Enrollment:

Below you can see our certified enrollment and how it compares to last year. Our school enrollment is up this year from last year as we went from 521 to 557 resident district students. Our open enrollment-in from other districts went down by 11 students. Of those 11 students, we had a majority move into the district so they were not open enrolled. This is a positive sign. Overall, we are serving 792 students, which is an increase of 18 students. The PK-4 students are actually counted as half a student.

Dear Families and Staff,

On behalf of the Hinton Community School District, I would like to thank our community members for their thoughtful consideration of the Physical Plant & Equipment Levy (PPEL) question that appeared on the November 2 ballot. Yesterday, we learned that the solution presented fell short of being approved.

Unfortunately, we know that our district's maintenance, infrastructure, and equipment needs will continue. The district and board will now turn our attention to finding an alternative solution to our needs—one that our community can support. This work will begin immediately.

We thank you for your participation in this important conversation about our district’s future and your consideration of the proposed solution.

Sincerely,

Ken Slater

Superintendent

The Hinton School Board welcomes Haylee Junck and Ben Vondrak to the board. While we welcome our new board members we also thank Erin Weiland and Jim Binneboese for their service on the board.

Fall Reading and Math Assessments

All students in TK-6 are assessed three times per year in Reading and Math using the FAST (Formative Assessment System for Teachers). Students are given all measures that pertain to their grade level, however, proficiency is determined by a pre-selected assessment at each level. The shaded box indicates the assessment the state of Iowa will use to determine proficiency for that grade level.

80% proficiency at any grade level indicates that the full class instruction is effective and staff need to help students scoring below proficiency improve through small group interventions. When less than 80% of a grade level is proficient, staff need to implement a whole class intervention as well as helping those students who are below proficiency improve through small group interventions.

READING

earlyReading

TK-46%

K-86%

1st Grade-77%

CBM-R

2nd Grade-73%

3rd Grade-78%

aReading

4th Grade-89%

5th Grade-89%

6th Grade-87%

The suite of earlyReading measures allows you to screen and monitor a student's progress in developing reading skills. Teachers work with a student individually to complete each assessment. Kindergarten subtests in the fall include concepts of print, onset sounds, letter names, and letter sounds. First grade subtests in the fall include word segmenting, nonsense words, sight words, and sentence reading.

Curriculum Based Measurement for Reading (CBM-R) is an efficient and effective way to screen and monitor student reading progress. A teacher listens to a student read aloud from a grade-level passage for 1 minute while recording student errors. The student score is based on rate and accuracy.

aReading is a simple and efficient procedure for assessing K-6 students' broad reading abilities. The assessment includes items from all five areas of reading identified in the National Reading Panel Report (2000) and each question is aligned with the National Common Core State Standards (2010). aReading is a computer-adaptive test and students respond to 30 questions on each testing occasion. aReading is a strong predictor of students' high-stakes test performance.

MATH

early Math

TK-66%

K-91%

1st Grade-94%

aMath

2nd Grade-67%

3rd Grade-83%

4th Grade-68%

5th Grade-79%

6th Grade-87%

The earlyMath assessment is designed to screen and monitor early numeracy skills for students in kindergarten and first grade. The development of earlyMath is based on a thorough examination of the most recent research literature and professional consultation in test development and mathematics education. Each of the subtests is aligned with National Common Core State Standards (CCSS, 2010) and three domains of number sense: (a) number, (b) relations, and (c) operations (Purpura & Lonigan, 2013; National Research Council, 2009). Early numeracy skills measured within the three domains include: naming numerals, using the mental number line, counting with one-to-one correspondence, understanding the relation between numerals and quantities, composing and decomposing numbers, basic verbal fact fluency, an understanding of place value, and knowledge of symbols in story problems.

aMath is a computer-adaptive test (CAT) of broad mathematics skills. aMath items are based on the recommendations of the National Math Panel (2008) and National Common Core Standards (CCSS; 2010). aMath is designed to identify those students with deficits in math achievement in need of additional instruction and predict performance on state accountability measures. During each aMath administration, students complete 30 questions. Item difficulty is determined by a student’s performance on prior items.

