take a student out of class for
phone calls, messages, etc., unless
it is an emergency situation. We
realize there are occasions when
parents have to call the office to
deliver a message to their children
but lately we have had an increase
in these non-emergency types of
calls. If you are aware that your
child is going to be getting off the
bus at a stop other than their own,
please send a note with them in the
morning. Only under emergency
situations can we take telephone
calls to give students messages to
ride the bus to stops other than their
own. Your cooperation is appreciated.
Yearbooks
The yearbook early bird special is
coming to an end. January 15th will
be the last day that you can buy
your 2014– 2015 yearbook for
$25.00. For the best prices don’t
delay. After January 15th the price
will be $30.00, after May 1st the
price will be $40.00.
Notice to Senior parents: Once
again this year we will be having
the senior baby edition. So please
send a baby picture with your senior. Pictures will be returned as
soon as they are scanned. Thank
you for your help.
Music Department
Ms. Lisa Anderson
Congratulations to the 5th – 12th
grade band students for their outstanding performance at the Christmas Concert! So proud of our Nordic musicians! Also, we would like
to thank Angie Mattson and
Chasity Alexa for organizing the
cookie social after our concert and
Thomas Rusch for recording the
concert.
On January 16 & 17, the following
Nordic H.S. Band Students have
been selected to participate in the
WSMA Honors Band that will be
held at the Niagara High School
Auditorium: Jade Driscoll, flute;
McKenna Christian, clarinet; Casey
LaPlaunt, clarinet; Reighan Johnson, tenor saxophone; Lee Anne
Jauquet, bari saxophone; Cody
Slagle, trumpet; Aleesha Carlson,
trumpet; and Gavin Johnson, trumpet. Students from Norway, Kingsford, Iron Mountain, Niagara, Pembine, Westwood, Gwinn, West
Iron, and North Dickinson will
meet together to rehearse on Friday
afternoon and Saturday morning/
afternoon. Students will perform a
concert on Saturday at 4:00 p.m.
Family and friends are invited to
attend! Congratulations to all participants for being selected to perform in the WSMA 2014 Honors
Band!
News from the Guidance Office
By: Angie Jungwirth
ND PTO
Mrs.Angie Mattson
Financial Aid Night Reminder
Bay College West will be hosting a
Financial Aid night at North Dickinson High School Library. The information provided applies to ALL students planning to attend college even
if the student is attending a college
other than Bay. The meetings will
inform students and parents of different options available to pay for college. It will also give students and
parents a chance to ask questions concerning college. Computers will be
available for parents to have the opportunity to begin filling out the
FASFA (Free Application for Federal
Student Aid). All senior parents will
receive a letter prior to the meeting
giving them a list of forms to bring to
have the correct information for
FASFA completion. The meeting is
open to all students, parents, and community members.
Our January PTO meeting will be
held on Wednesday, January 14 at
6:00. We will meet in the elementary library. Please be on the lookout
for our Valentine's day fundraiser. You won't be disappointed! Please keep saving BoxTops,
Campbell's Labels, Econo and Super
One receipts for your elementary
students to bring in! Our Spring collection contest will support end of
the year field trips.
Financial Aide Night
Location: North Dickinson High
School Library
Date: Wednesday, February 11,
2015
Time: 5:00 PM
Scholarships
Seniors have been presented with several scholarship opportunities. Lists
are handed out during senior English
with scholarships, requirements, and
due dates. If seniors are absent lists
are available in a folder on the guidance bulletin. Seniors are also encouraged to stop in to see Mrs.
Jungwirth with scholarship questions.
Trip to Tech Center
The sophomore class will be touring
the Dickinson-Iron Technical Education Center on January 7. Students
will visit all classes offered at the
technical center and hear presentations from students and teachers with
course description and information
regarding what the classes involve.
The trip should help students determine if they would like to take courses at the technical center as juniors or
seniors.
Board Highlights –December 2014
-A presentation was made by the Stu-
dent School Improvement Committee requesting the board to change
the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy
-Approved the revised FY15 budget
as presented
-Approved NEOLA policies presented as a second reading
-Scheduled a policy committee meeting for Monday, December 15, 2014
at 6:00 p.m.
