ORANGE GROVE I SD…. BUILDING CHAMPIONS

Volume 11, Issue 4 February 2014

Welcome Juan Acuna!!! Juan Acuna, former Or-ange Grove student and Chief Mete-orologist for KZTV

Channel 10, came to Orange Grove High School, Thurs-day, February 14th. Juan came to Mrs. McClain's Earth/Space science classes and presented the students with information about the occupation of meteorology. Mrs. McClain's Earth/Space science class is comprised of senior and junior level students. She invited Juan to come and give these students information about the oc-cupation of meteorology and the educational background necessary for this career. The students asked questions about his job and Juan provided wonderful feedback to assist the students with the tools necessary to go into this science field. Juan, a graduate of Orange Grove in 2003, said he has been interested in weather since he was a young child. He aspired to work along side of Dale Nel-son, the Chief Meteorologist of KRIS Channel 6, and now his lifelong dream has come true. Congratulations to Juan Acuna on his achievements and working hard to make his dreams come true. He expressed to Mrs. McClain's science the same message, follow your heart of passion and interests, go to college and make those dreams come true. Thank you Juan Acuna for coming to our high school campus and giving some great informa-tion to our Orange Grove seniors and juniors.

VISIONARIOS ARTISTS SHINE

RENEW, REUSE, RESTART was this year’s theme for the Visionarios Art Contest at The Art Museum of South Texas. Students entered their art work which conveyed the theme in dry media, wet media, and mixed media. These students included Addison Berthold, Jayce Brad-ford, Gracie Davis, Kerys Foster, Damien Garcia, Sadie Grantham, Bryce Hardwick, Chance Hardwick, Justin

Pierce, Paige Pierce, Anna Summers, Kylee Teague, Beau Thomas, and Bella Thomas. The Visionarios exhibition will remain on display through Sun-day, March 16, 2014. Five of these Orange Grove students placed in the Art Con-test held on February 2, 2014. Beau Thomas, a first grader at Orange Grove Primary, won 2 awards, 1st in wet media and honorable mention in mixed media. Addison Berthold, a second grader at Orange Grove Elem. placed 2nd in mixed media. Chance Hardwick, a third grader at OG Elem. re-ceived honorable mention in dry media. Kylee Teague, a third grader, received an honorable mention in wet media. Paige Pierce, a fourth grader, received an honorable mention in Grades 3-5 mixed media.

Technology working at its best!

Xavier Woo was awarded an iPad2 through a grant applica-tion filed with Autism Speaks by his teacher Mrs. Debbie Garcia. The iPad2 was deliv-ered just in time for Christmas and is in full use in the classroom. It will be his designated educational device here at the Jr. High School.

First graders have been working exceptionally hard during the fourth six weeks. The first grade teachers have administered the TPRI (Texas Primary Reading Inventory) to all first grade students. At this time each student should be reading forty words per minute and answering five out of the six comprehension questions correctly on both stories. Please contact your child’s teacher if you have any questions concerning the TPRI. We had a great time during our 100th day of school. We wrote a 100th day book, created a fruit loop necklace with one hundred fruit loops, we made a delicious trail mix with lots of different snacks to equal one hundred items and we had many more one hundred day activi-ties. The kiddos had a fantastic time on Valen-tine’s Day! They exchanged Valentine’s with their classmates and completed many fun and exciting Valentine activities!! Please make sure your child is reading his/her word lists and stories to increase their fluency, accuracy and comprehension. The students are very excited about some of the upcoming events and activities that are planned and their excitement is driving them to work harder in the classroom. Here are some important dates: Spring Break March 17th – 21st, Field Trip to the Texas State Aquarium May 28th, First Grade Awards May 27th and First Grade Field Day May 23rd!!! Thanks again for all of your hard work!!!

FCCLA Winners on page 7 of this edi-tion. Photos to follow next edition.

