October 2012

Issue #2

State Fair

Swine Show Taryn and Tyler Riediger: Each had 2 blue ribbons

Mr. Spurgin an Assistant Superintendent for the Show

Horse Show Derek and Deven Heitland

4 and 5 year Western Pleasure

Derek 1st Place overall

Deven 5th Place overall

Reining

Derek 1st place overall

Agriculture Mechanics West Fork FFA Bench

Blue Ribbon

Farm Progress Show Took 15 students

Had a great time!

National Barrow Show 7 students (Anne, Madison, Cailey, Shea, Taya, Jocob, Collin Jones-Smeby,

We did pretty good, middle of the pack but had fun.

Oktoberfest Helped with the Greased Pig, Chicken Catch, and the Kid Games. Had 22 members there to

work.

West Fork FFA Begins the Year Off with a Great Start!

Soils and Greenhand Fire-up Soils teams finished in the middle of the pack

but had fun. Talk about what they do at

soils (Evaluate soils based on different

things like soil structure, top soil, drainage,

slope, 12 participated)

Greenhand Fire-up, freshman FFA Members. 30

participated.

On Thursday, October 4 the West Fork 3rd graders from Sheffield

and Rockwell traveled together to Lime Creek Nature Center in Mason

City for a field trip to culminate their plant unit. While visiting the

nature center the 3rd graders went on a plant scavenger hunt, a prai-

rie plant search, studied what lives underneath a fallen log, and also

enjoyed exploring the beautiful nature center. The field trip was a great opportunity for the

third graders from both campuses to get together and make new friends. It was a wonderful

day of learning and having fun!

West Fork 3rd Grade Fun!

Reading is the most important skill you can teach a child. Of all the skills children learn, it is

the one you can influence the most.

We invite you to visit our Scholastic Book Fair and experience a celebration of reading that

provides families the opportunity to get involved in a universal mission: encouraging kids to

read every day so they can lead better lives.

Our Scholastic Book Fair theme – All-Star Book Fair: Every Reader Is a Star! – is part of

an exciting reading event that brings to school a wonderful selection of fun, engaging, and af-

fordable books kids want to read. Giving kids access to good books and the opportunity to

choose their own books will motivate them to read more. And like most acquired skills, the

more kids practice reading, the better they’ll get.

Reading is vital to every child’s success, and raising kids as readers means getting involved

while they’re young. Now is the time. Since there will never be a substitute for a parent’s di-

rect involvement in his/her child’s education, please make plans to visit our Book Fair. Hope to

see you there!

In Rockwell

Book Fair Dates: October 29 – November 5

Shopping Hours: 8:00 am – 4:00 pm or 8:00 pm

Kindergarten Trip to Lime Creek Nature Center

Kindergarten Trip to the Fire Station

Congratulations to the following students: Sarah Dusold, Madison Patten, Seamus Sullivan, Devin Ridgeway,

Ylani Guerrero, Daniel Novotney and Jonah VanHorn. They were chosen for the NCIBA Middle School Honor

Band. The concert will be held November 10th in Forest City.

Middle School Honors in the Fine Arts

NCICDA Honor Choir: The following seventh and eighth graders have been selected to attend

the North Central District Honor Choir Festival at NIACC in Mason City: Jacqlyn Caspers, Ay-

dan Wood, Caylee Cook, Sammie McGuire, Sarah Retz, Lauren Dohlman, and Lauren

Moore. The concert will be at 7:00pm on Monday, November 5th and is open to the public.

Guest Conductors: Dr. John Wiles from UNI will conduct the 10th-12th grade Mixed Choir.

Opus director, Dr. Gerald Kreitzer from Mt. Mercy will conduct the 9th-10th grade Honor

Choir. Opus director, Linda Ferjak from Bishop Garrigan in Forest City will conduct the 7th -

8th Grade Girls Honor Choir. Opus director, Kelly Truax from Cedar Rapids Prairie Point will

conduct the 7th-8th Grade Boys Honor Choir.