Veteran’s Day Program

Families are welcome to join us at 9:00 a.m. on November 11, 2021 for a short Veteran’s Day program in the elementary gym. Citizenship is an important part of our curriculum. This program will reinforce the importance of being a good citizen and honor those veterans that have given so much to ensure that we live in a free and safe country. Please invite local veterans to join us!

November Wall of Honor

Families are again welcome to send pictures of any veterans in their family to be added to our Wall of Honor. The Wall of Honor will be digital again this year. Please e-mail Mrs. Rhodes with the veteran’s name, his or her branch and years of service, and the veteran’s relationship to one of our students (i.e. Joey Brown’s grandfather, Betty Lou’s uncle) and attach a picture. If you sent a picture last year, you do not need to send again. We plan to add to the digital wall we created last year. The digital Wall of Honor will be viewed on our screen in the commons in the mornings and at lunch during the first two weeks of November. We will also share the link if you would like to view it at home.

PBIS Celebrations

As part of our PBIS program, adults provide attention and praise to students following the Blackhawk Code. By paying more attention to what students should be doing than what students should not be doing, teachers show students that doing the right thing is beneficial for everyone. Students earn Buddy Cards for displaying behaviors supporting expectations. Each week, a name is drawn from the students earning buddy cards that week to the classroom student of the week. This student receives recognition at our Friday lunch and a ribbon to place on their backpack. When a class earns 100 Buddy cards, the class has a classroom celebration such as a pajama day, reading in the dark with flashlights, electronic time, etc. The class also moves our Buddy mascot one step on his path around the commons. When Buddy makes it all the way around the commons and back to his nest, we have a schoolwide celebration. The students earned their first schoolwide celebration by the end of September Our celebration was having the students duck tape Mrs. Rhodes to the wall prior to our Student of the Month Awards. In addition, each classroom teacher selects a student who has modeled the Blackhawk Code throughout the month to be the student of the month. Those students are honored at an assembly shared with their peers and receive a trophy and gift certificates. We thank Burger King, Dairy Queen, Sugar Shack, Junkyard Pub N’ Grub, and Long Chick-fil-A for their donations to support our program.

No Homework?

Children will find their greatest success when home and school work together. Often, we do not send home worksheets or book type homework because we want to supervise at school and ensure students are practicing accurately when learning new skills. There are several things that parents can do to help their child at home. Children should read (or be read to) for 15-20 minutes each night. Children should practice spelling their spelling word for 5 minutes or so each night. There are many fun ways to do this. Check with your child’s teacher. Children can also practice counting objects (by 1s, 2s, 5s) or practice their addition and subtraction facts, depending on their age. Aaamath.com is a fun way to practice online or you can use flashcards. These tasks are your child’s homework every night and the best way for families to participate in their child’s academic learning.

Fundraising Labels

The TK-3 building collects Country Hearth bread UPC labels. These can be redeemed for cash to help support the educational needs in our building. Please send the UPCs to school with any TK-3 child or drop off in the elementary office. Tell your friends and family to save these items too. We appreciate the time and effort taken to support our school!

HyVee Receipts

Our preschool raises funds by collecting HyVee receipts. Please send in any and all HyVee receipts dated between August 1, 2021 and May 1, 2022 to help us earn extra money to purchase needed items for our preschool program. Receipts can be dropped off at the elementary office between the hours of 7:45 and 3:45 or sent to school with any of our students.

Holiday Program

Our holiday program will be held on December 6 in the 4-12 gym. The preschool students will perform at 6:30 p.m. and the TK-3 will perform at 7:00 p.m. There will be a break between programs to allow preschool children to get back together with their families to either watch the remainder of the program or to head home for the evening. Mark your calendars to attend this event that will put joy in your heart and bring out that holiday spirit.

