Sandy Creek Elementary 2nd Semester AR Celebration
Yesterday was a whirlwind of events and activities celebrating our student's success in reading and their success in being in school, all year since, the Covid-19 Pandemic. Walking around the elementary you would see princesses and princes, millionaires, bakers, artists, thespians, and athletes including a 2-time Olympic wrestler. Our students heard special messages from some of our very own All-Americans: Scott Hild, Bailey Stapleman, and Corbin Hansen. The Millionaire's Club members had a Zoom interview with Olympic qualifier Ashley Petr, before leaving to go Down South for their special lunch. Members of the Millionaire's Club had read at least 1,000,000 words or their grade's equivalence. We had Platinum members that had read 2,000,000 words and even Diamond members who read 3,000,000 words or more. This was a great accomplishment for these students.
Our students had another special treat when several High School students shared the day with them. These students were great leaders and teachers. We heard from several of them how much more grateful they are now of elementary teachers. Students who met their goal were asked to rank sports, drama, art, and music. Then they were assigned to a topic to explore several aspects of the topic.
Our kinders shared several special messages from our Royal Tea party. One little princess said, "I am a real princess now," while a little prince said, "I need to practice drinking tea like this now at home." So if you see your little students drinking with their pinky out, you might just want to join them and have your own tea party at home. This was a great time for teachers to talk about manners, taking turns, and waiting patiently.
In Art, classes were taught by Mrs. Reed and the National Art Honor Society students about how art feels and even tastes. Students were heard saying that their messy art pieces should be known as "mess"terpieces. With the help of former Industrial Arts teacher Lue Graesser, Dr. Essink, and two of our Skills USA students our 3rd-5th graders built birdhouses. Hopefully, we will be seeing many of them around the communities this summer.
In Drama, our journalism, speech, and drama students came to help our elementary students rewrite and retell fractured fairytales. We heard the wolf's side of the story, instead of just the three little pigs version. Little Red Riding Hood, the misunderstood troll, and the three bears shared their stories too. We will be posting videos as they are done being edited. So check back for updates.
In Music, students made their own shakers. They experimented with different fillers to make different sounds. The heard guest artist Rita Brhel play her mountain dulcimer and several students shared their musical talents with the elementary students both vocally and playing their band instruments. Students also created their own musical from the LEgen Slappy Hooper. Our new band and muisc teachers Ms. Rethman and Ms. Franzen were here yesterday to help too. They were excited to see all of the learning and fun!
In Sports, students learned about lifetime sports like golf, bowling and horseshoes. In world-wide sports they learned more about boccé ball, croquet, and lacrosse. Students were taught how to make special snacks with all sorts of healthy foods thanks to Nurse Kristi and our fantastic lunch ladies. In the sports track students learned a new game to help them with a summer workout. If your student didn't come home with the dice needed for the game, we ordered more and they will be coming home soon. This fun little game can offer a quick break from too much screen time and being couch potatoes this summer. They also learned more abour the Olympics from our special guest.
The star of the hour was our first inductee into the Sandy Creek Elementary ALL-STAR Reader Hall of Fame. Tervel Dlagnev, a wrestler from UNK, who won the Division II Heavyweight National Championship in 2007. Many of the Red Raiders wrestlers at the time were able to watch him win in Kearney. This year our Red Raider wrestlers helped Tervel show our students some basic wrestling moves and the difference between Olympic free-style wrestling and high school folk-style wrestling. Tervel also shared his story of struggling to become a better reader, but how it has paid off in the end. Tervel won bronze in the 2012 London Olympic Games and again competed in 2016 placing 5th in Rio and placed 5th twice in the World Championships. Not a bad accomplishment for someone who did not even begin to wrestle until his sophomore year in high school. Now he has returned to Nebraska as the head coach for the Nebraska Wrestling Training Center in Lincoln.
Reading is a tool that will allow all of our students to achieve great things in the future. We want to encourage them to read. Tervel encouraged them to read things that interested them so they would enjoy it even more. We want to continue to celebrate our reading success. If you would like to share some more amazing stories with your children check out the links below.
