Dear Albany Families,

We had our second quarter C.A.R.E. assembly last week. Tenley Doescher, Emma Kopp, Colee Liberatore, Mia Scott, Mackenzie Clason, Kamron Parker and Anna Ellinger were recognized for their achievements during the second quarter. A big congratulations to them and all our students for the many personal victories they had so far this year.

This month we are focusing on school safety. At the Albany School District, the safety of our students and staff is our top priority. We are committed to maintaining a safe and supportive learning environment through proactive measures.

This commitment encompasses physical safety, emotional and psychological well-being, a positive school climate, clear policies and procedures, trained staff, student empowerment, community partnerships, and cyber safety initiatives.

A key aspect of our safety measures is conducting school safety preparedness drills. Under Act 143, both public and private schools are required to conduct annual drills to ensure appropriate responses to school violence, in accordance with each building's safety plan.

As part of this requirement, we will be conducting a schoolwide lockdown drill on Thursday, January 30th, during the first period (7:50–8:50 a.m.). This Lockdown/Barricade Drill simulates a response to an active threat on or near campus.

Our staff has been trained to provide age-appropriate preparation for students prior to the drill. This includes discussing general safety, procedures, and expectations to ensure students understand the purpose and importance of the drill.

We deeply value our partnership with local and county law enforcement and first responders. Their collaboration is vital to our efforts in ensuring a safe environment for everyone in our district. You will notice an increased presence of police and fire personnel on campus during the drill. We are grateful for the support of the Albany Fire Department, Albany EMS, Albany Police Department, and Green County Sheriff’s Department, who will assist with the drill and be available to reassure and answer any questions students may have.

I want to take this moment to remind all students, parents, and staff of the importance of reporting any suspicious or threatening activity to school administration or law enforcement. If you see or hear something concerning, please report it immediately to the school or district administration, or contact law enforcement directly.

Additionally, our district homepage features a link at the top labeled "Speak Up, Speak Out Wisconsin." Clicking this link will direct you to the Speak Up, Speak Out homepage, where students, school staff, community members, and law enforcement can confidentially report concerns about potential harm or criminal activities involving students, school employees, or schools.

The Speak Up, Speak Out Resource Center is available to respond quickly and confidentially, ensuring that help reaches those who are hurting or struggling. Your vigilance and willingness to speak up can make a difference in keeping our schools safe.

Thank you for your support of the Albany School District and our ongoing commitment to safety. Should you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me directly.

Sincerely,

Mr. Kostroun

Flu season is ramping up. For those who were not able to participate in our school event for flu vaccines, I encourage you to reach out to your child’s provider to help keep them healthy this winter. A flu vaccine can take the flu from Wild to Mild! (see CDC flier).

Next month is National Children's Dental Health Month. Dental health is so important for kids! It contributes to proper eating and nutrition, speech, and confident smiles. Poor dental health can lead to pain, infections, and missed school days.

Keep promoting good handwashing during this tough flu and cold season, as well! Key times for handwashing are before eating, after coughing, blowing one’s nose, or sneezing, and after using the bathroom.

Stay warm and healthy!

Nurse Lindsey

Thank you!

Lindsey Arnsmeier, RN, BSN

Albany School Nurse

lindsey.arnsmeier@albany.k12.wi.us

608-862-3135 x2418

6th Grade- This group is currently learning about Earth's atmosphere. We are tracking our local weather and discussing radiation, conduction, and convection. Soon we will be talking about global winds and how our local weather is affected by what's going on around the globe. In a few weeks we will have the students explore regional weather around the United States and create a weather forecast that they will present in front of the class.

7th/8th Grade- The students recently started learning about human biology. We will be learning how the human body works by exploring the 11 major organ systems. We started off with the muscular system and the students made life-size models of our muscular system. As we explore each system, we will talk about how to care for that system and also discuss different disorders that system can have. Treatments and prevention will also be a talking point with the students.

Brandon Bakken

Albany MS/HS Science

(608) 862-3135 Ext. 2203

brandon.bakken@albany.k12.wi.us

6th & 7th Grade Ancient History: Students are currently wrapping up the unit about Ancient India. During this unit, we focused heavily on human-geography interactions, specifically what features benefit or hinder human migration and trade. Our next unit will take a look at Ancient China, focusing on human achievements that occurred there. We will also take a look at different Asian philosophies and how they affected the politics of Ancient China.

