ALHS winter athletic season is now under way

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, November 13, 2007

The winter athletic season is already under way. Dance and girls&8217; hockey have been practicing and are eager for their seasons to start. Girls&8217; basketball and boys&8217; hockey started Monday. Wrestling starts Monday, Nov. 19, and boys&8217; basketball and boys&8217; swimming start Monday, Nov. 26. The &8220;new&8221; head girls&8217; hockey coach is Brian Blatti and his assistant is Hannah Impola. Blatti is a science teacher and Impola is a first-year math teacher at the high school.

When signing up for an activity, parents need to make sure they sign and turn in the Minnesota State High School League form, the ALHS sportsmanship compact, have a current physical on file with the athletic office and pay the fee. Fees this year for sports are $160.

All students in grades 5 though 12 must have an I.D. on them to be allowed into home winter athletic contests. Those with student season passes, can get a sticker at the athletic office that can be put on the back of the student I.D.

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Anyone with questions may call the athletic office at 379-5350.

Senior high math team starts season

The senior high math team started its new year with its first meet at MVL on Nov. 5.

There are four returning seniors (Spencer Bonnerup, Jordan Elleby, Corissa Ranum and Jacob Winkels), one junior (Cinthia Villagomez) and four sophomores (Kate Buringa, Rachel Friedman, Liz Winkels and Amanda Wood).

Future meets will be held in St. Peter, Blue Earth, Mankato East and Fairmont, from now until February.

High school to present musical this weekend

More than 40 students from Albert Lea High School will present &8220;Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat&8221; at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday in the high school auditorium.

Tickets are available at Doyle&8217;s Hallmark or Addie&8217;s Floral or at the door. Prices are $7 for adults and $5 for students and seniors.

Vocalists participate in choral festivals

Albert Lea High School vocalists have participated in two separate choral festivals in the past weeks. Eight students traveled to St. John&8217;s University on Oct. 27 for the annual Minnesota American Choral Directors Men and Women Choral Festival.

The high school students were joined by almost 1,000 other college and high school singers from around the state and presented a concert at the St. John&8217;s Abbey that afternoon. Elizabeth Lukas, Mikaela Pierson, Kelly Duncomb, Erika Blickenderfer, Dane Weitzel, Logan Tufte, Lars Gjersivik and Brian Reindl went from Albert Lea.

On Sunday, Nov. 4, choral students also participated in the 105th St. Olaf Choral Day in Northfield. They spent the day rehearsing with Anton Armstrong and presented a concert in the afternoon. Those attending from Albert Lea were Hannah Anthonison, Joey Daniels, Mallory Dziura, Britani Felten, Shawn Ferguson, Laura Gaudian, Maranda Glassel, Ben Haney, Heather Hemann, Mollie Hernandez, Tasha Lacey, Liz Lukas, Alexa McCune, Ashley Petersen, Sarah Polis-Maras, Corissa Ranum, Letisia Rodriguez, Holly Ryks, Katie Schou, Bethany Sekora, Jesse Silva, Kelsey Stolt, Emily Stoneking, Tim Stoneking, Kayla Swee, Brooke Thompson, Lucy Villagomez, Katie Walker and Natasha Willey.

Bands hold first concert

The Albert Lea Area Schools High School Bands had their first concert on Nov. 1 under the direction of Jared Eastvold. Music from around the world was featured at the concert. The Jazz Band opened with &8220;Firestar,&8221; &8220;The Pink Panther&8221; and &8220;A Night in Tunisia.&8221; The Tiger Band followed with the &8220;Blue Ridge Saga&8221; and the &8220;Outback Fantasy.&8221; Next was the Varsity Band with &8220;Prairie Songs&8221; and &8220;The Last Ride of the Pony Express.&8221; The last group of the evening was the Concert Band, which played &8220;American Riversongs,&8221; &8220;Variations on an African Hymnsong&8221; and the &8220;Russian Sailors&8217; Dance.&8221;

The bands thank the Albert Lea Community for the support

it has shown them throughout the years and invite people to their next concert on Dec. 17.

Early

childhood screening

The state of Minnesota requires a developmental screening of all 3- to 4-year-old children. A free screening will be offered at Brookside Education Center on Dec. 7 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The screening consists of simple checks of vision, hearing, growth, immunization status, language, muscle, and social development. Call Deb at 379-4843 or e-mail dwenum@albertlea.k12.mn.us to schedule your child&8217;s one-hour appointment.

Sibley third-graders are all wet

Third-graders have been doing investigations with water. They have observed how water beads up on some materials and absorbs into other materials. They saw that adding soap to water weakens water&8217;s surface tension. Students also observed that hot water rises to the top when put into room-temperature water, but cold water sinks down. Here are some questions that these young scientists will soon be investigating:

What happens when water freezes?

What is the water cycle?

Math prepares students for future

In seventh-grade pre-algebra math class, students are working with variables, integers, properties and variable expressions. Students finished integers just a few weeks ago, and the knowledge is helping them already in real life and school. Students are assigned work from a book and have daily work, and each chapter includes a real-life application project. Math is preparing students for the future because it can be used in every career.

Sixth-graders at Sibley and Halverson are challenging themselves in math class by computing problems mentally instead of always turning to their calculators. They work on mental math skills each day and explain their mental math strategies to their peers. The goal is to improve the number sense and computation on NWEA and MAP testing.