December 18, 2015 VOLUME 3, ISSUE 15 Palestine Independent School District Type to enter text INSIDE THE ISSUE: Athletics Palestine High School Palestine Junior High A.M. Story Intermediate School Southside Elementary School Northside Primary School Washington Early Childhood Center TACE Upcoming Events Rudolph by Jonathan Ledesma Story 6 th Grade Student 3 4 6 8 9 11 12 13 Produced by Palestine High School Printing and Imaging Technology: Tess Shuptrine Malorie Sanders 15 Palestine ISD students proved their artistic talent recently in a Christmas Card Contest. Students submitted their original artwork in hopes that their design would be chosen for this year s PISD Christmas greeting card. The contest judges had a really good time looking at all of the artwork, but it sure wasn t easy to choose only three winners with so many excellent entries from which to choose. Three were extra special and were selected for the district s Christmas card. Story 6th grade student, Jonathan Ledesma s Rudolph is featured on the front of the card. The artwork of Southside 3 rd grade students, Sergi Funai and Camille Lowe is featured on the inside of the card. Thank you to every student who participated and congratulations to the winners of the Palestine ISD 2015 Christmas Card Contest! District administrators and I enjoyed distributing retention incentive checks to Palestine ISD employees this month. I hope everyone is enjoying their incentive, and if I didn t get to personally see each and every one of you during the retention incentive distribution, please know that I value you as an employee, and appreciate everything that you do. Speaking for our school board members, I know they feel the Wildcat Weekly Message from our Superintendent: Jason Marshall same way and hope that the extra money can be put to good use. The district will be closed for the Christmas holidays from Monday, December 18 th until students return on Tuesday, January 5 th. Employees will return on Monday, January 4, 2016 to participate in staff development. The Palestine ISD Board of Trustees and I wish each of you safe and relaxing holidays, a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year! Santa s Sleigh by Sergi Funai Southside 3 rd Grade Student Merry Christmas by Camille Lowe Southside 3 rd Grade Student
Merry Christmas
Go Wildcats Palestine Athletics Palestine landed a total of 11 players on the all-district team not including an additional 8 honorable mention local awards. Palestine s representation on the all-district team is highlighted by both Devonte Mims and Jhamonte Milton earning 1st team all-district at their respective positions. We are proud of those awarded and we look forward to a bright future. December 10th, 11th, and 12th the Lady Cat varsity basketball team went and competed in the Edgewood tournament. The girls placed fifth in this tournament after playing Alvardo, Paris North Lamar, and Edgewood. Alvarado-Won 55-48 Kiearra Wilson led with 20 points and Jaila Cook followed with 15 points Paris North Lamar-Lost 40-45 Kierra Wilson led with 20 points and Jaila Cook followed with 13 points. Edgewood-Won 47-35 Destiny Mathews led with 14 points and 14 rebounds and Kierra Wilson followed with 11 points. As of December 12, 2015 the varsity team is now 11-5 for the season Palestine JV Update The JV boys improved their record to 10-2 with a second place finish this week in the Palestine JV Tournament. The cats went 2-2 in the tournament with both losses coming to a good Whitehouse squad. In the first game of pool play Palestine defeated crosstown rival Westwood 57-34 with Eric Rhodes leading the scoring with 14 points. Kameron Hamilton and Keyshawn Carter added 11 and 10 respectively. In the second game of pool play the boys played a tall and talented Whitehouse team and suffered their first loss of the season 25-30. Derodderick Williams led all scorers with 13. The second day of the tournament saw the Wildcats face off with district foe Mexia. Palestine came through with a 51-49 win on Stephen Warrens 3 at the buzzer. Warren had 13 followed by Keyshawn Carter with 11. This set up a rematch with Whitehouse for the championship. Whitehouse used their size inside to outscore the Wildcats 34-44 in that game giving the Cats their second loss of the season. Keyshawn Carter had 9 followed by Eric Rhodes, Kameron Hamilton, and Stephen Warren all with 8. Whitehouse is a very good 5A team. They have a couple of really good guards to go with two big boys down low. Hopefully these games will help prepare us for our goal of being district champions. -Coach Storment. The Wildcats travel to Brownsboro on Tuesday and host Crossroads Friday night. Varsity Boys Update The Boys Varsity Basketball team competed in The Great East