Lakes Area School Pages Nov 2015

SCHOOL PAGES B R A I N E R D D I S PATC H

NOVEMBER 2015

A Newspapers in Education Publication

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■ Baxter Elementary ■ Crosby/Ironton ■ Crosslake Community School ■ Discovery Woods ■ Forestview ■ Garfield Elementary ■ Harrison Elementary ■ Lowell Elementary ■ Pequot Lakes ■ Pillager ■ Pillager Area Charter School ■ Riverside Elementary ■ St. Francis

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Guest Reader Students in Mrs. Schmeck’s Kindergarten class were very excited to have Superintendent Gross be a guest reader. Mr. Gross read a book about fire safety to go along with fire safety week. Thank you Mr. Gross!

Junior Police Sophia Lugo, 3rd grader from Ms. Marks’ class sits in a squad car as Officer Matt Harris shares about his car. Baxter Police Department came to Baxter Elementary Tuesday October 27th to talk safety and explain the role of police officer.

Happy Halloween

Superintendent Mr. Gross Reads to Kindergarten.

The Halls of Baxter School were full of princesses, ghosts, and tons of other students in costume, eager for tricks and treats. Our First Grade team was also in the spirit! Thank You to all the volunteers who came in to help and make the Halloween parties a HUGE Success!!

Baxter Student Council Happenings…

Junior police.

Fabulous first grade teachers.

Student Council hanging turkey feathers.

During November turkeys would prefer that we eat more chicken! That is the message these turkeys are giving the students in the Baxter School Cafeteria. Student council members worked on giving these turkeys beautiful tail feathers that were all colored by the Baxter Students. Other activities student council has planned this month are Red, White and Blue day, the annual Salvation Army Food Drive and the Classroom Door Decorating Contest!

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Homecoming

CRES students celebrated Homecoming, 2015 by dressing in their best maroon and white clothes.

Nothing makes a day better than a little Ranger Pride!

Go-CI-Go!

Wax Museum

CRES sixth graders held their annual Wax Museum exhibit on October 30th. This year’s theme was related to the Minnesota History curriculum. Here, some of the beloved characters from native Minnesotan Charles Schulz’s Peanuts gang are on display.

STEAM

Kindergarten & 6th Grade STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) Buddies work together to engineer 3-dimensional geometric figures. This shows that it is never too early to think like an engineer! The STEAM initiative at CRES has resulted in a very high level of student engagement, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity.

Homecoming!

Creative Café

The Creative Café @ CRES has been a very active place this fall. Students have used technology such as computer-aided design software to design items, which are then printed on our 3-D printer. What a great way to apply math, science, and reading skills in a high-tech environment!

Kindergarten and 6th grade STEAM.

Wax Museum 2015.

Creative Café.

CLIMB Theater.

CLIMB Theater

CLIMB Theater was at CRES in September to put on a program that focused on how to handle bullying behaviors. Students learned valuable skills to use if they are a victim bullying, or if they witness bullying happening to someone else. Our Paw Pride theme is Respect, and we settle for nothing less than respect from everyone at CRES. This program helped reinforce that idea.

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The Election

BY EVELYN W, 7TH GRADE

Students set up a stand to sell bookmarks and duct tape bracelets to help raise money for the CCS PTO at the annual Spaghetti Dinner fundraiser.

At Crosslake Community School’s annual Student Council Election, eight Student Council members previously elected as class representatives ran for certain positions on the Council Board. There are four positions: President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer. Every student council member that wanted to run for a position worked to convince the entire middle school why they should vote for them. Emily B and Alex G, both 8th graders, ran for the President position and gave great speeches. Elena G, an 8th grader, and Ally F, a 6th grader, ran for the Vice President position and assured the audience that they would help the president make decisions and would help lead. Erin G, an 8th grader, ran unopposed for Secretary and gave a very credible speech. Donavon L, a 6th grader, also ran unopposed for the Treasurer position with a very fun and interesting speech. Even with all of these great speeches and representatives, there can only be one winner for each position. Emily B ended up winning the President position, while Elena G became Vice President. Erin G won Secretary and Donavon L is the new Treasurer. The Student Council now has a great President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer!

