October 30, 2024

Greetings

The mantra of “Doing something BIG in a special little place!” has come to life in the Albany School District! As we march through the Fall and prepare for the upcoming winter, we have witnessed many signs of big things. From the celebration of Homecoming ‘24 to Fall Clean-up, dress-up days, and Trunk or Treat, the Comet spirit is alive and well.

Academically, our students continue to push themselves to achieve their very best and the staff provides the expertise, guidance, and support each student needs. We have tracked the effective use of our ‘Learn’ period which is time set aside daily for students and staff to connect and address the immediate academic needs of the individual students.

Our enrollment continues to show positive signs. As of October 2024, our student enrollment is risen to 302 students. In addition, 27 students from other communities have open-enrolled in the District, and four fewer Albany residents have enrolled outside the District.

The Albany School District is indeed a special place. The 4K-12 setting and the dedication of our staff provide ample opportunities for our district to become a family. The connections between students and staff at all levels create a legacy of support and success. We will continue to work in partnership with our community and families to serve, guide, and support our students to be their best.

It's a great day to be a Comet!

Go Comets!

Mr. Soderberg

Greetings Albany Families,

We have had a great start to the school year! As our first quarter comes to a close, I want to thank our students and staff for a great homecoming week. Homecoming celebrations included door, hallway, and window decorating, a class vs staff volleyball tournament, powderpuff football under the lights, an all school assembly, and a homecoming dance following the Baertschi Invitational.

Our students are also off to a strong academic start. We have wonderful things happening in our classrooms everyday. Academic progress is evident as I visit classrooms and speak with staff and observe students.

The Albany High School is proud to offer yard clean-up services for Albany residents needing assistance. On Wednesday, October 30th, Albany High School students and staff will help rake and haul away leaves from yards. In the case of inclement weather, the clean-up will be held on Wednesday, November 6th. To sign up, please contact Mrs. Robin Seavert at our district offices at 608-862-3135 extension 2422 or robin.seavert@albany.k12.wi.us.

Parent/Teacher conferences are coming up on November 7th and 8th. We encourage you to schedule a conference to check on your students progress and learn more about the great things happening in our classrooms!

I look forward to watching our students grow academically and socially throughout the year as we continue to grow strong partnerships with our families. If I can assist you in any way, please contact me.

Robert Kostroun

Middle/High School Principal

robert.kostroun@albany.k12.wi.us

(608) 862-3135 ext. 2412

The elementary school had a lot of fun participating in the Homecoming dress-up days and assembly this month. We are fortunate to be able to take part in the traditions and the special activities with our older students.

We continue to recognize students who have demonstrated kindness. This month we celebrated the following students for their acts of kindness: Trigvy. Brooks, Maysen, Cami, Jaiden, Caleb, Adalyn, Jayce, Jayce, Lanodon, Ian, Kaelynn, Lane, RaeLynn, Emerson, and Lane. We also recognized Mr. Doescher's class with the Golden Dustpan for keeping their spaces clean. Mrs. Searl's class won the traveling Comet Spirit award for their participation in our Orange and Black dress-up day.

We look forward to meeting with families at parent-teacher conferences on Thursday, November 7th, and Friday, November 8th. Families will receive first quarter report cards and other information about how students are doing at the beginning of the school year. The opportunity to communicate and collaborate with families is important to us and helps increase student success.

I would like to thank the parent volunteers from the Albany PTO. They hosted an amazing Trunk or Treat event at the Lion’s Club last Friday. It was amazing to see so many students and families enjoying their time together at the event!

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Our fall conferences will be held on Thursday, November 7th from 3:30 - 7:00 and Friday, November 8th from 8:00 - 12:00. Please use the links to register for 15-minute meetings with teachers. We look forward to communicating and collaborating with you!

We would like to invite you to Albany’s Veterans Day assembly, hosted by the Civics classes, held at Albany Schools (309 Vinton St. Albany, WI. 53502) on Monday, November 11th, 2024, from 9:45 A.M. to roughly 10:45 A.M. The assembly will include performances by the school’s band and choir, as well as quotes/poems read by the Civics students, and more. All guests are asked to enter at the new school entrance (gym entrance) on Vinton Street and proceed to the gym. We hope to see you there!

