Pre-K to 6th Grade Summer School Update
The 2013 Summer School is up and running at the Elementary School. Currently we have 518 students enrolled and are averaging 91% attendance rate.   Teachers are working diligently to prepare engaging lessons that incorporate reading, writing, math and investigative learning in a cooperative group setting.  We are excited to offer 19 different courses this summer that provide both enrichment and remediation for our students as needed.  Our halls are bustling with students and our walls speak to the dynamic work that is occurring.
Our largest classes are Reader’s Theater and Kidville; both with over 65 students enrolled.  Reader’s Theater is working on their production of Peter Pan and Kidville is conducting job interviews, listening to guest speakers and have already elected their mayor!
The Be a Book Cook class, Picture Book class and Caribbean Cruise art class are busy reading, cooking and creating beautiful works of art.  Our Keys to Comprehension Reading classes grades K-6 are exposing students to new vocabulary, reading stories, annotating the text, summarizing passages and enjoying quality literature.  The Go Math courses in grades K-6 are reviewing numbers sense, problem solving and numerical operations through the use of manipulatives, math journals, interactive games and technology.  The 21st Century Writer’s course serves fifty K-2 students each day.  These young students are creating stories and learning how to use Microsoft Word and manipulate the keyboard.   Finally, our pre-kindergarten students are learning procedures, how to write their names, the letters of the alphabet and how to count.  All of these experiences will ensure a successful start to the 2013-14 school year. 

                                                         Some snapshot moments from our day:

 

7th – 12th Grade Summer School Update

Pleasant Hill School District began its middle/secondary summer school on Tuesday, May 28.  The first week of classes saw 396 attending.  The high school offers credit recovery course in English language arts, mathematics, and social studies; a special education recovery class; a lifetime fitness class; a driver’s education class; a health class; a personal finance class; and agricultural cooperative class.  The middle school courses include a remedial course for seventh graders, a freshmen seminar for eighth graders, a remedial course for special education students, an arts and crafts class, and a performance choir class. 

A popular tradition for freshmen is to take driver’s education.  The class meets for three days (left) to discuss rules of the road, safety, and the driver’s licensing process.  Later students spend twelve hours driving and observing in cars (upper left) provided by Superior Chevrolet of Merriam, KS.
Each year a class of sophomores elects to take Health and Personal Finance during the summer to allow another elective during their junior years.  These two classes meet for 120 hours to award the students a credit.

Middle school students create new works of art from everyday objects in Trash to Treasures…Junk to Jewels (left).  Summer Beat allows middle school students to sing while learning a choreographed routine that will prepare them for high school choirs. 

Perfect Attendance
Pleasant Hill Administration released the names of those students who maintained perfect attendance for the 2012-2013 school year.

Primary School:

All Year
Jordan Crawford, Shiah Wright
3rd Quarter
Cooper Aldrige, Nathan Armstrong, Brayden Bass, Alex Bell, Landon Brunner, Alexander Bulisheck, Grayce Clark, Jordan Crawford, Caitlyn Curtis, Jameson Duncan, Samuel Ewing, Robert George, Mason Good, Chaney Gray, Campbell Gregory, Lillian Gross, Kaylyn Isaman, Izabella Keil, Noah Keisacker, Hannah Kleyh, Jaiden Little, Jude Marconett, Ava Martinez, Madalynn McCannon, Amelia Miller, Parker Morrison, Hycle Noland, Amelia Scrogham, Ella Shaffer, Colin Stansbury, Nathan Swilley, Aaron Thielen, Andy Thielen, Braxton Thompson, Elizabeth Vohs, Raegan Watterson, Adrianna Wealleans, Lola Whistle, Shiah Wright.

Elementary School:
2nd Semester
3rd Grade – Walker Aldrige, Kelly Anderson, Isabel Bakken, Riley Cole, Elizabeth Hawkins, Bella Jensen, Molli Johnson, Nina Lapee, Makenzie Layton, Ryan Perisho, Johnathan Rivera, Hadelynn Smith, Margaret Whitlock, Trey Widhalm, Sarah Wilhoit.
4th Grade – Evan Burns, Gavin Chace, Dravin Collins, Tanner Fields, Paige Gustin, Emily Hill, Emma Johnson, Evan Knapp, Emma Lapee, Amanda Long, Aidan Parman, Zackary Smith, Averie Snyder, Alaina Umscheid.

Intermediate School:
All year: Aaron Chen, Dawson Sivils, Stewart Watson
Second Semester: Macey Barker, Trey Clevenger, Kirsten Gross, Kayleigh Hitchcock, Zachariah Ketchum, Abigail McKee, Mikayla Ollison, Matthew Pritchett, Alexis White 

Middle School:
7th grade all year – Mackenzie Beaman, Alyssa Coon, Kaitlin Evans, Brett Greufe, Keith Lapee, Ethan Mckown, Madison Roach, Jerod Rottinghaus
8th grade all year – Cameron Agee, Brayden Bonnesen, Donna Borer, James McGovney, Clara Plasse, Graceann Ring, Kameron Trask, Benjamin Watson, Austin White
7th Grade second semester – Mackenzie Beaman, Alyssa Coon, Makayla Dagenhart, Sam Easton, Coleton Ederer, Kaitlin Evans, Brett Greufe, Cameron Knapp, Keith Lapee, James McKee, Ethan McKown, Caitlin O’Hanlon, Kylee Reeves, Madison Roach, Jerod Rottinghaus, Brayden Smith, Derek Smith.

8th Grade second semester – Cameron Agee, Megan Bauer, Brayden Bonnesen, Donna Borer, Haley Burge, Jacob Dennis, Rachel Dustman, Jacob Fisher, Alex Jackson, Lane Jellison, Noah Kenyon, Baileyann Lees, Tyler Livingston, James McGovney, Kirsten Medearis, Kelsey Miller, Clara Plasse, Graceann Ring, Bryan Stevenson, Cody Suelter, Hannah Taylor, Kameron Trask, Benjamin Watson, Austin White, Colleen Wouters.

High School:
All Year
9th Grade – Cheyenne Long, Emma Moore, Colton Neill, Marissa Paris, Nathan Ryan, Joseph Smith, Cole Sullivan, Greg Wright

10th Grade – 1st year: John Falck, Adam Mansfield, Caitlin Rash, Marissa Thompson, Steven Vaughan. 2nd year: Rachel Liley, John Romer.

11th Grade – 1st year: Abbie Brown, Kaleb Cline, Heather, Hughes, Jacob Ogle, Christian Richardson. 2nd year: Tristan Dooly.

12th Grade – 1st year: Amethyst, Hughes, Rachel Lauve, Elisabeth Mansfield, Hannah Meyer. 3rd year: Tyler Dlugolecki, Brandon Uebele. 4th year: Cordell Boyd.
Second Semester
9th grade – Andrew Dobson, Christian Durst, Levi Jack, Bryant Jackson, Cheyenne Long, Emma Moore, Colton Neill, Marissa Paris, Madison Ring, Nathan Ryan, Jaryd Smith, Joseph Smith, Cole Sullivan, Gregory Wright.
10th grade – Kaylene Bramwell, Gavin Dooly, Tyler Evans, John Falck, Zachary Hadlock, Rachel Liley, Joseph Madison, Adam Mansfield, Caitlin Rash, John Romer, Samantha Stucker, Marissa Thompson, Steven Vaughan, Paul Whaley.
11th grade – Krista Bricker, Abbie Brown, Kaleb Cline, Tristan Dooly, Heather Hughes, Mallory Humphrey, Schyler Johnston, Jacob Ogle, Michael Piper, Christian Richardson, Stephen Spears.
12th grade – Cordell Boys, Tyler Dlugolecki, Joseph Griffith, Joshua Hatten, Logan Hawks, Amethyst Hughes, Jesse Jamison, Rachel Lauve, Joshua Lukenbill, Elisabeth Mansfield, Hannah Meyer, Brandon Uebele.

Honor Roll
Pleasant Hill Administration released the names of those students who were placed on the honor roll for their grade point average (gpa) for second semester.

Elementary School
3rd Grade – Superintendent’s
Sarah Alton, Isabel Bakken, Rylie Barker, Marisa Brendel, Riley Cole, Mazlyn Collins, Brooke Devaul, Emmy Duncan, Madalynn Fatino, Samantha Fenton, Jordan Fisher, Elijah Guffey, Thomas Horkey, Bella Jensen, Cheyann Johnson, Nina Lapee, Morgan Lassiter, Wyatt Leyda, Kylie Lloyd, Grace McKee, Cora McSparran, Elliott Moore, Victoria Nickols, Darian Patet, Keagan Roeder, Lindsay Schirlls, Jaydon Shuler, Cole Simmons, Olivia Toler, Trey Widhalm, Sarah Wilhoit, Alexia Woods, Madison Woods

3rd Grade – Principal’s
Sofia Abney, Leandro Adkins, Walker Aldrige, Averi Allen, Caitlyn Allen, Kelly Anderson, Madison Blevins, Kayla Brattin, Lane Brattin, Kaidence Cleveland, Ashley Crooks, Alexandria Danner, Madelyn Davis, Kennedy Donovan, Cason Driver, Jacob Elliott, Kiley Faust, Peyton Franklin, Abby Gilliland, Dharma Gilsdorf, Owen Gish, Josephine Gomez, James Hays, Emma Heitman, Malorie Hubert, Molli Johnson, Adriana Kalousek, Carmen Kidwell, Zachary Langford, Logan Leiker, Jadyn Medlock, Seth Moreno, Cameron Orrick, Ryan Perisho, Jay Powell, Alivia Redwine, Zachary Redwine, Gavin Rogers, Hadelynn Smith, Emmalee Thaller, David Vaughan, Caden Walker William Whitney.

4th Grade – Superintendent’s
Jesse Ailshire, Jenna Avery, Owen Bailey, Drake Beaman, Ian Bledsoe, Allee Brattin, Evan Burns, Joliana Canaan, John Carter, Gavin Chace, Joelee Cleveland, Morgan Corbin, Isabella Danner, Nelson DesCombes, Jadyn Dowdy, Landon Fatino, Silas Gray, Conor Hardin, Emily Hill, Eugene Horkay, Emma Johnson, Claire Kenyon, Brock Koehler, Wyatt Lawrence, Ashlyn Long, Ethan Longo, Keagon Madison, Jenna Marconett, Marissa McCormick, Evan Miller, Karleigh Ogan, Dylan Orpin, Zion Patterson, Isabelle Proudfit, Alexandria Redwine, Caitlyn Rogers, Jessica Ross, Tyler Rowe, Aubrey Scott, Zackary Smith, Averie Snyder, Kaemyn Stidham, Riley Vaughn, Bryce Wilson, Tobin Wise, Alyssa Ziegelbein, Keegan Zizza, Madalynn Zvacek.

4th Grade – Principal’s
Kale Bakken, Lucas Bass, Karis Bloom, Mattie Bracken, Chanie Campbell, Makenzie Carlile, Kimberly Caswell, Brooklyn Chambers, Madioson Copowycz, Damonique Criscione, Canton Elliott, emma Goldston, Aislee Gonzalez, Alexandra Good, Paige Gustin, Marissa Helms, Charlie Heritage, Nathan Hitch, Morgan Jenkins, Chayden Kirkpatrick, Evan Knapp, Michelle Kramer, Emma Lapee, Elizabeth Lehmann, Haylee Lewis, Maelyn McacLean, Kyleigh Marley, Joshua Mathis, Isabella McCarty, Makayla McClenahan, Chance Milbrandt, Madelyn Nelson, Jackson Petersen, Alexxys Ray, Kooper Reed, Thomas Riffle, Abigail Ring, Aubrey Schirlls, Tyler Shore, Regan Shouse, Tate Stockstill, Olivia Trask, Alaina Umscheid, Alexiea Werner, Addison Zurcher

Intermediate School
5th Grade – Superintendent’s (3.8 – 4.0)
Logan Bailey, Collin Brockman, Jasmine Brown, Ethan Campbell, Kylie Campbell, Truman Cartner, Nicole Clap, Katie Clay, Catherine Davis, Austin Dinges, Kaitlyn Ewing, Jacey Faust, Tanner Graves, Jaden Greenwood, Diedra Gross, Paige Hicks, Jordan Hoerl, Ashlynn Keilholz, Emily Kerchner, Emma Kirchhoff, Ramsey Kohler, Megan Kurle, Sydney Lamborn, Bethany Larkins, Jaggler Lawler, Dayton Little, Austin Long, Julia Longmeyer, Hailey McCommon, Angela McCormick, Savannah McIntosh, Abigail McKee, Maycie Meaders, Aidan Moore, Julia Moore, Calee More, Emily Perisho, Wyatt Perkins, Garrett Pierce, Alexandria Prosser, Jayden Reyes, Abigale Rice, Kyleigh Roe, Carson Shoop, Dawson Sivils, Parker Snow, Nicole South, Amos Springer, Thomas Swilley, Megan Swinney, Cole Swofford, Wesley Tibai, Sayler Todd, Margaret Tribble, Sarah Watson, Morgan Wehner, Rileigh West, Alexis White, Morgan Wilhite, Rachel Wilhoit, Grant Williams, Grant Wilson, Samantha Woods.

5th Grade – Principal’s (3.79 – 3.50)
Madalyn Allen, Brandon Baker, Jackson Barnes, Ethan Beagle, Daria Bennett, Mikayla Blevins, Christian Bowman, Andrew Brownsberger, Patrick Brunell, Grace Chambers, Lee Chrisman, Hayden Cox, Braylee Davis, Desmond Ewing, Dalton Francy, Clay Froehlich, Katlyn Goldston, Lawrence Graham, Samuel Gray, Jeffrey Hatfield, Hanah Hocker, Angeleena Hook, Natalie Hopkins, Shyann Jellison, Blaine Kleyh, Kathryn Maasen, Michael Maasen, Audrey Mann, Christina Mooris, Mikayla Ollison, Colin Paris, Sierra Powell, Tanner Reffitt, Madison Roeder, Carly Rogers, Shirley Salcedo, Simon Scott, Caleb Shepard, Julias Sias, Lily Spear, Austin Tye, Eli Vanatta, Miguel Venegas, Dylan Watterson, Brylee Wells, Alec Wheeler

5th Grade – Honor Roll (3.49 – 3.0)
Abigail Baker, Caleb Bowman, Conner Bracken, Mariah Brattin, Paul Breeze, Lane Burgess, Mithcell Coon, Hunter Davis, Tristin Davis, Emmelia Dinges, Alexis Early, Chance Elam, Jade Feeler, Brittany Foley, Katelynn Gardner, Abigail Gieschen, Cody Henry, Reid Howell, Kya Jenkins, Jeremyah Knapp, Victor Leiker, Trenton Long, Dante Lopez, Samuel Markham, Meghan May, Rianna McClendon, Dakota Middleton, Nathaniel Mosqueda, Brittany Quinn, Nicholas Rahe, Rain Ruth, Colton Snyder, Michael Tyler, Kaitlyn Wilson, Mariah Younce.

6th Grade – Superintendent’s (3.8 – 4.0)
Jeffrey Aguilar, Daniel Albin, Chloe Bloom, Marissa Bowman, Sydney Bunch, Morgan Carlile, Aaron Chen, Trey Clevenger, Dawson Ferdig, Amber Gerken, Faith Griggs, Kirsten Gross, Anastasia Hanes, McKenna Hanover, Sophia Harvey, Kayleigh Hitchcock, Shelby Jack, Miranda Kelley, Corey Kelly, Grace Kenyon, Danielle Lichte, Adelynn Link, Taylor Markham, Emma Mueller, Cameron Parker, Ali Ray, Grace Riley, Marianne Riley, Garrett Schick, Joe Sosko, Taylor Stith, MsZayah VanZant, Stewart Watson, Halee Werner, Megan White, Cierra Williams, Saylor Zurcher.

6th Grade – Principal’s (3.79 – 3.50)
Laura Allee, Trace Armstrong, Blake Atkins, Macey Barker, Katherine Bauer, Dylan Berry, Michael Blaine-Untermeyer, Nathan Bledsoe, Sierra Bowman, Wyatt Bramwell, Kaitlyn Brooks, Kennedy Burton, Brandon Byrd, Roman Carr, Derrick Cretel, Zoe Crockett, John Dagley, Delaney Davis, Joshua DeVaul, Mackenzie DiMarco, Hunter Foote, Allie Gerken, Jakob Hammond, Reagan Harrison, Mitchell Hayes, Madeline Helms, Gaberiel Hodge, Trisha Kiger, Brittany Marshall, Emma Marshall, Madison McDaniel, Bryce McGinnis, Cydney Metzger, Sarah Miller, Madelyn Phipps, Matthew Pritchett, William Pryor, Sally Riffle, Haylie Rouchka, Taylor Ryerson, James Schoenfelt, Taylor Shewmaker, William Toler, Cassandra Waddle, Christina Wait, Mason Waugh, Luke Winkler, Samanth Yokley.

6th Grade – Honor Roll (3.49 – 3.0)
Michael Abney, Andrea Allen, Vincent Anderson, Averee Brattin, Brooke Brinkoetter, Beau Brown, Garrett Canaan, Emily Chace, Kaitlyn Clevenger, Kathleen Cortinas, Shawn Cummings, John Edenburn, Julia Edmonds, Jaeden Grego, Spencer Gussman, Tyler Hagan, Audree Holloway, Mazen Jackson, Zachariah Ketchum, James Lowe, William Markham, Joshua millard, Nolan Miller, Maragh Newberry, Adrian Sanders, Keegan Slaughter, Katlyn Smith, Sean Spangler, Devin Vestal, Austin Warren.

Middle School
Superintendent’s Honor Roll
7th Grade – Sandy Aguilar, Carly Barker, Mackenzie Beaman, Levi Cohen, Joseph Dryer, Kaitlin Evans, Cody Faust, Autumn Ferguson, Brett Greufe, Jordan Hamlin, Joseph Heinrich, Dominic Hemme, Eric Humphrey, Grace Keilholz, Skyler Kirchhofer, Cameron Knapp, Savannah Long, McKenzie Maclean, Ashley McClenahan, Anthony McSparran, Callie Miller, Alex Moore, Alexandra Pierce, Madison Roach, Mackenzie Robinson, Samantha Rohne, Nicholas Ryan, Derek Smith, Kirsten Thompson, Sidney Walters, Trent Wilson, Michael Wright, Gennavieve Wrobel, Evan Yokley.

8th Grade – Kevin Aguilar, Megan Bauer, Sarah Beachner, Fiona Bolte-Bradhurst, Brayden Bonnesen, Donna Borer, Robin Brundage, Haley Burge, Noah Campbell, Jaymie Clevenger, Sarah Davis, Rachel Dustman, Olivia Ferdig, Kaley Hays, Ian Heinrich, Haley Lamborn, Lauren Larkins, Aidan Link, Caleb Long, Kaitlyn Long, Hannah McCommon, Emma Moore, Clara Plasse, Courtney Pritchett, Graceann Ring, Blake Rutherford, Paige Sailors, Fernanda Sierra, Drake Sivils, Bran Stevenson, Jessica Turner, Madison Voorhees, Christina Waddle, Benjamin Watson, Courtney Wesemann, Evan Williams, Colleen Wouters, Ellie Yoder.

Principals Honor Roll
7th Grade – Jordan Anderson, Anna Boehm, Emma Braley, Jackson Caley, Brooke Cash, Alyssa Coon, Kacie Creighton, Rachel Denney, Shawn Gallagher, Logan Gish, RJ Hughes, Kyley Keith, Keith Lapee, Kaitlyn Lloyd, Lauren Mann, Caitlin O’Hanlon, Tori Parrott, Summer Ray, Kassidy Reed, Johana Rosas, Jerod Rottinghaus, Jordan Rottinghaus, David Shanks, Chance Sullivan, Mariah Thompson, Tanner Todd

8th Grade – Macee Adams, Nathan Allen, Dalton Bach, Kylie Baker, Garrett Bakken, James Barnes, Ryan Bolden, Michelle Butricks, Matt Campbell, Parker Evans, Jacob Fisher, Kara German, Zachary Gray, Kylie Heublein, Haden Hodge, Alexandria Jackson, Hunter Kelly, Dylan Kelly, Noah Kenyon, Alyssa Kramer, Savannah Parris, Rebekah Schoenfelt, Racheal Snyder, Gavin Wheeler, Austin White, Brooke Wood.
Regular Honor Roll
7th Grade – Camille Abney, Emily Armstrong, Maegan Ashmore, Dillon Bray, Samara Bruno, Nathan Chace, Jared Clapp, Wyatt Clayton, Michael Denney, Noah Descombes, Makayla Devault, Matthew Dobson, Noah Dowdy, Daisy Fetters, Tabitha Graham, Colten Haak, Makailyn Hernandez, Cordell Jellison, David Kobie, Brylee Langford, Victoria Long, Nathan Longo, Hailey Mahoney, Jack Marconett, Saisha Morgan, Mikayla Norman, Michael Okuly Elias Peters, Andrea Powell, Lauren Redwine, Kylee Reeves, Sydney Schirlls, Brayden Smith, Dale Snider, Amanda Snow, Tristin Sudduth, Luke Swofford, Brandon Young, Tori Young

8th Grade – Jared Bahner, Ethan Baker-Arbuckle, Blake Beagle, Hannah Beissel, Lauren Bonnett, Connor Coffel, Isaac Denney, Jacob Dennis, Kylie Henry, Shayla Hill, Lane Jellison, Hayley Kerrick, Larry Kiger, Daniel Lee, Olivia Lehmann, Cole Lightfoot, Brandon Long, Emma Lugenbeel, Reagan McClendon, Kirsten Medearis, Kelsey Miller, Kylie Mullin Struzick, Josey Pate, Lauren Peterson, Austin Rash, Paige Robinson, Jamie Ross, Trevor Scholljegerdes, Michaela Shinn, Jenna Solomon, Cody Suelter, Hannah Taylor, Abigail Welther, Justin White, Shae Williams, Tommy Williams, Luke Woodall, Brooke Young.

High School
Superintendent’s Honor Roll (4.0+)
9th Grade – Tillie Jerabek, Cheyenne Long, Jacob Longmeyer, Michael Miller, Brianna Shuler, Joshua Young
10th Grade – Riley Bonnesen, Tyler Evans, Nicole Nulsen, Justin Orpin, Madison Stockstill, Olivia Woodruff, Suzanne Young
11th Grade – Krista Bricker, Zachery Cohen, Hannah Dustman, Kenton Hanifl, Heather Hughes, Mariahe Long, Kristin Orpin, Mackenzie Snyder
12th Grade – Rachel Casteel, Steven Greufe, Rachel Lauve, Kaitlin Long, Kaylee Mathiason, Hannah Meyer, Mallory Miller, Anna Prewitt, Adam Reeves, Gregory Troiani, Hannah Widaman

Principal’s Honor Roll (3.50 – 3.99)
9th Grade – Courtney Bonnett, Dalton Burge, Kaycee Clements, Josie Cotter, Tyler Crane, Kaitlin Dierking, Garrison Fields, Miles Friederich, Danielle Gerken, Cameron Haws, Felix Hernandez, Joely Hughes, Levi Jack, Madelynn Kahl, Emma Moore, Marley Moran, Colton Neill, Emilee Nulsen, Marissa Paris, Walker Reed, Joseph Smith, Madolyn Swinney, Jamie Vaughan, Claire Villegas, Carly Voss, Jacob Watson, Bailey Wileman.

10th Grade – Alexis Allard, Rebekah Anderson, Ethan Archer, Courtney Bakken, Madison Barker, Kaylene Bramwell, Alexandria Burris, Hannah Crawford, Grace Dayson, Olivia Dotson, Renee Edenburn, Anderson Fields, Katherine Friederich, Susanna Goodellfields, Gillian Haight, Lauren Hawkins, Ian Hodge, Sarah Hoke, Julianna Holquin, Spencer Homan, Cheyenne Jennings, Autumn Kirchhofer, Jacob Lauve, Alexis Lynn, Joseph Madison, Morgan Messick, Elijah Mijares, Noah Moore, Aubrey Purnell, Caitlin Rash, Cassy Reeves, John Romer, Thomas Schaefer, Lewis Sharp, Samuel Smith, Kaytlinn Snoderly, Molly Takacs, Marissa Thompson, Makenzie Voorhees, Kai Wesemann, Emma Widaman, Zachary Winkler

11th Grade – Kassidy Albright, Tanner Beagle, Justin Bell, Kacey Breitbach, Jamie Brookshier, Abbie Brown, Alexis Caraker, Haley Cash, Trenton Clarke, Brandon Clevenger, Sheyanne Craig, Brooke Crotty, Benjamin Dobson, McKenna Gates, Bailey Heublein, Mallory Humphrey, Alexander Hurd, Schyler Johnston, Kiahla Kirchhoff, Moriah Long, Emily McKee, Leah Miller, Goerge Montag, Haylee Newport, Allison Novak, Alisha Price, Markie Roach, Haleigh Rottinghaus, Allie Schwartz, Kimberlyn Selvin, Paige Shifflett, Hannah Shinn, Rachel Triplett, Codi Winslow, Trevor Young, Allie Zahn.

12th Grade – Logan Baker, Brad Barnett, Taylor Bonnesen, Samantha Bornaman, John Brookshier, Trevor Burge, Haley Burkkhart, Douglas Bybee, Noah Dayson, Katharine Debortoli, Tyler Dlugolecki, Kacy Faucette, Dillan Findley, Brittany Couch, Courtney Gibbins, Joseph Griffith, Shannon Haws, MaryBeth Hertzog, Amethyst Hughes, Devon Jarrett, Elizabeth Jerabek, Jessica Kemerling, Kayla Kennedy, Erika King, Rebecca King, Summer Kirchhofer, Maurice Lang, Devin Lees, Justin Longmeyer, Taylor Louthan, Brittani Lugenbeel, Elisabeth Mansfield, Brandon Norris, Brent Norris, Mysti-Ane Pearce, Jacob Randle, Dylan Ross, Samuel Seaman, Sam Sherwood, Kaylee Smith, Ryan Spangler, Bradley Smith, Angela Stillwell, Chelsea Stuber, Caleb Taylor, Dominic Taylor, Taylor Thomas, Seth Thompson, Sheyanna Thompson, Jennifer Vandiver, Shelby Walton, Kindred Wesemann, Cassidy White, Lori Williams, Lonnie Yost, Ashley Younce, Shelby Zahn.

Regular Honor Roll (3.00 – 3.49)
9th Grade – Carlee Adams, Tanner Archer, Maranda Arcuri, Madison Bailey, Phillip Bledsoe, Abbey Breitbach, Brylea Burkhart, Coleman Corson, Madison Dagenhart, Andrew Dobson, Mikalah Gibson, Joseph Gomez, Emily Graham, Kale Hammons, Jacob Hardy, Levi Hayes, Morgan Hoenshell, Mason James, Kin John, Katie Krug, Eryn Livingston, Mason Poling, Haley Richwine, Madison Ring, Brooke Rottinghaus, Keegan Ruckman, Dylan Ryerson, Brooke Sadler, Kaler Selvin, Gonzalo Senda, Sienna Smith, William Stanley, Cheyenne Struttman, Cole Sullivan, Zachary Taylor, Kennedy Todd, Nichole Wheeldon, Max Whited, Amber Woolford, Zachary Zieman.

10th Grade – Sara Baker, Christopher Barzilla, Hannah Beachner, Brogan Bellamy, Luke Bomquist, Weston Boehm, Eric Brons, Meredith Burns, Maggie Burton, Tiffany Butler, Kyle Clark, Samuel Diaz, Sara Doty, Mackenzie Driskill, Kyle Feeler, Jacob Fetters, Bailey Fidler, Courtney Fountain, Kameron Gray, Plivia Hessling, Anthony Holt, Mariah Jones, Caitlin King, Rachel Liley, Zachariah Long, Adam Mansfield, Samantha McCarty, Ryan McClendon, Kayla McDaniel Jade Milbrandt, Cole Miller, Tristan O’Hare, Logan Perry, Devon Peters, Tanner Pettet, Christian Price, Tyler Repp, Rachel Schick, Emily Scholljegerdes, Chelsea Thompson, Steven Vaughan, Weston Williams.

11th Grade – Mikaella Alexander, Hunter Anderson, Katie Brenton, Greg Brundage, Brandon Cassity, Jacob Davis, Kaylea Dennis, Madison Dryer, Lucas Gibson, Kami Lamar, Erica Loney, Taylor Lust, Kendall Mahoney, Alden Millering, Gage Neill, Chelcie O’Malley, Kelsey Radmacher, Christian Richardson, Hailey Sadler, Joshua Shewmaker, Bryce Siebeneck, Cearra Smith, Hannah Smith, Taylor Stevenson, Patricia Stillwell, Taylor Austin, Matthew Vest, Grady Voss, Haylee Votipka, Justin Wagner, Braxton Williams, Jamie Williams, Derek Ziegelbein

12th Grade – Karin Bock, Cordell Boyd, Daniel Caswell, Alex Coday, Erika Crofut, Jacob L Denney, Jacob S Denney, Alexzander Dotson, Tyler Farrell, Joyce Fields, Stephen Garza, Jenna Greenwood, Spencer Harvey, Logan Hawks, Blake Higgs, Jesse Jamison, Dakota Jarrett, Matthew Kellam, Dallas Kelly, Drake Kramer, Kamron Lamar, Ashley Leirer, Taylor Livingston, Joshua Lukenbill, Tyler Miller, Alex Pate, Mason Potter, Mackenzie Powell, Alexis Rehms, David Routh, Mikayla Shepard, Nicholas Shore, Rachelle Smith, Samantha Stillwell, Dakota Sublett, Robert Taylor, Matthew Townsend, Jordy Valentin, Ozzy Whaley, Nathan Wheeldon, Baleigh Wheeler, Charlotte Williams, Tyler Wilson, Hannah Winkler

PS Field Day
Students from the Primary School enjoyed Field Day held on May 22 at Eklund Field.

Welcome Mr. Jim Oliver
A reception was held for Mr. Jim Oliver to welcome him to the Pleasant Hill School District. Mr. Oliver will be the Activities Director / HS Assistant Principal next school year.

DISTRICT HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE WEEK OF May 6, 2013

HS News
This week at PHHS will be our last week with seniors.  They have a full week beginning with final exams on Monday and Tuesday.  On Wednesday, we will host our annual Senior Awards Assembly highlighting the multiple achievements by this senior class.  Following the assembly, we will practice for our graduation ceremony that will be held on Thursday.  The students will receive their cap and gown prior to leaving PHHS for the last time as a student.  After graduation, the fun will continue at Power Play in Shawnee as many of the students will participate in Project Grad.  The efforts of many parents and the contributions by our local businesses, the Project Grad Committee will provide an evening with a buffet, arcade games, go-carts, laser tag, bowling, and whirlyball for our seniors. 

In the classroom:
Our Math teachers will continue their ongoing professional development by working with John Antonetti on Tuesday.  Additionally, students in Ms. Neal’s health class have been working with Corporal Kevin Tieman, learning about the dangers of drug and alcohol use.  The students participated in many activities throughout the week including filming a public service announcement discussing the reasons not to use drugs or alcohol. 

The boy’s golf team was named Fox 4 Hyvee Team of the week this past week.  They placed second in the District Tournament which qualified the entire team to sectionals Monday in Warrensburg.  Again weather has played havoc with our schedule, the baseball and soccer teams are scrambling to finish conference play and we begin districts either Saturday the 11th or Monday the 13th.

MS News
We begin our final week of MAP testing!  We will be on the following schedule for these final days of testing.  On Friday, May 10, we have planned a reward luncheon for 7th graders as a reward for their hard work and effort.  We will provided transportation and time for them to eat at area restaurants during the school day.  8th grade students will get their chance for a reward luncheon on the following Monday, May 13.  We look forward to taking a break from the school day and eating outside of the school cafeteria with friends as a treat!

Day 6: Monday, May 6
7:35     Bell to begin announcements.  All students should be in testing location.
7:45     Testing session begins.
            7th: MA 2         8th: SC 1
9:00-9:15         Transition/Test Returns/Break
9:15-10:06       Hour 6
10:11-11:02     Hour 7
11:07-12:22     Hour 8/Lunch
12:27-1:18       Hour 1
1:23-2:15         Hour 2
2:20-dismissal Advisory

Day 7: Tuesday, May 7
7:35     Bell to begin announcements.  All students should be in testing location.
7:45     Testing session begins.
            7th: MA 3         8th: SC 2
8:35-8:50         Transition/Test Returns/Break
8:50-9:48         Hour 3
9:53-10:51       Hour 4
10:56-12:11     Hour 6/Lunch
12:16-1:13       Hour 7
1:18-2:15         Hour 8
2:20-dismissal Advisory

Day 8: Wednesday, May 8
7:35     Bell to begin announcements.  All students should be in testing location.
7:45     Testing session begins.
            7th: makeups    8th: SC 3
9:00-9:15         Transition/Test Returns/Break
9:15-9:47         Hour 1
9:52-10:24       Hour 2
10:29-11:01     Hour 3
11:06-12:21     Hour 4/Lunch
12:26-12:58     Hour 6
1:03-1:35         Hour 7
1:40-2:15         Hour 8
2:20-dismissal Advisory

IS News

Our students of the week are:  Lily Spear, Megan Swinney, Hayley Rochka, Faith Griggs, Grace Chambers and Blake Atkins. We congratulate these students on being role model students and exhibiting our character traits.

This week our math teachers will be meeting with Mr. John Antonetti. This professional development will continue the focus of following the continuum we have been discussing regarding math curriculum. Our math teachers are also excited about Go Math which they will be adding as a resource next year.

Our 6th grade band students will perform at 6:30pm at the high school PAC on Tuesday, May 7th. Their last performance was canceled due to weather so we are really looking forward to this event. Our band students have made huge gains this year; the majority of them have signed up for band next year. We look forward to all they will continue to accomplish. 

On Thursday of this week, the 4th grade students will visit the Intermediate school.  We have several activities planned for them. Students will be divided into three groups; each group will rotate through each activity. One activity includes a tour of the Intermediate school. Student Council members will help with the tour and answer questions along the way. Another activity includes a visit to the cafeteria. Students will learn the procedures of the cafeteria and will experience the lunch/breakfast serving line first-hand when they receive a free milk and cookie. The third planned activity includes the viewing of a short video prepared by the Intermediate PHYRE students. This video provides information about our building; current fifth grade students will be available during this time to answer questions as well. Our counselor, Mrs. Jane Bermel, and I will facilitate the activities and answer questions. We are excited about this visit and believe this experience helps transition students to the IS. Last week, the 5th grade teachers, Mrs. Bermel and I hosted an evening event for the parents of the current 4th grade parents. During the evening we shared basic information about the building, schedules, character traits, Student Information System (SIS), communication between school and home, basic curriculum information and more! The evening ended with parents touring the building and reading letters written by our current 5th graders to our incoming 5th graders.

Friday is our Field Day and MAP reward party. Mr. Adamczyk, our PE teacher, has been working hard to organize this event. Students will participate in Field Day activities half the day and MAP celebrations the other half of the day.  We thank our students for persevering and putting forth their best effort through MAP testing.  Students had the opportunity to earn daily prizes through drawings. Students looked forward to this each day; it was the perfect way to conclude each testing period. Now we look forward to a fun-filled Friday!

ES News
Students and staff are elated that the state testing has concluded and feel confident that they did their best.  Teachers reported that students did an exceptional job of taking their time, showing perseverance and using test taking strategies.  Students’ efforts were recognized each day by earning a MAP prize ticket. Tickets were entered into a drawing and every afternoon 8 students were chosen to select a reward from the prize table.  Attendance was outstanding during our first week of testing with 100% of our student body in attendance for the first 2 days of the Communication Arts tests.   Every student who was present for each day of state testing will be invited to attend a Popsicle party today at 2:30.

This week we are honoring all of our wonderful staff members here at the Elementary building.  Some of our special events include: spa treatments, Sonic beverages, breakfast,  luncheons, gifts, hand massage, notes, and prize drawings.  Each day this week we will take the time to honor not only our teaching staff but the other special members of our team as well. We will honor custodians, kitchen staff, our nurse, counselor, support staff, and paraprofessionals.  It is going to be a great week in which we can honor our outstanding staff here at the ES.

As a building we are writing our vision for the future by identifying the characteristics of the exemplary school we hope to become.  The entire staff and leadership team have identified those attributes that best represent our building in regards to academics, climate, and staff.  I will be meeting with parents and students this week to gather input on their vision for student and community / parental involvement.  Once we have our vision finalized we will start identifying our values and creating our mission statement.

