Sam Rayburn Independent School District

The Rebel Review –School News

Dear Sam Rayburn ISD Community,

Sam Rayburn ISD

Welcome back SRISD! We are excited to experience a record-

number of students as we begin the 2016-17 school year. As our enrollment continues to

climb, we are starting the year with 525 students in grades PK-12. This growth is a testament

to the great reputation that Sam Rayburn ISD has both academically and socially for students

inside and outside of the classroom. Not only are we attracting new families moving to the

area, but also we are seen as a “destination district” for students transferring from other

school districts.

Our students are enjoying the benefits of new facilities, along with the addition of great new

teacher hires, as they begin another year in SRISD. We have moved into a new elementary

classroom wing and new agricultural science facility. Our cafeteria staff loves the new kitchen

renovation as it allows them to serve more students more efficiently with better equipment.

We invite the public to an “official ribbon-cutting ceremony” on Sunday afternoon, October

30th at 2:30 p.m. We will tour the facilities and celebrate the success of the construction

completion of these state-of-the-art facilities.

One of our main goals in SRISD is to prepare students for success after high school. This

month we will start our “Think College Thursday” on the last Thursday of each month.

Students and staff are encouraged to wear their favorite college colors, or any other

institution of higher learning (junior college, trade school, military, etc.). We will discuss

post-secondary opportunities with all grade levels and how to plan for success!

It is a wonderful time of year and our Rebels and Lady Rebels are very busy! I encourage

everyone to support our students in their activities whether that be cross-country, junior high

baseball and softball, FFA, or whatever else might be on the calendar! We are off to a great

start and I would like to thank everyone for their flexibility and patience as we finish

construction projects and get into the “routine” of another great school year. Go Rebels and

Lady Rebels!

Cole McClendon, Ed.D

Superintendent

9363 E FM 273

Ivanhoe, TX 75447

July –September 2016

Page 2 Sam Rayburn

New

Faculty

and

Staff

Members

During the summer months, Sam Rayburn acquired several new faculty and staff members. Pictured above (left to right): Sam Pearson -custodian, Tahni Nichols -HS Science, Taylor McAlister -HS Agriscience, Kamalee Banks -JH Reading, Nequita Shastid- 3rd Grade, Sharon Haggard- 6th Grade, Kassie Daniels -custodian. Pictured left, Kristi Hall and

Samantha White are recent hires who now help out the cafeteria staff.

New Facilities Complete!

Pictured top (left to right): the

agricultural science building, shop,

and classrooms. Pictured center

(left to right): the 5th and 6th grade

classrooms, science lab area, and

restrooms. Pictured right: the

expanded cafeteria area and serving

section of the kitchen.

April - June Page 3

National

School Spirit

Pep-rally!

School Recognitions

Student STAAR testing results from the 2015-2016 school year were received in July. The state uses this testing data to recognize schools and school districts for their performance. Our district and each of the two campuses received the highest rating available from the Texas Education Agency for our academic performance:

Sam Rayburn ISD - Met Standard

Sam Rayburn High School - Met Standard

Sam Rayburn Elementary - Met Standard

Sam Rayburn Elementary received a distinction for Top 25 Percent Student Progress, while the High School received four distinctions: Academic Achievement in Social Studies, Top 25 Percent Student Progress, Top 25 Percent Closing Performance Gaps, and College Readiness.

The district and campuses surpassed the targets in all areas as determined by the state. The students and staff did an outstanding job and our district goal is to do even better for the 2016-2017 school year.

The order of names on the ballot for the November election of SRISD Board of Trustees was determined on August 24th. The ballot will appear as seen below and voters will be asked to choose four

candidates for office:

Jason Mussett

Jason Nichols

Bryan McCraw

David Farris

Craig Myracle

Lynn Gibbs

Stuart Hall

If you are not a registered voter and reside inside the boundaries of SRISD, you will need to contact voter registration at the Fannin County Courthouse in order to become eligible to vote in the SRISD November school board election. Early voting by personal appearance will begin October 24th –November 4th at the Fannin County Courthouse (times will vary). Applications for ballot by mail should be sent to: Tammy Biggar, Fannin County Clerk, Fannin County Courthouse, 101 E. Sam Rayburn, Ste. #103, Bonham, TX 75418.

School Board Election Information

Page 4 Summer Cheer

The Sam Rayburn Varsity Cheerleaders attended summer camp at The Hilton Lakefront in Rockwall, Texas. The girls represented Sam Rayburn very well. Each day they received a ribbon higher than the previous day, which shows improvement in their formal evaluations each day of camp. On the final day at camp, the girls received a "Superior" rating, which is the highest available. As a team, they also received the safest stunting award. This is an award that is not taken lightly, as safety is most important when they are stunting. Emily Love was nominated for All-American Cheerleader, which is also an honor. Again, they worked hard to perform their best and did an outstanding job of representing SRISD.

Sam Rayburn Cross Country

JH Baseball and Softball

Coach David Guadiano has been diligently preparing the cross country teams for this year’s district competition. To date, our teams have run at Avery, North Hopkins, Ft. Washita, and Grand Prairie; and they continue to improve their running times each week. After being re-districted, Sam Rayburn is now contending with new adversaries: Collinsville, Lindsay, Tom Bean, and Valley View (Bells ISD remained in our district). The district meet is set for October 15

th in Lindsay.