On February 15th, 2014, Connor Bridges and Jackson Stallone competed at the San Antonio Livestock Exposition public speaking contest. Both students gave speeches over an agriculture related topic and then answered questions before a panel of judges. Con-nor’s speech concerned the emergent use of virtual reality in agri-culture. He will be using the critiques from this contest to prepare for the District FFA speaking contests in April. Jackson’s speech discussed genetically modified organisms in the agriculture indus-try. He advanced to the final round of competition and received a plaque as being one of the finalists. Both students worked very hard and we are extremely proud of their accomplishments.

The second semester has just started, and there is much to do in the remaining months. Of greatest interest to the 9th-10th graders is the upcoming English STAAR test on March 31st & April 1st. This is one of the five tests that students have to pass to graduate. Parents please ensure that your child gets a good nights rest the night before and eats a good breakfast the morning of the exam. Deadlines Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors: If you are planning on taking the ACT, you must have your application in by March 7, 2014, for the April 12, 2014 test. Seniors: You must take a college readiness exam at the college you are planning on attending unless you are exempt. You may be exempt through TAKS scores or ACT scores. Please see the counselor if you are in doubt about an exemption. The FAFSA application to determine eligibility for grants, student loans, or work-study at a university should be com-pleted as soon as possible so that you may know what type of aid to expect. The Trio counselor will be here at the high school on February 25, 2014 from 6:00-7:30 p.m. to help par-ents fill out this very important paperwork. Please remember that many scholarships are not complete without the FAFSA complete also. Seniors, as the excitement of graduation looms, we hope that you will continue to strive for excellence. What you do with the last months of your public school career will greatly im-pact your future. As always, if you have any questions or concerns regarding any aspect of your schoolwork, or if your parents have any concerns, please feel free to call or come by.

The Orange Grove National Honor Society sponsored a drive for the ARK of South

Texas. The ARK is a shelter for children from 0-17 who are taken out of bad situations. It is run by nuns and a few helpers and are sup-ported by the government. Their income is

fixed and is based on the number of children they have. The ARK appreciates any dona-tions as this helps to offset the costs of sup-porting these children and running the facil-ity. The children are allowed to stay at the ARK for 90 days before they are placed in

foster homes or returned to the family. When the children leave, they receive a toy and

enough clothes for seven days. Miss Kristina Brumley is the National Honor Society mem-ber who spear-headed this worthwhile cause and students of Orange Grove High School came through with flying colors. Mrs. Bar-tosch wants to thank everyone who partici-pated in the drive. Their generosity is very

much appreciated!!

The Spanish 2 students learned that acrostic poems are special and unique po-ems that do not necessarily have

to rhyme. It has the topic written vertically and at each

letter, something to do with the topic written horizontally.

The students proudly display the acrostics they wrote in Spanish for

their loved ones

Football awards: Matthew Priddy was named 2nd team Class 3-A Wide Receiver by Texas Sports Writers Association and

also 1st team All Area by the Caller Times. Hondo Harris named Class 3-A Break-

through Player of the Year for Class 3-A by Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Magazine. He was also Honorable Mention Class 3-A All State by the Texas Sports Writers. He was chosen 1st Team All Area by Caller

Times. Correy Wallace was chosen 2nd team All Area by Caller Times.

Varsity baseball started out its season with a 10-0 vic-

tory over George West Longhorns. Quentin Smith-

wick and Jordan Garcia combined for a no-hitter. This week they go to the

Rivera tournament playing Rio grande city La

Grulla, George West, San Diego, and Rivera.

Around the Campus

Congratulations to the 8th grade girls basketball team for placing 2nd in the Banquete Tournament. OG 29 Mathis 21: OG 33 Freer 29 : OG 24 George West 27 Team members: Bea Lara, Mary Grace Bluntzer, Carington Lowe, Roberta Trevino, Elise Hesseltine, Rebekah Halepaska, Audrey Graham, Breanna Gomez, Kayla Bara-jas, Alyssa Rodriguez, Kyleigh Carr and Kayla Villarreal.

