For Everything. As We Look out the Window and View the Beautiful Spring Days, It Gets Harder to Remember the Cold, Snowy Winter Days

Meade School District 46-1 “To Build Knowledge and Skills for Success Today and Tomorrow”

April 2019

Seasons

The book of Ecclesiastes talks about there being a “season” for everything. As we look out the window and view the beautiful spring days, it gets harder to remember the cold, snowy winter days. Just as the year has seasons, it seems like the school year also has its own seasons.

We start the school year in late August and while for many, it is the end of summer and a lull, for those of us in school it is a time of invigoration with all the new stuff that goes with the start of school. Then we bunker down and the real grind of work, work, work stretches from September to March. In March we get a little revved up knowing that for students in grades 3- 8, the state assessment starts in April so there is another push to review and reinforce many of the skills learned earlier in the year.

After the month of April it seems as though we can take a deep breath and relax a little. The nice weather and knowing that there is only about a month of school left seems to put everyone in a relaxed frame of mind.

While there needs to be learning through to the last week of school, we also know that we can include field trips and other outdoor activities that we didn’t have time for earlier in the year. For some reason, the nice weather just brings with it a sense of light-heartedness. And then, it is the end of May and school is out. Students and families have time with each other and guess what? It will soon be August and we start all over again.

There will be some changes next fall at many of the sites. A new school building will open at Union Center. Some teacher and staff changes will occur at some sites. New students will appear—for sure there will be new kindergarten. There will be a new math curriculum. All of that newness adds to the excitement of another new school year.

So, keep your children focused in these last weeks of school. We do need their attention and respect so all students can learn and enjoy school. Work them hard or play hard this summer. Then, drop them off at their school on August 22! And, the “seasons” of school will start again.

Bev Rosenboom, Principal Wow! What a ride! Testing has been completed, Easter has come and gone and the end of the school year is in sight. However, there is still much to learn before we are done for the year!

To reward the students for all their hard work on testing, I surprised them with Mary Poppins Returns, the sequel to the original Mary Poppins, since we have been singing "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" since last fall. I think everyone enjoyed the new movie as much as the original as well as all the new songs. I was surprised that even though they didn't have the original actors playing the major roles, they did an excellent job in reprising the roles with very similar looking people. They all did a wonderful job, but my favorite part was see- ing the 93 year old Dick Van Dyke dancing on a desk... Incredible!

Our movie song that we just started on is from The Greatest Showman, one of my favorite songs ever, "A Mil- lion Dreams". This song has a nice harmony part that really enhances the tone, as well as the dynamics. Most of the students really enjoy singing this song. I think it reminds us that if we dream of something long enough and work towards it, sometimes dreams really do come true.

We are also learning about the ukulele, the instrument that looks like a small guitar that originated in Ha- waii. This little 4 stringed instrument has started to become quite popular ever since the 12 year old Grace VanderWaal won the 11th season of America's Got Talent. She started writing songs at a young age and taught herself how to play the ukulele, the instrument she always plays as she sings. She is now 15 years old and has released two albums. We were happy to get to sing her popular song "I Don't Know My Name". How fun to sing a song that was written by such a young performer!

We are also learning about the differences in regular acoustic guitar versus a classical (or Spanish) guitar. We took a trip back in time to Brazil in the 1920's and heard a piece written for classical guitar by Heitor Villa-Lobos called Choros No. 1. The students quickly noticed the difference in the sound produced by the classical guitar and soon learned why. It is because the classical guitar has nylon strings where a regular acoustic guitar strings are made of metal wires. The nylon strings are basically plucked with the fingertips or fingernails where the metal strings on an regular guitar are strummed, generally using a pick. The sound produced is very recogniza- ble once you hear a sample of each type.

Our Music Show for the end of the year is called Accidentals Happen. In this lesson we learned about accidentals, which are sharps, flats or natural signs that composers often "throw" into their songs to make them more interesting. These are notes that aren't specified in the key signature. We will be using a glockenspiel to see firsthand how bars can be switched out on an instrument to change the tone of a song by adding accidentals.

We will also be learning a contradance from the USA called Jefferson & Liberty. This dance was done during the campaign of Thomas Jefferson so it has been around for a while! A contradance is a dance where there are two lines of people facing each other, but in this dance, the dancers wind up dancing in small sets of four, thus dancing with their neighboring pair. The tune that is generally used for this dance is an old English tune called "The Gobby O". We will have quite a time learning this one!

