Riverside

School/Community

Winter Music Programs

Results of the Food Drive

Sports

Movies

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Riverside Community

School Mission

Statement

The mission of the Riverside Community School District is to prepare students to meet the challenges of the future as responsible citizens in a global

society.

Striving to Provide the Highest Quality Education

for the Communities of

Carson, Macedonia, and

Oakland.

Postal Patron

Non-Profit

US POSTAGE PAID

PERMIT #4

PO Box 428

Oakland, IA 51560

Volume 22, Issue 6

January, 2016

* Dr. James Sutton, Superintendent

712-484-2212 Central Office

*Mr. Jamie Meek, Pre-K-6 Principal

712-484-2212 Intermediate School

712-482-6296 Elementary School

* Mr. David Gute Jr.-Sr. HS Principal

712-482-6465 Jr.-Sr. High School

* Don Graham Transportation

712-482-6215 Bus Garage

The Riverside Community School District does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, socioeconomic status, or disability in its educational programs and activities and does not dis-criminate on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, socioeco-nomic status or disability in its employment practices, or as otherwise prohibited by statute or regulation. For more information or concerns regarding educational programs or activities, employment practices or information regarding the grievance procedure, contact Dr. James

Sutton, Equity Coordinator, Riverside Community School District, 330 Pleasant Street, PO Box 218, Carson, IA 51525, 712-484-2212.

Riverside website is

www.riversideschools.org

Classes resume January 5, 2016

JH Girls Basketball Starts Monday, January 11, 2016 @ Intermediate School

JH Wrestling Starts Thursday, January 21, 2016 @ Red Oak

Welcome Back!

Progress in Ag Shop

Photo by A. Henry Tami Skank photo

Page 2

DON’T FORGET TO JOIN THE RIVERSIDE BOOSTER CLUBS

Single Membership $15 Couple Membership $25 Gold Membership $50

Above: The Intermediate School decorate for the holi-days with different themed trees. The top picture is the “Para Tree” while Nebraska and Iowa trees are seen in

the picture immediately above. (Tami Skank)

Right: The week of December 14-18 was WIC Cancer Awareness week. Riverside Basketball Cheerleaders show their participation. Left to right: Jordan Hayes, Hailey Moore, Brittney Haubrich, Shyennah Knoke, Lexi

Biggerstaff, and Lydia Wede.

Page 3

Toy Drive (Jana Hensley)

Keast Chevrolet and The Buck Snort teamed up this year to host a toy drive for local children. As you can see from the photo, the response from the community was amazing! Our generous community members literally filled a truck! More than 60 children in the Riverside School Dis-trict will receive toys for Christmas this year as a result of the toy drive. A big thank you to Bud Johansen from the Buck Snort, Craig Wiggins, Walt Keast, Debbie Keast and Tom Williams at Keast Chevro-let for their collaboration and assistance. Thank you to all who donated to the toy

drive!

Photo by J Hensley

Holiday Donation Program (Chip Stanczak & Jana Hens-

ley)

We at Riverside are extremely fortunate to have busi-nesses, organizations, churches, and people in our communities to assist those in need for the holiday season. Many thanks to all of you who made this year’s holiday donations possible. You truly make a

difference! Merry Christmas to all!

Thank you to the following for their generous dona-

tions:

Carson United Methodist Church

Oakland United Methodist Church

Carson Presbyterian/Sharon Church

Riverside Jr High Student Council

Riverside Exploring Teaching Class

Riverside Wrestling Club

Never Better Fitness

OSI

Alegent Health Clinic - Oakland

Tammy Board & Steve Wollman

Jennifer Housman & Rick Osweiler

Lisa & Steve Feigenbutz

Shayley Smith

Cindy Suhr

Kim Blay

Niki & Kevin Ford

Sherrie & Jeff Martens

Sayla & Jordan Pierce

Student Writings (Ruth Hardy)

ENG 105 students wrote cause effect essays on the topic of homelessness. The following is an essay that deals with homelessness as it pertains to America’s veterans. The essay was

written by Emma Grobe.

