M u s t a n g a

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e January/February 2017

Opening Minds to Lifelong Learning!

Rihanna

Grade 4

Dear Irwin Parents,

We have two new staff members to welcome to our Mustang Family.

Mr. Warkentien, Irwin Assistant Principal, came to us right after

Thanksgiving. Please read the article about him in our Mustang Magazine.

Mrs. Tracy Johnson, second grade teacher, will be teaching with

Mrs. Hinton. She comes to us from Diamond Elementary School in Fort

Stewart. We are fortunate to have both join our staff at Irwin.

The students and staff have been busy this year working on content standards so that every

child will master grade level expectations. We are seeing so much progress and growth in our

students, and we are very proud of them. We hope that you continue to read with your child

every night and encourage them to do their best at school.

The end of the second nine weeks will be January 20. Report cards will

go home on January 30. We do not have scheduled parent teacher

conferences on the calendar. Please do not hesitate to ask your child’s

teacher for a conference if you have concerns about their performance.

We expect excellence from our students. If your child’s performance

has slipped from previous years, now is the time to determine a plan of

action to help your child get refocused so he/she can be successful

academically.

Please continue to volunteer as much as possible. Our students love the

extra attention they receive from our parent volunteers!

Yours in Education,

Miriam Breece

Opening Minds to Lifelong Learning

Page 2

Important Dates

January 3– Return to School

January 16: No School (MLK Jr. Day)

January 20: End of Quarter 2

January 23: No School (Teacher Workday)

January 30-February 3: Book Fair

February 7: Class Pictures

February 9-10: No School (CCRSM Training for Teachers)

February 20: No School (Presidents’ Day)

From the Principal’s Desk

Miriam Breece, Principal

Opening Minds to Lifelong Learning Page 4

From the Assistant Principal’s Desk

Michael Warkentien, Assistant Principal

Dear Mustang Parents,

I want to first start off by saying thank you for the warm welcome and all the support I

have received from the Irwin IS community as I transition into the assistant principal

position. I am thrilled to have this opportunity to serve in such a student-centered, high

quality academic environment! I too was a student in a DoDEA school while my family was

stationed in Rota, Spain. We later moved to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, which is where I call

home.

I served 8 years in the Marine Corps Reserves and began teaching in 2004. My first teaching

assignment was 8th grade math in Broward County Public Schools. After 5 years of teaching

middle school math, I was selected to be a district math coach to support struggling schools

and teachers across the district. I was promoted to a high school assistant principal position

after two years of coaching, which was the last position I held before accepting this one. I

recently graduated with my Ph.D. in educational leadership from Florida Atlantic University.

I am excited to be here and look forward to working with all of our stakeholders towards our

mission to prepare our diverse population for success in a dynamic global society through a

nurturing and academically challenging environment!

Sincerely,

Michael Warkentien

Assistant Principal

Resolutions & Cold Weather Solutions

People often make New Year’s resolutions. A resolution is a promise to make an

improvement or do something different in the New Year. Like setting goals,

resolutions help you stick to a plan. Consider those things that you would like to

improve for the second half of the school year. For example, improving your study

habits, being more responsible, helping others, or improving your game in sports are

all great ideas for New Year’s resolutions. Make a resolution to meet your goal.

Do you have the winter blahs? The cold weather can make the days feel long. In case we don’t have all

that snow to play in this year, find some fun around your house so the winter doesn’t seem so blah. Play

some board games, find something new to bake, or build a tent and watch a movie under the tent with

your tablet!

Parents often ask us, “How can I get my child’s attention to do their homework right afterschool?”

There is no easy answer. Each child learns differently and their homework habits are different, too.

Try to refocus your child’s energy to get ready to do homework. Just as your child might stretch

before a soccer game, your child can warm up their body and brain for homework. You can help them

switch gears from playtime to work time. For example, suggest that they draw for five

minutes before beginning a project. Have your child burn off extra energy by exercising

first. They can shoot hoops, dance to music, or do toe touches. Do you remember in the

Karate Kid “wax-on wax-off”? These “brain gyms” stimulate your child’s brain to help set

them in preparation to sit down and do homework.