STUDENT FLU CLINIC W/GREEN COUNTRY PUBLIC HEALTH - Tuesday October 15, 2024

BRIDGING BRIGHTER SMILES - Monday October 21, 2024

6th Grade Science- The students just finished learning about some of the important cell functions that occur in animal and plant cells. We performed a gummy bear lab to demonstrate osmosis that the students really enjoyed. Our next topic is cell division where we will discuss mitosis and meiosis. To finish up our cell unit, we will talk about genetics and heredity!

7th/8th Grade Science- We are finishing up our unit on electricity and magnetism. The students have created circuits using batteries, wire, and light bulbs, as well as using our Snap Circuit kits to build some pretty amazing things. We also completed an electric powered boat project where the students had to create their own circuit to power a styrofoam boat. The students learned how to solder parts together to create a circuit and, once finished, we raced our boats. Our next unit to explore will be space science.

Our CTE programs are buzzing with activity this month! Eighth graders are exploring On shape 3D modeling, building essential skills in design and creativity. In introductory tech classes, students are gaining hands-on experience with stick and wire welding techniques, focusing on safety and basic skills. Meanwhile, our advanced students are creating custom metal signs using our CNC Plasma Cutter. Students recently attended the JP Cullen Career Fair, where they learned about various trade job opportunities and networked with industry professionals. We’re excited about the upcoming projects and appreciate your support in making our CTE program a success!

6th & 7th Grade Ancient History: Students have just finished Unit 1: 1st civilizations. Students developed understandings of the origins of human civilization and identified characteristics that distinguish empires from city-states. Students developed inquiry skills when investigating the mysterious death of Otzi the Iceman. We are now transitioning to Unit 2: Ancient Egypt & Ancient Israel. Students will continue to practice analyzing historical sources (both primary and secondary) as they develop understanding of relationships between groups and continuity throughout time.

10th Grade World History: We are continuing with our Medieval Unit, currently investigating changes that occurred throughout Medieval Europe. Students are developing inquiry skills as they research topics of interest relating to Medieval European society and create visual models that show what they have discovered.

Modern U.S. History: Students just finished their Civil Rights Movement, focusing on tactics of protest, leaders of the movement, and what the movement accomplished. We will now be transitioning to the Kennedy & Johnson Years, where students will examine how the Cold War response intensified in the 1960s, and we will discuss the purpose of domestic policies established during Johnson’s War on Poverty Campaign.

8th Grade U.S. History

We have been discussing the exploration of the New World and the formation of the 13 Colonies. We will finish up the month discussing what life was like in the American Colonies. At the start of November we will transition towards a discussion on the events leading up to the American Revolution.

9th Grade U.S. History

Over the past couple of weeks we have discussed the industrial revolution in the United States in the late 1800s and famous industrialists like Rockerfeller, Carnegie, Vanderbilt, etc. We also discussed the role immigration played in filling those new industrial jobs and the lives of immigrants coming to the United States in the last 1800s to early 1900s. The students will end the month by writing their own immigrant narrative. In this historical fiction, students will showcase their knowledge from the time period. In early to mid November, we will start discussing what was occuring in the South and West during this same time period, specifically the homesteaders and the Sioux Wars.

Civics

A little into October we started our new unit on Voting and Citizenship. During this time, students learned more about political parties and elections. We also took this time to start planning for our annual Veterans Day assembly. Students have a great morning planned for our veterans, so if you are able to join us on November 11th at 9:45AM, feel free. Towards the end of October we also took our state civics test. This is a statewide requirement and students must complete a 100 question test. In order to pass, they must correctly answer 65 out of 100 questions. Students have multiple chances to take the assessment. Also, coming up in early November, we have our veterans assembly, but we will also further discuss elections. Topics will include the electoral college, challenges to the electoral college, and the role of special interest groups in elections.

Psychology

Students started October by discussing biology of the brain and its role in behavior. We finished out the month and will begin November by discussing the different senses of the body and how that relates to psychology.

Street Law:

We have spent the past month discussing family law. Topics included marriage law, divorce, spousal support (maintenance, and child custody. We ended the month by starting our unit on criminal law, discussing the various types of crimes a person could be charged with and the delineations between them.

Doyle October Newsletter

Signe Doyle

Middle and High School Counselor

608-862-3135 Ext. 2117

"Every child deserves a champion-an adult who will never give up on them."

Autumn is awesome for English! Across the board, we are digging in deep on writing skills. Here are the highlights by class!