It will be an exciting week for everyone as our 3rd graders will head to Science City and 4th graders will tour the Intermediate School and we celebrate Staff Appreciation Week.

PS News
The Primary School has completed Discovery Education benchmark assessments in reading and math at all grade levels, so the data analysis has begun.  Teachers have been meeting at grade levels for continued professional development in writing instruction and collaborative scoring.  We are finishing up this school year and getting ready for the next with new class lists, staff interviews, room reassignments, text and supply orders, and plans for continuing education over the summer. 
Our big events over the next several days include Kindergarten Round-Up, for incoming kindergarteners and their parents, on May 6; a Scholastic Book Fair in our library; lunch with Mrs. Haight for students who have read 100 books; the Talent Show hosted by Mrs. Sharon Doll on May 13; various class plays and park days; Field Day on May 22.  The last day for early childhood classes will be May 16.
We are celebrating our Educator of the Year, Beth Spencer; our retiring teacher, Mrs. Janice Parris; Lauren Gillespie on National School Nurse Day  May 9; and all staff during Teacher Appreciation Week with goodies and meals from our excellent PTO hospitality committee.

End of Year Staff Recognition Reception
The Pleasant Hill R-III School District hosted its annual end of year staff recognition reception May 1 at Pleasant Hill High School. The event honored three (3) staff members who were retiring at the end of this school year, as well as the recipients of the Excellence in Education Awards, “ABC” Award, Rookie Awards, service pins and first semester perfect attendance.

Honored retirees included
Ken Freeman, HS Special Education Teacher. Ken has been with the District for 31 years. He began teaching in August of 1982.
Janice Parris, PS  First Grade Teacher. She has been with the District for 27 years. She began teaching in August 1981.  
Linda Schrader, HS Business Teacher. She has been with the District for 13 years. Linda began teaching in August 2000.

Rookie Awards went to staff members who have completed their first year with the Pleasant Hill School District. They included: Stephanie Gipple, Eddie Norvell, Roger Winkle, Sue Herrera, Linda Cromwell, Adam Dean, Liana Farnen, Ashley Lile, Brook Ludlam, Stella Marr, Kelly Patton, Anne Schupp, Paul Stahl, Adam Twenter, Erin Werges, Lauren Gillespie and Kim Breitbach

The Pleasant Hill R-III District presented the Excellence in Education Awards. This award is designed to recognize an overall contribution to education by an educator. Candidates should have the ability to inspire learning, should show genuine concern for students and should be active in their profession and/or community. (A ‘certificated’ recipient was recognized from each building. Each building’s Excellence in Education Award recipient then competed for the District honor of Teacher of the Year)

The ABC award is presented annually to a classified staff person who has given outstanding service to the school district.  We look particularly for the person who has significantly contributed to the mission of the school and to the overall educational climate.  The award went to Elementary School Paraprofessional, Cynthia Brownsberger. She was chosen because she is always willing to go the extra mile and help students who are struggling with concepts, whether they are in the special needs program or not. Students adore her unique sense of humor and appreciate how helpful she is.

Service pins were awarded to individuals that have completed a minimum of 5 years full-time employment with the Pleasant Hill School District. Those receiving service pins included:

5 years:  Scott Good, Kelly Long, Tina Bailey, Shelly Breeze, Christie Diederich, Matt Klein, Wendy McKee, Nadine McKinzie, Lindsay Neal, Megan Smith, Sara Thompson, Billie Jo Triplett, Sean Berry and Julie Fuller

10 years:  Darlene Eslick, Wesley Townsend, John Beaman, Tricia Beaman, Mindy Felden, Tina Kemerling, Janet O’Neill, Terri Stark

15 years: Jason Beatty, Jenny Bell, Becky Bornaman, Nancy Bouchard, George Creason, Denise Ingels, Rebecca Eagleburger

20 years: Terry Hadley

30 years: Barbara Homan, Henry Saubers

1st Semester Perfect Attendance: Barb Homan, Gayle Revelle, Maureen Stahl, Sara Thompson, Nancy Ullah, Staci Waibel, Roger Winkle, Frankie Lees, Brian McDavitt, Ron Smith, Nancy Keilholz, Sherie Cox, Steve Haight, Kristy Faitz, Staci Moore, Kari Barger, Lora Watson, Andrea Cohen, Jane Pierce, Karen Dollins, Johna Geist, Ashley Knoll, Crystal Monath, Kyle Reeves, Kyle Roach, Paul Stahl, Nancy Bouchard, Chandra Arbuckle, Janell Hamilton, Debbie Harding and Wintress Welliver.

Cass Career Center / Summit Technology
Congratulations to the following students for being selected for Cass Career Center for the 2013-2014 School Year:
Automotive – Allie Schwartz, Garrett Bolden, Trenton Gilbert
Construction – Kendal Mahoney, Austin Pate
EMT – Lukas Pace, Kelsey Radmacher, Tanner Pettet
Health Sciences – Kylee Taylor, Brandon Cassity, Ella Roberts
Life Careers – Mariah Elam, Hannah McCoy, Emily Peters

Congratulations to the following students for being selected for Summit Technology for the 2013-2014 School Year:
Nursing – Kassidy Albright
Ben Dobson – Engineering Design

DISTRICT HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE WEEK OF April 22, 2013

HS News
This week at PHHS, our students are in full swing of the EOC tests.  Additionally, with a schedule that provides extended time in class, the teachers are taking this opportunity for students to become engaged in many projects in the classroom. 

In Mrs. Smith’s Culinary Careers class, students participated in a food prep competition modeled off of the popular TV show Chopped.  Three students won gift cards for their winning entrée.  Additionally, students in Mrs. Smith’s classes will undergo mock interviews later this week to display their knowledge of the employment process.  Community business owners will assist in this learning activity, and is one example of the many school and community partnerships that we have here at PHHS. 

In Ms. Neal’s health class, these two students have chosen to design informative brochures detailing particular diseases.  These students will be responsible for creating a presentation of these topics later in the week.

The weather continues to wreak havoc on our spring schedule, particularly Baseball and Track.  We were able to host our inaugural game on the turf at Eklund Field on Friday with the Girls Soccer team defeating Oak Grove.  Baseball will get very busy this week with regularly schedule games and make-ups. We play three nights this week and next week will play 5 games in 4 nights in order to get caught up.  Next Tuesday we host our Junior Varsity Track meet. We are doing our best to keep the online schedule up to date with all changes, be sure to check there for the most current game schedules this spring.

Recently at the State Athletic Administrators meetings Trevor Burge received the MIAAA/NIAAA Scholarship.  This is the second year in a row that one of our students has earned this award.  The association awards a first and second place for male and female applicants.  By earning the first place Trevor will receive a $1000 scholarship and qualifies for the regional round.  At regional’s his essay will be judged against the other state winners from this region, if he wins he will get another $1000 and advance to nationals with a chance to win an additional $2000 scholarship.

MS News
Our teachers, working in conjunction with our building improvement team, have determined our building goal focus for next school year. 

"Positive classroom environment":  Classroom management, motivation, and engagement
This standard & indicator from the Missouri Educator Evaluation System focuses on the teachers use of motivational and engagement strategies that promote continuous student learning.  It calls for ongoing assessment of how the classroom environment is impacted by the culture.  Students also participate in evaluating the environment of the classroom.

We have already started the process of realigning our student code of conduct, updating the student handbook regarding classroom expectations, and discussing school-wide procedures related to consistent classroom management.  This week we are delving into the establishment of baseline scores for each teacher and receiving further professional development on what impact will be seen as we work toward this building goal.  Between now and the end of this school year, each teacher will evaluate his/her own classroom environment to establish targets for growth to be implemented when school begins in August.

Next week we begin a modified schedule to accommodate our building-wide MAP testing.  We will be on the following schedule for the first 5 days of testing:

Day 1: Monday, April 29
7:35        Bell to begin announcements.  All students should be in testing location.
7:45        Testing session begins.
                7th: CA 1                8th: MA 1
8:45-9:00              Transition/Test Returns/Break
9:00-9:55              Hour 1
10:00-10:55         Hour 2
11:00-12:15         Hour 3/Lunch
                11:00-11:25, Shift A: Dowdy (28), Fender (24), Cohen (21) Kirchhofer (20), McManis (23)=116
                11:25-11:50, Shift B: Blair (34), Pierce (25), Gasper (25), Beatty (22), Longbons (4)= 110
                11:50-12:15, Shift C: Mosier (9), Davis (22), Gilman (21), Hamilton (16), Gilmore (22), Williams (22) = 112
12:20-1:15            Hour 4
1:20-2:15              Hour 6
2:20-dismissal      Advisory

Day 2: Tuesday, April 30
7:35        Bell to begin announcements.  All students should be in testing location.
7:45        Testing session begins.
                7th: CA 2                8th: MA 2  and MA 3
9:30-9:45              Transition/Test Returns/Break
9:45-10:45            Hour 7
10:50-12:05         Hour 8/Lunch
                10:50-11:15, Shift A: Fender (20), Blair (20), Davis (19), Pierce (24), Longbons (6), Williams (13) = 110
                11:15-11:40, Shift B: Gasper (26), Beatty (22), Kirchhofer (23), Gilman (20), Pate (12), Sappington (6) = 109
                11:40-12:05, Shift C: Mosier (17), Martin (27), Gilmore (25), McManis (18), Berry (16), Humphrey (14) = 117
12:10-1:10            Hour 1
1:15-2:15              Hour 2
2:20-dismissal      Advisory

Day 3: Wednesday, May 1
7:35        Bell to begin announcements.  All students should be in testing location.
7:45        Testing session begins.
                7th: CA 3                8th: CA 1
8:45-9:00              Transition/Test Returns/Break
9:00-9:55              Hour 3
10:00-10:55         Hour 4
11:00-12:15         Hour 6/Lunch
                11:00-11:25, Shift A: Dowdy (32), McManis (21), Martin (22), Cohen (25), Sappington (7), Longbons (4) = 111
                11:25-11:50, Shift B: Gilmore (30), Hamilton (24), Pierce (23), Davis (24), Berry (9) = 110
                11:50-12:15, Shift C: Gilman (16), Kirchhofer (20), Gasper (30), Blair (19), Fender (25) = 110
12:20-1:15            Hour 7
1:20-2:15              Hour 8
2:20-dismissal      Advisory

Day 4: Thursday, May 2
7:35        Bell to begin announcements.  All students should be in testing location.
7:45        Testing session begins.
                7th: CA 4                8th: CA 2
8:45-9:00              Transition/Test Returns/Break
9:00-9:55              Hour 1
10:00-10:55         Hour 2
11:00-12:15         Hour 3/Lunch
                11:00-11:25, Shift A: Dowdy (28), Fender (24), Cohen (21) Kirchhofer (20), McManis (23)=116
                11:25-11:50, Shift B: Blair (34), Pierce (25), Gasper (25), Beatty (22), Longbons (4)= 110
                11:50-12:15, Shift C: Mosier (9), Davis (22), Gilman (21), Hamilton (16), Gilmore (22), Williams (22) = 112
12:20-1:15            Hour 4
1:20-2:15              Hour 6
2:20-dismissal      Advisory

Day 5: Friday, May 3
7:35        Bell to begin announcements.  All students should be in testing location.
7:45        Testing session begins.
                7th: MA 1               8th: CA 3
8:25-8:40              Transition/Test Returns/Break
8:40-9:27              Hour 7
9:32-10:19            Hour 8
10:24-11:11         Hour 1
11:16-12:31         Hour 2/Lunch
                11:16-11:41, Shift A: Dowdy (34), Blair (22), Gasper (29), Martin (27) = 112
                11:41-12:06, Shift B: Cohen (23), Davis (27), Beatty (26), Longbons (4), Bird (8), McManis (27) = 115
                12:06-12:31, Shift C:  Mosier (11), Fender (21), Pierce (22), Hamilton (24), Williams (27) = 105
12:35-1:22            Hour 3
1:27-2:15              Hour 4
2:20-dismissal      Advisory

IS News
Our students of the week are:  Truman Cartner, Julia Moore, Nolan Miller, Grace Riley, Kaitlyn Wilson and Hunter Foote. Our students of the month are:  Brandon Baker, Mitchell Coon, Hailey McCommon, Jackson Barnes, Paul Breeze, Natalie Hopkins, Patrick Brunnell, Cameron Parker, Haylie Rouchka, Dawson Ferdig, Mazen Jackson, Kaitlyn Brooks, Kaitlyn Smith and Matthew Pritchett. We congratulate these students on being role model students and exhibiting our character traits.

Our students start MAP testing this week. They will be taking the Communication Arts test and part of the Math test this week. Students will finish the Math portion next week and our 5th graders will also take the Science test at that time. Last week we kicked off MAP testing with a Mingle And Play night. This was a family fun night in which each team planned activities for students and parents. This event included a lot of physical activities/exercise and enjoyment by all. Some of the popular activities are seen below such as the Limbo and Cupid Shuffle.

ES News
Last week the 3rd and 4th graders did their final preparations for MAP testing by practicing timed readings, writing to a prompt and using their test taking strategies.  Each class brainstormed their best advice for testing and we had so many suggestions, we created two bulletin boards to show that “We’ve Got Skills”.  Last Friday, we enjoyed a MAP pep assembly where we danced, sang and enjoyed a skit by our teachers.  On Friday, ES students also completed a 100 problem math challenge!  Over 140 students accepted the challenge and collectively completed 14,000 math problems.  Last Thursday, we were happy to welcome the Hillside Singers for a performance.  They were outstanding singers and set a great example for our students. 

Today, our 3rd graders will begin section one of the Communication Arts MAP Test and tomorrow the whole building will be engaged in testing.  We will test through Wednesday and then enjoy “Take Your Child to Work Day” on Thursday.  Each morning before testing, we will get the blood flowing by participating in a MAP workout dance led by Mrs. Shaffer and Mrs. Haines.  Students can earn tickets for showing perseverance, staying focused and using their test taking strategies.  Tickets will be collected and there will be a drawing for prizes at the end of each day.  This Friday evening Mrs. Halfmann and Mr. McDavitt will accompany Eli Guffey and his family to the Kindest Kansas Citian Banquet where Eli and his nominee will be recognized. 

PS News
Students at the Primary School are busy with Discovery Education benchmark assessments.  Each grade level requires a week to complete reading and math assessments in our computer lab.  Each grade level is also taking the Gates MacGinitie reading assessment which provides an estimated reading level for each student.  Our goal is at least one year's growth in reading level for each child.  

Kindergarten and 2nd. graders are taking field trips to Paradise Park.  First graders will visit the zoo on April 24.  All trips include educational activities and follow-up writing instruction.  Our last assembly for the year will be April 25, when we will have "Hats On Day" to raise funds for children with cancer.  This year, donations will benefit Camp Quality of the Greater Kansas City area, which funds camps and other activities for children ages 4-17 with cancer.  Revolution Martial Arts students will demonstrate some skills with a character education message.  Our last character education emphasis for May is "sportsmanship."  Kindergarteners are performing their "Rhythm and Motion" program for the public in the high school gym on April 30 at 7:00.

Primary School teachers continue to work on math curriculum development and writing instruction and scoring, with additional professional development time before the end of the school year.  Teachers are also meeting with me to develop class lists and plan schedules and materials to order for next year.  At our Building Improvement Team meeting this week, we will review RtI data and plan our Rooster Time and testing schedules for 2013-14.  At our building staff meeting on April 29, we will introduce the new Missouri Educator Evaluation System and provide materials for teachers to get started on documentation.

Finally, this week we celebrate National Secretaries' Day on April 24.  All the staff thank Diana Redwine and Melinda Snyder for their hard work and dedication to our children every day.

Twenty three students inducted into National Honor Society
Congratulations to the following students for being inducted into NHS on April 17: Taylor Louthan, Brad Smith, Jennifer Vandiver, Hannah Winkler, Kacey Breitbach, Krista Bricker, Jamie Brookshier, Haley Cash, Trenton M. Clarke, Zach Cohen, Brooke Crotty, Ben Dobson, Hannah Dustman, Heather Hughes, Mallory Humphrey, Schyler Johnston, Mariahe Long, Emily McKee, George Montag, Ali Novak, Mackenzie Snyder, Rachel Triplett and Trevor Young.

PHHS Lip Dub 2013
The Pleasant Hill High School Multimedia class decided through a democratic process to pass the decision to complete a class project...a Lip Dub.
Twenty students took upon the responsibility to present a proposal to administration for approval, project management to plan the process of completion, and implementing their technological skills they have learned in the multimedia class.  The entire project took about 3 months to plan and implement. The technology utilized for this project was completely freeware and borrowed devices along with some ingenuity and creativity.
The implementation process included approximately 40 clubs/sports, 680 students, and 50 administration, faculty, and staff members displaying their Rooster Pride.  This project was not rehearsed and could only be filmed once.  Please enjoy the results of your students' labor and dedication: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czL5y4RmAFE  

District News - April 8, 2013
HS News
This week at PHHS, our teachers designed a pep assembly to kick-off the EOC testing window.  The assembly included motivational songs and teachers from each content area providing words of encouragement for the students as they begin their testing.  This is the first time that teachers have had such an assembly in several years, and this was received well by the students. 

During the next three weeks at Pleasant Hill High School, our students will take EOCs in American History, Algebra I, Language Arts I, Geometry, Language Arts II, Biology, Algebra II, and Government. In addition the classroom preparation, our teachers have filled test survival kits for all students. These bags will include snacks and drinks for students to have on each of their testing days.

Spring sports have gotten off to a snowy start. Before the last round of snow hit the Baseball team was able to get in their season opener beating Marshall 11-7.  They have struggled of late but they are a young team and hope to get things turned around soon.  Golf has started strong with both the Varsity and JV taking first in their divisions at the Oak Grove Tournament hosted at Adam’s Point.  The track team is adapting to continued construction activity at the athletic complex and is looking forward to being able to running all the way around the track unimpeded. 

Also on 3/18 Dillon Findley and Mallory Miller were honored as NAIA Champions of Character.  There was a reception at Bartle Hall and then afterwards they were recognized along with other area recipients at half-time of the NAIA Men’s National Championship Semi-Final game.

A special part of the year for the Champions of Character Program is asking high school coaches, teachers and athletics directors to nominate two student-athletes who represent the five core character values - integrity, respect, responsibility, sportsmanship and servant leadership.

The students, their families and coaches were invited to celebrate their achievements at a banquet event on Monday, March 18th, as well as, to attend the first semi-final game at Municipal Auditorium to be recognized at half-time.  Buffalo Funds President, John Kornitzer, and NAIA President and CEO, Jim Carr, were there to congratulate each awardee.

MS News
We are gearing up for next school year already and anticipating our end-of-year activities!  Last week, we met with all incoming 7th grade students for the 2013-14 school year, talked about middle school courses, and guided them through course selections.  We will use this information to build next year’s schedule and work on individual hourly schedules over the next several weeks.  This week on Tuesday, April 9 we will repeat this activity with next year’s incoming 8th grade students.  We work diligently on scheduling during the last month of school and into the summer months to ensure that student schedules, class rosters, and teacher loads can be determined and in place by the beginning of August.  For next year’s schedule of classes at the middle school, students will continue to have each of the core required class hours as well as choices of two elective hours.  We will move our Advisory time to the end of the school day for all students and the class design will be changed to a shortened class period (approximately 15 minutes) to focus on end-of-the day time for organization/study skills.

On Tuesday, April 16, we will have our annual MAP practice day.  We will run the same modified schedule which we utilize for building-wide testing scheduled to occur April 29-May 8.  Basically, students are involved in MAP testing the first two hours of each day, followed by a modified schedule of class periods for the remainder of each day.  We practice this on Tuesday in order for all to learn locations, expectations, and take a practice assessment for our last “push” toward the end of school before our “real” testing begins on April 29.

IS News
Our ELA teachers will be visiting a neighboring school district on Monday of this week. This will be an excellent opportunity to see Readers and Writers Workshop in action as well as the many other instructional strategies and methods. This visit was originally scheduled for February but was canceled due to a snow day. We are excited to have this PD opportunity rescheduled. Our ELA teachers will also spend the 10th at Central Office for a continuation of professional development on writing. Among some of the activities, teachers will continue to center on the common threads for writing, as well as, take a gallery walk of student writing. The gallery walk activity will help us determine how our students are performing at each grade level and if we are being consistent with the calibration of student writing.

In the evening of the 9th, our 6th grade students will perform for PTO. This performance will take place at the high school PAC at 7pm following the PTO business meeting. Students have been practicing and preparing for this performance in music classes as seen below. We invite you to this event.

Also during the evening of the 9th from 5:30-7:00pm there will be band/instrument rental at the Intermediate school for those students that will be taking band their 6th grade year. By hosting this early in the spring, students will begin the school year with their instruments as opposed to waiting. Students are always eager to get their hands on their instruments; now they won’t have to wait. We are excited about this change.

ES News
Students at the ES have accepted a 100 Problem Math Challenge sponsored by the Math Committee.  Packets were sent home last week that provide spiraled review on math content that students have learned this year.  Our Math challenge runs from April 5-April 19th. 

Teachers and students are ready to show that “We’ve Got Skills” on the MAP test later this month.  We’ve been celebrating our accomplishments while continuing to sharpen our skills so that we are ready to “show what we know” on the state test. 

Students have been stopping by the principal’s office to share stories they have written, show their reading fluency gains, or demonstrate their math knowledge.  Students are excited to share their progress.

Teachers will have 15 minute data meetings with the principal this week to discuss student progress.  We will analyze whether or not our 3rd quarter interventions are working and what more we can do between now and the end of the school year.  Everyone is working diligently at the Elementary School-staff and students both!

PS News
The Primary School students are busy during the month of April with field trips and Discovery Education benchmark assessments.  Kindergarten and first grade classes have been to the Paul Mesner Puppet Theater, Early Childhood visited Paradise Park, and first grade is preparing for the Kansas City Zoo later this month.  Several classes are practicing for end-of-year performances; Mrs. McKinzie's will be the first, performing for parents on April 9.  "Rooster Time", our RtI reading initiative, ends on April 11, and we hope to see results in students' test scores over the next few weeks.

Teachers continue to work on writing instruction and scoring, and math curriculum development.  Teacher request forms will be available for parents from April 10-19.

District News - March 25, 2013
HS News
This week our teachers will participate in professional development on Thursday, March 28th. The learning activities will include training sessions on PLATO, the online learning system that is utilized at the high school.  Training based on the new teacher evaluation system will be provided for all teachers as well.  Additionally, EOC testing manuals will be covered as we prepare to give the exams during the first full week of April. 

During the next few weeks at Pleasant Hill High School, our teachers will be making final preparations for the End of Course Exams.  In the classroom, the teachers are making the last push to review material and prepare our students for the eight EOC exams that we give.  Students will take EOCs in American History, Algebra I, Language Arts I, Geometry, Language Arts II, Biology, Algebra II, and Government.  In addition to the classroom preparation, our teachers are going to fill test survival kits for all students.  These bags will include snacks and drinks for students to have on each of their testing days.  

MS News

In our quest to make our writing more powerful, we are putting these words to rest and pledging that “YOU SHALL NOT BE USED!”  So long to the old, overused standbys of non-descriptive writing:  “stuff, thing, kids, really, fun, best, said, good, like, very, stuff, big”

Over the past few months, our district has been providing professional development in the area of curriculum development for our English Language Arts teachers as we prepare for the shifts of the Common Core Academic Standards.  One major change related to middle school students is in the area of writing.  For the past several years, our student writing focus has been on expository and/or a narrative style of writing, especially in the middle grades.  However, with the shift toward Common Core and college and career readiness, there is much more emphasis placed on persuasive writing beginning in the younger grades instead of “waiting” on a persuasive writing task until the junior or senior year of high school. 

As a result, our middle school teachers have been busily infusing the writing shifts into our current Language Arts classrooms.  One curriculum objective worked on this past week was the following:  Students will write to argue one side of an issue that is relevant to their current circumstances.  They will acknowledge both sides of the argument and then convince their readers their side is the best.   Class bell work has centered on taking a stand on current issues and supporting your stand with relevant details.  One example of this recently occurred when students read an article from Scope together as a class.  After reading “Is the Cafeteria Ruining Your Life?”, they debated both sides of the issue of “Assigned Seating in the Cafeteria.”  Students discussed and the teacher displayed the data from our schools climate report concerning bullying in our school (one of the major points for assigned seating in the article) as additional and relevant support for their arguments.  After reading and discussing the article and our school’s bullying data, students followed an outline to guide them through the writing process (prewriting), wrote drafts taking a position, peer edited, and self-revised before turning in the final essay. This week, these types of writing will be further developed as students take other positions related to the various questions such as: Is it okay for Beyonce to sell soda? Should we have school uniforms? Should we have a city water park?

IS News
Our students of the week are:  Abby Baker, Rileigh West, Morgan Carlile, Garrett Schick, David Rivera and Bayne McCall. We congratulate these students on being great role models and exhibiting the character traits.

 The IS musical, Aristocats Kids, was a huge success! We are so very proud of our students and their performances! Hard work, dedication and enthusiasm were evident! We thank all the students, parents and volunteers that helped make it a success. We also thank Mrs. Schupp for all her work directing our students; the musical was a delight.

Band is busy! Sixth grade band was scheduled to perform Monday, March 25 but is cancelled due to inclement weather. Our band students have made huge gains in their musical/instrumental abilities throughout the year; we are looking forward to their next opportunity to perform.   Also, we are excited to help our band program grow. There will be band instrument demo days that will take place in our 5th grade music classes on the 26th and 27th. This is a great way to spark interest in our students and allow them to explore their band options. Later in the school year students will have the opportunity to select band as an elective class for their 6th grade year.

Thursday will be full of activity. FOR (Friends of Rachel) will be presenting a special kick-off in our morning motivator. This will be a surprise for our student body; the FOR group is looking forward to it and to starting a chain reaction of kindness and helping others at the IS.

Thursday is also an early release day. In the afternoon, teachers and staff at the IS will take part in professional development on a variety of topics including MAP testing and planning, safety issues and the MO teacher evaluation process.

ES News
This week we are recognizing the 3rd Quarter accomplishments of our students.  We will celebrate perfect those students who earned perfect attendance on Tuesday with a popcorn, movie and certificate party.  Then on Thursday, we will host our Celebration Assembly where we will distribute awards and honor those students who earned all A’s and A-B status.  We will also recognize students who showed exceptional perseverance and character 3rd quarter with special recognition certificates and High Five Awards.  At this assembly we are also proud to recognize our parent volunteer of quarter with a certificate and gift card.  Our assembly will conclude with a slide show of 3rd quarter highlights.

Recently, we received word that 3rd grader, Eli Guffey from Mr. McDavitt’s room has been named a top 20 finalist in the Kindest Kansas Citian Contest.  His essay was chosen from over 6,000 entries; it is an outstanding accomplishment.  His nominee along with Eli and his family, Mr. McDavitt and I will attend the awards banquet on April 26th.

This week our fourth graders will visit Steamboat Arabia as part of their Missouri History unit.  We will also host our MAP information and PIE Nights this week for parents of 3rd and 4th graders.  On Tuesday we will welcome parents of 3rd graders and on Wednesday we look forward to meeting with parents of 4th graders.  Both events begin at 6:30 and the agenda includes an overview of the MAP test, testing schedule, test taking strategies and of course PIE!  Feel free to join us!

Finally, we were thrilled to learn that 5 of our teachers are recipients of the Connect Me I-pad Grant.  Congratulations to : Brian McDavitt, Jessica Young, Jackie Cattron, Mindy Halfmann and Ebony Shaffer.

PS News
The Primary School is busy with kindergarten screenings, which should be complete by March 28, and teacher inservices on writing scoring and instruction.  The staff is excited about John Antonetti's visit to our school on March 28.  Antonetti will observe and visit with students during Rooster Time (reading interventions) and morning classes, when teachers are planning math and writing instruction.  After our early release, Antonetti will visit with our staff about effective instructional strategies, especially intentionally planning for application, evaluation, and analysis.

Second graders built leprechaun traps for St. Patrick's Day, while kindergarteners searched for gold and leprechauns in our hallways.  Now students are excited about upcoming field trips for early childhood and first grade classes.  Several classes are beginning to practice for end-of-the-year plays and programs. Mrs. Ullah's kindergarteners presented the play "Mrs. Wishy Washy" on March 22, and Mrs. McKinzie's kindergarteners will perform to music for families on April 9.

Culinary Careers prepares Stir-fry
On March 14th, Chef Sam Hudgins of Southwest Foodservice Excellence prepared a Chicken Stir-fry station at the High School during lunch service. He was assisted by three students from Mrs. Smith’s class. They had the opportunity to make the culinary creation. They along with Sam stir fried fresh broccoli, peppers, carrots and snap peas with chicken, rice and a sweet teriyaki glaze. Altogether, 71 students and faculty ate the stir-fry.
Sam commented, “I am pleased at the participation and look forward to doing this at all of the schools.”  “The young ladies were a great asset as they showed great skill and passion for serving and preparing the meal for their classmates. A big thank you to Mrs. Smith for allowing them to participate.”

National Investwrite Essay Contest
Colleen Wouters was presented a plaque, trophy and laptop computer for receiving  3rd place in the National Investwrite Essay Contest on Monday, Mar. 18 at Pleasant Hill Middle School. Colleen and Mrs. Humphrey will join the 7th grade Stock Market Game winning team at a banquet in April, in Kansas City.

Guffey is Kindest Kansas Citian Essay Contest Top 20 Winner
Elementary School third grader, Eli Guffey was selected as a top 20 winner for the Kindest Kansas Citian Essay Contest. His essay was selected from over 6,000 submissions. He and his nominee, Steve Bricker, have been invited to attend the Awards Dinner along with a guest on April 26th at 6:30.  Tickets are also being sent to his teacher, Mr. McDavitt, the head of our Reading and Writing Committee, Mindy Halfmann and myself.  Eli will get to read part of his essay and present Mr. Bricker with an award at the banquet.

District News
HS News
This week at PHHS we are preparing to host a presentation by Rachel’s Challenge.  Rachel’s Challenge exists to equip and inspire individuals to replace acts of violence, bullying, and negativity with acts of respect, kindness, and compassion.  Rachel’s Challenge is based on the life and writings of Rachel Joy Scott who was the first victim of the Columbine school shootings in 1999.  Rachel’s inspiring story provides a simple, yet powerful example of how small acts of kindness and acceptance motivate us to consider our relationships with the people we come in contact with every day.  A presentation for high school students will occur at 9:00 AM along with a presentation for middle and intermediate school students on Wednesday, March 13, 2013.   A community presentation will occur at 7:00 PM that evening.  All events will be hosted at the High School. 

Additionally, our staff is completing the final plans for our second ACT workshop that will take place on March 22, 2013.  Data from the November workshop were encouraging.  Students that took the ACT in December and elected to participate in the workshop, on average, scored 1.2 points higher than those that did not participate in the workshop.  Due to the fact that the April ACT is well attended by our eleventh grade students, the focus of our preparation will be on this group of students.  Students registered for the April ACT that that wish to participate in this workshop or gather additional information should inquire in the Counseling Center. 

Thursday March 14th will have the wrestling end of year awards at 6pm.  Friday is the start of spring sports with baseball at Marshall. 

Next week we get into the full swing of things, Monday Track will compete at the UCM indoor meet  and Baseball will travel to Lexington. Tuesday has the golf team in action at Country Creek  with Harrisonville.  Girls soccer will compete against Clinton in a game we will have to switch to an away match. Thursday Soccer goes to Excelsior Springs and Friday the track team will be at Harrisonville.

MS News
Even with all the snow days and rescheduling of activities and schedules, we have completed our final round of Discovery Education testing for this school year.  Our teachers have started reviewing the results and overall growth can be seen between the 2nd and 3rd round of testing data.  We now begin working on reteaching and enrichment strategies in math and English classes based on the data we have received.  Teachers will also be going over the individual student reports with their students over these next two weeks.

Over these next two weeks, our students will also continue to participate in a “Close Read” activity during their classes.  Due to the snow days, some social studies and science classes weren’t able to fit in their close reads; thus, these types of instructional tasks are still a work in progress. 

At the end of last week and continuing into this week, we are beginning our “journey” into Rachel’s Challenge.  Over the past few days, all of our students have had in-depth discussions during Advisory classes on the following questions in order to prepare for our Rachel’s Challenge formal presentation & kickoff assembly that will take place this Wednesday.

            Discussion questions: 

We will be on the following modified schedule on Wednesday to accommodate traveling to/from the HS for our kickoff of Rachel’s Challenge:

7:35-8:10 Hour 1
8:14-8:49 Hour 2
8:53-9:28 Hour 3
9:32-10:07 Hour 4 (10:10 Start shuttling students/staff to high school)
10:30 IS/MS Rachel’s Challenge presentation in HS Gym
11:30 Start shuttling most of students/staff back to middle school
11:50-1:05 Lunch/Hour 6 at middle school 
Shift A: 11:50-12:15   / 11:45-12:15 IS/MS core group students remaining at the HS each lunch at HS
            classes: Dowdy (32), Fender (25), Gasper (30), Berry (9)
Shift B: 12:15-12:40
            classes: Gilmore (30), Kirchhofer (20), LongBons (4), Martin (23), Sappington (7), Cohen (23)
Shift C: 12:40-1:05     /  12:30-2:00  IS/MS/HS core group of Rachel’s Chall work session at HS
            classes: Blair (18), Pierce (23), McManis (20), Hamilton (24), Davis (24)
1:09-1:49 Hour 7
1:54-2:34 Hour 8        /  2:00 Shuttle MS core group students back from HS to MS

IS News
Our students of the week are:  Danielle Lichte, Katlyn Smith, Hanah Hocker, Natalie Hopkins, Morgan Wilhite and Chloe Bloom. Our students of the month are:  Blaine Kleyh, Shirley Salcedo, Dante Lopez, Austin Long, Niki South, Thomas Swilley Wesley Tibai, Macey Barker, Laura Allee, Trace Armstrong, Will Pryor, Jakob Hammond, Taylor Fitzpatrick and Trisha Kiger. We congratulate these students on being role model students and exhibiting our character traits.

Fifth and sixth grade students will be attending an assembly titled Rachel’s Challenge on March 13. This program will be viewed by all students in grades 5-12 at two different assemblies. Rachel’s Challenge is a program that prompts being kind, respectful and helping others---replacing bullying, violence and negative behavior and attitudes. There will be a training session for a select number of students that will work at promoting the program for years to come. In the evening, there will also be a parent/community assembly that will take place at the High School gym at 7pm; we hope you will be able to attend. We are very excited about having this program in Pleasant Hill and want to thank the Pleasant Hill Betterment committee for their support and generosity for helping to make it happen.

ES News
 Last week, we celebrated Read across America Week!  Throughout the building you could see classroom doors skillfully decorated to represent teachers’ favorite books, hear guest readers share a beloved story and smell popcorn wafting through the halls as students enjoyed a snack and “popped” open a great book.  KC Wolf visited us as well to share his love for reading and remind students to be a buddy, not a bully. 

Also last week, teachers met on release time to examine the proficient and advanced MAP descriptors as defined by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.  We compared these descriptors with our current pacing and instruction to ensure that we are ready to administer the state assessment Mid-April. This analysis allowed us to chart a course of action that we can implement over the next 6 weeks.

This week, On March 14th, we will observe International PI Day, 3.14 with a day full of math activities.  Stop by and enjoy activities such as Geo-panes, coordinate grids, area and perimeter, and downhill racer measurement; it is sure to be a math extravaganza!   This week, also includes class pictures, Family Fun Night and marks the beginning of fourth quarter.

PS News
The Primary School hosted Dollars and Donuts with Dads on March 6 and raised over $440 for the local Lay Clergy.  Photos of the event are posted on the district Facebook page.  We have several exciting upcoming events:  1st. grade Grandparents' Day on March 11, spring photos and the 1st. grade spring performance the evening of March 12, and Food Power in the gym on March 13-14.  Janet Anderson coordinates the Food Power event every 3 years with the University Extension program.  With the assistance of teachers and parent volunteers, students visit several stations to learn about food production, distribution, and consumption. 

Approximately 145 incoming kindergarteners will go through screening with PAT staff, counselor Shari Doutt, and kindergarten teachers beginning the week of March 18.  Kindergarten Round-Up, when teachers are assigned and I host a parent meeting, will be held in early May.  Primary teachers are continuing to develop math lessons aligned to common core standards, and meeting to work on writing instruction and scoring.

MAP / EOC Testing Dates
MAP / EOC tests are performance-based assessments that measure student achievement on Show-Me Standards.
These tests are given at designated grade levels and subject areas. Tests are comprised of three methods of measurement: selected response, constructed response, and performance events.
Results are used in individual planning, program evaluation, and curriculum revision.
DESE also monitors results for progress and accreditation.