Opus ‘12 Press Release

Yuvia Maldonado, a sixth grade music student at West Fork, was recently selected for participation in

the twenty-seventh annual Opus Honor Choir Festival. Over 3400 students were nominated by their

directors for 720 positions in the four Opus Honor Choirs. Selections were made by means of a record-

ed audition. Guest conductors of the choirs include Roger Hatteberg, 5th & 6th Grade Elementary

Honor Choir; Kelly Truax, 7th & 8th Grade Bass Clef Honor Choir; Linda Ferjak, 7th & 8th Grade Tre-

ble Clef Honor Choir; and Dr. Gerald Kreitzer, 9th Grade Mixed Honor Choir. The 2012 Opus Honor

Choirs will perform at 4:00 p.m. November 15th in C.Y. Stephens Auditorium in the Iowa State Center in

Ames. The Opus Honor Choir Festival is under the auspices of the Iowa Choral Directors Association,

Inc.

Middle School Flag Team

The flag squad is made up of the following girls: Captains: Erika Perkins and Kaitlyn Liekweg, Madison Patten, Brianna Pals, McKenna Amsbaugh, and Raegan Arbegast. Our alternate is Lauren Trewin. They audi-tioned last month. They will be performing with the middle school marching band this spring.

High School Drawing Class Participates in

National Assisted Living Week

During National Assisted Living

Week the West Fork High

School drawing class went to the

Deerfield Assisted Living to

create artwork with the resi-

dents.

The residents made prints from their original drawings about the fall season.

Students inked the images and the residents printed. After the prints were

dry, they were framed for display in their rooms.

Drawing students enjoyed the afternoon

helping the residents, got to tour one of

the apartments, and learned about the

assisted living life-style. The West Fork

students were very impressed with the

living situation for the Deerfield Resi-

dents and they enjoyed the time with

them.

Just the “High Notes” from Choral Music

The Simpson College Honor Choir is

designed as a non-competitive environ-

ment where exceptional students

from high school programs have the

opportunity to spend a day rehearsing

and performing high quality choral mu-

sic. The intention of the festival is to

augment and reinforce the exciting

work already happening in area choral

programs. A day such as this serves as

an opportunity for students to ener-

gize, discover, and reaffirm their inter-

est and passion in singing.

SIMPSON COLLEGE

Honor Choir Repertoire

October 9, 2012

Cry Out and Shout! – Knut Nystedt

(Summy-Birchard SBCH9307)

Veni Sancte Spiritus, K. 47 – W. A.

Mozart (Arista 581)

Sure On This Shining Night – Morten

Lauridsen (Peer Music 0124115)

How Can I Keep from Singing – arr.

Gwyneth Walker (ECS Publishing No.

5100)

Praise His Holy Name! – Keith Hamp-

ton (earthsongs)

Evan Meester

Amanda Blum Jacee Arbegast

James Vestweber, Celeste & Sydney Staudt, Justin Bonjour

This project is made possible by a grant provided by the Five Wings Arts Council with funds from the McKnight Foundation

supplemented with Legacy funds.

The Staples Area Men’s Chorus (SAMC) wants to help young men find the joy and richness that singing brings to life. It

also wants to help high school and college music programs attract and retain male singers for their choral ensembles, and

to help them remain strong and vibrant organizations. To accomplish this we have started the Real Men Sing Choral Festi-

val.

At no charge to participating schools, the SAMC books the facility, hires a guest conductor and a voice teacher, buys the

music, and provides an evening meal. Rehearsals and workshops are scheduled in the afternoon and the event is capped

off with a concert in the evening.

In addition to the Festival Chorus of over 200 Singers, the concert also features a high school men’s chorus, a college or

university men’s chorus, the SAMC, and selected soloists from the vocal clinic. The Festival has been a resounding suc-

cess, attracting 200 high school age young men from 15 communities and an appreciative audience that has grown every

year as news of the Festival has spread.