Junior Class Project

The junior class of Sam Rayburn spent the first couple of weeks at school doing a research project over Mr. Sam Rayburn in their English class. After conducting extensive research, creating a project, and presenting the project to the class, the students went on an educational field trip. The students attended the Sam Rayburn House, The Sam Rayburn Library and Museum, The Fannin County Historical Museum, and Fort Inglish. Each student participated in question and answering sessions, while touring each location. The students had fun while learning about great historical figures.

FFA Students Hard at Work April - June Page 5

Library Update

The FFA students have been hard at work preparing for upcoming shows, as well as attending area competitions and meetings. On September 22nd and 23rd, several students competed in the heifer show at the East Texas State Fair. Our students did very well: Lexi Burkard received 2nd in class with her Simmental and 1st/Grand Champion with her Maine Anjou; Lynleigh Calaway received 7th and 9th with her

Beefmaster; Carson Clark was awarded 1st and 4th with his Charolais; Luke Cundy was awarded 3rd in class with his Brangus; Tucker Gibbs was 1st in class with his Angus; Garrett Grintz received 3rd in class with his Limousin; Natalie Nichols received 3rd in class with her Santa Gertrudis. Additionally, Cassi Burkhammer received Reserve Calf Division Champion at the Western National Brangus Show in Oklahoma City.

On September 24th, the Area 5 FFA members hosted a Greenhand Camp. A Greenhand is any first year FFA member. There were approximately 500 students in attendance at the camp. The Greenhands separated into groups then learned about the purpose and goals of FFA through activities and fun games. Pictured left to right are our eighth and ninth grade Greenhands: Weston Whiteside, William Collinsworth, Reagan Gibbs, Sam Grintz, Jacey Daniels, Karisma Logan, and Emily Bledsoe .

Sam Rayburn ISD library is implementing a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) project where teachers can check out project tubs relating to those 5 specific subject areas in order to integrate hands-on learning in the classroom when appropriate for any of our grade levels. Ms. Hopkins received training at two different Region 10 conferences earlier in the year and has been working since then to acquire the necessary items, provide staff training, and working with 3

rd grade GT students using the projects.

Projects include: Animation Studio, word games, story starters, bristlebots, drawing, coding, Green Screen by Do Ink, Keva planks, knot tying, Lego challenges, magnets & electricity, magnetic poetry, Ollie and Sphero coding robots, origami, Osmo, pentominos, snap and

squishy circuits, tangrams, Tiggly shapes, words & math, and Zentangles drawing.

Since Ms. Hopkins’ arrival nine years ago, the number of classes served has grown 47% . Our library collection size has grown 170.16% during that same period, increasing from 9,776 to 26,411 items. This shows how much our library continues to meet the demands of our school population while providing valuable resources to our students and teachers.

Page 6 Sam Rayburn

Sam Rayburn’s own Mr. Mark

Gibbs was awarded the September

“Teacher of the Month” by the Katy Country radio station.

Mr. Gibbs teaches high

school government, economics,

world history, and career. He was nominated

by an anonymous student and

interviewed on air by radio host Zac Grantham (pictured with

Mr. Gibbs above). As the teacher of the

month, Mr. Gibbs received a

plaque, a $500 cash award, and

is now in the running for the Teacher of the

Year!

Katy Country

Teacher of

the Month

Summer Beta Convention

Sam Rayburn Beta Club attended the National Beta Conference in New Orleans this summer. It was the first time in school history that the Beta club advanced. Emma Carruth and Kaytlyn Abbott advanced for their art pieces.

Emma Carruth entered a sculpture. She placed 2nd

at State to advance and placed 1

st at Nationals. She is the National Champion

in sculpture! Kaytlyn Abbott placed 3rd

at State to advance to Nationals. The 2015 -2016 officers and the 2016 - 2017 officers also attended. They participated in a Recycle, Reuse Fashion Show Challenge. The girls created a dress out of medical gloves. They were also challenged to create a mask out of the items that they had on hand. In addition to attending meetings, competing in events, and voting for National Officers, the Beta Club, toured the French District and learned some of the history of New Orleans. The attendees also got to go on a Segway tour, as well as a swamp boat ride, where they got to hold a baby alligator. The trip was a wonderful experience for the Beta club members.

"Think College Thursday" is a new implementation at

Sam Rayburn. Students and staff are encouraged to

wear the "colors" of their favorite college, university,

junior college, trade school, or branch of the military

on the last Thursday of each month. This applies to

all grades, PK-12, as it is never too early to discuss

setting goals and developing a post-high school plan.

September 29th was the first “College Thursday” and

it was a great success. We hope this idea continues

to spark discussions on the variety of opportunities

available through different institutions.