2014 OGJHS Valentine Dance On Friday, February 14, 2014 the Junior High Stu-dent Council hosted their annual Valentine Dance. A great time was had by all as students danced the eve-ning away. Many parents and teachers came together to make the beautiful affair happen. A big thank you is extended to all those who helped make the dance pos-sible. The OGJH student body voted for royalty in each class. In 8th grade, King

and Queen honors were presented to Nicholas Chase and Brianna Morin. The seventh grade Prince and Princess honors were presented to AJ Porras and Autumn Flowers. Finally, the 6th grade Duke and

Duchess crowns were presented to Wesley Berry and Kassidy Lee. Big congratula-tions go out to all those in the voting.

Orange Grove Junior High Principal’s Message

Students are starting to compete in their Spring sports. The boys and girls had their first track meet on February 20, at Odem where all our students competing did a great job. They will have three additional meets and the last one being district on March 27, at Sinton. Also, tennis is having their first tournament at Bishop on Febru-ary 22. Tennis district meet will be on May 3, 2014. As per students’ needs we have had science and math benchmarks. The teachers are analyzing the bench-mark results to make sure they address the student needs. Also, these benchmarks are showing our students are making positive gains in their understanding of the state TEKS. The school is providing tutorials on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays for all our students if they need assistance in the core subject areas. We continue to ask that parents guide and encourage their children to work hard in school. An emphasis on good attendance continues to be communicated to all our students so that they receive instruction. Remember that our students are still young, and they need all of us working together to keep them on track and focused so that they can be successful in all their endeavors.

The Orange Grove Junior High students were successful once again and took 1st place overall in the UIL Literary/Academic Meet on Jan. 11th 2014. Results for the meet are Orange Grove finishing with 937 points, Ingleside 551 points, Rockport –Fulton 425 points, West Oso 328 points and Sinton 264 points. The UIL contests

range from Impromptu Speaking to Calculator Applications. The events are de-signed to complement and expand upon what students learn in the classroom and motivate and challenge students as they acquire higher levels of knowledge. The students worked really hard in preparing for their events by practicing during their

lunch hours and/or afterschool.

Tournament Winners

Intermediate Interest…..Dr. Ashworth , Principal

Fifth Grade News Submitted by Lori Gonzalez  

The fourth six‐week’s period has been full of activity with teachers and students working and studying rigorously in all academic areas. The second round of STAAR benchmarks were February 18th for math, Feb‐ruary 19th for Reading and science will take their final benchmark March 5.ELAR classes have been reading selections from their text‐books, working with nouns and adjectives in grammar, writing book reports, and using the Accelerated Reader program where they read and test on library books. Students are required to have 10 AR points for a reading test grade at the end of the six weeks. Please listen to your children read orally at home daily. Math and reading classes are work‐ing in Measuring Up Express books to prepare for the STAAR test. In Social Studies, children have been studying the events that led to the birth of our nation. Science is exploring the Earth, Moon, & Sun System.  Hands‐on small group activities have allowed students to explore sci‐ence in a fun way. We are really happy to have our Science lab in the Special Programs building.   Our 5th grade Gifted and Talented Students are preparing exhibits for the OGISD Health Fair on March 6. Their pro‐ject will be over personal hygiene.   We give a big “Thank you” to the parents for your support. Remem­ber to help your children to get plenty of rest and eat healthy. Physi­cal and mental health plays an important role in student success. Our 5th grade STAAR tests will be as follows: Math – April 1st, Read­ing April 2nd, and Science ­April 23rd.  Please make note of these dates when planning dentist and doctor’s appointments.  

