Advanced Performance on State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR):

Congratulations to the following students for achieving Level III Advanced Performance on the STAAR test:

3rd Grade Reading 3rd Grade Math
Shane Branch Shane Branch
Sarah Doggett Shayla Teel
Maddie Hawes
Anthony Luna
Tarah Munsch
Shayla Teel
4th Grade Reading 4th Grade Math
Felicty Baldera Evan Clifton
Kinley Lowery Brooklyn Redmond
Brooklyn Redmond
Blake Walters
5th Grade Reading 5th Grade Math
Thomas Hawes Carly Rosenboom
Mary Kalafatis Hannah Tucker
Hannah Tucker
Colton Williams 5th Grade Science
Carly Rosenboom

Three Students Awarded Trophy for Highest Accelerated Reader (AR) points:

1st Place with 260 points, Sarah Doggett, 3rd grade
2nd Place with 205 points, Tarah Munsch, 3rd grade
3rd Place with 168 points, Mary Kalafatis, 5th grade

Bring Up Grades (BUG) Award:

Students improving grades without letting any grades decline earned a BUG certificate from the Kiwanis Club:

Ethan Redding – English & Math, 2nd grade
Jessie Lashley – Language Arts & Math, 3rd grade
Keven Salinas – Science & Social Studies, 3rd grade
Collin Branch- Math, 4th grade
McKaelyn Carriles- English & Math, 4th grade

Sam Thumann and Rebecca Kalafatis show off their new bicycles while Taylor Ragusin, Javier Ayala, Dylon Schumann, Brianna Lashley, Chloe Ragusin, Faith Peeler, Miss Ladybug and Noah Guzman look on.

Congratulations to Sam Thumann and Rebecca Kalafatis. They were both the lucky winners of a bicycle donated by the Kiwanis Club. Students receiving a BUG award during the first 5 six weeks were entered into a drawing for a chance to win a bicycle. In addition, all students earning a BUG award were treated to an ice cream party by Miss Lady Bug.

Campus Science Fair:

Thank you to our volunteer science fair judges, Bill Dambrova, Barbara Crouch and Mary Ann Claiborne. They each spent a lot of time reviewing science projects and interviewing students to determine the winners. We sincerely appreciate all the time you spent with our students.

Bill Dambrova carefully reviews a student’s science fair board.

Barbara Crouch and Mary Ann Claiborne discuss an entry in the science fair.

Campus Science Fair Results:

3rd Grade Science Fair Winners:
Three Projects won 1st Place:
Power Down -Amy Resendiz, Maddie Hawes and Harley Albrecht
Water Depth – Shayla Teel, Joseph Diaz, and Jarius Munoz
Flow Rate – Keven Salinas, Reba Kalafatis and Anthony Luna

Three Projects won 2nd Place:
Black vs White – John Rosenboom, Shane Branch and Sarah Doggett
Savors – Jessie Lashley, Joey Helms and Alexandria DiClemente
Beep Beep – Tarah Munsch, Gilbert Saldivar, and Madison Stringo

4th Grade Science Fair Winners:
Two projects won 1st Place:
Battery – Blake Walters
Chomp Away – Ally Luna & McKaelyn Carriles

2nd Place: Absorbing Water – Evan Clifton & Collin Branch

3rd Place: Grow – Brooklyn Redmond

5th Grade Science Fair Winners:

Three Projects won 1st Place:
Guess – Adriana Diclemente and Sierra Posey
Beetle Homes – Canion Epley and Colton Williams
Friction Physics – Carly Rosenboom

2nd Place: Fizzy Juice – Riley Hughs

3rd Place: Hot Ice – Thomas Hawes & Clayton Maraggia

Mrs. Ochoa’s Class Holds a Medieval Fair:

To supplement their learning of the Medieval time period, students in the 4th grade developed items which might have existed during medieval times. The students even dressed up and “sold” their wares to students in other grades.

Felicity Baldera, Faith Peeler and Kinley Lowery sell their wares at the Medieval Fair.

Dalton Alford watches as Evan Clifton demonstrates the Trebuchet he built for the Medieval Fair.

After 36 Years, Elizabeth Bell Says Goodbye:

On May 31, students, teachers, family and friends gathered to celebrate Elizabeth Bell’s 36 year career as a teacher and wish her well in retirement. We will certainly miss you, Liz.

I know that we celebrated Father’s Day on the third Sunday of June, but my heart keeps taking me back to this special day. This was both Joane’s and my first year without our dads. My dad went to be with the Lord on August 8 last year and Papaw (Joane’s dad) saw Jesus in person on January 11 of this year. There is a huge hole in our hearts, but we have the comfort of knowing that soon we will be reunited with them.

Some people say that any man can be a father. They say that it is a job that takes little talent. Yet, when we consider the failure rate, we realize more men fail at this task far more often than any other occupation. Being a good father is the most important task a man can tackle because it reaches so many generations.