10th Grade World History: Students are finishing their mini-unit about Early African Kingdoms. We looked at what resources drew Europeans and Arabs to Africa, and the consequences of those interactions, both positive and negative. We will now be starting our next unit on revolutions of Europe that were sparked by the Enlightenment. We will examine case studies of the French Revolution, Russian Revolution, and the Industrial Revolution, and use each to discuss the overall effect this time period had on Europe.

Modern US History: It's a new semester and the students of Modern History were welcomed into the class. We have started with the unit on the Cold War, looking at the causes of the Cold War, and focusing on how different presidents handled Cold War policies and issues.

Here is what is going on in Mr. Campbell's classroom...

8th U.S. History:

We have spent the past few weeks discussing our nation's first constitution, The Articles of Confederation. After discussing its failures, we began discussing the Constitutional Convention and the debate between Federalists and Anti-Federalists. We ended the month of January by discussing our current Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the presidencies of George Washington and John Adams.

9th Grade U.S. History:

We spent most of January discussing U.S. imperialism under the guidance of Teddy Roosevelt. This includes the Spanish-American War, our annexation of Hawaii, the purchase of Alaska, and our acquisition of Puerto Rico, Guam, and temporarily the Philippines. We ended the month by starting our unit on World War I. We explored the main reasons for the war and ultimately why the United States became involved.

Civics:

We have spent much of this month discussing the Executive Branch and the presidency. Topics included the various roles and jobs of the president, and the checks and balances that the Executive Branch has over the other two branches. We also discussed the Bureaucracy and their role in the Executive Branch. Students will begin the first part of February by writing a persuasive essay about "What Makes a Good President?" using claims, evidence, and counter-claims.

Psychology:

We always have a lot going on in Psychology. It is a very fast-paced class and we are constantly moving on to new topics. We started the month of January by discussing how we acquire language. We took a slight break so we could focus on our final exam, which was a culmination of our first seven units earlier in the year. Once that was completed we finished our unit on language. We wrapped up January by starting a unit on Intelligence. Together, we explored some I.Q. tests and also completed some content quizzes to show our knowledge of the topic.

Law:

Our first semester law class finished up the quarter/semester by completing our unit on defenses. Here we explored the various ways that a person accused of a crime could defend themselves and what options they have. About two-thirds of the way through the month, the class ended and we started a new semester of law with new students. Our first partial week we just discussed the expectations of the class and briefly discussed what topics we will cover. We also started discussing the foundations of law. For example, why do we need laws, the law-making process, and what happens when someone doesn't follow the law. This is a fairly large class (for an elective) and I look forward to their lively discussions.

Thanks,

Jeff Campbell

MS/HS Social Studies

Data Coordinator

Graduation Coordinator

Doyle January Newsletter

• Sci Fi/Dystopia has just started with an intro to science fiction and is reading Fahrenheit 451 on our way to an essay.

• In English 9, we just finished our informative speeches and are charging ahead in the new semester on grammar and Flowers for Algernon.

• Creative Writing Workshop has begun with a bang with students writing for at least 20 minutes each day. We are acclimating to the workshop style, building relationships, and working on character development.

• English 10 just completed their unit on the power of community with a central focus on the novel, A Man Called Ove. We are now jumping into ACT grammar, ACT writing, and Raisin in the Sun.

• Adventure Lit has just begun with a personal narrative unit in which students practice writing techniques and develop a story around one of their own adventures.

https://secure.smore.com/n/khgs3q

Emily Howard

Library Media Specialist

School District of Albany

309 Vinton St, P.O. Box 349

Albany, WI 53502

Phone: 608-862-3135 x2309

emily.howard@albany.k12.wi.us

ELA 6- As we begin a new semester, students have been introduced to their independent reading projects for the third quarter. For this project, students will be in charge of creating a test about their book. These projects will be due March 14th.

ELA 7- Our next unit will require students to be part of literature circles. Each group will be focused on reading a book that revolves around the Holocaust. During this unit, we will be focusing on theme and how authors communicate theme in writing.