BLUEBONNET BASH While wearing our blue, 85 of our 4th and 5th graders voted on their favorite Bluebonnet

book on Jan. 27-28th. The One and Only Ivan book received the majority vote (44 votes) for Orange Grove Intermediate School. The winning book state wide is Ten Rules You Absolutely Must Not Break If You Want to Survive the School Bus by John Grandits. On Jan. 31, the 4th and 5th grade voters attended a Bluebonnet Bash in the library to celebrate. Stu-dents celebrated with blue iced cupcakes, blue kool-aid, and blueberries fresh fruit mix. Students also planted bluebonnet seeds in the school planters, created bluebonnets from blue thumb prints on the

Growing Bluebonnet Readers signs and made bluebonnet bracelets. We are so proud of these students and hope to ignite an interest in our 3rd graders about our Bluebonnet program for next school year. READ 5 THEN DECIDE is the motto. The 2014-2015 Bluebonnet Book nominee list is already available @www.txla.org/TBA so our stu-dents can begin now reading books for next year’s voting requirements. By: N. Phillips

Orange Grove Elementary / Intermediate students are preparing to “Reach for the STAARs” with benchmark testing. I would like to remind parents that we are encouraging our students to remember the five following skills prior to STAAR testing days: Develop a Relaxing Routine

Talk and Think Positively Don’t Get Stuck Practice to Make Progress Prepare Your Body Physically

Fourth and fifth grade just completed a classroom guidance lesson on preju-dice, discrimination, and respecting differences. As our students grow, we are preparing them with skills for any road blocks they may face along the way. Third graders reviewed test taking skills during classroom guidance with the story of “Tyler Tames the Testing Tiger.” Second grades covered how to take charge of feelings with the help of a story titled “Amazing Mallika”

We would like to remind all parents that we are now accepting Gifted and Talent (GT) student

referrals. Parents are able to refer their own children to be tested for this program. ALL GT REFERRALS ARE DUE BY

Friday, March 28, 2014.

Reading transports curi-ous minds to wondrous realms of the imagination. The AR Reading program allows stu-dents to select their own books and read at their own pace. After reading, the stu-dent goes to the computer and takes a multiple-choice comprehension test on the book's content. The computer scores the test, awards the student points

based on the results, and keeps a complete record. As we are finish-ing up the 4th Six Weeks, the 5th Grade teachers would like to acknowl-edge a few of our “Top Dawg AR Readers.” Four students are being recognized as our “Top Dawg Readers” for 5th grade: Kyla Leal with 151.5 points, Sierra Starns with 125.7 points, Jacob Mitchum with 86.5 points, and Gage Maldonado with 81.4 points. Remember the goal of all reading instruction is to help students become lifelong learners who love to read.

We just finished our second round of benchmarks for 4th grade Writing and 5th grade Math and Reading. I challenged every student to score higher than their 1st benchmark. I know that many students met this challenge and far exceeded it. Our teachers are doing an out-standing job preparing our students with the skills they need to succeed at the next grade level and on STAAR. Thank you to parents for supporting our students and teachers as we continue to strive for excellence. In February, the Intermediate campus had 2 students place in an art contest hosted by the Art Museum of South Texas. Congratulations to Da-mien Garcia for placing 1st in Grades 3-5 Dry Media and Paige Pierce for getting Honorable Mention in Grades 3-5 Mixed Media.

Principal’s Report….Ms. Frazier It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. ~Charles Dickens, Great Expectations We have had many of these days recently, but we know Spring is near. Spring Break will be March 17-21. 2nd graders at O.G.E. completed the Mid-Year Texas Primary Read-ing Inventory (TPRI) test. Students were able to display the growth they have made from the beginning of the year to the middle of the year. They did a great job. 3rd graders continue to work hard pre-paring for the state assessment test called the STAAR. This test will be given April 22 and 23. The 2nd and 3rd graders will hold their annual Music Program on March 13. 2nd grade will be at 6:00 p.m. and 3rd grade will be at 7:00 p.m. in the cafeteria. All the students have been working hard to prepare musical selections for the program and I look for-ward to attending this wonderful event. Don’t forget to mark your calendars as well. I hope to see all of you at the Free Community Health Fair spon-sored by O.G.I.S.D. on March 6 from 5:30-7:00 at the Jr. High

Gym. There will be many free screenings and infor-mation re-garding health issues as well as fun and games for the children.