• In English 9, students have wrapped up reading To Kill a Mockingbird and have been engaging in the writing process on an argumentative thematic analysis essay.

• In Adventure Lit, we studied Krakauer's Into the Wild, and are writing a synthesis-style expository essay in which students must create and support novel claims based on multiple sources.

• Sci-Fi/Dystopia students are deep into reading the dystopian novel, 1984 and studying the dystopian genre, its tropes, and archetypes.

• English 10 read Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men and are now writing their first essay on the themes of the novel. They have worked hard and are proud of their work!

• Creative Writing completed their children's books and had an awesome time reading them to Mrs. Brewer's kindergarten class!

ELA 6- 6th grade students are currently reading the novel, "A Long Walk to Water" Through this book, students have been studying the character Salva's journey to get to safety during the Sudanese War.

ELA 7- 7th grade students are currently studying direct and indirect characterization through the novel, "Tangerine". This novel tells the story of a young boy named Paul whose vision was severely damaged when he was 5 years old. We have studied different perspectives and discussed how they can alter or impact a story.

ELA 8- 8th grade students are currently studying dystopian literature and diving into symbolism. Our current novel is "The Hunger Games". We have been working hard on defining symbols in the text and analyzing their meanings.

October

The 8th grade Exploratory class has been studying breakfast foods and the science of baking. In the kitchen they have created mixed berry muffins, rolled sugar cookies, edible cookie dough, and deviled eggs.

Child Development recently completed a unit on parenting styles and positive parenting. We are now beginning our prenatal development unit.

Culinary Arts 2 has focused on soups, sauces and stews. In the kitchen, students have explored the differences between a slurry and a roux while creating potato soup, baked macaroni and cheese, berry sauces, and participating in a macaroni and cheese challenge.

Intro to Foods students have demonstrated their knowledge of starches and methods of cooking by cooking potatoes utilizing four different methods.

Confection Arts has been demonstrating their knowledge of yeast breads by baking focaccia bread, pretzels, cinnamon rolls and dinner rolls.

5th Grade Band: This month the 5th grade band students continued working on the basics of playing an instrument.

5th Grade General Music: This month the 5th grade general music students continued learning about different musical genres. They learned about the styles, instruments, and different musicians for various genres.

Middle School Band: This month the Middle School band started work on their music for the winter concert.

High School Band: This month the Marching Band students participated in the hallway march during Homecoming week. The High School Band students began to work on their music for the winter concert and continued work on the music for the Veteran’s Day Assembly.

Life Skills Math: Our goal for the year is budgeting, not only knowing what exactly a budget is, but also what goes into one and what priorities should be included. We started off the unit with the popular "Jelly Bean" Budget activity, which despite the name was not as easy as it sounds!

Life Skills: It is so wonderful to see our students doing well in classes, and learning important life skills lessons ongoing. Culinary Arts is a popular class that brings students out of their comfort zone, but with great results!

Comet Coffee Cafe: The Comet Coffee Cafe is up and running! We have had some new flavors this year, including Dark Chocolate Mocha, which have proven very popular. We would like to announce Ayden Firth as our Student Supervisor this year--he has been with the Cafe since it started and has shown that he is the right person for this position. Congrats, Ayden!

Resource Room: I am thrilled to see the number of students who come in the room each day, even just to say hi. During LEARN, students have been coming in to work when they get coffee or for just a quieter location. UNO has become the game of choice and we have seen up to 7 students playing during LEARN, as it, like my room, is for EVERYONE!

Roxie Kolasch, M. Ed

Cross Categorical Special Education Teacher

Albany High School

608-862-3135, Ext. 2118

"They see disabilities; I see possibilities!"

Geometry- Students have been studying angle relationships and have determined the sum of the three angles in a triangle. They also learned how to find the area of a parallelogram and trapezoid. Next they will be starting chapter 3 on proving similarity and congruence.

6th Grade- Students have been learning what ratios are and how to write them. They are also using double number lines to solve ratio problems. Students will finish chapter 2 by looking at different units of measurement and how to convert them.

7th Grade- Students have been learning about negative and positive numbers using hot and cold cubes as well as how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide these integers. Next, students will be learning about experimental and theoretical probability.

