Junior and Senior English with Mrs. M

A hard, hot, buggy day of work resulted in a feeling of a job well done for a large group of students that volunteered their summer day to help area residents affected by tornado destruction.  Fields and pasture land were rendered unusable with the large amount of debris deposited by the tornado and high winds.  Students scoured the fields and created piles of trash to be picked up by the landowners.  Trash ranged from wall-sized pieces of metal to store receipts. 

A special thanks to Mr. L and Mrs. E for their help! 

Well done, students.  Well done!  You make me proud!  Mrs. M.

STUDENTS!  You probably received (via snail mail) the flyer to help clean up the areas damaged by the tornadoes.  Mr. L and I are organzing this and we are hoping for a huge student (and teacher) turn out.  I’ve already heard from several students that they are in … if you have questions, email me or call the number I listed on the flyer.  This is an awesome way to help our neighbors (and, seniors, you can add this as community service to your college applications).  It will be hard work, and it will likely be HOT work, but the more people we have, the faster our work will get done.  Make sure you follow the dress code described on the flyer, this is to protect our feet and hands while we work.  Mr. L and I are supplying the water, lunch and sunscreen.  Let me know by Tuesday if you are able to help!  Your help will make a difference for these families! 

Toodles, Ms. H.

This may sound cliche, but this was the best year EVER! Thank you, students, for all of your efforts in my classroom. We all learned a lot and we even managed to have some fun in the process. It hasn’t set in, yet, but I will miss you and I look forward to seeing you in the fall. The beginning of the school year will be CrAzY with the new 1:1 laptops … bear with us as we learn how to make the best use of them in the classroom.

Stay safe this summer! See ya’ in August!

TooDaLoo – Ms. H.

On May 10th, 2008, a series of storms ravaged neighboring communities.  Lives were lost and hundreds of homes were damaged or completely destroyed.  Within a matter of hours of hearing of this devastation several teachers and students started organizing a relief effort.  We decided to host a drop-off location at our school for items of need (e.g. cleaning supplies, food, personal care products).  A local radio station was notified to advertise this relief effort.  By the end of the third day of this effort, over 1,000 items were collected and more than $500 was raised.  All items were delivered to an area Salvation Army to be distributed to storm victims. 

• A side story … All items were collected in our school’s commons area.  We hosted a Sr. Awards Banquet for graduates and family one evening during this drive.  I approached our school secretary about moving the pile of items from the commons area during the banquet so it was not “in the way.”  Her response is indicative of how caring our community is.  She said, “no, leave it there … it is a beautiful site, not an eye sore!”

Thank you to all students, teachers and community members that participated in this effort. 

Oh, What a year it has been!  I will miss my 2008 seniors.  Best wishes to you and your future!  You wrote your poems, here is mine! 

A trip to Canada this summer to fish

Believe it or not, this is a life long wish

Life at home includes Jeff and Abby and Boo

There’s a cat named Craw-P at the house, too

Rounding out her third year at Riverton High

Oh how the years are flying by

The class of 2008 has been one of the best

But sometimes they did put her sanity to the test

With three different Ashleys, one even sharing her name

Lexie and Michelle and Kyle to her class they came

Nathan and Bondo and Jon and James

Laughed extra hard when Barrett set his pants to flames

Two different Megans and two different Shays

Except one of them put a funny mark over her ‘a’

Vigil and Malory and even Shallenburger

Found it extra funny to always pick on her

Poor Esther and poor Ethan and poor Josh

Could never count the number of times Blaise made them say “oh my gosh!”

But 8^th hour no longer belonged to the class of ‘08

1^st hour and 4^th hour and 6^th hour now ranked first rate

There were 2 Anthonys, opposite ends of the room they sat

Holli and Brittany and Sammi were good with a softball bat

Jeremy and Colby and Ben and Weaver

She probably didn’t make them into Beowulf believers

But Wes and Nate and Tison Culley

Paid attention to the Beowulf movie with Angelina Jolee

Chelsea friends with Amanda, her eating for two

Misty and Kaitlyn friends with Tara, figuring out how to cook tofu

Coltyn and Krystal rounded out her 6^th hour class

With a class that small they had some extra time to pass

A small group took a trip with her to KU

Looks like only one is going to wear the colors of crimson and blue

Her alma-mater won the basketball championship in 2008

And now a great class is going to graduate

Reasons to celebrate and reasons to cry

She is not looking forward to telling them goodbye

If they visit next year her name will be changed

They were only juniors when she got engaged

But if she hears someone call C-Hud or H she will likely look

Because she knows it’s someone she once required to read an AR book

A place in heart for these kids might sound lame

But it’s the truth, and the truth she must claim

To her students she wishes a life full of bests

In some way she knows each of them has been blessed

With gifts and talents and special skills

That will leave their lives nothing but fulfilled

But they know where to find her if life gets them down

In a little city referred to as Rivertown

The tissue box circulated in the class today as we finished up Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men.  A great lesson in friendship, this book seems to be the favored novel(la) among this year’s Junior class. 

Our halls will be a bit empty at the end of this week as our Seniors are bound for Florida!  They have worked hard to earn this trip and now get to participate in a whirl-wind tour of Florida highlights. 

So, dear Seniors, enjoy! 

Stay safe and be good! 

Take lots of pictures and make good memories. 

Later, Gators – Ms. H.

Photo by:  Chez Worldwide

FINALLY, our podcasts are launched!   :)

Student authors will be identified by first name only.

We only have a FEW posted so far … BUT ALL ENGLISH III STUDENTS WILL POST BY THE END OF THIS WEEK (Hopefully!)

The most recent episode (latest upload) will automatically begin playing.  To see other student podcasts, scroll down to the “Recent Episodes” section and click the green play arrow under the student’s name. 

Click here to listen, or click on the Podcasts page in the right margin.

Toodles, Ms. H. 

The time after spring break is such a hussle to the finish line … it seems like across choir and orchestra peformances, ball games and track meets the classroom has a handful of students missing every day.  Before we know it, prom is a memory and the seniors have gone to Florida … are you counting the days?? 

‘Tis here, ’tis here!  With all of our snow days this year we were all worried our spring break may be shortened … but, worry not, we get the whole sha’bang!  Remember that when you feel the need to complain!

DO stay safe!  DO relax!  DO recharge those batteries!

See ya Monday!  Ms. H.

Photo by:  Steve