I know here are many women today who are raising children without a dad in the home. Most of them are doing an excellent job, but every kid will tell you that they want Daddy to help them with many things. They want to talk with him about manly things and see the world through his eyes. I find that even worse than a home without a father is a home where the father fails to fulfill his God-given role. I believe there are three main fatherly duties that every dad should work hard at achieving.

First, I believe the role of the dad is to be the bread-winner for the family. Everyone knows that one of the greatest needs of the home is material need. It is the father’s job to “bring home the bacon”!

I find most older dads greatly succeeded in this area. I see some of today’s dads feeling great about themselves if they can stay home and have moms go out and work. When this happens, I know that a family breakdown is about to happen in most cases. A man finds his identity in what he does and his masculinity suffers when he no longer accepts this responsibility.

One of the dangers I see today is that many fathers provide beyond the family’s needs. We often set the material standards so high, overemphasizing money’s importance, and leading his children to want and expect more than they need. I know that many grade school kids have more than thirty pairs of shoes! A wise father does not infect his family with the love of money, which will always bring many sorrows!

Remember, a father’s relationship to his family symbolizes Christ’s position with His people! We as dads must represent God to our families. Having given life to our children, which one day will end, we should provide them the opportunity to accept the gift of eternal life from their Heavenly Father.

Dads, often we talk about providing “quality” time with our children because we do not have “quantity” time. Most kids will spell love from dads like this: “TIME!”

Secondly, every dad must protect his family. Most dads provide physical protection. I know of no dad who, were someone to enter his house and try to harm his children, would not give his life fighting for them. This sense of duty seems engraved into every dad’s nature.

But, physical dangers are not the only threats to our families. Do we set limits on television viewing, internet surfing, and video game playing? The eternal enemy of our family has set his eyes on your children and desires to mess up their lives from an early age. When we read the statistics on child abuse, we realize we have an enemy who wants to destroy all children. We need to be careful to keep our kids away from dangerous teaching. We need to teach them to respect their mothers. We need to train them to honor authorities. Holy Scripture teaches that we must train our children in the way they should go. Recently, I heard about a dad who took his preschool child to Wal-Mart and taught him how to steal a toy. That dad has instilled in his son a desire to steal! I know of dads who watch porn with their boys and teach them how to “hold their liquor”! Some dads believe in teaching their children how to “swear like a sailor”! Dads, wake up! Protect your children from everything that can harm them in life!

Thirdly, every dad should pray for his children. God can do so much more to help your kids get through life than we dads could ever accomplish. I know that I need God’s help – the task of being a dad is bigger than I can handle – so handle this “daddy job” with a lot of prayer! If we take our kids to every sporting event in the country, if all the amusement parks are visited regularly, and our kids are the school’s stars, but we leave out Jesus, we have failed as a dad.

Every dad and every child will one day stand before God. Dads, I encourage you to help those kids you truly love to have a glorious entrance into the Father’s House!

The Calhoun County Democrats Club will meet on Thursday, June 27, at the IBC Community Room, located on the 2nd floor, 311 N. Virginia, Port Lavaca, with social at 5:30 pm, followed by the meeting at 6 pm. Jim Blackburn, with the Gulf Restoration Network, created to ensure the health of the Gulf, its bays and estuaries, will be our speaker. For more information, please call Evelyn Burleson at 552.2791. The public is invited.

June 22: Hoa T. Vu; Henry Pongratz;

June 23: H.B. Thomasson; Sylvia Rodriguez

June 24: Daniel Gayle; Tien A. Nguyen; Richard Wall

June 25: Jamie & Jennifer Luker; Alfred Doolin; Dyllan Rodriguez; Willie C. Gaines; Holden Spears

June 26: John Pitonyak

June 27: Justin Tigrett; Ryan Preslar

June 29: Amy Gosnell

July 1: Amber Lopez; Claudine Covarrubias; John Reneau

July 4: Christopher Brunotte; Charles DeLoach; Barbara Goodrum

July 5: Shirley Gordon; Michael Lucey

July 6: Teddy Hawes

July 7: Janet Johnson; Tyler Hawes; Gordon Valigura

July 8: Karie Skalak; Eldon Gooden; Kacie Lucey; Sharon Wood

July 9: Sandy Adams; Joe Ramos

July 10: Anjelica Elmore; Lefty Ward

July 11: Amanda Cady; Carolyn Valigura; Judy Overton; Mike Overton; Vicki Rhyne

July 12: Ashley May

July 13: Bob Malacord; Crystal Mapp; Malcolm Torres

July 14: Tiffany Rasmussen; Ed Mouser; Judith Bowman; Debra Mapp

July 15: Mike Raby

July 16: Brenda Gonzales; Melvin Bueckman; Nathan Bacek

July 17: Debbie Michalek; Duane Melson; Ray Gonzales Jr.

July 18: Nikki Ritch; Ray Gonzales Sr.

July 19: Bao T. Tran; Roxanne Ochoa; Rose Smith