8th Grade- Students have been working on transforming figures by translating, rotating, reflecting, and dilating shapes. They can also identify when shapes are similar or congruent. Students will finish the chapter by looking at points of intersections and what they mean.

Tim Koplin

6-8 Math and Geometry

Middle School - The students have been working with new mediums: watercolor pencils and charcoal. The students are using charcoal sticks and drawing leaves with a lot of practice with value scale in charcoal.

High School - The students finished working on watercolor pencils and are working with charcoal now. They are using a picture of an endangered animal to use for their charcoal project.

Thank you

Zaib Jiwani

Art Teacher

Albany School District

HS/MS Physical Education: This month has been very busy for the high school P.E. program. The students challenged themselves during the fitness assessments and were rewarded with a fun activity called nitroball. As the colder temperatures approach we will eventually move our units inside and enjoy a variety of team and individual based activities. The strength and conditioning students just recently spent a unit learning about incorporating resistance bands into their workout routines. This knowledge gives the students a variety of ways to exercise in the future.

K: Kindergarten students are learning the differences between high and low sounds in voices

and instruments. They have had fun with movement activities to demonstrate the different

sounds.

1st-2nd: These students are learning about different rhythms and how they fit into a steady

beat. They have been making their own rhythms in class, with the 2nd graders also learning

about ostinatos (repeated patterns in music) and creating their own to perform with songs in

class.

3rd: 3rd graders have been learning note names in the treble and bass clefs. Through some

friendly competition, they have done a great job at identifying these notes on music!

4th: These students have been learning about patriotic music, with an emphasis on John Philip

Sousa, the “March King”. They learned a patriotic song, “This Is My Country”, and learned about

proper singing techniques and strategies to have an impactful performance.

*The elementary students will be receiving information about their Winter Concert, which

will be on Wednesday, December 4th at 7pm. Mark your calendars for some holiday fun!*

Middle School Choir: Students have been working on their repertoire for their upcoming

Conference Choir event in Monticello. We have discussed what musicianship looks like in the

classroom and how we can elevate a performance using musical vocabulary terms.

High School Choir: The high school choir students are improving every single day with their

repertoire and musicianship skills! We have been focusing on our performance for the Veteran’s

Day assembly next month, as well as some of our Winter Concert repertoire. We have just

finished working on identifying note names in the treble and bass clef, and started working on

identifying solfege in music scores.

Here are the HS Math newsletter items for October:

It's been a busy month in Mr. Schwab's classroom throughout October between the continued adoption of the College Preparatory Math curriculum and practicing for the upcoming UW Platteville Math Meet.

In Algebra 1, students have been investigating rates of change and how to represent linear functions in multiple ways (situations, graphs, tables, and equations.)

The Algebra 2 students have been working on generalizing ways of transforming functions. Essentially, students learn how to transform a type of function then they apply their knowledge to other types of functions as well.

Integrated Algebra has been working with accuracy and precision of measurements and how we utilize significant digits in order to maintain meaningful answers when dealing with the error of those measurements.

The students in Precalculus have been working with average rates of change for curved functions which lead into the development of the formula for the Difference Quotient. The Difference Quotient becomes a bedrock principle in Calculus when students begin to study derivatives.

Speaking of Calculus, these students are exploring what happens as one gets infinitely close to values on a graph. This exploration of limits will lead us to more precise definitions of continuity and instantaneous rate of change.

Lastly, the Statistics class has moved from broad fundamentals of statistics into the numerical analysis used to determine the location and shape of data. When combined with our new probability lessons, students will have the basis of quantitative statistical analysis learned and ready to apply to real world applications.

Jim Schwab,

Albany High School - Math Teacher

Anatomy and Physiology - Students have been hard at work learning about the different tissues in the human body, such as epithelial, connective, muscle, and nervous tissue. They will be starting to learn about the Integumentary System next week.

Chemistry - We are learning about the Mole! Not the animal but the number 6.022x1023. Students will go on to learn about the behavior of light and its Wave-Particle duality. There will be an exciting flame test lab in this lesson.

Ecology - Students are finishing up food chains and food webs and how energy transfers from living organism to living organism.

Physical Science - There will be a test on Tuesday, Oct 22 on forces such as friction, gravity, and how net force acts on an object. We will then get into energy and work.

Biology - Students will be learning about acids and bases with a lab on Tuesday. Their test for Properties of water is on Thursday, Oct 24th.