Seven Ways to Foster Gratitude in Kids

By Jeffrey Froh, Giacomo Bono (from the University of California, Berkeley)

Many parents and educators worry that today's children are ungrateful. But new research suggests ways to turn the tide. Research has shown that gratitude plays a major role in an adult’s well-being and success, but there has been little corresponding research addressing its development and enhancement in children’s lives.

The Greater Good Science Center's coverage of gratitude is sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation as part of our Expanding Gratitude project.

In fact, until 2005, we know of no studies that examined gratitude and well-being in young children. Then, in 2006, psychologists Nansook Park and Christopher Peterson conducted an analysis of parents’ descriptions of their children’s strengths—and found that gratitude had the strongest relationship to life satisfaction.

In more recent years, two long-term studies have shown why gratitude may be particularly beneficial to youngsters.

One study linked gratitude to greater social support and protection from stress and depression over time. A second study, involving gift-giving in sororities, showed that beneficiaries (new pledges) were most grateful when they felt understood, valued, and cared for by a benefactor (veteran sisters), and that this predicted a sense of connection to each other and to the sorority overall.

These results suggest that gratitude not only helps people form, maintain, and strengthen supportive relationships, but it also helps people feel connected to a caring community.

Evidence from our own research suggests that grateful young adolescents (ages 11-13), compared to their less grateful counterparts, are happier and more optimistic, have better social support, are more satisfied with their school, family, community, friends, and themselves, and give more emotional support to others. We’ve also found that grateful teens (ages 14-19) are more satisfied with their lives, use their strengths to better their community, are more engaged in their schoolwork and hobbies, have higher grades, and are less envious, depressed, and materialistic.

Knowing the benefits that practicing gratitude bestows on kids begs the question: How can we foster more gratitude in children? From our experience as researchers and as parents ourselves, we believe that gratitude is born of a loving connection and grows from a loving connection. When parents tune into an infant’s needs and curiosities and satisfy the infant patiently with love, they’re planting the seeds for gratitude to grow.

Our book, Making Grateful Kids, contains 32 concrete, scientifically-based strategies for encouraging gratitude in children—that is, appreciation for when somebody has done something kind or helpful for them or recognition of the good things and people they have in their lives. While each strategy is important in isolation, here are seven essential themes that underlie the strategies.

1. Model and teach gratitude

Our children want to be like us. We provide the blueprint for what to say and what to do and in what contexts. Expressing gratitude through words, writing, and small gifts or acts of reciprocity are all ways to teach children how to become grateful. Doing this will help make your appreciation for the goodness in your life more public, showing your kids that blessings abound and that being thankful is a valued attitude. Adults can promote gratitude directly in children by helping them appraise the benefits they receive from others—the personal value of those benefits, the altruistic intention of people providing them, and the cost to those people. This helps kids think gratefully.

2. Spend time with your kids and be mindful when with them

Another way to spell love is T-I-M-E. Believe it or not, children and, yes, even adolescents, like being with their parents. Giving a child a lot of quality time with you teaches them the language of love—life’s greatest gift. Savor every moment together, big and small, and rid yourself of distractions at such times, including your smartphone. Being mindful helps you maintain empathy toward a child, and this provides important modeling of empathy, the most important emotion for developing gratitude and moral behavior. It will also give you and your child a heightened sense of appreciation for the things both of you love and for your relationship.

3. Support your child’s autonomy

Using an authoritative or democratic parenting style, which is firm, yet flexible, sup- ports children’s autonomy. This will enhance family relationships, improve the atmosphere at home, and help bring out their strengths and talents, all good for making grateful kids. By taking ownership over their skills and talents and being responsible for developing them, children gain things to appreciate in life and make it easier to attract support from others, thus inviting gratitude into their daily life. Also, limiting children’s media consumption and guiding them to use media in prosocial ways protects them from commercial influences that discourage the development of the authenticity, self-development, and social interaction necessary to grow into positive, purposeful, grateful individuals.