Your child’s backpack is full of clues about what’s happening in school. Take 10 minutes

each day to have them show you what’s inside. You can go over homework and graded

papers. Review those they might be struggling with and praise them for those well done!

And now introducing… Our new MFLC, Miss Jo

Faculty and Staff at Irwin Intermediate would like extend a warm welcome to our newest team member,

Military and Family Life Counselor (MFLC), Jovan McLeod. The role of the MFLC is to provide brief, non

-medical, solution-focused counseling and education to military students and their families.

As the daughter of an Airman and a military spouse, Mrs. McLeod is all too familiar with the unique

challenges, hardships and sacrifices that befall military families. She is well equipped to offer

counseling and support services to students and families in need. She has served in various service

positions at several military installations over a 16-year span and has a wealth of varied experience in

the counseling/behavioral health field. We are pleased to have her onboard and look forward to all of

the ways Miss Jo will add to our team and build on the many assets that make Irwin Intermediate

School great.

Page 5 Opening Minds to Lifelong Learning

Counselors’ Corner

Dr. G.A. Small and Mrs. E. Preston, School Counselors

Opening Minds to Lifelong Learning Page 6

Interrelated and Integrated Model of Instruction

Kari Dahl, Staff Development Teacher

PBL Unit 3 will begin on Tuesday, January 3rd. Before winter break, the teachers planned units that

will meet our standards and engage students in the 21st Century skills. Here are the Unit 3 driving

questions and final products for each grade level:

Driving Question Final Product

2nd Grade How can we, as historians, honor

people who have made a

difference in other’s lives?

Soda Bottle Biographies

3rd Grade How can I, as a consumer, earn,

spend, and save my money

wisely?

Lunch Menu on a Budget

4th Grade How could we, as museum

curators, educate children and

adults of all ages about regions

of the United States?

Native American Museum

5th Grade How can we, as young inventors,

create, plan or design an

invention that improves our cur-

rent quality of life?

Inventions that Make Life Easier or Solve a

Problem

Physical Education classes are a busy 45 minutes a week. The students start class with warmups, which include

sit-ups, push-ups, jumping jacks and three minutes of jogging and skipping around the gym with music. The main

activity of the lesson follows warm ups. Some of our activities this year have been tag games, cup stacking,

games on scooters, trashketball, hula hoops, jump ropes, frisbee, four square, capture the flag, and relay games.

For the third year in a row, Irwin Intermediate School helped set a new STACK UP! Guinness World Record.

Verifications are still coming in and our sights are now set on our 625,000 stackers in one day goal. Stackers

were participating worldwide. We will be receiving a nice certificate to hang in the gym for our efforts. GO

MUSTANGS!!

In 2017, we will begin our required Fitness Gram testing for our students. Students 10 years old and older by

the end of the school year and will be tested on their sit-ups, push-ups, flexibility, body fat (height and weight)

and the mile run. Our students have been practicing in class and by doing their homework assignments. The

results will be put into the final report cards in June. Finally, please remember that students need to wear

tennis shoes in order to fully participate in Physical Education classes.

Sincerely,

Coach Morgan

PE News

Coach Morgan, Physical Education Teacher

Page 7 Opening Minds to Lifelong Learning

Speak Up Survey

The Speak Up survey is open from October 12, 2016 through January 13, 2017.

Join the conversation about the use of technology for learning through Speak Up, a National Research Project.

Since 2003, more than 4.5 million K-12 education stakeholders have participated in the annual online surveys.

Data findings are shared each year with federal, state and local policymakers to inform education programs,

policies and funding.

Please allow time for your staff and students to complete the survey before the 13 January 2017 suspense date.

The data collected will assist the Mid-Atlantic District in developing a district-wide Digital Learning Plan and

DoDEA in understanding our technology and learning needs as students and educators.

Take the survey by following these instructions:

1. Go to this link: http://www.speakup4schools.org/speakup2016/

2. Click on the appropriate survey (Student, Educator, Parent, Community member).

3. Follow the given instructions to access the survey. Begin by entering your school zip or clicking on the

drop down button and select your state, then go to the next line and type in your school name to find

your school.

4. Read the instructions and take the survey.