Spaghetti Dinner

BY LIBBIE B, 4TH GRADE

We had the Spaghetti Dinner on Thursday, November 5th, 2015. Ms. Waschek’s class did the Arts and Crafts for Kids for the basket. All the baskets were really cool! Some of the baskets were the Rainy Day basket and some kids sold bookmarks and duck tape bracelets.

These CCS students were recognized for their excellence in showing Integrity during the month of October.

Director Mr. Lyscio and Kindergartner Charlie O smile for the camera after enjoying the delicious spaghetti donated by the Whitefish Lodge.

CCS Student Council members Alex, Erin, Elena, Cordaye, Landon and Ally.

These CCS students were recognized for their excellence in showing Kindness during the month of September.

Crosslake KIDS Our PBIS program includes a character word of the month that the students learn about and work on showing during that month. At the end of the month students who did an exceptional job of demonstrating that character are chosen by their teachers to receive special recognition.

The recipients of this recognition for the months of September and October are as follows: September Word of the Month: Kindness Lydia G, Mason M, Mathew M, Charlie K, Landon M, Autumn M, Emma P, Beau E, Presley, S, Emily H, Skyla V, Danika D, Amelia D, Jostin V, Alaina T, Samantha S, Lilija C, Antoinette K, Maddison B, Emily B, Matthew M, Hannah B October Word of the Month: Integrity Evelyn W, Korbyn H, Dylan S, Rose A, Joe R, Cruz M, Hunter J, Alyssa N, Beth B, Brayden S, Ethan S, Levi L, Libbie B, Justin S, Daisy D, Henry A, Jacob S, Michael L, Nola N, Annika H.

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Gregory Park

All classes have been taking advantage of walking over to Gregory Park for a variety of studies. Collecting insects, going on scavenger hunts, and making observations are just a few of the activities we have done at the park. Currently everyone is studying trees. Some classes are working on learning the parts and functions of trees while others have been working on identification.

Worm Composting

We are grateful to have such a great neighbor like Master Gardener Jackie Burkey! She invited us to her house to learn about worm composting. Our 4th- 6th grade students learned about the red wigglers life cycle as well as how to maintain a worm composting system. Our older students are now working on creating worm bins for each of our classrooms as well as teaching our PreK – 3rd grade students how to maintain a healthy worm colony. We can’t wait to invite Jackie over to show her how we are using what we have learned from her!

Congressman Nolan visits Discovery Woods Montessori School

On October 13th, DWMS had the pleasure of inviting Congressman Nolan to tour his old stomping grounds. The congressman had attended the former Whittier Elementary School as a youth and came back for a rededication of the building. While visiting he was able to tour the school, visit with staff and board members, and get to see some project presentations by our 6th grade students. During his visit he raised our first school flag and addressed his excitement for the building to be used by our school.

A group of kindergarten students showcasing their nature art.

Project YES!

Our 6th grade students are participating in Project YES! This gives them the opportunity to be leaders in our school community to design and implement a project that helps our school save energy. They attended a youth summit at St. John’s University to learn more about the importance of energy conservation and get ideas from past projects completed by other teams in Minnesota. We look forward to seeing the great work our 6th graders can do!

Congressman Rick Nolan raising the flag alongside DWMS school director Margaret Litts.

Our K – 3rd grade students were able to try their hand at some Andy Goldsworthy-inspired nature art. They were able to collect objects in nature such as pinecones, leaves, rocks and sticks to create an impermanent piece of artwork. Here at DWMS we believe that Environmental Education is interdisciplinary and nature art is a great way to awaken our senses and get our creative juices flowing.

Jackie showing some 5th grade students her worms.

Some 6th grade studnets getting a close up look at a solar panel at St. John’s University.

Nature Art

3rd grader Grace determining the shape, edges and vein pattern of her leaf.

DWMS Habitat Restoration Project

All of our K – 6 students have learned that Monarch butterflies need Milkweed to survive; and unfortunately Milkweed is declining because of human activity. Our kids want to help the Monarch, so we have started a butterfly garden in the front of our building. Right now it is a cleared space where our students planted the Milkweed seeds that we look forward to seeing emerge in the springtime.

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WE Day Minnesota

Twenty-nine student leaders from Forestview attended WE Day on November 3, in St. Paul. Students were inspired to be creative and challenged to help others through service and fundraising.

