December2013

Tiger Talk

By: Emily Brodd

North Bend Students Are a Part of Nebraska Sports History

Do you remember having a field trip this cool during school?

Late in October, the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th graders from North Bend were told that because of their outstanding scores on their NeSa tests, they would be going on a field trip to the pep rally and opening Cornhusker women’s basketball game at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln on Friday, November 8th. This would be the first game ever played in the new arena. All of the students wearing their Husker gear, squeezed on six school buses and headed to Lincoln. Yay! As the North Bend students arrived in the arena, many This is the souvenir ticket each person attending other students from different schools were also entering. The the first UNL games at Pinnacle Arena wore on a lanyard. arena was huge, sparkly, and a great place for Husker events.

Jordan Burroughs, basketball Wow! Cool! and Awesome! were coach, Tim Miles, baseball coach, comments from everyone who Darin Erstad, and others. The was impressed by the arena. Next, students learned about how to treat everyone made their way to their others to prevent bullying and that seats for the pep rally. The students you can’t achieve anything without heard from a few Husker Athletes effort. After watching the video on and coaches such as: wrestler, the big screen of Nebraska football

December 2013

players being interviewed and being amazed by slam dunk artists called AcroDunk, it was time for lunch. Valentino’s Pizza!

Yummy!!!

At 12:00 (noon) the women’s basketball game started: Nebraska vs. UCLA. The game was entertaining for the students and many enjoyed the half-time performances such as AcroDunk, and the cheer and dance teams from UNL. Unfortunately, the students had to pack up and leave the game in order to get back to school on time. When they were walking out the door, the score was Nebraska 53, UCLA 31, but they later found out that Nebraska won the game 77 to 49! Way to go Huskers!

Congratulations to the students for giving your best effort towards the NeSa tests!

Everyone had a great time at the Pinnacle Bank Arena and hope to do something just as fun next year.

A big thank you to our faculty, staff, and parents for letting the North Bend students attend such a cool field trip.

Fourth Grade Friend

By: Jordan Ondracek

Big wheels are rollin’ as Mrs. Grueber’s fourth grade trucker buddy, Wayne rolls into North Bend.

Wayne is a guy who has been writing to Mrs. Grueber for six years. He is not home for 300 days a year. Can you believe it? He works for Schneider and has been driving a truck for 25 years. Wayne lives in Texas. He might not be home for Christmas, so wish him a Merry Christmas!

Mrs. Grueber’s fourth grade class poses with their trucker buddy, Wayne, during his visit this fall.

Student Teachers Join Us at NBE By: Aleya Bourek There are now two student teachers in the elementary school, Ms. Spath and Ms. Fowler.

Ms. Fowler is with Mrs. Wacker. “Since elementary school, I knew that I wanted to be a teacher,” Ms. Fowler admitted.

“I’ve always liked working with people and I thought that working with students is a good way to do that.”

Ms. Fowler went to Wayne State for college. What she likes the most about teaching is helping the students figure things out and seeing the expression on their face when it just clicks. She thinks the hardest part about teaching is giving too many chances before discipline. Ms. Fowler likes that at the elementary school there is always something going on. You never know what to expect and you need to be flexible.

Ms. Spath is with Mrs. Grueber’s class. She went to college at Midland University.

“I decided that I wanted to be a teacher when I was in high school,” Ms. Spath told me. “I wanted to be a teacher because I like watching students grow and learn.”

Ms. Spath announced to me that she likes getting to know and spend time with students. The hardest thing about teaching to her is fitting in everything that needs to be taught.

Ms. Spath first student taught in kindergarten and now she is student teaching in fourth grade. What she liked the best about kindergarten is that everything is new to them and that they are excited to be at school.

“I like that fourth graders are more independent and how interested they are in what we are studying,” added Ms. Spath.

Future Problem Solvers The sixth grade Future Problem Solvers are studying the topic “Desertification.” They are identifying challenges in a future scene set in Africa. Each team also identified the main issue (underlying problem). They are coming up with creative, futuristic solutions to solve the issues related to desert encroachment. They are working on research, writing, and teamwork skills. Their next topic will be “Surveillance Society.”

Class News

Pre-School The North Bend Preschoolers have had a visitor in their classroom this month. Jingle the elf has been doing silly things in our room like fishing in our fish tank, a snowball fight with marshmallows with a teddy bear, and zip lining across our room. We also have had fun learning several new letters the last several weeks.

