Read Across America!

The first week of March was Read Across America week.  We spent time each day celebrating and recognizing Dr. Seuss and other great authors.  Our school was also wrapping up our One School One Book project of Mr. Popper's Penguins.  Here are some pictures from the week!

Mrs. Andreasen's class

Ms. Niles's class

Playing penguin games in 6th grade

Mr. Floth even dressed like Mr. Popper with his 6th graders

Mr. Yates's 6th grade class

5th grade students dressed as literary characters

First grade students

Mrs. Israelson's class

Mr. Popper and his "penguins"

Students writing to correlate with "Oh the Places You'll Go!"

Students brought pictures of their pets

Mrs. Parde's 3rd graders

Mrs. Yates's class

4th grade students

Breakout EDU...Can You Crack the Code?!

At one of our last staff in-service days, Mr. D (Dalrymple) along with the help of the ESU had the teachers participate in Breakout EDU.  It is a very similar concept to the latest craze of BREAK OUT rooms.  You can find some in Lincoln and Omaha.  The goal is simple: crack the code in an hour.  How?  You are given clues to solve the puzzle.  Our set up was 4 groups with a wooden box.  The box was locked with 4 different types of locks.  Through a series of clues, we had to unlock all the different locks and open the box to get the prize.  You get two clue cards, if you are really stuck to help you keep going.

The staff had a lot of fun and learned a lot about team work and using each other's strengths to crack the code.  One of the best parts about Breakout EDU is that you can design the challenge for the appropriate grade level or audience.

Teachers have jumped into the challenge of designing the locked boxes for their students.  Below are some pictures of Mrs. Archer's 5th grade class and how they worked together to try to "breakout" of the boxes.  Students had 1 hour.  All groups solved it within the allotted time.  One group with only 30 seconds to spare!