TASD Winter '22 HOWL Newsletter

Winter ‘21-’22

Official Community Newsletter of the Tomah Area School District

TAMS’ 2ND YEAR OF COMMUNITY GIFTING PROJECT

IN THIS ISSUE...

4K & 5K Enrollment Now Open!

TASD Partners for PD TASD Bands Make Honors THS Alumni Return as Faculty

It’s become a tradition for TAMS E-2 students to personally craft blankets to gift to local children in need over the holiday season. For the second year, Ms. Harlos’ class created blankets, this year out of fleece. The community gifting project is a partnership with the Tomah Police Department. Two officers visited the schoolhouse to accept the gifts and personally thank the students.

STEM Opportunities for our Students THS AG Teacher Appointed to National-Level

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MESSAGE FROM OUR DISTRICT ADMINISTRATOR

Hello, everyone! The 2021-2022 academic year is past the mid-point, and we’re honored to present the Winter 2022 edition of the HOWL highlighting the incredible gifts and talents of our students and faculty district-wide! Enjoy great stories about student activities, faculty professional development, and the powerful impact Tomah Area School District alumni and families of educators are making through their service to our community of learners! Focusing on High Quality Learning - Every Child - Every Day is a top priority in every classroom and in all operations as we move through the mid-point of our school year. We’re also very proud of our winter co-curricular activities as students find success and lifetime learning experiences that truly educate the whole child! This issue of the HOWL spotlights some of the many wonderful academic and co-curricular opportunities available to our students!

Due to the extraordinary efforts and professional skill sets of our dedicated cadre of employees, Tomah Area School District continues to lead the way providing robust educational experiences for students through the ongoing challenges of the pandemic. Our dedicated faculty in all departments in the district exemplify the strong spirit of innovation and excellence benefiting the future goals and aspirations of your children. Their continued work puts us in a position to move forward successfully as the educational space continues to evolve.

From board actions that promote healthy work and in-person learning environments to the operational and educational activities occurring in all buildings, it is rewarding to take part in a supportive environment with our community continuing the long-standing tradition of academic excellence in the Tomah Area School District. Thank you for your partnership!

While this edition of the HOWL focuses on the great things happening now, plans are already taking shape in preparation for the 20222023 school year. Board approved school calendars for next year are available to preview on our district website. We’re looking ahead to next year’s student enrollment too. Early education and intervention services through the Timber Pups program builds student readiness and skills for success at the elementary level enhancing every step along the educational journey of our students. Help us get the word out with family and friends to enroll little ones in our strong 4K-5K programming! Grade level transition and course enrollment activities will start soon for students moving through the middle and high school as they prepare for the start of the 2022-2023 school year. These are just a few examples of items underway in preparation for next year. We’ll keep you up to date with more information from the building and district levels as plans, programs, and initiatives take shape!

Although we may be looking to the future school year, many great experiences and opportunities are yet to come this year! Spring academic events and activities are right around the corner. It’s an exciting time as we head toward the final stretch of this current school year! We’re so grateful to everyone in our community providing your presence, support, time, and talents that keep our children engaged in all aspects of their school day. Thank you for making our district a great place to learn and grow! Together we make a difference!

- Dr. Hanson , Superintendent

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TASD PARTNERS WITH SOLUTION TREE FOR PROFRESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Our professional staff is continuously examining our curriculum to stay current with the state academic standards. We found our monitoring and measurements of student assessments as an area of improvement. While we have always thoroughly assessed our students, we took this opportunity to fine-tune our existing measurement practices. This school year, using *ESSER funds, we consulted with Solution Tree, a professional development company and publisher of educational material for K-12 educators, to provide professional development for our staff and collaboratively created assessments that precisely align with our essential standards in each offered course.

With the help of our Solution Tree trainer, Ms. Angela Freese, our teachers broke our established essential standards into steps and began creating assessments that monitor our students’ learning. Ms. Freese provided a virtual training in August of 2021 and again in October of 2021. This work will continue into the 22-23 school year as she joins our staff this July and August to guide our teachers through the next steps in developing the improved assessments. This in-depth evaluation of our curriculum is essential to keeping our focus on what is most important to us: High quality student learning.

