Pekin CSD - Packwood, Iowa

Dear Students and Parents, On behalf of the entire Pekin Community School District we wish our students and families a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and best wishes for a terrific 2022! We have an early dismissal on Wednesday, December 22, at 1:30 PM. Go Panthers! Mr. Hatfield

Dear Parents, School districts ​​recently learned of an anonymous, nationwide threat against schools that is being shared on social media outlets such as TikTok. The general threat toward all U.S. schools declares Friday, Dec. 17, as “American School Shooting Day.” The posts warn about the possibility of nationwide shootings or bomb threats associated with this day. We have partnered with local law enforcement to vigilantly investigate whether there are any local connections to these social media posts. At this time, law enforcement has not acquired any evidence that would deem these threats as credible in our area. Out of an abundance of caution, our schools will be in close contact with law enforcement throughout the day on Friday. Additional patrols of our buildings will occur tomorrow, Friday, December 17, 2021. Please take this opportunity to talk with your students about the appropriate use of social media, and the seriousness and resulting consequences of making any kind of threat. Encourage your students to speak with you or an adult at school if they see or hear something so immediate action can be taken. In addition, if anyone in our community sees something suspicious, please report it to the school immediately or call local law enforcement. We appreciate your support and partnership. ​Mr. Hatfield, Superintendent of Schools​

The Pekin Community School District will have a 1:00 PM early release on Wednesday, December, 15, 2021. The National Weather Service has issued a "damaging winds alert" for much of the region. Wind gusts of 60- 80 mph are expected later in the day on Wednesday. The district's facilities will be closed at 3:30 PM. The Pekin Child Care Center will be closed at 4:00 PM on Wednesday. Mr. Hatfield

Dear Parents, The Pekin Community School District is assessing the weather situation for possible adjustments to our dismissal times for Wednesday, December 15, 2021. The National Weather Service expects dangerously high winds (gusts up to 60-80 mph) to begin early Wednesday evening. Thank you. Mr. Hatfield

And a few more.... Nice job, 3rd grade!

A few more photos of 3rd grade STEAM projects.

Third grade students have been busy working on several STEAM projects throughout the first half of this school year. STEAM is a great way to incorporate many life-long learning skills: cooperation, listening and communication, reasoning, investigation, critical thinking, and creativity. The students have created catapults to launch rocks at Bigfoot. They had the challenge of making the longest chain using only two sheets of paper and tape. They’ve worked with partners to create carts that would roll the farthest distance. As we finish this month, we will be incorporating some projects with the Christmas theme. We look forward to seeing what the students create!

The fourth graders have been working hard this quarter. Thinking more outside the box and writing more detailed works have been the focus in Mrs. Scholtus’s class this quarter. Context clues, main idea, making inferences, and analyzing text have been strategies that have been focused on in reading class. Using clues from the text, text evidence and a student’s own background knowledge are the keys to many of the skills the students must incorporate within the fourth grade Common Core components for reading. Reading for Accelerated Reader allows the students to practice these advanced skills for reading. The students see this more now that they have two goals for AR. Each student not only has her/her points goal as in the past, but they now also have a comprehension goal of 85%. This is also the goal for their Skills Iowa Assessments to ensure the students meet the standards for comprehension work. The students have also found out how reading and writing go together in fourth grade. Many of the stories that the students have read, they have also been writing about in different ways. They have written character descriptions and summarizing paragraphs. The students will soon be working on writing a narrative story using dialogue. The focus of this is to understand the narrative writing process where characters talk back and forth to each other as in a fictional book. We are also including the use of technology as stated in the fourth grade writing standards for Common Core. Students also have Daily Grammar Practice for homework like the Home Links in math to practice grammar and spelling skills needed to become a better writer. In Mr. Marlay’s math class the students have been perfecting their use of multiplication and division facts. Our math series has given the students a great review of decimals, the metric system, and customary measuring system during the last few weeks. We presently have many different computerized programs that are enhancing the math program. The use of Math Playground, IXL, and Everyday Math Online have allowed the students to find different ways to work on their math skills. One of the great things about these programs is that the students can use these web based programs at school or at home. In Mrs. Strupp’s Science class, we ended our unit on Energy by completing a S.T.E.A.M activity. S.T.E.A.M stands for science, technology, engineering, art, and math. In the activity, students worked in teams as they went through the engineering design process. Their task was to create a secret code to transmit a message containing locations of beryllium deposits. They sent their codes using a telegraph key. This was a great opportunity for my students to show off their engineering skills and work together as a team. Mrs. Strupp kicked off Social Studies with Civics/Government. Students are working on their note taking skills while watching videos and reading various articles, to help them learn how the Iowa Caucuses impact our elections. Students have been practicing coding once a day each week for the last several weeks, and it is something they look forward to. Each week’s lesson challenges them more and more. It is so great to see the students problem-solve to complete each level’s task. Coding helps students prepare for 21st Century jobs and for jobs that aren’t even created yet!