ELA 8- As we begin the third quarter, students have been introduced to their third quarter independent reading projects. For this quarter, students will have to rewrite an important scene from their novel from a different character's perspective. These projects will be due March 14th.

The 7th grade exploratory class wrapped up their time in FCS by taking air fryers beyond reheating chicken nuggets and pizza rolls! Students used their knowledge of safe food handling and cooking methods to make Chex mix, air fried oreos, and homemade chicken parmesan bites with their very own copycat Chick-fil-A sauce!

In Child Development, students completed units on the mental, physical and emotional development of toddlers and preschoolers. Students have now studied the development of children from prenatal through the preschool years!

Culinary Arts 2 students recently completed their final cooking challenges of the semester - a Crumbl Cookie and Iron Chef Challenge! Students created a copycat Crumbl Cookie, pasta dish, sandwich and cookie demonstrating all of the skills they have honed this semester!

Students in Intro to Foods recently completed a beverage unit focusing on where ingredients are sourced, what additives are used and what foods are banned in the U.S. and around the world! They were able to create copycat versions of popular coffee drinks and smoothies! Do you know what’s inside your favorite drink?

Confection Arts ended their semester by showcasing their skills in a cupcake challenge! Students designed a flavor pallet including the cake, icing, filling and garnish! Flavors highlighted included vanilla, rootbeer, and chipotle bacon!

High School and Elementary School - High school and elementary students came together for an inspiring collaboration project, drawing influence from the work of Milwaukee-based landscape artist Tom Uttech. The high school students crafted a stunning landscape, which serves as the backdrop for the elementary students' unique origami creations. The younger students contributed to the scene in a variety of creative ways:

• Kindergarten: Crafted origami flowers, adding delicate and colorful blooms to the landscape.
• 1st Grade: Made simple 4-fold origami birds, contributing to the peaceful, natural theme of the scene.
• 2nd Grade: Created more intricate multi-fold origami birds, enhancing the complexity of the design.
• 3rd Grade: Built origami boats, evoking a sense of adventure and exploration.
• 4th Grade: Produced origami fish, bringing life to the water-themed sections of the landscape.
• 5th Grade: Created origami trees, adding lush greenery and height to the scene.
• 4 K: also beautified the project’s border by using their handprints, making the final presentation even more personal and vibrant.

For their Zoom project, high school students selected an image of a fruit or flower and began by carefully cutting out a section of the image to sketch. Afterward, they chose a medium of their preference to enlarge and paint that specific part, focusing on bringing out its unique details. Throughout the process, they added intricate details to their paintings, enhancing texture, depth, and vibrancy, resulting in a dynamic and personalized work of art that captured the beauty of their chosen subject.

Middle school - students have just completed their "All About Me!" project, where they creatively designed apps on a phone screen that reflect their personal interests and unique traits. This project allowed them to express more about themselves in a fun and creative way. Looking ahead to the next quarter, we are excited to dive into learning about the value scale, exploring how light and dark tones create depth and contrast. We'll also begin our regular sketchbook sessions, where students will continue to develop their drawing skills and creativity.

Thank you - Zaib Jiwani

Art Teacher

Life Skills Math: We are finishing up with our budgeting unit, with learning about checking accounts, including balancing a checkbook and actually writing checks. This is not an easy task, and has not been without some challenges, but overall, they are doing a great job! Our next unit will be focused on measurements, beginning with tape measures, and moving on to measuring for cooking.

Life Skills: Students have been continuing to work hard to stay on top of grades. It is great to see students do well in classes that were perhaps out of their comfort zone, including Foods and Animal Science. The students know that the ultimate goal upon graduation is to be a successful, responsible and independent adult. It is awesome to see them headed in that direction!

Comet Coffee Cafe: The Comet Coffee Cafe continues to be a busy time for the students who work each shift, on Tuesday and Thursday during LEARN. They work hard and are learning skills that they can transfer over to successful employment upon graduation.

Since September, our profits have exceeded $500.00! Our profits go back into the cafe for supplies and new equipment. We are gracious to Stacy Rogers from Cameron's Coffee, who donates the coffee we use in the cafe, and also donates k-cups for use in the staff lounge.

Resource Room: The Resource Room is a great place to be as there is always someone in here working, and not just students in the program. I love to see all the students who are comfortable coming in to work on assignments, or grab a root beer barrel for motivation to keep going or for a job well done or completed!

