The Sugar Beat
1 Sugar-Salem Schools February 2010
Inside : Virtual classroom provides
opportunities pg. 1
VIRTUAL CLASSROOM PROVIDES OPPORTUNITIES
By Whitney Hollman, BYU-Idaho I~Comm Agency
Sugar-Salem students take notes in a virtual classroom.
Students at Sugar-Salem High School
have been taking advantage of a unique
opportunity to gain college credit. Starting
this past January, students are now able to
take college courses from professors at the
College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls.
The Idaho Education Network (IEN), allows
high school students to take these college
courses. Part of IEN’s mission is to have
students connect, utilize and interact with
online resources. IEN fulfills this mission
by allowing students to sit in a classroom
on their high school campus and listen
to professors who lecture on a webcam.
Students are able to see the teacher and four
other classes from other Idaho high schools
on a large screen. When the students ask
a question, they are able to zoom in on
themselves so the teacher can see them. The
professor is able to control what classes show
up on the screen.
Senior Jocelyn Ostermiller is taking both
Psychology 101 and English 101 through the
IEN program.
Comparing these classes with high school
classes, she said “they are a lot harder. I have
to take a lot of notes and prepare myself
better. It gives me good experience for when I
actually enroll in college.”
Sugar-Salem Schools
vol. 6
Teachers learn new Patriot’s Pen honors Junior Fifth-graders present
teaching strategies pg. 2 High students pg. 3 national heritage pg. 4
Photo by Trista Colton
Monthly Highlights:
• Read Across America - Friday,
March 5 - Central Elementary
• Kershaw Book Fair - Monday, March
8 through Friday, March 12
• Kindergarten registration - Thursday,
March 11 - Central Elementary
• Glenn Miller Night - March 26 & 27
Sugar-Salem High School
Because students are given college credit,
these courses act like any other college class.
Students can access assignments, grades, and
other materials through an online content
management system called Blackboard. Safe
chat rooms are also set up so students are able
to do group work over the Internet.
Principal Jared Jenks says the virtual
classroom has some benefits that traditional
classrooms don’t.
“It is great that one teacher is able to teach
fifty kids,” he said.
IEN Facilitator Jim Winn was recently able
to arrange for his English class to talk to a
Holocaust survivor in New York. For a fee,
teachers are able to contact professionals and
other people trained in certain areas to speak
to their classes through webcam through
the Center for Interactive Learning and
Collaboration Web site.
Jenks believes that schools are using modern
technology to expand learning and teaching.
“Technology broadens horizons and opens a
world of possibilities,” Jenks said. “Who knew
students could interact with people in New
York, or New Jersey, or halfway across the
world? It is just … amazing.”
1 February 2010
 TEACHERS LEARN NEW TEACHING STRATEGIES
By Derek Wilcox, BYU-Idaho I~Comm Agency
Photo courtesy of Helen Stewart
Sugar-Salem math teachers recently got
a new perspective on math education
by taking on the role of students. They
completed the Mathematical Thinking for
Instruction (MTI) course, taught by three
professors from Boise State University.
According to the Idaho State Department
of Education Web site, the course offers
professional development for teachers
through the Idaho Math Initiative with the
overall goal of improving math education
in all grade levels. The initiative was created
by the Idaho Legislature in 2007 and is in
its second year of existence.
Third-grade teacher Tammy Gee from
Central Elementary was pleasantly
surprised at the quality of the course.
Boise State professor Dr. Kim Bunning, shown above, team-taught one of Mrs. Stewart’s math classes.
“This class was taught by professors . . .
who regularly go into real classrooms and
teach,” she said. “They gave us something I
The professors presented the latest research
as the teachers discussed how it would
The course “help[s]
had never seen or heard of before and it was
wonderful information.”
change the way they teach. Teachers
watched and evaluated short videos that
students understand
Helen Stewart, who teaches sixth-graders
showed new techniques being applied in the concepts behind
real classrooms. Various teaching methods
at Kershaw Intermediate, said the course
helped her to individualize her teaching to
were demonstrated and practiced to help math, not just get the
her students.
teachers better understand how students
reason, which involved doing mathematical right answer.”
“This course has helped me as a teacher exercises where the teachers had to explain -Central teacher Tammy Gee
to become more aware of the variety of their thought processes in solving a range of
methods and tools that can be used to problems using ratio tables, arrays, pictures,
present each mathematical concept, helping short division, diagrams, and algorithms.
each student understand math better by Gee said she was surprised to find how so
appealing to their individual learning many teachers had different ways of solving
style,” she said. the same problem.
The course was administered over an eight- Stewart has already implemented some of
day period in six sessions. There were three the new ideas and said that students have
full-day sessions (two of them on Saturdays) shown excitement after being able to solve
and three after-school sessions, keeping problems in different ways.
the teachers in class until 9 p.m. The
Gee said that most of all, the course helped
teachers were grouped into separate classes
her to “help students understand the
according to grade level.
concepts behind math, not just get the right
Even though the course was highly answer.”
demanding of time, Gee said it was worth
it to do it during the school year because
“we were teaching during the day and could
try out these ideas on our own class and
then go that night and get more insight into
what we did right and wrong during the
day.”