Participating high schools are not limited to bringing only their “best” students. They can bring one, four, or all of their male

singers to the Festival. The Festival provides the opportunity to work under some of the very best choral directors in the

state, as well as sessions centered on proper vocal technique and getting the best sound out of every singer’s voice. Eve-

ry participating school will have the opportunity to have at least one soloist work with the Guest Voice Clinician.

It is hoped that the participants come with the music well learned, but in case there are trouble spots, the members of the

SAMC are seated next to the young men during the rehearsals and in the evening concert, to guarantee that the event is

an enriching and rewarding experience. This mentoring and leadership is meant to advance the goals of the event, which

are to convince young men that “yes, real men do sing”; to inform them that there are artistic and creative opportunities

waiting for them after leaving their high school choirs; to demonstrate that men from many walks of life and many ages,

can come together, build community, create enriching music together, and have a great time doing it.

Real Men Sing

Evan Meester Justin Bonjour James Vestweber Matt Retz

Ahna Larson, Sam Amsbaugh, and Spencer Halloran taught Mrs. Schulz's

third grade class how to use a compass on Friday. First, they showed the kids a

brief PowerPoint informing them about Orienteering. Next, they took the kids

out to the playground and navigated around the playground using the knowledge

they learned about compasses. They made shapes such as, triangles, squares, and

rectangles by dialing in a degree and "putting Fred in the shed".

The Health 2 class will be presenting 4 more presentations based on living

in the wild. Our main goal is to take the kids to Gavin's Park for a day in the mid-

dle of winter to work on the skills they learned from all 5 presentations. The

kids really seemed to enjoy using the compasses and being outside making shapes

with the Health 2 class.

Health 2 Students Teach 3rd Graders About Orienteering

Cross Country Corn Bowl Recognition

Girls 2ND All-conference Maya Rowe,

Sydney Shreckengost, Taylor Rooney,

Josi Fjone

Boys 3rd All-conference Peyton Twedt-(conference Champ), Drew Engebretson

8th grade 1A STATE CHAMPI-ONS Jacob Hansen 1A State Champion , Seamus Sullivan, Justin Anderson, Brett Barkema, Josh Stevens

Super Second Graders

S Second Grade is fun!

U Understanding fire prevention thanks to our firemen

friends

P P.E. class is awesome when we play dodge ball

E Each of us work hard in Math

R Reading with Josie, our high school helper

S Singing and musical games in music with Ms. Wilson

E Each of us trying hard to be fair

C Computer class teaches us to type

O Opening calendar starts our day

N Nouns and verbs are words and skills we are learning

D Drawing friendship monster for the bulletin board

G Going to Ames to see the play “Clifford the Big Red Dog”

R Reading AR books carefully so we can test on them

A Allysia is a good high school helper

D Doing homework is important

E Exploring and learning about neighborhoods and communities

R Recess is time spent with friends

S See—we really are super—and special!

Sheffield campus - Mrs. Clapham

Important Dates to Remember

October 24th- 2:00 Early dismissal for staff development

October 25th- 7:00 High School Fall Vocal Variety Show

October 27th– ACT test date State Cross Country Meet

October 29th- 2:00 dismissal for Parent-teacher Conferences

Conferences from 4:00-8:00 pm.

November 1st– 2:00 dismissal for Parent-teacher Conferences

Conferences from 3:00-7:30 pm.

November 2nd- NO SCHOOL

November 4th- Daylight Savings Time Ends

November 5th- NCICDA 7-12 Vocal Festival @NIACC

November 6th- National Election Day

November 7th- 2:00 Early dismissal for staff development

November 9th- High School Fall Play

November 11th-16th American Education Week

November 12th- No School– Staff Development

November 13th- Corn Bowl Conference Honor Choir Festival

November 15th-17th All-State Music Festival