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 working with trigonometric ratios to find the missing side lengths and angles of right triangles. They also learned the law of sines and law of cosines to solve for the missing side lengths and angles of non-right triangles. Next students will learn what guarantees that triangles are congruent and how to organize their work in flowcharts.

8th grade students have been learning to solve linear equations and simplify exponential expressions. Now students are learning about linear representations and how linear tables and graphs are related to y=mx+b.

7th grade students have been learning about the area and circumference of circles. They created bubbles and used string to measure the circumference and diameter to learn about pi. They also derived the formula for an area of a circle. Next students will be studying more probability and how to write using probability notation.

6th grade students have been studying box plots and learned how to create them by doing a five number summary: minimum, maximum, median, first quartile and third quartile. They have also learned how to calculate the interquartile range. Next students will be learning how to calculate the area of triangles and composite shapes made up of rectangles, squares, and triangles.

--

Tim Koplin

6-8 Math and Geometry
Albany School District

608-862-3135 x2213

K: Kindergarten students are learning about musical meters and how songs have different

meters of 2, 3, and 4!

1st: These students are working on how to breathe in a music setting, especially when singing!

We’ve learned a few songs that help us work on these skills.

2nd: 2nd grade students are learning more about the different factors of music notation, such as

rhythms and phrases. We will be working more on this throughout the next few weeks.

3rd/4th: 3rd grade students are learning about musical eras, such as the Baroque and Classical

eras. We have talked about composers and types of music that we still hear today! 4th graders

are working on identifying major and minor tonalities, and the differences between the two. We

are also reinforcing musical ideas that they have learned before through different games such

as Beat Telephone!

Middle School Choir: We are going through vocal workshops with middle school choir students

to work on our foundational musicianship skills. As a part of this, we watched a video of our

concert last month to point out successes and areas for improvement!

High School Choir: High School choir students are beginning their Solo and Ensemble unit.

Students have the option to perform in the festival happening in March, or to choose a piece

and complete a project on the song they chose. We have also been having vocal workshops to

enhance our fundamental singing skills.

In Algebra 1, the students will be exploring bivariate data. They will be learning how to utilize technology to create regression lines and how to analyze the strength of correlations between the data.

In Algebra 2, the class is preparing to graph points and planes in three dimensions while using the necessary algebra to find intersections of the planes.

Integrated Algebra will review systems of equations, systems of inequalities, and how these mathematical concepts are applied to real world phenomena.

In Precalculus, students will continue to learn about trigonometric properties including: graphing trigonometric ratios, modeling using trigonometry, solving equations involving trigonometry, and verifying trigonometric identities.

The Calculus class is continuing applications of differential calculus in order to optimize different types of functions and to approximate intersections which are not solvable using normal algebraic methods.

For Statistics, students will be not only learning how to create confidence intervals for means, population proportions and standard deviations but also learning how to use the intervals in order to make valid conclusions about data. Furthermore, the class is on the cusp of explicitly learning how to use hypothesis testing.

Thanks!

Jim Schwab

Albany High School

Math Teacher

The month of January began with learning a new popular game called fowling. Fowling is a mix of bowling and football, the goal is to knock down the other team's pins before they knock down yours. The students were able to choose a partner and find an opponent to play against.

We also found some time to practice our skills with a jump rope. Many students learned how to play double dutch. We are now beginning our roller skating unit.

¡Hola!

A new calendar year and a new semester! January is always an exciting time.

Please read on to find out more about your child’s class. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me.

​

Exploratory Spanish:

The 6th graders finished up their quarter on a very positive note. They were so participatory, kind, creative, and respectful all quarter. I let them celebrate with a “fiesta” day. True to form, they planned the whole thing and had fun. I can’t wait to have them again next year.

The 8th graders just started, and I am sure we will learn a lot and have some fun too.

Spanish 1: We finished Unit 6 before the start of the new semester. Students worked on reading, listening, and writing skills. Unit 7 is about the “Castells of Tarragona.” It is a competition in which groups make human towers!