Sugar-Salem Schools 2 February 2010

 PATRIOT’S PEN HONORS JUNIOR HIGH STUDENTS
By Michelle Larsen, BYU-Idaho I~Comm Agency
Students at Sugar-Salem Junior High
gathered for an assembly on Friday, Feb.
18 to recognize students from their school
who placed in the Veterans of Foreign Wars
(VFW) essay contest, “Patriot’s Pen.”
Commanders of VFW presented awards to
three students whose essays placed at the
district level: Brenda Hull (1st place) Lydia
Garner (2nd) and Remingtn Gonzales (4th).
Brenda Hull went on to place 1st in the
district competition in Idaho Falls and 3rd
in the state competition.
Each student received a certificate and pin
from the VFW as well as the corresponding
prize money: first place $100, second place
$75, and fourth place $25. Brenda also
received a plaque and a $200 savings bond
for placing in the state competition.
Principal Kevin Schultz said he is very
pleased with all the students’ performances
and this is the first time that anyone from
Sugar-Salem Junior High has placed at the
state level.
Each year, sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade
students across the nation are invited to
participate in “Patriot’s Pen.” They are asked
to write a 300-400 word essay on a patriotic
Photo by Esther Beazer
theme. This year the prompt was, “When
is the right time to honor our military
heroes?”
Hull expressed her feelings of appreciation
for military service men and women by
describing the first time she visited Mount
Rushmore:
“At the lighting ceremony where the valiant
presidents’ faces are illuminated in light,
the organizers of the ceremony presented
a video. It showed us those presidents’
dreams for this nation and all they did for
us. Then they called up anyone who had
served in the military. As I looked at those
“Just holding a dream
so dear that they’d
be willing to do
anything for it makes
them a hero in my
eyes, and I feel it’s our
duty to respect them.”
-Brenda Hull
men and women who would give their lives
for their nation, I realized that they didn’t
just serve their country on a whim. They
shared George Washington’s dream of a
free nation, Abraham Lincoln’s vision of
equality, Thomas Jefferson’s wish to ensure
civil rights, and Theodore Roosevelt’s desire
to defend our freedom. They were prepared
to die for that dream. To me, that makes a
hero. They didn’t have to rescue anyone or
have a certain rank. Just holding a dream so
dear that they’d be willing to do anything
for it makes them a hero in my eyes, and I
feel it’s our duty to respect them.”
Although many students wrote an essay
responding to the prompt for a classroom
assignment, the students’ entry into the
competition was optional. The essays were
judged anonymously by representatives
from the VFW post and the Auxiliary post.
Submissions from each grade level were all
equally considered for the awards.
“Patriot’s Pen” is a forerunner to VFW’s
“Voice of Democracy” essay contest, which
is available to high school students.
Bob Jones, State Commander for VFW, told
students at the assembly Friday, “This is one
way we honor the dead by recognizing the
youth through our various youth programs.”
This corresponds with the national VFW
mission statement: “Honoring the dead by
helping the living.”
Schultz said, “I think it’s a wonderful
program that the VFW sponsors,
particularly in these times when we are
engaged in Afghanistan and Iraq. Many of
our students are affected whether directly
with parents, or relatives, or friends who are
serving and I think it’s important that we
give these opportunities to students to share
how they feel about issues of patriotism.”

Veterans Bob
Jones and Lloyd
Warnick present
Brenda Hull and
Lydia Garner with
their awards.

Sugar-Salem Schools 3 February 2010

 Board of Trustees:
Norm Spackman, Board Chair
ncspackman@gmail.com

Brian Kinghorn, Board Vice Chair

kinghornbr@byui.edu

Doug McBride
mcbrided@byui.edu

Dwight Little
spudfarmer2002@hotmail.com

Mark Blaser
blasfam8@msn.com
Students show their colors through song-and-dance. Photo by Krysta Longley
Alan Dunn, Superintendent
FIFTH-GRADERS PRESENT NATIONAL HERITAGE adunn@sugarsalem.org
By Sarah Dighans, BYU-Idaho I~Comm Agency
Vern Thurber
On Thursday, Feb. 11, Kershaw fifth- ones, such as “You Are What Makes
graders set out to remind the community of America Grow” and a traditional
vthurber@sugarsalem.org
the inspiring American history. American Indian dance. The program
used music to focus on different periods
One hundred and twenty fifth-graders,
of American history.
under the direction of five teachers, have
been preparing since Christmas to present Superintendant Alan Dunn comes back
songs and dances, historic facts and the every year because he “love[s] the way
Next Board Meeting:
Gettysburg Address. the kids sing out as loud as they can.”
He mentioned that “this group sang out Thursday, March 25
The program has a tradition for Kershaw
and in-tune very well tonight.” 7 p.m.
near Presidents Day for 20 years. While the
bulk of the program is the same from year to When asked why they do the program
year, there are always tweaks and additions. every year, Inama said, “We do it
because we want the students to feel it
Diane Inama was one of the fifth-grade
–- the patriotic pride.”
teachers who coordinated the production.
“We couldn’t get one part right in a dance
and one of the students came up with an
idea and we used it,” she said.
Many of the songs were expressed gratitude
for America, and recognized the heroes of
our nation. Students performed up-beat
songs, such as “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy”
and “Cotton-Eyed Joe” and more relaxing

PO Box 150 / 105 W Center

Sugar City, ID 83448
208-356-8802

Sugar-Salem Schools 4 February 2010