Think College Thursdays

April - June Page 7

In February of this year, Ms. Hopkins had a former student, Greg Ward, tell her that he was going to attempt to fulfill a desire to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail this year to celebrate his 50

th birthday. He asked her if our school would

be interested in adopting him to provide encouragement while he provided them with news of his adventurous hike. Greg flew to Atlanta and began his hike on March 22 at Amicalola Falls, Georgia where he signed in as hiker number 851. As Greg traveled he would send text, e-mails, pictures, and FB messages to Ms. Hopkins to relay to the school through e-mail updates. Together, the two of them kept his FB page (Greg’s AT Adventures) updated for the general public. Mrs. Musset’s 3

rd grade classes along with Mrs.

Williams’ 4th grade class and Mrs. Rogers’ 9th and 11

th grade classes especially followed

Greg’s travels closely. Students corresponded with Greg, used math skills to make predictions about how many steps he’d taken, how many miles per day he was averaging, and took an interest in many other aspects of his journey.

By early June, Greg had covered half of the 2,190.4 miles of the trail and checked in with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy near Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia where he was number 526 to make it that far this year. Within a few weeks of making it halfway, Greg took a hard fall when one of his hiking poles collapsed in a rocky area. After giving great care and icing his knee for a few days, he decided he’d better go home and have a doctor look him over. Luckily, he only needed to rest his knee for about 2 weeks. By July 6

th, Greg

was back on the trail where he really began pushing himself through the northeastern states.

On August 6th, Ms. Hopkins and two of her family flew to Vermont to meet with

Greg, spend a few days getting reacquainted after not having seen each other in 33 years, and get an up close lesson on what the realities of thru-hiking is like for someone. By the end of August, Greg was running very, very low on cash and did not have enough to cover his basic expenses, so Sam Rayburn Elementary hosted a bake sale and raised $1,022.18 to help him out. He was shocked and humbled at the generosity of the students and teachers and parents who have followed him and supported him!

New Hampshire and Maine had some of the most difficult terrain of the whole trail. Greg was having to hike 8-10 miles a day instead of his average 20 miles a day. After approximately 23 weeks on the trail, 5 pair of hiking boots, 2 phones, a period that included 19 straight days of rain, temperature extremes of 17 degrees to 95+ degrees, a weight loss of 40 lbs., many many packages of tuna, many many PayDay candy bars, more trail magic than he can even remember, at least one bluff charge from a bear…..Greg summited Mt. Katahdin, ME, in Baxter State Park on Saturday morning, September 17

th just before 8 am EST. He had started his hike

up the mountain at 4 am and can now say he is officially a member of the AT Class of 2016 finishing as number 745 this summer.

Greg will be visiting Sam Rayburn ISD sometime in December to meet with classes and teachers to share his experiences, thank them for their support and educate them a bit more about leaving no trace while enjoying our great outdoors.

Greg Ward – A.T. Class of 2016

For upcoming events and information, find us on Facebook: Sam Rayburn ISD

What do you think of when you hear the phrase, "Rebel Radio?" If you think of Sam Rayburn having it's very own online radio station, then you would be correct! Mr. Mathis and his professional communications classes are working on bringing Sam Rayburn's own SRHS Rebel Radio! "When I pitched the idea to Mrs. Keeton, I wasn't sure she'd go for it." said Mr. Mathis, "It was a long shot, but she was completely on board and has been extremely supportive!" When asked about it, Mrs. Keeton stated, "It's another creative tool to impact as many of our students as possible." She also noted, "It's a fun and creative idea to get our students involved in."

Rebel Radio will feature music from the 60's, 70's and 80's, as well as news and highlights of all Sam Rayburn activities and events. One of the focal points will be student-led interviews from their peers, teachers, and administrators. Rebel Radio will also feature live broadcasts of many of our sports teams. Sam Rayburn Senior Jacob Carson noted, "I'm really pumped that a lot of our basketball games will be aired on Rebel Radio." Mr. Mathis, with the help of Mr. Gibbs and Mr. Shaw, will broadcast home basketball, baseball, and softball games.

"We're thinking outside the box this year!" noted Mr. Gibbs. When asked what the students will be doing, Mr. Mathis responded, "Everything!" Students will be involved in the planning of everything from radio programming to newscasts to sports to local features. Not only will students be involved in the "on air" content, Mr. Mathis said that students will get to see and experience the "behind-the-scene" stuff. Mr. Mathis went on to say, "There's a lot that goes into running and maintaining a radio station. Even though it's online, we are treating it like a radio

station with a "hands-on" approach to teaching!"

Senior Micah Book said, "I'm scared to death to hear my voice on the radio, but it's going to be fun!" Sophomore Raelon Pelton shared, "It's different, in a good way!"

Sam Rayburn's very own SRHS Rebel Radio will be launching Friday, October 21 at 9:00 a.m. There will be links on our school website AND Facebook page!

Rebel Radio Coming Soon!

SRISD would like to invite the public to an "official" ribbon-cutting ceremony on Sunday, October 30th, at 2:30 p.m. The ceremony will begin in the newly renovated cafeteria with opening remarks, then proceed to the new elementary wing, and finish at the new agricultural science building with refreshments. We want to say "Thank You" to the community while letting you view these impressive facilities in person. Professional dress is requested as lots of opportunities for photos will exist. Hope to see you there!

Save the Date!