Thank you to Mrs. Poapst and her crew, who just finished up the Camp McE basketball program. The 17th annual camp had 117 campers and 19 coaches, along with help behind the scenes from Mrs. Ternes (registration) and Mrs. Norman (official photographer.)
The success of our program has been the dedication of our volunteer coaches who are in grades 6 to 12. Our camp started 17 years ago, one year after the start of Camp Teckla. Three years ago, we changed the name from Stettler Mini Basketball to Camp McE in honour of Rod McElroy, who helped create and start Camp Teckla. Rod loved basketball and teaching kids, so his love of sport continues at Stettler Elementary.
Mrs. Poapst finds it very rewarding as the facilitator to watch the students improve their basketball skills and to watch the coaches improve their confidence, explanations and patience.
This year’s coaches included Brooke Torgerson, Megan Kobi, Syd Poapst, Mikayla Torgerson, Chloe Wilson, Maria Miller, Kirk Kromm, Schubert Hernando, Jamie Ternes, Kait Poapst, Justin Fleischhacker, Kyle Poapst, Tori Brower, Keyonna Derr, Jeff Ternes, Jessica Lane, Taylor Kobi, Morgan Bengert, and Willow Sorensen.
Many of them are former mini basketball participants, and we are happy to have them back at SES, giving their time to help others. THANK YOU to the parents who thanked our volunteers and had our SES students thank and high five our coaches. The smiles and thank yous are what fuels our many volunteers. This volunteer spirit is what will keep our school and community programs thriving in Stettler.
Book Club Bingo is now finished. Every classroom was able to make a bingo and receive a prize, and two classrooms, 5CF and 4MP, managed to get a blackout. Congratulations! Those two classes will receive a grand prize in the near future. Book Club has two more events planned before the end of the year. On May 13, they will hold their second Battle of the Books, and on May 20, they will wrap up the year with a small party.
Ms. Wendy Staal came in to 5CF to teach the delicate art of pysanky. Students were able to watch a demonstration and then create their own egg. Thank you to Ms. Staal for sharing her incredible talent with us.
Grade 5 students are enjoying the novel study “Underground to Canada”. Classes have also been learning about the underground railway in their social studies classes, and 5TA and 5CF created drawings of quilt patterns that could have been used to help slaves escape.
Grades 5TA and 5SO have been writing reports about important people in Canadian history. The students wrote the reports in the “first-person” (using “I” as if they were the person), and they are just finishing presenting their reports to their classmates. Mrs. Lynn helped the students dress in period-style costumes to do their presentations, which enhanced the knowledge and understanding the students have of the characters and the time in history that they lived. The students have learned many interesting stories about perseverance and hardships during the early years of exploration and settlement of our country, and they are looking forward to presenting facts about their characters to their parents at this week’s Wax Museum event.
Mrs. Sylvester’s Grade 1 class has spent the last few weeks doing a Smart Reading Sequence with the book “Knuffle Bunny” by Mo Willems. Once they finished, the students had many questions for the author, so they decided to write Mr. Willems a letter. They also sent him a picture of the art they created inspired by his illustrations. One of the students was very excited when her dad asked, “Who’s your favorite author?” She quickly responded, “Mo Willems”. Thanks, Mo, for making reading enjoyable, for not just the students, but the teacher also.
1TJ is learning about the needs of plants. They planted zinnia seeds this past week, and the students were very excited to see that they have already sprouted. The class is also learning about “our past” in social. They have been learning where their ancestors came from, and have been sharing their cultural heritage (clothes, arts and crafts, and language) by bringing in items from home.
Grade 2 students are learning about Buoyancy and Boats in Science. The students are now putting what they have learned to the test by making their own boats. Mrs. Geddes’ Grade 2 class took advantage of the nice weather on Wednesday and ventured outside to learn math and spelling through games and the use of rocks and chalk. They also synergized as a class and picked up garbage to help the environment.
Thank you to Mrs. Enyedy’s TA class who came down and swept the gravel off the large tarmac on the K-1 playground. It helps keep our young students safe during their recess playtime, and we appreciate the help.
Just a reminder for anyone collecting pull-tabs for SES—Please send your tabs in to the school this week as we need to get them in to Ronald McDonald House by the middle of May. Thank you to everyone for helping us help others.
STETTLER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL NEWS