LISD Expect Excellence Newsletter

Hello Levelland Lobos!

I hope you all enjoyed the extended weekend. A little break to rest and rejuvenate is always welcome. As Eleanor Brownn said, "Rest and self-care are so important. When you take time to replenish your spirit, it allows you to serve others from the overflow. You cannot serve from an empty vessel."

Have a great week!

Go Lobos!

Expect Excellence

Becky McCutchen, Superintendent

Last week we celebrated National Boss's Day! Each campus celebrated their beloved leaders all day. We are so glad that we have the best of the best in Levelland ISD! We are so lucky to have the best leaders in Texas!

Levelland ISD celebrates National School Bus Safety Week and we thank our devoted school bus drivers for transporting our students daily to and from school! We #expectexcellence and it is our goal to get them there safely. We remind everyone about the importance of following the law and implementing school bus safety tips. And if you see a school bus driver this week, give them a huge thank you! https://files.gabbart.com/455/schoolbussafetyweek_facebook_video.mp4

LHS Alumni Ashley Leaks and LMS student Carley Gonzalez recently spoke to Mr. Russell Hill's LHS Business classes. They taught students how to build a business from scratch with no start-up cost. It has always been Carley's dream to start a business, and she came up with the idea of making spirit items for boys and girls. She set to work, named her new company Small Town Spirit, and designed her logo. Now, she sells all sorts of spirit items to so many small towns around. Ms. Leaks told students about their different approaches to marketing techniques, how they price items to benefit the consumer and the company, and who they sell to. These ladies feel so blessed because their business has taken off by word of mouth, and they are getting many requests from small schools all around, including South Plains College! This is a great start for a young girl with a bright future! We are proud of you Carley!

South Elementary #expectsexcellence and is excited to announce that they are starting the One School One Book Reading Program and are going to read The Wild Robot by Peter Brown. This dream project of Librarian Tiffany Harkins was made possible thanks to HET Levelland and Jeff Knutson. Mr. Knutson with HET Levelland (Hartree Ethanol Technologies) made a huge donation to the South Elementary Library to purchase every South child the beloved child's book. HET Levelland is expertly navigating the energy & commodities markets of a rapidly changing world with decades of experience in both physical & financial energy sectors. HET Levelland sees evolving opportunities, and their diverse team fosters inclusivity, meaningful connections & integrity, forming a foundation for responsible innovation in our culture. We send out a huge thank you to HET Levelland for the generous donation that will make a difference to so many students. Our South students are so lucky to have this opportunity to read a book that teaches the important lesson of accepting others, no matter what they look like. We thank Mrs. Harkins, HET Levelland & Mr. Knutson, and Jeff & Christy Cribbs for making this happen! Now, let's get reading!

The LHS Counselors Mrs. Waddill & Mrs. Parkinson #ExpectExcellence & took seniors to a Career Expo in Lubbock to get an idea of big careers & jobs that they might want to pursue. The annual South Plains Career Expo is the premier career education event and the largest of its kind in West Texas, attended by more than 4,300 students and 150+ businesses and colleges. It shows students the amazing diversity of the career opportunities in our region, as well as the skills and education needed to pursue those careers. We are so thankful that our counselors gave LHS students this opportunity to attend! #LevellandISD

LHS Choir Director Joshua Ballard #expectsexcellence and congratulates his choir members who made the All-Region Choir! At this contest, students had to learn a lot of music on their own, while working extra hours outside of rehearsal to grow as singers. Mr. Ballard says, "This event involves all the schools in our region, so the competition is fierce! I'm extremely proud of everyone who auditioned." These choir members have two more intense auditions before they make State. Congratulations to these amazing performers!
Tenors: Israel Gutierrez, Andy Kim, Alan Martinez, & Jesus Alvarado.
Altos: Paula Castellanos & Shiloh Rios.
Sopranos: Emily Perez.

South Elementary Second Graders performed a music program earlier today. They will perform again tonight at 5:30 pm. Students played the Ocarinas, sang, & the played the drum fit balls. A lot is going on in the Music Department at South! Thank you to Music Director Mrs. Jennifer Turner and Mrs. Juana Soliz for pushing kids to learn more and more often!