The We Day goal was to change “Me” attitudes to “We” attitudes.

Forestview teachers Shelley Kennedy, Sandy Loney, and Lisa Drietz will be making plans with the student leaders to impact our local community through several student led projects including a food drive, and our yearly H2O For Life Water Week Fundraiser.

Apple Pressing Team 5D science classes combined some extra fun with learning, and made over 24 gallons of apple cider this fall. Science teacher Mr. Danielson’s great uncle used to own an apple orchard and had an apple press that he used at the end of the season. The apple press has been used for over 40 years. Mr. D now uses this apple press to do a demonstration for his science classes. Each student gets an opportunity to put apples in the grinder and mash them up. After about 66 apples have been crushed, the mash is pressed into juice. During the project the class talks about the simple machines that make up the press: inclined plane, screw, wheel and axle, wedge, and lever.

Student leaders attending WE Day in St. Paul.

Students crank the wheel and toss the apples into the apple press to make cider.

FMS Robotics Team

Hundreds of apples were used to make delicious cider.

This is the first year for the FMS Robotics Team, a group of students who will compete in a collaborative robotics project in Eagan, MN, on Nov. 14. Teachers Layne Danielson and Jim Reed are the team coaches.

The competition includes the following components: The Robot Game Using a LEGO® MINDSTORMS® robot kit, teams design, build and program a robot. Teams compete in three 2.5 minute rounds.

The Project Teams conduct research to solve a real-world problem, develop a solution and present and share their work at the competition and within their communities.

Core Values Teams are evaluated on HOW they work together, as well as inspiration, teamwork and gracious professionalism Our team has taken on the project of recycling in school. They have presented information to the FMS teaching staff, created posters and stickers for students, and are monitoring recycling in our school. They hope to make a significant impact on the amount of material that is recycled by our staff and students. The teams have also been practicing programming in preparation for the robotics competition at the end of the month. Good luck to the FMS Robotics team!

Chipping Away for Fossils As part of their rock and soil unit, students in teams 5C and 5D were able to dig for 52 million year old fish fossils. While on a fossil digging trip to Kemmerer Wyoming, teachers Layne Danielson, Betty Harrison and Jim Reed were able to bring a few chunks of 52 million year old limestone back to Minnesota. These rocks came from the Green River, an ancient fossil lake.

The students enjoyed this real-life experience while learning about sedimentary rocks and fossils. They were even able to bring some of their fossils home. It was a great experience that we hope to do again next year!

Robotics team member, Shayla Makowski-Budrow, shows a recycling poster.

A group of 5th graders look for fossils in a slab of limestone.

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3rd Grade Visits the Dean Mackey Forest Garfield third grade students integrated science, writing and art after visiting the Dean Mackey Forest. The students, along with parent volunteers, braved the rain and cold to go on a scavenger hunt at Forestview Middle School. They collected and classified various leaves, needles, pine cones, and other forest items.

Students identified various types of trees in the forest as part of their science curriculum. Using their favorite leaves, students explored the use of warm and cool colors to create watercolor fall leaf art. Along with the watercolor art, students wrote a 5 senses poem about their favorite fall memories. Students were engaged and excited about our fall adventure.

Garfield School Patrols Twenty-seven fourth grade students serve as School Patrols at Garfield Elementary. Eleven of the 27 attended Legionville School Patrol Camp, in Merrifield this past August. Those that attended camp are helping to train the other patrollers. Students say they serve as a patrol to help make Garfield a safe place for students and their families. We are very proud of these students and appreciate all of their hard work.

Dean Mackey Forest.

Dean Mackey Forest.

Meet Our Cooks: Kim, Lori and Cindy BY: BRIANNA BOCK AND PAIGE BERTSCHI

We have three very special ladies that prepare and serve our breakfast and lunches everyday at Garfield. Kim Aspholm, Lori Sweet and Cindy Cavalier. All together these three incredible women have worked more than 50 years at Garfield. These ladies don’t just serve and prepare food. They decorate the lunch area during holidays, they hold contests throughout the year and at the end of the year we always have a very cool beach party. They do have lives outside of Garfield and it was fun to find out some of their favorite past times. For example, Kim loves horseback riding, playing with her granddaughter and her favorite color is purple. Lori loves diet mountain dew, boating in the summer and her favorite television show is CSI. Cindy likes to cook even AFTER she gets done doing it at school and her favorite television show is Fixer Upper. It was fun to get to know the ladies behind the scene at Garfield who keep us full and feed us good, healthy food! Thanks for all you do to help make Garfield a wonderful place to be!