Homelessness is a very big problem all across the globe. Over 1 billion people are considered homeless in the world and over 3 million people in the United States alone are homeless. Of this 3 million, almost 2.5 million children are homeless which leaves .5 million for a population of other groups. One of these groups is Veterans. 50,000 homeless people in America are Veterans, which is 8.6% of total homelessness in America. Along with the cur-rent homeless veterans, currently there are also 1.4 million Veterans that are at a high risk for homelessness due to poverty, are living in standard and/or overcrowded housing or lack

support networks.

These people put their lives on the line and worked to the best of their strength and ability, just so citizens could wake up every morning and go about their average day in our country. Without these brave and caring people had risked everything for strangers they may have never met or even interacted with, America may not be considered the “land of the free

and home of the brave.”

Many of these people are being affected by trauma from war, like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD, or are suffering from a current mental illness, which makes being homeless that much more difficult to handle day to day. About 9% of homeless veterans are aged between 18 and 30, and 41% are between 31 and 50. Nearly half of the current homeless

veterans had served in the Vietnam War and during the Vietnam era.

So, if veterans are very much appreciated by Americans, why are so many home-less? This is a question many citizens have had. Some major factors are due to a lack of af-fordable housing, livable income, and even access to affordable or any kind of healthcare. Along with these highly important factors, many veterans suffer PTSD and many other men-tal illnesses, like mentioned before. These illnesses have a strong impact on a person and are a high contribution to many veterans lacking friends, family, and a support system. Along with the negative impacts, many of these soldiers either cannot afford to further their educa-tion and/or lack the credentials to get into a collegiate level of education to help themselves

earn a higher ranked profession.

Though it may seem these veterans seem alone in this difficult lifestyle, they are not. The VA, or U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, work to help these struggling soldiers. The VA has many health care programs to close to 150,000 veterans and gives support to almost 112,000 others. To add to these impressive numbers of help, there are 40,000 others that receive other compensations or benefits. The VA has been working since 1987 to give Veterans the support and benefits they need by pairing with community services to help ex-pand the range of helpfulness to more and more veterans in need. Since pairing with a pletho-ra of public services, they have given over 15,000 residential rehabilitative and transitional beds along with 30,000 beds permanently to more veterans throughout America. Since the year 2005, the VA has helped reduce homelessness in veterans by 70% in the United States. Along with providing housing, they have also helped provide them with meals, health care, substance abuse care and aftercare, counseling for mental health and help to personal devel-

opment along with mock interviews for jobs and training assistance.

Most veterans get the most help from non-profit organizations called “veterans helping veterans”. This group takes in troubled veterans into their housing and helps to en-courage them to strive and overcome their substance abuse. Living with other soldiers that have overcome their difficulties motivates the other troubled veterans to get better and im-

prove themselves, not only for personal gain, but to help the families they may have.

In our country of America, we are known as the “Land of the Free and Home of the Brave”, but how can we be the home of the brave if the brave citizens that fought for this

right are not free to live a successful life as they deserve?

Source: National Coalition for Homeless Veterans.

http://nchv.org/index.php/news/media/background_and_statistics/

A Big Thank You to McKenna Sick for always volunteering every morning to hang our flags, and thank you to Justin St. Andrew and

Jonathan Alff for helping her out on this cold morning.

McKenna has also been teaching other students the proper flag

folding. (Photo and article by Tami Skank)

Results from the Annual Food Drive (Holly Hinkhouse)

The annual Riverside Food Drive was held November 11-20 and was organized by the Riverside High School Student Council. It began in October by sending letters to over 100 local businesses and asking them to become Gold, Silver, or Bronze Sponsors of the Food Drive. Once the Food Drive got into full swing, the

Student Council members called each local business reminding them to consider a tax-deductible donation to the local Riverside Food Pantry.