4. Use kids’ strengths to fuel gratitude

After you’ve identified your children’s top strengths and you know their unique strengths profile, you should encourage and help them to use those strengths whenever possible. Not only does this open up opportunities for others to contribute to the things your children love, but it also enables your children to strengthen their ability to be helpful and cooperative toward others, which will make them more grateful. To directly promote gratitude, encourage and help your children to use their strengths to thank and be kind to others.

5. Help focus and support kids to achieve intrinsic goals

It’s very easy for people, especially youth, to pursue extrinsic—or materialistic—goals such as desiring or having possessions that show wealth, status, or convey a certain image. This usually leads to less fulfilling social relationships and forecloses prospects for developing deep connections with others and genuine gratitude. It’s our job to steer them away from pursuing extrinsic goals and toward pursuing intrinsic goals, such as engaging in activities that provide community, affiliation, and growth. Not only will successfully achieving these goals fulfill children’s fundamental human needs of competency, belongingness, and autonomy, but their personal development, happiness, success, and gratitude depend on it. To amplify their gratitude even more, remember to savor their accomplishments with them along the way, and encourage them to thank those who’ve helped them meet their goals.

6. Encourage helping others and nurturing relationships

Helping others and being generous are two key ingredients for making grateful kids. When children lend a hand, especially while using their strengths, they feel more connected to those they’re helping, which helps them to develop and nurture friendships and social relationships. A great way to do this is by teaching them through your actions that other people matter and that tending to relationships should be a priority. To help children strengthen their relationships, you should encourage them to be thoughtful of others, to thank others regularly, and to be cooperative, helpful, and giving.

7. Help kids find what matters to them

Having a sense of purpose in life gives youth a compass for creating a meaningful life. As adults, it’s our job to help kids discover their passions and to find a path to purpose that resonates with them— with their values, interests, and dreams. This starts with feeding their interests in the social issues they care about and pushing them to learn as much as they can about those issues and discover ways they can make a difference. The deepest sense of gratitude in life comes from connecting to a bigger picture, to an issue that matters to others and doing things that contribute to society down the road.

Trying to make grateful kids isn’t just an issue for families; it’s an issue for society as well. Society desperately needs to harness the power of gratitude. As our world becomes more culturally diverse and digitally connected, and as complex societal problems mount, gratitude may help catalyze the motivation and skills youth need to succeed not just academically but in the “life test” too. We must all do our part to help kids develop into moral adults, who will contribute to a world of compassion and care. But, while there’s no quick fix for cultivating gratitude in young people, the more we remain committed to it, the more rewards we’ll reap. Indeed, by bringing out the best in our kids, we can only imagine what blessings Generation Grateful could bring. Anything worthwhile takes a lot of time and effort. It’s up to all of us to make it happen.

Mark These Dates

Our November Mindset is KINDNESS

Nov. 1 – No School for Students

Teachers and Paras train in Youth Mental Health First Aid

Nov. 2 - Return October Blackhawk Reader Calendars

3:30-5:00 Clover Kids Group 1

Nov. 7 - Daylight Savings Time Ends

Nov. 9 - 1st Grade to Charlotte’s Web play (need cold lunch)