Third Grade Success Third grade students are doing very well in preparing for the STAAR Test. They are working hard in successfully completing homework that review all skills that have been taught and being reinforced. Students need-ing tutoring are attending tutorials to make sure they are prepared for the test. Special thanks go to the parents who make sure their child attends tutorials every week. Your efforts help your child be a success. Students will be taking their Benchmark on March 11 and 12. Please be sure your child is in attendance and on time. Results will deter-mine if your child will require additional tutoring or if on target. Third grade will also be having a music program on March 13 before going on Spring Break the following week. A special thanks go to students who are assigned to put up and take down the flag each day. Their dedication and ef-forts are greatly appreciated.

Another 6 weeks has passed and our fourth graders are working hard! We are learning new things in science about weather and our daily lives. Make sure to watch the weather reports on the news and discuss them with your child often. We are also learning in So-cial Studies all about the history of Texas, our wonderful state! Fourth graders have recently completed their second and final round of benchmark test-ing. These benchmarks will show us just which areas need to be focused on in order to be the most successful on the STAAR tests in April. It is extremely important that stu-dents attend school regularly to make the final preparations for these state-mandated tests. The work that is done in class and sent home for practice is very important to help our students succeed. Review all of your child’s work daily and ask them ques-tions. They will love your interest! It is a partnership between home and school, and with everyone’s help, our students will be successful.

Learning to LOVE the Library!

By Kelsey DeBord

This school year just seems to be zipping by, doesn’t it? And we did our best to fill this last six weeks in the Primary library with more fun sto-ries and engaging activities. We read a really neat pop-up book called Dear Polar Bear by Barry Ablett where we got to open all the pack-ages he received from his bear friends around the world! Then we built ‘bears with squares’ based on the awesome drawing books by Kathy Kuhzto

Campbell! We imagined that we were fiction book authors and we stood by the letter that begins our last name to show where our book would be on the shelf! And with former/current OGISD employees who are authors like teacher Denise Atchley and District Librarian Georgia Witt and even illustrators like Media Specialist Toni Lutz---we just might have more blossoming writers in our midst!! With our new li-brary grant this year, the Primary library now has iPads for the teachers to check out so their students can practice many skills with them. We’ve used them in the library to practice writing our letters, letter sounds, counting, and coin value! The iPads have been a real hit this year!! We also read this cool story called The Big Blue Spot by Peter Holwitz. The spot talks to us and drips across the pages of the book in search of a friend as we try to keep up with it. It’s got a great surprise ending—ask a Primary kiddo to let you in on the conclusion. We also had a visit from a friendly koala!! The kids enjoyed hugging her and “feeding” her eucalyptus leaves. In her honor, we learned cool koala facts--They have TWO thumbs on EACH hand! And we also created cute koalas with hearts. And last but certainly not least—our Mexican Jumping Beans are hatch-ing!! We’ve been waiting weeks and are thrilled to welcome the tiny moths into our library!

Kindergarten Kids Kindergarten continues to work daily on the academic skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic. We have begun having weekly spelling tests based on words from our readers. Most of the children have adapted well to the addition to their homework and daily class lesson and are scoring very high on the tests. We also use special days as an opportunity to use our skills in varied ways. We counted to 100 over and over and over again on the 100th day of school. We counted each child’s special collection of 100 things by 1’s, 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s depend-ing on how they were laid out on the poster. We wrote about what we would buy if we had 100 dollars. We read, retold, and sequenced pictures of stories about the 100th day of school. We made color quilt charts with 10 pieces each of 10 different colors. We made Froot Loop neck-laces of 100 pieces with dividers after every 10. We were counted out by the end of the

day! To enable the children to understand how long a 3 month season is we put our teddy bears in caves to hibernate all winter long. The caves are in the science lab and every visit to the lab there is the question of is it time for the bears to come out. Never has a season been so long for so many children as those that are waiting to take their bear home again. They are looking forward to spring break as the bears go home the week before the break. Many of the children are AR testing now with us reading the questions to them but there are a few doing the testing all by themselves. Kindergarten has come a long way from where it was even 10 years ago. The middle of the year state testing – Texas Primary Reading Inventory- was given a few weeks ago with very good results. The individual results went out to parents. We are very proud of our kindergartners and are working hard with every child to help them reach their full potential.