Testing Schedule:
Grade 3, 4 (Elementary School)
April 22, 23 & 24: Communication Arts
April 30, May 1 & 2: Math

Grade 5, 6 (Intermediate School)
April 24 & 25: Communication Arts (5th/6th grade)
April 26 & 30: Mathematics (5th/6th grade)
May 1 & 2: Science (5th grade)

Grade 7, 8 (Middle School)
April 16: Practice Day
April 29 - May 3: Testing Dates
May 6 - 8: MAP Makeups
May 10 & 13: MAP Reward Luncheon

Grade 9-12 (High School)
April 8 - April 26

Scholar Athlete Award
Dillan Findley was one of 22 (11-MO, 11-KS) football players in the metro area awarded the Scholar Athlete Award receiving a $1000 scholarship provided by the McCarthy Auto Group.  The banquet was held at Avila on March 3.  He is shown with Head Football Coach Kyle Roach, who is serving as the President of the Greater KC Football Coaches Association.

Wilhoit receives 3rd place
The Cass County Spelling Bee was held at the Raymore-Peculiar Administration Building.  There were 5 students from the Cass County participating in the Spelling Bee. Rachel Wilhoit, 5th grade Intermediate School student was the only girl. She came in 3rd place. Congratulations Rachel!.

Basketball Championships
Parent/Fan Parking: We will have signs to indicate parking areas. Please inform your fans that there will be NO PARKING on the north side of the building. We will have another event taking place, which will not interfere with the games because it is small in number of people involved, but they will be parking on the north side of the building.
Boys championship bracket
https://www.mshsaa.org/Activities/DistrictWinners.aspx?alg=5&class=4
Girls Championship Bracket
https://www.mshsaa.org/Activities/DistrictWinners.aspx?alg=6&class=4

MS Spirit Week
Monday - Winter Hat day
Tuesday - Sport Jersey day
Wed. - Fuzzy slipper day
Thursd. - Red and heart day
Friday - Duck Dynasty day

Kassidy Comeback
Middle School students and teachers honored Kassidy Reed by wearing their 'Kassidy Comeback' tshirt to school today.

The Wizard of Oz
Pleasant Hill Middle School Choir and Drama students will be presenting "The Wizard of Oz" this coming Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, February 14th, 15th, and 16th at the Pleasant Hill High School Performing Arts Center at 7:00pm. Tickets are $7.50 for adults and $5.00 for children 12 and under. You can purchase tickets at the door, or you can call 540-2149 to order tickets in advance. Please come and support the PHMS music program!

District News - Feb. 11
HS News
The Student Council at PHHS will host their annual officer candidate elections this week.  Candidate speeches and student voting will take place on Wednesday.  The election of these officers is instrumental in planning school activities throughout the year such as dances, spirit weeks, and community service opportunities. 

Over fifty students will be participating in DECA District Competition on Wednesday at Independence Center.  Students will be competing in various business and marketing themed role plays, exams, and presentations.  PHHS is emerging as a very strong DECA program.  Additionally, our FFA students and FBLA students will be participating in a spirit week that highlights the accomplishments of their organization while recruiting potential members. 

State Wrestling is this Thursday-Saturday the Roosters qualified six for state, Olen Brattin-126, Cole Sullivan-132, Brady Franklin-145, Kolin Rogers-160, Jacob Randle 195, and Delainey Taala 285.
In Basketball the girls host Grain Valley on Monday, go on the road to Odessa Thursday and finish the regular season next Thursday the 21st hosting Harrisonville for senior night.  The boys are on the road Tuesday at Grain Valley then host Odessa Friday and Harrisonville the following Friday the 22nd for their senior night.  Both the boys and girls conference championships will be decided over the final two weeks of the season. 

The speech and debate team travels to Holden on Wednesday for the conference debate tournament and then to Grain Valley on Monday the 18th for individual events competition.  The Show Choirs compete at Nevada this Saturday and some members will participate in Conference Choir on the 23rd at Harrisonville.  The Jazz band performs at UCM on the 23rd as well.

MS News
Our Student Council is sponsoring several fundraisers to directly benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  We are offering parents, students, and staff the opportunity to purchase a lollipop valentine for one dollar.  Students are able to pick from four different card designs and parents and staff have two choices.  The lollipop valentines will be delivered on Valentine’s Day during advisory.  While selling our lollipop Valentines, Stu-Co is also offering Hersey’s Kisses to “Kiss off Leukemia” for $1.  This consists of a small bag of Kisses and a pair of lips with the student’s name to be posted around the building showing their support for the cause.  The final endeavor is collecting change for “Pennies for Patients” in the hopes of making a change and finding a cure.  Students are collecting spare change and turning in their boxes in to their advisory teachers by Friday, February 15. The advisory class collecting the most money will receive a pizza party.

Our positive school climate committee is hosting a February spirit stick competition this week.  Monday is Winter Hat Day, Tuesday = Sport Jersey Day, Wednesday = Fuzzy Slipper Day, Thursday = Red & Heart Day, Friday = Duck Dynasty Day.

On the academic front, four-year plans are well underway for 8th graders.  Four-year planning is a vital part of 8th grade guidance and transitioning into high school.  Every student has learned about and researched careers to help him/her have a better base in which to pick their high school classes.  Over these next two weeks, students are continuing to meet with high school counselors, teachers, and students, exploring the high school “newspaper” of course selections, and building their own four-year plan to help guide their high school experience and set goals for the future.

Finally, we are “off to see the wizard” this week!  Our middle school musical production is featuring The Wizard of Oz this week.  Performances are Thursday, Friday, & Saturday evenings at 7:00 p.m. at the Performing Arts Center at the high school.

IS News
Our students of the week are:  Tanner Reffitt, Audree Hollway, Sarah Miller, Grace Kenyon, Dante Lopez and Christian Bowman. Our students of the month are:  Kylie Campbell, Emily Perisho, Emily Kerchner, Emma Kirchhoff, Morgan Wehner, Clay Froelich, Miguel Venegas, Sophie Harvey, Madison McDaniel, McKenna Hanover, Cierra Williams, Beau Brown Maddy Helms,  and Amber Gerken. We congratulate these students on being role model students and exhibiting our character traits.

During second quarter all teachers videotaped themselves teaching a lesson. Each teacher then viewed the tape and filled out a reflection form. Teachers reflected on curriculum aspects of the lesson, lesson delivery, classroom climate, time management and general overall questions regarding their lesson.  Once teachers had time to fill out the form and truly reflect on this teaching experience, teachers made a goal for the remainder of the school year. The goal should focus on teaching and learning. This week I will be meeting with each teacher individually to discuss his/her videotaping experience and goal. 
On Tuesday this week, we will be attending the MS matinee performance of The Wizard of Oz at the HS PAC. Our entire building will be in attendance and are looking forward it!

Also this week, the math teachers and I will be visiting a neighboring school district to observe. We hope to see insightful teaching and learning taking place. We will also have an opportunity to collaborate with their teachers. Observing can be a very beneficial form of professional development. We are looking forward to this visit.

ES News
Our building is bustling with excitement!  Last Friday we raised over $262.00 at our 3rd Grade Donuts with Dad event. The money that our Student Leadership Council collected will help support our Pennies for Patients campaign that started on February 6th. 

Students are showing their LOVE for Reading as they have each accepted the challenge to read 100 pages from February 4th to February 14th.   Each time a student reads 25 pages, they receive a heart to display throughout the building.  Our walls are literally filling up with hearts from students who are showing their love for reading. 

This Wednesday, we will travel to the High School to watch the Middle School’s production of the Wizard of Oz.  We are excited about the opportunity to support the talents and efforts of these students.  On Thursday, the students will enjoy the wonderful Valentine’s Parties that PTO will provide for us.

Teachers and students continue to work diligently to implement test taking strategies, writing centers and building-wide expectations.  Stop by and experience the excitement.

PS News
The primary school teachers have been excited to see results of our recent Discovery Education tests in reading and math.  99% of our students showed growth on both tests between August and January, and 50% of our students scored advanced in math in 1st. and 2nd. grades.  Teachers continue to work on developing math curriculum with rigorous lessons and activities aligned to the new Common Core standards.  Kindergarten teachers finish their Common Core Institute, three meetings for reading and three for math, in Clinton this month.  Also during this month, all three grade levels will participate in training on effective writing instruction and scoring students' work. 

Students are getting ready for an exciting week with Valentine parties on Thursday.  2nd. graders will be participating in Jump Rope For Heart on Feb. 13-14.  All grades have been practicing jumping rope in PE and at recess. In the computer lab, kindergarteners and 1st. graders are learning how to log in with their usernames and passwords.

HS Spirit Days
Courtwarming/Matwarming
Feb. 4: PJ Day
Feb. 5: Hat Day
Feb. 6: Duck Dynasty Day
Feb. 7: Duct tape / Foil Day
Feb. 8: Neon Day

Valentine Deliveries
VALENTINE DELIVERIES ARE NOT ACCEPTED AT ANY SCHOOLS IN THE PLEASANT HILL SCHOOL DISTRICT. We will not accept deliveries for students the week of Feb. 14. For safety reasons, balloons and candy/floral arrangements are never allowed on school buses.

Kindergarten Screenings
Kindergarten screenings for those students who turn 5 years old on or before July 31, 2013, are currently being scheduled. If you know of any eligible children who plan to attend PHPS kindergarten for the 2013-2014 school year, please contact PAT staff at 987-9200 to schedule an appointment for screening and to begin the enrollment process.

Freezing for a Reason
Seventeen PHHS students participated in the Polar Bear Plunge on Saturday, January 26. The team of students jumped into Longview Lake in support of Special Olympics. Those students participating were: Tanner Beagle, Samantha Bornaman, Christian Correa, Brooke Crotty, Susanna Goodell-Fields, Vyktoria Harris, Shannon Haws, Mariah Jones, Rachel Long, Rainey Madison, Mallory Miller, Alisha Price, Elizabeth Waddle, Braxton Williams, Bradley Downing, Josh Hatten and Makenzie Hollaway.  High School Stuco co-advisor, Carrie Ryerson and Elementary School teacher, Christy Goad also braved the cold temperatures and jumped into the lake. Aubrey Purnell, Dylan Ryerson and Taylor Livingston had to drop from participating because of an illness.

Region 12 FCCLA
Region 12 FCCLA officers for 2013-2014 Left to right:  Marissa Thompson, PHHS voting delegate, Trenton Clarke Region 12 Secretary, Haley Cash Region 12 Reporter, Elisabeth Mansfield Region 12 2012-2013 Officer and Rachel Liley Region 12 Vice President.

District News - Jan. 28
HS News
During the next few weeks the staff at PHHS will be working with students as they begin to plan for courses for the 2013-2014 school year.  The choices that students and parents make regarding next year’s classes require a great deal of forethought and attention.  Obviously, the first consideration is in obtaining the required number of credits required in certain areas for graduation.  Additionally, the courses selected should depend upon the student’s four year plan which is determined by their post high school plans.  Enrollment is the opportunity to make sure that student’s are prepared for whatever they choose to do after their graduation.

This year we will continue to enroll students through our advisory program.  We will host our annual Advisory Night on March 5, 2013, where parents will attend an enrollment meeting with their student’s advisor to go over the course selections that students have made for the 2013-2014 school year.

On Monday the Girls basketball team returns to conference play hosting Odessa, later in the week they travel to Harrisonville (Thurs.) and Blue Springs (Sat.).  Wrestlers travel to St. Joseph Benton High School on Tuesday and Host Excelsior Springs for Matwarming on Thursday.  The Boy’s basketball team travels to Odessa on Tuesday and to Harrisonville on Friday.  The Show Choirs will travel to Lincoln Nebraska on Saturday for a competition.

The week of February 4th sees our girls’ basketball team traveling to Oak Grove and Excelsior Springs while our boys host both the same squads.  Friday the 8th will be courtwarming.  The Wrestlers begin their postseason run with district Friday and Saturday at Clinton High School.  The Show Choirs will compete at Harrisonville on Saturday as well.

MS News
What a wonderful learning opportunity we experienced last week!  With over 24 presenters from our community, our Pleasant Hill middle school career fair was a great opportunity for all of our 7th and 8th graders to look into the “real-world” of possible career choices which are available for them to pursue.  Mrs. Pate, our school counselor, working with our Positive School Climate committee organized and provided a fun-filled learning day for our student body.  Capping the day, each Advisory class participated in a school-wide “Scavenger Hunt” in pursuit of our winning the coveted title and “Spirit Flag” for the month of January. 
This week a core group of our middle school staff members will be involved in MANDT training.  The MANDT system is a comprehensive, integrated approach to preventing, de-escalating, and if necessary, intervening when the behavior of an individual poses a threat of harm to themselves and/or others. The focus of MANDT is on building healthy relationships between all the stakeholders in human service settings (such as teachers and students) in order to facilitate the development of an organizational culture that provides the emotional, psychological, and physical safety needed in order to teach new behaviors to replace the behaviors that are labeled “challenging”.  MANDT integrates knowledge about the neurobiological impact of childhood trauma with the principles of positive behavior support and provides a framework that empowers service providers (such as principals and teachers) to do their work in a way that minimizes the use of coercion in behavior change methodologies.

IS News
Our students of the week are:  Zak Ketchum, Taylor Ryerson, Ethan Hansen, Cameron Parker, Abby Rice and Grant Wilson! We congratulate these students on being model students and exhibiting our character traits.

Pleasant Hill R-III’s spelling bee champion is 5th grader, Rachel Wilhoit! Rachel along with many other students participated in the District Spelling Bee on January 23 at the HS PAC. Fifth and sixth grade students participated in grade level spelling bees earlier this school year and had the opportunity to represent PHIS last week. Our champs from these spelling bees are (in no particular order):   Sophie Harvey, Corey Kelly, Mitchell Hayes, Roman Carr, Jeffrey Aguilar, Gracie Kenyon, Sarah Miller, Jaden Greenwood, Emily Perisho, Maggie Tribble, Rachel Wilhoit, Logan Bailey, Morgan Wilhite, Wyatt Perkins and Jaden Reyes. The District Spelling Bee was a great success; it is a wonderful event that allows students to be involved and excel academically. We congratulate Rachel and wish her the best of luck as she moves on to the Cass County Spelling Bee in March. We also congratulate runner up, Jaden Reyes who is also a 5th grader. Way to go to all our spellers!

Calling all writers! The Young Author’s Conference competition has been underway at the Intermediate school.  The Young Author's Conference will take place on April 20, 2013, at the University of Central Missouri.  Students either used an original story already created this year in one of their classes or they could write a new one! Student work has been submitted and reviewed.  Young Author Winners are:  Makayla Blevins, Dylan Berry, Reagan Harrison, Desmond Ewing, Audrey Mann and Samantha Woods. While at UCM, these students will spend the day listening to well-known authors (and illustrators). They will learn what it takes to be an author of published books and how authors go about their own writing process. This is another great opportunity for our students! We congratulate our students and encourage them to keep up the great work!

ES News
We are excited about technology at the Elementary School!  Our library has been equipped with 5 new I-pads that will be used by students in the library and in their classrooms.  Teachers will use the I-pads to facilitate group work, individualized learning and research.  You will also see that the Bring Your Own Device Initiative has reached our building as our third and fourth graders are using their Kindles, Nooks and other eBook applications throughout the building.  We are excited that we can support our students love for reading and learning through technology.

This week our Student Leadership Council is sponsoring a “SOUPER Bowl” Canned Food Drive.  Students will bring in canned goods all week to cast their vote for the team they hope wins this Sunday’s Super Bowl.  Our goal is to collect over 500 cans for the Pleasant Hill Food Pantry.

Third graders are working diligently on their construction projects that integrate the concepts of mapping, economics and geometry.  Their projects will be on display in February.  Our fourth graders are utilizing Venn Diagrams to practice the power skill of comparing and contrasting information as they read.

Teachers will start their second round of peer observations this week.  Each teacher will visit one of their colleague’s classrooms to observe levels of student engagement. Teachers will conference with one another to share the examples of overt and covert engagement noted throughout the lesson.  We know that teacher learning precedes student learning and we are working diligently to raise student engagement as we focus on quality lesson design and the elements of balanced literacy.

PS News

Jan. 22 was a busy week at the Primary School.  In addition to lessons about Martin Luther King, we celebrated the 100th day of school on Jan. 25, and had a visit from Stan Slaughter, the “eco-troubador”, on Friday.  The 100th day began with an assembly, songs, and $100 bills.  Each class made a display of 100 things for the cafeteria:  100 math facts, 100 synonyms, 100 scales on a dragon, 100 snowmen, 100 messages of hope, etc.  Most of the day’s lessons revolved around 100, including concocting snacks with hundreds of marshmallows, chocolate chips, fritos, gummy worms, and so on.  We also collected food items to donate to the Lay Clergy food pantry; 6 classes met their goal of 100 food items. 

Mr. Slaughter’s program included songs that the students have been learning in music classes about conservation and recycling.  He provides excellent age-appropriate educational fun for the kids. 

We thank our patrons for supporting Pizza Hut Dough 4 Kids and Sonic Nights, which allow us to fund such assemblies.  Next week, kindergarteners are going on a field trip to the Paul Messner Puppet Theater.

Primary school teachers are working on writing rubrics, data analysis of Discovery Education scores, review of MSIP5 information, and anticipating students whose promotion may be in question.

Middle School Career Fair
Several businesses and individuals participated in a Career Fair held at the Pleasant Hill Middle School on Friday, January 25.

Burge elected as Governor
Pleasant Hill High School would like to congratulate Trevor Burge for being elected as the 2012-2013 Governor of the American Legion Missouri Boys State. Congratulations Trevor!

Caution...Builders at Work
Pleasant Hill Elementary third grade teachers are working on an integrated project with Social Studies and Math.Teachers guided students through a unit on economics: budgeting, goods, services, wants, needs, products, human, natural, and capital resources; and a unit on two dimensional shapes, lines, and angles, they were asked to build a town.  In the picture given, stuudents are working on their blueprints. The town can be created in anyway that they would like, however they have to use two dimensional shapes as their buildings and have to include a variety of goods and services.  Students also have been given money to spend using a budget.  Students are also asked to provide different sidewalks and streets with a variety of parallel, perpendicular, and oblique lines!  We are looking forward to viewing the final product!

Pleasant Hill Fire Protection presents AED to Primary School
Nathan Carpenter, Assistant Fire Chief of Pleasant Hill Fire Protection presented an AED (automated external defibrillator) to Primary School Principal, Sandra Haight and Primary School Custodian, Rhonda Cleveland recently. An automated external defibrillator (AED) is a portable electronic device that are specialized medical devices designed to recognize and treat certain lethal heart rhythms in the setting of a cardiac arrest. AEDs deliver an electrical shock to persons in ventricular fibrillation or ventricular tachycardia. They provide auditory and visual prompts to assist first responders in treating a cardiac arrest.

Four candidates file for Board of Education
David Burge, John Edenburn, Donald Swofford and Matt Gustin have filed as candidates for Pleasant Hill R-III School District Board of Education. David Burge is seeking reelection and will face newcomers John Edenburn, Donald Swofford and Matt Gustin.  Current Board Member, Ron Henley served three terms for a total of nine years and chose not to file for reelection. Filing for election closed on Tuesday, January 15. Two seats are available and those elected on April 2, 2013 will serve a 3-year term.

Honor Roll
Pleasant Hill Administration released the names of those students who were placed on the honor roll for their grade point average (gpa).

Elementary School
3rd Grade – Superintendent’s
Walker Aldrige, Isabel Bakken, Rylie Barker, Emmy Duncan, Madalynn Fatino, Kiley Faust, Jordan Fisher, Sophia Gregory, Elijah Guffey, James Hays, Malorie Hubert, Bella Jensen, Grace McKee, Victoria Nickols, Ryan Perisho, Jay Powell, Jay Shuler, Sarah Wilhoit, Alexia Woods, Madison Woods

3rd Grade – Principal’s
Averi Allen, Kelly Anderson, Lane Brattin, Marisa Brendel, Jesse Capra, Riley Cole, Barrett Darrah, Kennedy Donovan, Cason Driver, Dharma Gilsdorf, Cheyann Johnson, Molli Johnson, Morgan Lassiter, Wyatt Leyda, Kylie Lloyd, Alivia Redwine, Zachary Redwine, Alijah Reynolds, Johnathan Rivera

4th Grade – Superintendent’s
Jesse Ailshire, Owen Bailey, Kale Bakken, Drake Beaman, Ian Bledsoe, Allee Brattin, Evan Burns, Joliana Canaan, Joelee Cleveland, Morgan Corbin, Isabella Danner, Jadyn Dowdy, Landon Fatino, Silas Gray, Connor Hardin, Emily Hill, Eugene Horkay, Emma Johnson, Chayden Kirkpatrick, Evan Knapp, Brock Koehler, Ethan Longo, Keagon Madison, Jena Marconetta, Kyleigh Marley, Joshua Mathis, Makayla McClenahan, Evan Miller, Dylan Orpin, Zion Patterson, Isabelle Proudfit, Alexandria Redwine, Kooper Reed, Kylie Rennolds, Caitlyn Rogers, Tyler Rowe, Tyler Shore, Regan Shouse, Averie Snyder, Wendy Soto, Kaemyn Stidham, Alaina Umscheid, Riley Vaughn, Tobin Wise, Alyssa Ziegelbein, Keegan Zizza

4th Grade – Principal’s
Adam Abbas, Jenna Avery, Lucas Bass, Mattie Bracken, Makenzie Carlile, Kimberly Caswell, Gavin Chace, Brooklyn Chambers, Jacob Conine, Madison Copowycz, Dominique Criscione, Nelson DesCombes, Canton Elliott, Aislee Gonzalez, Paige Gustin, Marissa Helms, Charlie Heritage, Nathan Hitch, Blaise Jackson, Claire Kenyon, Emma Lapee, Wyatt Lawrence, Haylee Lewis, Ashlyn Long, Braden Lust, Maelyn Maclean, Isabella McCarty, Marissa McCormick, Chance Milbrandt, Madelyn Nelson, Aidan Parman, Jackson Petersen, Adam Prock, Tommy Riffle, Abigail Ring, Aubrey Schirlls, Aubrey Scott, Tate Stockstill, Olivia Trask, Kaleb Vermillion, Alexiea Werner, Zane Wheeler, Bryce Wilson, Madalynn Zvacek

Intermediate School
5th Grade – Superintendent’s (3.8 – 4.0)
Logan Bailey, Brandon Baker, Ethan Beagle, Daria Bennett, Conner Bracken, Collin Brockman, Jasmine Brown, Brian Brunell, Ethan Campbell, Kylie Campbell, Truman Cartner, Grace Chambers, Nicole Clapp, Katie Clay, Hayden Cox, Brylee Davis, Cahterine Davis, Austin Dinges, Desmond Ewing, Kaitlyn Ewing, Jacey Faust, Lawrence Graham, Tanner Graves, Samuel Gray, Jaden Greenwood, Jeffrey Hatfield, Paige Hicks, Hanah Hocker, Jordan Hoerl, Angeleena Hook, Natalie Hopkins, Ashlynn Keilholz, Emma Kirchhoff, Blaine Kleyh, John Kohler, Megan Kurle, Sydney Lamborn, Bethany Larkins, Jagger Lawler, Victor Leiker, Julia Longmeyer, Michael Maasen, Audrey Mann, Hailey McCommon, Angela McCormick, Savannah McIntosh, Abigail McKee, Maycie Meaders, Aidan Moore, Julia Moore, Cailee More, Colin Paris, Emily Perisho, Wyatt Perkins, Garrett Pierce, Alexander Prosser, Jayden Reyes, Abigale Rice, Kyleigh Roe, Carly Rogers, Simon Scott, Carson Shoop, Dawson Sivils, Parker Snow, Nicole South, Amos Springer, Thomas Swilley, Megan Swinney, Cole Swofford, Mich Taylor, Wesley Tibai, Sayler Todd, Margaret Tribble, Austin Tye, Michael Tyler, Miguel Venegas, Melissa Walters, Sarah Watson, Dylan Watterson, Morgan Wehner, Brylee Wells, Rileigh West, Alexis White, Morgan Wilhite, Rachel Wilhoit, Anna Williams, Grant Williams, Grant Wilson, Samantha Woods.
 
5th Grade – Principal’s (3.79 – 3.50)
Madalyn Allen, Jackson Barnes, Makayla Blevins, Mariah Brattin, Paul Breeze, Andrew Brownsberger, Mithcell Coon, Jade Feeler, Dalton Francy, Clay Froehlich, Abigail Gieschen, Kathlyn Goldston, Deidra Gross, Brittany Hays, Cody Henry, Emily Kerchner, Austin Long, Kathryn Maasen, Samuel Markham, Christina Morris, Mikayla Ollison, Sierra Powell, Nicholas Rahe, Tanner Reffitt, Madison Roeder, Shirley Salcedo, Caleb Shepard, Lilly Spear, Eli Vanatta, Alec Wheeler

5th Grade – Honor Roll (3.49 – 3.0)
Abigail Baker, Caleb Bowman, Christian Bowman, Morgan Brisbin, Lane Burgess, Kurt Burns, Lee Chrisman, Hunter Davis, Tristin Davis, Emmelia Dinges, Chance Elam, Brittany Foley, Michael Giesbrecht, Ethan Hansen, Reid Howell, Shyann Jellison, Kya Jenkins, Jermyah Knapp, Trenton Long, Meghan May, Rianna McClendon, Dakota Middleton, Randi Miller, Nathaniel Mosquesa, Rain Ruth, Julia Sias, Brednen Smith, Colton Snyder, Domonik Sostorecz, Brooke Stone, Gunner Tweddie, Kaitlyn Wilson, Mariah Younce

6th Grade – Superintendent’s (3.8 – 4.0)
Jeffery Aguilar, Daniel Albin, Katherine Bauer, Dylan Berry, Marissa Bowman, Sydney Bunch, Kennedy Burton, Morgan Carlile, Aaron Chen, Trey Clevenger, Zoe Crockett, Delaney Davis, Mackenzie DiMarco, Dawson Ferdig, Amber Gerkin, Faith Griggs, Kirsten Gross, Anastasia Hanes, McKenna Hanover, Sophia Harvey, Mithcell Hayes, Madeline Helms, Kayleigh Hitchcock, Shelby Jack, Corey Kelly, Grace Kenyon, Danielle Lichte, Adelynn Link, Taylor Markham, Brittany Marshall, Emma Marshall, Sarah Miller, Emma Mueller, Cameron Parker, Matthew Pritchett, William Pryor, Ali Ray, Grace Riley, Marianne Riley, Garrett Schick, James Schoenfelt, Taylor Shewmaker, Joseph Sosko, Stewart Watson, Halee Werner, Megan White, Haley Wiggins, Saylor Zurcher
 
6th Grade – Principal’s (3.79 – 3.50)
Laura Allee, Vincent Anderson, Trace Armstrong, Christian Atkins, Macey Barker, Michael Blaine-Untermeyer, Nathan Bledsoe, Chloe Bloom, Sierra Bowman, Wyatt Bramwell, Averee Brattin, Kaitlyn Brooks, Wesley Burkhart, Brandon Byrd, Garrett Canaan, Roman Carr, Kaitlyn Clevenger, Kathleen Cortinas, Derrick Cretel, Joshua Devaul, John Edenburn, Julia Edmonds, Allie Gerken, Jaeden Grego, Reagan Harrison, Gabriel Hodge, Mazen Jackson, Miranda Kelley, Trisha Kiger, Madison McDaniel, Cydney Matzger, Maragh Newberry, Madelyn Phipps, Sally Riffle, Haylie Rouchka, Taylor Ryerson, Keegan Slaughter, Taylor Stith, William Toler, Mszayah Vanzant, Devin Vestal, Cassandra Waddle, Christina Wait, Cierra Williams, Luke Winkler, Samantha Yokley

6th Grade – Honor Roll (3.49 – 3.0)
Christopher Abney, Andrea Allen, Beau Brown, Randy Burkhart, Emily Chace, Shawn Cummings, Clifford Jellison, Zachariah Ketchum, James Lowe, William Markham, Bryce McGinnis, Joshua Millard, John Dagley, Mary Emond, Morgan Gish, Chase Gray, Spencer Gussman, Tyler Hagan, Jakob Hammond, Audree Holloway, Nolan Miller, Grant Ring, Katlyn Smith, Sean Spangler, Mason Waugh


Middle School
Superintendent’s Honor Roll
7th Grade – Jordan Anderson, Carly Barker, Mackenzie Beaman, Levi Cohen, Rachel Denney, Joseph Dryer, Kaitlin Evans, Cody Faust, Autumn Ferguson, Brett Greufe, Jordan Hamlin, Joseph Heinrich, Dominic Hemme, Richard J Hughes, Eric Humphrey, Grace Keilholz, Skyler Kirchhofer, Cameron Knapp, Savannah Long, McKenzie Maclean Ashley McClenahan, Anthony McSparran, Callie Miller, Alex Moore, Alexandra Pierce, Madison Roach, Samantha Rohne, Nicholas Ryan, Derek Smith, Trent Wilson, Michael Wright 

8th Grade – Macee Adams, Megan Bauer, Sarah Beachner, Fiona Bolte-Bradhurst, Brayden Bonnesen, Donna Borer, Robin Brundage, Haley Burge, Mathew Campbell, Noah Campbell, Sarah Davis, Rachel Dustman, Parker Evans, Olivia Ferdig, Jacob Fisher, Kara German, Ian Heinrich, Kylie Heublein, Hayley Kerrick, Haley Lamborn, Lauren Larkins, Cole Lightfoot, Aidan Link, Caleb Long, Kaitlyn Long, Hannah McCommon, Emma Moore, Josey Pate, Clara Plasse, Courtney Pritchett, Graceann Ring, Blake Rutherford, Fernanda Sierra, Drake Sivils, Racheal Snyder, Jessica Turner, Madison Voorhees, Christina Waddle, Benjamin Watson, Aligail Welther, Courtney Wesemann, Austin White, Evan Williams, Brooke Wood, Colleen Wouters, Ellie Yoder

Principals Honor Roll
7th Grade – Trevor Blankenship, Anna Boehm, Dillon Bray, Samara Bruno, Brooke Cash, Kacie Creighton, Noah Descombes, Matthew Dobson, Shawn Gallagher, Logan Gish, Tabitha Graham, Makailyn Hernandez, Jillian Heuwinkel, Kyley Keith, Keith Lapee, Nathaniel Longo, Caitlin O’Hanlon, Elias Peters, Summer Ray, Mackenzie Robinson, Johana Rosas, David Shanks, Tristin Sudduth, Sidney Walters, Gennavieve Wrobel, Evan Yokley, Tori Young

8th Grade – Nathan Allen, Kylie Baker, James Barnes, Blake Beagle, Ryan Bolden, Lauren Bonnett, Michelle Butricks, Jaymie Clevenger, Jacob Dennis, Zachary Gray, Kaley Hays, Alexa Hiler, Shayla Hill, Haden Hodge, Alexandria Jackson, Dylan Kelly, Noah Kenyon, Alyssa Kramer, Daniel Lee, Emma Lugenbeel, James McGovney, Heather Miller, Kelsey Miller, Ashley Pace, Lauren Petersen, Jamie Ross, Paige Sailors, Rabekah Schoenfelt, Bryan Stevenson, Gavin Wheeler, Kali White, Shelby Williams, Tommy Williams
Regular Honor Roll
7th Grade – Camille Abney, Emily Armstrong, Emma Braley, Jeremy Brant, Evan Brons, Jackson Caley, Jared Clapp, Victoria Combs, Alyssa Coon, Emma Craven, Michael Denney, Makayla Devault, Noah Dowdy, Colten Haak, Layla Heritage, Jordan Jones, David Kobie, Kaitlyn Lloyd, Victoria Long, Lauren Mann, Jack Marconett, James McKee, Saisha Morgan, Mikayla Norman, Michael Okuly, Tori Parrott, Andrea Powell, Lauren Redwine, Kassidy Reed, Kylee Reeves, Jerod Rottinghaus, Jordan Rottinghaus, Sydney Schirlls, Brayden Smith, Dale Snider,  Amanda Snow, Chance Sullivan, Luke Swofford, Kirsten Thompson, Mariah Thompson, Tanner Todd, Brandon Young.