School patrols.

Meet our cooks: Kim, Lori and Cindy.

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B = brown • T = tan • R = red • G = green • Y = yellow • W = white • O = orange • L = light blue

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Harrison Staff Halloween

The Harrison Staff dressed as Minions on Friday, October 30, to celebrate Halloween with the students. The students were very excited to see all the Minions at school!

Mixing Colors

Fourth grade students took time to learn about color relationships through various art lessons in which they practiced mixing colors of paint. One of their activities was to create a personal color palette. They used only the primary colors of red, yellow, and blue to mix and create colors of their own. After completing their color palette they were able to give each color a name. Some creative names included mom’s lipstick, baby food, avocado, prune juice, and tractor green.

Thanksgiving BY: ABIGAIL AND ALLISON

Give your wishes, give your cheers. I want to see a smile, not a glare. I want this Thanksgiving to be a happy share. Let’s go places, let’s have fun! Thanksgiving should be spectacular for everyone! It’s time to give, not to pout. That’s what Thanksgiving is all about! Leaves are turning all around, faster than a pin-drop sound. We’re thankful for Thanksgiving. It is a happy gift. To spend time with the ones you love most. THANKSGIVING is

Jack O’Lanterns in Mrs. Luke’s Class.

here! Let out your most happy cheer!

Halloween Writing Fun The ingredients for a magic potion are…

Harrison staff Halloween.

Trick or treat.

Two pumpkins, nine black beans, five tear drops from a black cat, and some bones.

By Rylen

Warts, pumpkin guts, hair, tears, a nose, ear wax, a shoe, and a pair of socks.

By Kyra

One frog, two noses, a witch’s tooth, eight spiders, two crocodile noses, three hundred flies and a wizard’s wand.

By Blake

Weeds, bug spray and an apple.

By Julia

One spider eye that is full of fright, one broom from a witch, two tears of a zombie, one pumpkin and a howl from a wolf that is always mad.

By Kaylin Mackenzie creating her personalized color palette.

Student Color Palattes.

Cattails, invisible ink, a pumpkin, a spider web, pig hair, and one bone.

By Wyatt

One drop of water, two pieces of candy, six fingernail clippings, eight sprays of perfume, and twelve rotten fish.

By Lydia J. Magical powder, socks that have sat for three years, moldy pumpkins, spiders, spider webs, worms, one hundred thirty six shark teeth, six frog skins, a porcupine, and fur.

By Elias

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Haiku Hike

Students in Mr. Meyer’s class recently went on a nature walk to prepare for writing poetry. The walk around the neighborhood included using nearly all of our senses, as we prepared for writing traditional haiku. After recording their observations, we went to work writing. Several examples are included here.

By Raven D. Frost is everywhere Cold breeze slaps against my face Snow is coming soon

By David S. The woodpecker knocks, On the fallen tree, looking, For something to eat.

By Blaine P. Rough bark on the trees Mushrooms growing on branches Berry leaves falling

BOO Bash

4th Grade Students and Teachers celebrated on October 30th for Halloween. Students were able to complete some art projects of ghosts and skeleton names in the week prior.

The students also had time to dress up in costumes, play some games, and do Halloween activities. Also this year, the 4th Graders participated in decorating a class pumpkin to be displayed in the library. Everyone had a Spooktacular Day!

Halloween smiles.

Brainerd Junior Jaycees Pumpkin decorating.

Halloween fun.

Halloween friends.

Junior Jaycees.

Quinn Giles and Shayn Meyer are both participants in our local Junior Jaycees. The Brainerd Junior Jaycees focus on team work, leadership development, individual development and making an impact in our community where the members feel there is an impact needed. This last summer they ran their own event, Movie in the Park, and helped run the games at the Brainerd Jaycee’s Street Fest. Recently both girls received awards for their roles in Jaycees and were recognized for these achievements at a recent Lowell School program. Quinn was awarded “Gold Individual Junior Jaycee” in the state and “1st Timers Award”. Shayn was awarded “1st Place Junior Jaycee Road Run”, for volunteering at different events around the state. Congratulations girls!