3:30-5:00 Clover Kids Group 2

Nov. 10 - 2 hour early dismissal for Professional Development

Nov. 11 - 9:00 Veteran’s Day Program in Elementary Gym

Picture Retake Day

Nov. 15 – 7:00 School Board Meeting

Nov. 16 - 3:30-5:00 Clover Kids Group 3

Nov. 24-Dec. 10 - HPA Spellathon

Nov. 24 - 2 hour early dismissal for holiday break

Nov. 25 & 26 - No School

Nov. 30 – SOTM Awards: Wear your PBIS shirt

Dec. 1 – November Blackhawk Reader Calendars due

Dec. 6 - 6:30 Preschool Holiday Presentation in 4-12 gym

7:00 TK-3 Holiday Program in 4-12 gym

Dec 8 - 2 hour early dismissal for Professional Development

Dec. 20 - Scratch Cupcake Fundraiser begins

Dec. 21 - SOTM Awards: Wear your PBIS shirt

2 hour early dismissal for holiday break

Dec. 22-Jan. 3 - Winter Break for Students

Jan. 3 - Professional Development Day for teachers

Jan. 4 - School Resumes, December Blackhawk Reader Calendars due

Jan. 5 - Scratch Cupcake Orders due at school

Jan. 12 – 2 hr early dismissal for Professional Development

Jan. 26 – 2 hr early dismissal for Professional Development

Jan. 28 - 5:30-7:00 p.m. PK-6 Fun Night

Jan. 31 - SOTM Awards: Wear your PBIS shirt

Blackhawk Nation:

One of the missions of extracurricular school activities is to serve as an extension of the classroom. There are strong lessons to be learned in athletics. One of those lessons is to set and maintain high standards of sportsmanship, ethics and integrity in our schools and our society. It is up to us to provide the direction and constant vigilance under which good sportsmanship can prosper and have a positive impact on our children.

The Hinton CSD continues to partner our efforts with the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Association and the Iowa High School Athletic Association in promoting good sportsmanship and proper behavior at ANY and ALL athletic events that happen in and out of our schools.

The value of the lessons learned by exhibiting good sportsmanship will last a lifetime. As adults should we ever lose sight of that, then athletics, or any extracurricular activity, is not worth sponsoring. The positive actions of a coach, athlete or spectator at an event can influence how our school is perceived in our community and the communities of those schools we meet in competition.

Everyone represents our school and community at an athletic event. One act of sportsmanship, or unsportsmanlike behavior by even one person or parent, paints a picture of how we are perceived by neighboring communities, schools, and the media of all types. Maintaining the proper perspective about school sports will help us in our quest for positive sportsmanship, show what is good about our school district, and remind us that school sports are here to educate students and be fun.

We look forward to serving you throughout the year, and appreciate your continued support.

GO BLACKHAWKS!!

Brian DeJong

Hinton CSD Athletic Director

FALL SPORTS

Congratulations to our fall sports teams. The MS and HS football teams had great seasons and the volleyball team made the regional semi finals. Also, the Cross Country teams performed well all season winning a couple meets!

WINTER SPORTS

Winter sports will soon be starting up. Girls Basketball will start November 8 and Boys Basketball and Wrestling will begin November 15. All athletes participating will need physicals taken before they can practice.

October has been a busy, but fun month for our 7-12th graders.

First of all, we successfully completed Homecoming Week! In the high school principal's world, it is not uncommon to feel a little anxious about the unknowns during that week, but let me tell you, it was a great week without any major issues! We brought back Powderpuff football, had the best pep rally I've ever been a part of (in my life!), and had the most entries at our school parade. The kids finished off the week with a dance in the elementary school, which also went smoothly unless you count some of the kids unsuccessfully blowing into the breathalyzers. Don't worry, everyone was alcohol-free, but some of them couldn't quite figure out how to breathe properly into the device, which I have to admit was very entertaining to the point of laughing with tears. I had to learn the hard way that I needed to hold the breathalyzer away from my face unless I wanted to smell every student's breath that night.

Beyond Homecoming, October has been filled with opportunities for our students to learn, grow, and excel even beyond the daily grind of classroom education. Our students have had opportunities to take the ACT and P-SAT as well as go on field trips. Our juniors went on the career and college fair and our industrial arts students had an opportunity to attend an industrial arts Career Expo with over 20 vendors. FCCLA and FFA have had multiple opportunities to attend leadership conferences as well. In addition, Teri Bos, a public health nurse presented on vaping to all of our 7th-10th graders recently. She presented to groups of about 20, which made it easier for all of our students to stay engaged and take in all of the information.

Let's boast about some of our student successes!

FCCLA: In addition to Maddie Fox being a National Officer and Megan Ream being our State President, Ian Hertenstein was elected to be the District President and Lauren Kounkel was elected to District Treasurer!