The Student Council also kicked off the Food Drive with an assembly at each school. For the Jr/Sr High School, Pastor Brody Tubaugh of the Carson & Mt. Hope United Methodist Churches spoke of the importance of donating food to local families in need of some extra help. He helps to organize the local food pantry and knows just how vital it is to the community. A few Student Council members performed a humorous skit for the assemblies at the Elementary and Intermediate Schools. The skit encouraged students to be a SOUP-er Hero to those in need. Things like cans of soup might not have traditional superpowers but we all need

food to use our talents and be the best versions of ourselves!

In true Riverside Pride, food donation piles began to grow at each school! Money was also donated by students who got to wear hats for a day, teachers who chose to wear jeans all week, and High School students who won items from a Silent Auction. On the cold morning of November 20, a few Student Council members helped to load all of the food at each school and then unload it into the Riverside Food Pantry located at the Oakland Christian Church. The shelves of the Food Pantry went from completely barren to overflowing. This annual Food Drive is the primary source of food for the Riverside Food Pantry and the mone-

tary donations help to keep it stocked with perishable items throughout the year.

Once all of the donations were counted, the schools collected nearly 3,700 items and $7,610. This sets a new record of monetary donations and it is in large part

due to the generosity of Riverside area businesses. Community endeavors such as this Food Drive really do showcase our Riverside Pride.

Platinum Donor ($1500) Silver Donors ($100) Bronze Donors ($50)

Macedonia Implement Bentley East The Painted Camel

Ryan’s Auto Service TS Bank

Gold Donors ($200+) Mertes Welding Applegate & Company

Arbor Bank Employees Farm Service Cooperative Pioneer Brand Products

Arbor Bank Cathey Grosvenor Blimpie

Anonymous Oakland Insurance Agency Mary Stempel

Larry Hackett Construction Oakland P.E.O. Smokin’ Joes Body Shop

Hotze Tree Service Robert & Gayle Strickland Williams Insurance Agency

Great Western Bank D’Angelo Tax & Accounting Riverside Lanes

Tinik, Inc. The Back Forty Riverside Auto Wash

The Buck Snort J.P. Lumber Rolling Hills Bank

Rieken Vieth Funeral Home Wax Lawn ‘n Scapes The Finish Line Car Wash

Dairy Queen Keast Chevrolet SHE Couture

Hildebrand Feed & Seed Dr. Charles & Carm Pigneri

Farm Bureau Federation Holly Hinkhouse

Pierce Pump

Hummel Insurance

Items Cash

Elem 949 169

Intermediate 1009 171

Jr/Sr High 1672 735

Businesses 62 6535

TOTAL 3692 7610

Hadley, Ana, Austin

Food Transport

Silent Auction Items

Lindsey

White

2015/2016 ACT Test Dates

Test Date Registration Date (Late Fee Required)

February 6, 2016 January 8, 2016 January 9-15, 2016

April 9, 2016 March 4, 2016 March 5-18, 2016

June 11, 2016 May 6, 2016 May 7-20, 2016

******Register for Testing @ http//:www.actstudent.org/start******

Help Us Stay in Touch With You

If you change your phone num-ber or email address, please let

us know. Thanks!

7th Grade Visits Elementary (Liz Graves) The 7th grade Language Arts students did a writing unit about writing from different perspectives. We started the unit by reading the children’s book Diary of a Spider by Doreen Cronin. The students then picked animal, researched facts about the animal, and then wrote a diary from their animal’s perspective. The students then made their diary into a Google Presentation and added pictures and transitions. These diaries were shared with their peers, and we also made a trip to the elementary and shared them with the elementary students. (photos submitted by Liz Graves)

Education Class (Lisa Putnam)

The Introduction to Education class adopted a local family for Christmas to help make their holiday a little brighter. The students sponsored an ugly Christmas sweater and hat day at school to raise money and also donated their own money to purchase gifts. This has become a holiday tradi-tion in the Introduction to Education class, and the stu-dents are always happy to help others, especially during

the holiday season.

Left: McKenzie Moore and Skye Young wrap up the pre-

sents the Intro. to Education class purchased.