Every child. Every day. Our objective in this professional development is for our students to learn the curriculum and for our teachers to be able to identify when they have learned it. *ESSER Funds are specific stimulus monies given to schools to be used in closing the learning gaps created by the pandemic. We are using a portion of our given funds to support our teachers in implementing methods and strategies to deliver effective instruction.

Read more on our curriculum at www.tomah.education/curriculum

THS MASS COMMUNICATIONS CLASS FILMS 2022 WASB CONVENTION Each year, the WASB (Wisconsin Association of School Boards) holds a Wisconsin-wide competition to find a high school video production team to document the association’s state conference in Milwaukee at the Wisconsin Center.

Our THS video production team (along with their teacher, Mr. Brian Kibby) was selected to document the event, for the fifth time, based on their past work in documentary film making. At the event, our students had the chance to interview various members of the WASB, vendors, and many keynote speakers. Students also recorded additional footage of members participating in the event, showcasing the wide array of opportunities the event offers for school districts across the state. Once they returned to Tomah, they began editing hours of footage down to a five-to-tenminute video. For the 2022 event, the video production team consisted of Matthew Hennessey, Devon Aquino and Daniel Shumway. The students had a great time at the event while experiencing a real-world application of the skills they have learned in class. The finished video will be shared on the WASB site for public view.

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DANIEL GORDON PERFORMS AT THE OVERTURE CENTER IN WI HONORS BAND Last spring, we announced Daniel Gordon’s (now a THS Junior) selection to perform in the WSMA (Wisconsin School Music Association) State Honors Program. Since winning his audition, he has worked hard on his own and attended a four-day intensive camp to prepare for his performance this October.

He, as a percussionist, performed with over 400 other WI high school students in the program.

“The other percussionists in my section were very good, and the band sounded very good. It was fun to play with a really good band. The favorite piece I played was probably the second movement of ‘Give Us This Day’ by David Maslanka. It’s a very fast and energetic piece and the ending is one of the coolest I’ve heard.” - Daniel “The WSMA Honors Band Project has been a wonderful experience. We’re proud to see Daniel make the commitment and take advantage of this great opportunity.

After all the practicing, Summer Camp, and Zoom meetings, it was so rewarding to see the group of talented students take the stage at the Overture Center.” - David Gordon, Daniel’s father

TMS BAND STUDENT SELECTED FOR UWEC MIDDLE SCHOOL HONORS BAND CLINIC

Joanna Stryker, a TMS 7th grader, was nominated to participate in the UW Eau Claire Middle School Honors Band clinic in Eau Claire on January 28th. TMS band directors made the nomination, but Joanna was chosen by the UWEC band department staff for the clinic as she stood out from the numerous other nominees.

The band of talented middle school musicians were mentored and led by the distinguished Ms. Patty Schlafer as the guest clinician. Joanna attended working clinics to receive feedback from Ms. Schlafer, then performed with her peers under Schlafer’s direction in the beautiful Pablo Center on the UWEC campus. Joanna reflects on the experience, saying “I really liked meeting other flute players from around the state. I thought it was cool to play harder music and expand my skill set on my flute.”

photo courtesy of David Gordon

TMS BAND STUDENTS SELECTED FOR NBA-WC PERFORMANCE Three Middle School students were nominated and selected to participate in the 2022 National Band Association – Wisconsin Chapter (NBA-WC) AllState Junior Band. Hana Song (clarinet), Marshall Reiman (euphonium), and Lucas Wilson (tuba) were among 62 WI middle school students chosen to perform at the Wisconsin Chapter of the National Band Association’s annual conference. The conference was to be held on January 22nd at UW Oshkosh and the musicians prepared to perform for parents and band directors from across Wisconsin. Katheryn Fenske was the chosen guest conductor for the concert. Her background in the arts is extensive and inspiring; her instruction and mentorship through this program made this experience even more significant for the young musicians. Although the conference was cancelled due to rising COVID cases, the young musicians are being celebrated for their hard work and impressive talents.

WATCH OUR DISTRICT CALENDAR OF EVENTS FOR UPCOMING PERFORMANCES!

www.tomah.education/calendar

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COMING FULL CIRCLE: THS ALUMNI RETURN AS FACULTY For some TASD faculty members, their roots in the district run deeper than their professional position.