Choir: Ayden Soroka was selected to be part of the Iowa Opus Honor Choir!

Dylan Hartman, Ian Hertenstein, and Ayden Soroka were selected to be part of the Midwestern Region ACDA (American Choral Directors Association) Honor Choir!

These junior high students were selected to be part of the Northwest Iowa Junior High Honor Choir: CJ Badar, Mikaela Clark, Addison Ebert, Erika Fischer, Axal Grover, Izzy Hodgson, Zoey Ibanez, Anne Johnson, Piper Kaiser, Calen Keegan, Caden Koopmans, Keygan McCully, Cameron Rolfes, Quentin Smith, Roane Vaydich, Jake Wager, Aubrey Watts!

Band: Emily Bach was selected to be part of the Iowa All-State Band for trumpet!

Caden Koopmans was selected to be part of the Northwest Iowa Bandmasters Association Middle School/Junior High Honor Band for trombone!

These students were selected to be part of the Augustana Band Festival:

Emily Bach, 11th grade, trumpet

Dylan Hartman, 11th grade, alto saxophone

Ian Hertenstein, 10th grade, trombone

Sara Sparr, 10th grade, flute

These students were selected to be part of the Karl King Honor Band:

Caden Koopmans, 7th grade, trombone

Ellie Hertenstein, 7th grade, trumpet

Elie Iversen, 6th grade, clarinet

Alex Leitru, 6th grade, trumpet

Karel Valenzuela-Limon, 6th grade, trombone

Congratulations to all of these students! If you were able to attend our Fall 7-12 concert, you would've heard the talented musicians we have. I know some were disappointed we chose not to livestream the concert, which is something we will continue to consider in the future, but it is also nice that parents and community members were able to show their physical and financial support to our music programs.

The 7th and 8th graders were able to have their annual "Scary Stories" they created and shared on the 28th. It is safe to say we have some talented and creative writers. It is also safe to say that our middle schoolers still like to dress up for Halloween as well!

Veteran's Day is coming up. 4-12th grade will have our program at 1:05 pm in the gym. The music department, Gavin Nelson, and I have created a pretty cool program that we are excited about and that Gavin raised money for. If you haven't heard about it, we invite you to be part of this special event although I must forewarn you that space may be limited.

The 4-6 Student Council organized a food drive during the week of October 18th. Each preschool-6th grade classroom collected food to donate. Our classrooms did a great job of collecting and we FILLED the school van. On behalf of the 4-6 Student Council, I would like to THANK YOU for all of the donations and supporting our local families!

Juniors Attend College/Career Fair

The junior class was able to participate in the NCC college and career fair where they each signed up to attend 4/30 minute sessions. They selected three career speakers and were then assigned one session at the college fair hosted in the NCC Wellness Center. NCC selects area professionals to come in and speak about training needed for that career, day-to-day job activities in the career, income, and the outlook for growth in these professions.

Future Ready Iowa Opportunities - https://www.futurereadyiowa.gov/career-pathway-documents

This link takes you to 3 different links in advanced manufacturing, energy, and informational technology (I.T.). Students may have ideas on broad career concepts or areas they like, and this link takes them to specific career titles that fall under these broad categories. This is a great resource.

Powerline Wait List -

Students interested in the NCC Powerline program for the fall of 2023 need to apply now! NCC in Sheldon is one of the few programs in the midwest corridor that offers this program, and they have been cited as a leader in the powerline training program by industry leaders. This is a great opportunity. Hinton has several underclassmen already applied and accepted to the list for the fall of 2023 so don't delay!

Welding Program Opportunities -

Midwest Welding Academy and WITCC are both Sioux City based programs that train students in the career of welding. Both programs are gaining enrollment based on outstanding job growth and salary opportunities. Hinton High School students can enroll for the WITCC welding program for free and earn a welding certificate upon completion of the two year program. Interested sophomores should begin thinking about adding that to their junior/senior year schedule. The program is periods 1-2, our students drive themselves to campus and return to Hinton for their 3rd period class.