Advanced Spanish: We are really working on improving our communication skills by playing a lot of different types of games. Some class favorites are circumlocution, scattergories, and What Do You Meme? The focus of our curriculum is to be comprehensible, not to be perfect. It is different from the way many of us learned a second language. That being said, we are explicitly learning some important grammar points. We have practiced verb conjugation by using the website conjuguemos, playing “seis”, and class conjugation competitions.

6th Grade MS Exploratory - We learned about budgeting basics and created our own artwork through coding.

Entrepreneurship - Each student presented their business idea and plan to the class. They had to perform a business pitch, write a business plan, and create an advertisement for their presentation.

Intro to Computer Science - The class finished with a programming unit where they had to replicate a picture using Javascript code.

Accounting I (Sole Proprietorship) - We finished our lessons on closing tasks for fiscal periods and then completed a month's worth of accounting tasks for a fictional business.

Personal Finance - We ended our course learning budgeting techniques, resumes, cover letters, finding a job, and completed our taxes unit.

If you need anything else, please let me know.

Thanks,

Richard Wachholz

MS/HS Business Education Teacher

Phone: 608-862-3135 X2317

Cell: 608-469-4983

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

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

Thursday, January 23rd (H) vs. Black Hawk (7:00pm) @ Monticello (VARSITY ONLY)

Saturday, January 25th (H) vs. Randolph (JV 2:30pm / Varsity 3:45pm)

Tuesday, January 28th (H) vs. Barneveld (6:00pm)

Friday, January 31st (H) vs. Benton (6:00pm) Parent’s Night

Saturday, February 1st (H) vs. Juda (JV 4:30pm / Varsity 5:45pm) @ Monticello

Thursday, February 6th (H) vs. Argyle-Pecatonica (6:00pm) @ Monticello

Saturday, February 8th (H) vs. Madison East (JV 2:30pm / Varsity 4:00pm)

Friday, February 14th @ Shullsburg (6:00pm)

Thursday, February 20th @ Juda (6:00pm)

February 25th, 28th, & March 1st ~ WIAA Regionals

***If we host any tournament games: Feb. 25th & March 1st @ Monticello / Feb. 28th @ Albany***

March 6th & March 8th ~ WIAA Sectionals (WIAA Selected Site)

March 13 - March 15 ~ WIAA State (UW Green Bay ~ Resch Center)

Albany JV/Varsity Boys Basketball Schedule 2024-2025

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

Friday, January 24th @ Belmont (6:00 pm)

Monday, January 27th (H) vs. Shullsburg (6:00 pm)

Thursday, January 30th @ Juda (6:00pm)

Tuesday, February 4th @ Pecatonica (6:00pm)

Friday, February 7th (H) vs. Highland (6:00pm)

Monday, February 10th (H) vs. Barneveld (6:00pm)

Thursday, February 13th @ Argyle (6:00pm)

Tuesday, February 18th (H) vs. Monticello (6:00pm)

Friday, February 21st @ River Ridge (6:00pm)

Thursday, February 27th (H) vs. Black Hawk (6:00pm)

March 4th, 7th, 8th ~ WIAA Regionals

March 13th & 15th ~ WIAA Sectionals

March 20 - March 22nd ~ WIAA State

Parkview-Albany MS Wrestling Schedule 2025

(Grades 6, 7, 8)

*All HOME matches will be wrestled at Parkview Elementary Gymnasium*

*Start date is Thursday, January 2nd, 2025*

Friday, January 31st ~ (HOME) vs. Beloit Turner MS 4:00pm

Tuesday, February 4th ~ @ Evansville MS 4:00pm

Monday, February 10th ~ (HOME) vs. Clinton MS & Edgerton MS (Triangular) 4:00pm

Friday, February 14th ~ @ Brodhead MS 4:00pm

Monday, February 17th ~ (HOME) vs. Clinton MS 4:00pm

Thursday, February 20th ~ (HOME) Conference Tournament 4:00pm

The Albany PTO hosted their annual Christmas shopping event for students. Students were able to shop for family members and take gifts home for the holidays. The Albany PTO members, volunteers and school staff helped wrap more than 500 gifts during the event!

Thanks to the support of families and our generous community the PTO is able to provide special experiences for our students. If you want to learn more about the PTO, or get involved with the great things they are doing for our school, follow or contact Albany PTO on Facebook.