We have been focusing on manners. We read and

discussed the book, Manners Are Important for You and Me by Todd Snow. The book emphasizes how manners show that we have respect for people and things. Each child was given a puppet during the lesson and role played a manner or way to show respect to others. Then each child was given a card from the Berenstain Bear Good Behavior Card Game. On one side of the card a ques-tion such as “When you meet someone, What do you say?” On the opposite side of the card it gives the correct manner, You say “How do you do?” and “It’s nice to meet you.” Each card was read, dis-cussed and practiced. The children were encouraged to use kind and polite manners everywhere they go.

Together We Learn Orange Grove Primary continues to strive for academic excellence and asks for your dedicated support in this endeavor. Learning to read is of utmost importance and requires a committed team effort on the part of both home and school. Reading with or to your child each day for a minimum of 20-30 minutes a day is critical to their reading success. This time frame may be broken down into smaller, shorter chunks, such as two 15-minute reading sessions. The main thing is to practice each day. Make this reading time an enjoyable experience for your child as you provide the support nec-essary for beginning readers. Take turns reading and talking about the story and before you know it the reading practice will be done. First graders are working to improve their fluency rates in an at-tempt to reach their goal of reading 60 words per minute by the end of the year. Recently, the mid-year TPRI (Texas Primary Reading Inventory) scores were made available to kindergarten and first grade parents. Based on their TPRI performance, students that were struggling were identified as being at-risk for reading difficul-ties. Please contact your child’s kindergarten or first grade teacher to schedule a conference if your child has been identified as being at-risk and you have not had a conference with your child’s teacher as of yet. Please be reminded that by the time your child is in the third grade they must be reading at grade level in order to be suc-cessful on the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) reading test. It is therefore vital that students possess a firm grasp of these basic reading skills by the time they leave the Primary campus at the conclusion of the first grade. With this thought in mind the following information is provided to assist par-ents in helping their children meet the rigorous expectations that they are facing in today’s classrooms as well as those of the future.

As we began our new semester our Pre-K classes celebrated in having our 100th day at school, we also have continued learning the upper and lower case letters and their sounds, rhyming, and the numbers 0-10. The importance of safety and following school rules continues to be emphasized and practiced daily. Our Pre-K students are do-ing an excellent job at school and parents can help promote positive learning at home by reading, counting and identifying the letters of the alphabet with their child. Thank you for your support!

Public Notification of Nondiscrimination in Career and

Technical Education Programs

The Orange Grove I.S.D. offers career and technical education programs in welding, floral, and human services. Admission is open to all. It is the policy of the Orange Grove I.S.D. not to dis-criminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex or handi-cap in its vocational programs, services or activities as required by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended; Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972; and Section 504 of the Reha-bilitation Act of 1973, as amended. It is the policy of the Orange Grove I.S.D. not to discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, sex, handicap, or age in its em-ployment practices as required by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972; the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, as amended; and Sec-tion 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended. The Or-ange Grove I.S.D. will take steps to assure that lack of English language skills will not be a barrier to admission and participation in all educational and vocational programs. For information about your rights or grievance procedures, contact the Title IX coordinator and/or the Section 504 coordinator, Ernest Henderson, at Post Office Box 534, Orange Grove, Texas or (361) 384-2495 ext. 100

Cafeteria Connection

USDA’s Smart Snacks In School Rule When will it be in effect? School Year 2014-2015 What is changing? All Foods in School. Below is a preview of some of the changes to come Food: 100% of grains offered must be Whole Grain Calorie, Sodium and Sugar limits for Entrees and Snack items Drinks: Water, Milk, and 100% fruit or vegetable juice allowed

at all school levels High Schools may allow additional beverages within below guidelines No more than 20 oz portions of flavored calorie free water, or other carbonated/flavored beverages with less than 10 calories per 20oz; or 12 oz portions of beverages with less than 60 calories per 12oz

What next? Texas Department of Agriculture is currently reviewing Smart Snacks In School for in-terpretation and reviewing the current Texas Public School Nutrition Policy for possible changes to the state policy. Any changes or clarifications to rulings will be communicated to Child Nutrition programs as needed.