A big “Thank You” to the Intro. to Education Class.

(photo submitted by Lisa Putnam)

Elementary School Happenings Kindergarten Students Visit Oakland Manor (Rachel Pickle)

Before Christmas break, Riverside kindergarten students visited the Oakland Manor to sing Christmas carols and show the residents how to sing the days of the week and months of the year. The students also were excited to make and deliver their Christmas cards to the residents. Thank you to Oakland

Manor for letting us come and visit! Elementary and Intermediate Schools (Jamie

Meek, Principal)

Hopefully you are enjoying the last few days with your

family before the craziness starts again.

We have made it! We are half-way through the school

year and are headed toward the finish line.

As we begin the new semester we have one of our read-ing checkpoints for the school year. In mid-January we all Pre-K - 6 students will be taking the FAST reading assessment and the Reading assessment. In these as-sessments students’ fluency, comprehension, phonics, and other reading indicators are tested and we collect data to see how our students compare to other stu-dents in their grade across Iowa. Teachers then look at that data, along with other data from their classroom, and for some of our struggling students start some in-tensive instruction. For some students there is inten-sive small group or individual instruction and for some it is the teacher monitoring them more closely to make sure they are still growing in their reading skills. When you get a chance to talk to your child’s teacher do not hesitate to ask how your child scored on these reading

assessments.

Don’t forget that the best way to stay up to date on your child’s grades and progress in school is to talk to your child’s teacher(s) directly, via email or phone calls. For 4th-6th grade students you can see grades as they are entered into our system via the JMC Parent Access portal at, https://riversideschools.onlinejmc.com/, click on the Parent icon, enter your username and password and you can see grades. The more staff and families that are on the same page, the more successful a stu-

dent will be.

Santa Claus is coming... to school! (Cami Larison)

December 11, Santa Claus came to school to visit with RCC and Mrs. Henderson's preschool. Each child got a chance to sit on Santa's lap, tell him what they wanted for Christmas, and receive a gift and candy

cane.

Elementary Students took time out to build snowman! (Photo by Kari Rose)

Classes Resume Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Riverside Elementary Winter Concert (Mrs. Kramer) Riverside elementary students performed their annual winter program December 1 under the direction of Bonnie Kramer. The theme was "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" so students were invited to wear pajamas. The program began with a piano prelude by local students of Rachel Pickle and Amanda Bran-

don. The preschool sang three songs, including the popular "Mittens and Gloves."

Kindergarten and first followed that theme with "Snowpants" and "My Hat and Gloves." Second and third grades joined the fun with "Rules for Christmas." The familiar Christmas poem was then read by

third grade speakers with appropriate songs interspersed throughout.

All songs had fun movement and several third graders had singing solos. It was a fun evening and a great

kick off to the holiday season! Pictures were supplied by Leslie Amdor and Julie Ravlin.

Olivia Lund

Lo-

Scenes from the Elementary Winter Program held on December 1, 2015 (Photos by Leslie Amdor)

Photo submitted by Julie Ravlin

Photo submitted

by Julie Ravlin

Junior High Girls Basketball

Junior High School Wrestling

Right: Riverside Wrestling Cheer-

leaders at a recent match.

Left to Right: Jasmyn Carter, Brooke Faxon, Sydney Swope, Jami

Carter, Riley Raney, Hayley Haines

Go Dawgs!

Hunter Hodges Tatem Bluml

Classes Resume on Tuesday, January 5, 2016 for Riverside Students

The high school is quickly depleting its Kleenex supply If you would like to help out, we thank you in advance.

Page 10

Events at Riverside Intermediate School

Students at Riverside Intermediate School have been busy. Some helped make the luminaries for the Carson Christmas. The winter music program was held on December 14. There was also time for decorating trees. We thank Tami Skank and Amanda Brandon for getting the

pictures we feature on these two pages.

Above: 5th Grade Class

Tree

Right: ISU Tree for

Cyclone Fans

Getting the luminaries ready

for the Carson Christmas.