Kindergarten The kindergarten classes have spent the month of November learning about the first Thanksgiving, and how the Pilgrims and the Indians became friends. During the month of December we have been learning about the importance of giving.

Mrs. Dorcey’s class also won the toilet paper contest, which was a great introduction to our unit on giving rather then receiving.

First Grade In November the first-graders conducted their annual community service project of collecting food items to create Thanksgiving baskets for families in need. Because of the generosity of the children and parents we were able to deliver 11 baskets to the various churches. In math, the first graders have been counting money, counting by tens, adding ten or one to any number, and drawing representations of 2-digit numbers.

We have also been busy doing a lot of holiday artwork and making our parents’ Christmas gifts.

Second Grade 2nd Graders have worked hard to learn how to add two-place numbers where you have to make new groups.

We have learned different methods to add. We might solve the problem differently, but we are all getting the same answer.

We learned what it was like making hats the “factory” way. We

even traded with each other to show what countries do when they have too much of something and not enough of something else.

Ms. Bang’s class made ornaments and Mrs. Yount’s class made bark covered popcorn. Then we exchanged the “goods”. We are now learning about our earth and the different kinds of land and water we have.

Thanks to the contributions of many fourth grade students, our random act of kindness, decorating the pioneer cemetery for the holidays, was a great success.

Keep up the great work 4th graders!! Everyone is working hard to do some final practicing for the NE Writing Assessment that we will write in January.

Third Grade The third grade students made gingerbread houses with the help of several parent volunteers. In math we have been solving story problems with missing information, extra information, hidden information, and multiple steps. We are continuing to learn new cursive letters.

Mrs. Mehaffey’s class has been working on holiday letters to other classrooms from around the United States and Canada.

Fifth Grade In 5th grade Math we are working on a fraction unit. We are adding and subtracting fractions and converting fractions from improper to a mixed number and vice versa. We also are learning to simplify fractions.

In fifth grade science the students have been working on heredity and how chance plays a role in the genes we inherit. The students enjoyed creating a creature and then the offspring based on the traits inherited from its parents.

Fifth and sixth grade finished persuasive writings and now we are working on fictional stories, character and plot development.

Fourth Grade We’ve been very busy! Recently, in math we’ve been learning the “box method” to use in multiple digit multiplication. This method is super cool, if you haven’t seen it you should ask a 4th grader about it! We’ve also learned about acute, obtuse, and right angles and triangles and how to find the area and perimeter of different shapes and figures! Math classes were happy to share our math understanding with teachers from East Butler Elementary. We wowed them with our math expertise.

It may be freezing outside, but the potatoes that the fourth graders planted are coming up and look great. Wonder if we will have potatoes by March?

We are amazed by the NE grain crops that sprouted and are growing in our “handy gardens”.

In social studies we’re learning about the three branches of government, and the different regions of the United States. Students have also had fun learning how to locate places using latitude and longitude!

Sixth Grade Besides writing, the sixth graders are working hard on an algebra unit in Math. We are writing and evaluating algebraic expressions. Using the Order of Operations has been a major focus.

Sixth graders have been studying astrology. They figured and plotted the scaled distance each planet was from the sun and then created a scaled version of each planet using the diameter. The students have learned about each planet, comets, and meteors. They will continue their study of the universe by learning about stars and their properties, and how stars develop.

NBE Students Honor Our Veterans By: Jade Barnes Veteran’s Day began in 1938, it’s purpose being to honor those who served in the military.

Of the approximately 23.2 million veterans in the United States, 144,147 live in Nebraska.

About 4.8% of U.S. veterans are women and 11,311 of those women live in Nebraska.

Veteran’s Day was originally called Armistice Day. In 1959, Congress changed it to Veteran’s Day. Many veterans come from ordinary families like mine. Every veteran should be honored 24/7, but especially on Veteran’s Day. At our school, we each get to write a letter to make a vet’s day. If you are lucky, they’ll write back. I hope you have some Happy Holidays!

Gracie Comstock, Gracie Westwood, Avery Harrington, Chenoa Ostermeier, Danial Mullally and Alaina Halladay join the other K-1 students singing “It’s A Grand Ole Flag.”

Mrs. Kingston Says Good-bye

Mrs. Kingston works with Corbin Anderson and Tommy Mauro as they prepare for their meal with their families. This is Mrs. Kingston’s last month with NBE students as she and her husband get ready to move to Indiana.