All in all, it has been a super year in music class. We have learned a lot of dances, a lot of new songs and a lot of choreography. I hope everyone enjoys the last few weeks of school and have an awesome summer! I just became a grandma, so I think I know what I will be doing most of the summer.... spoiling my grandson! Until I see you all again in the fall, keep a song in your heart! Mrs. Richards Several Rural students participated in the Elementary Music Contest in Spearfish on March 30th. They all did a wonderful job. Way to go!!!

Marnie Baker, Andoryn Walker, and Erin Shaw. They are all 6th graders at Enning/Union Center Gabe Dennis—8th grade—Enning/ Union Center

Eli Dennis is a 5th grader at Enning/Union Center and Alanah Spring is a 5th grader at Atall.

Right: Justin McIntosh placed 4th in State AAU Wrestling

Good Job!!! April Students of the Month

Logan Royer—4th grade Taber Cammack—7th grade Hadley Matt—2nd grade Elm Springs Enning / Union Center Hereford

Character Trait

April: Honesty “Good and truthful, not lying, stealing, or cheating; showing or suggesting a good and truthful character, not hiding the truth about someone or something, not meant to deceive someone.

~Webster’s Dictionary Joni: My favorite thing we did this year was made our own hydraulics. Tractors allow us to pick up heavy bales to feed cows and sheep using hydraulics. I made a hydraulic flower. I pulled one side and the flower would shrink. I pushed and the flower would grow.

One more thing I enjoyed was when Tayah came to visit. We built a pretend campfire. We had measured using thirds and then taped the pieces together. We told campfire stories by the campfire. Then we did a breakout box where we did even more measuring, multiplication and division which helped us figure out clues to unlock the ingredients to make s’mores. We also made smoothies using different measurements.

Colter: My favorite thing I did this year was building things like hydraulics from Kiwi crates. Hydraulics allow us to lift things like hay bales and snow. Kiwi crates also give me ideas of things to build like crystals.

Ruger: My favorite thing this year was when Jessa and I built a claw. We built it using pieces and directions. Then we wanted to see how much weight it could hold so we tested it by adding cubes until it wouldn’t hold any more.

Jessa: I really enjoyed Math this year. I learned to tell time! I know that the little hand tells the hours and the big hand tells the minute. So if the little hand is pointing to the 3 and the big hand is pointing to the 6 that would be 3:30 and I know that it is time to go home! I also enjoyed skiing because I got to go down the bunny hill!

Mr. Erfman: My favorite part about this is year was realizing when I was gone for the first three months of school, just how fortunate I have been these last 3 years getting to teach here! Atall in my opinion, has the friendliest and hardest working students and the most supportive parents a teacher could ever ask for. I’m equally as fortunate to have gotten to teach alongside and learn from some of the best staff in the district. Thank you to all for making this year and past years, so unforgettable.

What I will remember most about the 2018-2019 school year…

Tance Spring (4th) I will remember learning about coordinate graphing in math and doing the Mystery Science volcano lesson.

Everett Urbaniak (4th) I will remember the excitement of reading Diary of Minecraft Creeper and Narwhal’s Otter Friend. Also, the Mystery Science volcano lesson.

Emma Spring (5th) What I will mostly remember about 5th grade is playing basketball with my friend Casper and earning second place in the speech contest. But, I am also looking forward to the May 1st field trip to the Outdoor Campus.

Alanah Spring (5th) I think I will remember 5th grade because of the speech contest. I was so surprised that I got third place my first year!

Dally Jensen (7th) I will remember this year because of my weird and odd “biohazard” Halloween costume that I overexaggerated on the decorating.

Mariah Spring (8th) I will remember writing the Christmas program with Shaniah and getting third place at the speech contest.

Shaniah Spring (8th) I will always remember 8th grade because it is my last year in a country school and I gave my speech about peer pressure at the contest.