Texas Shootout in Brownsboro Texas. The Wildcats finished 2-1 in tournament play and third place overall. Offensive standouts include but not limited to Devonte Mims, Makevian Calhoun, and Louis Landa-Miller. The Cats two victories were solidified by great defensive play from Cullum Parkes, Jhamonte Milton, and Israel Fatade. Palestine s only loss came at the hands of Brownsboro, the hosting team. The Wildcats got off to a slow start and were unable to over-come early mistakes, thus, losing 50-66. However, "we are looking-forward to a rematch on Tuesday night in Brownsboro. We seem to be trending in the right direction and have lots of individuals contributing in countless ways," Coach Stoglin. I believe we are peaking at the right time and gradually getting better and better. Coach Johnson
Palestine High School William Stewart: Principal Seniors and Washington Early Childhood students all enjoyed exchanging gifts, cups of coco and popcorn, and watching the Polar Express. Earlier, this month Seniors were matched with children from Washington Early Childhood Center, therefor becoming PAW PALS. This annual event at PHS is looked forward too not only from the little ones at Washington but the big kids at the high school. Business students sharing their "proper use of a golf cart & golf cart components" knowledge with the 1st graders who just completed The FIRST TEE program at Northside. Congratulations to our robotics teams as they captured the VEX Tournament championship at the Killeen NBN VEX tournament this past Saturday. We had two teams who were crowned tournament champs! We took 3 teams to this tournament and all teams performed well. The great news about this tournament was that the winners would qualify for the South Texas Regional Championships in February in League City, but the best part about winning this tournament is that, the two teams that won it all have qualified for the U.S. Open Vex Robotics Championships in Iowa next April!!!! Team 8601D and Team 8601E are nationals bound. There were over 35 teams from our great state competing in this weekends past event. Our teams have grown over the past three years and our students who are a part of our robotics competition teams always put in a lot of hours and hard work. Team 8601D team members are, Grace Butler, Coy Jenkins, and Wesley Henderson. Team 8601E team members are Nick Clewis-Jones, Giovanni Gonzalez, and David Retana. When you see them, please congratulate them. Here's a list of our PHS Robotics program accomplishments: 2013-14 SkillsUSA Texas District 5 Champions Robotics 2013-14 SkillsUSA Texas State Qualifiers Robotics 2014-15 SkillsUSA Texas District 5 Champions Robotics 2014-15 SkillsUSA Texas State Qualifiers Robotics 2014-2015 VEX Robotic North Texas Regional Qualifiers 2015 Killeen Texas Shoemaker High School Vex NBN Tournament Champions 2015-16 South Texas Vex Robotics Regional Qualifiers 2015-16 U.S. Open VEX Robotics Championships Qualifiers
Palestine High School William Stewart: Principal Palestine Wildcat Choir sings at Palestine Public Library Open House Freshman Transition Toy Drive Delivery Palestine High School CTE Department had a great time promoting their CTE programs at Frost Fest. Our students worked very hard spreading holiday cheer.
Palestine Junior High School Stephen Cooksey: Principal PJH UIL Competition - Overall, 18 students and 2 teams placed! 7th Grade: Mia Ramos - 3rd Place Art Elvin Calhoun - 2nd Place Chess Hannah Raymond - 5th Place Impromptu Speaking Kaitlyn Pierson - 6th Place Listening Isabelle Sinien - 3rd Place Mathematics Madison Thomas - 4th Place Modern Oratory Mya Crutcher - 5th Place Modern Oratory Monique Ybarra - 6th Place Modern Oratory Mason Ratliff - 2nd Place Science Jacoby Campbell - 4th Place Science 7th Grade Science Team - 2nd Place 8th Grade: Ella Ware - 6th Place Art Mahogany Clark - 2nd Place Impromptu Speaking Morgan Lasiter - 4th Place Listening Skills Bianca Mitchell - 5th Place Mathematics Jaiden Asberry - 6th Place Science Emma Bennett - 1st Place Social Studies Ricardo Benitez - 2nd Place Social Studies Lupe Vega - 3rd Place Social Studies 8th Grade Social Studies Team - 1st Place The 8 th Grade UIL History/Social Studies team take home 1 st Place in the UIL competition. Basketball- 7 th Grade Girls Basketball Take a 2nd Place win in the Palestine Tournament this past weekend. Congratulations to the Junior High Wildcat Choir! They competed Tuesday, December 15, in the Main Event Holiday Music Festival and earned a trophy and excellent rating. Ms. Brickman s class gets into the Christmas spirit and builds gingerbread houses. NJHS-The PJHS National Junior Honor society deliver toys from the PJH Toy Drive to the Pleasant Hills Children s Home for Christmas.
