Jr. Sr. High School – Page 11 – Fairbury Public Schools

Mar 26, 2020May 27, 2020

EDUCATORS ANNOUNCE NEBRASKA STRONG LEARNING LAB

March 18, 2020 – The Nebraska State Education Association (NSEA) today announced it will offer educational programming for elementary and secondary students that will be available free to all Nebraska children beginning Monday, March 23. NSEA is partnering with News Channel Nebraska and Lincoln Public Schools on the project, with financial support from the National Education Association.

NSEA President Jenni Benson said four hours of daily live programming will be available through nearly every video and cable TV service, as well as online or via mobile app from Flood Communications News Channel Nebraska.

“Our 28,000 members care deeply about their students and want them to continue their learning during these school closures,” said Benson. “We are pleased to partner with News Channel Nebraska and Lincoln Public Schools to make this educational programming available statewide.”

Many Nebraska schools are closed due to the Novel Coronavirus pandemic. More school districts are expected to close in the coming weeks.

“During this time of unprecedented challenge to maintain educational continuity for the students of our city and state, I am most appreciative of the leadership of NSEA to organize a delivery system that will reach many of our students,” said Dr. Steve Joel, Lincoln Public Schools superintendent.

“We are working with our members to coordinate this educational programming,” said Maddie Fennell, NSEA executive director. “From read alouds to learning games to instructional lessons with teachers, we will work to support our students and their families as we navigate this pandemic together.”

Benson said that educational programming for elementary students will air from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and for secondary students from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday.

“And, because we know every family’s schedule is different, all the live content our members create and provide will be captured and available for on-demand playback at any time,” said Benson.

“The NSEA represents the teachers who change lives everyday throughout Nebraska. During this difficult time, thanks to the NSEA, children can continue learning and their parents will see firsthand some of the magic that happens in our classrooms every day,” said Andy Ruback, CEO Flood Communications/News Channel Nebraska.

There are multiple ways to watch this new educational programming. Families can live stream NCN at www.newschannelnebraska.com, download the NCN app on any mobile device, or access the programming through their local cable provider, NCN on Amazon Fire, Apple TV, and Roku apps. Those living in Omaha, Lincoln, Grand Island, Beatrice, Norfolk, Columbus and South Sioux City can also use an over-the-air antenna to access the live presentations. NCN will share the programming with its 300,000 social followers.

The programs will also be available on-demand through NSEA’s website at nsea.org and NSEA will provide an online forum for questions and supplemental educational resources.

Mar 17, 2020Jul 21, 2020

COVID 19 Resources

We at Fairbury Public Schools believe the health, safety, and well-being of our students and staff are our top priorities. With the decision to close school, we put together some suggestions for keeping things calm at home.

Maintain a schedule. Remember we all need predictability to stay calm but kids especially need routine and predictability. Maintain a regular bedtime, wake-up time and meal time. Covid At-Home Daily Schedule
Limit electronics. Instead of allowing electronics to fill your day, organize your day so electronics is part of but does not dominate your daily schedule.
Reframe what’s happening. Instead of focusing on fear and things that could go wrong, focus on time to slow down, time to spend with your family, time to do things for others, etc.
Schedule time to be active. Go outside, walk your dog, do some yoga or exercise.
Maintain social distance. But you can still call your friends or facetime with your friends.

FPS Family Resources – FPS Family Resources COVID

Dealing With Panic Attacks

Parenting During Covid 19 – ESU Resource

Ultimately there is no right or wrong way to do this other than follow the guidance of social distancing. So do your best to do things we know work (the suggestions above) but be kind to yourself, do your best and take care of you and your family.

Mar 6, 2020May 4, 2020

Students Selected For Membership in the National Honor Society

Congratulations to the following students for being selected as new members in National Honor Society based not only on their scholarship (grades), but also on leadership, character, and community service. The formal induction ceremony will be Tuesday, March 17th at 7:00 p.m. in the BFAC.

Harlie Blas

Alex Buxton

Zane Grizzle

Adaline Linscott

Jami Mans

Josi Mans

Karly McCord

Erica Mosher

Hailie Nicholson

Dalton Petersen

Ethan Smith

Brittyn Wentz

Riley Wood

Alissa York

Anna York

Mar 6, 2020Apr 9, 2020

Trina Pettit Receives Jeffs’ Best Award!

The Jeffs’ Best Award was created by the Fairbury Public Schools Board of Education to highlight and celebrate the great work of our staff.

On behalf of the Board of Education, I would like to congratulate Mrs. Trina Pettit, Jr.-Sr. High Transition and CHANCE School Coordinator, as the March recipient of the Jeffs’ Best Award!

