Floodwood School District

Spotlight Teacher and Students - Mrs. Holmes, Deacon Laine and Lillian Manner

Save the Date! We are gearing up for the school-wide celebration in honor of our MN School of Excellence validation on Monday, February 4th, 1:30-2:30. There will be guest speakers, food, performances by staff & students, music, & more! All are welcome!

Physics is Fun! Today in kindergarten, students explored inclined planes with angles of varying degrees and the impact they have on the speed of an object in motion. Rather than demonstrate these principles, adults in class posed questions, provided materials, and observed students in motion--discussing, predicting, testing, problem-solving, and redesigning. We began our day with a hunt around the room for inclined planes. We expanded our understanding midday with a discussion in the hall about inclined planes we have at school. At snack time, students used crackers, frosting, and milk cartons to design inclined planes. We tested the stability and effectiveness of our designs by rolling cereal spheres down the ramps and observing the results. Afterward, we used a variety of play materials to set our smaller, edible designs in motion. We spent the remainder of the day polishing our work. We have not formalized our discoveries and plan to revisit this important project right away in the morning. We are, as are our ramps structure, a work in progress. Check back soon to find out how this work advances our knowledge of fun physics!

A Snapshot of our Week in Kindergarten: Students poured their hearts and minds into writing, building, and applying academic vocabulary this week in a variety of student-driven, authentic contexts. Here's a peek into what they explored... Kindergarteners took to writing independently and with their peers upon arrival time each day this week. They gathered their supplies, scattered around the room, and wrote sight words, names, descriptive sentences, labels for classroom objects, and recipes! All of these activities were entirely student-driven. They brainstormed, planned, problem-solved, collaborated, and congratulated each other's accomplishments stretching out sounds, recalling sight words, and forming complete, well-written compositions! Students composed blueprints and followed these designs to build incline planes/ramps. They tested their structures, revisited plans, and tested the overall stability and effectiveness with a variety of materials. This week, we will delve deeper into the physics behind forces (push/pull) as well as the impact the grade (the amount of steepness) has on the speed of an object traveling down an incline plane. Our STEM studies will be pretty exciting! This week, the students and I composed a recipe for melted (decomposing) snowmen that was comprised of several sight words the boys and girls had to recall. This was rigorous work that demanded an accurate recall of common words as well as proper penmanship within a small space. I took note of handwriting skills, fine motor control, decoding skills, and sight word recall. Our hands were tired after this two-day activity! On Friday, kindergarteners had to read their recipes for melted (decomposing) snowmen and follow the steps to make their snack for the day. They did a marvelous job and even attempted to compose (put together) their snowmen once more. This proved difficult, but many of them persevered! What an amazing week of learning in kindergarten! Our authentic, engaging activities emphasized writing, reading, social skills, engineering, science, and application of very complex terminology related to STEM. Who's ready for another fun-filled week? I AM!

Thank you 8th graders for working at the campground taking down the lights today. You got a lot done and we're proud of all that you accomplished!

Thank you to Tina Nelson from the Suicide Prevention Coalition for presenting to all high school students about the National Suicide Hotline, how to get help when needed and how to make a call. All students received a bracelet with the text number and hotline number. Remember, please seek help whenever you need - your school, family and friends care about you!

We will have a school-wide celebration in honor of our MN School of Excellence validation on Monday, February 4th, 1:30-2:30. There will be guest speakers, food, performances by staff & students, music, etc.! More information to follow. We have a lot to celebrate!

K-8 Winter FAST Assessments start next week! Be sure to get a good night's sleep beforehand, have a good breakfast, and be in school! See testing schedule in Student Documents or go directly to: https://5il.co/64xo

“We’ve got spirit, yes WE do!”

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Snowmobile Safety Course through Savanna Drifters

Tonight the boys play Wrenshall at home. The junior high will play early at 5:00. JV will play at 5:45 and Varsity at 7:15. Good luck Polar Bears!

Please plan to come to the January 10 basketball game and purchase tickets for the last three baskets for the Laurentian fundraiser. Tickets are $1 each or 6 for $5. You can buy tickets starting at 5:30 and the drawing will be held during half time of the varsity game. The baskets include a s’more and fire pit themed basket, a basketball themed basket, and a soup and ladle themed basket. Thanks for supporting our fundraiser!

Update on girls basketball game tomorrow night at Wrenshall - Junior Varsity will play at 5PM and Varsity will play at 6:30PM. Good luck Lady Bears!

Monday, January 7th--School is cancelled. A decision on the basketball game scheduled for tonight will be made later this morning. Staff should report two hours late. The School Board meeting will be at 6:00 p.m. tonight.

LATE START—There will be a two hour late start this morning. The bus will pick up students two hours later than usual. There will be no preschool today, Monday, January 7th.

Work in Progress! Our kindergarten classroom will be experiencing a transformation in the near future. We were just awarded a STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) grant and plan to use most of the funds to complete our design of a fully-functional, student-centered classroom kitchen. We also plan to use some of the money awarded to create STEM "To Go" buckets for take-home, hands-on projects. Check back often to see our progress. Better yet, come visit us, roll up your sleeves, and experience authentic, hands-on, engaging work!

Creative, Kind Thinkers: Kindergarten students took part in a cooperative celebration after our long winter break: An indoor "snowball" celebration! As a group, students decided to use materials already available in the classroom for their snowballs: Scrap paper! Furthermore, they worked together to create a set of expectations for safe play: 1. Only throw the snowball at friends' feet. 2. Ask permission first. 3. Clean up our mess. Students took ownership of the entire process and were not only creative in their planning, but kind in their attention toward expectations and treatment of others.

Emergent Readers, Engaged Engineers--A Typical Day in K: Kindergarten students worked together as a team of builders to construct a sight word castle on Friday! Peers assisted each another while reading sight word labels on the clear cups and then positioned these cups to make the walls of the castle. Students worked extensively on their construction over the course of the morning. Not only did they gain practice with our 100 sight words, but they analyzed and tested a variety of sturdy constructions.

The Student Council representatives enjoyed a rare beautiful day taking down lights at the campground. They are a dedicated group of students and proud they can step up (and into snow) to get the job done!