Murphy USA also offers an apprentice welding program where students get paid while they learn. The Murphy USA program enrollment is for students after high school graduation.

Diesel Tech Programs -

Peterbilt of Sioux City is offering an apprenticeship program and will pay students while they learn diesel mechanics. Interested juniors and seniors should call down and set up an appointment to learn about the benefits of this program. This is a program set up after they graduate from high school. NCC in Sheldon is the only other school in northwest Iowa for diesel mechanics. This is another high demand field.

Greetings from the health office. As many of you know Covid is here and will likely be around for some time. I appreciate all you are doing to try to keep our students as healthy as possible. This year is somewhat difficult as the rules are less strict than last year. We continue to send ill students home and recommend they be tested if showing signs of Covid. It is considered best practice for students as well as staff to remain home for 10 days if they test positive. Please feel free to reach out to me if you have further questions or concerns.

The health office remains busy day after day. I have completed the immunization audit that was due the end of October and am happy to say we have only 3 students that did not pass the audit. They will be updated soon.

I am currently working on dental and vision screenings for Kindergartners, 3rd graders, and 9th graders. You may receive a note in the near future if your student does not have the appropriate forms in for the screenings.

I am happy to have returned to Hinton Community School as the school nurse. Please know I

will do my very best to keep your students healthy.

This fall I had the pleasure of once again coaching JV volleyball here at Hinton. One of the aspects I love about Hinton is our small school, highly involved athletes. Not only were these girls competing for volleyball, they also likely are playing at least one other sport and are involved in an additional club or extracurricular. This fall shifting back into “full school” mode has been a lot on all of us. Remembering the crazy schedules, the homecoming fun, plus all the extras of a normal school year have been taxing but so worth it. I truly believe spending time with students outside of the classroom strengthens bonds and improves connections teachers have with not only the student body, but also with the parents and community as well. When the days got long, or we got overwhelmed with our schedules, having that time together as a team whether in practice or games was a good basis from which to recenter oneself. This season the growth by the team was remarkable. We were a young JV group, with a junior, sophomores, and freshman. Every night we went to step on the court it seemed we had a different lineup, due to illness, injury, or other school committments. That being said, it seemed as if our group was always able to rally around each other and win. I witnessed young athletes learn positions on the fly, and also learn what it means to be a leader, as well as how to deal with adversity as a team. Coaching gives one a great opportunity to watch kids grow and mature both in life and on the court. To say we are blessed to be coaches here at Hinton is an understatement, for it is for the kids we do this job. They make the long hours, weekends, bus trips and nights away from family worth it. To see an athlete come as an 8th grader and leave as a senior as a part of your family will always be why we step on the court or diamond together. As our season comes to a close and basketball waits patiently around the corner, I want to thank parents, fellow coaches, and most importantly the kids for this great opportunity and look forward to watching you this winter. Go Blackhawks!

Chips, Gold, Digs and Myths

Q: What do you get when you combine Chips, Gold, Digs and Myths?

A: You get the 4-6 Grade TAG units

At the beginning of the year the TAG students in grades 4-6 completed “All About Me” units. While these units were each different, they allowed the students to learn about themselves through reflection, discussion, and hands-on activities. At the conclusion of the units, each grade level voted on the topic they wanted to learn about next. The occasional STEAM challenge has been sprinkled throughout the units. These are always a favorite of any of the grades.

Ship the Chip

In September, the 4-6 students participated in the Northwest AEA TAG Challenge. The challenge was to design packaging that would ship five Pringles chips to another school without any chips breaking. The package had to cost less than seven dollars to ship. Each grade level worked in groups to design, create, and test a package to send their Pringles in. Each grade level then voted on the design they thought would work the best. I am happy to report that none of the Pringles sent from our school broke in the shipping process!

Going for the GOLD!

