Contributed Photo BOWLER FAMILY NIGHT: Bowler School sixth-grader Nakota Kosbab, left, helps make a nutritious snack at the school’s recent Nutrition and Fitness Family Night with the help of third-grader Grace Bradley. The students received additional assistance from teacher Donna Lehman, right, and Principal Kim Ninabuck, back right. Nearly 40 people attended the event, which featured a presentation on Skype from an expert in the field of nutrition, as well as fun activities for students, including dancing and making nutritious snacks.
Sacred Heart Catholic School
On Sunday, more than 240 people enjoyed the free spaghetti luncheon as the kickoff to Winter Wonderland! We were excited to welcome our families, students, staff, parish members and new families into our school. Many enjoyed activities such as face painting, working with words, penny barge building and the basketball shootout. Winners of the penny barge building were Kaitlin Pescinski, Erica Krueger and Ruth Tucker, with their barge holding 40 pennies! Father Luke did not come out as champ in the basketball shootout, but all had a great time with their competitive spirit. Each person who came to Winter Wonderland received a stress basketball with the new logo on it, too.
It was wonderful to have new families stop in to register students for the 2014-2015 school year. We are excited to welcome them into our school family. Registration is now open for everyone. If you or someone you know would like information on how to register, please contact Carolyn Reuter, admissions director, at 715-526-5328 or email her at admissions@shcscardinals.org.
Shawano Community Middle School
Ever wonder how your middle school student is using his/her technology (iPhone, iPad, iPod, tablet, laptop, computer)? There will be a very detailed presentation at the middle school in March that will educate you on the ins and outs and dos and don’ts of technology, and how preteens are using these devices. Some of it will comfort you, some of it will shock you, and some of it will open your eyes to the virtual world that our students are living in. Be looking for more information here, on the website and in the Wednesday take-home packets.
Summer School: Yes, it is the time of year to start thinking about the warmer weather and the fun everyone will have in all of the classes that will be offered. Summer school will be in session from June 16 through July 18, with no school on July 4. Registration packets for grades 3-8 will be available beginning the week of Feb. 24, so be looking for your materials. All registration is due by Friday, April 11.
As always, we continue to educate our students about Respect, Responsibility and Safety here at SCMS. There is a difference between conflict and harassment, and our teachers, counselors and administrators work every day to educate students about relationships and to ensure we have a safe environment for our students to do their best. You are always invited into the school to see what is happening. Always remember that this is the time when your child needs your involvement the most, yet will push you away and make you feel like she/he needs it the least. Please call with any questions, comments or concerns so we adults make sure we work together to help your students experience success here at SCMS!
St. Paul, Lutheran, Bonduel
This week is Lutheran Schools Week! Across the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, early childhood, elementary, high schools and colleges are celebrating the blessing of a Christian education. This year’s theme is “Raising up Faithful Disciples - Witness Always.” The celebration began in Sunday worship services, where all students and staff sang special music. Members of the congregation received letters from students thanking them for assisting in over 50 percent of the cost of education through church offerings. In addition, their prayers and volunteering are also a blessing to our school.
A new part of our celebration this year is participating in Lutheran Hour Ministry’s “Online Mission Trip to Kenya.” Each classroom will be able to participate in a daily, live 30-minute presentation via our Smart Boards. What a blessing technology is to transport us around the world to see the mission field “in person!”
As is our tradition, the eighth-graders choose theme days for dressing up. New this year is a friendly competition of points for each class member who participates. The class with the most “spirit” will win a prize! Monday’s theme was Summer Days, but the first and second grades went ice skating and the sixth-graders snowshoed on our property. Tuesday’s theme was St. Paul Spirit Day/School Colors. We had planned to travel to St. Martin Lutheran School for a comedy show, and preschool and kindergarten were to have a movie afternoon. Wednesday is a surprise! Each class has chosen a secret theme, and classes will guess each other’s theme. Each correct guess is worth additional points. In the afternoon we will have movie day for grades 1-8 while the early childhood classes go to the Children’s Museum. Thursday’s theme is Blaze Orange/Camouflage Day. The seventh- and eighth-grade classes are going downhill skiing and tubing, the fifth- and sixth-grade classes are going bowling, and the third- and fourth-graders are going tubing/sledding. Friday is another Parent Day, with chapel, classroom visits and several parenting sessions. After enjoying lunch together, the highlight of the week is Lutherlympics, with the upper grades competing in silly competitions. We hope to involve more of the parents this year in the Lutherlympics, as well, and the lower grades will be excited to see how many points they score by participating in the dress-up days. Friday’s chapel offerings will hopefully bring in enough money to finish purchasing the 50 life jackets for Camp Luther. This was an item on their wish list, and we have been having a friendly classroom competition to see which class can buy the most life jackets. So far kindergarten is in the lead — good job!
