Hay Springs Public Schools

The elementary school is having a 100th day Valentine’s party this week on Thursday February 11th to celebrate the 100th day of school . They are having a breakfast in the morning with 1 sausage and 2 pancakes to make 100. Very clever! The students had to make a Valentine box with 100 things on it! They are doing a contest with the grades k-1, 2-3, and 4-5. Winners will be chosen from each grade.

Congratulations elementary students on making it to the 100th day! Have fun.
We will post photos of the boxes and tell who the winners were at a later date.

Dictionaries for Third Graders

Posted by Michaela M. on Tuesday December 08, @ 2:54 PM.

Mr. Pummel and the third graders displaying their brand new dictionaries for everyone to see.

On Friday, December 4, 2009, the third graders of Hay Springs Elementary received dictionaries from the Chadron Rotary Club. The Rotary Club, also known as the Lion’s Club is a civic organization that has a program that provides dictionaries to all third graders. This program was made because they believe that everyone should have at least one dictionary in their home. The group that was kind enough to donate them to Hay Springs students was from Chadron.

Can Fun & Educational Be In The Same Story?!?

Posted by Michaela M. on Tuesday October 20, @ 3:23 PM.

Since I do not know a lot about school or daily life for the students that attend Mirage Flats school, I figure that many others may not either. For this reason, I compiled a survey for all of the students to fill out. I will first tell the results of the educational part, then for the fun!

Mirage Flats school is located about 10 miles south of the wonderful town of Hay Springs. The school contains twenty-two students, kindergarten through eighth grade. Most all of the students that attend live out in the country on the Flats. I received back 20 of the 22 surveys that were handed out, which is much better than I was expecting!

The first question on the survey was about the time that they wake up in the morning. I thought that a pie chart to show this information would be a spiffy idea! So…I composed one, and here it is:

(Well, I really did make one, but it will not work to put it from Microsoft Word onto the text menu to post on the website, so sadly, you don't get to see the pie chart. But I will tell you that a majority of the students wake up at 7:00 a.m., the next most popular time to wake up is 6:45 a.m.)

The next question on the survey was what grade they were in. From this question, I learned that there are 3 first graders, 2 second graders, 3 third graders, 1 fourth grader, 5 fifth graders, 1 sixth grader, 4 seventh graders, 1 eighth grader, and 2 other students that did not get a survey returned.
The following question was about their favorite subject. The four most popular subjects were the following: science, reading, art, and math.

The subsequent question was about which movie they prefer, High School Musical or Transformers. The most popular one was Transformers, with 10. High School Musical followed closely, with 7, and 2 did not have an opinion about it.

The next question asked if California was a noun or a verb. Three of the people had the wrong answer, while the other 18 had a correct answer. What is the correct answer you all wonder… California is a noun. In the dictionary the definition of a noun is “a word that is the name of something (as a person, animal, plant, place, thing, substance, quality, idea , action, or state.)” In English, that means a person, place, or thing is a noun. The definition of a verb in the dictionary is “a word that characteristically is the grammatical center of a predicate and expresses an act, occurrence, or mode of being.” In English, that means a word that is an action. Now, you all can go home and tell your parents what you learned today!

The following question on the survey was to name three ways that this year is different than last. A few random responses that were written included; new teachers, different classrooms, my sibling is in high school now, we have less students, new things to learn, and harder work.

Well, now I’m getting pretty tired of the educational part, so let’s talk about the fun part of my story! To start this out, I asked the students which cartoon character they would be if they could choose to be any one. The most popular one that was chosen was Bugs Bunny. Most students say that they chose this, because they think that he is funny, and he likes carrots. All of the students chose creative cartoon characters, but the one that I liked the most was Kate R.’s answer. She put “Wonder Woman, because she’s awesome!”

The next question was which of the following they prefer; enchiladas, clocks, or panthers. I learned that most of the students prefer enchiladas and panthers equally, they each had 9 votes. Unfortunately, only 2 people chose clocks as their favorite.

Then the question after that on the survey was about their favorite activity to do at recess. Some of the following activities were written; tag, football, pretending things, soccer, sliding, Annie-over, and volley-foot.
The answers on the last question really disappointed me. The question was “name the Brady bunch kids.” Not a single person knew who they were. I mean, come on, who doesn’t know that? Just kidding, I couldn’t answer that either, so don’t feel bad! Mrs. Flick says “The Brady Bunch kids are Marsha, Greg, Bobby, Cindy, Jan, and Peter Brady.”

Thank you to all who filled out this survey for me. Also, a big thanks to Mrs. Letcher for getting them there and back for me. I had an enjoyable time reading your responses, and writing the story!

A "Fresh" Idea

Posted by Callie A. B. on Thursday October 15, @ 3:05 PM.

Jace, Daniel, and Terrance check out what Mrs. H. has to offer.