Junior High and High School Students: It’s time for our annual student survey and we need your feedback! Go to www.studentvp.com/ogisd and fill out a survey for the cafeteria!

Turn in your confirmation page to the cafeteria for a FREE Mini Rice Krispy treat!

Flat Stanley Project The Jr High Life Skills class has been working on a Flat Stanley Project and had 3 visitors so far. Flat Texia

came to visit us from Seville, Spain and shared many tradi-tions and hobbies they have, Flat Stanley came to visit us from Sea Cliff, New York and Flat Betsy came from

Rogersville, TN. We are cur-rently keeping up with other pen pals in a special educa-tion classroom from Riegel-wood, North Carolina. Our Flat Woody, Flat Clara and Flat Jessie are visiting with

our friends in Spain, Tennes-see and New York and we will update you with their visit in the next newspaper

edition.

2014 Region Meeting Results OG FCCLA recently participated in our Region V Meeting, January 31-February 1, 2014. Results are as fol-lows: 2014-2015 Region V Vice President of Peer Involvement – Hannah Brock. 2014-2015 Region V Vice President of Parliamentary Law – Mattea Rodriguez The following competitive teams will advance to the state meeting in April: National Programs In Action – Jr. – 2nd Place Grace Cissna, Hanah Hartman, and Gabby Sanchez—Life Event Planning – Jr. – 2nd place Bailey Ray, Ben Harrington, and Alyson Flow-ers—Promote and Publicize FCCLA – Sr. – 2nd place—Angelica Sanchez and Stephanie Vicha — Chapter in Review Display – Jr. – 1st place - Mollee Herrmann, Callie Anderson, and Kelsey Pawelek -Chapter Service Project Portfolio – Sr. 1st place Mia Scoggins and MK Carter—Career Investigation – Sr – 1st place Hunter Ham- Chapter in Review Portfolio Sr. 1st Place—Cassi Barajas, Lunden Myers, and Katie Silva—Chapter Service Project Display – Sr. – 3rd place - Meridy Anthony, Anna Baldeschwiler, and Dan-ielle Mercado - National Programs in Action Sr. Team B – 4th Place—Bri Davila and Jackie Bigley—Illustrated Talk Sr. – 6th Place Kylee Henderson, Cheyenne Rumfield, and Melissa Russell—Chapter in Review Display Sr. – 1st place—Maddie McClain, Sierra Lutz, and Jessica Graham - These teams also competed and did a great job. National Programs in Action Sr. Team A Haley Allison, Jemma Shumake, and Haley Underbrink—Culinary Arts—Chisom Herschap, Pat Padron, and Shelbey Storm. Life Event Planning Sr.- Alex Acuna, Adam Blasingame, and Trey Lopez - Focus On Children—Briana Rivas, Alondra Ramirez, and Megan Phelps -

Orange Grove I.S.D. Superintendent Mr. Lynn Burton 

P.O. Box 534 Orange Grove, Texas 78372 

President—Steve Seidel Vice President— Dorian David

Secretary—Kathy Rusk Members:

Martin Gwosdz Will Klatt

Gilbert Gonzales Pat Garcia

The District has a new look on the web. In mid November the District upgraded their websites. The new sites contain resources for students, parents, commu-nity and staff. We are excited about the opportunities that this change brings. The addresses have also changed, so make sure you bookmark our new sites. OGISD – www.ogisd.net Primary – http://pri.ogisd.net Elementary –http://elem.ogisd.net Intermediate – http://int.ogisd.net Junior High – http://jh.ogisd.net High School – http://hs.ogisd.net

If you would like information to go in “The Bulldog Growl”, please send your informa-

tion to : Rhonda Yaklin at : ryaklin@ogisd,net., or you may bring it to

the Intermedaite Campus, or mail to POBox 534 Orange Grove, Texas. We look forward to featuring all of our students in the

paper. As always thanks for your support.