Mrs. Urbaniak (16th year of teaching) Every year I think I learn just as much as the students, and this year was no different. It was a memorable year because we didn’t let a cold, snowy winter/spring stop us from learning. I will remember the weather, but I will remember the learning, too. We worked hard anyway, we had fun anyway, and we made this a great year anyway. K—3rd grade

How much do you know about your local community? When did it start? What businesses were there? What caused the town’s population to decline? The Elm Springs kiddos have been learning extensively about their local communities of Elm Springs, Boneita Springs, Dalzell, Smithville, Lakeside, Wasta and Owanka. Since you cannot Google these towns to get information, the students have had to research the old- fashioned way. They have interviewed local historians and rummaged through informational books to find their information. Next, the students will create a trifold presentation with the facts and information they have learned about their town and present it to the community at our Museum Gallery on May 2nd at 2:30 pm at the school. All are welcome to attend. Mrs. Dybdahl, Mrs. Wilsey and I are very grateful to our community for helping us with this project. If not for our community, this project would not be a success. Additionally, we are VERY proud of our students for all the effort and hard work they have put into this project.

4th—8th grade

This school year has gone by so fast! Elm Springs went on a super fun field trip to Wind

Cave National Park this past Friday. It was a great way to break up our five-day week. The students had so much fun (as did the adults). We started the day by visiting a pierre dog community and learning how the national park keeps track of their animal population. The students were able to track an elk antler using GPS signals and their teamwork skills. After lunch we took a tour inside the cave. We were able to see different types of crystal formation and even a tiny bat. It was such a wonderful and exhausting day. The smiles on the students face truly made it worthwhile. It has been such an enjoyable year. I can’t believe we have a little less than a month left.

Hereford Elementary

The Hereford 2nd-4th graders have been learning the skills of geologists this past month while working with the Earth Materi- als science kit. They have learned about the different hardness of minerals and conducted scratch tests to identify 4 different minerals. Their tools were their fingernails, a penny, and a paper clip. In our next identification activity, we will be using the acid test to identify the presence of calcite in different minerals. The acid we use will be vinegar. The kindergarten students are studying animal habitats and looking forward to making an animal habitat in a shoe box. Our Scholastic News has been full of great articles this last month! We learned about King Tut, humanlike robots, and a new volcanic island called “Tonga” in the Pacific Ocean. We also learned that Monarch butter- flies are disappearing, but scientists have also spotted a bee that they thought was extinct. It is called Wallace’s giant bee and is about the size of a kid’s thumb! The last time one was seen was 38 years ago. No need to worry though; the bee lives in Indonesia! We had a great Easter party in spite of Porter Deering (6th Grade Hereford) and the wind and having to chase some eggs that Veronica Grubl (7th Grade Hereford) partici- were blowing away. For a fun and environ- mentally friendly activity, the kids mixed gel- pated in the 2018 Department of Transporta- atin and water with bird seed, put it in a plas- tion (DOT) International Aviation Art Con- tic egg, and took it home to let it dry out. test. These students competed against stu- When it’s dry, they will pop out the egg- dents all across the state so competition was shaped bird feeder and put it in a tree. Hope- fully the birds will love it! tough. Veronica Grubl was named Honorable Mention. Congratulations you two and thank Mrs. Barry you for representing our rural schools.

Porter Deering’s artwork is titled “Winged Aviation” Veronica Grubl’s artwork is titled: “Soaring Eagles”

Hereford Elementary 5th—8th

Opal K-4th

This month the students have been very busy! We have worked extremely hard to finish off the year strong. My 4th grade students have been working on their essays. They are learning to research information and learning about factual information or opinionated information. My 3rd graders are getting very good at multiplication facts and learning how to memorize them. We are also starting division and it is going very well. My first grader is progressing very well, He is already starting to memorize multiplication facts. As for Kindergarten we are already adding and subtracting very well. We are also learning to read out of our Wonders leveled readers books which is fun to see them progress. We are also starting to add with double digits using ones and tens. It has been a great month and we are learning lots! Wow, so hard to believe that the end of the school year is just around the corner. This school year has flown by, but it has been an amazing one. Graduations, rally day, and a field trip will wrap up this awesome school year for us. The 5th and 6th graders are looking forward to their trip to the Outdoor Campus in Rapid city on May 1st. Mother nature hasn’t been too cooperative so far this spring, so we are really hoping that she blesses us with a nice day so we can enjoy our outdoor activities. We have two 8th graders this year – Brigg Price and Landon Fisher. We will be sad to see them go but wish them the very best as they start their new adventure at Faith High School. As the school year comes to a close, we reflect back on the year and feel blessed. It has been a wonderful year of learning and growing, building amazing friendships, and making memories that will always be cherished. Happy summer to you all!

