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April 2012 Volume 18 Issue 8

Roaring Riverside Monthly Striving to Provide the Highest Quality

Riverside’s Ricky Williams Earns

Education for the

Riverside Junior Ricky Williams earned quite a few honors this year during the basketball season. He was chosen First Team All-Conference, First Team All-State, and most recently, Southwest Iowa’s Player of the Year and Captain of the 1A All-Western Iowa Team. He surpassed Shane Chase as the school’s all-time leading scorer this year, capping 1,300 points in just three seasons. Upon being asked by several papers, Ricky pays credit for his success to his family, his teammates, his coaches, and everyone who has supported him in his life. “He’s one of the most dominant players I have ever worked with. He is starting to lead by example, he’s very motivated, and I think he’s going to exceed this success his senior year,” said Coach Shelangouski. More importantly, Williams has high hopes for the team. Recently, the Council Bluffs paper ran a story. In there, Williams said that the team will build even more on the success we had this year as a team, and he looks forward to getting ready for next year! Congratulations to Ricky Williams on such prestigious honors!

Communities of Carson, Macedonia, and Oakland. Riverside Community School Mission Statement The mission of the Riverside Community School District is to prepare students to meet the challenges of the future as responsible citizens in a global society.

Inside This Issue School/Community

Many Honors

Dawgs’ Sports Extra, Extra! School Contacts: Elementary School: 482-6296 Middle School: 484-2291 High School: 482-6464 PK-8 Principal: Jamie Meek 9-12 Principal: David Gute District Superintendent: Dr. James Sutton www.riversideschools.org

Update From the High School Laptops were passed out to the 9th – 12th grade student body in the months of November and December. This was major commitment on the school board’s part in providing these for the students to enhance their education. Things are going great and we have had very few issues so far that have needed disciplinary or technical help. The teachers have received ongoing professional development instruction on implementing new strategies into the classroom with the use of technology. As you all know, technology changes quickly and we will need to continue to update our students and staff with those changes. I would say 90% of the time I walk into a classroom students are using their computers for taking notes, doing projects, papers, presentations, and research. Almost half of our Juniors and Seniors are taking an online class this semester for dual college and high school credit. We have several students that will be graduating high school this May with around 30 college credits. This is a credit to them pushing themselves and the school for providing these opportunities. Not too many schools in our area can compare to the college offerings we have for our students. We also have some talented and gifted (TAG) students in the Freshman and Sophomore grades that are pushing themselves with online courses. These learning opportunities have also found a place in the middles school. Several middle school TAG students are currently taking 9th grade English online so that they will be able to take 10th grade English their Freshman year.

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Students in Riverside Elementary School save boxtops, milk lids, Campbell's Soup labels, and Our Family labels. These labels are turned in for points to get additional supplies for our school. The classroom with the most labels each month wins a pizza party. The pizza is generously given by Blimpies' in Oakland. Pictured, Mrs. Elliott's class is enjoying the pizza they earned.

The Kindergarten Class of 2024 attended the Shrine Circus on February 23, 2012. With the help of Doc Blanchard and the Botna Valley Shriners, the group had a great time watching the circus. The students really enjoyed the animal acts along with the many clowns that entertained people of all ages. We would like to thank all of the Moms, Dads and the Exploring Teaching class, Katherine, Deven, Mac, Kerstin, and Daniella that assisted us on this special day!

Jazz Bands Wrap up a Productive Season Middle School and High School Jazz Bands finalized their 2011-2012 season with a fine concert on March 13th. Performers and audience both enjoyed a fun and exuberant performance. Both bands have grown in maturity and experience this year developing new styles and techniques. High School Jazz Band participated in the WIC Jazz Festival in January and the SWIBA Festival in February. Paige Kallsen, Rachel Novotny, Trae Kelly and Reagan Gaynor all earned musicianship awards at the SWIBA festival. Judges remarked the Rhythm Section was “solid” and clinicians were amazed at the number of young players covering parts for the upper band. Growth throughout the year bodes well for the future of this aspiring young ensemble. Sixth grade musicians were crucial in filling out the sound for the Middle School Jazz Band rehearsing during “Bulldog” as well as 7:15 AM Thursday rehearsals. The band performed two charts at the concert: Easy Goin’ and Classroom Blues . These are style building “head” charts and afforded the three main soloists ample improvisational space. Soloists this year are Sarah Wede, Chris Gaynor, and Kelsey Danielson. Building towards a promising future both bands had a very productive season. Congratulations Bands!—Mr. Washburn

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RHS Choir: Accompanists needed Piano Playing Volunteers wanted

