Schools

Gresham Community School

Last week was pretty exciting. We started our annual Pennies for Patients fundraiser. All grades participate, and the class that raises the most money gets a pizza party.

We also had a talent show on Friday. Arthur Boucher, first-place winner for the junior and senior high, sang and played the piano and the cajon. Weston Roe, second-place winner, did magic tricks.

Brett Schreiber, first-place winner for elementary, did gymnastics. Cami Gourley and Olivia Roe, second-place winners, sang to the song “Party in the U.S.A.”

The second- and third-grade classes are going to the Milwaukee Public Museum.

Gnome Games will host family night from 5-7 p.m. March 30.

Clintonville resident Karen Petermann of Rexford-Longfellow Elementary School will be honored as the Midwest District Elementary Physical Education Teacher of the Year by the Society of Health and Physical Educators at its 132nd National Convention and Expo in Boston this week.

SHAPE America’s Midwest District represents six states from West Virginia to Wisconsin. The award is given in recognition of outstanding teaching performance at the elementary school level and the ability to motivate today’s youth to participate in a lifetime of physical activity.

Petermann, a physical education teacher in the Clintonville School District for more than 29 years, will vie with five other district winners for the distinguished honor of National Elementary Physical Education Teacher of the Year.

The National Elementary Physical Education Teacher of the Year award recipient will be announced on Friday at the SHAPE America Hall of Fame Banquet.

Bonduel Elementary School

The kindergartners at Bonduel Elementary had quite a surprise on their 100th day of school. They had a visit from Zero the Hero, who came to hear them count to 100. The kindergartners counted by ones, by twos, by fives, by 10s and by 20s for him. Zero the Hero read them stories about the 100th day of school. He ended his visit with each student telling their name and then he gave them a 100th Day of School sticker.

Students at Hillcrest Primary School and LEADS Charter School aren’t allowed to bring their pets to school, but now they’ll be able to turn to man’s best friend whenever they’re down.

Students at the two schools, which share the same building, were introduced to Grace, a black Labrador now working as the schools’ therapy dog, on Monday. Officials hope Grace will help to improve student behavior and even encourage shy students to read aloud.

Kindergarten students burst into smiles and giggles as Grace walked in and sat quietly. Students took the opportunity to pet her and asked a variety of questions, like what she eats and where she lives when she’s not making the rounds.

Bowler Elementary School

At the beginning of this school year, students from Jody Siahaan’s Panthers Acquiring Knowledge and Skills class were involved in writing an application for a grant from the Wisconsin Department of Instruction.

Many schools from the state wrote applications, and only some schools were chosen. We received a grant for $1,000 and are using the money to help students understand how important it is to treat each other with respect and kindness.

We based it on a book about how to be a “bucket filler” and not a “bucket dipper.” We designed some banners for our walls at school and made T-shirts for our classes.

We are also attending a play at the Grand Theater in Wausau to learn about how Jackie Robinson overcame racial attitudes of people who didn’t always treat him with kindness and respect.

Bonduel Elementary School

To celebrate the 100th day of school in a meaningful way, the students at Bonduel Elementary School participated in the weeklong 100th Day Challenge, which set a goal for each grade level to collect 100 cans of food. Students in kindergarten through fifth grade showed their community spirit by bringing in a variety of donations the week of Feb. 6-10. The 4K students joined in as well, which made this service learning project a complete success!

BES reached its goal by collecting 667 donations and split them among the two local food pantries, St. Martin’s of Tours Parish in Cecil and St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Bonduel. Both food pantries were delighted to accept the donations and were impressed by the generosity of the Bonduel Elementary students and their families.

Twenty-nine students from Shawano and Bonduel high schools got a taste Wednesday of decisions made daily by business executives and managers.

The Junior Achievement Business Challenge, held at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College’s Shawano campus, allowed students to put to use what they had learned in business classes. As leaders of fantasy companies for a day, the 10 teams of two or three students each made decisions that could help or hurt their bottom lines in the computerized simulation.

Students on the winning team earned $500 scholarships through Junior Achievement; the runners-up received $250 scholarships. The top two teams advance to the state competition in May in Sheboygan.

Erin Timler won the regional spelling bee for the second year in a row Wednesday night at Bonduel High School.

For the second competition in a row, Timler, who is in eighth grade at Bonduel Middle School, faced a tough competitor, and this time, it wasn’t her younger sister.

Timler and Anna Etten, a sixth-grade student from Shawano Community Middle School in her first year of competition, squared off against each other for nearly 20 rounds of the 32-round bee before Timler achieved victory by spelling “woebegone” and “dermatology” correctly.

Timler spelled “woebegone” incorrectly at the Bonduel School District bee in January, but she said she’d been studying hard since then. Timler got that word after Etten misspelled “statuesque.”

The repeat win almost didn’t happen, though.

Bonduel Elementary School

Bonduel Elementary School

The Bonduel School District is working toward implementing a growth mindset approach in helping students learn.

According to Mindset Works Inc., “In a growth mindset, people believe their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work – brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. Virtually all people who have achieved top performance, had these qualities. Research shows people with this view reach higher levels of success than people with fixed mindset beliefs.”