Today (Monday) we may have a special visitor in the building—ask your student who visited their classrooms.

We have a large pile of lost and found that is remaining unclaimed. Please, please, please ask your student to check the pile for any missing items!

We hope everyone has a great winter break and we will see you on January 4th

Picture caption:

Reindeer games in PE

Our Winter Band Concert was fantastic! Shout out to our director, Grayson Goodman for organizing an amazing performance and our students for striving to achieve at high levels. Students and families had a wonderful time celebrating the season together.

December Holiday Extravaganza:

December’s Character Trait focus is on Empathy and Kindness. Each day in the announcements we read a quote or idea about how to show kindness and empathy for others. Ms. V and the ASB students posted a daily Kindness Challenge for students to participate in, and for the December PBIS reward, we are having a holiday extravaganza on Tuesday, December 20th. Students who have recorded three acts of kindness on their “ticket” and have no officer or bus referrals will have the opportunity to wear pajamas to school, go to the commons, decorate and EAT cookies, drink cocoa or hot apple cider and watch a movie. Please talk about and encourage acts of kindness and empathy at home too!

Penny Drive Update: Our FCCLA club sponsored a penny drive this month as a way to inspire kindness. First period classes competed against each other and our winners were Coach Dorrel’s class with $129.69, Mr. Bjerkestrand with $90.81, and Mrs. Koch with $75.19. We appreciate our students rallying behind this drive to benefit a Reardan student who was recently diagnosed with Type I Diabetes.

Students in Mrs. Hamilton's Child Development Class were tasked with coming up with age-appropriate games for young children. The students then got to make the crafts that they had come up with.

Traditions and family heritage were the topic of a lesson in Mr. Perleberg's food science class. The students researched what food each student's family has during the holidays. The students prepared the dishes to share with classmates.

Over 30 scholarships, just ONE application. Scholarship programs for the 2023-24 academic year opened on December 1, 2022 and close March 3, 2023.

Each year, Innovia awards over $300,000 in scholarships to deserving students who are college-bound or pursuing vocational or technical training. Single scholarship awards range between $400 and $8,000.

The application process is simple:

1. Fill out a short questionnaire to see which scholarships you're eligible for (15 min)
2. Create a MyInnovia account (5 min)

Complete a single application and personal statement
(30 min+ writing time)

https://innovia.org/students/

Being a parent, fan, coach, and school administrator, I see youth sports from all angles. I am on a listserv for Breakthrough Basketball and received the following blog a couple of weeks ago and thought I would pass it on. In previous blogs, youth sports was defined as up to age 14 so I read this through that lens. I was pretty convicted personally of #5, and #9 (coaching from the stands).

1) You shall support and encourage your child, attend games and cheer for all the players, including the opposition.

2) You shall play the sport with your child outside practices if the child wants to, but not push your child into doing so. Pushing your child can cause resentment and burnout.

3) You shall practice good sportsmanship and avoid yelling at your child about the child’s performance during or after games, even when said child deserves it.

4) You shall realize youth sports are for kids, not adults, and not compare your child to another player nor sibling in either a positive or negative manner.

5) You shall avoid critiquing your child’s or any other player’s game performance on the car ride home. You will only discuss the game if the child wants to.

6) You shall bring your child to practices and games on time and contact the coaches if your child cannot attend or will be late for a practice or game.

7) You will endeavor to always be a positive role model for all children and avoid complaining about or yelling at referees, even when they make bad calls or screw up royally. When tempted to violate this commandment, you will remind yourself referees are often volunteers, teenagers or in training themselves.

8) You shall understand that while winning is fun, youth sports research clearly shows kids would rather play on a losing team, than sit the bench on a winning one. This understanding will include the fact that all kids need to play significant minutes – not just your kid or the best ones — and make mistakes during games to have fun and improve. Children mature and progress at different rates. Michael Jordan was cut from the Varsity as a high school sophomore and Bill Russell was only 5’9 as a sophomore in high school.

9) You shall not coach your child or any other players from the sidelines or stands. If you have a problem with the “official” coach, you will address it in private with said coach. If you would like to coach, you will volunteer to be one.

10) You shall always remember you are the adult and act like one. It is much more difficult for a child to deal with an out-of-control parent than for a parent (that is, you) to deal with an out-of-control child.