Turn on the Lights Kick-Off Jan. 19, 2013

KICK OFF EVENT INVITATION                                    

YOU ARE INVITED TO TURN ON THE LIGHTS!

We are thrilled to announce plans for installation of permanent lights for our athletic field at Southwest High School. The realization of this long-term goal has been made possible by Harvey Feldman, who has offered to match, dollar-for-dollar, any funds raised up to $300,000!

Please join us for a kickoff party to “Turn on the Lights.” At this grand event you will have the opportunity to meet current Southwest Coaches, The Lighting Committee, and hear all of the exciting details.

The first phase of this project will include renaming Southwest Stadium after two of Southwest’s legendary coaches, Art Fredrickson & Dave Peterson.

We also will share longer-term ideas for an upgraded ticket/concession booth, improved entrance, new scoreboard, artificial turf, and much more.

WHEN:                       January 19, 2013

TIME:               7:00 to 9:00 PM         

WHERE:           Chatter Box Pub

4501 France Ave S.              

Minneapolis, MN

OTHER:  Light Refreshments, Cash Bar, Silent Auction, Buy a Brick, Lifetime Southwest Athletic Passes, Purchase your ticket for the March 16^th Gala at Spill the Wine.

If you are unable to attend you may still purchase tickets from the main office at Southwest High School.   Any Questions Call the Athletic Office at: 612.668.3035

Send Donations for the Silent Auction or Lighting Campaign to SWHS Memo Line: Turn On The Lights

 

2013 Southwest Graduation Date & Place Change

Due to a variety of circumstances it is necessary to CHANGE the date and the place of the 2013 Southwest Graduation.

The NEW date will be Saturday, June 1, 2013
NEW Place we are proud to announce is:
Mariucci Arena, 1901 SW 4th Street on the campus of the University of Minnesota.

IMPORTANT TO NOTE!
The change is from Sunday TO Saturday June 1, 2013

The place is changed from Convention Center TO Mariucci Arena

The time is changed from 4 pm to 7:30 pm

More information will be forth coming.  We want you to have this information as quickly as possible.  Sorry for any inconvenience.

Cedar Team Shakespeare Festival Jan. 11

 

 

 

On Friday, January 11, 2013, the 9th grade Cedar Team will be holding its 1st Annual Shakespeare Festival. Please stop by and join the festivities. The festival will run during hours 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7 in the East Gym. The Festival is our culminating activity for the unit, as well as a time for team building.

Talk with your 9th grade student to see if he or she is on Cedar Team.  Ms. Diane Bradley-Lewis is the English teacher.  If you have the time, you might want to stop by and join in the adventure.

E-mail Difficulties

Southwest is experiencing email difficulties.  At this point you should assume that anything you emailed to Southwest or any of the teachers or staff since late last night did not reach its destination.

If you do not receive a reply it is because we have not received it.  As soon as the problem is resolved I am certain we will receive a batch of undelivered email.

So... if you are waiting on reply to an email -- thank you for waiting or telephone the party directly.

As soon as I know more I will post that information.

Motivation Not IQ -- Work Equals Results

Motivation, Study Habits -- Not IQ -- Determine Growth in Math Achievement

Science Daily

Dec. 20, 2012 — It's not how smart students are but how motivated they are and how they study that determines their growth in math achievement. That's the main finding of a new study that appears in the journal Child Development.

The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Munich and the University of Bielefeld.

"While intelligence as assessed by IQ tests is important in the early stages of developing mathematical competence, motivation and study skills play a more important role in students' subsequent growth," according to Kou Murayama, postdoctoral researcher of psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles (who was at the University of Munich when he led the study).

Murayama and colleagues looked at six annual waves of data from a German longitudinal study assessing math ability in 3,520 students in grades 5 to 10. They investigated how students' motivation, study skills, and intelligence jointly predicted long-term growth in their math achievement over five years.

Intelligence was strongly linked to students' math achievement, but only in the initial development of competence in the subject. Motivation and study skills turned out to be more important factors in terms of students' growth (their learning curve or ability to learn) in math. Students who felt competent; were intrinsically motivated; used skills like summarizing, explaining, and making connections to other materials; and avoided rote learning showed more growth in math achievement than those who didn't. In contrast, students' intelligence had no relation to growth in math achievement.

"Our study suggests that students' competencies to learn in math involve factors that can be nurtured by education," explained Murayama. "Educational programs focusing on students' motivation and study skills could be an important way to advance their competency in math as well as in other subjects."

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Society for Research in Child Development, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1.       Kou Murayama, Reinhard Pekrun, Stephanie Lichtenfeld and Rudolf vom Hofe. Predicting Long-Term Growth in Students' Mathematics Achievement: The Unique Contributions of Motivation and Cognitive Strategies. Child Development, 20 DEC 2012 DOI:10.1111/cdev.12036

Be Careful with Raods and Sidewalks

The little on and off snow we have experienced today has not improved the side streets and sidewalks.  Please be careful around the school and at intersections.

If at all possible pick up your students on Abbott or Chowen and avoid the front of the building on 47th.  This allows room for the buses.

Please be careful of traffic and the slippery roads and sideways.

Wednesday Day 1 of the New 2013 year

OK so we are back in Minnesota and the opening of this half of the 2012-13 school is marked with our favorite winter weather - snow.

Please remember to drive and walk with caution around the school on roads and sidewalks.  They can be very slippery with the freezing moisture beneath the snow.  Remember that parking becomes increasing difficult with snow piles and slippery conditions.

School is in regular session this week and continue to the end of the first semester.  The semester ends on January 17th.  There is no school for students on Friday, January 18th and no school for students and staff on Monday, January 21.

Second quarter mid-terms were mailed home before the break.  There are twelve school days left in this quarter.  Please talk with you students about getting their work completed.

When picking up or dropping off students, please attempt to use Abbott and Chowen and leave the front of the school on 47th open for bus traffic.

Be careful and welcome to the second half of 2012-13 school year and the new year 2013.