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Pequot Lakes

PATRIOTS

Middle School Outstanding Students

BY MEGAN TSCHIDA & MADELYNN LUNDGREN

Recently Pequot Lakes Middle School celebrated their most outstanding students as students of the month. In order to receive this recognition, students must work hard and show respect and responsibility. Students that were nominated by grade level teachers were: 5th grade-Abigail Martin, 6th grade-Ella Oelke, 7th grade-Brooklyn Dean, and 8th grade-Jenna Elfering.

Awards were also given out by practical art’s teachers and were as follows: Art-8th grader, Colin Friberg; Music-8th grader, Noah Crowley; PLTW-8th grader Russel Pierzinski.

Pequot Lakes Middle School is proud to have outstanding students.

They were honored at a special lunch hosted by principal, Mr. O’Neil.

Students also had the opportunity to invite one special person to join them. Some students chose a sibling or parent, and some chose a close friend.

Art Middle School Outstanding Students.

Project Lead the Way Tiles.

Middle School Art Students design their own art projects, called WOW Projects. Here are three art students, explaining their WOW projects: Elli Saxerud, Darin Lonnquist, and Tyler Flowers are in 8th grade.

What Elli had to say about her project: “I came up with this idea after looking at animals on the internet, I saw a lion, so I went off of that, except I changed it a little. It was difficult to get the lighter colors, I adjusted by practicing and adding the right amount of water. My goal was trying to make ferocious animals look beautiful.”

What Darin had to say about his decoy: “I wanted to make a decoy because it is fun, it is hard to do, and I made one last year. Making the fins just right was the most difficult part. Making a decoy is art, because it is something that was created.”

What Tyler had to say about his decoy: “I wanted to make a decoy because I wanted to try new things. Making a decoy is art, because it takes multiple tries to get good at it; like drawing. The most difficult part was getting it to glide right. I fixed that by cutting my fins down (they were too big).”

Project Lead the Way Tiles

BY BROOKS ANDERSON, SOPHIE LITTMAN AND MARIAH RUBEL

To finish out the quarter in Project Lead the Way, Pequot Lakes eighth grade students had an opportunity to be creative and design tiles for the ceiling that related to themes in the class.

Some of the tiles were decorated as: electronics, gears, programming, CO2 cars, and even an original Mac computer. Students enjoyed the chance to be creative and demonstrate something they enjoyed most about the class while leaving their mark for future students.

Elli Saxerud.

Decoys.

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PILLAGER

Home of the Huskies

Science Trip to the School Forest On October 30th, Mr. Kaufmann’s Forestry class, Mrs. Streit’s Geology class, and Scott Naveatil and Bob Wright from the Soil and Water Conservation District took a trip to the school forest.

While there, Naveatil and Wright taught the high school students how to describe soil layers and content, how the soil got to where it is, and what types of trees and plants can grow in certain soils.

Halloween Celebrations Mr. Davoli’s and Mrs. Whitlock’s classes dressed up for Halloween with EA Mrs. Joanie. They had a blast dressing up and playing games at the Fall Party.

Veterans Day Celebration

Science Trip to the School Forest. Photo taken by Digital Photo student Trystan Usherwood.

Halloween Celebrations.

Veterans Day Program.

The students of Pillager Schools welcomed veterans and community members to a special Veterans Day program which was held in the Middle School gym on Wednesday, November 11th. tThis program honored all who have sacrificed for our freedom and featured a tribute to families, spouses, parents, and veterans who have given so much to our country.

The special guest speaker this year was Patty Crawford of Motley. Through the love letters exchanged by wife and soldier, she recounted her family’s story of love and sacrifice, especially concerning those who made the ultimate sacrifice in war. This moving testimony reminded us to be thankful to those who have gone before us and made a way for us to enjoy the many freedoms that we have today.

The program also included a special presentation by Wendy Hall and her daughters who spoke about the sacrifices of the families who send their loved ones into the military. A panel of parents also shared their stories and life lessons when sacrificing time with their children who have enlisted. Finally, Molly Vogt, a sophomore at Pillager High School, read an essay she wrote about the sacrifices of the many soldiers who have paid for our freedom.