The Migrant Parents attended the 29th An-nual Parent Involvement Conference in Robstown, Texas. The Conference theme was “Empowered Parents Lead Successful Children.” There were 700 parents from Region 2 who attended this conference. This conference is held every year and is opened to all parents. The topics included: STAAR, Bullying/Self Esteem and Prepar-ing for college. The key note speaker was Mr. Joey Patek Superintendent for Region 2. Mr. Patek has received the Superinten-dent of the year award. He is the superin-tendent from Aransas County ISD

Annie Villarreal, Parent Involvement (361) 384-9358 ext. 302

OGISD Facilities Improve-ments Nearing Completion

by Lynn Burton, Superintendent

I encourage you to look around our school district to see the progress we are making on improving facilities. At the Primary campus, we have a new safe and secure entrance. At the Elementary campus we have a covered play area with basketball goals for school and community use. The Junior High campus has a new quarter mile track and irrigated play-ing field area for school and commu-nity use. Stadium improvements in-clude a new restroom for visitors, a new track, two additional bleachers and new entrances. Baseball and soft-ball have new bleachers; baseball also has a new backstop. Orange Grove High School has a new dressing room for girls and one for boys. Building Champions at the high school includes a weight room, meeting room and all weather field which is currently in use by softball, baseball, track, powerlift-ing, off season girls and boys high school and junior high athletics. Our OGHS Band is practicing inside Building Champions for their upcom-ing Florida marching contest. The district is paying cash for all these improvements from money we’ve save the past four years. These facilities improvements are and will be used by many of our students, staff and com-munity for many years to come. If you’d like a tour, stop by the Central Office and we will be glad to show you our facilities improvements.

Orange Grove I.S.D. Recognizes Crossing Guards The Orange Grove I.S.D. recognized its crossing guards during the month of February. The district is appreciative to the individuals who work as crossing guards both in the mornings during drop-off and in the afternoons during pick-up. Dominga Cardenas, Praxesdis (Pepe) Jimenez, Christine Lund, and Patty Pepau all work as crossing guards near Orange Grove Elementary and Intermediate campuses. School Resource Officers Amber Hardcastle and Rey Rivera work as crossing guards in the highway in the front of the high school. The duty of a crossing guard is to control the flow of traffic in order to insure student safety at drop-off and pick-up times. Their challenge is to balance the efficient flow of traffic while prioritizing student safety. The Orange Grove I.S.D. crossing guards understand their task and take their jobs seriously. The district respectfully requests that all parents/guardians and those who drop off and pick up children prioritize safety in school zones. Please accept the following requests when dropping off or picking up students: Handheld cell phone use is prohibited in all school zones Please drop off students in designated areas only. If you park your vehicle to walk your child to class or to pick them up from class, please use designated crosswalks. Please stop your vehi-cle before the crosswalk when dropping off a student. Turn on your vehicle flashers/hazard lights to

Orange Grove I.S.D. Hosts Annual Health Fair

The Orange Grove I.S.D. will host

the 3rd annual Orange Grove I.S.D. Community Health Fair on Thurs-day, March 6th from 5:30 P.M. till 7:00 P.M. at the Orange Grove Jun-ior High gymnasium and cafeteria. A wide variety of health informa-tion, screenings, exercise opportuni-ties, and healthy snacks will be available. Door prizes will be given away. The health fair is free of charge and everyone in the commu-nity is invited to attend. The Orange Grove I.S.D. Community Health Fair is sponsored by the district’s Student Health Advisory Committee (SHAC) whose mission is to pro-mote health and wellness in our schools and community. The SHAC committee puts forth time and effort in planning and coordination of the event. Last year the health fair was very well attended by students, par-ents, and community members. There were over 40 exhibitors pro-viding blood pressure checks, vision and hearing screenings, Zumba and Wii Fit opportunities, healthy snacks, emergency vehicles, chil-dren’s activities, and much more. Students, parents, and community members are all invited to attend the health fair again this year. Lady Bulldogs off to a great start!