Palestine Junior High School Stephen Cooksey: Principal Door Decorating- Our students and teachers work hard at decorating their doors for Christmas.
A.M. Story Intermediate School Jamie Clark: Principal Happy Holidays from A.M. Story Intermediate!
Southside Elementary School Melissa Molandes:Principal UIL 2015 2 nd Grade Spelling: Daniel Delgado 2 nd Blake Robinson 3 rd Zach Sheridan 4 th TEAM 1 st Place Music Memory: Duanna Wardell 5 th TEAM 3 rd Storytelling: Ariana Coody 3 rd Keileigh Butler 5 th Alexi Guitz 6 th Creative Writing: Blake Robinson 5 th Chess Puzzle: Aiden Camp 5th UIL Story Tellers UIL 2015 3 rd Grade Spelling: Isaac Delgado Music Memory: Trenton Nye 3rd 2nd Storytelling: Jennifer Oscoy 2 nd Kaitlynn Kimbrough 3 rd Chess Puzzle: Adam Chamberlin 6 th Southside students were very successful at UIL this year! We are so proud of them! Some Southside choir students caroled outside of the auditorium as parents entered to hear the Junior High choir program. Mrs. Lewis s class is enjoying a field trip to the North Pole on the Polar Express.
Southside Elementary School Melissa Molandes:Principal A 94 year old resident at Brookdale Assisted Living Center plays Joy To the World as the Southside students sing. Southside students helping decorate Brookdale Assisted Living Center for Christmas. Group Picture of Brookdale residents and Southside students after they finished decorating and singing Jingle Bells.
Northside Primary School Barbara Dutton : Principal Students shop in the Northside Christmas Store. Northside students ride the Polar Express. Pictures with Santa. Northside staff luncheon and ornament exchange. KEY students practice for Christmas piano recital.
Washington Early Childhood Center Shelia Bradley: Principal Christmas at Washington Early Childhood Center Polar Express at WECC
PALESTINE ISD TACE Junior High Students are busy creating awesome gifts for their parents! Some of the chem club members made a chemistree and send their wishes for everyone to have a very Merry Christmas! Chem Club experiment on what makes the best chocolate chip cookies. Students made their hypotheses and then changed one variable. Of course the taste test was delicious! Junior High School TACE College and Career Center Hard at work on the Christmas tree project.
PALESTINE ISD TACE Adult Education Program (Knitting, English and GED Prep Classes) Give Out Diplomas Ceremony Knitting Club GED Prep Class English Class Our Party with Piñata Student Tech Aide TACE Family Engagement Program Upcoming Events: Adult Education Registration: Wednesday, January 6 and Thursday January 7, 2016 @ 5-8 pm at High School Library Media Center. We offer English and GED Prep Classes. People interested in enrolling must attend both days to receive the orientation, fill the registration documentation and take the corresponding placement test. Classes are free. Class space is limited For more information please contact: Mr. Tupac Alcauter at: 903-731-8000 ext. 1266 or e-mail: talcauter@palestineschools.org; or visit our website www.tacepalestine.weebly.com
December Looking Forward 20 21 22 23 24 Christmas 25 26 Christmas Eve Christmas Holidays 26 30 31 28 29 1 2 2016 New Years Eve 10:00 am- Soccer Game Christmas Holiday