ENNING/UNION CENTER Grades Kindergarden & 1st

If finally feels like Spring has arrived and we are so thankful! As we are approaching the end of the year, we are working hard to complete all of our studies so we are ready for 1st and 2nd grade! Although, we definitely make time for fun too! We spent a full week doing many fun Earth Day activities. One of those included planting grass seed in recycled cups. Our “hair” is beginning to grow and the kids can’t wait until it is long enough to cut!

We would like to invite Grandparents to our classroom May 22nd for Grandparent’s Day. All are welcome to attend Kindergarten Graduation that afternoon at 1:00 at the Union Center Church.

Miss Steffes-Classroom Teacher Mrs. LaMont-Paraprofessional

ENNING/UNION CENTER Grades 2nd and 3rd ENNING/UNION CENTER Grades 4th and 5th

The month of April has been filled with testing. The students have persevered through every practice, math, science, and ELA test. We decided to reward the students by coming up with a couple of fun science experi- ments.

The first experiment we conducted was right before Easter. We created an Egg- Splosion! The students used Alka-Seltzer tablets, Easter eggs, and warm water to blow the tops off of our plastic eggs! The students went through several trial and error eggs to get to the biggest explosion.

Next, we created geodes using borax, boil- ing water, pipe cleaners, food coloring, glass jars, string, and straws. The students were able to create one geode after waiting 24 hours; that was NOT easy for them to be that patient! We observed, discussed, and altered our experiment for round two of geode making. The students knew how they wanted to change their borax/water ratio to compare their crystal size and were anxious to see the new geode. After waiting another 24 hours, the students were able to compare and contrast the two geodes.

The students are going to start preparing for Rally Day and NWEA testing soon.

Mrs. Wilcox ENNING/UNION CENTER Grades 6th, 7th, and 8th

The First Buffalo Calves Are on the Ground by Taber Cammack My favorite time of the year is starting. The buffalo calves are on the ground. I love watching them run around right after they’re born. My dad says his favorite thing about buffalo calving is that you hardly have to do anything they do it themselves. The calves are born out in the pasture and not in a corral. They can calve by themselves and we don’t have to put the bulls in with the cows or out they do it on their own. You do not lose very many calves. The only time we go out to check them is when we feed hay and that is it. The calves are up and going within 10 to 20 minutes. It doesn’t matter a lot to the calves if they’re born on a nice day or in a blizzard. That is why I enjoy buffalo calving.

Don Balyeat by Morgan Simons

In this news article I will be telling you about Don Balyeat. He works for American Battlefield Trust, and his job is to go around and teach kids about the Civil War era. Before he decided to do that he traveled all over America for 35 years. How he learned about American Battlefield Trust was from going to a battlefield and meeting some historians who told him about it. Don Balyeat started working for them in 2003. He gets all of his artifacts by going around to different battlefields from the Civil War. Many times he goes to people’s houses and is allowed to read old diaries from soldiers and medics. This year he showed us a power point about the Underground Railroad. Sometimes he brings Civil War relics. It is a lot of fun to get to see and handle real relics from so long ago.

Backpack Program by Buddy Howie

I want to tell you about the backpack program at Feeding SD and what we do. Last year I went with my class and my grandpa to Rapid City to Feeding SD. We went to help with the backpack program where we put food into bags and then into crates. Then they put the crates into a pickup and haul them to schools for kids that don’t have food for the weekend. Last year we packed 900 bags in about an hour. It is cool feeding South Dakota. We will be going back this year on May 6th. I cannot wait until then! It cannot come any faster. The reason why is so we can feed the kids in South Dakota communities so when they leave school they can have food. I asked Grandpa what he liked about it, and he said that he liked that you can take a bunch of kids and pack food. He also said he liked that they had their food so organized. This is an experience that more people need to have. It’s very important that we help take care of feeding SD.

ENNING/UNION CENTER Grades 6th, 7th, and 8th continued

Union Center Track By: Kash Krogman

Track season is here and so is the rain. Our track team is made up of our rural school athletes. Joshua Bendigo, Ty Dexter, Erin Shaw, and I are the track athletes from our school, and there are many others. We do many things in track such as races, high jump, hurdles, and long jump. I run the 100m race, 400m race, high jump, and 75m hurdles. It is really fun but sometimes challenging. You have to compete with kids from all across the area. We compete with Sturgis, Belle Fourche, Kadoka, Douglas, and many other schools. Track usually starts in the middle of April and lasts until the beginning of May. Sometimes our meets get canceled because of the weather. This year our first three have gotten canceled because of rain and snow. It hasn’t been the best, but we still have more to look forward to. Kids usually do track because they want to get more fit or hang out with friends. You can also get out of school so that’s a plus!

