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Congratulations to our 2014 State Track Qualifiers. Grace Whitlaw qualified for high jump. Alex Tietz qualified for the 1600M run and the 3200M run and Adam Robinson qualified for the 3200M run. Wish them luck at State on May 23 and 24th.

The 3rd and 4th graders from Ft. Calhoun Elementary decided to clean up the school yard and playground. We had discussions on giving back to our school and community by volunteering. Students brought gloves, rakes, gardening tools and brooms to get the task done. Everyone enjoyed the teamwork and results when the job was complete. Mr. Dave Neumann was very appreciative of all the hard work!

Here are some GREAT photos to complete Fort Calhoun elementary School’s  PFE One School One Book Reading campaign for 2014!

Photo #1:  shows the overall LUCKY REAL “Humphrey the
HAMSTER WINNERS!!! (these students read the entire Humphrey book with their families, and turned in each weekly certificate, signed by their parents.  Their names were drawn randomly from Humphrey’s cage where the students turned them in every week!)

back row: Mason Touring-3rd grade, Jessy Winterberg- 5th grade, and Ashleigh Walls-1st grade.  *Not pictured: Austin Welchert- 3rd grade, and Kate Hoefker-6th grade.

Photo #2 shows: Kindergartener Matthew Tweedy with his new hamster and all the “goodies” that came with it!!!

*Not pictured: Jacob Ishii- Pre-K,

Photo #4 These students also read all the chapters in the book, The World According to Humphrey, turned in all 4 signed completion tickets, and whose names were drawn.  These students won great “hamster themed” prizes from Zhu Zhu Hamsters, Rap singing and dancing hamster, hamster puzzles, and even hamster slippers!

Left to right winners:Vinny Bonacci- 3rd grade, Dylan Mitchell- 3rd grade, Ali Bell- 1st grade, Seth Waters-Kindergarten
— *Not pictured: Reilly Rauterkus-1st grade, Abigail Ryan-5th grade, Maria Bochnicek-Pre-K.

In case of inclement weather, field day will be moved to Friday, May 16th.

Kindergarteners noticed 2 birds outside our window at centers. After observing it, we found it was building a nest! To our surprise, it laid 2 speckled eggs right before our eyes! We have been making observations and researching about our Killdeer bird family. We have been writing journals on our reach and observations, making countdowns for when the eggs should hatch, and discovering facts about Killdeer birds through questions and researching!   We have counted and marked our calendar on possible days the eggs will hatch! Our calculations show that they should hatch the last week of school!! We can’t wait to see them!

POPP (Pioneers Overcoming Peer Pressure) organized a lock-in on April 17^th – 18^th. Students enjoyed staying up all night and participating in many fun activities. They had the opportunity to play video games, watch movies, and participate in sport tournaments. Mikayla Schmitt said that she enjoyed the lock in because a lot of students came and there was a lot of stuff to do all night. Her favorite part was watching the volleyball games and seeing everyone’s crazy outfits. Anna Gepson commented that it was really, really fun because there was so much to do that you never got bored. Her favorite activity was the dodge ball tournament. Thank you to the many volunteers who made this a great night.

We kicked off testing on Tuesday, April 22nd.  The students and staff are excited to “Reach for the STARS!”  This is the time of year we celebrate our learning with our state testing.  Our 3^rd-6^th grade students are involved in taking the Nebraska State Assessments (NeSA) during April 23^rd– May 2^nd.  This is our time to shine and reach for the stars!  Please be sure your student receives an adequate amount of sleep and a well-balanced breakfast.  We feel our students are ready to achieve.  GO PIONEERS!