Mentoring 2011-2012

We have completed another year of mentoring at Schaller-Crestland Elementary.  The eighth grade students at RidgeView Middle School have once again given our younger students a great opportunity to listen, learn, and grow.  We had 16 mentors work with 18 mentees.  The students set goals and worked on achieving them.  Goals included both social and academic skills.  Other activities included games and crafts as well as programs on substance abuse issues.  The younger students always look forward to the time they get to spend with their mentors.  Mentees benefit  from having a role model and friend.  They know they can trust their mentor to listen and not judge.  They also have fun together.  Mentors benefit knowing they are helping others.  It is also a reason to do their best knowing someone is looking up to them.  Of the students who participated in the mentoring program, all showed improvement on self-confidence and most had good attendance and improved academics.  Watching the matches in action shows the positive impact this program has on all of the students.  It is a very valuable program helping both mentors and mentees be successful in school with impact that I’m sure follows them home.  We look forward to another great year of mentoring in 2012-1013.

Sincerely,
Jayne Wilhelm, New Opportunities
Amber Teague, Middle School Counselor
Susan Kalin, Elementary School Counselor

Kids at our school always have fun---I stumbled on these photos as the year ends and it reminds me of the dedication of our staff and success our youngsters!

Week of the young child:

The preschoolers enjoy a story at the public library and some exercies to follow.  

 Callie and Connor enjoy reading in the TK library.

Kindergarten Field Trip-

We went to the Sac City Conservation Building for the day. We got to do a scavenger hunt, a hike on the trails to find out more about plants and nature, we saw animals like snakes, turtles, and birds, and we also talked about Dinosaurs/fossils and had may different activities throughout the day. 

The kids had a great time and really enjoyed every part of the day, we even had a few tired ones on the way home!

Success- we have bonded as a class, gotten to know each other, and will remember our year in Kindergarten, we are so excited for 1st grade!

Our fied trip to the Cherokee Ridgerunners Rendevous

.The students learned about how mountain men survived in the wilderness. They made a rope, shot a bow and arrow, threw a tomahawk, watched how to fill a powder gun, and watched steel being forged into hooks. They also learned about the Lewis and Clark Expedition and how old arrowheads were according to their shape and size. 

Sac County Naturalist, Rene Stroud, brought her learning centers to Schaller-Crestland 4th and 5th grade science

Sac County Naturalist, Rene Stroud, brought her learning centers to Schaller-Crestland 4th and 5th grade science classes.  She  set up stations on biomes and ecosystems for the 5th grade class,  and plant and animal adaptations for the 4th grade class.   The students rotated through each of the stations to complete the activities.  The hands-on materials brought reality to the science units the students had been studying.  Our thanks to Rene for making learning fun.

Schaller-Crestland 2^nd Grades

Travel to Sioux City

          On Friday, April 20^th, 43 Schaller-Crestland second grade students, teachers, and chaperones were treated to a day at the Lewis and Clark Park and the Tyson Event Center for the Shrine Circus performance.  We heartedly thank all the area businesses who sponsored our classes and made this wonderful experience possible.

          The students were excellent travelers and represented our school district very well.  We left Schaller first thing in the morning and headed to the Lewis and Clark Park in Sioux City.  The weather was beautiful. Everyone enjoyed their picnic lunch. The park offered several new and different pieces of equipment which everyone headed for during our recess play. 

          Then we were off to Tyson Event Center! It was quite a sight! The kids were mesmerized by all of the acts, performers, costumes, staging, animals, maintenance, and equipment.  Our eyes were always watching somewhere as the wonder and magic of the circus opened before us!  We thrilled to trapeze artists, gymnasts, lions & tigers, elephants, ponies, clowns, Aerial Extravaganzas, the human cannonball, dancers, tumblers, the Extreme Riders, and many more sights, sounds, and smells only found at a circus. It truly was a terrific time!  Conversations between friends always sounded excited and we all left feeling elated at such a grand experience. 

Then back to the bus and back to school.  Everyone agreed the Shrine Circus was marvelous!  Again, the Schaller-Crestland second graders want to thank those businesses who made this magical day possible!

Mrs. Bisenius & Mrs. Wunschel

Busy month of May for Kindergarten

 The kindergarten classes had several fun learning opportunities during the month of May.  The classes walked to the Schaller Public Library to view the library as well as learn about the summer reading program.  We then walked to the park and had a scavenger hunt and Barb Jorgensen read us a story inside the gazebo.  We ended our visit with a snack.  

     The K-3rd graders enjoyed a beautiful day outside for our annual track and field day.  They had a blast rotating from station to station trying their best at each event.  Thanks to all that were able to attend and cheer us on. 

     Our end of the year field trip was at the Sac County Conservation Center.  The boys and girls saw live animals, went on a nature hike looking for items,  learned about birds and their feeding habits and saw baby birds in a nest.  The classes hunted for fossils, cleaned them, and placed them on a mat to reconstruct the dinosaur they were finding.  We saw how many kindergarten feet it took to fit inside one dinosaur footprint.  The children made dinosaur mask and moved around like the prehistoric creatures.  Everyone worked up an appetite and enjoyed eating a picnic lunch and playing in Hagge Park.  What a great way to end a wonderful year!

TK Field Trip

 On May16, 2012, 26 Schaller-Crestland Transitional Kindergarten students visited Kiowa Marsh and Reiff Park near Early, Iowa.  We saw swans, frogs, toads, turtles, bugs at the Marsh.  Sac County Naturalist Rene Stroud taught students about coyotes, foxes, deer, and bugs that live in nature.  The children learned about bird beaks and insects in hands-on activities at Reiff Park.  On the way back to school we stopped at Mrs. Pickhinke's farm to see chickens, cows, and tractors.  Thank you 
to our 9 chaperones for helping us have a fun and educational day!