8th Grade – Cameron Agee, Dalton Bach, Jared Bahner, Ethan Baker-Arbuckle, Garrett Bakken, Hannah Beissel, Garrett Carlile, Mason Clarke, Samantha Clevenger, Isaac Denney, Spencer Eubank, Casey Gifford, Kylie Henry, Lane Jellison, Katie Jones, Larry Kiger, Jonathan Kosfeld, Gage Lawler, Baileyann Lees, Olivia Lehmann, Austin Marshall, Cameron McCarty, Reagan McClendon, Kaycee Mullin–Struzick, Kylie Mullin-Struzick, Austin Oden, Jodee Powell, Austin Rash, Paige Robinson, Trevor Ross, Michaela Shinn, Blake Smith, Jordan Smith, Jenna Solomon, Cole Taylor, Kameron Trask, Justin White, Alex Whittington, Holly Wilhelm, Shae Williams, Luke Woodall, Brooke Young

High School
Superintendent’s Honor Roll (4.0+)
9th Grade – Cheyenne Long, Jacob Longmeyer, Michael Miller, Joshua Young
10th Grade – Riley Bonnesen, Tyler Evans, Nicole Nulsen, Suzanne Young
11th Grade – Krista Bricker, Zachery Cohen, Hannah Dustman, Heather Hughes, Kacey Breitbach, Mariahe Long, Kristin Orpin, Mackenzie Snyder, Trevor Young
12th Grade – Samantha Bornaman, Rachel Casteel, Steven Greufe, Elizabeth Jerabek Rachel Lauve, Justin Longmeyer, Brittany Lugenbeel, Kaylee Mathiason, Hannah Meyer, Mallory Miller, Anna Prewitt, Adam Reeves, Gregory Troiani, Hannah Widaman
Principal’s Honor Roll (3.50 – 3.99)
9th Grade – Madison Bailey, Courtney Bonnett, Dalton Burge, Noah Burton, Kaycee Clements, Josie Cotter, Tyler Crane, Kaitlin Dierking, Garrison Fields, Danielle Gerken, Mikalah Gibson, Jacob Hardy, Cameron Haws, Levi Hayes, Felix Hernandez, Joely Hughes, Levi Jack, Mason James, O'Tillia Jerabek, Madelynn Kahl, Emma Moore, Marley Moran, Colton Neill, Emilee Nulsen, Marissa Paris, Walker Reed, Nathan Ryan, Gonzalo Senda, Brianna Shuler, Joseph Smith, Sienna Smith, Madolyn Swinney, Jamie Vaughan, Claire Villegas, Carly Voss, Jacob Watson, Bailey Wileman

10th Grade – Alexis Allard, Rebekah Anderson, Ethan Archer, Courtney Bakken, Madison Barker, Hannah Beachner, Brogan Bellamy, Weston Boehm, Garrett Bolden, Kaylene Bramwell, Meredith Burns, Alexandria Burris, Hannah Crawford, Olivia Dotson, Renee Edenburn, Kyle Feeler, Anderson Fields, Courtney Fountain, Katherine Friederich, Susanna Goodellfields, Kameron Gray, Gillian Haight, Ian Hodge, Sarah Hoke, Julianna Holguin, Anthony Holt, Spencer Homan, Cheyenne Jennings, Autumn Kirchhofer, Jacob Lauve , Alexis Lynn, Joseph Madison, Ryan McClendon, Kayla McDaniel, Morgan Messick, Elijah Mijares, Cole Miller, Noah Moore, Justin Orpin, Devon Peters, Aubrey Purnell, Caitlin Rash, Cassy Reeves, John Romer, Thomas Schaefer, Emily Scholljegerdes, Lewis Sharp, Samuel Smith, Madison Stockstill, Molly Takacs, Marissa Thompson, Steven Vaughan, Makenzie Voorhees, Kai Wesemann, Emma Widaman, Zachary Winkler, Olivia Woodruff

11th Grade – Justin Bell, Katie Brenton, Jamie Brookshier, Abbie Brown, Alexis Caraker, Haley Cash, Trenton Clarke, Brandon Clevenger, Brooke Crotty, Sheyanne Craig, Benjamin Dobson, Kenton Hanifl, Bailey Heublein, Mallory Humphrey, Schyler Johnston, Kiahla Kirchhoff, Moriah Longo, Erica Loney, Emily McKee, George Montag, Haylee Newport, Allison Novak, Alisha Price, Hailey Sadler, Allie Schwartz, Paige Shifflett, Hannah Shinn, Rachel Triplett, Codi Winslow, Allie Zahn

12th Grade – Logan Baker, Brad Barnett, Karin Bock, Taylor Bonnesen, Cordell Boyd, John Brookshier, Trevor Burge, Haley Burkhart, Douglas Bybee, Brittany Couch, Noah Dayson, Katharine Debortoli, Joyce Fields, Dillan Findley, Courtney Gibbins, Jenna Greenwood, Joseph Griffith, Shannon Haws, MaryBeth Hertzog, Amethyst Hughes, Devon Jarrett, Jessica Kemerling, Kayla Kennedy, Erika King, Rebecca King, Summer Kirchhofer, Kaitlin Long, Taylor Louthan, Joshua Lukenbill, Elisabeth Mansfield, Tyler Miller, Hannah Moran, Brandon Norris, Brent Norris, Mysti-Ane Pearce, Jacob Randle, Dylan Ross, Samuel Seaman, Mikayla Shepard, Elizabeth Sherman, Sam Sherwood, Nicholas Shore, Brad Smith, Kaylee Smith, Rachelle Smith, Ryan Spangler, Chelsea Stuber, Caleb Taylor, Dominic Taylor, Taylor Thomas, Sheyanna Thompson, Jennifer Vandiver, Shelby Walton, Kindred Wesemann, Baleigh Wheeler, Cassidy White, Charlotte Williams, Lori Williams, Tyler Wilson, Hannah Winkler, Abigail Yoder, Lonnie Yost, Ashley Younce, Shelby Zahn

Regular Honor Roll (3.00 – 3.49)
9th Grade – Carlee Adams, Maranda Arcuri, Phillip Bledsoe, Abbey Breitbach, Brylea Burkhart, Coleman Corson, Malynn Creighton, Andrew Dobson, Miles Friedrich, Ragan Gish, Joseph Gomez, Emily Graham, Morgan Hoenshell, Kin John, Katie Krug, Mason Poling, Haley Richwine, Madison Ring, Taylor Ross, Brooke Rottinghaus, Keegan Ruckman, William Stanley, Cheyenne Sturttmann, Cole Sullivan, Joseph Switzer, Zachary Taylor, Kennedy Todd, Max Whited, Amber Woolford, Zachary Zieman

10th Grade – Sara Baker, Christopher Barzilla, Alyssa Batliner, Luke Blomquist, Eric Brons, Maggie Burton, Tiffany Butler, Arron Correa, Jared Crane, Samuel Diaz, Gavin Dooly, Sara Doty, John Falck, Jacob Fetters, Bailey Fidler, Samantha Gustin, Lauren Hawkins, Olivia Hessling, Alleana Holt, Alysha Holt, Mariah Jones, Caitlin King, Rachel Liley, Samantha McCarty, Jade Milbrandt, Margaret Millard, Logan Perry, Tanner Pettet, Christian Price, Elizabeth Roberts, Rachel Schick, Daryl Shreve, Samantha Stucker, Kylee Taylor, Chelsea Thompson

11th Grade – Kassidy Albright, Mikaella Alexander, Tanner Beagle, Greg Brundage, Brandon Cassity, Sutton Crabtree, Coleman Daniel, Jacob Davis, Kaylea Dennis, Brady Franklin, McKenna Gates, Lucas Gibson, Alexander Hurd, Jamie Jones, Kami Lamar, Rachel Long, Kendall Mahoney, Leah Miller, Crystal O’Malley, Lukas Pace, Sullivan Parris, Kendra Pryor, Kelsey Radmacher, Cole Reeves, Christian Richardson, Markie Roach, Haleigh Rottinghaus, Kimberlyn Selvin, Joshua Shewmaker, Bryce Siebeneck, Patricia Stillwell, Austin Taylor, Matthew Vest, Grady Voss, Haylee Votipka, Jamie Williams, Logan Woodall, Austin Yount, Derek Ziegelbein
 
12th Grade – Tamara Barker, Kelly Blankers, Jordan Boynton, Trenton Burdette, Daniel Caswell, Alex Coday, Lauren Crawford, Brandon Cribelar, Erika Crofut, Jacob L Denney, Jacob S Denney, Tyler Dlugolecki, Alexzander Dotson, Tyler Farrell, Kacy Faucette, Colbi Ford, Spencer Harvey, Taylor Hayes, Vyktoria Harris, Blake Higgs, Jesse Jamison, Dakota Jarrett, Dallas Kelly, Jamie Kelly, Drake Kramer, Maurice Lang, Devin Lees, Taylor Livingston, Alex Pate, Mason Potter, Mackenzie Powell, Alexis Rehms, David Routh, Angela Stillwell, Seth Thompson, Matthew Townsend, Hailey Taylor, Robert Taylor, Ozzy Whaley, Brandon Uebele
 

Middle School:
7th Grade – Mackenzie Beaman, Dillon Blackburn, Ryan Bowen, Nathan Chace, Alyssa Coon, Noah Descombes, Makayla Devault, Chase Diato, Joseph Dryer, Kaitlin Evans, Cody Faust, Shawn Gallagher, Brett Greufe, Ryan Hopkins, Keith Lapee, Marisa Lewis, Kaitlyn Lloyd, Ethan Mckownm Michael Okuly, Elias Peters, Madison Roach, Jerod Rottinghaus, Nicholas Ryan, David Shanks, Amanda Snow, Zachary Uebele, Michael Wright

8th Grade – Cameron Agee, Ryan Bolden, Brayden Bonnesen, Donna Borer, Samantha Clevenger, Casey Gifford, Jerry Hays, Jada Jackson, Hayley Kerrick, Gage Lawler, Daniel Lee, Caleb Long, James McGovney, Kylie Mullin – Struzick, Donnavon Peters, Thomas Phelps, Clara Plasse, Austin Rash, Graceann Ring, Blake Rutherford, Michaela Shinn, Jordan Smith, Jenna Solomon, Kameron Trask, Benjamin Watson, Gavin Wheeler, Austin White, Ellie Yoder

High School:
9th Grade – Ronald Caswell, Danielle Gerke, Jacob Hardy, Joely Hughes, Cheyenne Long, Emma Moore, Colton Neill, Marissa Paris, Brandon Pruett, Brooke Rottinghaus, Nathan Ryan, Joseph Smith, Stephany Soto, William Stanley, Cheyenne Struttmann, Cole Sullivan, Jamie Vaughan, Gregory Wright.

10th Grade – Lane Adams, Sara Baker, Renee Edenburn, John Falck, Susanna Goodellfields, Dylan Hawks, Rachel Liley, Adam Mansfield, Devon Peters, Michael Prock, Caitlin Rash, Cassy Reeves, John Romer, Marissa Thompson, Steven Vaughan, Zachary Winkler, Olivia Woodruff.

11th Grade – Mikaella Alexander, Danielle Bowen, Abbie Brown, James Clark, Brandon Clevenger, Kaleb Cline, Zachery Cohen, Tristan Dooly, McKenna Gates, Lucas Gibson, Heather Hughes, Kiahla Kirchhoff, George Montag, Jacob Ogle, Nathan Phillips, Matthew Ralston, Christian Richardson, Hannah Shinn, Tori Stodgell, Justin Wagner, Brian Wait, Braxton Williams, Kevin Wyrick.

12th Grade – Taylor Bonnesen, Cordell Boyd, Jacob Denney, Tyler Dlugolecki, Matthew Gray, Spencer Harvey, Amethyst Hughes, Jessica Kemerling, Rachel Lauve, Taylor Livingston, Alexandria Long, Elisabeth Mansfield, Hannah Meyer, Anna Prewitt, Kaylee Smith, Dakota Sublett, Ozzy Whaley

District News - Jan. 14
HS News
Through the use of our Plan Time Professional Development, teachers continue to work on designing engaging lessons.  The teachers are focusing on purposeful planning by using essential questions to create objectives that inform the students what they are learning and why they are learning the material.  Walk-throughs are conducted to observe the quality of the objectives.  Additional discussions are then held between the teachers to improve their practice through peer evaluation.  The Plan Time PD this year has given teachers time to collaborate and learn from each other with the intention of increased student achievement.  

After our boys basketball team finished 3rd and the girls took 1st in the Pleasant Hill Invitational, they will be back in conference action this week.  The Girls travel to Grain Valley tonight and host Oak Grove on Thursday.  The boys will host Grain Valley on Tuesday and travel to Oak Grove on Friday.   Wrestling will travel to Grain Valley on Tuesday and Oak Grove on Thursday.  They will also compete at Kearney Tournament on Saturday.  This Saturday the vocal music department will host the Battle of the Best, show choir competition.  If you have never experienced this extravaganza you need to come and see what it is all about.

MS News
Basketball season comes to a close this week with the concluding games on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.  According to Mr. Reese basketball coach, “The 8th grade boy’ basketball team has had a very successful season.  The boys won both the Grain Valley and Holden Invitational basketball tournaments.  Currently, the 8th grade boys have a record of 14 wins and 0 losses.  The team shows great promise for the future of the high school program.”

Coach Adamczyk, middle school girls’ basketball coach, also had very positive thoughts regarding this year’s group of athletes, “A team- We had a very productive season from start to finish.  Our record didn’t show how hard we worked and how hard we played each practice and game.  The girls were very coachable and made improvements every day.  I went from the beginning of the year telling them where to go a lot of the time to me watching them get to the right spot without me having to say a word at the end.  I was very lucky to have a great group of girls to work with.  We took 2nd place in the Holden tournament and our record was close to .500.  I can’t wait to watch them play in the future and hope they keep working hard as they did all year.  B team- We had a great year.  The only games they lost were two out of their first three games.  One was in overtime and the other was by one point.  They also were playing teams that had already played half their season, so we were very proud at the effort they gave for the first few games of our season and throughout.  What we said about the A team can be reciprocated to the B team.  They worked very hard in practice and played hard in the games.  We saw a lot of improvement working together and with their skills.  They won most of their games by 10 points or more.  We are very lucky in Pleasant Hill to allow both 7th and 8th graders to play.  They gain that extra year of practice and preparation for when they go to the high school. Coach K and I are very proud of our girls on how they carried themselves and how they represented Pleasant Hill everyday home or away.”

IS News
Lights, Camera, Action! It is that time again; we are off and running with the Intermediate school musical! This year our students will be performing Disney’s The Aristocrats Kids. Below is an extract from Disney explaining what this musical is about:
Madame's jealous butler Edgar cat-naps Duchess and her Aristokittens and abandons them in the Parisian countryside. What's a cat to do? Luckily, Thomas O'Malley and his rag-tag bunch of Alley Cats come to their rescue! This feline adventure will get your feet tapping with its hip, jazzy beat, which includes the Disney favorites "The Aristocats," "Scales and Arpeggios" and "Ev'rybody Wants to Be a Cat."  http://disneytheatricallicensing.com/aristocatskids

Our students have begun singing songs from the musical in music classes. They have read through the script and are getting excited thinking about potential roles. Students will audition this week. Students will also have the opportunity to apply for stage crew. There will be many opportunities for students to be involved. The musical will be performed at the HS PAC March 21-23.

The principal will be meeting with each team of teachers on their planning periods to discuss MSIP 5. Data regarding our performance, as well as a comparison with other local schools, will be shared. We will be discussing current practices and tool measuring devices as we explore alternative ideas that might be even better than what we are currently using.

Our computer teacher and PE teacher are collaborating and planning an interdisciplinary unit regarding 6th grade content. In PE, sixth graders are studying the different systems of the body and how they work together. Students are researching the different systems and have a choice of technology tools to use in order to create a presentation for their peers. Teachers want students to have a greater understanding of how their body works—how the systems work together—in order to have a better understanding of what keeps a body functioning so students can stay safe and healthy. Both teachers also want students to become proficient with various technology tools. This unit builds upon the knowledge that students gained last year as fifth graders. The objective for fifth graders is to learn the major muscles and bones. As you can see in the picture, students are busy with this task!

ES News
This week, teachers are having a “Date with Data”.  Each teacher is analyzing their common assessment data in reading, writing and math to determine how we can best meet our students’ needs.  Based on our data discussions we will begin formulating another layer of support for students.  It is our goal to create writing, reading and math clubs that will provide another level of targeted instruction for students.

Our morning RTI Fluency groups will be changing soon as we analyze that data as well.  More and more students are moving to proficiency so starting next week, we will reconfigure the groups.  Emphasis for the new groups will be on writing in response to the fluency passages that we are reading as well as correct words read in one minute.

Third grade students are busy “building” their own town.  This unit integrates reading, geometry, writing and economics.  Down the third grade hallway, student engineers can be seen wearing their “hard hats” while designing their blue prints for their own town.  Our fourth graders are finishing their electricity unit in science and will be heading “west” as they learn about the Lewis and Clark Expedition. 

PS News
Primary School students will be taking the second Discovery Education benchmark assessment in both reading and math over the next 3 weeks.  We are excited about the upcoming 100th day of school on Jan. 24, which we always start with a short assembly, special songs, and $100 bills.  Classes will be doing activities related to counting and sorting, and making displays of 100 items to decorate our cafeteria.  Another anticipated event is the visit of Stan Slaughter, the grandfather of one of our students, who hosts an environmental assembly annually with each grade level, complete with singing and dancing, that teaches the benefits of recycling.

January is a busy month for staff, as they administer DE and then review results to make instructional decisions.  At the end of January, we will revise our Rooster Time reading program participants based on individuals' progress. Our PLC meetings will include information about MSIP 5 district data, students whose promotions are in question, plans to complete math curriculum development, and teaching videos to critique.   Several teachers are attending a technology integration conference, related to the new Common Core, with Janis Yokley.  Sue Herrera is visiting our building one afternoon to work with 2nd. grade teachers on writing instruction and scoring. 

District News - Jan. 7
HS News
The 88th Annual Pleasant Hill Boys/Girls Basketball Tournament is upon us.  This is a great time to put our school and our community on display.  This event is highly anticipated by many throughout the area.  This year our boys and girls teams have received the top seed in their respective divisions.  Please join us for a great week of basketball!  The tournament bracket is at the following link: http://www.pleasanthillschools.com/P%20Hill%20BB%202013%20updated.pdf

The Varsity Wrestlers will compete in the MRVC Tournament on Friday and Saturday this week at Richmond High School.  This is one of the events that still has both sides of our conference competing together. The show choirs will travel to Columbia Rock Bridge High School this weekend for competition on Saturday.

Additionally, Pleasant Hill High School senior Trevor Burge has been elected as the 2012-2013 Governor of the American Legion Missouri Boys State. A presentation will take place at halftime of the Pleasant Hill Boys basketball game on Tuesday. Congratulations Trevor!

MS News
The beginning of a new year: 2013.  Many new opportunities, resolutions, goal setting, a fresh start again for students and staff alike in many areas.  For the middle school, we begin a fresh new semester, with schedule changes for semester long elective classes and new starts with grades and assignments for all courses.  This week ushers in “newness” and a fresh perspective that is refreshing for many.  PE classes, art, theatre arts, and general music brings a fresh new crop of students and teachers together, while core classes such as math, social studies, and the like begin new units and activities for a new grading cycle as many students continue with the same class assignments and teachers for the basic subjects.

As the school year resumed last week, teachers and students both began planning for the new semester.  Many students joined new classes, learned a new schedule, and this week will begin exploring their own academic strengths and weakness looking at their individual Discovery Education testing information data from the 2nd round of benchmark tests that they completed before winter break.  Teachers met together during professional development time to learn about the new Core Academic Standards being rolled out in Missouri, looking through Common Core manuals that a majority of the country has started implementing and introducing nationwide.  Plans are already underway at our middle school for our staff to continuing learning about the new Core Academic Standards and developing their understanding at all the remaining professional development days this semester.  

This past week all staff participated in a “Treasure Hunt” through the new materials, led by our district-trained “trainers”, comprised of teachers and administrators across our district.  Our “in-house” team is comprised of Tiffany Gilmore, curriculum facilitator/8th grade CA teacher; Jason Beatty, 8th grade team leader/social studies teacher, and Jenny Bell, principal. 

IS News
Our students of the week are:  Taylor Markham, Beau Brown, Sammy Markham, Savannah McIntosh, Victor Leiker, and Sally Riffle. Our students of the month are:  Mariah Brattin, Ashlynn Keilholz, Desmond Ewing, Jagger Lawler, Abigail McKee, Grant Wilson, Logan Bailey, Ana Hanes, Avree Brattin, Chloe Bloom, Aaron Chen, Corey Kelly and Jeffrey Aguilar. We congratulate these students on being model students and exhibiting our character traits.

Each quarter we emphasize a different character trait at PHIS. Once the trait is introduced, teachers reinforce the trait in their classrooms and Mrs. Bermel, our counselor, builds upon the trait in her guidance classes. We often refer back to the trait(s) when students have various problems or situations. This quarter students brainstormed about the character trait Responsibility. Students thought about what responsibility “looks like” and what it “sounds like”. Students had time to collaborate with partners regarding this as well. Then we shared out as a whole and created posters. Some of the attributes of responsibility that students came up with are:  doing homework without being asked, making good choices, cleaning up in the cafeteria and throughout the building, doing work on time and turning it in on time, being prepared for class, helping others, asking permission, treating other with kindness and using kind words and phrases such as “I’m sorry, Please, and Thank you”. These posters will be hung around our building. The posters are a great reminder for our students about expectations and how to meet them—being responsible! 

Our students took the Discovery Education test 2 prior to our holiday break. Due to unforeseen circumstances teachers were unable to analyze data prior to break; however, they will be doing so this week. Students and teachers have been working hard on curriculum/specific skills. We are eager to analyze data and see how students are progressing. Teachers will use this data to adjust RtI groups and skill sets as needed.

ES News

Before the holiday break, we issued a 100 page Reading Challenge to our students in the hopes that they would continue to read over the long break.  We are thrilled to report that 62 students accepted that challenge and many surpassed the 100 page goal for a total of 16, 733 pages read. We surprised these students with a pizza lunch last Friday; it was a great way to start the New Year.

We spent our first two days back with students last week, rebuilding community in our classrooms, setting goals for 2nd semester and revisiting school-side expectations.  This week, teachers and students are launching into 3rd quarter work in which we are striving to infuse the shifts in the Core Academic Standards into our instruction.  These shifts include annotation of the text, writing to think and perseverance in math. 

Teachers will continue their revision of the math curriculum so that it more closely aligns to the new standards at after school sessions on Mondays beginning today.  Teams will also participate in plan time professional development in which we will continue learning  the components of Balanced Literacy and set goals for the use of classroom libraries and writing centers.

We will end our week by honoring the accomplishments made by students 2nd quarter at our Celebration Assembly.  At 2:30 we will gather in the gym to distribute both academic and character awards.  Earlier in the day we will recognize those students who did not miss one minute of 2nd quarter instuction at our Perfect Attencance parties.  It will be a wonderful day of celebrations, please feel free to join us!

PS News
At the primary school, we enrolled 11 new students at the beginning of this second semester.  Our kindergarten classes have 21-22 students, first grade classes have 23 students, and second grade classes have 25-26 students.

For the students, the month of January means Discovery Education benchmark testing, celebrating the 100th day of school, and Stan Slaughter's musical environmental program.  For the teachers, this month will be busy with continuing math curriculum development, writing instruction inservice, technology workshop, and data review. 

We had a very productive teacher workday on Jan. 2, with grade level meetings about common core math standards and a building-wide "working lunch" to familiarize all staff with the CCSS.  Kindergarten teachers have developed lessons and assessments for 11 standards, first grade teachers for 13, and second grade teachers for 18.  Teachers are also reviewing data from running records, which provide estimated reading levels for all first and second graders.

Humane Society visits Intermediate School
Jo Hickey of The Humane Society visited with 6th grade students at the Intermediate School on Dec. 14.

Hand Puppet Shows
Middle School Theatre Arts students created and presented hand puppet shows last week to demonstrate the ability to create interesting and convincing character through voice.

District News - Week of Dec. 10:
HS News
The final full week of the first semester proves to be very busy for our students.  Many games, matches, in addition to vocal and instrumental concerts are scheduled.   Furthermore, our students will be preparing for their final exams that will take place next week.  The week will culminate with a highly anticipated school dance.  Student Council will be hosting the Snowball Dance is Friday night from 8pm-11pm in the Commons. Student admission is $5 per person and all the proceeds will go toward paying for PHHS students to participate in the Polar Bear Plunge at Longview Lake.  We will have a student appear as the featured DJ for the evening. 

Monday December 10th, the Girls’ Basketball team travels to St. Pius, Tuesday the Boys’ Basketball team will also go to St. Pius as the Wrestlers host Higginsville High School.  On Wednesday the Choirs will perform at Crown Center.  Thursday the instrumental music department will have a combined concert while the Girl’s Basketball team plays host to St. James Academy.  On Friday and Saturday the Wrestlers will compete in the Harrisonville tournament.

Tuesday the 18th, the Boys Basketball team travels to Clinton for a triple Header.  The teams will still be active over the break with practice and boys basketball competing in the William Jewell tournament, we will put the schedule on the website as soon as it is received. The wrestlers host a JV tournament on Friday December 28th. 

A link to our activities calendar is at http://www.missouririvervalley.org/g5-bin/client.cgi .

MS News
Four-year plans start for 8th graders.  Four-year planning is a vital part of 8th grade guidance.  Every student will learn about and research careers to help him/her have a better base in which to pick their high school classes.  Prior to developing the personal 4-year plans, student participate in several sessions devoted to college and career readiness appropriate for transitioning from a middle school student to a high school student.  Our 8th graders have already completed a personality mosaic and researched careers online, based on their personality profiles.  On December 12th this week, student will continue this exploration by focusing on college, military, trade school, and career research.
Next week our student body, along with the intermediate school, will be participating in an assembly sponsored by the Pleasant Hill Optimist Club.  All students will view an hour long production that is in a music video style format held at the Performing Arts Center.  The objective of the show, titled “THE PLEDGE”, is to motivate and encourage our students to be the best they can be by first understanding and acknowledging the problems they face on a daily basis, and then by offering solutions in a format they can relate to. THE PLEDGE will motivate students to make a positive difference in the world around them with their words, actions, and attitudes. Everyone faces difficulties in life; we all experience loneliness, frustration, and the pressures to do negative things like drugs, alcohol, smoking, or bullying others. THE PLEDGE will challenge students to make a commitment to building others up rather than tearing them down. It's a pledge to be part of the solution - a call to step up and make a difference.  To view a portion of the production, see this link: http://www.camfel.com/pages/pledgepreview.html

IS News
Our Students of the Week are:  Wyatt Perkins, Averee Brattin, Ethan Campbell, Devin Vestal, Mackenzie DiMarco and Micah Taylor. We congratulate these students on exhibiting good character and being good role models!

This week students are busy with Star Math and Star Reading tests for second quarter. Teachers will analyze the data after testing and adjust math and communication arts focus groups. These groups are part of Response to Intervention. Homeroom teachers will also share results with their students. This feedback is used in computer class as students enter their scores in spreadsheets they created and reflect on their growth. This can be very motivational for students.

Our Positive School Climate Committee organized simple school fundraisers in order to raise money. The money will be used to demonstrate kindness and caring (this quarter’s character trait) through a community service project. The money will be given to less fortunate families in order to help with their holiday happenings. They raised $318.00; twelve families will benefit from the students’ and teachers’ effort.

Next week, on December 19, our students will participate in an all-school assembly. Our choirs will perform as well as our band. We are looking forward to their musical talents. There will be a Minute to Win It activity sponsored by Positive School Climate; this is always a crowd pleaser! STUCO will also be sponsoring an event titled The Price is Right. This should be very entertaining. We look forward to this assembly which has been a tradition/part of our culture since we opened.

ES News
We are having a GREAT time at the Elementary School. This week at we are excited to have 13 students who will receive a limousine ride and pizza party for their efforts in selling 10 EFG Dining cards.  This Tuesday I will welcome 4th grade parents for PIE with the principal night at 6:30 in the Multi Meeting Room. This Thursday we will enjoy Family Fun Night in the gym with Mrs. Haines.  Students will also begin taking their Summative Unit 2 Reading and Writing test at the end of this week. We are excited to chart the progress students have made in their ability to write longer, more focused passages in writing and apply their comprehension strategies in reading. 

One of our students, Chance Milbrandt, and his fourth grade classrooms has decided that it is important to remember that this is a season for giving.  So, they have invited the school to partner with them by giving to children in need.  Classrooms were given an “angel tag” taken from the Christmas tree at City Hall.  Each class will collect gifts this week for that child.  We are proud to support this student-led initiative
 
Our special area teachers, which include art, music, PE and library, will be providing an integrated learning experience for students on Monday, December 17th.  This allows the team to work together with the entire grade level of students and immerse them in a special project that incorporates music, art, research, literature and movement.  This also provides grade level teams with 2 hours of uninterrupted planning time.  During this time period on Monday, teachers will receive targeted professional development on the Core Academic Standards and receive time to collaboratively score student writing.

We will finish out our first semester with an all school Sing-Along on Wednesday, December 19th at 10:30 in the gym.  Teachers will perform, stories will be read, and the whole school will sing along to holiday favorites.  Stop by and join in the fun; we would love to see you!


PS News
The upcoming holidays are evident everywhere at the Primary School.  Kindergarteners and 2nd graders are hosting visiting grandparents with different activities from Dec. 7-18.  The PTO Holiday Shop was held on our campus on Dec. 8.  The Scholastic Book Fair is open in our library all week, with Family Night on Dec. 10.  Students that sold enough EFG cards in the last fundraiser are enjoying a limo ride for a Guido's lunch on Dec. 10.   2nd graders are performing their annual PTO concert at the high school on Dec. 11.  I will eat lunch with students who have read 100 books on Dec. 17.  Guidance counselor Shari Doutt teaches lessons around our character education words; for the December trait of "kindness", students are making greeting cards for senior citizens. There are gingerbread houses, cookies, decorated trees, letters to Santa, and holiday spirit up and down all our halls.

Instructionally, teachers attended a Common Core State Standards presentation from Dr. Gallagher, and have been meeting at grade levels to learn about and discuss the CAS, MSIP-5, the new teacher evaluation model, sample test items for 2015, and other related initiatives.  We are planning for technology lessons at all grade levels on use of students' usernames and passwords for log-ins.  We are continuing to work on developing math lessons and assessments aligned to the CAS.  I CAN statements are posted in classrooms to emphasize what students are learning and why.  All grade levels are reviewing the Discovery Education benchmark testing format to prepare for the next assessment in January.

HS Grandparents Day
Grandparents Day was held at the Pleasant Hill High School on Tuesday, December 4. Three hundred and six grandparents enjoyed a morning of activities and were treated to snacks and a visit with Santa.

District News - Week of Dec. 3:
HS News
On Tuesday, December 4, 2012, Pleasant Hill High School will honor the grandparents of our students.  Grandparents are invited to attend program that will begin at 9:00am and conclude with donuts and juice at 11:05am.  The planned activities will highlight the many talented students that we have here at PHHS.  This day hosted by our Student Council and is a day that many of our students look forward to each year.  

The Girls Basketball team competes in the Blue Springs/Blue Springs South tournament this week.  The tip-off vs Lee’s Summit High School at Blue Springs 5:30 Monday, the full bracket is available on the activities page of our website.

The Boys Basketball team hosts Warrensburg HS on Tuesday night and will travel to University Academy on Friday night.

The wrestling team travels to Raytown South High for a Tri-meet vs Raytown South and Blue Springs South.  Saturday the varsity travels to Staley for a duals tournament, and the JV competes in the Harrisonville JV tournament.

The Choirs Travel to Webb City on Saturday for their show choir competition.

MS News
Middle school winter activity season is well underway!  This past weekend our wrestlers had a tournament at Center and took over the mats in purple & gold style.  Twenty-four (24) out of 29 of our wrestlers brought home medals: 12 gold & 12 silver.  Basketball also fills up almost every evening this week, with middle school basketball players holding home games Monday, Tuesday, and Friday nights in our middle school gym beginning at 5:00pm. 

Also beginning this week on Thursday, our first rehearsal for The Wizard of Oz, this year’s middle school musical, will be held, followed by a parent meeting to go over the tasks needing to be accomplished between now and February.  Tryouts have been completed, decisions made for roles, and informational preliminary parent meeting all accomplished in the last few weeks. December is a busy month activity-wise for the middle school!

On the academic forefront, students will be experiencing some traditional “December” studies as they begin their study of Charles Dickens in 7th grade reading classes.  Ms. Gilman's 7th grade reading classes will be completing their annual holiday projects to benefit the community.  Students may be caught spreading seasonal joy in area nursing homes, ringing the Salvation Army bells, helping with the Lay Clergy or decorating their own churches for the season.  Students also have the option of caroling around area Pleasant Hill neighborhoods as well as shopping and using their own money to buy gifts for Toys for Tots or the Angel Tree!

In the Pleasant Hill Times “Home for the Holidays” edition last week, Mrs. Gilman’s project was spotlighted. In conjunction with the academics related to Charles Dickens, students will be participating in volunteer work of their choice and a class food/toy drive for the needy running through December 14.  This is an annual real-life experience the class does in conjunction with their study of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”.

IS News
Our Students of the Week are:  Mariah Brattin, Josh Millard, Truman Cartner, Ali Ray, Miguel Venegas and Mitchell Hayes. Our students also recently voted for their peers regarding Student of the Month for December.  As before, one student per homeroom is nominated. The students chosen are:  Brylee Wells, Samuel Gray, Wyatt Perkins, Tanner Reffitt, Rachel Wilhoit, Makayla Blevins, Megan Swinney, Cassie Waddle, Julia Edmonds, Sierra Bowman, Zoe Crockett, Halee Werner and James Lowe. We congratulate these students on exhibiting good character and being good role models!

Our students will be taking Discovery Education test 2 this week. Students and teachers have been working hard on curriculum/specific skills. We are eager to get test results back and analyze our data. Teachers will spend quality time on this data the week of Dec. 10 and adjust RtI groups and skill sets as needed.

In recognition of Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, our 5A students will be writing a paper. Students will be focusing on the writing process as teachers model each step. Teachers will be using the 6-Trait scoring guide to assess this writing piece. Teachers will be putting to use the professional development from our Nov. 9 PD day and calibrate papers together. This practice will help us be more consistent in our grading practices. The other teams are also involved in the writing process but have different topics they are writing about.

ES News
During the next two weeks, the Elementary School we will host several special events.  First, our 3rd and 4th grade Choir will perform a Holiday concert on Tuesday, December 4th, at 7:00pm in the gym.  They have been rehearsing after school since the beginning of the year with our music teacher, Ms. Shaffer, and the concert is sure to be a success. This Wednesday, representatives from each classroom will eat lunch with the principal to share first semester successes and suggestions on how to make our school even greater.  On Thursday of this week at 6:30, parents of 3rd graders are invited to attend PIE (Partners in Education) Night.  Parents will gather for informal collaboration with the principal on school topics; pie and beverages will be served.  Next week, we will host the parents of 4th graders for PIE Night on Tuesday, the 11th.  Finally, on Thursday, the 13that 6:30, Mrs. Haines, our P.E. teacher, is inviting parents and students to the gym for a Family Fun Night where games and physical activity will be enjoyed by all.

Learning is occurring everywhere! Teachers are preparing students for their end of the quarter testing in reading, writing and math.  Instruction is focused on close reading, annotation of the text, and test taking strategies. Students are also taking their Winter Discovery Education test in both reading and math.   We are excited to chart growth and set a course for 2nd semester.  Teachers will continue their learning by observing one another this week as we move into Peer Observations.  During the observation, they will take note of overt and covert active engagement prompts used by the teacher.  Follow up conferences will be scheduled to facilitate conversations and collaboration between the two colleagues. 

3rd grade teacher, Ms. Cattron, reviewing test taking strategies and annotation of the text with her class

PS News
Staff and students at the primary school said goodbye to two student teachers this week.  Amanda Sebree worked with Mrs. Diederich's second graders for a full semester, and Alli Shih worked with Mrs. Triplett's second graders for six weeks.  They will be missed.

Our first and second grade concert choir performance was successful and well-attended on Nov. 27.  Sharon Doll and Shari Doutt held before-school practices for weeks to put on a show of holiday songs, performed by approximately 90 students in total.  Participants celebrated with a pizza party the next afternoon.

We held our monthly assembly on Nov. 28 and Southwest Food Service held a Roving Chef events on Nov. 30.  Students are eligible to have their names in a drawing at each grade level based on good behavior in the cafeteria to be chosen as Roving Chefs.  This month the students were: Mia Wise, Katie Dummer, Chase Simmons, Jesselynn Divish, Easton Cotter, and Keaten O'Neal.
Second graders are hosting grandparents on Dec. 7 with a holiday performance at 2:15.

The Building Improvement Team met this week to begin developing student surveys to help us evaluate building climate and use of technology.  Kindergarten teachers met to continue their work on math lessons and assessments aligned with core academic standards.  I met with 2nd. grade teachers about scoring guides for students' writing and writing samples from the CAS, and with 1st. grade teachers on a scheduled math curriculum development day in the central office with Dr. Gallagher.  We are taking advantage of numerous online resources as we develop math activities at all grade levels that will meet the CAS and improve student engagement and skill retention.

District News - Week of Nov. 26
HS News
It is that time of year that PHHS hosts one of two ACT testing sessions.  This week, we will be offering our ACT workshop to students that are registered to take the ACT on December 8, 2012.  Currently, 25 students are registered for the workshop however; nearly 60 students are expected to participate.  This will be the first year that we provide targeted instruction to groups of students based on previous ACT or PLAN scores.  Additionally, students will take a released test from ACT to practice.  These tests will be scored and returned to students so that they have a general idea of their ACT composite score range.  This data will also provide them with areas of strengths and weaknesses so that they may further prepare for a successful ACT.  We hope to prepare our students well so that we can improve on our excellent ACT average composite of 22.4 last year. 

Tuesday kicks off our boys basketball season when we host Smithville  c/JV/V starting at 4:30pm.  The Boys Basketball team is in action again on Friday at Shawnee Mission South High School.  Varsity wrestling kicks off their season Friday and Saturday Hosting the Steve Leslie Invitational.  This is a 14 team tournament that sees a lot of great action early in the season.  The girls varsity basketball team is in action Saturday at Columbia College in the Norm Stewart Classic.  The girls will play Helias Catholic at 2:00 pm.

MS News
This week during Reading classes, our seventh graders will be creating an Animoto on Jim Crow Laws as a culminating activity to reading The Well by Mildred Taylor.  In order to gain deeper understanding of the time period and setting of Mildred Taylor’s books students do research into the following topics: Jim Crow laws, segregation, the Great Depression, and sharecropping.  Later in the year, students will engage in a study of author S.E. Hinton’s book with The Outsiders as a comparison text.  Students focus on comparing themes and characters across books while developing a deeper understanding of the social and historical developments that informed the authors writing related to stereotypes.  Students see how the Civil Rights Movement grew within this context and how the courage of individuals and groups helped to gain the freedoms everyone now enjoys.

On the activity forefront for middle school, this week we see our winter sports teams commencing their seasons will our boys basketball teams hosting our first home games on Thursday night.  In order to “kick off our winter seasons”, Pack the Gym nights are being celebrated for each team’s home openers.  Students earned Pack the Gym tickets the week before Thanksgiving during our annual harvest food drive.  For every 3 can goods brought into school, each student received a Pack the Gym night ticket for admission into the first wrestling and basketball games of our season.  We look forward to crowded gyms full of middle school students the nights of November 29th & December 3rd!

IS News
Our Students of the Week are: Desmond Ewing, Jasmine Brown, McKenna Hanover, Kaitlyn Brooks, Savannah McIntosh and Michael Lehmann . We congratulate these students on exhibiting good character!

On Thursday, November 29th our 5th graders will participate in D.A.R.E. graduation. D.A.R.E. graduation is the culmination of a drug awareness program that takes place once a week for ten weeks in our science classes by D.A.R.E. Officer, Corporal Tieman. Corporal Tieman is a Cass County Sheriff; we are very fortunate to have him and this program at PHIS! The program consists of curriculum developed by a panel of experts which focuses on instruction that provides our students with the knowledge and skills needed to help them make safe, healthy and responsible life-long choices. Lessons build upon one another and allow students to develop their own responses to real life situations. The curriculum is titled, “Keepin’ it Real”. We are excited to partner with parents and local law enforcement on this very important topic!

ES News

On November 20, the ES hosted over 230 parents and students for our first ever Muffins and Mittens with Mom event.  A multitude of mittens were collected and magnificent muffins were enjoyed; supplied by our own Amazing Cakes Bakery here in Pleasant Hill. 

