Earth Day Clean Up

Each year, the 3rd and 4th graders volunteer to clean up their school yard for EARTH DAY.  They were asked to bring rakes, brooms, dust pans, and gloves from home and Mr. Neumann supplied us with the large black bags to fill. The weather was perfect for the classes to work outdoors. They all worked very hard and the result made them all very proud. There was a large pile of full black bags that were picked up by Mrs. Kulus which she will use for her compost pile. Thank you 3rd and 4th graders for making our school beautiful. Happy Earth Day!!

 

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Robotics, A Great Experience

“A Great Experience” by Maddie Hansen

If you don’t know what building a robot is like (and chances are you don’t) then here’s a chance to find out. Constructing a robot is much more difficult than it appears. Most people don’t think about how you have to put together hundreds of tiny pieces correctly to get a nice finished product; they think about the robot, not the people who spent hours of hard work on it. Well, this year our sixth-grade HAL class discovered what it felt like from the other point of view: We built the robots.
The most frustrating part of constructing a robot was paying close attention to tiny details in instructions. One tiny screw may not seem very important, but if you put it in the wrong place you will be forced to spend tons of time backtracking.
Screwing in a bolt without someone to help you hold the robot is hard, and there’s many things you can’t do without a partner. That’s why teamwork and communication are vital.
While working, you also have to find a balance between being too reckless and overly cautious, because if you work too quickly, you mess up, and if you work too slowly, you would never get your robot done in time to present.
Building robots is a time to work on robotics skills (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics), and most importantly, to have fun. Everyone had a great experience doing this and really enjoyed the end results. We loved presenting to the rest of the school, it was a great time to “show off” what we learned.
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Click the following link to see a short demonstration. Elementary HAL Robotics Movie

High School Auction

On Wednesday May 20th, there will be an auction at Fort Calhoun High School.  Any items that are not being moved to the new addition are available to be purchased.  The auction will start at 10:00 am.  To view items for auction, click here.

Family Fishing Event Cancelled

Greetings from the elementary.  Unfortunately, due to the weather, the Nebraska Game and Parks will be cancelling the Family Fishing event at Summit Lake tonight.  The hopes of a dry and sunny evening didn’t happen.  Thank you all for your support and your continual involvement in your child’s education.  Have a great night.  Stay positive!

DJ’s Hero Award

The Salvation Army held the DJ’s Hero Awards Luncheon Tuesday May 5th. The award is given to deserving young people who have overcome adversity to excel academically and in life.  The keynote speaker was Liz Murray who tells her life story in which she went from being homeless in high school to studying at Harvard. Congratulations to Samantha Maria Garcia, one of the recipients this year.  Sam was be awarded a $10,000 scholarships funded by David and Peggy Sokol.  An excerpt from her application essay reads, “Now, I am beginning to understand that no matter what you go through you can get through it and move on with your life.  Winning this award will enable me to pursue my dream to help others overcome their own obstacles.”

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2015 Pinnacle Bank Outstanding High School Leaders Award.

Congratulations to Fort Calhoun’s outstanding high school leaders recognized by Pinnacle Bank and Midland University. Fifty-one students from 14 area schools were honored at the luncheon held at Midland University on May 1st. Students selected from Fort Calhoun were Riley Grosse-Rhode, Kayla Holder, Tessa Stevens.

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5th Grade Field Trip

The fifth grade students ventured out of the school building on Thursday, April 16.  They journeyed to the Outdoor Discovery Program at Platte River State Park. This is an outdoor recreation and science oriented day put on by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission for fifth graders throughout the state. The students were able see and touch wildlife native to Nebraska. Some even had the opportunity to kiss a real live snake!   Students were able to shoot a bow and arrow and had a chance to shatter flying clay targets with a 20 gauge shotgun.  Some got aboard a boat just like that used by Lewis and Clark, and others got a close-up look at various kinds of fish.  We hope this was a fun and educational day for the students.

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1st Grade Field Trip

On April 9th, our first graders visited the Children’s Museum.  They had a blast doing all sorts of activities!  There was a fun ball area, various arts and crafts, mazes, science shows, and animal slides!  The upstairs exhibited farm equipment and the students were able to go inside a big combine!  Due to bad weather, we had to find a new place to eat lunch.  We were lucky enough to be able to go to the Police Station in downtown Omaha.  We ate in the big conference room, took a tour of the station and then were able to meet the Chief of Police, Todd Schmaderer.  It was a wonderful day!

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2nd Grade Field Trip

Fort Calhoun 2nd graders had a fun-filled, very educational field trip on Tuesday, April 28th!  They went to Schramm Park and participated in the Project Wild program.  Mrs. Benoit’s science class has been raising trout from eggs and were able to take them to the park and release them into the wild!!!  We also enjoyed a beautiful day fishing by the lake and one of our student’s even caught the largest fish of the day, a 12in bass!  We enjoyed the aquarium scavenger hunt, a nature walk, fishing, and releasing our trout!  It was definitely a memorable field trip for all!

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