Some of the comments made were:
“I would like to nominate Trina Pettit for employee of the month since she is one of the best transition coordinators I have ever worked with in my teaching career. As transition coordinator, Trina has 50+ students on her caseload that she meets with on a regular basis. She arranges and transports students to college visits and potential job sites. She also identifies work experiences for students so they can receive work credits in the transition work-study program. She participates in all student’s IEP meetings. In addition to these responsibilities, she is the CHANCE Coordinator.”

“How she manages both of these positions is unbelievable. She is a very organized employee that never misses a meeting of which there are many. She is detailed and dedicated to the best interests of her students and this results in positive relationships with them. She always has a smile on her face when working with students and co-workers.”

“Students appreciate Trina’s dedication (going the extra mile) to transition services. I had one student tell me that if it wasn’t for Mrs. Pettit bringing him to a welding business tour, he would never have considered this as a possible future employment option. Mrs. Pettit has such a positive impact on her students and others. Please consider her for employee of the month.”

“Mrs. Pettit works tirelessly to serve our most at-risk students, the staff that serves them and to lead the transition efforts of our students in special education.”

“Mrs. Pettit supervises the teachers at both Chance and ASP. She collaborates with them regularly to serve the needs of our students and help them understand special education processes/paperwork. She assists with the transportation of students, supervision of students, plan development for students, and communication with parents. She is even known to serve as a sub teacher or para when things are tight. She develops incredibly strong relationships with parents and students and doesn’t shy away from difficult yet important honest, necessary conversations. Mrs. Pettit also coordinates the transition services for students with disabilities (ages 14ish-21). She arranges college visits for them, communicates with community members to schedule work-based learning, provides transportation, assesses their transition needs and leads that part of the IEP, which is a very specialized area and takes that pressure off our IEP managers. She collaborates with special ed and general ed teachers and administrators primarily in grades 3-12.” She is also called on to help problem-solve through cases with students who are not yet in special programs but may need some support before they get there. She also serves on the HS MTSS team and district MTSS team. She is a model for how to professionally yet relentlessly advocate for the needs of students, particularly those who are at-risk. She is well respected by colleagues throughout the district. She is an incredible asset to the district. Without her expertise, advocacy and professional voice we would be lost. There is literally no one who I can think of who is more deserving of this inaugural honor than her.”

“Trina is a student-centered educator. She works tirelessly to help her students and make sure that they are doing all that they can to help them graduate. Many students have good relationships with her, and in my opinion, she is an unsung hero for students who do not have many adults to look to at home. She is always caring to all of her students and listens to their needs and tries to help them in many ways. Please reward her for this. She is very deserving of it. ”

Trina will receive a $25 gift certificate during a short presentation at the March BOE meeting and will be eligible for a drawing for a $100 prize in May! As always, we want to thank everyone for their nominations! The BOE will make a new selection prior to the April meeting.

Anyone in Jeffland is invited to nominate any Fairbury Public Schools Employee by filling out the form below:

http://bit.ly/2DPRwG1

Feb 17, 2020Feb 27, 2020

Vote for Our Local FFA Chapter

We are excited to celebrate National FFA Week! Comment on this post with your Nebraska FFA Chapter or a chapter you’d like to recognize and we will donate $250 to one lucky chapter at the end of National FFA Week! Click on the picture or the link date to vote for Fairbury FFA.

— Nebraska Farm Bureau (@NEFarmBureau) February 16, 2020

Feb 17, 2020Feb 21, 2020

FHS Journalism Earns JEA Recognition

Three Fairbury High School students earned Excellent awards in the 2020 Journalism Education Association winter contest announced this week. Senior Josephine Blatny won an “Excellent” award for her newspaper layout for “State Champs – Softball.” Senior Carson York received “Excellent” recognition for his Sports/Action Photography for coverage of State softball. Junior Brynn Novotny received three “Excellent” awards in “Infographic Design,” “Newswriting” and “Yearbook Sports Writing.”

Across the state, 396 journalism students from 28 high schools earned an award in this year’s JEA Nebraska Winter Contest. Yearbook, newspaper, literary magazine and broadcasting students across the state will receive certificates for entries judged Superior, Excellent and Honorable Mention.

“It is one thing to share news within your school community, but quite another to be evaluated by a professional and deemed worthy of recognition,” said JEA state director Marsha Kalkowski.

Since 2004, Nebraska’s JEA has sponsored this contest to showcase student work from the fall semester from across the state. Many advisers use this contest to test the competition in preparation for the NSAA State Journalism Contest.

Entries from each category were judged by professional journalists and veteran high school advisers from across the nation.