-Reappointed James Carey to a four
year term on the Forestry Commission
-Received the Acceptance of Office
as signed by members Marsha Hord,
Leonard (Alex) Graham and
Jacquelen Schemmel
-The Oath of Office was administered to board members Marsha
Hord, Leonard (Alex) Graham and
Jacquelen Schemmel
Walkers Welcome
Walkers are welcome to use the high
school hall before school from 7:00
to 8:00 AM and after school from
3:30-5:00 PM. The weight room will
also be open during these times.
End of 1st Semester / Report
Cards Issued
Friday, January 23rd is the end of the
1st semester for the 2014-15 school
year. Report cards will be issued on
Wednesday, January 28, 2015.
News from the Superintendent
After school, I decided to ask some
students as they were leaving for the
day what their favorite thing about
school is and why they like coming to
ND. I received many answers. Some
of them were: gym, science, english,
math, art, library, fun teachers, sports,
and being a second grade aide. Some
students even named specific teachers
that make ND such a great place to
learn. I also asked some teachers the
same questions and their answers always referred to their students.
In the spring, our students will be taking the new state assessments and our
district will be “graded” on our students’ success on the new assessment.
We will be compared to different districts around the state and the Department of Education will post reports
ranking all the schools in Michigan.
At this time, we are unaware of what
the tests will look like and what exactly our students will be tested on. Just
like in the past, we will receive a color
ranking that is not supposed to be designed to compare schools but is based
on goals met and goals not met based
on different subgroups. This scorecard
is used to tell a story about the school
districts in Michigan, however there is
a lot more than test scores that should
tell the story within each and every
school.
Although we do not know what story
our school scorecard will tell, the staff
members at North Dickinson know the
whole story of our school. We know
that our school is a good school. In
many areas, we are a great school. Our
students learn. Our faculty and staff
care. We offer many types of learning
opportunities. Our students have the
ability to learn face-to-face from a
teacher, in a blended or online learning setting or through interactive television. Our students are able to take
college classes while in high school
getting them one step closer to being
career and college ready. We have a
wonderful student council in both the
high school and the middle school.
Our students can compete in reading
competitions, spelling bees and in
band competitions with other districts
in Dickinson County and the state.
We offer many athletic opportunities
to middle school and high school students which is an extension of the
learning in the classroom. Our teams
are competitive and our coaches
challenge the students to improve,
but more importantly our coaches’
care about each and every student.
Our parents and community are extremely supportive which is evident
by the community participation at all
school events. One of the best things
about ND is that the faculty and staff
get to help our students succeed and
see them grow from kindergarten to
high school and turn into responsible
citizens.
We also know that we can do better.
We do have achievement gaps between the bottom 30 percent of our
students and our population as a
whole. We have put many supports
in place to address these gaps and
have created school improvement
goals to help all students from the
most achieving to the least. We have
teachers who are available before
and after school and during their
lunch to help students focus academically. We offer tutoring before and
after school for the same purpose.
We know that we are making progress and that the state “scorecard”
cannot truly capture the good things
that happen in our school every day.
We are proud of our students and our
school.
J.V. Girls Basketball Change
Mid Peninsula does not have a
junior varsity girls basketball
team, therefore when we play
them on January 16th our J.V.
team will play Iron Mountain
Freshmen.
Dickinson County Library
Survey
In the December Newsletter we
had a link to take a short survey to
see if the community would use
the North Dickinson Branch of the
Dickinson County Public Library
more if it were open more often.
There was an error with the responses of the survey. We would
like to ask anyone who took the
survey to please retake it. Or if
you have not taken it we would
love to know what you think. The
survey can be accessed at the following web address http://goo.gl/
forms/z4Ykn36RAU.
J.H. Student Council
By: Mrs. Jennifer Slagle
The Junior High Student Council did a great job collecting
for the can-a-thon for our local
food pantry. They are now planning a winter activity.
J.H. Student Council Can-a-Thon— Left to Right: Justin Slagle, Jadyn
Schemmel, Ricki Mattson, Emily Forstrom, Ramsey Nord, Peyton Carlson,
Cuyler Crites, Samantha Borvan, Savannah Longtin, and Masyn Alexa