In her two and a half years at North Bend Central Public Schools Mrs. Kingston has done everything from helping library students, to coaching high school volleyball and her biggest task--helping Ms. Root open the Tiger Cub PreSchool at NBE. Mrs. Kingston will be moving with her husband, Todd, to West Lafayette, Indiana.

Mrs. Kingston said her favorite part of working at NBE was getting to work with preschoolers everyday because they would always make her laugh and smile!

Thanksgiving--An International Holiday By: Grace Hunke We all know how our Thanksgiving began in America. We have learned how the pilgrims came from England to a different place because they didn’t like their king nor his rules. The pilgrims sailed on a ship called the Mayflower. We’ve heard the stories about when the pilgrims landed, the natives helped them through the cold and harsh winter. Then the first Thanksgiving occurred. But what about our neighbors to the north? Do you know how the Thanksgiving in Canada came to be?

The very first Thanksgiving in Canada happened in 1578. Martin Frobisher, from England, was looking for the Northwest passage, but did not find it. There was a short sermon of thanksgiving before he returned to England with tons of what he called gold...which it was not and was useless.

Starting in 1799, Thanksgiving days in Canada were celebrated, but not every year. After the American Revolution, the people that still liked King George III moved from the new USA to Canada. When they went to Canada they brought their practices from America’s Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving in Canada is celebrated on the second Monday in October. Canada gives thanks for good things that happened that year. They also eat turkey, ham, corn, squash, carrots, mashed potatoes, and more. So not only does America celebrate Thanksgiving, Canada does too.

Men in Black By: Adrianna Halladay A few weeks ago many of you may remember seeing some men in all black roaming our hallways.

None of us had a clue what was going on so it was kind of scary. I have seen things like this on TV and online in the news, but never in person so I was a little scared at the time. We later found out it was a SWAT team out of Fremont checking out our school building in case of an emergency. When I talked to Mrs. Ziettlow, she said that they are trying to get a feel for school buildings, and checking out the entrances and exits. They were

trying to determine what would be safe in an emergency situation and what drills may be helpful for the school.

They did this at other local schools, such as Cedar Bluffs and Fremont. The team was led by former North Bend graduate, Michael Ough. SWAT stands for Special Weapons and Tactics.

These teams are very helpful in crisis situations, like if someone broke into our school and tried to cause us harm. Their job is to make us safe and figure out the best way to do that. Many of you

may have seen the footage on the news after the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut. In some of the footage you can see the SWAT team trying to get students and teachers out of the school safely.

When I talked to other students about this, they had the same reaction as me, very confused when they saw all those men. Fifth Grader, Hannah Williams, said she wondered who they were and what they were doing. I am sure I speak for all of us that we hope to NEVER see these men again.

PTACandle Sales Light Up NBE

By: Bethany Wiebold

Keeping Healthy at NBE

By: Samantha McDonald

Would you like to know how to stay healthy during winter months?

Here is some advice from Mrs. Frank, our school nurse.

People get sick during this time of year because groups of people stay inside together and spread infections and viruses more frequently and rapidly. People commonly get sick from many different bacteria and viruses like the common cold and bacterial bronchitis.

To keep from getting sick, you can get lots of sleep, drink lots of fluids, stay away from others who are sick and most importantly...

WASH YOUR HANDS!!! If you have a bad cold, some of the best things you can do are stay rested, drink lots of water, gargle with salt water, blow your nose often, take a steamy shower, and use a nasal rinse.

One rule at school about being sick is to please stay home if you are or may be contagious.

Students will also be sent home if they have a temperature over 100º, are vomiting or if coughing is a distraction to themselves or others.

Use these tips to keep yourself healthy during the upcoming months.

Have you been wondering what the PTA’s been doing lately? Well, right now they’re asking the kids for help to take the next big step to action. The PTA has given the elementary students a candle form and has asked them to sell candles, both mini-melts for $5.00 and fullsized candles for $16.00. Order forms were due December 2. The PTA was encouraging children to sell as many as they could.

Why are they doing this? The PTA is trying to raise money to help pay for speakers to come and talk to the students. Children will also receive a reward for participation under certain circumstances. The child who sells the most will receive $100. The second highest seller will receive

$50 and the third will receive $25.

The class who sells the most will get a classroom party. If the school sells enough, all grades will receive a carnival!

The students of NBE are as excited as ever to go out, sell some candles, and help the PTA out.

Many students started early and are taking every chance they can get to sell a candle to someone--whether it be a teacher, para or relative.

Breaking news: Right before it was time to copy the paper the winners were announced.