This semester, the Riverside High School Choir will be participating in State Solo/Ensemble contest which takes place on Saturday, April 14th 2012. Solo/Ensemble Contest is an opportunity for all students to develop and hone their skills as musicians and receive feedback from a state approved judge. Students will prepare vocal solo’s and/or work in a small group to sing 3-8 part accompanied/acapella music. All choir students will be participating this year, which will mean a wealth of musical variety and student experience! However, in order for our school to be able to do this great opportunity, the choir will need as many volunteers as possible to help accompany the music in which they are given. We are in need of proficient piano players who would be willing to volunteer to come to the high school on select evening to work with the students on their accompanied vocal solos or ensemble music. There is a need for a few advanced piano players for some of the more experienced groups but there will also be more beginner level songs for volunteers to play! If you would like to help support the Vocal Music Program, please contact Mr. Austin Zaruba at the High school, (712) 482-6464 or via e-mail [email protected]

Mr. Shelangouski’s Advisory Spends Time At the Nursing Home Back in December, Mr. Shelangouski’s advisory took a short trip over to the nursing home in Oakland, Iowa. While there, they spent time with several of the residents. They played games, colored pictures, and just had some great conversations with the great residents of Oakland’s nursing home. Many of the kids found this to be very rewarding because not only were they doing something nice in the community, but they were having fun with people they may or may not have known. They were also able to keep smiling faces on the residents with their stories, games, and pictures that they drew for them. I apologize for just getting this in there!

MOTHER DAUGHTER KINDERGARTEN TEACHER DUO Riverside has the unique fortune to have two teachers from the same family. Jennifer Elliott and her daughter Amy Smith both teach Kindergarten at Riverside Elementary. Jennifer Phillips came to Carson Macedonia in 1974 as a first time teacher, graduating from the University of Northern Iowa. She married Richard Elliott, a fellow teacher, left the district for a couple years, then returned to Carson and the district to continue her career and raise her family. Mrs. Elliott has taught both elementary and middle school levels. To quote an evaluation “She is an asset to this staff and this district and we are fortunate to have a teacher of this magnitude influencing and teaching the children of our district”. Jennifer’s daughter, Amy graduated from Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri with a Psychology degree, then returned to Buena Vista University to get her BA in Elementary Education. She taught in Bellevue before joining her mother at Riverside in August, 2010 when a third Kindergarten class was added. Mr. Meek, Elementary Principal sees Mrs. Smith “as an outstanding addition to the elementary staff. She has brought new energy and ideas to the building”. In addition to Amy and her family, the Elliott’s have a son Bret, his wife Kara and their son Jack. Amy and her husband Mike live in Oakland with their son Nathan.

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Roaring Riverside Monthly

Kindergarten Buddies Students in Mrs. Hardee’s third grade class and students in Mrs. Smith’s kindergarten class have teamed up every Friday as reading buddies. For thirty minutes each week the third graders help the kindergarten students read stories, practice writing sentences, and work on other reading and writing skills.

Riverside Middle School Second Annual Health Fair It was another great year of presenters and community volunteering their time to display healthy information and food. Our keynote speaker, Iowa’s Teacher of the Year, Charity Campbell gave a great presentation to start off the day and then keep everyone very active in her small group session. It was a wonderful opportunity to have her as part of our health fair. Students were involved in learning how to make smoothies, how to lead a more balanced life, the importance of health insurance, learning how to make better choices in their drinks and in their food selections, learning to hip hop, how muscle fatigue, strength, and endurance effects your health and how to calm a crying baby.

Many of the students walked away with their goodie sacks filled with information and food that they received from our display tables. We had Sam’s Club, Rubacks Grocery, VNA, Creighton vision, IWCC culinary, Carson Fire Department, Family, Inc, Pottawattamie County Tobacco Coalition, Council Bluffs Convention and Visitors Bureau, East Pottawattamie County 4-H and Extension, Riverside Youth Sports, Emergency Management Agency. Oh yes, Ancient Wisdom massage was very popular with students and staff! We appreciate all of them volunteering their time to support to our health fair.

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8th Graders learn CPR As part of the physical education curriculum the 8th grade PE classes participate in a unit on CPR. Students learn the skills of properly performing CPR on an adult. They also learn how to use an AED and the proper way to deal with a victim that is choking. The students must demonstrate these skills for an instructor and then also take a written test. We would like to thank Veva Larson and the volunteers from the Carson Fire Department; Jeff Martens, Carla Jarmin and Joey Elder for assisting in the instruction. CPR instructors for the course were Vicki Palmer and Linda Wax.