In 4th grade TAG the students have been studying the history, sports, and events of the Olympics. Now that they have background knowledge of the Olympics, they are working on creating their own Olympic Games in the classroom, complete with an Olympic Symbol, their own medal system, and at least three events that can be held in the classroom or on the playground. As they create the individual pieces of their Olympic Games, they are using collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking to work through roadblocks and filter ideas.

Can you DIG it?

The 5th grade TAG students have been studying archaeology. They have learned about the different types of archaeology, the tools they use, how excavations work, and what archaeologists do to determine what the artifacts are telling them. Recently, the 5th grade TAG students discovered they would have the opportunity to plan and complete their own excavation on school grounds. This project will allow them to plan, collaborate with each other, present to officials, and explain their findings. There was mention of a time capsule being buried on the grounds; they are hopeful to uncover that and the secrets it holds.

What’s in a Myth?

The 6th grade TAG students are learning about Greek Mythology. They are reading “The Lightning Thief” to guide them through the discovery of the myths. Each student will present a summary of the chapters they read and the myths they learned about. At the conclusion of the study they will choose one myth to learn more about, determine what the myth represented to the Ancient Greeks, and create a visual representation of their myths. This unit will allow the students to collaborate with each other, compare and contrast the myths, present to others, and create a TAG gallery of Greek Myths.

That’s All She Wrote for 2021 Football

The Junior Varsity football team wrapped up their season in late October on a two game road skid. We had the opportunity against Lawton to get our record evened at .500% but just couldn't put the ball into the endzone when we had the chances. I do believe our Junior Varsity program allows our young men the chance to compete. We were in most of the games we played except for maybe one. I can’t say enough about how much our guys improved throughout the course of the season. It will take a consistent commitment to become the football team we want to be. We have talked about this at length and now it’s up to them to utilize the opportunities we offer to get better.

We ended the Junior Varsity season with a 3-5 record. We opened up the season with an 8-0 dub over Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn, the Blackhawks escaped the other Hawks.. We lost a close one in game two by a score of 14-12 to a tough Woodbury Central team.( I personally didn’t think the kid got in on the 2 point conversion, but what do I know.) In the third game of the season we traveled into Husker territory and put a beat down on the Ponca Indians, 26-14. We then ran into a buzzsaw in Hawarden losing 48-14 at the Held Complex. Sitting at 2-2 we faced our rivals to the west, the Westerners of A-W, the Westerners waltzed out of town with a 32-8 victory. We bounced back in game six of the season in what I think was our most exciting game of the year scoring the go-ahead-touchdown with 12 seconds on the clock in a 14-8 victory over Unity Christian. We finished the year with two road losses, 30-0 at Gehlen and a hard fought 16-0 game to the Eagles of Lawton-Bronson.

We were a young football team this past season, we played a lot of freshmen and sophomores but they always played with a lot of passion and grit. I really thought this group learned how to compete as the season progressed. We were a much different team at the end of the season than where we began in early August. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen this many freshman and sophomores called to play on the varsity. Continued dedication in the weightroom and participation in some off season camps these Junior Varsity players will for sure see an increased role on the varsity next season.

Members of this year’s Junior Varsity squad were Juniors Carson Pierce, Cale Sudbeck, Ethen Huebner, and Carter Petersen. Sophomores Danny Blackwell, Tommy Elidaes, Karson Ludwig, and Kyle Wiese. Last but not least are our Freshmen team members, 17 of them. These are the kinds of numbers we lack in the upper grades. We told these guys to stick with it and stick together, you can do some great things if these guys continue their football careers. Gabe Anderson, Kyle Leary, Nick Lindley, Mark Gant, Brooks Binnebose, Brogan Lake, Landin Burkhart, jacob Small, Jack Beeck, Jayson Rolfes, Blake Schoenherr, Kolton Robinson, Logan Charlson, Tyler Chasteen, Jacob Bishop, Drew Keller, and Evan Stahl. Coach Case and I would like to say thanks to these guys for a great season.

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