Top individual sellers were: Jayla VanAmpting, Adrianna Halladay, and Cierra Kluthe. Mrs. Lorence’s class was the top selling class and won a pizza party. Mrs. Paasch’s homeroom came in second.

Ms. Bang and Mrs. Yount’s second grade class learn an economic lesson about the advantages of working together when they mass-produced hats in their factory. (L-R: Shay Danielson, Ezekiel Naney, Jayden Korth, Maddie McShane.)

Mrs. Lorence and Mrs. Peterson’s first grade classes collected food for baskets to give to others during the Thanksgiving-Christmas holidays. The baskets are delivered to the local churches who deliver them to the families. This year they collected 11 very full baskets.

A Day Without Agriculture

FFA and 4th Grade Create a Video By: Sydney Emanuel The high school Future Farmers of America (FFA) worked with the 4th graders to create a three minute video for the Farm Bureau contest.

“A Day Without Agriculture in North Bend” starred the 4th graders visiting downtown businesses.

It showed them learning how agriculture affects or impacts a business, and provided students with an opportunity to create new lyrics to the song “What Does the Fox Say.” The fourth grade visitors learned that agriculture is needed to create some shampoo products

and some businesses would not be successful without agriculture.

Jezalin Bell said, “I learned that businesses aren’t the same without agriculture,” and she enjoyed visiting Mr. Grueber’s business.

Zach Stump stated, “My favorite part was when we came back to the classroom and sang our version of What Does the Fox Say.” The hard work of the FFA members and the fourth graders resulted in a wonderful video that was submitted for the contest.

“What Does The Farmer Say?”

(To the tune of “What Does the Fox Say?”)

By: Fourth Grade Class

The horse goes neigh. The pig goes oink.

The sheep goes baah.

And the tractor goes putt, putt, putt.

And farming makes Nebraska proud.

Soybeans in our state abound But there’s one sound, That everyone knows...

What does the farmer say? Harvest, harvest, harvest What does the rancher say?

Yee Haw, Yee-Haw, Yee-Haw What does the dairyman say? Milk, Milk, Milk, Milk, Milk, Milk What does the trucker say? Beep, beep, beep, beep Your farms are big.

The bins are full with a tractor in the shed.

What does the farmer say? Plant, plant, plant, plant What does the farmer say? Grow, grow, grow, grow.

Nebraska Ag makes us all proud!!!

T-P Time

By: Charles Madsen

What is Mrs. Ziettlow doing with all that toilet paper in her office? The NBE Toilet Paper drive. Students could bring toilet paper, paper towels, Kleenex, laundry soap, and canned food to school during the week of November 16-24. Each class competed by bringing TP while we tried to fill Mrs. Ziettlow’s office until you can barely see her. This year we collected 1,669 rolls while last year there were 2,026 rolls.

The Toilet Paper Drive is for the Low-income Ministry of Dodge County.

The winner of the toilet paper drive was Mrs. Dorcey’s class with 238 rolls, and their prize was a pizza party. The next two classes were Mrs. Yount’s class with 224, and Mrs. Grueber’s class with 213

Mrs. Trofholz watches as members of Mrs. Dorcey’s kindergarten class deliver their contest-winning load of toilet paper to Mrs. Ziettlow’s office. (L-R: Samantha Cummings, Chasity Mueller, Lauren Sterup, Ethan Adams, Hallie Mottl.) Their picture is framed by a picture of the stack of toilet paper collected in Mrs. Ziettlow’s office.

rolls of toilet paper. This was our fourth year of doing the toilet paper drive. Every year we do this. Keep bringing rolls and your class might win!

Lunch Bunch By: Joslyn Reker Lunch Bunch? What’s that?

To those of you that don’t know, lunch bunch is a group of kids that get together once a week.

These kids meet to help some of our peers work on social skills.

Once in a while, all of these groups get together in one group and play board games or go bowling. Fifth grade has already played board games and in February, 2014, they will go bowling.

For those in lunch bunch, I would thank Mrs. Ziettlow, Mrs. Wacker, and Mrs. Karnatz for what they do for you and your peers.

Christmas Vacation

By: Reagan McConnell

Two weeks of cold, hard, no school! That sounds like Christmas vacation to me! A lot of people are going to grandma and grandpa’s house. Like Alex McDonald, Paige Bunn, and maybe you, too. Mary Lynn Lewis is going to Kansas. You have a fun time where ever you are going!

Merry as Christm