Later that morning, we held our Spelling Bee and our top 7 finalists were decided; they are Sarah Wilhoit, Madisen Woods, Riley Vaughn, Aidan Parman,
Evan Miller, Claire Kenyon and Owen Bailey. These students will advance to the District Spelling Bee on Wednesday, January 23, 2013.

ES students were prompted to hold a fundraiser for the victims of Hurricane Sandy.  The idea was born in Mr. McDavitt’s 3rd grade classroom, so they took the initiative and organized, promoted and counted the contributions.  Their goal was to raise $250.00 total for the relief effort.  However the generosity of students, parents and grandparents was overwhelming and the grand total for the week’s collection was $1020. 00!

Earlier this month we welcomed 100 veterans and guests for a Veteran’s Day lunch.  Our student leaders welcomed the guests and our fabulous cafeteria staff and chefs, cooked a wonderful holiday meal for this special occasion!

It’s been an exciting and busy couple of weeks here at the Elementary School.  Teachers are participating in after school professional development sessions on writing instruction and they will continue their work on the math curriculum at central office this week.

PS News
“Uncle Sam” (David Adamczyk) visited the Primary School on Election Day to talk to 2nd grade students about the democratic process and our voting privileges and responsibilities.  K-2 students had ballots and voted on their favorite food items to be served in the cafeteria next month:  chicken nuggets and cheeseburgers were the winners. 

The Primary School won the Fall Harvest food contribution competition among the district’s 5 schools, sponsored by the Pleasant Hill Bank, by donating the most nonperishable food items to the local food pantry.  A check for $500 was presented by the bank to the charity of our choice:  the local Lay Clergy.

The PTO assisted with our annual Muffins and Mittens with Moms event on Nov. 14.  We served muffins and juice to 160 parents and collected over 350 pairs of mittens, hats, gloves, and scarves to donate to the Lay Clergy. 

Our first and second grade “concert choir” performs for families and the community on Nov. 27.  The second grade holiday performance will be Dec. 11.  Instead of bringing and serving cookies afterwards, staff, PTO, and students have decided to continue our canned food drive. 
We have enrolled 8 new students so far in November alone.  All of our kindergarten classes have at least 21 students now.

8th Grade students participate in Science Fair
Eighth grade students participated in the Middle School Science Fair on Saturday, Nov. 17. Congratulations to the following students who earned 1st, 2nd and 3rd place ribbons from the judges. 

1st place and Superior: Colleen Wouters

1st place and Excellence: Rachel Dustman and Abby Welther

1st place: Danielle Batliner, Megan Bauer, Olivia Ferdig, Lauren Larkins, Caleb Long, Jamie McGovney, Gracie Ring, Gavin Wheeler, Evan Williams, Ellie Yoder.

2nd Place: Dalton Bach, Fiona Bolte-Bradhurst, Brayden Bonnesen, Donna Borer, Robin Brundage, Haley Burge, Garrett Carlile, Sarah Davis, Kara German, Katie Jones, Noah Kenyon, Haley Lamborn, Aidan Link, Clara Plasse, Blake Rutherford, Kali White

3rd Place: Griffin Ashcraft, Tucker Graham, Shayla Hill, Alex Jackson, Lane Jellison, Larry Kiger, Kaitlyn Long, Kelsey Miller, Emma Moore, Kaycee Mullin-Struzick, Trevor Ross, Trevor Scholljegerdes, Drake Sivils, Jordan Smith, Christina Waddle and Ben Watson.

Thanks to numerous volunteers who helped judge the fair.

Muffins with Moms
The Elementary School hosted Muffins with Mom to collect mittens and can goods. Over 250 people attended and our tree is covered with mittens to donate to those who need them.

Red Cross Collection
Cason Driver and Riley Cole in Mr. McDavitt's 3rd grade class came up with the idea to collect money for the hurricane victims and give the money to the Red Cross. They asked a few friends to help them out; Noah Riley, Liam McCall and Eli Guffey. The boys sent out information to the entire school about the collection. They collected the money and counted it each day. They will now take the money to the Kansas City Red Cross main office and designate it to the hurricane victims.

District News - Nov. 5
HS News
It was an exciting weekend for the High School teams.  At the state Cross Country Meet in Jefferson City Courtney Bakken Placed 90th for the girls’ team.  On the Boy’s side Taylor Livingston led the way with 81st place finish followed by Christian Richardson in 118th, Doug Bybee in 135th, Jacob Watson 145th,     Joseph Madison 154th, Adam Reeves 162nd, and Johny Romer 168th.  The boy’s team placed 16th overall at the State Meet.

The Chicks Volleyball team placed 2nd overall in the class 3 state tournament.  In pool play they defeated St. Pius X 2-0, and Perryville 2-0, while falling to Westminster Christian Academy 0-2.  In the Championship game they were defeated by Westminster Christian Academy 0-2.  This is the second year in a row the Chicks have competed in the final four bettering their position from 4th in 2011 to 2nd this year.

Oh, brother! Sibling mischief and best pal escapades are the problems Peter Hatcher faces in his attempts to deal with his impossible little brother, Fudge. Based on the popular title by perennial favorite Judy Blume, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing is a humorous look at family life and the troubles that can only be caused by a younger sibling. The Pleasant Hill High School Theatre Department proudly presents this adaptation of this classic children's book. Performances will be held in the PAC at 7:00 PM November 8-10. Tickets are $4 for students and $6 for adults. $1 from each ticket sold will be donated to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Winter sports Purple and Gold night will be next Tuesday 11/13 beginning at 6pm.

MS News
We are continuing our focus on our building-wide initiative to strengthen core areas related to our student’s communication arts (reading and language arts objectives) skills.  Last week on our “MAP Monday” during Advisory, all students read a passage titled “Green Apples” by Craig Kee Strete.  The short lesson and reading focused questions on the identification of point of view, interpretation of characters and plot using evidence from text, and analysis of text to infer ideas, opinions, and experiences of characters.  For example, students had to figure out why the Grandfather advised Jimmy to be “always in both worlds” and determine the meaning of that phrase based upon the storyline.

Today, all of our students will be again participating in a communication arts based “MAP Monday” during Advisory class by reading another passage “Seen and Heard”, a nonfiction biographical piece written by a Alegandra Ospina, a 17-year-old female facing adversity in school due to disabilities.  After reading the passage, students will be responding to questions related to the text that pushes them to interpret data, facts, and ideas while drawing conclusions and make inferences based on stated and implied information in the readings. 

On Friday, while students have the “day off” from school, our staff will be engrossed in professional development activities that directly impact their classrooms.  The morning will be spent with all staff together participating in further BYOD training, led by Janis Yokley, our technology director.  In the afternoon, staff will break apart and meet with their individual focus groups to continue their development in the areas of communications arts, math, positive school climate, and instructional strategies. 

IS News
Our Students of the Week are:  Jayden Reyes, Audrey Mann, Sophie Harvey, Maddie Helms, Ashlynn Keiholz and Morgan Carlile. Our students of the month are nominated and voted on by their peers. These students are:  Abigale Rice, Truman Cartner, Shyann Jellison, Jayden Reyes, Caleb Bowman, Rileigh West, Nick Rahe, Daniel Albin, Sarah Miller, Ali Ray, Allie Gerken, Maddie Phipps and Grace Riley. We congratulate these students on exhibiting good character!

Our building will be busy with the Education Foundation fundraiser. The Pleasant Hill Education Foundation works hard to help our students. In the past they presented scholarships for graduating seniors, they purchased playground equipment for numerous schools, and they purchased art tables and more. Our students will also be busy with the Fall Harvest. Pleasant Hill Schools will be partnering with the Pleasant Hill Bank for a food drive competition called Fall Harvest; we will be sharing this information with our students this week and collecting items11/12-11/16. The food collected will go to our local food pantry. This is a very worthy cause and goes well with our character trait of the quarter which is kindness.

November 9th is a teacher professional development day. We will be discussing chapters from our book study book, Focus. Teachers will collaborate about the content areas and focus on student writing. There will be a discussion on lesson plan design and the inclusion of writing. We will look at the various attributes of writing (6 +1 Trait Writing) and how to score writing. We are excited to learn and expand on this topic as it positively impacts our teaching and learning.

ES News
Last week, students had the opportunity to eat with the principal to discuss school issues.  Two representatives from each classroom met in the library and shared their thoughts.  Topics of conversation included: the “coolness” of new library furniture, the desire for more books, the need for the art club to repaint the mural in the hallway, the anticipation over the upcoming fall parties and excitement about the purchase of five I Pads for student use.

This week, students will begin collecting money for the victims of Hurricane Sandy.  This relief effort idea began as a class discussion in Mr. McDavitt’s 3rd grade classroom last week and has blossomed into a school-wide event.  The monies will be collected from November 6th-November 11th; it will prove to be a valuable learning experience for the students.

Teachers are looking forward to the work we will accomplish this Friday on the Professional Development Day.  Our agenda for the day is full and will include: working on the math curriculum, analyzing lesson design, studying levels of student engagement, reviewing the Crisis Response team expectations and organizing peer observations.  It will be an important day of teacher learning and collaboration.

PS News
At the Primary School, we will provide instruction related to democratic elections, including voting on Election Day for our favorite lunch menu items.  Southwest Food Service will incorporate our top two choices in a menu next month. Uncle Sam (David Adamczyk) will visit 2nd grade classes with a short presentation on political parties and the voting process.

Kindergarten and first grade teachers will meet after school this week in Professional Learning Communities to review reading progress of our at-risk students being served during Rooster Time. Our professional development on Friday will focus on math curriculum development. Kindergarten teachers will meet in the central office to continue lesson development started last year and begin evaluation of common assessments. I will meet with first and second grade teachers with information about common core math standards, vocabulary, sample test items, and websites available as resources. They will meet as grade level teams to continue alignment of math lessons to the eight mathematical practices and standards.

Local FBLA and FTA Trick or Treat so Others Can Eat
The Pleasant Hill FBLA and FTA officers and members went around in the community going door to door asking for can goods and non perishable items to donate to The Lay Clergy food pantry. As a group we collected 909 items to donate to the pantry. We thank those in the community that had time to donate food to The Lay Clergy food pantry.   Pictured are (left to right)Back row: KayLee Smtih, Shelby Zahn, Rebecca King, Alex Holt, Emily Snider, Dale Snider, Alleana  Holt, Schyler Johnston, Suzy Young, Mariah Jones,  Codi Winslow, Allie Zahn, Kassidy Albright, Dennis Padilla, Zach Cohen, Ryan Spangler,. Front Row: Rachel Liley, Hannah Widaman, Kaitlin Long, Elisabeth Mansfield, Braxton Williams, Lori Williams, Rachel Casteel, Anthony Holt. Not shown Ryan McClendon, Courtney Bakken, Christian Richardson, Hannah Shinn, and Anna Prewitt,

District News - Oct. 29
HS News
On Tuesday November 30, two of our student organizations, Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) and Future Teachers of America (FTA), will go out and trick or treat for canned goods that will ultimately be donated to our local food pantry.  This year will be the 14th year of collecting canned goods.  Our largest collection year was in 2009-10 when we were able to donate over 800 cans to the lay clergy.

This began as a community service activity that Mrs.Borgstadt started the first year the FBLA chapter was chartered in 1999. Since the FBLA sponsor has always been tied with the FTA sponsor it was a natural thing to marry the two organizations. We use this as not only a community service project, but also as a social activity in our organizations.  The students are sent out among the community in groups of 2-4, to gather canned goods. They have 1 hour to gather “goods”.  Then they return back to the commons for Pizza and Pop (provided thru fundraising efforts of the clubs).  The kids are always excited to count items, to see who has collected the most; and of course, to demolish the pizza.  

Winter sports practices begin this week as the fall sports continue to wind down.  On Monday the boys soccer team travels to Grain Valley to take on Oak Grove in District play, assuming they win they take on Harrisonville on Tuesday.   Thursday night Girls golf and Softball will have their end of season awards at 6:30 in the commons.  This weekend will be busy with Speech and Debate competing at Lee’s Summit North and West, and multiple teams in the state finals.  Volleyball qualified for the Final Four and will compete Friday and Saturday at the Show-Me Center in Cape Girardeau.  This is the second year in a row that they have made it to this stage.  The boys Cross Country team took second at Districts which qualifies them for the state meet on Saturday at Jefferson City.  Courtney Bakken qualified individually for the state meet.  If you aren’t able to travel this weekend Project Grad is having their annual Holiday Bazaar in the Commons on Saturday.

MS News
We are celebrating fall this week at Pleasant Hill Middle School and focusing on and working towards a positive school climate!  This month’s spirit flag competition is a “costume day” to be held on October 31st.  Students and staff are encouraged to wear their costumes to school for the price of $1.  Teachers will vote on student creations throughout the day for their favorite costumes in the following categories: most original, most fun, best homemade, best partnership.  Winners will be announced and prizes handed out at our annual fall dance.   Students who want to participate and wear a costume to school must purchase a ticket from Mrs. Pate, our positive school climate committee leader, for $1 prior to school on Wednesday.   This is a positive school climate fundraiser.  We raised $185 dollars last year and hope to top that this year.  All proceeds will be going to purchase picnic tables for outside the cafeteria for students to enjoy eating outside on nice weather days.  The advisory with the largest percentage of students in costume will win the spirit flag for October.

In order to “prepare” for their first fall dance, students have been studying different types of dance during physical education class.  They have focused on different dance genres from current pop and country to salsa moves.  Pictures on the district slideshow show students practicing their steps during a recent class.

IS News
Our Students of the Week are:  Shawn Cummings, Zoe Crockett, Clay Froehlich, Maddie Phipps, Joey Faust and Wesley Tibai. We congratulate these students on exhibiting good character!

PHIS students will be participating in Red Ribbon celebrations this week for drug awareness. We have many activities planned for which students can participate. Our theme is, “I’m Voting for My Future!” Our goal is to educate students about the dangers of drugs and provide them with the knowledge and means to make life-long, healthy choices. Our 5th graders are learning of these topics in D.A.R.E. classes. Mrs. Bermel, our counselor, will be covering these standards to all students in guidance classes. This week’s activities include: 

Monday, October 29- "Kiss Drugs Goodbye"                       Students get Hershey Kisses
Tuesday, October 30- "Stomp Out Drugs"                           Wear Mismatched Shoes
Wednesday, October 31-"I'm A"Jean"ius, I'm Drug Free     Wear Jeans
Thursday, November 1-"Show Your School Spirit"              Wear Rooster Attire
Friday, November 2- "Drug Free America"                           Wear Red, White and Blue!

I will be meeting with all teachers on their team planning periods to discuss chapters 2 and 3 of the book Focus by Mike Schmoker. We will discuss key aspects of each chapter and how they relate to our curriculum and instruction. We will use this information as we move forward with lesson plan design and the Common Core. Teachers will also be meeting in vertical Professional Learning Communities on Tuesday morning. Among their topics of discussion will be common assessment results from first quarter. They will have analyzed data from these assessments and compare results. Teachers will use this information to implement changes in planning and instruction as needed.

ES News
Each day this week, we are participating in Red Ribbon festivities with special dress themes that encourage students to make healthy choices.  Also, this Wednesday as October comes to an end; our PTO will be hosting Fall Parties in each classroom.  Thank you to the parents who have volunteered their time to make these fun-filled activities possible for our students.

Students have just finished taking their first MAP-formatted Unit Assessment in Reading! Teachers are recognizing students who showed perseverance and used their test taking strategies throughout the test by showcasing their work in our “Spotlight on Excellence” display case.   Teams of teachers are busy collaboratively scoring the writing prompts and constructed response questions that accompanied the test to ensure that our expectations have been calibrated.  Data from these assessments will drive the learning and instruction for the remainder of 2nd quarter.

Our tutoring program has begun this week as well. Students who need extra assistance in Math, Reading, Writing or work completion can now receive services before or after school with some of our teachers.  The tutoring program is organized by Vicki Hartsell, our Curriculum facilitator and Reading Specialist.

Finally, this week, representatives will be joining the principal for lunch to discuss topics important to students.  Topics will include: homework, recess, AR points, after school clubs and field trips.  Feedback from these discussions will guide improvements and or adjustments for 2nd quarter.

PS News
The Primary School is celebrating Red Ribbon Week Oct. 29-Nov. 2 with special themes each day.  Counselor Shari Doutt is focusing on instruction in guidance classes emphasizing healthy lifestyles, good nutrition, and resisting peer pressure.  Our PTO is sponsoring fall parties on Oct. 31.

Teachers are meeting in Professional Learning Communities over the next two weeks to review progress of at-risk readers in our Rooster Time instructional groups, and continue discussions about Core Academic Standards in math.  Our focus as we continue math curriculum development is on the common assessments, adequate rigor, and alignment with the eight mathematical principles as designated in the Common Core State Standards.
As a building, we said goodbye to a student teacher in Barb Homan's EC classroom and welcomed one to Billie Jo Triplett's second grade classroom. 

FCCLA Fall Conference
PHHS FCCLA members (back to front) Rachel Liley, Haley Cash, and Elisabeth Mansfield attended the State Fall FCCLA Leadership Conference in Osage Beach, MO on October 28 and 29.

District News - Oct. 22, 2012
HS News
This week at Pleasant Hill High School Mr. David Burge will award TrackMakers to 164 students for the following accomplishments.  Nine students will be recognized for scoring a 30 or higher on the ACT.   One hundred forty-six students achieved the Advanced Level on the 2012 End of Course Exams, and will receive an award.  Additionally, nine students have been selected to the Missouri All State Choir.  This is a special event to recognize the excellence of Pleasant Hill Students and to share these accomplishments with their parents. 

This Thursday night the High School Choirs will be holding a concert.  This will include Concert Choir, Mixed Chorus, Hilltop, Hillsound, and Hillside.  The concert will begin at 7pm in the Performing arts center.

The fall sports seasons are coming to a conclusion with District play in Volleyball, Football, Cross Country and Soccer.  Volleyball earned the number 1 seed and will play at 8pm Monday at Clinton High School the winner of the Mt. Vernon/Clinton match.
Football earned the #6 seed and will play at Raytown South Friday October 26th 7pm.
Cross Country will compete in District Saturday Morning at Ray-Pec.
Soccer earned the #5 seed and will play Oak Grove Monday the 29th at Grain Valley High School 5pm.

MS News
Students, parents, and teachers all sit down together to discuss academics! Last week our 7th & 8th grade students and teachers hosted student-led parent/teacher conferences on Monday and Tuesday evenings from 4:30pm-8:30pm. 

For the past several weeks, students have been putting together portfolios of academic work to showcase and define their strengths and weaknesses for each course that they are taking this semester.  We continue to choose this type of parent/student/teacher conference format at the middle school level (5th year of implementation) because this style allows each student to play an important role in acknowledging his/her education responsibilities.  Each student was given instruction, along with daily encouragement and time to prepare his/her portfolio under the guidance of his/her advisory teacher.  Students were responsible for organizing their portfolios with two pieces of choice work from every class, doing a self-assessment, along with a teacher assessed behavior sheet, and creating an action plan for academic growth and success.  This “project” culminated last week as students “presented & discussed” their portfolios with their parents and teachers and review first quarter grades.

Over the next few weeks, our students will also continue to “showcase” their writing and artistic skills as our “Natural High” campaign continues.  It’s not the same old message of “just saying no” to drugs and alcohol.  Rather, it is saying YES to rewarding aspects of life and making staying clean the thing to do by celebrating and encouraging personal student passions that can create a natural high which produces positive effects of pursuing a life that is free from drugs and alcohol.  On October 23, 7th grade will need a white t-shirt for guidance as they continue their “100% Natural High” projects with the artistic portion of celebrating their own campaign to be drug-free.

IS News
Our Students of the Week are:  Shelby Jack, Mitchell Coon, Hunter Davis, Katie Bauer, Niki South, and Ryan Edenburn.  We congratulate each of them on displaying good character traits!

Our official parent-teacher conferences took place last week; however, many teams are still meeting with parents throughout the week this week. Relationships between school and home are vital. We appreciate parents’ time and input in conferences; we are always available throughout the year for additional conferences as well.

Meteorologist, Joel Nichols, from KMBC Channel 9 Weather is coming on October 23 for a visit to the Intermediate School. We are excited about “bringing weather” to our school and giving students the opportunity to experience it from an expert. Please feel free to join us for this assembly.

Also on Tuesday, in the evening at 7pm, our choir performs at the high school PAC. This performance is combined with the students at the middle school. Under the direction of our music teacher, Mrs. Schupp, students have been learning about performance events and practicing hard. We appreciate their dedication as we look forward to this evening! Please feel free to join us for this event as well.

Eight students will participate in the Roving Chef program sponsored by Southwest Food Service on Wednesday, Oct. 24. Students were selected by various means including writing an essay explaining their interest in culinary foods and nutrition. Students will work under the direction of Robert DiDomenick to prepare lunch and enjoy the fruits of their labor. Parents of the selected students are invited to participate.

Near the end of the week we will have our TrackMaker Assembly for students earning Advance on the MAP test taken this past spring. Parents and students have been invited to a breakfast prior to the start of the assembly. We are very proud of our students’ hard work and dedication; we look forward to having Mr. Kohler present TrackMakers to our students and honoring them in this fashion.

ES News
Students and staff are gearing up our first Celebration Assembly on Friday, October 26th at 2:30.  During the assembly Trackmaker Awards, as well as building awards, will be distributed. We will hand out Honor Roll certificates and ribbons to students who earned all A’s first quarter, Principal’s Award certificates to all those who earned A-B’s, and then Perfect Attendance Awards to students that did not miss a day of school. Perfect attendance students will enjoy a popcorn and movie party with the Principal that day as well.  During the assembly we will also recognize those students who worked hard but maybe did not earn all A’s and B’s.  This will be a Recognition Award that will be based on perseverance chosen by the classroom teacher.  Finally High Five Character Awards will be given to those students who earned the most High Fives First Quarter.  Parents and community members are welcome to attend this exciting event!

Fourth graders enjoyed a trip to the Kauffman Center last week where they experienced the symphony, many for the first time.  Our students had a wonderful time and represented our school district well.  Our third graders will be visiting Crown Center in a few weeks to see Shrek at the Coterie Theater. During special area classes, students have been busy jumping rope for a healthy heart in PE, composing songs and learning about symphony etiquette in Music and creating abstracts and learning about the color wheel in Art class.

The link on the webpage to the PHES library has been updated.  Our librarian, Gretchen Benware, reading/writing committee chairperson, Mindy Halfmann and District Technology Coordinator, Janis Yokely have collaborated to make the webpage useful, student friendly and beautiful.  Please take a few minutes to enjoy the link.

PS News
The Primary School has several events for students the next couple of weeks.  Oct. 22-26 is National School Bus Safety Week.  Students in Early Childhood and kindergarten classes are going on field trips to area pumpkin patches.  We will celebrate Red Ribbon Week starting Oct. 29, with special theme days and specific instruction on healthy choices and living drug-free.  Counselor Shari Doutt has provided information to classroom teachers about her anti-bullying lessons and steps of prevention so they can reinforce and practice with students as situations arise. 

We have an all-school assembly on Oct. 23.  Our monthly assemblies are hosted by second grade classes in turn, and recognize students for BUG awards, Quiet Rooster Coupons earned by classes, Gold and Silver Trashcan awards, and the library's Shelf Elf awards.  We sing a "character education" rap and the Pleasant Hill School Song, which all students have learned by now. 

Teresa Lally from the Middle School and I are starting a "read with me" program, pairing middle schoolers with primary students for special reading times at the end of our day, an extracurricular activity for 7-8th. graders, beginning Oct. 30.  Parent/teacher conferences have been well-attended, and I will have a final attendance percentage by Oct. 24.  We have also used parent/teacher conference nights as our Title I Parent Nights to encourage parental involvement.

Primary School staff appreciates PTO efforts this month:  a very successful fundraiser that has provided funds for each teacher and the nurse for supplies, dinners during conference nights, trash bag sales, and hosting fall parties in classrooms on Oct. 31.

Teachers continue to work on effective strategies, especially those we learned through John Antonetti's in-services and book.  They are posting learning objectives, in the form of "I CAN..." statements, with daily lessons, and striving for "big idea thinking", especially at the application level, and high levels of student engagement.  2nd grade teachers are meeting this week to plan computer lab instruction on technology objectives, especially logging in with individual passwords.  Four kindergarten teachers are participating in ongoing weekend workshops on the Common Core State Standards for both reading and math in Clinton, and sharing information with other grade levels.  Our Building Improvement Team is meeting this week to evaluate progress thus far with Rooster Time and professional development requests.  ALIRT (Assisting Learners Through the Intervention Resource Team) meetings have started to accept teachers' referrals and arrange tutoring and other strategies for at-risk students.

Region 12 FCCLA Leadership Conference
Back row left to right:  Rachel Liley, Taylor Hayes, Ashley Blann, Vyktoria Harris, Hannah Dustman, Caitlin King
Middle row left to right:  Kacey Breitbach, Trenton Clarke, Rachel Triplett, Marissa Thompson, Ali Novak
Front row left to right:  Elisabeth Mansfield, Region 12 officer and Haley Cash Region 12 officer

Board presents MAP / EOC TrackMakers
The overall purposes of a recognition program are to build individual self-esteem, improve individual performance, retain quality employees, enhance individual and corporate pride, and provide reinforcement and reward for achievement toward the mission of the organization.   With these purposes in mind, the Pleasant Hill R-III Board of Education established a TrackMaker Recognition Program several years ago. 

This Fall, 507 students at the High School, Middle School, Elementary School and Intermediate School who earned ‘Advanced’ level on the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) and End of Course (EOC) exams last spring will be presented TrackMakers by the R-III School Board.

Students earning TrackMakers at the High School: EOC English I: Rebekah Anderson, Sara Baker, Christopher Barzilla, Brogan Bellamy, Riley Bonnesen, Arron Correa, Olivia Dotson, Renee Edenburn, Tyler Evans, Kyle Feeler, Jacob Fetters, Katherine Friederich, Lauren Hawkins, Spencer Homan, Joseph Madison, Samantha McCarty, Ryan McClendon, Elijah Mijares, Noah Moore, Nicole Nulsen, Caitlin Rash, Thomas Schaefer, Lewis Sharp, Kaytlinn Snoderly, Madison Stockstill, Molly Takacs, Seven Vaughan, Makenzie Voorhees, Zachary Winkler. EOC English II: Justin Bell, Danielle Bowen, Kacey Breitbach, Katie Brenton, Alexis Caraker, Haley Cash, Brandon Clevenger, Zachery Cohen, Matthew Cox, Kaylea Dennis, Benjamin Dobson, Tristan Dooly, Hannah Dustman, Brady Franklin, Cody Gaston, Samantha Gray, David Hand, Kenton Hanifl, Bailey Heublein, Heather Hughes, Mallory Humphrey, Schyler Johnston, Rachel King, Kiahla Kirchhoff, Erica Loney, Mariahe Long, Moriah Longo, Emily McKee, George Montag, Allison Novak, Kristin Orpin, Haleigh Rottinghaus, Hannah Shinn, Mackenzie Snyder, Kaylee Thorpe, Jenny Toler, Kayla Torrence, Rachel Triplett, Trevor Young. MAP Mathematics: Josh Moore. EOC Algebra I:  Levi Bryant, Hannah Crawford, Olivia Dotson, Cheyenne Jennings, Zachariah Long, Devon Peters, Makenzie Voorhees. EOC Algebra II: Justin Bell, Ashley Blann, Samantha Bornaman, Kacey Breitbach, Jamie Brookshier, Trevor Burge, Zachery Cohen, Matthew Cox, Jacob Denney, Benjamin Dobson, Hannah Dustman, Kenton Hanifl, Shannon Haws, Heather Hughes, Elizabeth Jerabek, Jessica Kemerling, Kaitlin Long, Mariahe Long, Emily McKee, Mallory Miller, George Montag, Haylee Newport, Allison Novak, JB Smith, Mackenzie Snyder, Charlotte Williams, Trevor Young. EOC Geometry: Riley Bonnesen, Cordell Boyd, Krista Bricker, Alexis Caraker, Tristan Dooly, Tyler Evans, Kyle Feeler, Susanna Goodellfields, Spencer Homan, Justin Orpin, Thomas Schaefer. EOC Biology: Justin Bell, Krista Bricker, Alexis Caraker, Haley Cash, Zachery Cohen, Christian Correa, Benjamin Dobson, Tristan Dooly, Brady Franklin, Amy Freed, Cody Gaston, Kenton Hanifl, Bailey Heublein, Alexander Hurd, Elizabeth Jerabek, Mariahe Long, Kendall Mahoney, Emily McKee, George Montag, Haylee Newport, Cole Reeves, Kimberlyn Selvin, Paige Shifflett, Mackenzie Snyder, Trevor Young. EOC American History: Alex Baker, Brad Barnett, Hannah Beachner, Brogan Bellamy, Andrew Culbertson, Tyler Evans, Kyle Feeler, Jeremy Hansen, Spencer Homan, Zachariah Long, Joseph Madison, Elijah Mijares, Lewis Sharp. EOC Government: Shawn Ashmore, Scott Blann, Taylor Bonnesen, Trenton Burdette, Trevor Burge, Douglas Bybee, Rachel Casteel, Brandon Cribelar, Noah Dayson, Jacob Denney, Dillan Findley, Colbi Ford, Jenna Greenwood, Steven Greufe, Joseph Griffith, Shannon Haws, Mary Hertzog, Amethyst Hughes, Summer Kirchhofer, Drake Kramer, Rachel Lauve, Kaitlin Long, Justin Longmeyer, Joshua Lukenbill, Kaylee Mathiason, Tyler Miller, Brent Norris, Mysti Ane Pearce, Adam Reeves, Kavin Rickel, Dylan Ross, JB Smith, Dominic Taylor, Greg Troiani, Shelby Walton, Hannah Widaman, Charlotte Williams, Lonnie Yost. MAP Communication Arts: Dalton Burge, Josie Cotter, Malynn Creighton, Christian Durst, Katie Krug, Cheyenne Long, Jacob Longmeyer, Levi Phipps, Nathaniel Ryan, Kaler Selvin, Brianna Shuler, Sienna Smith, Margaret Waddle, Jacob Watson, Jacob Waugh, Anna Whitlock, Bailey Wileman, Jesse Woodhead, Joshua Young. MAP Mathematics: Coutney Bonnett, Dalton Burge, Chance Coday, Josie Cotter, Malynn Creighton, Kaitlin Dierking, Christian Durst, Garrison Fields, Jacob Hardy, Levi Jack, O’Tillia Jerabek, Cheyenne Long, Jacob Longmeyer, Nathaniel Ryan, Kaler Selvin, Brianna Shuler, Madolyn Swinney, Margaret Waddle, Jacob Watson, Anna Whitlock, Joshua Young. EOC Algebra I: Dalton Burge, Josie Cotter, Malynn Creighton, Christian Durst, Garrison Fields, Cheyenne Long, Jacob Longmeyer, Jeffrey McKee, Emilee Nulsen, Madolyn Seinney, Jacob Watson, Joshua Young. MAP Science:  Dalton Burge, Josie Cotter, Malynn Creighton, Christian Durst, Cheyenne Long, Jacob Longmeyer, Levi Phipps, Nathaniel Ryan, Kaler Selvin, Madolyn Swinney, Jacob Watson, Joshua Young.

The following students received a TrackMaker for receiving a ‘30’ or above on the ACT Test: Greg Troiani, Doug Bybee, Rachel Casteel, Noah Dayson, Justin Longmeyer, Trevor Burge, Rachel Lauve, Brittani Lugenbeel, Adam Reeves.

Congratulations to the following students for being selected as a member of the 2013 Missouri All State Choir: Kaitling Long, Kacey Breitbach, Summer Kirchhofer, Jessica Kemerling, Lonnie Yost, Noah Dayson and Tyler Wilson. Zach Cohen and Sutton Crabtree were selected as alternates.

Students earning MAP TrackMakers at the Middle School: MAP Communication Arts: Carly Barker, Mackenzie Beaman, Matthew Blair, Anna Boehm, Emma Braley, Samara Bruno, Levi Cohen, Kacie Creighton, Nicholas Danahy, Brett Greufe, Eric Humphrey, Hallie Maasen, James McKee, Anthony McSparran, Callie Miller, Alexander Moore, Nicholas Ryan. EOC Mathematics: Carly Barker, Matthew Blair, Levi Cohen, Michael Denney, Joseph Heinrich, Dominic Hemme, Eric Humphrey, Victoria Long, Hallie Maasen, James McKee, Callie Miller, Alexandra Pierce, Smantha Rohne, Trent Wilson, Evan Yokley. MAP Communication Arts: Kylie Baker, Fiona Bolte Bradhurst, Brayden Bonnesen, Donna Borer, Haley Burge, Mathew Campbell, Noah Campbell, Rachel Dustman, Michaela Emond, Jacob Fisher, Ian Heinrich, Kylie Heublein, Hunter Kelley, Haley Lamborn, Lauren Larkins, Aidan Link, Kaitlyn Long, Kirsten Medearis, Emma Moore, Madison O’Hare, Thomas Phelps, Clara Plasse, Paige Sialors, Rebekah Schoenfelt, Fernanda Sierra, Drake Sivils, Racheal Snyder, Cody Suelter, Holly Wilhelm, Colleen Wouters, Luella Yoder. MAP Mathematics: Griffin Ashcraft, Fiona Bolte Bradhurst, Brayden Bonnesen, Donna Borer, Robin Brundage, Haley Burge, Mathew Campbell, Noah Campbell, Rachel Dustman, Jacob Fisher, Kylie Henry, Kylie Heublein, Lane Jellison, Lauren Larkins, Cole Lightfoot, Aidan Link, Caleb Long, Kaitlyn Long, James McGovney, Kirsten Medearis, Emma Moore, Courtney Pritchett, Jamie Ross, Blake Rutherford, Paige Sailors, Drake Sivils, Blake Smith, Jessica Turner, Christina Waddle, Evan Williams, Colleen Wouters, Luella Yoder.

Students earning MAP TrackMakers at the Intermediate School: MAP Communication Arts: Logan Bailey, Brandon Baker, Collin Brockman, Brian Brunell, Truman Cartner, Grace Chambers, Nicole Clapp, Katie Clay, Hayden Cox, Desmond Ewing, Tanner Graves, Jaden Greenwood, Angeleena Hook, John Kohler, Sydney Lamborn, Bethany Larkins, Austin Long, Julia Longmeyer, Abigail McKee, Randi Miller, Aidan Moore, Cailee More, Colin Paris, Emily Perisho, Jayden Reyes, Kyleigh Roe, Parker Snow, Thomas Swilley, Cole Swofford, Micah Taylor, Margaret Tribble, Morgan Wehner, Morgan Wilhite, Rachel Wilhoit, Samantha Woods. MAP Mathematics: Logan Bailey, Jaden Greenwood, Emma Kirchhoff, Aidan Moore, Cailee More, Emily Perisho, Cole Swofford, Sarah Watson, Rachel Wilhoit. MAP Communication Arts: Marissa Bowman, Sydney Bunch, Morgan Carlile, Amy Cox, Faith Griggs, Anastasia Hanes, Reagan Harrison, Mitchell Hayes, Madeline Helms, Miranda Kelley, Corey Kelly, Grace Kenyon, Taylor Markham, Maxwell Potter, Kailey Renfro, Marianne Riley, Cheyenne Schneider, Joe Sosko, Taylor Stith, Mszayah Vanzant, Benjamin Yoder. MAP Mathmatics: Katherine Bauer, Sierra Bowman, Sydney Bunch, Faith Griggs, Anastasia Hanes, Sophia Harvey, Mithcell Hayes, Madeline Helms, Shelby Jack, Corey Kelly, Grace Kenyon, Adelynn Link, William Pryor, Marianne Riley, Garrett Schick, Cheyenne Schneider, James Schoenfelt, Joe Sosko, William Toler, Mszayah Vanzant, Cassandra Waddle, Haley Wiggins, Benjamin Yoder. MAP Science: Trace Armstrong, Sierra Bowman, Kaitlyn Brooks, Sydney Bunch, Garrett Canaan, Morgan Carlile, Holly Cassaday, Delaney Davis, Kirsten Gross, Sophia Harvey, Mitchell Hayes, Madeline Helms, Gabriel Hodge, Miranda Kelley, Corey Kelly, Grace Kenyon, Zachariah Ketchum, Danielle Lichte, Adelynn Link, Joey Mazy Franks Maxwell Potter, William Pryor, Grace Riley, Cheyenne Schnider, James Schoenfelt, Keegan Slaughter, Mszayah Vanzant, Cassandra Waddle, Luke Winkler, Benjamin Yoder, Samantha Yokley. 

