DISTRICT-WIDE ELEMENTARY

4th grade Water Quality Day: On Wednesday, April 19, the 4th grade GT students spent a day studying the quality of water in the Muscatine area. We visited the Environmental Learning Center, where we conducted multiple water quality tests on pond water and stream water. Then we traveled to Muscatine Wastewater Treatment Facility, where we learned how our city wastewater is treated, cleaned, and prepared to be released back into the environment. Thank you, Mr. Bakke, Ms. Berns, and Mr. Koch for taking time to work with us!

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5th Grade Math Contest and Bank Visit: On Monday, April 17, the 5th grade GT students spent the morning at CBI Bank & Trust. The students participated in a math contest based on the book Becoming a Problem Solving Genius. To extend learning in a current study about Economics, the students also took a tour of CBI to get a behind-the-scenes look at banking. Thanks, CBI, for hosting our event!

COLORADO ELEMENTARY

Kindergarten students in Ms. Schumaker's class participated in Career Day! Our future is filled with exciting jobs!

Also.... Hanging With Our Peeps! Ms, Schumaker's kindergarteners were excited to welcome some new Kindergarten students! (The peeping kind!) 🐣

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Mrs. Noll's first graders had fun learning in the dark with flashlights for Black Out Day in honor of Earth Day!

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Ms. Kula's Chinese students taught Ms. Phillips' 2nd graders at Colorado School a lesson on the names of school supplies in Chinese, as well as some basic greetings. The students enjoyed the activity prepared for them by the sophomores.

FRANKLIN ELEMENTARY

Kindergarten students in Mrs. Holder's art classes painted their recycled cardboard creations!

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Students in Mrs. Henderson's 2nd grade class learned Chinese from MHS students in Mrs. Kula's Chinese class this week!

JEFFERSON ELEMENTARY

Students in Mr. Loos' 3rd Grade participated in a science unit on Motion and Matter.

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Jefferson had an assembly on Habit 6: Synergize from Leader in Me. The preschool and kindergarten students showed and sang ways students may synergize!

GRANT ELEMENTARY

Grant Elementary held their Leadership Day today!

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Mrs. Dusenberry's first grade classroom has been showing AMAZING LEADERSHIP!! They played outside and synergized together with their bubble wands! We also had our field trip this week: Their leadership was shining bright on the school bus, at the Bettendorf Children's Museum, and with all of our parent volunteers!!! Way to represent our Muscatine Community School District!!!

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Last week, students from the University of Northern Iowa (the majority from UNI's teaching program) visited Muscatine Schools and Muscatine Community College. They visited with the superintendent and other district personnel, Grant Elementary, Franklin Elementary, and Muscatine High School. Here they are at Grant Elementary with student leaders learning about the Leader in Me.

MADISON ELEMENTARY

Miss Lawrence's Kindergarten Class held a Secret Agents of Kindness Party! Students completed 7 individual "top secret" acts of kindness in their community, and then had a party where they got to dress up and deliver secret messages of appreciation to teachers and staff in school!

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Muscatine Power and Water visited Madison's 4th graders in Mrs. Poppe's class to teach them about electricity. The fourth graders have been studying electricity and magnetism in science class.

MCKINLEY ELEMENTARY

First Graders in Mrs. Strouf, Mrs. Luna, and Mrs. Vogeler's classes enjoyed their field trip at the Botanical Center in Rock Island and the Bettendorf Family Museum! What an engaging field trip!

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The 4th and 5th Grade Student Leadership Team at McKinley held a penny war competition to support the Muscatine Humane Society. The students raised $676.96 during the week long event. Way to go McKinley!

MULBERRY ELEMENTARY

Ms. Story's Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students have a Deaf Role Model as a guest speaker. In an effort to provide Deaf and Hard of Hearing Role Models, Nick Hindahl was invited to speak to our students with a hearing loss about being successful in the workplace regardless of the challenges. Nick himself has a hearing loss, is a DHH Muskie Alum, and now works for the U.S. Postal Service. He spoke and signed to our students about challenges he has faced as a child, youth, and now an adult in the workplace. For example: While on a walking route if a dog approaches and he does not hear it, he needs to be prepared. Nick explained that he loves animals, so he uses his mail bag as a block between himself and an animal first. Then, he uses an air horn to scare the animal away which is provided to the postal carriers. As a last resort for him is using his issued pepper spray (you can see him explaining this process in a picture below). He also explained that he used an interpreter in the beginning for all his trainings, then went out on his own after. He writes, texts, and speech reads to communicate in the workplace. These are all things our kids need to think about. It was such an eye opening experience for many of our kids as they consider what they might want to do when they grow up. Our kids can do anything! They just might not know it yet.

WEST MIDDLE SCHOOL

Mrs. Stutzel's 6th grade math students competed in Math Olympics. Using the scores from the various events, students calculated averages, created data displays, practiced the distributive property, and identified factors and multiples.

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West 6th grade ag students in Ms. Wiebe's class planted seeds, watered and cared for plants as they work through a plant science unit!

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West 7th grade ag students in Ms. Wiebe's class investigated dairy products and did some sampling during an ag products and processing unit!

MUSCATINE HIGH SCHOOL

Students in Mr. Johnson's Anatomy and Physiology Class attended the University of Iowa's three week Mini-Medical College seminar series. Those attending were immersed in conversations exploring research associated with nitrite supplementation as a performance enhancer, physical performance and injury prevention, muscle strength and fatigue, concussion prevention, detection, and treatment, and the mechanisms of neuromuscular control of the shoulder and knee.

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MHS Drama is presenting Thoroughly Modern Millie next weekend! Come out and see our amazing talented students! Pictured below are scenes from the tech rehearsals this week:

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Geometry students in Ms. Christensen's classes at MHS presented design projects to visiting engineers from HON. Students redesigned the Campbell's soup can, coming up with interesting new shapes; calculating dimensions, volume, and surface area; and then creating prototypes. The guest engineers evaluated the designs based on manufacturing, shipping, and consumer needs. Our thanks to the engineers, Jack Hovland, Tyler Shull, and Carl Butzen for helping these students explore the exciting field of packaging engineering!

DISTRICT-WIDE STAFF

Muscatine Preschool Alliance teachers collaborated and learned from each other to ensure quality early childhood classrooms!

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Buttering toast for breakfast & getting a massage afterwards.... Colorado, Grant, and Madison Lunch Ladies work hard!! This young man likes to give massages to everyone.