Once again, Pekin PTO, and all their volunteer elves, pulled together a wonderful day of shopping for our K-6 students at Santa's Workshop. A huge "THANK YOU!" to parents and community members for their donations. This day is not made possible without the help of many people who are generous with their time and talents. We even had a special appearance by Mrs. Claus! Happy Holidays!

Second Graders have been very busy this past quarter. We are working on being responsible, organized and better listeners in the classroom. We recognized Veteran’s Day by having an assembly and doing different activities in the classroom. Students have been busy in Math, working on Math facts, counting money, addition and subtraction, counting up and counting down, tens frames and turn-around facts. These are all areas you can work with your child. Your child does have daily homework, so please check with them each night. Our class had our first goal party for students who met their goal in Accelerated Reading for the first quarter. Students are continuing to read and take quizzes to reach their second quarter goals. Please encourage reading each night at home. As the weather changes, please be sure your child is dressed appropriately. When weather permits, the students go outside three times a day for recess. We will be having a gift exchange on Wednesday, December 22nd. More information about the Christmas Party will be sent home at a later date. We hope you had a good Thanksgiving and enjoyed some extra time with your families. Mrs. Bradshaw Mrs. Brown Mrs. Neff

1st Grade Newsletter We would like to thank everyone who attended Parent Teacher Conferences. We enjoyed being able to share the progress that is being made by each student. We appreciate the time you have spent working with your student on Home Links, Rainbow Words, and spelling words. We can see the benefits here at school. We also encourage you to have your student read the take home books that they bring home. Please read these books with your first grader and have them practice reading smoothly. We have been working on students being better listeners, more responsible, and doing their work independently. These are life skills that are necessary for success. We look forward to our next Come Read With Me Day on Friday, December 17 at 2pm. We will send home an RSVP closer to that date. Thanks for supporting your first grader! We are seeing great progress already! Mrs. Brisby Mrs. Heisdorffer Mrs. VanDerHorst

Pekin Families, We wanted to make available a few documents to guide you in helping your child deal with a death. These documents were made available from the mental health counselors serving our building and helping our staff and students deal with the loss of Dixie Chapman. Please know that your child will continue to have access to counselors should they need extra support. Please reach out to your child's teacher or the office to request support. Mrs. Ledger

Pekin Schools is announcing a special school closing for Tues., Nov. 23rd so staff may attend the funeral of colleague, Dixie Chapman. The Pekin Child Care Center will also be closed. We apologize for any inconvenience to families, but know you also understand the circumstances that make this necessary. The family visitation will be held at Grace Family Church on Mon., Nov. 22nd from 1:00-4:00 PM. The funeral will also be held at Grace Family on Tues., Nov. 23rd @ 10:30. I would also like to remind families there is no school on Mon., Nov. 29th due to professional development. Even during these difficult times, we wish your family a restful and peaceful Thanksgiving break. Thank you for your support of Pekin Schools.

Dear Parents, staff, students and members of the community, We regret to inform you of the unfortunate passing of elementary associate, Dixie Chapman, late yesterday. All students and staff supported each other, along with the help of mental health providers and school counselors today. We want parents to know that the additional support will be available in the upcoming days. Please contact your child's principal, school counselor, or teacher if you feel the need. Once final arrangements are made those details will be shared with the community, along with any possible changes to the school schedule. With a heavy heart, Mr. Hatfield and the Administrative Team

Basketball flier

Midwest Wrestling flier

EMAP wrestling flier

We are preparing for Santa's Workshop on Dec. 3rd. Please see the attached fliers for more information.

Pekin Elementary attended the Veterans Day Assembly, and truly enjoyed the HS Chorus, guest speaker Zac Wise, and honoring the many veterans in attendance. Some of the elementary students participated by creating art work of "thanks" to display.

Wishing all veterans a wonderful Veteran's Day. We thank you and are grateful for your service. The students of our TAG program have made some Google Slideshows in honor of this day. Please feel free to click the links below and view their projects. Hailey Pedrick, Maggy Dickey, and Kenneth Moore https://bit.ly/3krR5HE Killian Ribble https://bit.ly/30krCco Carson Comstock, Henry Eubanks, Hayden Miller, Nolan Glick https://bit.ly/3C89tew Emma Bayliss, Brinley Phillips, Mikayla Schuttlefield https://bit.ly/3n6aRKF Ava Owens, Bree Earnest, Rylie Nelson https://bit.ly/3qJ3awj Johnathan Delaney, Kalley Brown, Killian Ribble https://bit.ly/3c85GmU