Students earning MAP TrackMakers at the Elementary School: MAP Communication Arts: Jenna Avery, Owen Bailey, Evan Burns, Joliana Canaan, John Carter, Morgan Corbin, Landon Fatino, Alexandra Good, Eugene Horkay, Claire Kenyon, Ethan Longo, Keagon Madison, Isabella McCarty, Chance Milbrandt, Cassidy Miller, Evan Miller, Karleigh Ogan, Dylan Orpin, Zion Patterson, Alexandria Redwine, Kylie Rennolds, Caitlyn Rogers, Jessica Ross, Tyler Rowe, Zackary Smith, Alaina Umscheid, Riley Vaughn. MAP Mathematics: Jesse Ailshire, John Carter, Jacob Conine, Isabella Danner, Marissa McCormick, Evan Miller, Joseph Ore, Dylan Orpin, Zackary Smith, Tobin Wise.

District News
Oct. 8, 2012
High School:
This week we begin our campaign to keep our student drivers and passengers safe by participating in the Battle of the Belt.  The Battle of the Belt is an annual safety belt competition between Missouri high schools to encourage the use of safety belts among students.  This competition is sponsored by the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety and  American Family Insurance along with the Emergency Nurses Association.  This month long campaign will begin and end with a seatbelt check of all students that enter and leave Pleasant Hill High School.  Throughout the month, activities, drawings, and assemblies are planned in an effort to increase the use of safety belts by our students.  Our student organization, SADD (Students Against Destrictive Decisions), sponsored by Crystal Monath works with Corporal Tieman of the Cass County Sheriff’s Office and Kelly Fenton of the Emergency Nurses Association to plan these events for our students. 

Last year PHHS was one of ten schools in the Kansas City Region awarded a silver level award for having the highest gain in seatbelt use among students.  Our goal this year is to repeat as a Battle of the Belt Winner.  Recently, these signs have been posted on Rooster Way to remind our students of the importance of wearing their seatbelts.  Stay safe on the roads Roosters/Chicks!

The Softball team finished their season this past Friday losing to Nevada 2-1 in the district Championship.  Monday we have three girls competing in Sectional Golf Mackenzie Powell, Jamie Brookshier, and Kristen Orpin.  Thursday night the Varsity Football team will travel to Excelsior Springs, This game will be broadcast live on Metro Sports.

This week our English department is driving instruction during “MAP Mondays” in Advisory class.  This week all students will be reading “The Amazing Mr. Gilbert”, a short nonfiction biographical passage.  Students will be assessed on their individual abilities to recognize the author’s organization patterns of writing, summarize biographical information, assess character’s motives, and make inferences based on biographical facts.  Next up for “MAP Mondays” in Advisory class: “Walking Weather”, a short poem to analyze for main idea and finding word mean based on context clues of the word scurry.

Intermediate School:
Our Students of the Week are:  Ana Hanes, Nathan Bledsoe, Austin Tye, Rachel Wilhoit, Ruth Rain and Laura Allee! We congratulate each of these students!

This week our students will be taking the STAR Math and STAR Reading assessments for first quarter. Based on our baseline STAR data, teachers placed students in guided reading groups and focus groups to target specific math and reading skills. We will analyze data again once testing is over. Teachers will re-adjust groups based on this data. We will be looking for growth/student achievement from the first test to this one. 

Elementary School:
Monday marks the beginning of our nine week building-wide intervention plan in which our goal is to increase the number of correct words each student can read in 1 minute.  Our reading fluency focus time is from 8:40-8:55 each morning and every student and adult is involved in the success of this program. On average, we want our 3rd and 4th graders to read 115 correct words per minute. We hope to reach this goal by Winter break.  Feel free to stop by and watch our progress.

On Monday, third graders have the opportunity to participate in a two hour integrated learning experience on Christopher Columbus.  Students will hear stories, sing songs, play games and learn interesting facts in recognition of Columbus Day.  This event is made possible through the collaborative efforts of our special area teachers.  Consequently, the classroom teachers will use this extended plan time to learn a new reading strategy, collaboratively score student work and prepare for the end of the quarter.

Our fourth graders will sing at the PTO concert on Tuesday, October 9th at 7:00 pm in the PHES gymnasium.  They have been working hard to perfect their songs under the direction of Mrs. Shaffer, our music teacher. I know it will be a performance we don’t want to miss.

Our week will conclude with a visit from the Pleasant Hill Fire Department. They are coming to the Elementary School to educate our students on the importance of fire safety. We are looking forward to their visit! As you can see it is going to be an exciting week!

Primary School:
The primary school is celebrating Fire Safety Week with visits from the Pleasant Hill Fire Department.  Firemen will provide safety information at assemblies for each grade level, and students in EC-1st. grade will "tour" the fire trucks outside. 

Teachers are completing skill assessments for first quarter, mostly done individually in kindergarten and first grade.  Our Rooster Time "coops" have met for two weeks now, and teachers will do our first "progress monitoring" this week:  letter recognition for kindergarten and first grade, and timed fluency checks for second grade. 

The agenda for our quarterly staff meeting held this week includes 504 plan guidelines, remote access of saved files, SIS input and reports, IXL math website, revisions to Rooster Time, and activities and lessons about Election Day.  Kindergarten and first grade teachers are meeting in PLCs after school to post reading and math information on our DE data wall and review running record levels. 

ALIRT is accepting referrals beginning this week:  Assisting Learners Through the Intervention Resource Team.  Starting this week, we will meet most Tuesdays at 7:30 a.m. to review student information with classroom teachers and discuss/implement intervention strategies with at-risk students. ALIRT includes the primary school counselor, principal, sped teachers, speech therapists, Title I staff, and classroom teachers as needed.

District News
High School: Homecoming week is upon us.  This is a very fun filled week for our students.  There are many activities planned such as float building, games, candidate assembly, and ending the week with the dance.  This week is organized by the PHHS Student Council sponsored by Chris Purnell and Carrie Ryerson.  This group does a great job of creating a high amount of school spirit throughout the week. Traditionally, this is a spirit week for our students as well where many of them participate in themed dress up days at school.  The themes for the week are: October 1: Neon Day; October 2: Disney Day; October 3: Superhero Day; October 4 Class Color Day; October 5: Purple and Gold Day. 
What a great week to be a ROOSTER!

Middle School: This week our 7th grade students are orally presenting to others in math class.  Last week, through a collaborative math lesson presented by Mrs. Fender, 7th grade math teacher, and Mrs. Lally, library media specialist, students began researching careers of interest to them, exploring how math is used in their field of choice.  Students have gathered their research and information to develop a presentation to share with their peers.  While researching for presentations, students also imbedded video into their presentations using Glogster, Prezi, or another 21st century tool to visually highlight their chosen career field as they explain and give an example of how math would be used in the selected career.

In celebration of Homecoming week, our students/staff are participating in festive, school spirit activities (3 days of “spirit wear/dress up days” planned by our new student council members and the culmination of the advisory led spirit competition).  For the past few weeks, students have been gathering ideas and supplies to participate in our middle school spirit stick competition held for the past several years during Advisory class.  For this month’s spirit stick competition, advisories are constructing spirit flags which will take the place of the old spirit stick. Flags are being constructed to the following specifications: 2 x 3 feet, attached to a pole, made out of cloth/fabric, not specific to any one advisory.  On Friday, each advisory class will present their class spirit flag during our Homecoming assembly, along with a chant/cheer.  They will be judged on neatness, spirit, and craftsmanship.

IS News
Our Students of the Week are:  Daniel Albin, Kayleigh Hitchcock, Jordan Hurle, Mazen Jackson, Jackson Barnes and Parker Snow. Congratulations to these students!

Students nominated their own peers in each homeroom for exhibiting our character traits.  These students are:  Ramsey Kohler, Hannah Hocker, Grace Chambers, Jaden Greenwood, Audrey Mann, Jade Feeler, Jasmine Brown, Marissa Bowman, Shelby Jack, Kristen Gross, Gracie Kenyon, Haley Wiggins and Garrett Schick. What a great honor to be recognized by your peers; these students are wonderful role models!

Robert DiDomenick from Southwest Food Service will present information to our students in the Morning Motivator on the importance of breakfast. He will talk about the health benefits including how breakfast refuels our body and gives us energy to go through our daily routine and how it helps us focus and perform better. Mr. DiDomenick will have a sample breakfast from our cafeteria as a visual for students and will encourage them to share comments regarding their favorite PHIS breakfast.

Picture retakes will take place Wednesday, October 3.

Homecoming is Friday! STUCO helped organize spirit week. We have fun themes to help support school/district spirit.  Our daily themes are:  Pink & Bling, Camo & Diva, Opposite day—shirts inside out or backwards/pant leg rolled up, etc., Rock Star and Purple & Gold. This should be an exciting celebration!

Our staff meeting will be devoted to professional development on using iPads in the classroom. Teachers have been exploring iPads over the last month. They have been researching appropriate apps that support curriculum. Teachers have already been using the iPads for picture and video taking, demonstrating math problems, having students solve math problems and more. They are eager to learn more about this tool.

ES News
It’s spirit week at the Elementary School.  Students will show their school spirit all week long by participating in Pajama Day, Team Jersey Day, Hat Day, Crazy Sock Day and Purple/Gold Day.
We are all looking forward to the Homecoming festivities this Friday.

As we approach the end of 1st quarter, teachers are preparing students to take their first “MAP Formatted” Unit Assessment in Reading.  This test will include an extended writing prompt and will provide us with a clear reflection of student progress in the area of English Language Arts. We will use the data we collect from this test to drive instruction and student learning.

This week we are preparing to launch into our reading fluency focus in which every adult and student in the building will devote 20 minutes each morning to the goal of increasing the number of correct words read per minute.  At PHES, we know that fluency precedes comprehension and so we are excited to see the progress students can make when we really focus on reading fluency as a building.  Stop by this Friday, to see our “practice run” at 8:40am or join us for our first official session on Monday, October 8th at 8:40.

Throughout the building, students are engaged in Rooster Arithmetic as students are using mental math to solve math problems.  The Math and Science Committee, which is made up of teacher representatives, has placed Math Minutes at natural stopping points throughout the hallways.  The Math Minutes are changed weekly so that students can practice their problem solving skills even in the halls as they wait to use the restroom, enter the music room or cafeteria.

Great things are happening at the Elementary School.  PHES students and staff are concluding First Quarter with high expectations and looking forward to sharing progress with parents at conferences later in the month.

PS News
At the primary school this week, we are celebrating "Spirit Week" prior to Friday's Homecoming with daily themes, such as Favorite Team Day.  A lot of our students will be participating in the parade on athletic floats, dance or gymnastics floats, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, etc. The Pizza Hut Book-It program starts this week, with incentives for students to read a specific number of books.  Julie Smith has completed her art program, Art to Remember, with the students; parents can order items with artwork designs by their children. 

Teachers are meeting to determine appropriate websites to use in the computer lab to support reading and math instruction and computer skills.  We are continuing our discussions about "I can..." statements in our lessons and how to best phrase objectives in "kid-friendly" language. 
Our week will end with an assembly provided by the Kelly Brothers Circus, coming to town this weekend.

Academic Letters presented to 158 HS students
This Fall, one hundred fifty eight (158) High School, students were presented academic letters on Tuesday, Sept. 25 for the 2011-2012 school year. Former PHHS graduate, Sara (Emo) Carvalho was the guest speaker.
To earn an academic letter, a student must earn a 3.5 or better GPA (grade point average) for the school year.

Earning academic letters were:
Sophomores – Alexis Allard, Rebekah Anderson, Sara Baker, Madison Barker, Christopher Barzilla, Weston Boehm, Garrett Bolden, Riley Bonnesen, Kaylene Bramwell, Meredith Burns, Alexandria Burris, Hannah Crawford, Olivia Dotson, Renee Edenburn, Tyler Evans, Kyle Feeler, Anderson Fields, Courtney Fountain, Katherine Friederich, Susanna Goodellfields, Kameron Gray, Gillian Haight, Lauren Hawkins, Ian Hodge, Julianna Holguin, Anthony Holt, Spencer Homan, Cheyenne Jennings, Autumn Kirchhofer, Jacob Lauve, Joseph Madison, Morgan Messick, Elijah Mijares, Cole Miller, Noah Moore, Nicole Nulsen, Justin Orpin, Aubrey Purnell, Caitlin Rash, Cassy Reeves, John Romer, Thomas Schaefer, Rachel Schick, Emily Scholljegerdes, Lewis Sharp, Samuel Smith, Kaytlinn Snoderly, Madison Stockstill, Molly Takacs, Marissa Thompson, Steven Vaughan, Makenzie Voorhees, Kai Wesemann, Emma Widaman, Zachary Winkler, Olivia Woodruff, Suzanne Young.

Juniors - 1st year – Katie Brenton, Alexis Caraker, Brandon Clevenger, Brady Franklin, Haylee Newport, Kendra Pryor, Grady Voss. 2nd year – Kassidy Albright, Justin Bell, Kacey Breitbach, Krista Bricker, Jamie Brookshier, Abbie Brown, Haley Cash, Trenton Clarke, Zachery Cohen, Matthew Cox, Brooke Crotty, Kaylea Dennis, Benjamin Dobson, Hannah Dustman, Mckenna Gates, Kenton Hanifl, Heather Hughes, Mallory Humphrey, Alexander Hurd, Schyler Johnston, Kami Lamar, Erica Loney, Mariahe Long, Moriah Longo, Emily Mckee, Leah Miller, George Montag, Allison Novak, Kristin Orpin, Alisha Price, Haleigh Rottinghaus, Paige Shifflett, Hannah Shinn, Mackenzie Snyder, Taylor Stevenson, Rachel Triplett, Codi Winslow, Trevor Young, Allie Zahn.

Senior – 1st year – Cordell Boyd, Vyktoria Harris, Kayla Kennedy, Elizabeth Sherman, Hannah Winkler, Jennifer Vandiver, Shelby Zahn. 2nd year – Brad Barnett, Karin Bock, Devon Jarrett, Erika King, Taylor Louthan, Kaylee Smith. 3rd year – Taylor Bonnesen, Samantha Bornaman, Trevor Burge, Douglas Bybee, Rachel Casteel, Noah Dayson, Katharine Debortoli, Dillan Findley, Jenna Greenwood, Blake Greufe, Joseph Griffith, Shannon Haws, MaryBeth Hertzog, Amethyst Hughes, Elizabeth Jerabek, Jamie Kelly, Jessica Kemerling, Summer Kirchhofer, Rachel Lauve, Kaitlin Long, Justin Longmeyer, Brittani Lugenbeel, Elisabeth Mansfield, Kaylee Mathiason, Hannah Meyer, Mallory Miller, Tyler Miller, Brandon Norris, Nicole Patterson, Mysti-Ane Pearce, Anna Prewitt, Jacob Randle, Adam Reeves, Dylan Ross, Bradley Smith, Dominic Taylor, Taylor Thomas, Gregory Troiani, Shelby Walton, Kindred Wesemann, Hannah Widaman, Charlotte Williams, Lonnie Yost.

District News
HS News
Once again our 9th-11th grade students will participate in the My College Options student survey.  This is a voluntary program that helps students plan for their post-secondary educations. The data collected from this survey is gathered nationally in an effort to improve the post-secondary options for students.  Our students will benefit from this opportunity to be connected to colleges and universities that match their needs and interests.  Furthermore, our students may hear from educational and career service providers offering products and services such as college admissions services, financial aid, career information, extracurricular enrichment and recognition programs.

Additionally, our 9th-11th grade students will be taking the Explore and PLAN tests this week.   These tests are a measurement of academic progress within the ACT College and Career Readiness System of exams.  This data is used as an indication of how students’ educational progress relates to their post-high school educational and career plans.  Furthermore, this data is used for advising them of their course selections as they continue through high school. 

Over the past several years various teams throughout the conference have held benefits for cancer causes.  Often this money has been donated to groups like Susan G. Komen, but when need arises some schools have designated groups and/or individuals from their communities that are being impacted by this deadly disease.  This year, to add a little more structure to these programs, the conference volleyball coaches decided to work together conference wide.  The coaches have been selling t-shirts and have designated one opponent to share these activities with both home and away.  The proceeds from the sale of the t-shirts, and donations from that evenings contest, will still be designated by the local team as to where it will be contributed.  We will be participating this year with Harrisonville whom we host on Thursday September 20th.  This year we will be donating the proceeds to former music teacher Ms. Rita North who was recently diagnosed and is currently undergoing treatment for cancer. 

MS News
Pleasant Hill Middle School has a full week of extra-curricular activities ahead.  Three home nights of great sporting events to attend for the whole family and community!  The 8th grade football team has gotten off to a good start.  We opened with a win at home against Grain Valley and followed that with a road victory at Odessa last Tuesday. This Tuesday night our PHMS Rooster football team will take on Warrensburg starting at 5:00 p.m. on our Eklund Field.  On Thursday night we will be literally “stopping traffic” with our biggest PHMS cross country team ever running in our open event, starting in the grassy area off of Rooster Way across from the high school.  Everyone can cheer on our runners along most of the running route winding around the high school and primary school. Meanwhile, PHMS Chicks volleyball will be in our gym at 5:00 p.m. facing the “scrappy” Sherwood crew.  Our volleyball coaches anticipate victory against Sherwood this week as they shared our teams are “very strong this year coming to us with great fundamental skills and positive teamwork/communication attributes.”

IS News:
Our Students of the Week are:  EJ Dinges, Garrett Pierce, Cameron Parker, Halee Werner, Trace Armstrong and Dakota Middleton. We congratulate these students and applaud their success! Students of the Week are selected by teachers. In addition to the recognition of these students, there will be an opportunity for students to nominate and recognize one another; students are working on this currently in homerooms----Guidance News:  Character Bulletin Board:  In order to acknowledge students who exemplify our character traits I would like for the kids in your homeroom to vote on one student who best represents those traits, selecting a new child each month.  In doing this the kids have to give specific reasons for their nominations and it causes them to think critically about what it means to have good character. I would like to have your student's name by September 27 so we can announce their name on the 28th and take a picture to post on the bulletin board.  I will also talk to the kids about this during guidance.

This week our Positive School Climate Committee meets for the first time (this club normally meets the second Tuesday of every month). This committee plans a variety of activities that promote a positive culture and community at PHIS. During their first meeting they will be focusing on fall activities, Minute to Win It and Box Tops.

Our PTO fundraiser is wrapping up this week; we thank everyone that participated and supported Pleasant Hill schools!

Teachers will be meeting with the principal during team planning periods this week for professional development. Our focus will be on effective lesson planning. We will be reading an article titled:  “How to Plan Effective Lessons”. Focus by Mike Smoker will be given to teachers with additional reading assignments as well. We are excited about this PD and refining our lesson plan approach. 

ES News
This week we are recognizing Citizenship Day on the 17th and honoring the importance of our constitution the rest of the week.  Teachers and students will engage in activities and receive information about both important concepts. 

Perfect attendance is a goal of ours and the past two weeks we’ve had 4 classrooms in which not one minute of the school day was missed.  Those classes were Young, Halfmann, Brundage and Cattron.  Congratulations to those students, parents and staff.

High Five Character Awards were given to the following students for displaying citizenship, respect, perseverance and self-discipline:  Ashlyn Long, Evan Burns, and Hayden Hocker. Each week, we will continue to recognize students that deserve a High Five!

Our Book Fair opens this week in our multi-meeting room and is filled with beautiful books, posters and other fun supplies.  The book fair will be visited by each class and is open early Wednesday morning at 8:00 am and will stay open on Tuesday and Thursday evening until 7:00 pm.

Teachers will continue their professional development on writing this week by attending a voluntary afterschool workshop on Tuesday from 4:00-6:00 pm in the library.  Teachers will learn how to instruct students on the use of the Six Traits (ideas, organization, word choice, voice, sentence fluency and conventions) that great authors use in their literary works. 

PS News
We will recognize Citizenship Day on Monday, September 17, with various class activities about traits of good citizens.  Students will enjoy a performance by the high school marching band at the football stadium on Friday morning, weather permitting.  This is an opportunity to introduce the students to unfamiliar instruments, rhythms, and the cooperative effort of a musical performance.  The annual Noteables Carnival will be held Friday night at the high school.

The primary school crisis team feels it is important for students to participate in all emergency drills during the first quarter of school.  Staff members will practice lock-down drill procedures with students in preparation for a building-wide drill on Tuesday afternoon.  Parents have been notified through the Primary Press and fliers that the primary school will be locked from about 1:10-1:30 on Sept. 18. 

The Building Improvement Team will meet on Wednesday morning before school to finalize plans for our Rooster Time "Boot Camp" beginning Sept. 24. Students have been identified at each grade level for targeted reading instruction in groups of 5 students each.  "Barnyard", or whole-group teachers, have planned authentic curriculum during Rooster Time to include authors' studies, interactive read-alouds, Time For Kids magazines, and reading comprehension strategies. Sara Thompson and I will meet with small groups of teachers to make sure they have materials they need to start lessons on Sept. 26.

Parent Teacher Conferences
Parent – teacher conferences for the Pleasant Hill R-III School District are set for Monday, October 15 through Thursday, October 18. There will be no school on Friday, October 19.
Primary School:

• Parent/teacher conferences at the primary school are scheduled individually by teachers and parents. Parents are given opportunities to schedule dates and times at Open House held in August before school starts. Any parents that do not indicate a time preference are contacted directly by the classroom teachers for a scheduled time. Teachers will accommodate parental schedules as much as possible any time from Oct. 15 through Oct. 19, but are primarily scheduling conferences on Tuesday, Oct. 16 and Thursday, Oct. 18, from 4:00-7:00pm.

Elementary School:

• Most teachers have already scheduled their parent-teacher conferences. If you have not been contacted by your child’s teacher, please call the school at 540-2220.
• If you are unsure of your appointment time, please call the school.
• If you are unable to attend at your scheduled time, please call and make arrangements for a new time.
• Parents will be asked to take a short survey after the conference.

Intermediate School:
The Intermediate School will hold conferences on Tuesday, October 16 and Wednesday, October 17 from 4:20-8:00 p.m.

• Parent-Teacher Conferences will be conducted by the core team of teachers that work with your child.
• All parents are asked to call 540-3156 or email their child’s teacher to set up a conference if one has not been previously arranged.
• Reminder notices will be provided to parents that signed up previously.
• Any parent unable to attend the scheduled time should call and make arrangements for a new time.
• Parents will be asked to take a short survey after the conference.

Middle School:
STUDENT LED CONFERENCES: Monday & Tuesday, October 15 & 16 from 4:30-8:30pm
Our middle school format, referred to as “student-led conferences”, allows students to play an important role in acknowledging their educational responsibilities under the guidance of their advisory teachers. Each student has a portfolio which he/she is responsible for filling with the following required elements: pieces of choice work from each class, teacher behavior information sheets, grade card and student prepared plan of progress.
Eighth graders and parents will meet in the gym while seventh graders and their parents will meet in the cafeteria. Individual tables will be set up in each location. Students will present their portfolios to their parents and a teacher will be at the table to answer specific questions and help guide the student through this process. Each conference will take approximately 10 minutes.
There is no need to make an appointment, just follow the schedule below: (unless you have a special concern that requires meeting individually with a specific teacher without your student present).
Monday evening’s designated schedule
4:30-5:30: Parents with student whose last name begins with A-M
5:30-6:30: Parents with student whose last name begins with N-Z
6:30-7:30: Those who could not make the above schedule
7:30-8:30: Requested private, individualized teacher conference w/out student (by appointment only, call 540-2149 if requested)
Tuesday evening’s designated schedule
4:30-5:30: Parents with student whose last name begins with N-Z
5:30-6:30: Parents with student whose last name begins with A-M
6:30-7:30: Those who could not make the above schedule
7:30-8:30: Requested private, individualized teacher conference w/out student (by appointment only, call 540-2149 if requested)

High School:

• Beginning on October 1st, parents can contact teachers to arrange Parent/Teacher Conferences. Please contact teachers via phone or email to set appointments between the times of 5:00 –8:45 p.m. on Monday, October 15 or Thursday, October 18.
• Each teacher will conduct conferences in his/her classroom. Parents may call the school, 540-3111, to contact each teacher individually to set up 15 minute conferences.

Breakfast Challenge
The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is partnering with the Midwest Dairy Council to launch the Missouri School Breakfast Challenge.
Last year, only 22 percent of students participated in a Missouri school breakfast program. To ensure all Missouri students start each day ready to learn with a healthy breakfast, I challenge all districts to increase daily school breakfast participation per child enrolled during the 2012-2013 school year by a minimum of 20 percent.
The Department calculates the number of breakfast meals served per child enrolled by taking the total number of breakfast meals served from September 2011 through April 2012 and divides this by the October 2011 school district enrollment. Data for the total number of breakfast meals served and school district enrollment is based on the information provided by your district.
The challenge is voluntary. All public, charter and private school districts in Missouri who participate in the National School Lunch Program will automatically be entered into the challenge and will be categorized into one of four tiers based on enrollment. School districts will be eligible for cash prizes if they have a 20 percent breakfast participation increase from the 2011-2012 school year to the 2012-2013 school year. The top three school districts in each of the four tiers with the highest increase in breakfast participation will win a cash prize!
Cash prize levels include: four gold awards of $4,000; four silver awards of $2,500; and four bronze awards of $1,000. Award winners will be determined by the Department and cash prizes will be awarded by the Midwest Dairy Council and are recommended for use toward health and wellness activities to benefit the receiving school district.
The Department's primary goal is for Missouri to become one of the top 10 performing states in education by the year 2020. It all starts with breakfast. Help us fuel Missouri's students into the top 10!

District News (week of Sept. 10 - 14)
HS News - Library……
All Language Arts classes watched a DVD and discussed the Gateway Reader Award Program.  The Gateway Reader Award List is promoted at high schools all over the state by the Missouri Association of School Librarians.
The DVD gives a brief synopsis of each of the fifteen titles on the list.  Students are encouraged to read at least 4 of the books from the list.  This qualifies them to vote on the winning book in March.  At this voting event in the school library, students enjoy pizza and soda.  The program rewards students with high quality reading experiences and promotes literacy and young adult literature. 
Every participating student receives a name sheet posted on the ‘reading wall’ in the library.  A sticker for each book is attached to the name sheet after the student reads the book.  Students enjoy seeing what they’ve read and comparing their record to those of their friends, classmates, and teachers.  The program motivates reading at the high school in a positive way and generates a considerable amount of discussion among teachers, students, and the librarian.  Last year approximately 80 students qualified to vote for the winning book.

First Responders Night
Friday September 14, is the second annual First Responders Night in coordination with our PHHS varsity football game with Nevada. All current and former members of the military, police, firefighters and EMT’s will be admitted free of charge for this night, please let the gatekeeper know when you arrive. There will be static displays from the National Guard, police, fire, and sheriff’s department beginning at 5pm.
In addition, the pregame will include patriotic songs from the band and a solo from senior Adam Reeves. The VFW will provide the color guard and be joined by representatives from each group. Please join us in demonstrating our gratitude to those that allow us to live our lives a little more carefree.

MS News
Pleasant Hill Middle School will be on a modified block schedule this week due to the first round of Discovery Education testing.  All 7th and 8th grade students complete this online test 3 times per year to identify their strengths and weaknesses in the core area of mathematics and reading skills.  Individual student results are available immediately for teachers and students to analyze and work on fundamental skills.  Math and communication arts teachers will use professional development time on Friday afternoon to sort through the class test results and modify their upcoming class lessons based on the needs of this group of students.

PHIS News:
Each week students are selected as “Students of the Week”. Students are recognized for a variety of reasons including, but not limited to:  showing and giving respect, being kind and thoughtful, being responsible and persevering. Our students of the week are introduced every Friday in the Morning Motivator for the following week. Our students of the week this week include Cydney Metzger, Rick Cretel, Anthony Wood, Ramsey Kohler, and Sarah Watson!

Our before and after school clubs and activities started last week. They are off to a great start. It is wonderful seeing so many students actively involved. STUCO will meet for the first time this week. Students were elected into Student Council positions during homeroom. This group of students meets often to organize a variety of events for our building.  They help contribute to the positive environment of PHIS. Also this week, Youth for Truth meets for the first time. This group meets monthly; it is a student lead organization with teacher and parent sponsors which focuses on fellowship.

Students will finish Discovery Education testing this week. Teachers will be busy analyzing data from these tests. They will use this data to help identify students’ strengths and weaknesses. This will help determine students that need additional support, tutoring and focus groups—RtI groups. They will create a data wall and start working on probes to monitor student growth.

PHES News
Our focus at the elementary school continues to be in three areas: procedures, baseline assessments, and relationship building.  We believe that consistent procedures and expectations are the keys to creating a safe school environment and classrooms which are conducive to learning.  Students have spent the last few weeks practicing our school wide behavior expectations, cooperative learning procedures, classroom routines and our emergency drill expectations. They will continue practicing these procedures this week as well.

Each child is unique and has different strengths to build upon.  Therefore, we have been collecting beginning of the year data, or “baseline” data, on each child.  We’ve administered a math pretest, taken a writing sample and conducted a reading fluency test. This week we will continue taking baseline math data as students visit the computer lab to take the Discovery Education Test. All of the information from these assessments will guide our instruction and help us chart growth over time.

Positive relationships between students, staff and parents are very important so we continue to look for ways to foster these relationships. Teachers have spent the past few weeks getting to know their students and engaging them in team building activities. Last Friday representatives from each classroom ate lunch with the principal and had opportunity to share their thoughts and feelings about the school year so far.  This Thursday, September 13th at 6:30, we will host our first Partners in Education Night for parents of 3rd graders.  This is an informal gathering where parents will have an opportunity to discuss school topics with the principal.  All of these activities are open the lines of communication and help build relationships.

Finally, for the past few weeks teachers have received concentrated professional development in the area of Communication Arts.  Last Friday, teachers were given a half day release of 3.5 hours to review the Six Traits of Writing and engage in the collaborative scoring of student writing.  Teachers were diligent and focused in their approach and instruction will be better because of the learning that was done.  This week teachers will meet individually with the principal to review their MAP data to discuss trends in the data and to identify students who are performing on the bubble.

This Friday during the 3 hour release, teachers will continue their work on the math curriculum.  As you can see, it has been a productive start to the school year and this week will be just as exciting!

PS News
Teachers and students at the primary school are taking the Discovery Education online assessments in reading and math.  This is our benchmark assessment that we administer three times a year.  Second and first graders have completed both, and I have been meeting with teachers about the results.  Kindergarteners are taking the tests in three sessions per class in our computer lab all this week. 

Title I reading teacher Sara Thompson and I are reviewing the DE results, percentile ranks from the Gates/MacGinitie reading tests, and screenings done on individual students based on teacher referrals.  With the teachers at each grade level, we are determining eligibility for small groups for our new Rooster Time, which will start Sept. 26.  There will be 6 teachers at each grade level to serve 5 students each in what we're calling "coops", meaning the 30 most at-risk students in each grade level will receive targeted, intense reading instruction 100 minutes per week in foundational skills:  letters, consonants, vowels, phonemes, vocabulary, syllables.

Our professional development time on Friday will be devoted to RtI.  Sara and I will meet with the coop teachers to review curriculum, activities, and progress monitoring tools.  The "barnyard" teachers at each grade level will meet to develop their lessons in reading skills such as fluency, story elements, listening strategies, main idea, making predictions, summarizing, etc.  They will also group students at each grade level for Rooster Time; barnyards will serve approximately 23-28 students at a time.

Picture Retakes - Oct. 3
PS, ES, IS / MS, HS

2012 MO All State Show Choir
Kaitlin Long, Hannah Winkler, Noah Dayson, Lonnie Yost, Cassidy White and Allison Josselett  are Pleasant Hill High School students who auditioned and were selected for the 2012 MO All State Show Choir which performed at the Missouri Choral Directors Convention in July in Jefferson City, MO.  They joined other performers from around the state for this event.

MCDA 9/10 grade Honors Choir
PHHS student Rene Edenburn was selected and performed with the MCDA 9/10 grade Honors Choir in Jefferson City this past July.  Also singing from PHHS was Jacob Lauve.  Mrs. Karen Dollins, PHHS choral director and Ms. Rita North, retired PHMS teacher are pictured with Rene at the First Baptist Church.

7th & 8th Grade Honor Choir
Eight Pleasant Hill Middle School students participated in the Missouri Choral Director's Association 7-8 Grade Honor Choir under the direction of Andrea Ramsey. The choir rehearsed and performed this summer on Wednesday, July 18th, 2012 at the First Baptist Church in Jefferson City, MO.

5th & 6th Grade All State Choir
Several Pleasant Hill students were selected to participate in the Missouri Choral Directors Association 5th and 6th grade Honor Choir in Jefferson City in mid-July.   The 150 Missouri students selected worked with clinician Christy Elsner all day and performed a concert that evening for the public.  

Fall Picture Day
Picture day is coming!
Elementary School - Aug. 17
High School - Aug. 16
Intermediate School - Aug. 23
Middle School - Aug. 22
Primary School - Aug. 21
Don't forget to bring your pre-payment envelope on picture day. Click on link for order form or call 816-331-8586 for more information.

District Welcomes New Staff
Staff vacancies and reassignments within the district have allowed seventeen new staff members to join the district this fall. They will begin new teacher workshops on August 6.

Primary School
Liana Farnen will serve as a 1st grade classroom teacher. She spent a year teaching in the Gardner Elementary School District. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Education with a Major in Elementary Education from Emporia State University.

In her first year, Stella Marr will teach Special Education. For the past five years she worked at the Raymore Peculiar School District. In December, she will complete her Special Education / Cross Categorical K-12 Degree from the University of Central Missouri.

Kelly Patton will serve as a Speech Therapist. For the past two years, she participated in clinical rotations. She holds a Bachelor of General Studies from the University of Kansas and a Master of Science from Rockhurst University.

Carrie Brockman has served as a substitute for the district since 2006. She will bring 14 years of experience to the district as a school nurse.

Linda Cromwell will serve as an Early Childhood Special Education Paraprofessional. She was an 8th grade SPED resource room teacher for the past four years in Salina, KS.

Elementary School
Bringing 25 years of experience to the District, Susan Herrera will serve as Principal. For the past five years she has served as an Instructional Coach in the Grandview School District. She holds a
Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education from University of Missouri at Kansas City and a Masters of Science in Elementary Administration from University of Central Missouri.

Intermediate School
In her first year of teaching, Brook Ludlam will serve as a 5th Grade classroom teacher. She completed her student teaching in the Knob Noster School District. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Education from University of Central Missouri.

Stephanie Gipple will serve as a 6th Grade classroom teacher. She was a 9th grade algebra teacher with the Hickman Mills School District for the past two years. She holds a BA in Elementary and Early Childhood Education from the University of Northern Iowa.

Anne Schupp will serve as a Vocal Music Teacher. She holds a B.S. in Vocal Music Education and Masters in Teaching Music from Northwest Missouri State University. She was a K-12 Vocal Music teacher at Cass Midway for the past two years.

Returning to the district, Rachel Dinges will serve as a part-time paraprofessional.

High School
Bringing 7 years of experience, Sean Berry will be returning to the Pleasant Hill School District and will teach Theatre / Drama. He holds a B.S.Ed. in Speech / Theatre Education from Central Missouri State University.

Ashley Lile will serve as a Language Arts teacher. She brings 10 years of experience with the Blue Springs School District and holds a BSE in Secondary English Education and a MA in English Literature from University of Central Missouri.

In his first year of teaching, Paul Stahl will teach Mathematics. He completed his student teaching with the Raytown School District. He holds a BA in Secondary Education-Mathematics from UMKC.

Bringing 7 years of experience as Assistant Director of Bands with the Harrisonville School District, Adam Twenter will serve as an Instrumental Music teacher. He holds a Bachelor of Music Education in Instrumental Music from Central Missouri State University.

Adam Dean will serve as a Paraprofessional. For the past two years, he worked as a Special Education paraprofessional at Raytown Central Middle School.

District
Eddie Norvell will serve as custodian/maintenance for the district.
Roger Winkle will serve as an evening custodian for the district.

Meal Prices
Due to rising food costs it was necessary for the District to increase meal prices slightly this year. Cafeteria meals will increase by 5¢ each.