Sophomore Interdisciplinary Trip All 10th graders at Pillager High School participated in an educational field experience at Crow Wing State Park on Friday, Oct. 30th. While at the park, the students explored the informational kiosks to learn about the history of Crow Wing.

They also observed land formations and theorized as to how the land came to be molded in such a way. Finally, the students were asked to synthesize the information they gathered in the form of narratives and scientific theories.

Reading Together Sophomore Interdisciplinary Trip.

Photo taken by Digital Photo student Kaitlyn Luksik.

Reading Together.

Mrs. Prax’s 11th grade class read books aloud to Mrs. Koel’s 2nd grade class on November 15th to promote reading among younger kids.

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A Newspapers in Education Publication Pillager Area Charter School will educate by building relationships with students, families, community and Mother Earth.

Students will become stewards of the environment as responsible actively involved citizens.

I Learned from Video Games

BY SHAWN

Passion, escape, loyalty, reality, these are the things that I experience while I play video games. Video games are my passion. They are the things that shepherded me through my hard child hood.

Most people will not say that I have had a hard child hood because I had a room, a house over my head, and food in my mouth. However, I was miserable because I was abused mentally. My father told me that I was never going to amount to anything in my future; I will never have friends or anything nice. Was he ever so wrong?

I proved my father wrong so many times that it drives me crazy. He has dementia and does not remember anything I told him.

Compassion, respect, truth, science, I have learned these from my passion of video games. I have learned how the world works for the most part and it frightens me. The world today is so hostile. We need to change our future for the better.

Ice Fishing

BY MICHAEL KNOBLOCK

I really want to go ice fishing so here is what I am going to do. I am going to build an 8x12 sleeper. In the back is a booth, it will be a dinette.

It turns in to a bed. In the front there is a cook stove. There will also be a TV in there. There will be seven holes in the house. Each hole will have a rattle reel and a light. It will be spray foam insulated to be the warmest house on the ice. There will be four windows in the icehouse and 108’ of floor space. I am excited for this fish house to be finished so I can catch my limit at least once a week.

Presenting the final dish to the judges.

It Can Happen to Anybody

BY MERCEDES BEACH

OkKoy teaching the correct way to use a knife wild preparing food.

OkKoy teaching the correct way to use a knife while preparing food.

Accidents can happen to anybody, your fault or not. Some people blow through stop signs, run through red lights, or do not use their blinkers. Check each way twice before taking off, and always wear a seat belt, doesn’t matter if you’re driving two blocks; most accidents happen a mile from home. Check lights, air bags, blinkers, mirrors, brakes, and tires before leaving your driveway. Most accidents happen from distraction, as cell phone use, loud music, talking to friends. Make sure you check your fluids often. Checking your mirrors, fluids, blinkers, lights, seat belts, and tires often will help you stay safe on the road while driving. Make sure everyone in your vehicle is using a seat belt; keep the music and loud noise down. Always follow the three-second rule while driving. Keep your hands on the wheel at all times, fuel up before starting a long road trip, be well rested, if another passenger has a license, when you feel tired, have other driver take over while you rest, or stop every 2 hours, get out and stretch, eat, walk around for a bit until you feel ready to drive again. You will be less likely to get into an accident if you follow all the rules of the road.

My Great Canoe Adventure

Students trying to wrap their arms around the oldest White Pine at Itasca State Park.

It was a cool fall day, the sun was shining and we were about to have a great time canoeing. We are doing a lot of water testing in Science and that was a good way to get us out in the canoes. Hope, student B and I were in the canoe and Hope forgot to leave her cell phone in the Sprinter.

As we floated down the rolling river, we saw a couple tree stumps in the water in front of us. We tried to paddle around them but we were going too fast, as we got inches away student H said we were not going to hit them. Not even 2 seconds after Hope said we would not hit, we hit. We were so nervous. Hope stood and we hit our canoe on another stump then student B stood up and we tipped. It was hard to swim because we had many layers of clothes on. Czech and Colleen saw us and came to help us. We swam to a small island and got ready to get back in the canoe.

That was quite a cool and memorable adventure.

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Lights Out! Riverside students and families enjoyed their first black light theatre experience this fall. Seven students from Riverside and two students from Forestview composed an original play about an underwater library where books influence an interesting adventure for curious readers.