There are 21 traditional categories: Advertising, Column Writing, Editorial Cartooning, Editorial Writing, Review Writing, Newspaper Feature Writing, InfoGraphic Design, News Writing, Newspaper Sports Feature Writing, Newspaper Sports News Coverage, Newspaper Layout, Headline Writing & Design, News/Feature Photography, Sports/Action Photography, Photo Illustration, Yearbook Feature Writing, Yearbook Sports Writing, Yearbook Theme Copy Writing, Yearbook Layout, Yearbook Theme Development and In-Depth Coverage. Four broadcast categories: News, Feature, Sports and Overall Program and one literary magazine category.

Other FHS winners include:

Honorable Mention–

Hannak Knigge: Yearbook Layout

Josephine Blatny: Entertainment Review Writing

Brynn Novotny: Photo/Artistic Illustration

DeZaire Bishop: Editorial Writing and Infographic Design

Jane Culp: Newswriting

See original article on the FHS X-Ray

Feb 17, 2020Mar 2, 2020

STEM Class Busy With Stop Motion AND Robotics!

8th graders in Mrs. Carly Winter’s new STEM class have been focusing on Stop Motion Photography this quarter. Stop Motion Photography is “an animation technique in which the subject is manipulated in between photographs to give the appearance of movement once the frames are spliced together.” This means students must take 600 photos to create a video that is 1 minute long at 10 frames per second. They will create 3 unique videos, all increasing in length and difficulty. In the first video, students were given the same supplies as everyone else; 3 dollars in change. For their next video students will have free range to choose any supplies they can think of. And for their last video, they will be paired up and will be creating videos that include themselves as the props!

Students in Mrs. Carly Winter’s 7th Grade STEM class are also focusing on Robotics this quarter! Our resident Robotics expert Mr. David Camara has been teaching them to code their robots and use different sensors to avoid obstacles, stay in a designated area, and drives autonomously. In March, 4 students will be selected based on their participation, as well as their behaviors and academics in their other classes, to go to the Robotics Competition at ESU 5 in Beatrice to compete against area schools for the Robotics Championship title.

Feb 10, 2020Mar 9, 2020

Aaron Leibel Receives Jeffs’ Best Award!

The Jeffs’ Best Award was created by the Fairbury Public Schools Board of Education to highlight and celebrate the great work of our staff.

On behalf of the Board of Education, I would like to congratulate Mr. Aaron Leibel, Jr.-Sr. High social studies teacher, as the February recipient of the Jeffs’ Best Award!

Aaron’s students say that he’s a great teacher (even if he is too humble to acknowledge it himself). The common theme in comments from his multiple nominations was that Aaron’s classes are entertaining as well as instructive. “He will always tell stories that go with the topic,” wrote one student, “and it’s so funny.” As its sponsor, Aaron has also led the speech team to several great showings in recent years, and he is growing Fairbury’s own speech invitational by leaps and bounds. What’s next for Aaron? Only he can tell!

Aaron will receive a $25 gift certificate during a short presentation at the February BoE meeting and will be eligible for a drawing for a $100 prize in May! As always, we want to thank everyone for their nominations! The BoE will make a new selection prior to the March meeting.

We want to thank everyone for their nominations! The BOE will be making a new selection prior to the March meeting.

Anyone in Jeffland is invited to nominate any Fairbury Public Schools Employee by filling out the form below:

http://bit.ly/2DPRwG1

Jan 30, 2020Feb 10, 2020

Fairbury FFA Competes at District 5 Leadership Development Events

by Kennedy DeBoer

On January 15th, the Fairbury FFA had 16 members attend and compete at the District 5 Leadership Development Event (LDE) in York at the Holthus Center. The members included Kennedy DeBoer, Devin Wanamaker, Dalton Petersen, John Kerwood, Sara Huss, Jillian Caroon, Harlie Blas, Trayce Blas, Emily Huss, Toby Julin-McCleary, Madison Ohlde, Malayne DeBoer, Jason Marshman, Alexis Mau, and Ava Kroll.

In Senior Public Speaking, Junior Harlie Blas received a blue ribbon. Senior Sara Huss was a district champion in Employment Skills! She received a purple ribbon and qualified for the FFA State Convention in April!! Senior Jillian Caroon also received a purple ribbon in the Employment Skills Contest. The Conduct of Chapter Meetings team consisting of Toby Julin-McCleary, Madison Ohlde, Malayne DeBoer, Jason Marshman, Alexis Mau, and Ava Kroll (who are all 8th graders) received a red ribbon. Seniors Kennedy DeBoer, Devin Wanamaker, Dalton Petersen, and John Kerwood competed in Ag demonstration and received a purple ribbon. Freshmen Emily Huss and Trayce Blas both competed in Creed Speaking. Emily received a blue and Trayce received a purple. There was a lot of young talent that competed for the Fairbury FFA Chapter this year and the future is looking very bright for all of these FFA members. It was a GREAT day to be a Jeff!