As life comes full circle, we recognize our THS alumni-turned-faculty. These staff members are working alongside people that knew them as students, taught them as students, and even others that graduated from THS. Our school district is so fortunate to have respected THS alumni return as employees, making our personnel close-knit and family-like. TASD is special in that our students choose to work in and for the same community that they grew up in. They are now walking the same halls during their workday as the ones they did as students. These legacy-carrying staff members are a gift to our students and ensure TASD continues its heritage of tradition and high-quality educational opportunities for all.

Our high school alone has over thirty alumni that hold positions to include building administrator, teachers, food service, grounds keeping, and several support staff positions.

Following is a list of the alumni-turned-faculty photographed to the right: Alex Knoepker, Bill Carney, Carolyn Johnson, Bonnie Bird, Ashlie Gerke, Jeff Von Haden, Kathy Stoker, Breanna Huff, Whitney Sanjari, Tonya Gnewikow, Nicole Krause, Emma Huber, Oakley Moser, Amy White, Nicolai Ketelsen, Brad Plueger, Rosemary Draeger, Don Erbs, Amy King, Dawn Rusch, Duncan Peterson, Matthew Olson, Daniel Briggs, Tammy Dvorak, Anna Van Norman, Cameron Kirk, Angie Plueger

TASD FACULTY ARE FAMILY...LITERALLY

Ms. Lisa Winchel and Mr. Nicolai Ketelsen are a mother-son teaching duo at the High School, representing many families that work together on our district-wide staff. Nicolai is also a THS alumni of 2004. Lisa began teaching art to Tomah middle schoolers while her son, Nicolai, was a THS student. Lisa headed the startup of the TMS Chess Club during her time there. She is proud the club is still going and is glad to have given fellow cerebral students a challenging and communal outlet. In addition, she advised student council as well as art club while at the middle school. Since progressing to the high school eleven years ago, Lisa has acted as the Art Club Advisor and

Yearbook (drawing a

Nicolai is a Special advisor fo moving b he spent in Milwau communit working w

The sometimes-literal family atmosphere in our district assures a deep level of trust amongst coworkers and an especially vested interest and passion in their work. The generational service to our community through our district makes Tomah a great place to live and TASD a great place to learn and work.

“It is grea would see must rem Ms. Lisa W

“It is nice school, alt to see her from time

www.tomah.education/employment

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advisor while teaching her 2-D Art and painting) classes.

in his first year teaching at THS as Education teacher as well as the or the Improv/Drama Club. Before back to Tomah to be closer to family, five years as a substitute teacher ukee. He is glad to give back to the ty that he grew up in and is enjoying with students in his class and clubs.

at to have [Nicolai] here. I thought I e him more, but we are all busy. I just member to call him Mr. Ketelsen.” – Winchel

e having my mother in the same though, I feel like I barely have time r! My days are busy, but I do stop by e to time.” – Mr. Nicolai Ketelsen

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THS Students test out the school’s new VR Headsets in the STEM lab.

DODEA GRANT SENDS THS STUDENTS INTO A VIRTUAL REALITY

The Tomah Area School District has been working with the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) to create a state-of-the-art Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) learning space at Tomah High School. The goal for implementing such a space is to increase the number of military-connected students enrolled in formal STEM courses and to engage students differently in an effort to teach and learn math in a manner that will support efforts to increase math benchmark scores.

As a result, THS offers a hands-on STEM design lab for personalized learning opportunities in the traditional content areas to provide new and interesting options for learners, but more importantly, we are providing our students and educators with a resource to integrate relevant tools in preparation of college and career readiness. By providing this design lab, relevant PD for educators, and open lab time, we hope to see a larger percent of students enroll in STEM courses and thus increase scores in math. Furthermore, by providing a design lab supported with professional development as well as an open lab resource center for student exploration and individual projects, we increase the likelihood of greater enrollment in STEM courses for military-connected students. As a result of greater enrollment in STEM courses, we also increase the likelihood of greater achievement in math.

By establishing the STEM design lab, we have implemented more advanced technologies such as 3-D modeling, virtual and augmented reality, and robotics into our STEM curriculum. Students are able to engage in the learning process in new ways and apply this new technology to support exploratory growth and original thinking to solve problems. The lead teachers on this project include Mr. Oakley Moser, Mr. Chip Thompson, Ms. Kathy Stoker and Ms. Jamie Schmitz.