Individual Speech Season is a Huge Success. The Riverside Individual Speech season started with the WIC speech contest on February 20. WIC was hosted by Tri-Center this year and held at the United Church of Christ in Minden. Riverside students, Paige Kallsen and Ean Johnson, took 1st and 3rd, respectively in the Public Address category. The students next competed at district competition on Saturday, February 25 at Logan-Magnolia High School. The results were as follows: Caitlin Hughes (Poetry) II rating; Sara Kemp (Storytelling), II rating; Katie Biggs (Solo Musical Theater) II rating; Paige Kallsen (Public Address and Solo Musical Theater) both received I ratings; Ean Johnson (Public Address) I rating and (Spontaneous Speaking) II rating; Tina Perry (Poetry) I rating; Becca Hansen (Radio News) I rating; Ashlie Wagner (Improv) II rating. Those students receiving one ratings went on to compete at the state competition. State competition was held Saturday, March 10 at Ames High School. Ean Johnson received three I ratings for his Public Address. Paige Kallsen received three I ratings for her Public Address and three II ratings for her Solo Musical Theater. Becca Hansen received three I ratings for her Radio News Announcing while Tina Perry received two I ratings and one II rating which allowed her to receive a I rating for her Poetry reading. Mary Stempel is the speech coach. Austin Zaruba helped out with the Solo Musical Theater entries. Thank you, Mr. Zaruba. Thanks to the parents and a special thanks to Kristina Hansen for making our state contestants (both Group and Individual) goodie bags for the trips to contest!

Monsters Invade Oakland Don’t worry! They don’t bite much. The Riverside High School art students have been busy over the last several weeks creating crazy papier mache critters. Their imaginations ran wild as everything from toothy turtles to 8-armed freaks took form. Now, with the monsters finished and raring to scare, they are going on a short tour of the elementary and junior high buildings. Be sure to stop by and check them out! Pictured above from left to right are Aspen Blackburn’s, Sydney Raney’s, Taylor Frain’s, and Sara Kemp’s monsters. Nice job, students!

Congrats to Bev Cain on her retirement from Riverside Schools!

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Riverside Students Participate In Spelling Bee Riverside students participating were: 4th grade: Christian Ehlers and Maggie Boruff, 5th grade: Anthony St. Andrew and Christian Anderson, 6th grade: Sydney Swope and Ethan Henderson, 7th grade: Brent Pendgraft and Jasmyn Carter, 8th grade: Tyler Krueger and Alex Dillon. Treynor students participating were: 4th grade: Luke Mieska and Sydnie Melby, 5th grade: Amanda McKern and Hannah McIntyre, 6th grade: Kaylee Finnegan and Klara Ticer, 7th grade: Jordan Utterback and Morgan Showalter, 8th grade: Austin Patterson and Hannah Carolus. Individual grade level rounds were held first. Winners of those rounds were: 4th grade-Maggie Boruff, Riverside; 5th grade-Hannah McIntyre, Treynor; 6th grade-Kaylee Finnegan, Treynor; 7th grade-Morgan Showalter, Treynor; and 8th grade-Tyler Krueger, Riverside. Those students then competed for Overall Winner and the right to represent Pottawattamie County. The Overall Winner was Tyler Krueger from Riverside. Trophies were sponsored by Arbor Bank of Oakland. Pictured above are left to right, Hannah McIntyre, Morgan Showalter, Kaylee Finnegan, Tyler Krueger, and Maggie Boruff.

Please send your pop tabs to Riverside Middle School for the Omaha Ronald McDonald House. Thank you!

ITED Pep Rally On Monday, March 26, the high school had a pep rally to fire up the student body for taking the Iowa Assessment (ITED’s). The very attractive and peppy cheerleaders who led the students with ITED cheers were Deven Moore, Dalton Kelly, Jesse Mc Millin, Kyle Hackett, and Cody Stowell. Mr. Gute also talked to the students about the importance of a good night’s sleep, a nutritional breakfast, and a good attitude. Go Bulldogs!!

Board Selects Committee to Review Input on New Building James Sutton, Superintendent

The Riverside Board of Education has been trying diligently to make an informed next step regarding a new building for the Riverside School District. Suggestion boxes have been distributed throughout the communities, and at its last meeting on Monday, March 19 th, the board appointed a committee to review the suggestions. The committee was appointed by the board to do the following things. First, determine how long the suggestion boxes will be out there for input. Second, the committee will gather up the boxes and review the suggestions it has received. Third, they will determine if they need to collect more community input by, for instance, holding a community meeting. And finally, they will report back to the board with a summary of information received. Twenty-one people voiced a desire to be a part of the Suggestion Review Committee as it is called. The board decided that this was a workable number of people that represented all communities, so they appointed all of them to the committee. After the committee delivers their report to the board, the board will have a number of decisions to make. Should they keep the current plan or change it in some way? If a change needs to be made, should they take a totally new look at the layout of the building? Should they consider a different building approach, such as construction management? Should they keep the same priorities for the project or change them in some way or another? All of these questions and more may be considered by the board as they continue to look for the best approach at progress for Riverside and its students. In the meantime, we encourage patrons to continue to provide input via the suggestion boxes or by contacting the board or superintendent directly.