This month we started preparing for the fall fitness test. The test consists of the mile, pacer test, sit-ups and push-ups. Everyone worked really hard to perform their best. I will have the results posted shortly. Great work to all students!

In between all the hard work we had some fun focusing on sportsmanship with some team games.

https://secure.smore.com/n/tfkg4

Hala Ryan

Albany Agricultural Educator

Albany FFA Advisor

7th Grade Exploratory Spanish:

November 1st is our last day together. It has been such a pleasure working with these leaders. They will end the quarter by saying the Pledge with the 3rd graders they have been working with. I hope I get to work with these students next year!

Spanish 1:

We have been working on the following vocabulary phrases: nunca cierra (never closes), abre la puerta (open the door), son las ocho (it's 8 o'clock), toma (takes), habla (talks/speaks), and quiere ser (wants to be). They also learned about the Panama Canal and will be talking about careers in our current unit. We will also learn about the holiday Day of the Dead.

Advanced Spanish:

We finished up a long unit about the Camino de Santiago, and a short unit about Hurricanes. The class voted on the next unit which will be about Slang. They also did a project on the holiday Day of the Dead.

I look forward to seeing everyone at conferences on Thursday, November 7th and Friday, November 8th.

Jenifer Wichita

Spanish Teacher

Albany School District

1st Hour MS Exploratory - This month the 7th graders have coded a time capsule presentation and learned about ways to protect themselves by avoiding scams and identity theft along with learning the benefits of insurance.

2nd Hour Entrepreneurship - During this month the class has learned how to pitch a business idea along and then how to launch and build a start-up business.

3rd Hour Introduction to Coding - For the start of October we learned how computers represent letters, numbers, and pictures in binary. The 2nd half of the month we have started a unit on the use of Artificial Intelligence in computers.

4th Hour Accounting - For this month we have started journalizing business transactions and posting those transactions in account ledgers along with balancing debit, credit, and cash accounts.

5th Hour Personal Finance - Most of this month we have learned about the process of investing using retirement accounts, brokerage accounts, or computer managed accounts.

Thanks.

Mr. Wachholz

MS/HS Business Education Teacher

Phone: 608-862-31

Albany MS Boys Basketball Schedule 2024

(Grades 7 & 8)

Monday, October 28th ~ @ Barneveld 5:00pm

Monday, November 4th ~ @ Pecatonica 5:00pm

Tuesday, November 5th ~ (HOME) vs. Monticello 5:00pm

Thursday, November 7th ~ (HOME) vs. Black Hawk 5:00pm

Monday, November 11th ~ (HOME) vs. Argyle 5:00pm

Tuesday, November 12th ~ @ Juda 5:00pm

Albany-Monticello MS Girls Basketball Schedule 2024

(Grades 7 & 8)

Monday, October 21st ~ @ Juda 5:00pm

Tuesday, October 22nd ~ (HOME) vs. Black Hawk 4:30pm

Thursday, October 24th ~ @ Argyle 4:30pm

Tuesday, October 29th ~ (HOME @ Monticello) vs. Barneveld 5:00pm

Albany JV/Varsity Boys Basketball Schedule 2024-2025

***Time listed is the JV start time***

Monday, November 18th ~ Practice Starts

Tuesday, November 26th (H) vs. Johnson Creek (6:00 pm)

Saturday, November 30th @ St. Ambrose Academy (JV 12:30 pm / Varsity 2:00 pm)

Albany-Monticello JV/Varsity Girls Basketball Schedule 2024-2025

***Time listed is the JV start time. Home games are at Albany unless otherwise noted***

Monday, November 11th ~ Practice Starts

Tuesday, November 19th (H) vs. Marshall (6:00pm)

Friday, November 22nd @ Beloit Turner (5:40pm)

Monday, November 25th @ Belleville (6:00pm)

Our October Trunk or Treat was a huge success with more than 200 kids coming to the event. They had fun visiting the trunks, dancing and visiting with friends.

We will have our next PTO meeting on November 6th. We will have a November BINGO event on November 14th from 6:00 - 7:00 in the Cafeteria. Keep an eye out for more informaiton about our Little Caesars fundraiser in November.

We will hold our Christmas Shopping event for elementary students in December. If you have elementary students, please help us plan for the event by completing the Christmas store form!

To get involved or volunteer, please contact albanypto@gmail.com.