I had no idea that working the bake sale would be so much fun! I thought working the bake sale (selling treats for 25 cents on November 18th) would be just like playing school. But boy, was I wrong! During this great experience, I learned that school is so important in our future life. Helping customers, figuring out the tax, and figuring out the cost is a lot of hard work…. But it gets us ready for the big dreams we have ahead of us. I also learned that just by selling sweet treats for 25 cents could turn into $450! The two hard working fifth grade classes sold about 1,800 treats! It’s amazing what a bunch of helpful and contributing kids can do!

During this phenomenal experience six inspiring Marines came to Bostic to tell us a little about the Marines and Toys for Tots. So first I’ll tell you a little bit about the brave Marines. The Marines in war wore leather on their necks on their uniforms to protect them for being slashed in the neck by swords. I think people are pretty smart to think about that. I mean, if I was in charge I would have forgotten about that part. This is a good thing I’m not in charge!                 

The second thing the Marines talked about was Toys for Tots. So, I’ll tell you a little bit about Toys for Tots. People can donate toys to children’s’ homes, foster care, and to parents that show they need help, and put them in baskets at certain stores. Then the Marines come to the rescue and deliver the toys. The Marines are so amazingly helpful and deliver the toys to kids less fortunate than us. But there’s one problem. Most people just donate baby and toddler toys. So we had to raise money (by doing the bake sale) to buy toys for older kids too! And that’s just some of the information!

 Before we went to Toys R Us, we have to learn something to help us while were there. TAX!!! We learned about tax in the first week of December. We started out easy by multiplying the subtotal times 0.073. Then add the subtotal from number 1 to the subtotal. Finally, your grand Total is with tax. Then the next couple of days, we multiplied with dollars and change. It was complicated, but I survived.

Finally, after we’ve done the bake sale, learned about the Marines and Toys for Tots, and studied tax, we got to walk to Toys R Us. We were separated into groups of three or four. Each group had a helpful parent leader to help us. And each group also had a certain amount to spend, which is $45.00. Then the groups split the money up equally. Each group had to buy a least an item for a girl and a boy. Once we picked out the items and did the tax we showed our teacher to see if we were correct. We had a contest to see which group could get the closest to $45.00 without going over! And if we got exactly $41.91 we would make it to $45.00. My group was three cents over!! We were so close to making exactly $45.00. But at least I feel great about doing something for our community! I hope the boys and girls like are toys we bought them!               

I’m so glad to call Wichita home. All these amazing people help our community and I didn’t even help once…. So it feels amazing to finally be able to put a bunch of weight off my shoulders. And if you want, you could help the community too! And if you do thank you so much! If I needed help and no one came to help me… then there must have been something tragic happen. But I know that so many people help the community just by doing something simple, like cleaning a river, or deliver food to the homeless and so much more! And now, Toys for Tots has inspired me to do even more! Thanks for listening to my adventure!          
         By: Grace Hancock          

 

           By  Tatum Ernt

Bostic is a "Pure Magnet".  Pure magnets do not have a neighborhood attendance area and all students are required to submit a magnet application to the magnet office and be accepted for admission through the random selection process.  Bostic does have quadrant boundaries.  Bostic pulls students from the SE quadrant of the city.  The Magnet Office will determine which school the student is eligible to apply for according to boundaries for the designated address.

The Magnet Admissions Offices processes all magnet applications and conducts a random computerized selection process that is administered according to highly publicized guidelines.  All students are accepted into magnet schools in a fair and orderly manner and are given equal access and fair treatment.
The district starts accepting magnet school applications January 3rd for the following school year.  Applications for the magnet school are available as follows:

 

·         All school offices

·         Magnet Admissions Office at 201 N Water 67202

·         Printed from the district Web site magnet.usd259.org

·         New for 2011-2012: Apply on-line at magnet.usd259.org

 

The completed application must be submitted directly to the Magnet Admissions Office by the on-line process, U.S. mail, hand delivered or faxed to 973-4725 no later than the established deadline date indicated on the application forms to be included in the random selection process. 
Parents must apply for one magnet school choice but may also make an optional second and/or third choice.  Applicants who apply by the established deadline are initially only included in the selection process for their first choice magnet school since the first choice is always the priority.  Once the first choice magnet school list is exhausted, an unassigned student will be included in the random selection process for the magnet of their second and third choice if space becomes available. 
All applicants are notified of the selection results by mail when they are completed.  The student is automatically place in the waiting pool for all of their choices if they are not selected during the April lottery.  Parents will be contacted by the Magnet Admissions Office if their child is selected for a vacancy position if they are selected for a vacancy position if they are selected for any of their choices at a later time.
You may call the school at 973-1800 or the Magnet Admissions Office at 973-4464 if you have further questions.

 The Wichita Public Schools received 164 Standard of Excellence Awards in reading, math and/or science by the Kansas State Department of Education for 2011, up 56 awards from 2010. Forty-five schools, covering all grade levels, were awarded Standard of Excellence. The Wichita Public Schools received Standard of Excellence Awards at 45 schools by grade level and/or building-wide, based on the school’s performance on the 2011 State Assessments taken last spring.

 

“I am proud that we have a large number of schools that earned the Standard of Excellence andthat the number keeps increasing every year. This distinction is important because it represents increasing achievement across the board, and means that a school is helping to improve student learning at all levels,” said Superintendent John Allison. “This increase mirrors the significant gains we saw in schools making Adequate Yearly Progress, and our teachers, students, parents and school communities are to be commended for their extraordinary efforts to support Wichita’s children.”

 

The Standard of Excellence Awards were given to 35 elementary schools, two K-8 schools, 4 middle schools, two high schools and two special schools. Eighty-two of the awards were given in math, 75 were given in reading and 7 in science.

 

“Our schools continue to meet the challenges of increasing student achievement and our schools should take great pride in their accomplishments,” Superintendent Allison said.

 

Standard of Excellence is based on Kansas state assessment data. For a school to receive Standard of Excellence, a certain percentage of students must score exemplary on the assessments and only a small percentage of students be placed on academic warning. The percentage varies by grade level.

 

The State Department of Education also released its State Report Card with state, district and individual school assessment date.

 

The State Report Card is on the KSDE web site at http://online.ksde.org/rcard/.