Trying out new snacks is a popular activity.

Lining up for some goodies!

The school’s cafeteria got a grant from the government to promote students to eat better in the cafeteria. To do this, the kitchen is providing fresh fruits and veggies every morning for the rest of the school year. This program for grades K-5 will try new recipes that will encourage students to eat healthier. The recipes will not include salt, sugar or anything with caffeine. The program offers raw, but really fresh and healthy treats.

This nutritious breakfast won’t take the whole first hour, but just 5-10 minutes every morning. They’ll also talk about where the vegetables and fruits come from and how the nutrients inside them will help keep their bodies healthy. Many of these interesting plates will be sample sized. The simplest recipes for big classes must be a great snack to have every day.

Hopefully, the students will enjoy these tasty experiences and get every student to eat healthier every day.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Posted by Zoe S. on Wednesday October 07, @ 3:26 PM.

The fourth grades class love this book!!!!!!!

Kelsay and Trent are really into reading about the hungry caterpillar.

A class full of little caterpillars!

On average a teacher will spend $512 a year out of their own pockets for their classroom supplies. The Teachers Rewards Program has been developed in response to this growing need of US elementary school teachers to help supply their class rooms. The foundation has provided over $4 million to help Wal-Mart and Sam’s Clubs support local teachers. The program will help 40,000 teachers pay for school supplies.

The Teachers Rewards Program is one of many ways that Wal-Mart supports education. Last year the Wal-Mart Foundation gave more than $66 million to educational programs where they live and operate. Wal-Mart has partnered with Jumpstart’s Read for the Record, a national campaign to break the record for the largest shared reading in history. The employees at our neighborhood Wal-Mart were asked to nominate a local school to receive the money. Hay Springs was the chosen school. Each elementary teacher at our school has received a $100 Wal-Mart gift card to use on school supplies. They received them on September 29th. The manager of Chardon’s Wal-Mart, Adam Gardner, and some employees brought the teachers cake and then handed out the gift cards.

Join Hay Springs Elementary School and ONE MILLION other children across the nation on October 8, 2009. We’ll be reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar for a record breaking celebration of reading. Limited editions of the book are being sold, the proceeds will go the Jumpstart program.

Congratulations Hay Springs Elementary School teachers on receiving these gift cards and being recognized for your hard work towards your students educations.

I Love Randomness!

Posted by Michaela M. on Tuesday September 22, @ 3:05 PM.

The wonderful Mrs. Anderson!

The wonderful Miss Garrett!

The wonderful Mrs. Olson!

The journalism class decided that since we have not done very much so far for the elementary on the website that we should do something. They gave me the task of doing this, so I decided to hand out an interview sheet that I made up for some random people in the elementary. Unfortunately I did not get any of the students, BUT that is fine! I got three of my interviews completed by teachers.

I asked Mrs. Olson, Mrs. Anderson and Ms. Garrett how their school year has been going so far? Mrs. Olson told me that her “year is going great. My students are learning many new things each day.” Mrs. Anderson said that it has been “A little crazy and hectic, but overall good.” Mrs. Garrrett said “Fast.”

The next question was “Do you like school? Why or why not?” All of the teachers stated that they do enjoy school and Mrs. Anderson said, “Yes! I have great colleagues and students that I spend each day with.”
Then I asked, “What do you remember most about your first day of kindergarten?” Mrs. Olson responded “I didn’t get to go to kindergarten because my school didn’t have a kindergarten class. I was five when I started first grade.” Mrs. Anderson’s made me laugh. She wrote, “This wasn’t the first day, but I remember my teacher dressing up all crazy and hairy for the letter “H.”” Can you imagine Mrs. Olson doing something that crazy? Ms. Garret said that she could not remember anything about her first day of kindergarten…Come on Ms. Garrett, can’t you at least think of one thing???

After that, I asked them what color they would paint their room, and why. Mrs. Olson would paint hers blue, just because she likes the color blue. Mrs. Anderson says she would pick either blue or purple. They are her favorite colors, and she thinks that blue is a relaxing color. Ms. Garrett would pick off-white, because it matches anything.

Next I asked if they prefer eggs, soup, or penguins. Each one chose something different. Mrs. Olson chose soup, Mrs. Anderson chose penguins because they look so cuddly, and Mrs. Garrett prefers eggs.

The final thing on the interview sheet was “Write down something completely random, or out of the blue about yourself.“ Mrs. Olson’s was “I love birds.” Mrs. Anderson said, “When I was 4, I put a red and an orange skittle up my nose because I thought that it would stop my runny nose…It didn’t work in case you wondered!” Ms. Garrett said that she would like to have a pickup.

For sure, we learned a lot of interesting, fun, totally random facts about some of the teachers in the elementary of Hay Springs School! I would like to thank you ladies for taking time out of your busy day to do this paper for me.

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