Students and staff celebrated Red Ribbon Week on October 26-30. Red Ribbon Week is an alcohol, tobacco and other drug and violence prevention awareness campaign observed annually in October in the United States.
Monday – Hat Day
“Put a lid on drugs!”
Tuesday – Team Sports Day
“I‛ve got better things to do than drugs!”
Wednesday – Pajama Day
“Don‛t let drugs ruin your dreams!”
Thursday – Career Day
“A future without drugs is the best me!”
Friday – Wear RED Day
On October 20, 2015, fifth and sixth grade students from Jefferson Intermediate attended the Student Leadership Conference at Doane College, Crete, Nebraska.
Alex Buxton, Gavin Schramm, Karly McCord, Braden Suey, Alissa York were the 6th graders attending. The fifth grade students included Jax Biehl, Trayce Blas, Alexz Hunt, Brittany Kroeker, Jackson Martin, Moirah Neal, Hannah Robertson and Cora Tatro.
The morning started with an entertaining presentation from Men With Dreams, The philosophy of Men With Dreams centers around “Do Your Best”; “You are Important”, “One Step Forward”, and “Never Be Average”.
Next, the Jefferson group attended several break-out sessions including Barn Yards and Beach Island Burgers; Investing in our Youth, Games That Teach Leadership Qualities and Helping the Homeless Head to Toe. Students spent time on goal setting, working as a team, qualities of a leader; and selecting a project to help a certain community group.
The keynote speaker, Haeven Pederson, Holmes Elementary School gave an excellent presentation. His speech was about challenges you may face in life and his message was “NEVER GIVE UP!”
All of the 4th Grade Classes had the opportunity to get into groups and make a bird’s nest. The students had only twigs, leaves, grass, and three pipe cleaners for materials to make their bird’s nest. The students were also given hershey kisses as eggs and I had to shake the bird’s nest to determine if they could withstand Nebraska’s wind . If the eggs did not fall out, the students got to eat the eggs. It was a fun experiment for the kids. It was fascinating to see how creative the kids were in designing their bird’s nest.
On October 8th, 2015, Fourth Graders were able to experience the daily chores and lives of pioneers in Nebraska. It was a beautiful fall day as we traveled to Filley Stone Barn and Homestead National Park.
Students enjoyed activities such as corn shucking, corn shelling, digging fence post holes, sawing wood, sewing quilt blocks, candle making, and pioneer toys. They also watched demonstrations of blacksmithing and marble making.
Students learned an appreciation of the pioneers and what they accomplished to make our lives much easier today.
Students in 6th grade Guidance are learning about the world of work by participating in a life/work exploration program called The Real Game. Students take on a randomly assigned “occupation”, and role-play situations and issues that apply to working adults. Students are learning concepts related to their future career choices and quality of life, such as major purchases, monthly budgets, time management, and leisure time choices and expenses.
The third graders have been discovering science through distance learning this year. Our science guy, Derek from Educational Service Unit 3, has had us explore making root beer to learn the properties of matter, penny boats to learn about buoyancy and mass, and oreo moons to learn about the lunar cycle. The third grade enjoy the hands on learning (and of course the treats) as they gain knowledge about important scientific concepts.
Again, our school district has partnered up with ESU 5 for science. Each year the Dave Henning, our ESU 5 science teacher, creates different experiments for students to try. Most of our science experiments from the ESU are done through the Internet by using a computer program where the students are able to hear and see Mr. Henning, and he is able to hear and see the students. Mr. Henning does come to the school about once a quarter for some of the big and fun experiments.
So far this year, Mr. Henning has had the students make and launch paper rockets, make a cantilever with only tape and straws, and the last experiment was building a bridge with thirty-five popsicle sticks and two long pieces of tape. Their challenge
was to construct a bridge strong enough to hold eight rolls of pennies. The “winning” group’s bridge was able to hold seven rolls before collapsing under the weight.
If you would like to see pictures and want more information about our experiments so far this year you can follow Mr. Evans on Twitter @EvansClassroom and/or ESU 5 science @ESU5scienceguys.
Children’s author, Jerry Pallotta visited Fairbury Public Schools on Wednesday, October 7th. Students in grades kindergarten through sixth grade enjoyed listening to his presentation. Jerry shared his ideas in creating and writing several of his nonfiction alphabet and math titles. He has traveled to over 3500 schools and has spoken to over two million children. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts with his wife Linda, and continues his quest to write a ZILLION BOOKS!!!