Primary School / Elementary School
Student Breakfast: $1.15
Adult Breakfast: $1.40
Student Lunch: $1.90
Adult Lunch: $2.45

Intermediate School / Middle School
Student Breakfast: $1.15
Adult Breakfast: $1.40
Student Lunch: $2.00
Adult Lunch: $2.45

High School
Student Breakfast: $1.15
Adult Breakfast: $1.40
Student Lunch: $2.10
Adult Lunch: $2.45

Student reduced breakfast: 30¢
Student reduced lunch: 40¢

Summer School
Summer School was held May 21 - June 15. The overall enrollment for the PreK-12 program was approximately 881 students. Several enrichment classes were available and were geared for the students to experience new information and skills. Remedial classes were available for Middle and High School students to recover credit.

PHHS students receive awards at Cass Career Center
M. Hayden Smith was selected as one of the 5 candidate for All School Outstanding Senior (This is our biggest honor.  He was in the top 5 of nearly 500 students)
Jessica Barbee was the PHHS Sending School Outstanding Senior
Robert Taylor was the Outstanding Junior for the Automotive Program
Jessica Barbee was the Outstanding Senior for the Fire Science Program
Holly Hoover was awarded the Don Carey Memorial Scholarship in the amount of $500
Jessica Barbee was awarded the Joe Gerke Memorial Scholarship in the amount of $250
Recipients of the Program Performance Award for their prospective programs were:
            Tyler Farrell – Automotive
            Jessica Barbee – Fire Science
            Danielle Pemberton – Health Sciences
            Holly Hoover – Health Sciences
            Taylor Livingston – Health Sciences
            Samantha Stillwell – Health Sciences
Holly Hoover and M. Hayden Smith were awarded a Gold Level Portfolio
Ben Anderson, Cody Clark, and John Jarvis were recognized as 3 of only 600 students from across the state of Missouri that qualified for the High Schools that Work Educational Achievement Award.

5K Run for Change
The 2nd annual Pleasant Hill Middle School 5K Run for Change took place Saturday, May 5th with over 100 runners taking part.  The race started and ended in downtown Pleasant Hill and took runners onto the Katy Trail.  The race raised over $1,200 that will be used to promote bully prevention at the Pleasant Hill Middle School.  The money raised at last year's race funded a BMX Bike Show with an anti bullying message for all middle school and intermediate school students.  Attached are the times of all finishers who recorded their times for publishing.

End of Year Staff Recognition Reception
The Pleasant Hill R-III School District hosted its annual end of year staff recognition reception May 2 at Pleasant Hill High School. The event honored two (2) staff members who were retiring at the end of this school year and two (2) staff members who retired earlier this year, as well as the recipients of the Excellence in Education Awards, “ABC” Award, Rookie Awards and service pins.

Honored retirees included
High School Language Arts teacher, Patty Breckenridge will be retiring after 25 years. She joined the District in August of 1987.
Elementary School Principal, John Stahl, will be retiring. He joined the Administrative team in July 2005. 
District Maintenance, Jim Geraci retired in October, 2011. He had been with the District since July 2004.
District Custodian, Gene Hamilton retired in November, 2011. He had been with the District since June 2006.

Rookie Awards went to staff members who have completed their first year with the Pleasant Hill School District. They included: Staci Waibel, Tiffani Thompson, Lora Watson, Ryan Bird, Robin Denney, Johna Geist, Crystal Monath, Elizabeth Ferguson, Wayne Wolff, Alan Borchert, Daniel Leibbrand, Jennifer Meiries, Michelle Shouse, Lisa Greufe, Robert Mallett, Staci Moore, Maria Perez-Fisher, Randy Greufe, Karen Garrison, Tonya Cotter, Brock Fisher and Kim Fisher.

The Pleasant Hill R-III District presented the Excellence in Education Awards. This award is designed to recognize an overall contribution to education by an educator. Candidates should have the ability to inspire learning, should show genuine concern for students and should be active in their profession and/or community. (A ‘certificated’ recipient was recognized from each building. Each building’s Excellence in Education Award recipient then competed for the District honor of Teacher of the Year)

• The Primary School Excellence in Education Award went to Second Grade teacher, Cathy Young. Cathy was chosen because of her attention to detail and students’ needs is evident in the amount of preparation she does in her classroom every day. Her second grade classroom is always a productive, student-centered environment with a high level of engagement. She has taught at the Primary School for 26 years working with kindergarteners, third graders and second graders. During that time, she has contributed immeasurably to the building’s staff and instructional initiatives.

• The Elementary School Excellence in Education Award went to Third Grade teacher, Jessica Young. Jessica was chosen because she has high expectations of her students and works with them to achieve results by creating differentiated lessons. For the past 13 years, she has worked diligently to make the Elementary School an excellent school and to have a positive influence on the students. She is one of the most well respected teachers because she works tirelessly on building and district level committees with other administrators, teachers and district patrons.

• The Intermediate School Excellence in Education Award went to Special Services teacher, Pam Maxey. Pam was chosen because she shows true concern for her students’ success and implements ideas and methods to help them attain their goals. She serves as Team Leader, curriculum facilitator and on the Building Improvement team. For each position, she goes out of her way to make contributions for the betterment of the Intermediate School, keeping what is best for students at the forefront of her ideas. She is a valuable member of the PHIS team.

• The Middle School Excellence in Education Award went to District Gifted Education teacher, Michelle Humphrey. Michelle was chosen because she is an inspirational teacher, both to her students and to her co-workers. She is encouraging and her love of learning is infectious. She shares a lot of good resources and her wealth of technological knowledge and ideas have helped to increase the technology usage in science labs as we share her ideas and incorporate them into lessons. She also teaches at other buildings and has an impact on all of them, but at the Middle School we definitely benefit from her presence.

• The High School Excellence in Education Award went to Social Studies and At Risk teacher, Jim Underwood. Jim was chosen because his classroom is set apart from many by his dedication to teach students the curriculum with humor. He draws the students into the material by role playing the events of our history with each other in the classroom. Pleasant Hill High School is very lucky to have him as an educator so dedicated to making learning fun and interesting for the students.  He is a creative teacher who is giving and does whatever it takes to help the individual.

• The Educator of the Year went to Cathy Young. Cathy was chosen because she has shown professionalism with her peers as well as the students through her style of teaching, mentoring, organization, committee participation and instruction. These are the qualities that this award was created to reward a specific individual.

The ABC award is presented annually to a classified staff person who has given outstanding service to the school district.  We look particularly for the person who has significantly contributed to the mission of the school and to the overall educational climate. 

• The award went to Intermediate School Custodian, Margaret Kosfeld. Margaret was chosen because she truly cares about the district and takes pride in having the best facilities for others to use. Those who have worked closely with her like to describe her as having ‘a hard, crunchy outer shell and a soft chewy center.’ The students with whom she works know she has expectations for their behavior and wants them to treat others and the building with respect all the while loving them unconditionally. She is an outstanding custodian and person who goes above and beyond regularly.

Service pins were awarded to individuals that have completed a minimum of 5 years full-time employment with the Pleasant Hill School District. Those receiving service pins included:

5 years:  Tria Cartner, Angela Davis, Sharon Doll, Shannon Duncan, Sandra Haight, Steven Haight, John Hamilton, Kelly Hart, Tammy Kirchhofer, Rebecca Murray, Ellen Reynolds, Carrie Ryerson, Ebony Shaffer, Suzan Smith, Cindy White, Diane Williamson and Darrell Shewmaker

10 years:  Nicole Albin, Erica Armstrong, Vickie Carter, Karen Dollins, Amy Fifer, Ralyne Fleeman, Amy Franklin, Matthew Harper, Suzanne Rexroad, Susan Sappington, Deborah Smith and Jeanne Stevens

15 years: Paul Canaan, Rhonda Cleveland, Kathy Simms and Julie Smith

20 years: Cynthia Brownsberger and Anne Busch

25 years: Patty Breckenridge, Shelley Hill and Beth Hoke

30 years: Robyn Bricker and Ken Freeman

Perfect Attendance: Gift cards were awarded to individuals that had Perfect Attendance for the 1st Semester of the 2011-2012 School Year:
Cindy Blair, John Hamilton, Alan Borchert, Jim Beerends, Eric Bloom, Robyn Bricker, Tina Kemerling, Kyle Roach, Nancy Bouchard, Jeanne Stevens, Sandra Haight, Janell Hamilton, Debbie Harding, John Stahl, Wintress Welliver, Andrew Guyer, Sherie Cox, Steve Haight, Matt Harper, Sharon Meyer, Maria Fisher, Annie Vaughn, Lora Watson, LuAnn Longbons, Ron Smith, Tria Cartner, Maureen Stahl and Sara Thompson.

Staff Appreciation Week
April 30 - May 4 Superintendent, Dr. Wesley Townsend, Assist. Superintendent, Dr. Becky Gallagher and several Board of Education members presented the staff with a small token of appreciation for Teacher Appreciation Week. Pictured is High School Math Teacher, Eric Bloom  and Board of Education President, David Burge.

Griffith and Sherwood Recognized as NAIA Champions of Character
Pleasant Hill High School student athletes, Josh Griffith and Nikki Sherwood were recognized by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) as NAIA High School Champions of Character Award winners at the NAIA Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball National Championship in Kansas City last month. These student-athletes were selected by administrators at area high schools and recognized March 19, 2012, at the halftime of the first semifinal game of the tournament at Municipal Auditorium.

FCCLA State Leadership Conference
3 PHHS FCCLA members attended the State Leadership Conference in Columbia MO.  Pictured are Haley Cash, Region 12 Officer, PHHS Voting Delegate and STAR Event Student Consultant; Elisabeth Mansfield, Region 12 Officer and STAR event Bronze medal for Focus on Children; and Rachel Liley, STAR event Bronze medal for Focus on Children.  

Pleasant Hill R-III School District Receives Accreditation with Distinction
The Pleasant Hill R-III School District was recognized for receiving Accreditation with Distinction in Performance by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education during a banquet March 26 at the University of Central Missouri. Receiving the award on behalf of the district was Board of Education Treasurer David Burge, Chamber Teacher of the Year Suzanne Rexroad and CTA President Nicole Albin.  Dr. Wesley Townsend stated “Congratulations to the entire staff, students, and community for earning this award and meeting 15 Missouri performance standards.  This is the seventh consecutive year that we have received the Distinction in Performance award from DESE.  The administration and Board greatly appreciate everyone’s effort and focus on improved instruction during these past years.”

MO Conservation visits Intermediate School
On Friday, March 23, Conservation agents Bob Mattucks and Mark Griddine from the Missouri Conservation brought a streamline table to show the 6th grade students the effects of water erosion, especially in our streams and rivers.  The table showed how humans affect streams and rivers by helping the erosion process by cutting trees down and/or helping the erosion process happen faster. 

State DECA
Pleasant Hill High School students traveled to  Lodge of the Four Seasons, Lake of the Ozarks, on March 19 and 20 for State DECA Competitive Events.
Those participating were Anna Chandler, Tara Goosey, Cassidy White, Dalton Armstrong, Keegan Reed, Michaela Richards, Shelby Walton, Ashley Adams, Wesley Bridges, Caleb Streitenberger, Kendall Mahoney, Brianna Jackson, Dillon Spears, Nathan Watson, Charlotte Williams. Those qualifying for Nationals were: Brianna Jackson, 1st in Retail Marketing; Nathan Watson, 2nd in Sports Entertainment. Dillon Spears finished in the top 8 in Retail Marketing and Anna Chandler also finished in the top 8 in Community Service Project.

Blood Drive held at Pleasant Hill High School
The Community Blood Center collected 80 units of blood at the Pleasant Hill High School on Thursday, March 15. Over 110 staff and students participated in the Blood Drive. Those participating were: Ashley Adams, Dalton Armstrong, Jessica Barbee, Curtis Barger, Bradford Barnett, Lindsey Beck, David Blann, Ashley Blann, Scott Blann, Karin Bock, Samantha Bornaman, Kendal Bourey, Kacey Breitbach, Krista Bricker, Emily Brittingham, Trenton Burdette, Trevor Burge, Jared Burge, Haley Burkhart, Madison Capellen, Tria Cartner, Brandon Cassity, Rachel Casteel, Kala Cleveland, Beverly Cline, Samantha Cobb, Brittany Couch, Micah Cox, Brooke Crotty, Noah Dayson, Makenna Deckert, Jacob Denney, Cheyann Dillon, Bradley Downing, Samantha Dunlap, Brianna Eaton, Terrell Evans, Kacy Faucette, Dillan Findley, Stephen Garza, Linda Gassaway, Tyler Gerling, Vyktoria Harris, James Harrison, Joshua Hatten, Maria Havlik, Brittany Hayes, Taylor Hayes, Matthew Hobbs, Justina Homan, Holly Hoover, Clinton Hughes, Amethyst Hughes, Devon Jarrett, Trenton Jarrett, Emily Jurss, Courtney Keith, Jessica Kemerling, Nathaniel Kiger, Summer Kirchhofer, Matthew Lally, Ashley Leirer, Rachel Long, Abreale Lovell, Joshua Lukenbill, Matt Mallett, Christian Martin, Blake Mazy Franks, Nicholas Mazy Franks, Hunter Melies, Sara Michaels, Danny Morris, Hunter Mounce, Lindsay Neal, Brandon Norris, Tyler O’Brien, Nichole Patterson, Kyle Phillips, Mackenzie Powell, Alisha Price, Jacob Randle, Stephen Reese, Gregory Reeves, Clinton Richardson, Markie Roach, Trenten Roach, Jessie Schley, Virginia Schley, Patrick Shands, Paige Shifflett, Cearra Smith, Jessica Smith, Alyssa Smith, Rachelle Smith, Luke Stevenson, Angela Stillwell, Chelsea Stuber, Hailey Taylor, Taylor Thomas, Sheyanna Thompson, Sloan Vescovi, Elizabeth Waddle, Brigham West, Nathanial Wheeldon, Charlotte Williams, Brecklynn Williams, Jacob Wright, Ashley Younce, Miriam Young and Austin Yount.

Longmeyer wins Cass County Spelling Bee
Jacob Longmeyer won the Cass County Spelling Bee and will be on his way to D.C. late May to participate in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.  This is his second trip to D.C. for the National Bee as he went as a 5th grader too. Pictured is Superintendent of the Raymore - Peculiar  School District, Dr. Jeff Kyle presenting the trophy to Jacob.

District selects Elementary Principal
The Pleasant Hill R-III Board of Education has completed the search for an elementary principal by naming Mrs. Susan Herrera as Principal for the 2012-2013 school year.  Mrs. Herrera is currently an instructional coach in the Grandview School District and has held that position for the past five years.  She was a 3rd grade teacher in the Grandview district for two years prior to taking on the role of instructional coach.  Before going to Grandview, she was a teacher in the Blue Valley School District for 17 years as a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and multiage teacher. She started her career in the KCMO School District serving one year as a 3rd grade teacher. 

Mrs. Herrera completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education from the University of Missouri Kansas City in 1987 and finished a Master’s of Science degree in Elementary Administration from the University of Central Missouri in 2010.  At UCM, she was a part of the rigorous CPPP (Collaborative Principal Preparation Program) cohort of study, an intensive leadership program which only takes high quality candidates based on a competitive referral and application process.  She has had extensive training in the areas of curriculum, instruction, professional learning communities, and the use of data to facilitate improvement in a school.  She has developed and presented extensive PD sessions for teachers in the areas of communication arts and literacy, as well as many other topics. 

Mrs. Herrera and her husband, Michael, have been married for 28 years.  They have four children: Mike, age 27, Alex, age 23, Megan, age 21 and Mark, age 13.  They have one grandchild, Grace, who is 5 months old.  When asked about being selected as the Principal at Pleasant Hill Elementary for the 2012-2013 school year, Mrs. Herrera responded, “I am thrilled and honored to begin the journey as the principal of Pleasant Hill Elementary.  I look forward to becoming a part of the Pleasant Hill community and continuing our quest for excellence.”

The district welcomes Mrs. Herrera to the Elementary School and its long tradition of quality education.  Dr. Becky Gallagher, Assistant Superintendent, commented, “We believe Mrs. Herrera’s knowledge of curriculum and quality instruction will not only be a benefit to the Elementary School, but will also be a benefit to the District as well!  We look forward to having her as part of our outstanding school community.”

Donuts with Dads
Several fathers were treated to donuts and juice on Wednesday, March 7 for Donuts with Dads at the Pleasant Hill Primary School.

Swofford receives 1st place in Mathematics Competition
Cole Swofford, a 4th grader in Mr. Smith's class at Pleasant Hill Elementary school and son of Don and Jeanine Swofford, won 1st place in the Missouri Presidents Day SumDog.Com mathematics competition.  This contest was a statewide online competition that Pleasant Hill elementary and primary schools participated in.  Pleasant Hill Elementary school and Primary School finished in 5th and 6th place respectively.

MAP / EOC Testing
MAP / EOC tests are performance-based assessments that measure student achievement on Show-Me Standards.
These tests are given at designated grade levels and subject areas. Tests are comprised of three methods of measurement: selected response, constructed response, and performance events. Results are used in individual planning, program evaluation, and curriculum revision. DESE also monitors results for progress and accreditation.
Testing Schedule:
Grade 3, 4 (Elementary School)
April 17 & 18: Math
April 19 & 20: Communication Arts

Grade 5, 6 (Intermediate School)
April 16 & 17: Communication Arts
April 18 & 19: Math
April 20 & 23: 5th grade Science
Make ups as needed

Grade 7, 8 (Middle School)
April 16 - 20: Communication Arts, Math & Science

Grade 9-12 (High School)
April 3 - April 27

Pleasant Hill FFA Celebrates National FFA Week
February 19th through the 25th is national FFA week. The Pleasant Hill FFA chapter has lots of fun during this week. For the three days school was held the FFA members dressed up in camouflage, different ag colors, and in boots and shorts. Dressing up wasn’t the only way the Pleasant Hill FFA members showed of their pride. The week was jammed packed with activities from movie night to the super farmer competition. Monday evening members packed the classroom to watch movies, Tuesday the officers delivered ice cream to PHHS staff for Teacher Appreciation Day, Wednesday members participated in a Washer’s Tournament after school, Thursday six teams competed in events with David Routh and Lori Williams earning the title Super Farmers, and Friday was Barnwarming.  

One of the biggest events during FFA week is Barnwarming. This is the dance for the whole FFA chapter. The Pleasant Hill FFA Alumni help chaperone and provide food for the dance and former FFA members, Tune Dudes, will deejay.  Just like any other dance there are king and queen candidates, but all grades have the ability to steal the crown. The way to win is not by voting, but by competitions held throughout the dance. This year’s candidates are freshmen Mason Hertzog and Amberly Riffle; sophomores Hunter Anderson and Patricia Stillwell; juniors Tyler Miller and Elizabeth Waddle; and seniors Troy Faulkenberry and Emily Reed.

Over all, the first half of FFA week has been a great success, but the fun doesn’t stop there. Continuing Monday, Feb., 27 members will search the school grounds for clues to win the scavenger hunt and then will arrive early Tuesday morning for a free breakfast before school.  On Wed., February 29th the Pleasant Hill FFA Chapter will end the FFA week celebrations with the regularly scheduled meeting and chili dogs afterwards. This meeting though will have a special guest. One of the FFA state officers, Kolin Chapman, will be coming to speak to the chapter. The Pleasant Hill FFA members cannot wait for this state officer visit.  The Pleasant Hill FFA Chapter is full of traditions, dating back to 1936 when the chapter was established, as well as a bright future.  With 186 members, the chapter is striving for premier leadership, personal growth and career success.

Routh and Williams win FFA Super Farmer Competition
Teams competing in the Super Farmer Competition: (L-R) Perri Brown and Tyler Miller, Patricia Stillwell and Hunter Anderson (not pictured) Candace Williams and Josh Taylor, Emily Reed and Marcus Hicks, Sarah Rutherford and Aaron Couch, and David Routh and Lori Williams.


MAP / EOC Testing
MAP / EOC tests are performance-based assessments that measure student achievement on Show-Me Standards.
These tests are given at designated grade levels and subject areas. Tests are comprised of three methods of measurement: selected response, constructed response, and performance events.
Results are used in individual planning, program evaluation, and curriculum revision. DESE also monitors results for progress and accreditation.

Testing Schedule:
Grade 3, 4 (Elementary School) April 17 & 18: Math
April 19 & 20: Communication Arts

Grade 5, 6 (Intermediate School)
April 16 & 17: Communication Arts
April 18 & 19: Math
April 20 & 23: 5th grade Science
Make ups as needed

Grade 7, 8 (Middle School)
April 16 - 20: Communication Arts, Math & Science

Grade 9-12 (High School)
End of Course Exams (EOC): April 3 - April 27

FBLA District 10 Leadership Conference
FBLA competed in the District 10 Leadership Conference at UCM.  The following students placed in the top ten among 23 surrounding school districts:
Accounting I................................3rd Patrick Shands, 4th Brittani Lugenbeel
Accounting II...............................1st Trenten Roach, 6th Mallory Purnell
Business Law..............................3rd Brett Siebeneck
Business Procedures.................9th Laura Hudson
Chapter Scrapbook.....................1st Laura Hudson
Desktop Publishing.....................7th   Team:Cheyenne Nelson, Brecklynn Williams
Digital Design & Promotion........4th   Team:  Becca King, Lori Williams
Emerging Business Issues.........2nd  Team:  Hayden Smith, Cheyenne Nelson
Healthcare Administration..........4th Brecklynn Williams
Hospitality Management.............8th Brittany Hayes
Introduction to Technology Concepts..........4th Anthony Holt, 10th Alex Holt
Marketing.....................................2nd   Team:  Nathan Watson, Brittany Hastings, Tiffany Zinn
Mr. FBL.........................................1st Cole Eason
Ms. FBL........................................2nd Cheyenne Nelson
Personal Finance........................6th Josh Griffith
Sports Management...................1st Nathan Watson
Technology Concepts................1st Daniel Peters, 2nd Kevin Mahoney
Spreadsheet Applications.........2nd Caleb Streitenberger
Website Design...........................1st   Team: Cole Eason, Kevin Mahoney
Word Processing II.....................4th Rachel Casteel

Enrollment / Residency Nights
The Enrollment / Residency nights for the 2012-2013 School Year will be Wed., Aug. 1 and Thurs., Aug. 2., 1-8pm at the High School on One Rooster Way.
Families are asked to come on a designated night according to the oldest child's last name.

• Last name:      A-K       Wed., August 1
• Last name:      L-Z       Thurs, August 2

For more information, please contact Secretary to the Superintendent, Jackie Emo, 816-540-3161

Middle School presents The Music Man
Performances for the Pleasant Hill Middle School musical, The Music Man, Junior will be Thursday and Friday, March 1st, 2nd at 7:00pm and Saturday, March 3rd at 6:00pm at the Pleasant Hill High School Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $7.50 for adults and $5.00 for students 14 and under. Call 540 - 2149 for more information. The main cast includes: Caleb Long, Jake King, Jacob Longmeyer, Trent Idel, Madison Bailey, Haley Burge, Clara Plasse, Maranda Arcuri, Jaleah Jones, Noah Campbell, Colleen Wouters, Dalton Burge, Jaryd Smith, Evan Williams, Maggie Waddle, Madolyn Swinney, Brooke Wood, Blake Rutherford.

Intermediate School presents Honk Jr
The Pleasant Hill Intermediate School Performing Arts department is excited to announce our Spring Production, Honk! Jr. Honk! is a modern-day retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's timeless tale of The Ugly Duckling.  This award-winning musical is a classic story of overcoming the odds and standing strong in the face of adversity.  Performances will be February 16-18, 2012, in the Pleasant Hill High School Performing Arts Center at 7pm.  Tickets are $5 for adults and $2 for children 12 and under.  All seating is general admission.  For more information, please contact Suzan Smith at ssmith@pleasanthillschools.com.

Roving Chef
Southwest Foodservice Excellence (SFE) specializes only in K-12 Child Nutrition. Students in the Primary, Elementary and Intermediate Schools will participate in an incentive program called the ‘Roving Chef’. SFE encourages students to have good behaviour, good grades, and/or perfect attendance. Students are given a tour of the cafeteria and SFE Director, Curtis Mueller explained food safety and nutrition. Pictured is Primary School students who were given a chef hat and all the ingredients needed to make their own lunch. Photo courtesy of Pleasant Hill Times.

Student of the Month
High School senior, Hayden Smith, is a second-year student in Cass Career Center’s Automotive Technology program.  He was named the January 2012 Student of the Month.

Earth Science
High School students Kaitlin Long and Katharine Debortoli created a volcano model for Mr. Wyatt's Earth Science class. Rice Krispys were used to make the volcano and a chocolate fondue fountain was used to produce the lava eruption.

FCCLA Region 12
PHHS FCCLA hosted the Region 12 Officer screening recently.
Haley Cash Region 12 Parliamentarian for FCCLA and Elisabeth Mansfield Region 12 Report for FCCLA were elected into office for 2012-2013.

Valentine Deliveries
School policy states: Valentine deliveries are not accepted at any schools in the Pleasant Hill School District. We will not accept deliveries for students the week of Feb. 14. For safety reasons, balloons, and candy/floral arrangements are never allowed on school buses.

Polar Bear Plunge
PHHS students participated in the Polar Bear Plunge on Saturday Jan. 28th at Longview Lake. The group raised over $3,313 for Special Olympics. Those plunging were: Mallory Purnell, Brittany Hastings, Tiffany Zinn, Allison Josselet, Samantha Cobb, Ashten Link, Erica Loney, Cole Eason, Braxton Williams, Susanna Goodell-Fields, Holly Martin, Jordan Wileman, Brittany Couch, Aubrey Purnell, Sara Baker, Tyler O'Brien, Dylan Ryerson, Jake Wingard. Student Council Advisors, Carrie Ryerson and Chris Purnell also plunged.

23 PHHS students help out in Joplin
Twenty-three Pleasant Hill High School students took a trip to Joplin earlier this month to help in the continuing recovery from last spring's devastating tornado. The project was spearheaded by Pleasant Hill seniors Jacob Wright and Anna Chandler as a DECA project. They organized housing at Byers Avenue United Methodist Church, arranged food and activities and worked with Durham Bus Services who donated the bus and gasoline for the trip. Bus driver, Susanne Dierking donated her time as well. The teacher-sponsors and volunteers were Amy Franklin and Amy Fifer. The delegation left Friday, Jan. 6, worked all day on Saturday Jan. 7 and came home that night. The students laid sod for one family, tore out landscaping for another family and filled in a trench. All agreed that it was a great trip. The students said they were deeply moved by all that they saw and were extremely glad to have participated. Pictured are (top row, from left) Samantha Cobb, Katie Lane, Tiffany Zinn, Brittany Hastings, Amanda Crawford, Kate Driscoll, Jordan Wileman, (second row, from left) Kevin Mahoney, Jacob Wright, Cole Eason, Adam Reeves, Rebecca Avenson, Corey Todd, Brianna Jackson, Samantha Stout, Ashley Adams, Anna Chandler, Brittany Couch, (front row, from left) Luke Stephenson, Susanne Dierking, Braye Jones, Allison Josslet, Amy Franklin, Amy Fifer, Cheyenne Nelson and Makenna Deckert.

Chamber Educator of the Year
On January 14, the Chamber of Commerce, presented Ms. Suzanne Rexroad the Excellence in Education Award for Educator of the Year. This award is designed to recognize an overall contribution to education by a full time teacher, certificated staff member or school administrator. Ms. Rexroad is a third grade teacher at the Pleasant Hill Elementary School. Other staff members nominated were: High School teachers, Mike Keilholz and Jim Beerends.

Four candidates file for Board of Education
David Hertzog, Michael Mansfield, Brian Barnum and John ‘Clay’ Kohler have filed as candidates for Pleasant Hill R-III School District Board of Education. David Hertzog is seeking reelection and will face newcomers Michael Mansfield, Brian Barnum and John ‘Clay’ Kohler.  Current Board Member, Cliff Borgstadt served three terms for a total of nine years and chose not to file for reelection. Filing for election closed on Tuesday, January 17. Two seats are available and those elected on April 3, 2012 will serve a 3-year term.

Six receive American Degree
The highest award available for members in the FFA organization is called the American Degree. This year the Pleasant Hill FFA chapter had six members receive this distinguished degree. To be eligible one must have already earned three other degrees, the Greenhand Degree, the Chapter Degree, and finally the State Degree.  Also, they must participate in the FFA organization at their colleges along with many other set rules. This award is an honor to earn and the Pleasant Hill FFA Chapter would like to congratulate Shelby Dunlap, Christopher Foley, Andrew Jones, Melissa Kurtz, Clayton Norvell, and Kate Springer on earning such a prestigious award.

Perfect Attendance
Pleasant Hill Administration released the names of those students who maintained perfect attendance for first semester of the 2011-2012 school year.

Primary School:

2nd Quarter
Kindergarten
Jordan Crawford, Patricia Katzenmaier, Hannah Kleyh, Andrew Moorefield, Addison Smith, Krisonna Werner, Ellie Beck, Abygail Widhalm, Carissa Bink, Madison McKee, Alexander Callighan, Sophia Lapee, Brooklyn Allen, Campbell Gregory, Brayden Klotz, Bradley Marshall, Anthony Greenberg, Grace McCommon, Mya Wise
1st Grade
Alyssa Dinges, Samuel McCarty, Makayla Stalker, Hannah South, Evan Alesi, Aryana Devault, Samuel Edwards, Devin Foley, Summer McCannon, Jozlyine Rivera, Raegan Watterson, Brayden Bass, Alexander Bulischeck, Cody Parker, Kaden Young, Ema Graham, Lillian Gross, Lauren Kidwell, Caleb Martin
2nd Grade
Carmen Kidwell, Nina Lapee, Gavin Rogers, Abigail Shipley, Caitlyn Allen,  Ashley Crooks, William Hayden, Lucas Holloway, Jacob Elliott, Sophia Gregory, Johnathan Rivera, Abby Gilliland, Morgan Lassiter, Liam McCall, Jaydon Shuler, Rylie Barker, Riley Cole, Jadyn Medlock, Lindsay Schirlls,

1st Semester
Kindergarten
Abygail Widhalm, Carissa Bink, Sophia Lapee, Brooklyn Allen, Campbell Gregory, Bradley Marshall, Jordan Crawford, Anthony Greenberg, Mya Wise
1st Grade
Lauren Kidwell, Aryana Devault, Samuel Edwards, Alexander Bulischeck, Kaden Young, Lillian Gross
2nd Grade
Carmen Kidwell, Gavin Rogers, Caitlyn Allen, William Hayden, Jacob Elliott, Johnathan Rivera, Abby Gilliland, Morgan Lassiter, Liam McCall, Rylie Barker, Riley Cole, Jadyn Medlock

Elementary School:
1st Semester
3rd Grade –
Lucas Bass, Evan Burns, Kimberly Caswell, Alexandra Good, Emily Hill, Emma Lapee, Cassidy Miller, Madelyn Nelson, Caitlyn Rogers, Zackary Smith, Tobin Wise
4th Grade –
Daria Bennett, Mariah Brattin, Hailey Fleener, Abigail Gieschen, Dakota Middleton, Emily Perisho, Wyatt Perkins, David Rivera, Shirly Salcedo, Parker Snow, Lily Spear, Rachel Wilhoit

Intermediate School:
5th Grade – Tayte Bailey, Katie Bauer, Chloe Bloom, Trey Clevenger, Kristen Gross, Kayleigh Hitchcock, Shelby Jack, Garrett Schick
6th Grade – Alyssa Coon, Rachel Denney, Joseph Dryer, Kaitlyn Evans, Derek Smith

Middle School:
7th Grade
Dylan Adams, Macee Adams, Cameron Agee, Nathan Allen, Griffin Ashcraft, Danielle Batliner, Megan Bauer, Brayden Bonnesen, David Brown, Ryan Cox, Jacob Dennis, Rachel Dustman              , Michaela Emond, Casey Gifford, Daniel Lee, Spencer Lees, Tyler Livingston, Caleb Long, Emma Lugenbeel, Hannah McCommon, Deborah McCoy, Kelsey Miller, Gus Newberry, Thomas Phelps, Clara Plasse, Michaela Shinn, Fernanda Sierra, Drake Sivils, Jenna Solomon, Hannah Taylor, Christina Waddle, Benjamin Watson, Gavin Wheeler, Shae Williams, Nicholas Winger

8th Grade
Noah Burton, Andrew Dobson, Christian Durst, Jamie Freed, Joshua Freed, Joely Hughes, Taylor Jackson, Kody Kisner, Eryn Livingston, Cheyenne Long, Jacob Longmeyer, Rhys Martin, Marley Moran, Brandon Pruett, Walker Reed, Madison Ring, Taylor Ross, Brooke Rottinghaus, Nathan Ryan, Brooke Sadler, Joseph Smith, Madolyn Swinney, Zachary Taylor, Kennedy Todd, Anthony Um, Sean Wade, Anna Whitlock, Coleman Winslow, Greg Wright

High School:
9th Grade – Madison Barker, Weston Boehm, Riley Bonnesen, Francisco Castro, Andrew Culbertson, Gavin Dooly, Tyler Evans, John Falck, Susanna Goodellfields, Zachary Hadlock, Jacob Harris, Dylan Hawks, Riley King, Autumn Kirchhofer, Devon Klein, Rachel Liley, Zachariah Long, Adam Mansfield, Matthew McFarland, Nicole Nulsen, Devon Peters, Caitlin Rash, Kolin Rogers, John Romer, Madison Stockstill, Steven Vaughan, Amy Venegas, Makenzie Voorhees
10th Grade – Hunter Anderson, John Berry, Danielle Bowen, Krista Bricker, Abbie Brown, Micah Cox, Brooke Crotty, Drake Dean, Benjamin Dobson, Tristan Dooly, Brady Franklin, McKenna Gates, Heather Hughes, George Montag, Markie Roach, Brandon Suckuvich, Joshua Shewmaker, Hannah Shinn, Pete Taala, Justin Wagner, Codi Winslow, Kevin Wyrick
11th Grade – Austin Bailey, Logan Baker, Taylor Bonnesen, Cordell Boyd, Brittany Couch, Jacob Denney, Tyler Dlugolecki, Logan Hawks, Dakota Jarrett, Summer Kirchhofer, Rachel Lauve, Alexandria Long, Justin Longmeyer, Joshua Lukenbill, Elisabeth Mansfield, Mallory Miller, Gregory Adam Reeves, Dylan Ross, Nicholas Shore, Samantha Stillwell, Robert Taylor, Taylor Thomas, Brandon Uebele, Jennifer Vandiver
12th Grade – Spencer Adams, Tyler Alexander, Alex Baker, Lindsey Beck, Alexis Cooper, Stephanie Cox, Amanda Crawford, Katharine Driscoll, Samantha Dunlap, Andrew ONeill, Trenten Roach, Patrick Shands, Michael Smith, Jordan Wileman

Honor Roll
Pleasant Hill Administration released the names of those students who were placed on the honor roll for their grade point average (gpa).