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April 2012 Breakfast Sun

Mon 1

Tue

2 French toast with syrup Fruit Milk Ch.-Cereal

8

9 No School

3

Wed Cereal Muffin Juice Milk

4

Thu Donut Juice Milk

22

10

Grilled cheese Fruit Milk

16 Pancakes with Syrup Fruit Milk Ch– Cereal

17 Scrambled eggs Whole grain toast Juice Milk

23 Sausage &Cheese On English muffin Fruit Milk

24 Omelet 1/2 bagel or toast Juice Milk

29

30

5 No School

Sat 6 No School

7

Long johns Juice Milk

14

Ch. Cereal 11 No Breakfast Late Start

15

Fri

18

Breakfast pizza Juice Milk

12 Breakfast bites With syrup Juice Milk Ch– Cereal 19

Fruit turnover Juice Milk

13

Ch– Cereal 20 Cereal Whole grain toast Juice Milk

21

Ch– Cereal 25 No Breakfast

26

Cinnamon twist Juice Milk

27

Cereal Muffin Juice Milk

28

Late start

Grilled cheese Fruit Milk

April 2012 Lunch Sun

Mon

Tue

1Lettuce also offered at least three times a week

2 Soft shelled Taco Lettuce– Salsa Shredded cheese Corn & Fruit

Soup & Sandwich Fresh veggies Fruit

Mr. Rib on whole Grain bun Calf. Blend veggies

8

9 No School

10 Pizza Green Beans Fruit crisp or Fruit Ch– Fiestada

Sub Sandwiches Baked Beans Fresh veggies Fruit Chicken nuggets Cauliflower Peaches

15

16

22

23

29

30 Walking taco Lettuce– Salsa Shredded cheese Fruit Ch– pulled pork

3

Wed

Thu

4

Fri

Sat

5 No School

6 No School

7

11 Chicken& Noodles Mashed potatoes Fruit Bread & Butter

12

Hot dogs Macaroni & cheese Fresh veggies Fruit

13 Hamburger on whole grain bun Slice cheesepickles French Fries

14

17 Chicken fried steak Mashed potatoes Gravy

18 Chicken strips Broccoli Fruit & Cookie Ch– Turkey and Cheese on pita

19 Crispito Salsa– Shred cheese Tossed salad Fruit

20 Tenderloin on whole grain bun Waffle fries Fruit Cooks choice

21

24 Mini corn dogs Peas Fruit Ch– Porcupine Meatballs

25 Pork gravy Mashed potatoes Fruit Dinner roll

26 Ham Melts on whole grain bun Corn Fruit Ch– French dip

27 Pizza Tossed salad Fruit Chocolate cake

28

Riverside Newborns Staff members who welcome new members into their families is always noteworthy in the school newsletter! Pictured left is middle school cook Charlene Bates with her new granddaughter. Pictured right is Kara and Todd Plagman with their newborn, Amelia. Congratulations to both parties on the new additions to your families!

High School Honor Roll—3rd Quarter Gold Honor Roll-(Freshman) Tucker Bluml, Carli Fenn, Taylor Frain, Samantha Gordon, Sara Kemp, Maci Pendgraft, Sydney Raney, Elizabeth Reynolds, Sheyenne Smith, (Sophomores) Reagan Gaynor, Bailey McCready, Rachel Novotny, Brady Ryun, (Juniors) Dallas Bane, Brittany Baumfalk, Katherine Bertacini, Dannielle Easton, Rachel Faga, Dani Turner, (Seniors) Jacie Feigenbutz, Haley Hummel, Samantha Keast, Meghan McSorley, Jennifer Taylor Silver Honor Roll- (Freshman) Aaron Beireis, Hannah Boruff, Caitlin Hughes, Hannah Hummel, Trae Kelly, (Sophomores) Gabby Salais, Baylee White, (Juniors) Ashlie Wagner, Ricky Williams, (Seniors) Dallas Dietz, Deven Moore, Jill Pendgraft Regular Honor Roll- (Freshman) Brooke Alff, Hannah Henderson, Paige Kallsen, Kyra Martens, Madison West, (Sophomores) Malachi Dillon, Hunter Dittus, Travis Henningsen, Tiffany Wichert, (Juniors) Katelyn Biggs, Lexi Cleaveland, Jacob Conway, Michaela England, Kerstin Eskins, Becca Hansen, Clay Harris, Christian Jorgensen, Brittney Knoke, Cory Reichart, Marissa Rose, (Seniors) Cade Cleaveland, Trey Cleaveland, Dani Fenn, Kyle Hackett, John Loring, Jesse McMillin, Josh Mills, Jordan Young