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Mason City Community School District |
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Mason City Community Schools participated in the Iowa Schools Safety Assessment audits this week. A state-approved school safety evaluator visited each building in the school district and looked at crisis management plans and safety protocols for each building. The evaluator will use the results of the visit to make recommendations about physical and procedural changes to improve school safety. The results of this assessment will determine the amount of funding the school district will receive from the Governor's School Safety Initiative. It has been encouraging to speak with the evaluator and find that Mason City Schools currently has many physical and procedural safety protocols that experts in the field of school safety recommend. The district will take the recommendations from this assessment and continue to look for ways to make our schools as safe as possible for our students and staff. | |
Progress continues on the construction project at Mason City High School. | |
Harding Elementary 2nd graders performed their music program "Mrs. Claus and the Great Elf Rebellion" on Thursday, December 1. Miss Day and the 2nd graders did an amazing job! | |
The students and staff at Hoover Elementary showed their heart by giving back to our community. They collected 957 items for the Hawkeye Harvest Food Bank! Each classroom and grade level had a friendly competition to see who would collect more items. Fourth grade earned a free recess by bringing in 253 items. The three classrooms to collect the most items also received a special treat. A big thank you to the the fourth graders who helped load the donations into the van! | |
Students and staff at Jefferson Elementary continue to find ways to give back to our community in an effort to build empathy and generosity in our students' lives. One of the ways we are accomplishing this is by our Hawkeye Harvest Food Bank Pack the Piggies Drive. Classrooms compete to fill up their grade level piggy bank with coins. Carol at Hawkeye Harvest Food Bank shared that she can buy food in bulk at a MUCH lower rate, so this change allows her to get more for the money than if we just did a canned food drive. Mrs. Mariner's 3rd grade class also did a Kindness Quarter Challenge and purchased items from the Salvation Army Giving Tree for students who are less fortunate. They purchased one toy and one clothing item for each tag they had. Students earned the Kindness Quarters at home for doing chores. We love giving back to our community! | |
JAM Time offers students the opportunity to participate in non-traditional learning and Ms. Southgate has a wealth of knowledge in the area of marine biology. Ms. Southgate shared "I'm bringing the ocean to Iowa!" From the smallest plankton to the largest whales, students are learning about what makes marine animals belong to a certain group by their anatomy, behaviors, and characteristics. So far, students have studied how phytoplankton needs to be able to drift with the ocean currents and how sponges are made up of spicules that give them structure. Students engineered plankton out of clay and raced classmates to have the SLOWEST sinking rate. They thought like scientists and dissolved away live sponge tissue and left behind the microscopic spicules to observe, sort, and analyze under the microscope. | |
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Lincoln Intermediate
Mentors come in all grades, ages, and sizes. A couple Mason City High School students, along with Police Chief Jeff Brinkley, took time to come visit with Lincoln students about their experiences and lessons learned through trial and error. It was a great opportunity for students to interact with other students close to their age. We also had a battle of the classes in an epic "Protect the Pins" tournament. Ms. Rozen and Mrs. Roe prevailed as the 5th grade winners and Ms. Hugi and Mrs. Wiemann were the champions for 6th grade. It provided a well deserved break from the everyday routine of classroom instruction. Our upcoming event includes: orchestra concert on December 12.
#LincolnTogether
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Mason City Alternative High School
Heather Hucka, a naturalist from Lime Creek Nature Center, came to our Biology and Environmental Science classes on December 1. Her focus in Biology was on adaptations of organisms that allow them to live in that biome. This led to an activity that encouraged students to think about types of adaptations different species of snakes have depending on where they live. The class ended by bringing out a snake that lives in the Nature Center and is native to our area. The discussion and activities for the Environmental Science class were about food chains that make up food webs in different ecosystems. Students participated in a lab that had them come up with organisms that made up a food web, which eventually allowed the class to lift Heather up using the rope that made the food web.
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Students in Earth Science are enjoying learning about river erosion by designing their own experiments and collecting data using a stream table donated by Lime Creek Nature Center. Each group chose a factor that may affect river erosion, designed an experiment to test their hypothesis, collected data, and did research on environmental impacts. | |
Students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade at Pinecrest studied the difference between climate and weather. They discussed weather forecasting which led to designing their own weather station using the engineering process. Students were then able to present their project to students in kindergarten through 5th grade. | |
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Roosevelt Elementary
Roosevelt Elementary had a fun, school-wide PBIS celebration on November 22 to recognize all the great behavior taking place at our school. In the morning, students listened to and interacted with local author Coach Sloth. He provided entertainment and encouraged students to spend time on reading and writing. Students were also treated to a dunk and 3-point shooting contest provided by the NIACC men's basketball team. Students judged each dunk and cheered on their PE teacher, Brian Niesen, as he competed in the 3-point contest against one of the NIACC players. Unfortunately, Mr. Niesen lost by one. Thank you to Coach Sloth and NIACC basketball team for helping celebrate our students' positive behaviors!
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Administrative Center
John Currier is the head custodian at the Administrative Center. He has been with MCCSD for two years. He is a graduate of Newman High School and NIACC. He loves MC Schools because the staff and students are great. John looks forward to seeing them on a daily basis. John has two kids, a granddaughter, and a yellow lab. A fun fact about John is he enjoys camping and classic cars.
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Harding Elementary
Matt Pansegrau is a custodian at Harding Elementary. He joined the MCCSD in 2018 as a night custodian at MCHS. He came to Harding in 2019. He is a graduate of South Tama High School in Tama, IA. He loves MC Schools because he is able to interact with the kids and help out wherever he can. Matt loves the outdoors and enjoys hunting, fishing and camping with his wife, Janelle, and 5th grade son, Landon. A fun fact about Matt is that he has been to Canada to fish 35 times.