St. Paul has registered with the Wisconsin Parental Choice Program, which may allow students to attend a private school for free. To find out if you’re eligible, please contact the school office. We look forward to using this opportunity to “tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord” (Psalm 78) so that we can be in the mission of “Raising up Faithful Disciples.”
Menominee Tribal School
The College of Menominee Nation and Beth Waukechon’s 4A class would like to promote literacy and the love of reading by providing a Little Free Library within our school. Please donate any great books you’ve recently enjoyed or don’t want any more, and then take one as your next enjoyable read. Let’s share the love of learning within our school and community. A lot of people have been asking, “What is this Little Free Library?” Ms. Waukechon’s fourth-graders read a short story about a boy who held a book drive at his school. This prompted students to think about ways they could help our school and community. Ms. Waukechon had heard about the Little Free Libraries that CMN students build and distribute to promote literacy within the community. One of our students, Aiyana Haack, called CMN as the rest of the students listened to her conversation, to see if we could have them build a Little Free Library for our school. They did! Through this experience our students learned how to actively take part in our community by utilizing their voice and resources. They’ve also learned how to give back to others. Ms. Waukechon is extremely proud of their philanthropy efforts. We would like to say waewaenon (thank you) to all of the individuals involved in the process, especially to the CMN students who built our Little Library!
Hillcrest Primary School
Chris Kellett’s class is starting to tell time. The students are learning the difference between the analog clock vs. digital and have been able to tell time to the exact minute.
Students in Curt Preston’s class are making tops, zoomers, twirlers and wheel systems to investigate rotating and rolling motion.
Lori Schwecke’s class is researching famous people in history. Once we’ve completed our reports, we’ll create a class time line to show how they influenced history.
Diana Wichlacz’s class began a study of famous people. The second-graders are creating a report about their famous person to share with others.
Sarah Radke’s class has been learning how to write like scientists. They are designing experiments and then writing lab reports so others can duplicate the experiment.
Jamie Kriewaldt’s class is learning how to use informative texts to learn many facts about a specific topic. We will begin researching a famous person in history using informative texts and then write about that person as part of a research project.
Jennifer Zoll’s class began studying properties and the structure of matter this month by having the students bring in toys from home to share with the class. The second-graders have been working on describing the structure in writing before the toys are shared during whole group share time. It is fun to learn about many different toys, how they can be described and how they work.
Karen Flunker’s students have been learning about Martin Luther King Jr. and how one person can make a difference in the world. We also talked about other African Americans that have made a difference, such as Rosa Parks, Jackie Robinson and even President Barack Obama. We also came up with ideas how we can make a difference in our community or world and wrote about it.
In Stacey Popp’s class we are learning about Balance and Motion by building tops, zoomers, twirlers and rollers. We have also learned how to take care of our teeth so that we have a healthy smile. We are excited to trade our books in at the all school book swap.
Rebecca Arens’ class created a Freedom Time Line that included Abraham Lincoln, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr. and Ruby Bridges. We read and talked about their lives and their commitment to the cause of equality and justice for all people.
Northeast Wisconsin Technical College
We conducted our first high school trades visit last week to Aarrowcast, and it was a huge success. Jeff Theis and Tracie Norton from Aarrowcast organized a great day, which included presentations, a video and tour. Several employees with 20 to 30 years of experience shared stories about working at Aarrowcast and highlighted their educational backgrounds, many including a technical degree or diploma. Many of the employees were originally from the Shawano and Gresham area. Aarrowcast provided lunch for everyone. Thirty-three high school students participated: two from Menominee Indian, four from Bonduel and 27 from Shawano. Several NWTC representatives, including Jeffrey Rafn, president of NWTC, staff from the local job center and Shawano Country Chamber of Commerce, several technical education instructors, two high school principals and several employees from Aarrowcast also participated. Our next Trades Advisory Committee meeting will be from noon to 1 p.m. Feb. 7 at the Shawano center. We will review the Aarrowcast visit and schedule additional tours for the remainder of the school year. A huge thank you to everyone involved in the tour of Aarrowcast.