The New School

by Ty Dexter

Next fall, all of K-8 from Enning and Union Center will move into the new school at Union Center. It is needed because the Enning School is getting old and needs repairs. Also, the current Union Center School is too small for K-8th grades. In the new building, there will be four regular classrooms and a multipurpose classroom. There will also be an office, a kitchen, and a multipurpose room. The storage room will also be a storm shelter. I am ready for the new school because I will be closer to it, and hopefully it is not as crowded. I am excited about the new technology in the STEAM room. I can’t wait for the new school.

Notice

We want to remind you that there is no supervision on the playgrounds at each school site before 7:45 a.m. and after 3:30 p.m. If your children are there we do not provide supervision, we cannot take responsibility for any incidents that may take place. In Library we have discussed the lowest point in SD which is Big Stone Lake and the hugest point Black Elk Peak!!

Shelane Graham April & May Tech Times with Miss Gall

Coming Up! Classroom Happenings I can’t believe we are already nearing the end of This month students have been busy wrapping up the school year!! It has been an amazing year, full projects, learning some new tools, and continuing to of so many great memories and I have really build onto their typing skills. enjoyed getting to know all of my students!

Younger students have been exploring using the To wrap up the year, students will complete their program ‘Pages.’ They have been creating business typing programs. Older students will compete for flyers, poems, lists, making robots out of shapes, fun in a ‘Typing Madness’ bracket. I will be testing and short stories. They have also continued to use 3-8 students on who has reached their goal for the Dance Mat as well as Jungle Jr. on Typing Club. year. Students will wrap-up their existing projects Some students have completed Jungle Jr. and Dance including the fast food projects and state facts Mat and have moved onto the big kids’ typing projects. Students will also explore Google Earth; program, Typing Jungle. finding different coordinates and learning how to take ‘clips’ aka screenshots of the different they Older students completed a digital citizenship find. project using information found on nsteens.org and created a Kahoot based on what they found. They It has been a fun and memorable year, I wish are also wrapping up a project on researching everyone a safe and great summer!! different fast food restaurants and creating a ‘Numbers’ sheet based on the nutritional facts they find. They compared their results to their daily recommended nutrients and their results were eye- opening! 8th graders have been hard at work putting together their graduation iMovies. I’m very impressed with how they are turning out and can’t wait to show everyone the final product! ca NURSE NEWS

Julie Dobler R.N., Heidi Komes R.N., Jennifer Oedkoven R.N.

Summer Sun Protection for Kids * Slather on the sun screen – no exceptions! On the back of knees, ears, face, neck and scalp.

Drinking* Apply sunscreen Enough W 15ater to 30 minutes before going outside. Reapply every 2 hours.

* Opt for a sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of 30 or higher. *Water keeps every part of your body working properly. It helps your body flush wastes and stay at the right temperature.

*Not drinking enough water can cause dehydration. If you become very dehydrated, your body no longer has enough fluid to get blood to your organs.

*Common recommendation is to drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water every day. You may need more

depending on how healthy you are, how much you exercise, and how hot and dry the climate is.

Preventing and Treating Tick Bites

*Ticks are most likely to be found in wooded and bushy areas. They are most active in the

warmer months between April and September.

*Ticks are capable of spreading harmful diseases, but that should not prevent you from being able to enjoy the great outdoors.

* Clothing can provide some protection from ticks. Long-sleeved tops can protect arms and tucking pant legs into socks or boots can prevent ticks from easy access to legs.

*Repellents can be applied to skin and clothing. Those containing 20 – 30% DEET offer several hours of protection.

*It is recommended that you conduct a full-body tick check after being out in an environment that could be home to ticks.

*Removing ticks – using the tweezers, grasp the tick as close to the surface of the skin as possible. With steady, even pressure, pull upwards. Twisting and jerking the tick can cause some of its mouth-parts to remain embedded in the skin. If this occurs, carefully attempt to remove the remaining parts with the tweezers. Once removed, clean the affected area and your hands, and dispose of the tick by submersing it in alcohol, placing it in a sealed container or disposing of it down the toilet. Do not crush a tick with your fingers.