The Jefferson County Spelling Bee was held on Monday, February 8, 2016 in the BFAC at Fairbury Jr. Sr. High School. Seventh and eighth grade team members competing were Bynn Novotny, Sara Huss, Keely Schramm, Brylee Yantz, Jillian Caroon, Page Nippert, Jake Ward and Brittyn Wetnz. Placing for the Jeffs were Brynn Novotny 4th, Brylee Yantz 6th, Keely Schramm 7th and Brittyn Wentz 9th. Placing 4th makes Brynn eligible for the district competition.
We are proud of our SOARing students participating in the Jefferson County Spelling Bee! Congratulations to these SOARing spellers!! Caleb (2nd place) Aly (3rd place) and Zane (9th place)
With the cold dreary “gray” weather outside, one might not think of “gray” as a positive color. But inside the Fairbury High School gymnasium Gray was the color of the night.
Gray is the color of diabetes awareness and in an effort to raise awareness of Type 1 diabetes (T1D) the IN Group (a T1D support group) and Fairbury Public Schools hosted a Gray Out during the Fairbury vs York basketball games on Friday, January 22nd. T-shirts were sold prior to the game and business and family sponsorships were collected. With the close to 200 t-shirts sold and the sponsorships the IN Group raised more than $2000. This money will be used for camp scholarships for students attending diabetes camp and money will be sent to JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) to help find a cure for T1D.
The IN Group was organized when a need was seen for a parent and student support group for the six T1D students at FPS. The group has supported each other, a newly diagnosed student and their family, a new student to town, and adult’s in the community have come to encourage and share their own T1D life stories. The mission of the IN Group is to raise awareness through education of this silent, chronic disease.
Type 1 diabetes, which was formerly known as insulin-dependent diabetes, affects the body’s immune system destroying the cells that release insulin, eventually eliminating insulin production completely. Without insulin, cells cannot absorb sugar (glucose), which is needed to produce energy. So, if insulin is not on board to absorb the sugar you are not able to functions normally.
The symptoms of T1D usually start in childhood or young adulthood. People often seek medical attention because they are seriously ill from sudden symptoms of high blood sugar. T1D cannot be prevented nor is it anything that a person does to acquire it.
Diabetes greatly increases a person’s risk for a range of serious complications. Monitoring and managing is the key to prevention of these complications. It remains the leading cause of blindness and kidney failure. It continues to be a critical risk factor for heart disease and stroke.
**Statistics
Children’s hospital told one family 1 in 500 children get T1D
In FPS 1 in 147 students have T1D
200 is the number of times a diabetic thinks about being a diabetic every day
4,050 is the average number of finger sticks in the 1st year after diagnosis
40,500 finger pokes over 10 years
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in a Snow globe? Mrs. Ruhnke’s 5th grade language class imagined just that. They began this activity by creating a Google Presentation showing what they would see, touch, hear, taste and smell in their snow globes as well as how it would make them feel. They then wrote a “sloppy copy,” peer edited, typed their final copy and finally shared both their slideshow and essay with their classmates. All in all, most agreed that a snow globe might be a fun place to visit, but they wouldn’t want to live there!
Congrats to Nick Christiansen! Nick signed Wednesday, January 13th, with Doane College to play golf next season!
Students in Mrs. Shinn’s Academic Enrichment classes are trying out Lyrics2learn for the next two weeks. Lyrics2learn is a brain-based, on-line reading program. It uses music to engage students with text and help them memorize information quickly as kids retain more and more information with the repetition, rhythm and rhyme used in the program.
Each day the question levels increase. Each mini-lesson begins with literal comprehension on day 1, and ends with an open ended constructed response. The program uses this methodology with every story. The more kids know, the more they’ll show. The program hopes to help the students using the program retain a higher percentage of the information they read. The program is designed to help students learn to connect on high levels so they can then relate the text to themselves and the world. During this
period the third grade students will have access to this program at home too.
Eighteen junior high students got to attend the ESU regional science day in Beatrice. The theme this year was programming and coding. Student created mini video games, programmed CEEN-BoTs to navigate a maze and programmed mini parrot drones to complete certain tasks for a competitive points contest. The drones took off, flew over tables, through hula-hoops suspended from the ceiling. All groups competed for awards, got t-shirts to commemorate the day and enjoyed a pizza lunch from Godfathers. All of the students had a great day learning more about programming!
The 2015 Fall Academic All-State Award Winners were recognized at the Fairbury Public Schools board meeting on December 14th. Students must have a 93% GPA and be a significant varsity contributor in order to receive the award. We are very proud of these FHS students!