Thank you to our LHS students that showed up to help clean up Levelland! You are awesome and help make Levelland a great place to live.

It's getting spooky at LHS! The LHS Student Office Aides were challenged to design and create a pumpkin for a contest. Teachers voted by secret ballot. A good time was had by all! Favorite Pumpkin went to Jesusa Alaniz with her Oscar the Grouch. The Cutest Pumpkin was the cactus made by Hailyn Grant. Most Creative Pumpkin was a tie and went to Sage Barrera with her Dinosaur Eggs & Matt Almager-Ice Cream. This was a fun way to bring in a scary holiday!

One of the Levelland ISD Librarian's goals is to help students become a community of readers. And LMS students have really stepped up to the plate this year. LMS Librarian Mixie Clowe introduced the Beanstack Reading Program this year as LMS' new reading incentive program. Students log minutes and collect badges and tickets to earn prizes and drawing chances. Students also earn rewards for the LMS library. Earlier in the year, at 25% participation, the library earned a $25 gift card to Amazon which was used to purchase more incentives. Students have now achieved Trailblazer status, with over 85% of students reading, earning LMS a $100 gift card. LMS has also been recognized with 65 other schools in Texas for reading accomplishments in Beanstack. Finally, LMS students had a community reading goal of 100,000 minutes for the year, but they surpassed this goal in the first 3 months! Mrs. Clowe #expectsexcellence and will set another new goal and have surprises for readers. We are so proud of LMS students for their interest in reading. Way to go kids! Today, a fun reward was that all 740 students and a few educators got in on taping Coach Mason Trujillo to the wall. Everyone enjoyed torturing Coach Trujillo! Thanks Coach, for being a good sport!

Our Levelland Chamber of Commerce Keep Levelland Beautiful and Xcel Energy visited South Elementary third graders today for a Lights Out Lunch Initiative. Xcel Energy gave each third grader a flashlight before turning out the lights to eat lunch. Students learned ways to save energy by turning out lights that weren't being used and ways to cut energy costs by turning off electric devices that aren't needed at the time. The lesson was completed with a visit from Xcel Energy Electricians, who showed students how electricity gets from the electric plant all the way into their houses! Thank you to Xcel Energy and KLB for hosting this great learning event! Thank you, Principal Fleming for being a good sport!

The LHS YELL students met during lunch yesterday and learned to be better leaders from a LEAP (Levelland Emerging & Acting Professionals) leadership panel. These sixty plus eager students are looking to make a difference in our community and we are so thankful for that! We send out a huge thank you to the Levelland Chamber of Commerce for sponsoring this amazing group of kids.

Capitol 3rd Grade students went on a field trip to gather research about food trucks. The students are working on a Food Truck Business Model for their fall project. Students collected information for prices, types of food, menu displays, and marketing materials. They had to work within a budget to purchase their meals for lunch. This project generates an understanding of marketing, consumer awareness, and business models, and they will be designing their own food truck model: deciding what type of food they want to serve, pricing, advertising, menu design, and display. They will develop the essential skills of logical thinking, creative problem-solving, intellectual risk-taking, communicating, and making connections across disciplines. Creating a small-scale food truck will also be part of their project, which will be presented in December. Thank you to Capitol GT Sponsors Mrs. Barbara Utley and Mrs. Pam Alexander for your leadership and guidance! https://files.gabbart.com/462/foodtruckvideo24.mp4

You are invited to our Veteran's Day Celebration. We want to honor Veteran's and those serving next month on November 11th @ 1:30 pm in the LMS Auditorium. There are many students performing and you may want to see that. The featured speaker is Katherine McLamore Lowrance. She is the Co-Author of Texas South Plains War Stories: Interviews with Veterans from WWII to Afghanistan. She should be very interesting and bring some great thoughts to the table.

Email: rmccutchen@levellandisd.net
Website: www.levellandisd.net
Location: 704 11th Street, Levelland, TX
Phone: 806-894-9628
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LevellandISD/
Twitter: @LevellandISD