Elementary School
3rd Grade – Superintendent’s
Adam Abbas, Jesse Ailshire, Jenna Avery, Owen Bailey, Kale Bakken, Lucas Bass, Drake Beaman, Ian Bledsoe, Karis Bloom, Mattie Bracken, Allee Brattin, Evan Burns, Chanie Campbell, Joliana Canaan, Makenzie Carlile, John Carter, Kimberly Caswell, Gavin Chace, Joelee Cleveland, Jacob Conine, Morgan Corbin, Isabella Danner, Nelson Descombes, Jadyn Dowdy, Canton Elliott, Landon Fatino, Elijah Fondren, Emma Goldston, Alexandra Good, Paige Gustin, Marissa Helms, Charlie Heritage, Emily Hill, Eugene Horkay, Blaise Jackson, Claire Kenyon, Chayden Kirkpatrick, Evan Knapp, Brock Koehler, Michelle Kramer, Emma Lapee, Wyatt Lawrence, Haylee Lewis, Ashlyn Long, Ethan Longo, Braden Lust, Keagon Madison, Jenna Marconett, Elizabeth May, Isabella McCarty, Marissa McCormick, Evan Miller, Sebastian Murillo, Karleigh Ogan, Joseph Ore, Dylan Orpin, Zion Patterson, Luxy Pearce, Jackson Petersen, Isabelle Proudfit, Alexandria Redwine, Kooper Reed, Kylie Rennolds, Abigail Ring, Caitlyn Rogers, Jessica Ross, Tyler Rowe, Aubrey Schirlls, Aubrey Scott, Zackary Smith, Averie Snyder, Kaemyn Stidham, Tate Stockstill, Shane Taylor, Olivia Trask, Alaina Umscheid, Riley Vaughn, Kaleb Vermillion, Alexiea Werner, Bryce Wilson, Tobin Wise, Alyssa Ziegelbein, Addison Zurcher, Madalynn Zvacek

3rd Grade – Principal’s
Jacob Adams, Aidan Amor, Brooklyn Chambers, Dravin Collins, Madison Copowycz, Anabella Criscione, Dominique Criscione, Camden Curtis, Donovan Davis, John Doyle, Skye Durden, Hayden Farmer, Harlee Fenton, Noah Fidler, Margaret Gonzalez, Silas Gray, Austin Harrison, Nathan Hitch, Colton Huffman, Tanner Huffman, Morgan Jenkins, Emma Johnson, Cole Jones, Mikhayla Jones, Taylor Kemp, Taylor Kreisel, Prestly Lamar, Elizabeth Lehman, Joshua Mathis, Dylen Mazy-Franks, Chance Milbrandt, Cassidy Miller, Zachary Miller, Madelyn Nelson, Madalynne Ohler, Aidan Parman, Parker Phipps, Logan Pickering, Adam Prock, Alexxys Ray, Thomas Riffle, Anna Rogers, Joel Schoenfelt, Tyler Shore, Regan Shouse, Dean Skillman, Saige Stafford, Luke Starks, Robert Summers, Ben Swofford, Zane Wheeler, Mason Winfree, Keegan Zizza

4th Grade – Superintendent’s
Madalyn Allen, Austin Alvarado, Logan Bailey, Brandon Baker, Ethan Beagle, Daria Bennett, Conner Bracken, Paul Breeze, Collin Brockman, Jasmine Brown, Andrew Brownsberger, Patrick Brunell, Lane Burgess, Truman Cartner, Grace Chambers, Nicole Clapp, Katie Clay, Mitchell Coon, Hayden Cox , Natalie Cox, Braylee Davis, Catherine Davis, Hunter Davis, Austin Dinges, Desmond Ewing, Kaitlyn Ewing, Jacey Faust, Jade Feeler, Kathlyn Goldston, Lawson Graham, Tanner Graves, Samuel Gray, Jaden Greenwood, Jeffrey Hatfield, Brittany Hays, Paige Hicks, Jordan Hoerl, Natalie Hopkins, Ashlynn Keilholz, Emily Kerchner, Emma Kirchhoff, Blaine Kleyh, Ramsey Kohler, Megan Kurle, Sydney Lamborn, Bethany Larkins, Jagger Lawler, Austin Long, Julia Longmeyer, Dante Lopez, Kathryn Maasen, Michael Maasen, Carlie Maynard, Hailey McCommon, Savannah McIntosh, Aidan Moore, Julia Moore, Cailee More, Colin Paris, Emily Perisho, Wyatt Perkins, Garrett Pierce, Jayden Reyes, Abigale Rice, Kyleigh Rod, Madison Roeder, Rain Ruth, Shirley Salcedo, Simon Scott, Caleb Shepard, Carson Shoop, Dawson Sivils, Parker Snow, Dominik Sostorecz, Nicole South, Woody Springer, Megan Swinney, Cole Swofford, Micah Taylor, Wesley Tibai, Sayler Todd, Gunner Tweedie, Eli Vanatta, Sarah Watson, Morgan Wehner, Brylee Wells, Alec Wheeler, Alexis White, Morgan Wilhite, Rachel Wilhoit, Grant Williams, Grant Wilson, Lauren Wiskur, Samantha Woods

4th Grade – Principal’s
Abigail Baker, Jackson Barnes, Makayla Blevins, Caleb Blevins, Caleb Bowman, Mariah Brattin, Morgan Brisbin, Kurt Burns, Ethan Campbell, Kylie Campbell, Lee Chrisman, Michael Doss, Hailey Fleener, Dalton Francy, Clay Froehlich, Abigail Gieschen, Ethan Hansen, Cody Henry, Hanah Hocker, Angeleena Hook, Reid Howell, Shyann Jellison, Joseph Kiger, Jeremyah Knapp, Trenton Long, Samuel Markham, Meghan May, Angela McCormick, Abigail McKee, Randi Miller, Christina Morris, Nathaniel Mosqueda, Rosalynn Pax, Alexandria Prosser, Brittany Quinn, Carly Rogers, Brooke Stone, Thomas Swilley, Margaret Tribble, Austin Tye, Miguel Venegas, Dylan Watterson, Rileigh West, Kaitlyn Wilson

Intermediate School
5th Grade – Superintendent’s (3.8 – 4.0)
Morgan Carlile, Amy Cox, Faith Griggs, Anastasia Hanes, Mitchell Hayes, Shelby Jack, Miranda Kelley, Taylor Stith, Cassandra Waddle, Marianne Riley, Sydney Bunch, Kennedy Burton, Delaney Davis, Allie Gerken, Sophia Harvey, Madeline Helms, Gabriel Hodge, Taylor Shewmaker, William Toler, Taylor Shewaker, William Toler, Taylor Vincent, Amber Gerken, Kayleigh Hitchcock, Joseph Sosko, Katherine Bauer, Garrett Canaan, Danielle Lichte, Maragh Newberry, William Pryor, Cheyenne Schneider, Daniel Albin, Christian B Atkins, Averee Brattin, Aaron Chen, Dawson Ferdig, McKenna Hanover, Corey Kelly, Taylor Markham, Emma Marshall, Keegan Slaughter, Chloe Bloom, Marissa Bowman, Kirsten Gross, Reagan Harrison, Adelynn Link, Cameron Parker, Ali Ray, Stewart Watson, Megan White, Sierra Bowman, Trey Clevenger, Mackenzie DiMarco, Micala Huffman, Grace Kenyon, Emma Mueller, Grace Riley, Garrett Schick, Haley Wiggins, Benjamin Yoder, Saylor Zurcher
5th Grade – Principal’s (3.79 – 3.50)
Alexis Frazier, Brittany Marshall, Haylie Rouchka, James Schoenfelt, Michael Blaine Untermeyer, Derrick Cretel, Macey Barker, Kaitlyn Clevenger, James Lowe, Adrain Sanders, Luke Winkler, Dylan Berry, Kaitlyn Brooks, Nadia Huffman, Matthew Pritchett, Taylor Ryerson, Devin Vestal, Beau Brown, Julia Edmonds, Morgan Gish, Samantha Yokley, Laura Allee, Kailey Renfro, Cierra Williams, Wyatt Bramwell, Roman Carr, Emily Chace, Jaeden Grego, Mazen Jackson, William Markham, Madison McDaniel, Mszayah VanZant, Nathan Bledsoe, Joshua DeVaul, Madelyn Phipps
5th Grade – Honor Roll (3.49 – 3.0)
Randy Burkhart, Holly Cassaday, Cole Wood, Michael Lehmann, Brandon Byrd, Mason Waugh, Kathleen Cortinas, Austin Warren, Halee Werner, John Dagley, Spencer Gussman, Zachariah Ketchum, Bryce McGinnis, Joshua Millard, Sally Riffle, Sean Spangler, Christina Wait, Trace Armstrong, Shawn Cummings, John Edenburn, Andrea Allen, Vincent Anderson, Brooke Brinkoetter, Mary Emond, Chase Gray, Tyler Hagan, Clifford Jellison, Joey Mazy Franks, Bayne McCall, Nolan Miller, Maxwell Potter
6th Grade – Superintendent’s (3.8 – 4.0)
Kacie Creighton, Autumn Ferguson, Shawn Gallagher, Joseph Heinrich, Skyler Kirchhofer, Kassidy Reed, Kylee Reeves, Jordan Rottinghaus, Derek Smith, Evan Yokley, Samara Bruno, Joseph Dryer, Cody Faust, Dominic Hemme, Makailyn Hernandez, Richard Hughes, Grace Keilholz, Savannah Long, Summer Ray, Samantha Rohne, Chance Sullivan, Jordan Anderson, Trevor Blankenship, Nathaniel Longo, Mackenzie Robinson, Trent Wilson, Gennavieve Wrobel, Mackenzie Beaman, Rachel Denney, Brett Greufe, Colton Haak, Eric Humphrey, Victoria Long, James McKee, Johana Rosas, Jacob Wilmoth, Carly Barker, Anna Boehm, Brooke Cash, Jordan Hamlin, Kyley Keith, Anthony McSparran, Alexander Moore, Caitlin O’Hanlon, Sidney Walters, Auston Crust, Nicholas Danahy, Levi Cohon, Tabitha Graham, Cameron Knapp, Alexandra Pierce, Michael Wright, Tori Young, Emma Jo Craven, Noah DesCombes, Kaitlin Evans, Sydney Hawkins, Lauren Mann, Xander Mijares, Callie Miller, Madison Roach, Nicholas Ryan, Tristin Sudduth, Mariah Thompson
6th Grade – Principal’s (3.79 – 3.50)
Emily Armstrong, Maegan Ashmore, Wyatt Clayton, Michael Denney, Angela Klein, Ryan Bowen, Victoria Combs, Andrea Powell, Evan Wehner, Dillon Bray, Makayla DeVault, Logan Gish, Layla Heritage, Mikayla Norman, Michael Okuly, Lauren Redwine, Dale Snider, Noah Dowdy, Tori Parrott, Jerod Rottinghaus, Sydney Schirlls, Brayden Smith, Nathaniel Chace, Jack Marconett, David Shanks, Tanner Todd, Brandon Younce, Jordan Sidwell, Hallie Maasen, Tayte Bailey, Matthew Blair, Emma Braley, Evan Brons, Daisy Fetters, Jordan Jones, Keith LaPee, Kaitlyn Lloyd, Kirsten Thompson, Zane Vanatta, Brandon Young, Jackson Caley, Jared Clapp, Sam Easton, John Michael Hays, Amanda Snow
6th Grade – Honor Roll (3.49 – 3.0)
Morgan Crane, Brett Guthrie, Tyler Holloway, Allen Prince, Zachery Uebele, Alyssa Coon, Chase Diato, Taylor Elias, Tyler Harrald, Jacob Harris, Marcun LaPee, Cacee Turner, Meghan Ball, Jeremy Brant, Ryan Hopkins, Narris Jackson, Brylee Langford, Luke Swofford, Jacob Thompson, Coleton Ederer, Cordell Jellison, Grant Long, Gaige Brunell, Makayla Dagenhart, Makinzie Kiger, Geno Lalumia, Marisa Lewis, Elias Peters, Steven Starks, Logan Audrain, Kelsey Kampe, Connor OMalley, Jacob Figley, Mason Hoenshell, Yesenia Lopez, Clint Shelton
Middle School
Superintendent’s Honor Roll
7th Grade –
Kylie Baker, Megan Bauer, Sarah Beachner, Fiona Bolte-Bradhurst, Brayden Bonnesen, Donna Borer, Robin Brundage, Haley Burge, Noah Campbell, Ryan Cox, Rachel Dustman, Olivia Ferdig, Jacob Fisher, Kaley Hays, Haley Lamborn, Lauren Larkins, Aiden Link, Kaitlyn Long, Hannah McCommon, Emma Moore, Josey Pate, Clara Plasse, Blake Rutherford, Fernanda Sierra, Drake Sivils, Racheal Snyder, Jessica Turner, Madison Voorhees, Christina Waddle, Benjamin Watson, Abigail Welther, Austin White, Evan Williams, Colleen Wouters, Ella Yoder              

8th Grade –
Courtney Bonnett, Dalton Burge, Tyler Crane, Kaitlin Dierking, Garrison Fields, Joely Hughes, Tillie Jerabek, Madelynn Kahl, Cheyenne Long, Jacob Longmeyer, Emma Moore, Colton Neill, Emilee Nulsen, Marissa Paris, Walker Reed, Madison Ring, Nathan Ryan, Brianna Shuler, Madolyn Swinney, Claire Villegas, Joshua Young          

Principals Honor Roll
7th Grade –
Macee Adams, Nathan Allen, Ethan Baker-Arbuckle, Michelle Butricks, Mathew Campbell, Jaymie Clevenger, Sarah Davis, Jacob Dennis, Kara German, Zachary Gray, Ian Heinrich, Kylie Heublein, Shayla Hill, Alexandria Jackson, Dylan Kelly, Hayley Kerrick, Alyssa Kramer, Cole Lightfoot, Caleb Long, Emma Lugenbeel, Reagan McClendon, Kirsten Medearis L, Courtney Pritchett, Brenna Rogers, Jamie Ross, Paige Sailors, Rebekah Schoenfelt, Johnna Walls, Courtney Wesemann, Shelby Williams, Brooke Wood, Brooke Young   

8th Grade –
Maranda Arcuri, Josie Cotter, Andrew Dobson, Danielle Gerken, Mikalah Gibson, Emily Graham, Cameron Haws, Levi Hayes, Cruz Hernandez, Morgan Hoenshell, Levi Jack, Kin John, Jaleah Jones, Marley Moran, Haley Richwine, Brooke Rottinghaus, Kaler Selvin, Sienna Smith, Cheyenne Struttmann, Cole Sullivan, Zachary Taylor, Kennedy Todd, Jamie Vaughan, Jacob Watson, Bailey Wileman, Coleman Winslow, Amber Woolford        

Regular Honor Roll
7th Grade –
Griffin Ashcraft, Dalton Bach, Garrett Bakken, James Barnes, Blake Beagle, Ryan Bolden, Lauren Bonnett, Ricee Cade, Garrett Carlile, Mason Clarke, Samantha Clevenger, Isaac Denney, Spencer Eubank, Parker Evans, Casey Gifford, Karen Griesbach, Jerry Hays, Kylie Henry, Haden Hodge, Jada Jackson, Hunter Kelley, Noah Kenyon, Larry Kiger, Jake King, Gage Lawler, Daniel Lee, Baileyann Lees, Olivia Lehmann, Brandon Long, Austin Marshall, Cameron McCarty, Robert MCcormick, James MCgovney, Heather Miller, Kelsey Miller, Kaycee Mullin-Struzick, Kylie Mullin-Struzick, Madison O'Hare, Lauren Petersen, Thomas Phelps, Jodee Powell, Austin Rash, Trevor Scholljegerdes, Michaela Shinn, Blake Smith, Jenna Solomon, Cody Suelter, Cole Taylor, Gavin Wheeler, Austin White, Kali White, Alexander Whittington, Shae Williams, Tommy Williams 

8th Grade –
Carlee Adams, Tanner Archer, Madison Bailey, Tanner Basile, Phillip Bledsoe, Abbey Breitbach, Brylea Burkhart, Noah Burton, Kaycee Clements, Coleman Corson, Malynn Creighton, Madison Dagenhart, Jacob Hardy, Joshua Hink, Trenton Idel, Taylor Jackson, Katie Krug, Eryn Livingston, Kaylee Lugenbeel, Ean Mckee, Chase Melies, Chayton Parrott, Emily Peters, Jessica Riffle, Tyler Robling, Taylor Ross, Dylan Ryerson, Brooke Sadler, Amber Seigler, Gonzalo Senda, Jaryd Smith, Joseph Smith, Ashlen Snow, William Stanley, Nichole Wheeldon, Anna Whitlock 

High School
Superintendent’s Honor Roll (4.0+)
9th Grade – Riley Bonnesen, Tyler Evans, Nicole Nulsen, Olivia Woodruff

10th Grade – Mariahe Long, Mackenzie Snyder

11th Grade – Douglas Bybee, Rachel Casteel, Rachel Lauve, Kaylee Mathiason, Hannah Meyer, Mallory Miller, Adam Reeves      

12th Grade – Spencer Adams, Jordan  Coates, Amanda Crawford, Stephanie Cox, Cole Eason, Joshua Griffith, Kevin Mahoney, Daniel Peters, Emily Reed, Sarah Rutherford, Mallory Purnell, Trenten Roach, Nikki Sherwood, Miriam Young  

Principal’s Honor Roll (3.50 – 3.99)
9th Grade – Alexis Allard, Rebekah Anderson, Sara Baker, Madison Barker, Phoebe Barnum, Christopher Barzilla, Weston Boehm, Garrett Bolden, Chance Braley, Kaylene Bramwell, Meredith Burns, Alexandria Burris, Hannah Crawford, Renee Edenburn, Kyle Feeler, Anderson Fields, Courtney Fountain, Katherine Friederich, Susanna Goodellfields, Kameron Gray, Gillian Haight, Lauren Hawkins, Ian Hodge, Julianna Holguin, Anthony Holt, Spencer Homan, Cheyenne Jennings, Autumn Kirchhofer, Jacob Lauve, Joseph Madison, Morgan Messick, Elijah Mijares, Cole Miller, Noah Moore, Justin Orpin, Aubrey Purnell, Caitlin Rash, Cassy Reeves, John Romer, Thomas Schaefer, Lewis Sharp, Rachel Schick, Molly Takacs, Madison Stockstill, Emily Scholljegerdes, Samuel Smith, Kaytlinn Snoderly, Marissa Thompson, Steven Vaughan, Makenzie Voorhees, Kai Wesemann, Emma Widaman, Zachary Winkler, Suzanne Young

10th Grade – Kassidy Albright, Justin Bell, Kacey Breitbach, Katie Brenton, Krista Bricker, Jamie Brookshier, Abbie Brown, Alexis Caraker, Haley Cash, Trenton Clarke, Brandon Clevenger, Zachery Cohen, Matthew Cox, Brooke Crotty, Kaylea Dennis, Benjamin Dobson, Hannah Dustman, Brady Franklin, Mckenna Gates, Kenton Hanifl, Heather  Hughes, Mallory Humphrey, Alexander Hurd, Schyler Johnston, Kami Lamar, Erica Loney, Moriah Longo, Emily Mckee, Leah Miller, George Montag, Allison Novak, Kristin Orpin, Alisha Price, Kendra Pryor, Mattie Rogers, Haleigh Rottinghaus, Paige Shifflett, Allie Schwartz, Hannah Shinn, Taylor Stevenson, Rachel Triplett, Codi Winslow, Trevor Young, Allie Zahn

11th Grade – Brad Barnett, Samantha Bornaman, Taylor Bonnesen, Cordell Boyd, Trevor Burge, Daniel Caswell, Jacob Denney, Noah Dayson, Katharine Debortoli, Tyler Dlugolecki, Dillan Findley, Jenna Greenwood, Steven Greufe, Joseph Griffith, Shannon Haws, MaryBeth Hertzog, Amethyst Hughes, Devon Jarrett, Elizabeth Jerabek, Jamie Kelly, Jessica Kemerling, Kayla Kennedy, Erika King, Summer Kirchhofer, Kaitlin Long, Justin Longmeyer, Brittani Lugenbeel, Elisabeth Mansfield, Tyler Miller, Brandon Norris, Nicole Patterson, Mysti-Ane Pearce, Mackenzie Powell, Anna Prewitt, Jacob Randle, Dylan Ross, Elizabeth Sherman, Kaylee Smith, Brad Smith, Dominic Taylor, Taylor Thomas, Gregory Troiani, Jennifer Vandiver, Shelby Walton, Kindred Wesemann, Hannah Widaman, Charlotte Williams, Hannah Winkler, Lonnie Yost, Shelby Zahn

12th Grade – Tyler Alexander, Benjamin Anderson, Curtis Barger, Jared Burge, Haley Cantwell, Kala Cleveland, Samantha Cobb, Alexis Cooper, Moriah Cox, Cheyann Dillon, Katharine Driscoll, Samantha Dunlap, Breeona Foster, Cody Gifford, Taylor Gallagher, Avery Gully, Justin Hanes, Brittany Hayes, Brittany Hastings, Justina Homan, Holly Hoover, Richard Hudson, Brianna Jackson, Alexandria Jones, Braye Jones, Mary Josselet, Emily Jurss, Karissa Kramer, Morgan Kubicsko, Ashten Link, Hunter Melies, Justin Morgan, Danny Morris, Hunter Mounce, Cheyenne Nelson, Tyler Obrien, Ashley Ogle, Andrew Oneill, Brittney Parton, Karina Pettet, Julia Pittman, Nicholas Prewitt, Julia Prince, Calob Quick, Keegan Reed, Clinton Richardson, Kirstie Roach, Patrick Shands, Abigail Shields, Brett  Siebeneck, Amber Small, Michael Smith, Jenni Stark, Luke Stevenson, Caleb Streitenberger, Bo Sumner, Jacob Tyler, Savanna  Vescovi, James Watson, PJ Waugh, Jordan Wileman, Brecklynn Williams, Chad Woodruff, Tiffany Zinn              

Regular Honor Roll (3.00 – 3.49)
9th Grade – Ethan Archer, Courtney Bakken, Zachary Bates, Alyssa Batliner, Hannah Beachner, Alexander Blankenbaker, Alyssa Breidt, Eric Brons, Maggie Burton, Tiffany Butler, Arron Correa, Grace Dayson, Samuel Diaz, Olivia Dotson, Jacob Fetters, Karlee Garrison, Trenton Gilbert, Jeremy Hansen, Olivia Hessling, Sarah Hoke, Alleana Holt, Alysha Holt, Maxwell Hutsell, Caitlin King, Rachel Liley, Zachariah Long, Alexis Lynn, William Livingston, Samantha McCarty, Ryan McClendon, Kayla McDaniel, Jade Milbrandt, Ethan Moran, Devon Peters, Tanner Pettet, Tyler Repp, Daryl Shreve, Kylee Taylor, ChelseaThompson 

10th Grade – Tanner Beagle, John Berry, Perri Brown, Greg Brundage, Brandon Cassity, Kaleb Cline, Sutton Crabtree, Sheyanne Craig, Keegan Curtis, Coleman Daniel, Jacob Davis, Makenna Deckert, Bailey Heublein, Rachel King, Kiahla Kirchhoff, Taylor Lust, Kendall Mahoney, Holly Martin, Thomas Moore, Haylee Newport, Nathan Phillips, Christian Richardson, Markie Roach, Kimberlyn Selvin, Brandon Senda, Joshua Shewmaker, Hannah Smith, Cristina Spears, Stephen Spears, Kaylee Thorpe, Jenny Toler, Haylee Votipka, Gracyn Walter, Micah Webber, Jamie Williams, Austin Yount, Derek Ziegelbein

11th Grade – Logan Baker, Tamara Barker, Karin Bock, John Brookshier, Haley Burkhart, Alex Coday, Brandon Cribelar, Christopher Cripps, Jazzmyn Edwards, Tyler Farrell, Colbi Ford, Courtney Gibbins, Vyktoria Harris, Spencer Harvey, Logan Hawks, Dallas Kelly, Joel Ketchum, Rebecca King, Jarrod Lightfoot, Taylor Livingston, Taylor Louthan, Abreale Loveall, Joshua Lukenbill, Brent Norris, Mason Potter, Monica Ramstorf, Mikayla Shepard, Rachelle Smith, Ryan Spangler, Sam Sherwood, Nicholas Shore, Matthew Townsend, Sheyanna Thompson, Jordy Valentin, Baleigh Wheeler, Cassidy White, Lori Williams, Abigail Yoder, Ashley Younce

12th Grade – Ashley Adams, Joshua Alexander, Dalton Armstrong, Rebecca Avenson, Annette Barbarick, Lindsey Beck, Wesley Bridges, Tully Byrne, Cierra Cartner, Alex Cooper, Ashlee Cotter, James Elliott, Jamie Franklin, Tara Goosey, Clayton Haas, James Harrison, Kasey Hightower, Laura Hudson, Clinton Hughes, Alexis Hulse, Samuel Hutsell, Dakota Jackson, John Jarvis, Calee Johnson, Royce Kerchner, Katie Lane, Meriah Leigh, Taylor Lewis, Matt Mallett, Matthew Medearis, Kelci Medley, Stephanie Myers, Kendra Radmacher, Michaela Richards, Amanda Sanders, Jessica Smith, Jessie Schley-Miller, Virginia Schley-Miller, Jon Spears, Corey Todd

2012-2013 Calendar Approved
Assistant Superintendent, Dr. Becky Gallagher reported to the Board that a survey for staff was conducted prior to the calendar committee meeting. Questions regarding the calendar were also included in the Parent Survey, which is conducted at the end of first quarter each year. The main purpose of the surveys is to get feedback from the staff and parents regarding suggestions brought forward by committee members while working on last year’s calendar. It was an opportunity for stakeholders to provide input prior to the calendar committee process. This proactive process of gathering data from staff and parents prior to the time when the committee met was again beneficial in developing the calendar and led to discussion in the committee meeting. It allowed the committee to make decisions based on the opinions of the majority of staff members and parents. The results from the staff survey, as well as results from the annual parent survey, were used in the formulation of the 2012-2013 calendar. The calendar contains the required 174 student days, teacher workdays, and contracted holidays. Dismissals for inclement weather will be made up at the end, as follows May 16, May 17, May 20, May 21, May 22 and May 23. (see attachment)

Grandparents Day
Grandparents Day was held at the Pleasant Hill High School on Tuesday, December 6. Five hundred grandparents and students enjoyed a morning of activities and were treated to snacks and a visit with Santa.

Fall Harvest Competition
The Pleasant Hill Bank and the Pleasant Hill School District teamed up to help raise non-perishable food items for the local food pantry. Three truck loads, which totaled over 2500 items of non-perishable food was donated to the food pantry on Friday, November 18. The High School was the winning school collecting 1200 items and winning the $500 donation, which will also be presented to the local food pantry.

High School Agriculture Program signs Articulation Agreement with Linn State Technical College
Mike Keilholz, R-III Agriculture and Welding Instructor signed an articulation agreement with Linn State Technical College Thursday, November 17 at the high school.  Students who take welding in Agriculture can earn up to 6 hours of college credit with Linn State College.  The agreement has been worked on for the past school year and has been a goal of the instructor and the HSTW (High Schools That Work) professional district committee that he serves on.    Pleasant Hill is the first comprehensive high school to have such an agreement with Linn State Technical College's  Welding Program.  Students can earn their credit in Safety and Health of Workers, Drawing & Welding Symbol Interpretation, Welding Inspection and Testing, Thermal Cutting Processes I and Shielded Metal Arc Welding I.  Students who attend LSTC will have 6 hours of credit on their transcript and will not have to pay for those credit hours giving them the ability to further advance their studies without having to repeat what they learned in high school.  Pictured with LSTC Representatives and students taking advantage of the program are: Lowell Elliott, student; P.J. Waugh, student; Chris McFarland, student; Mr. Paul Canaan, R-III H.S. Principal; Mrs. Erin Baysinger LSTC recruiter; Mr. Mike Keilholz, R-III Agriculture Teacher; Mr. John Scheulen, LSTC Representative; Caleb Quick, student and Sam Hutsell, student.

Honorary American FFA Degree
Mike Keilholz, Agricultural Education Instructor from Pleasant Hill, MO, recently received the Honorary American FFA Degree - Teacher at the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis.  One of fifty-six in the nation; the award is given to those who advance agricultural education and FFA through outstanding personal commitment.  The Honorary American FFA Degree  recognizes those who have gone beyond the valuable daily contributions to make an extraordinary long-term difference in the lives of students, inspiring confidence in a new generation of agriculturalist.  Resembling a life-time achievement award, recipients in the teacher category are selected on the basis of their contributions in the following seven areas:  classroom/laboratory instruction, experiential learning (SAE), National FFA Organization, building partnerships, agricultural education program marketing, agricultural education program development and evaluation and professional development of agricultural education teachers. Recipients received their certificate and medal and their names were permanently recorded.
  Some of Keilholz' contributions are:  maintaining and constantly changing curriculum that is rigorous, minds-on and hands-on to ensure student engagement; teaching courses that are dual credit through (University of Central Missouri) UCM in Mechanics and Animal Husbandry; teaching college classes to those enrolled in Agricultural Education at UCM; ensuring alignment of career/technical skills to State standards and building partners in education by establishing articulation agreements with Linn State Technical College.  Keilholz has been an FFA Advisor since 1989 and in that time he has helped 59 students earn the American FFA Degree, 83 State FFA Degrees, 1 State Officer, 4 State nominations for Star In Agribusiness, 1 State nomination for Star in Placement, and 1 for Star Farmer.  7 Record Books were displayed at State and 5 Scrapbooks,  3 students competed in State level speaking CDE's, and  72 teams competed in State CDE's. The chapter(s)  under his direction earned 3 BOAC grants, 18 years of Chapter Activity (Superior) with 100% membership every year and 8 years of 10% growth.  Students with their SAE projects and record books competed at the State level 97 times, 2 second place winners and 4 State winners each earning a silver rating Nationally.  Five students went to WCP, attend  camp on a rotation, and  sent students to State Leadership activities and the National Convention annually.  3 students attended the MO Agribusiness Academy, 12 participated in State Talent, 15 in State Chorus and 2 in National talent.  Keilholz has been the Agricultural Education Instructor at Pleasant Hill since 1994 where the program is now a two teacher department with 189 FFA members in addition to a full-time Adult Agricultural Education program.
Professionally, Keilholz was awarded the "Outstanding Young Professional Educator" from University of Missouri in 1993; "Outstanding New Vocational Teacher" from Missouri Vocational Agricultural Teachers Association (MVATA), 1994; Region III U.S. American Vocational Association's "New Teacher of the Year", 1994; Missouri Honorary State FFA Degree, 1996; MVATA's "Distinguished Service Award - At Large" , 2006; Student Teacher Training Center for UMC, MSU and UCM Universities, served on the MVATA's
Professional Development Committee, and has been a  certified Missouri Hunter Education Instructor since 2003.

Muffins and Mittens with Moms
Over 115 moms were present at Muffins and Mittens with Moms on Wednesday, Nov. 16, 7:30am, at the Pleasant Hill Primary School. They were treated to muffins and juice.

Vision Screening
For the past three years, Dr. John Cottle and staff from Summit Lakes Eye Care of Lee’s Summit, MO.  performed vision screening on the third and fourth grade students at the Pleasant Hill Elementary School on Tuesday, November 15. Students were tested on distance of 20ft., depth perception and color vision.

Project Warmth Coat Drive
The Pleasant Hill FFA is sponsoring a district wide coat drive November 21 through December 8 and all schools will have drop off boxes next to the offices. Please donate any gently used coats that you may have. All coats received will be taken to KCTV5's Project Warmth.

Jump Rope for Heart
Pleasant Hill Elementary School just completed their 8th year participating in Jump Rope for Heart raising $2753.33.  Our top fundraiser was Parker Snow in Mrs. Halfmann's 4th Grade classroom.  Parker raised $1000.00 dollars!  Students raising $100-$300 are; Nelson DesCombes, Kaemyn Staham, Evan Burns, Truman Cartner, Madison Roeder and Wesly Tabai,  The following students raised $50-$100; Charlie Heritage, Tyler Rowe, Wyatt Lawrence, Karleigh Ogan, Jackson Barnes, Megan Swinney, Abigale Rice and Nichole South.

Students raise money for Breast Cancer
FCCLA and DECA raised $1080 for Breast Cancer from t-shirt sales, miracle minute and pink cookie sales. Pictured are Nathan Watson, Carli Howard Good, Development Director Susan G. Komen Greater Kansas City, Brianna Jackson, Ashley Adams, Hannah Dustman and Kacey Breitbach

High School will present "Beauty and the Beast"
Students from Pleasant Hill High School will present “Beauty and the Beast” on November 10, 11 and 12, 7pm in the HS PAC. Ticket prices are $7 for adults and $5 for children.
Cast members include: Cheyann Dillon as Belle, Corey Todd as Lumiere, Lonnie Yost as Gaston, Brandon Alesi as Cogsworth, Rachel Lauve as Mrs. Potts, Noah Dayson as Chip and Adam Reeves as the Beast

FBLA / FTA Trick or Treat
On Friday, Oct. 28 FBLA and FTA students from Pleasant Hill High School 'Trick or Treated' for canned goods. They collected 850 cans for the local food pantry.

Three trees planted at Primary School
Mrs. McKinzie's kindergarten class, at the Primary School, planted three small trees on 11-1-11. The students were able to water the roots and  pack dirt around the tree. Topics of discussion during the planting were about how a tree grows, the shade and oxygen that the tree will give us and how to care for a new sapling. Miss Day, a student teacher from University of Central Missouri, is pictured with the students and assisted with the project. 3 students were unavailable for the picture.

District Prepares for Inclement Weather
Pleasant Hill R-III School District encompasses approximately 75 square miles. During inclement weather, road conditions usually vary widely from one area to another. This sometimes makes for a difficult decision on whether to close or delay school. Last year the District developed snow routes for use when necessary.
A snow route is a modified bus route that generally runs on main roads rather than side streets or through neighborhoods where driving a school bus may not be possible during severe weather. Snow routes will be used when main roads are clear enough for safe travel but side roads are not as clear. If snow routes are in effect, some students will have to catch their bus at alternate stops. On snow route days, to avoid confusion, students will be returned after school to their snow route stops regardless of changes in the weather. Although snow routes were never utilized last year we intend to have them available for use in certain situations.
The decision to use snow routes, cancel, or delay school is made by 5:30 am. The district will then contact the emergency notification center who contacts TV broadcast stations. R-III families and staff members will also be notified by ADT, the recorded phone service. Parents are urged to provide schools with updated information for any phone numbers that change throughout the year. Please note that school closing information will not appear on the district website.
Attendance must still be taken on these days but we encourage parents to use their best judgment in deciding if they should bring their children to a bus stop or school. We also encourage inexperienced school age drivers to ride with adults or on the bus during this time. These situations disrupt family schedules and we appreciate your patience during severe weather conditions. We recognize the importance of having children in school on a regular schedule with quality learning time, but be assured our top concern is always the safety of students and staff.
Dismissals for unexpected circumstances will be made up in the following order: May 21, Jan. 18, Feb. 15, Mar. 31, Apr. 1 and May 24. Days cancelled in excess of six will be added to the end.

District attendance lines
To report an absence this year, please call the district attendance lines.
Please leave student’s name, grade, reason for the absence, parent’s name and phone number.
Contact the Primary School 987-9201, Elementary School 987-9202, Intermediate School 987-9203, Middle School 987-9204 and High School 987-9205.

Rooster Alerts
The Pleasant Hill R-III School District is continually striving to improve communication between the school and parents. You may sign up to receive Rooster Alerts on your cell phone or email.  This service will enable school personnel to notify parents by sending a text message or email within minutes for emergency information, school closings, early dismissals and event reminders. To sign up please visit the District website www.pleasanthillschools.com and click on ‘rooster alerts’. This service will be initiated as a pilot program in the High School for Activities and  Athletics information. This service is sponsored by the Pleasant Hill Bank

Please check your cell phone plan for any text message fees your wireless provider may charge. This is a SPAM-free application. Your name and personal contact information are protected and will remain private.

R-III School District to use ‘snow routes’

Pleasant Hill R-III School District encompasses approximately 75 square miles. During inclement weather, road conditions usually vary widely from one area to another. This sometimes makes for a difficult decision on whether to close or delay school. Beginning this year, on a trial basis, the District will utilize snow routes when appropriate.

A snow route is a modified bus route that generally runs on main roads rather than side streets or through neighborhoods where driving a school bus may not be possible during severe weather. Snow routes will be used when main roads are clear enough for safe travel but side roads are not as clear. If snow routes are in effect, some students will have to catch their bus at alternate stops. On snow route days, to avoid confusion, students will be returned after school to their snow route stops regardless of changes in the weather.

Depending on where you live, a snow route may or may not be necessary.

The decision to use snow routes, cancel, or delay school is made by 5:30 am. The district will then contact the emergency notification center who contacts TV broadcast stations.  Parents/guardians will also be notified by a recorded phone service. Parents are urged to provide schools with updated information for any phone numbers that change throughout the year.

Attendance must still be taken on these days but we encourage parents to use their best judgment in deciding if they should bring their children to a bus stop or school. We also encourage inexperienced school age drivers to ride with adults or on the bus during this time.

These situations disrupt family schedules and we appreciate your patience during severe weather conditions. We recognize the importance of having children in school on a regular schedule with quality learning time, but be assured our top concern is always the safety of students and staff.

Children’s Vision Law
According to Senate Bill 16, enacted in 2007 every child enrolling in a public school kindergarten and new enrollees in first grade must receive a comprehensive eye examination from a state-licensed optometrist or physician. The cost of the exam is the responsibility of the parents. By January 1, 2009 parents and guardians shall provide to the school district proof of the required vision exam or a statement that they are opting out of the exam. The form to be used for completing this vision exam is available on the district website at www.pleasant hillschools.com. For more information, please visit the Missouri Optometric Association’s website www.moeye care.org.

Parent Link
Parent link is a website that allows parents to view students attendance, grades, homework and lunch account balances. If you would like to sign up for Parent Link, the form is available on our website at www.pleasanthill schools.com.
If your email address has changed from previous years, you will need to fill out a new form so that we may update your account.