- Mr. Robert Joyce, THS Principal

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GRANTS BRING STEM OPPORTUNITIES TO HIGH SCHOOL & ELEMENTARY STUDENTS

TITLE IV GRANT BRINGS INDI TO OUR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS Elementary students throughout the district are now learning coding using our new indi Robots by Sphero. indi challenges students’ problem solving and computational thinking through counting, patterns, measurement, spatial relationships, and shapes. Mrs. Payne can adjust the difficulty of her lessons based on the grade she is teaching. indi provides our 4K-2nd graders an unplugged, screenless technology experience that challenges them to create patterns and mazes using the color tiles. This learning tool exposes our students to enriching STEM lessons while captivating their interest, sparking excitement, and empowering their imagination through play-based learning.

The indi Robots were purchased out of the Title IV grant (Support and Academic Enrichment Grant). It covers the following three broad areas: access to a well-rounded education, improving school conditions for learning to ensure safe and healthy students, and effective use of technology to improve academic achievement and digital literacy. We have used this grant in other areas such as AP training for staff, ukuleles, social emotional programs (SEL), and technology to support STEM like the indi Cars and KANO Kits (shows how to build computers). This grant is flexible and allows us to provide deeper support to areas that we may not otherwise have funding for.

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THS AG TEACHER APPOINTED TO NATIONALLEVEL FFA LEADERSHIP POSITION

The PAWS is a weekly electronic newsletter from the district to share timely news and updates from our staff and buildings. The newsletter includes an events calendar and clickable hyperlinks for more information.

The PAWS is posted to our website every Friday afternoon. www.tomah.education/district-publications

@TomahAreaSchool @TomahSchoolDistrict

www.tomah.education

Le t ’s k ee p

Emma Huber has been Tomah High’s FFA teacher and advisor (partnering with Nelda Bailey) for five years and involved with the FFA program in some capacity for thirteen years. Emma joined Tomah’s FFA program as a sophomore and has been involved ever since!

While in college, she served as the WI State FFA Secretary and worked for the National FFA as a Collegiate Agriculture Ambassador. Last June, she took on the additional role of a National Teacher Ambassador for FFA, a fairly new role introduced to the FFA program only five years ago.

This program provides teachers with professional development, networking opportunities, and commonly, a renewed and deepened passion for agricultural education. National Teacher Ambassadors present relevant topics at local, regional, and state teacher conferences to be taken back to classrooms across the country. Emma’s interest in this opportunity was largely driven by the networking opportunities with other agriculture teachers from across the country. She likes to share her educational resources with others to help ease content creation which can be a challenge for agriculture teachers given the wide variety of classes they teach. She hosts monthly online chats with other WI agriculture educators to lead discussion on chosen topics as well as research and share resources coordinating with the monthly topic. She hosted an in-person workshop last summer at the WI Association of Agriculture Educators Professional Conference where she presented and shared relevant teaching resources for others to use in their classes. She hopes that bringing her new, higher-level expertise will better Tomah High’s FFA program. With her position, she is able to test run virtual student experiences with our ag students and edit learning tools based on their feedback prior to their official release date. This not only gives our students early access, but also a voice in planning for the Agriculture Education Department.

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FEBRUARY 19 - 26, 2022

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MONROE COUNTY SHERRIFF’S DEPARTMENT VISITS WYEVILLE Thank you Deputy Krueger for your time & care in building relationships with our students. Our students always look forward to these visits.

THS SCHOLARSHIP

OPPORTUNITIES Over $70,000 will be awarded to our THS Seniors from local businesses alone. Our THS Scholarship Opportunities webpage offers a comprehensive list of both local and national scholarship opportunities; many applications are opening soon for the class of 2022!

Students are welcomed to contact Mrs. Dougherty in the Counseling Office with any questions.

Visit the webpage for more information:

www.tomah.education/high-school/scholarships

NEXT SHOP OPENS SOON! T-Commerce is an online school-spirit shop open to the Tomah community and beyond offering highquality, seasonal TASD merchandise. Shoppers can choose to have their order shipped directly to their home (with a flat shipping rate) or pick their order up at the High School (coordinated by the Booster Club) free of charge.

https://www.tomah.education/athletics/merchandise

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608.374.7004 www.tomah.education 608.372.5087 Tomah Area School District @TomahSchool District

HIGH QUALITY STUDENT LEARNING.

EVERY CHILD. EVERY DAY.