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Hoover Elementary
Megan Maulsby teaches 3rd grade at Hoover Elementary. This is her fourth year with MCCSD. She was born and raised in Clear Lake and is a graduate of the University of Iowa. She loves working at Hoover because they do so much to make school fun and memorable for the kids. A fun fact about Megan is that she loves to bake.
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Jefferson Elementary
Janet Meyer is a 4th grade teacher at Jefferson. She began working at MCCSD in 2012, making this her 11th year at Jefferson. She graduated from Treynor High School in Treynor, IA and the University of Northern Iowa. Janet loves MC Schools because she loves the opportunity to get to know the students. It is a privilege to help each student learn and grow. Her co-workers are very special to her. They work as a team to support each other and the students. Go Riverhawks! A fun fact about Janet is that she enjoys traveling, spending time with her family, and cheering on the Cyclones!
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John Adams Middle School
Anna Pyle is an 8th grade social studies teacher at JAMS. She is a graduate of Owatonna High School in Owatonna, MN and Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato, MN. Anna moved to Mason City in 2014 and began working as a substitute teacher for MCCSD. She then worked as the IC para for Harding and Jefferson before being hired at JAMS as a teacher. This is her 7th year teaching. Anna loves MC Schools because of all the amazing people she has met and worked with throughout her years with the district. She shared that it is great working with her many wonderful students and watching them succeed in high School. Anna enjoys spending time with her husband, Brandon, son, Lincoln, and Goldendoodle, Max. A fun fact about Anna is that she plays clarinet in a small group and the Mason City Municipal Band in the summer.
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Lincoln Intermediate
Madison Howe is one of Lincoln's 5th grade literacy and social studies teachers. This is her first year with MCCSD. She is a graduate of Mason City High School and the University of Northern Iowa. She loves the community aspect of Mason City Schools. She thinks it is great how everyone helps each other all the time. A fun fact about Madison is she raises a bearded dragon in her spare time.
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Mason City Alternative School
Cyndi Ehrhart is in her seventh year of teaching at MCAS. She began her teaching career in 1987 and has worked in numerous states and districts. Cyndi earned her BA in Secondary Education, Deaf Education, and History from Augustana College. She completed other certifications in special education and coaching from Clarke and the University of Dubuque. Cyndi loves working at MCAS because of the staff being the most supportive in all her years in education. They are there to encourage, assist, lend an ear, and just laugh with you. Cyndi says the best compliment or payback to a teacher is when students share she has helped them understand and succeed in completing what they believed they CAN'T do. Cyndi is a caretaker to her mother, and she loves to kayak and walk with her rescue dogs, Romeo and Niko.
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Mason City High School
Joei Heinzerling is a behavior interventionist at Mason City High School. She has been in that role for three years and prior to that worked at Pinecrest Center for 12 years. She grew up on a big farm outside of Elma, IA, near Lourdes, where she says rush hour was between 5:00-6:00 when tractors passed the highway. After graduating from Crestwood High School in Cresco, IA she attended NIACC. Joei has been married for 17 years and has two daughters she is very proud of. Avery is a freshman at Wartburg and Isabel is a junior at MCHS. Her favorite part of working at MCHS is being part of all the fun activities throughout the year, talking with so many students during the day, and a bonus is seeing her daughters when they pop into her office for a visit. A fun fact about Joei is she was hit by lightning when she was 16!
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Pinecrest Center
Roman Ott is a behavior interventionist at the Pinecrest Center. He has worked at MCCSD for six years. He attended high school in Jefferson, IA and attended NIACC. Roman loves working for MC Schools because of the team he is part of at Pinecrest. A fun fact about Roman is he loves to cook and attended culinary school after graduation.
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Brian Niesen is the PE teacher at Roosevelt Elementary. He has been with MCCSD for 13 years. He attended Fort Dodge Senior High and earned his degrees from Iowa Central Community College, University of Dubuque, and University of Northern Iowa. Mr. Niesen loves MC Schools because we have great kids who are fun to work with. He loves how the students work to treat each other well. He also loves the staff and is thankful for all the great people who work in our district. A fun fact about Mr. Niesen is he won his 4th grade spelling championship! | |
MCCSD Virtual Backpack
Make sure to check out the Virtual Backpack website! Here you will find events, camps, and opportunities for students and their families from district and community organizations.
Click HERE to check it out!
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Athletics & Activities Announcements | |
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Congratulations to our Riverhawk teams and team members on their great performances!
*Brody Lee - Selected First Team All-State Punter by IPSW & IFCA
*Kaden Tyler - Selected Second Team All-State Tight End/Wide Receiver by IPSW & IFCA
*Ella Turk - Named Third Team All-Area for Volleyball by the Globe Gazette
*Ethan Berding, Kale Hobart & Ben Lorence - Selected to Iowa Football Coaches Association Academic All-State Honor Roll
*Globe Gazette All-Area Football Team:
Darian Davis - First Team Defensive Line; Brody Lee - First Team Punter;
Kaden Tyler - First Team Wide Receiver; Max Dhabalt - Second Team Defensive Line; Logan Eide - Second Team Linebacker; Kale Hobart - Second Team Quarterback;
Ben Lorence - Second Team Offensive Line
*JV Boys Bowling team defeated Des Moines East
*JV and Varsity Girls Bowling defeated Des Moines East
*JV and Varsity Boys Basketball defeated New Hampton
*Boys wrestling defeated Des Moines North/Hoover
Congrats to all!
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