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Category Archives: Elementary
Nepal Presentation
Pranu Pradhan was the guest speaker on Thursday, March 2nd for the cultural presentation at Hay Springs Elementary School. Pranu introduced the students to her husband, son, mom and aunt. Pranu is originally from Kathmandu, Nepal. Some interesting facts that Pranu shared: Nepal’s population is 30.5 million people and the country is similar in size to Arkansas. Popular Nepali foods are rice and curry. She shared examples of the Nepali alphabet, numbers, and common phrases. The Nepal Flag is triangular to represent Mt. Everest. She showed the students some Nepali currency. One Nepalese Rupee is equal to .0076 US dollar. It is the year 2079 in Nepal and the students were able to see a Nepali calendar. The cow is considered sacred in Nepal so they do not butcher or consume beef. Pranu and her family all dressed in traditional attire. She showed the students a sari cloth. A sari cloth is over 6 yards long and is wrapped around the body and then draped across one shoulder. After the presentation, the Kindergarten Class played rhythm sticks and drum on a stick to some Nepali music. The students also received the “I See the Sun in Nepal” book and butter cookies for a snack. Thank you Pranu for taking the time to come and share about the culture of Nepal. Thanks also to the Snow-Redfern Foundation for the project grant that makes these cultural presentations possible.
100th Day Celebrations
On the 100th day of school, 4th grade and 2nd grade engineered paper airplanes and were challenged to fly them 100 inches. Many of their planes were successful.
Girls On The Run Registration
Girls on the Run Registration is now open for girls in 3rd-5th grade. Follow the link below:
https://www.gotrnebraska.org/
Please contact Mrs. Heiting with questions.
Elementary Dress-up Days
In celebration of 100 days of school, the elementary is doing dress-up days this week! Here is the schedule:
FFA Chicken Presentation
FFA chapters across the country celebrate National FFA week, which is February 18-24 this year. This is an opportunity to bring awareness to the FFA program as well as agriculture in general. Hay Springs FFA Chapter vice president, Ava McKillip, was able to share some poultry education with the first grade class, who received a grant from the Nebraska Farm Bureau Foundation to study where our food comes from and where it is produced.
Ava brought 3 chickens, a Dark Brahma, Midnight Majesty, and an Ameraucana, from her 45 head flock for the children to learn about as well as view and pet. The children were able to see and learn the differences between the three breeds and the variations in the eggs they lay. There were samples of light brown, dark brown, cream, and blue/green eggs to view. It was discussed what the chickens eat during the warmer months as free range birds and Ava had samples of the feed and treats they eat during the winter months. One of the first graders was selected to offer the Dark Brahma some dried mealworms, aka “chicken candy”, but the chicken was feeling a bit shy and wouldn’t eat from his hand. To finish up the demonstration, Ava cracked open an egg to point out the yolk, white or albumen, and the air cell.
The children also learned some fun facts about chickens:
* Did you know that chickens have earlobes? By looking at the color of their earlobes, you can generally tell whether the chicken will lay white, brown, or blue/green eggs.
* It’s believed that chickens can see more colors and have better vision than humans. This helps them identify seeds and food on the ground.
* Have you heard of a T-rex dinosaur? Believe it or not, chickens are genetically more similar than alligators to the T-rex.
Ava will be part of a 4 member poultry team representing the Hay Springs FFA Chapter at the state level competition in Lincoln at the end of March.
Desk Drumming
Thank you to the community member who bought the 4th graders pool noodles. We have enjoyed desk drumming as a brain break this year.
Sweden
This week’s cultural presentation for the elementary was about Sweden. Some of the things the students learned about included:
- Children dressing up for Easter similar to Trick or Treating on Halloween.
- Lordagsgodis is the tradition of eating candy, ice cream, and cake ONLY on Saturdays.
- Different types of Swedish crafts including felting, dala horse, cookie stamps.
- Allmansratten which means everyone has access to nature and can camp nearly anywhere.
- Fika is a relaxing coffee break with Swedish pastries.
- Swedish money is called the Krona.
- Some inventions/businesses from Sweden are Minecraft, Skype, Spotify, Ikea, GPS, seat belt, and the zipper.
- According to Swedish Law, every worker has the right to 4 consecutive weeks of holiday between June and August.
- Christmas is celebrated on December 24th in Sweden with smorgasbords, St. Lucia Day, and a Yule Goat.
Mrs. Wellnitz read “The Tomten”, a book about a little gnome that is dedicated to helping out on the farm. After the book, the students watched a short video about the history of Sweden, a crayfish party, the Royal Palace, and the Speed Lottery. In Sweden, it is a tradition to watch a Donald Duck cartoon on Christmas Eve so the presentation ended with a short Donald Duck cartoon. The students received Swedish Apple Cookies for a snack when they returned to their classrooms.
After the presentation, the preschoolers enjoyed dancing to music by the Swedish group, Caramell.
Thank you to the Snow-Redfern Foundation for their generosity. It is through their project grant that makes this cultural program possible.
Ireland
Kathy Willnerd was the guest speaker yesterday for the Ireland cultural presentation at Hay Springs Elementary. Some key points that Kathy discussed were: Ireland’s flag, the national symbol (harp), the potato famine, stone fences, tin whistle, the Blarney Stone, and the Shamrock. Kathy’s husband Steve Willnerd’s great grandparents immigrated from Ireland to America after the potato famine. Kathy made soda bread for the students to try. She also read the book “How to Catch a Leprechaun” and encouraged the kids to go home and build a trap. After the presentation, Jeanie Snyder and Bev Wellnitz went to the 3rd grade classroom and helped the students write limericks. When they were finished writing, they read their limericks to their classmates. The students received the book “Maisie McGillicuddy’s Sheep Got Muddy” and banana bread muffins for a snack. Thank you to the Snow-Redfern Foundation for your generosity that makes these cultural programs possible. Thank you also to Kathy for taking the time to share with the kids about Ireland!
First Lego League Robotics
The Hay Springs robotics team competed on Saturday, January 28th in Gering at the First Lego League qualifier. The team had a great day of sharing what they learned with judges and running their robot program. The “Bionic Hawks” put in a good showing, but not quite good enough to advance on to the state competition.
Their project build idea was a robot to clear ice from power lines. They interviewed with Craig Housh from Northwest Rural Public Power District to learn more about the problems power lines face during winter weather and Craig Z. from University Nebraska Lincoln to learn about what approaches are being taken currently to keep power lines in working order. The last few moths have been spent studying how electricity is made and delivered to houses. When not busy with that they’ve been building and programing their robot to accomplish the tasks they were assigned.
The “Bionic Hawk” team members are Preston Kelly, Elly Reimann, Grant Wellnitz, Riggen Binger, Jacob Dorshorst, Jax Cuny, and Jayna Cuny.
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