January 19, 2007

Iraq Troop Materials Drive
Key Club is collecting materials for troops in Iraq through February 1st. There are boxes in classrooms that have lists of items, from basic things like liquid hand soap, baby wipes (very handy for the dry, dusty climate), whole bean coffee, and microwave popcorn, to items like DVDs and CDs and board games, and magazines. Include anything that would fit in a box and would cheer up the troops. Key Club’s sponsor group, Kiwanis Club, is taking care of the mailing once the items have been collected. This is the third year of the drive for materials by the Key Club, and we hope to make it the most successful in terms of numbers of items sent to Iraq. Help from the students, staff, parents and Kiwanis is greatly appreciated.

PSAT Results
If you took the PSAT, the results are in! You can pick your results up in the Guidance Center.

Aspen Grove Gift Cards
Aspen Grove will be offering the same gift card plan during the month of February that they did in December. During the month of February, shoppers will be given the opportunity to buy Aspen Grove Gift Cards in any amount from $5 to $500 with no activation fee and, by mentioning the Littleton Public School Foundation, Aspen Grove pledges to donate ten-percent of the total gift card purchases to the Foundation. The donations from December are approximately $1,700. Thanks to everyone who participated!

Department Spotlight – Math Department
The Math Department will be offering first semester of Algebra 1 during this current second semester for students who need to repeat this course. The class is offered periods 4 and 5. Mrs. Jan Wright will teach this class. Students who are successful with this course could choose to take the second semester of Algebra 1 in summer school and be back on track for geometry in the fall.

Arapahoe math students continue to have the opportunity to participate in competitions. AHS is currently 4th in the state in the Colorado Math League Competition. Our team had a perfect score on the most recent CML. The next CML is scheduled for February 6th. The AMC- A exam is coming up on February 2nd. AHS is participating in the National Assessment Exam for the first time. The next exam in this series is February 1st. See Mrs. Lobser or Mrs. Blechschmidt for details.

Photo of the Week
A student practices Floor Hockey in the small gym in his physical education class. Photo by Patrick Kramer/Calumet.

January 12, 2007

First Semester Final Grades
Due to the snow days and optional make-up of final exams, final first semester grades are not due until 3:00 pm today. While most grades are probably already posted, you can check the LPS Portal for all grades after 3:00 pm.

No School on Monday
There will be no school on Monday, January 15th, in observance of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.

Thank You
We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all of you who so generously participated in the toy drive. AHS Toys for Tots was very successful again this year! The AHS community donated more than 1200 toys this year along with cash donations. We delivered nearly 400 wrapped toys to Ashley Elementary in December. There were smiles all around from the Ashley children and staff and all of the AHS students and staff who helped to deliver the toys. Ashley gave us a beautiful THANK YOU poster signed by every student. It is hanging on the south side of the Cafeteria. The Denver Indian Health and Family Services Center also received more than 400 toys. And, because of your generosity, four local shelters and four families received much needed help for the holidays. None of this would be possible without your support. Every one of the staff at Ashley thanked us for helping “their” kids. The social worker who was the liaison for the school said she is usually sad at this time of year because the children have very little. But this year she was happy and smiling because of the wonderful AHS community. It is very gratifying to be part of the Arapahoe family.

Winter Dance
Are you feeling a little bit of those January Back to School Blues?! Well, here’s a great way to beat them! Come to the 2007 Winter Dance! Sponsored by your AHS Cheers and Toms, the dance will be held on Saturday, January 20th from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. in the AHS Cafeteria. The theme is Winter Wonderland, and appropriate dress is semi formal. Jeans and shorts will not be allowed. Tickets will be on sale each day in the cafeteria during both lunches. The cost is $8/single and $15/couple. The cost will go up to $10/person at the door, so purchase your tickets early. Sophomores, juniors and seniors wishing to bring a guest that is not an Arapahoe student must pick up and complete a guest form available in the Dean’s Office. These forms are due no later than 3:00 p.m. Wednesday, January 17th. Freshmen may not bring guests that are not from AHS. Come support your AHS Cheers and Toms and have a great time at the 2007 Winter Wonderland Dance!

Department Spotlight – Media Center
The library has recently received a number of new books ranging from fiction, the classics, biography, and nonfiction. These are displayed in center of the library so as not to be missed.

We already owned many of the College Board’s 101 Great Books, but whatever titles we didn’t have were added to the collection. Included among these are Doctor Zhivago, Ellison’s Invisible Man, and Solzhenitsyn’s One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.

Many of our sophomores read T. C. Boyle’s Tortilla Curtain in their Language Arts classes. To support the interest generated by this book, a number of titles were purchased with a Hispanic connection. Included among these is Coyotes: A Journey Through the Secret World of America’s Illegal Aliens by Ted Conover. With an updated preface by the author, this book really does offer an extraordinary point of view regarding this hotly debated topic.

For students who want to get a jump on understanding what will be expected of them in college, the Professor’s Guide to Getting Good Grades by Lynn F. Jacobs, Ph.D. and Jeremy Hyman, M.A. was added to the collection.

Of particular note among the new fiction is Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief. Although written for the teen/young adult audience, many adults will find this book depicting the horrors of World War II hard to put down. Narrated by Death personified, the story describes the life of Liesel, a young German girl, her foster family, the Jewish man they are hiding, and the lives of her neighbors. This is a unique book well worth reading, especially for readers interested in World War II history.

To open up the library a bit and make it feel more inviting, some shelving has been rearranged and tables moved. Be sure to drop by and see the changes.

Lastly, make the most use of our online subscription databases! Yes, everyone “Googles,” however, take your research to the next level by making use of the credible, reliable resources from EBSCO, eLibrary, Facts.com, Gale, and Unitedstreaming. There are few assignments that wouldn’t benefit from using these resources. We are continuing to evaluate other online resources options to see how these may meet the needs of our students – look for future additions to our online collection.

Photo of the Week
A bicycle that was left at school over Winter Break. Photo by Breann Leier/Calumet.