Creative design came to life as mermaids danced and starfish shined among the reef’s glowing environment. The audience was entertained by an adorable sea pickle that caused chaos with its ambiguous laser-shooting eye. This opportunity was made possible through a Brainerd Public School Foundation grant.

Gooney Bird Greene Day 2nd graders at Riverside School celebrated the character Gooney Bird Greene with a special dress up day. This character comes from the book Gooney Bird Greene written by a Lois Lowry. Gooney Bird is a great storyteller and it’s a great way to launch the Writer’s Workshop for these young 2nd grade authors. Students were able to tell stories through their writings that are absolutely true, just like Gooney Bird.

Gooney Bird is a very unique character that eats unique food, dresses quite “differently” and is a truly colorful 2nd grade author. Students at Riverside could be seen wearing tutus, cowboy boots, pajamas, pigtails, and polka dotted shirts while eating green foods... pickles, kiwi fruit, grapes, or Apple Jacks cereal. It was a great way to celebrate reading, writing, and character building.

Lights Out!

Family Fun Night - BINGO Family Fun Nights are a great way to spend time with family and friends. Riverside’s 1st family fun night of the year was attended by more than 350 students & family members. Everyone enjoyed a great night of dinner with family, buying books at the Book Fair, and then found their way to the gym for BINGO! A great time was had by all and the smiles on the faces of our kids were priceless! It was an awesome night!

Gooney Bird Greene Day.

Veterans Day

BINGO.

Veterans Day is special at Riverside. This year the 3rd and 4th Grade music students put on a program to celebrate and give thanks to all Veterans. We were honored to have so many family and friends in attendance. Riverside’s guest speaker was Rachel Ingebretson. 4th grade students and Grandma Rose were very glad to have her with us.

Veteran’s Day.

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Learning about Service Dogs

Some of our students in 5-6th grade had the opportunity to learn more about service dogs, what they do and how they can be of assistance to their owners. They recently sat down with Ms. Amy Roth and her service dog, Dinger. Ms. Roth is a familiar face at St. Francis being the Spanish teacher. She spoke about life with Dinger, how he assists her to walk and help in times of need. Ms. Roth educated the students on various types of service dogs that assist their owners in hearing, seizures, and protection for people with mental disorders. The students were surprised on how many ways service dogs can assist. The students had a Q&A time along with an opportunity to pet Dinger too!

Marathon for Non-Public Education

The students really enjoyed the Culver’s frozen custard during our Marathon Celebration!

October 13 was our Marathon day! The students had been fundraising since school began and were excited to finally be participating.

Elementary students looped around and around the block south of St. Francis Church while middle school students headed to the Paul Bunyan Trail for the afternoon. Essentia Health generously sponsored our day with water, t-shirts, and bike helmets for our students. After the two hours of running, walking and biking all students came back to the school for the carnival. The carnival provided pizza, face painting, giant inflatables and lots of games and prizes!

A few weeks later on November 2 everyone celebrated our $42,000 success with the Marathon! Culver’s generously donated frozen custard for all students and the top 10 fundraising families were recognized for their success. Many thanks to everyone who supported our Marthon whether financially, with time or prayerfully!

2015-2016 Student Council Elected

Intimidation wasn’t a factor for the 15 5-8th grade students that ran for Student Council. Each one went in front of the full student body and delivered their speech as to why they should be elected to the 2015-2016 St. Francis School Student Council. Topics such as parties for students, more court markings for the outdoor basketball court, and starting a new school newspaper were just a few of the platform topics. The vote then went to all students and we congratulate our newly elected student council representatives: Middle School students ran/walked a 10k for Marathon day.

Some of our 5th-6th grade students with Amy Roth & her service dog Dinger.

8th Grade - Helen Knudson, Faustina Duval & Malia Hermerding 7th Grade - Victoria Harkins 6th Grade - Maggie Heckman & Olivia Tautges 5th Grade - Allison Werhan & Sam Ruttger

Wishing you a heartfelt Thanksgiving!

“No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks.” – Saint Ambrose Elementary students had the option to walk, run or bike for our Marathon for Non-Public Education.

5-8th grade students running for Student Council gave election speeches during an all school assembly.