Reporter The
High School Play Pictures on A4-5
November 2014
What’s Up for November? Take a Look Inside...
A2: • RCAS makes AP Honor Roll • Girls Basketball League Teaches Sportsmanship
A3: • What Home Means to Some Fourth Graders
A4 & A5: • Feature Photo Pages
A6: • Pinedale Elementary Recognized as Outstanding School
Freezing for the Sake of Reading Amanda Rombough Information Services Officer Ask any adult, and a day sitting in a tent, reading all day long would sound like a great break. Unless it happened to be -7 degrees with wind chill outside. But for Canyon Lake Elementary Principal David Swank, that was his idea of a great time to teach students the importance of reading. The idea formed when one of the teachers in the building signed up for Book It!, which, when Swank was in 2nd grade, was the turning point for his academic career. “I didn’t realize it at the time; all I knew was I got free pizza, but it did get me to read more,” Swank said. “So anything that I can do to promote excitement in reading, I’m going to be behind.” As part of the Book It! program, there is a challenge for principals to read from first bell to last bell and principals typically perform the challenge in an absurd way, like suspending themselves from the flag pole. While there are some things that Swank said he would not do, he said the plan originally was to set up a little camp in the playground so students could come out throughout the day and read with him. When the weather did not cooperate, he decided to still go through with the plan by himself.
A7: • SD DOE Messages Principal Swank’s tent could be seen set up outside the school all day.
Principal Swank could be seen curled up in his sleeping bag all day, reading over 300 pages in one day to teach the importance of reading.
“I committed and I didn’t want to change the plan,” he said. “I want to teach the kids about perseverance and honoring your word as well. I was the only one out there who had to suffer, but there was still a lot of excitement around the building.” Throughout his time in the tent, Swank read 300 pages from multiple books. For himself, he read The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. He also read The Star People to a few classrooms via Facetime and a Dr. Seuss story to a few classrooms, and poems to kindergarten classrooms. “I really have to give recognition to the staff members who always brought me something warm to drink,” Swank said. After the cold stint in the tent, Swank said several students told him they had set up their own tents to read in, but in the comfort and warmth of their living rooms. The crazy stunt has gotten kids talking about reading more, which is what Swank was hoping for. This is not the first time Swank has been known to do crazy stunts for the sake of reading. Last year, any kid who met the reading challenge for Read Across America got a piece of duct tape and students were allowed to duct tape Swank to the wall in the cafeteria.
A2 RCAS Placed on College Board’s 5th Annual AP District Honor Roll November 2014
Rapid City Area Schools: Rapid City Area Schools has been recognized as one of the 547 school districts in the country and Canada on the College Board’s 5th Annual AP® District Honor Roll. Rapid City Area Schools were able to increase access to AP course work while simultaneously maintaining or increasing the percentage of students earning scores of 3 or higher on AP Exams. Since 2012, Rapid City Area Schools has increased the number of students participating in AP while improving the number of students earning AP Exam scores of 3 or higher. “Inclusion on the AP District Honor Roll indicates that Rapid City Area Schools has been successful helping more students
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learn at higher levels and they are also earning higher AP Exam scores,” said Superintendent Tim Mitchell. “Our students are proving that they are academically prepared to be successful in any post-secondary opportunity they choose. We are excited about having increased numbers of students access AP coursework as well as them completing that coursework successfully.”
vated students of all backgrounds.
Data from 2014 show that among African American, Hispanic, and Native American students with a high degree of readiness for AP, only about half of students are participating. Rapid City Area Schools is committed to expanding the availability of AP courses among prepared and moti-
Inclusion on the 5th Annual AP District Honor Roll is based on the examination of three years of AP data, from 2012 to 2014, looking across 34 AP Exams, including world language and culture.
In 2014, more than 3,800 colleges and universities around the world received AP scores for college credit, advanced placement, and/or consideration in the admission process, with many colleges and universities in the United States offering credit in one or more subjects for qualifying AP scores.
Girls Basketball League Teaches Game Fundamentals and Sportsmanship Amanda Rombough Informational Services Officer
She shoots, she scores! Thanks to the help of some parents and community members, fourth and fifth grade girls at Rapid Valley Elementary School and Valley View Elementary School get the chance to participate in their own basketball league. The league, started by parent Mark Crosswait, is in its fourth year and thriving more than he expected it to. After hearing about other elementary schools that had basketball teams for students to play on, but learning that neither of the Valley schools did, Crosswait decided to pick up the ball and run with it and started the small league for girls interested in playing. The response was much greater than what he expected and he currently has 24 kids from Rapid Valley and 27 kids from Valley View participating, making up four 4th grade teams and three 5th grade teams. “It’s just a lot of fun,” Crosswait said. “The families all come out and have a blast. It turned out to be a pretty cool thing.” The girls get together at the beginning of October to practice, coached by nine coaches who volunteer their time. Coaches work to teach them
the fundamentals of basketball, from dribbling to passing to defense. After a month of practices, the girls play 4-5 games against each other, Rapid Valley vs. Valley View. The referees all volunteer their time and siblings volunteer to run the scoreboard and families show up to cheer the girls on. “A lot of them have not played basketball before so they’re anxious to learn the fundamentals,” Crosswait said. “The first part gets to be learning and then once they’ve been to a few practices they get anxious to play a few games. When our first game comes around, they’re all nervous.” The goal of the game is to have fun and make new friends, though, Crosswait says. “The ref could be blowing the whistle every 10 seconds, but it’s just for fun,” he said, stressing that they not only teach the girls how to play the game, but also to be good sports and to make friends with the girls. “There’s no reason to carry animosity over the game and they can get pretty competitive so we tell them to keep it in perspective; make sure you’re still friends with these girls when the game is over. We teach them to go out, play basketball, learn how to play and learn how to be a good sport and have some fun.”
Fourth and fifth grade girls with Rapid Valley and Valley View Elementary Schools have had the opportunity to learn the game of basketball thanks to volunteering parents.
November 2014
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Horace Mann Elementary Fourth Graders Display What Home Means to Them Six 4th graders from Horace Mann Elementary School were named the winners of the Black Hills Area Habitat for Humanity “What home means to me” art contest. Approximately 35 submissions were made from the 4th grade classes. The project was part of World Habitat Day. Horace Mann 4th graders were asked to draw a collage depicting what home meant to them and photos of their art were posted to the Black Hills Area Habitat for Humanity’s Facebook page for voting during the month of October. All collages will be put on display at the new Habitat for Humanity office building once completed. “They were very excited,” said fourth grade teacher Cyndi Lundgren. “Each one brought a different artistic approach and you take that and couple it with their different views of what home means to them. They were very excited and very eager to work on the project.” Each winner received a prize pack from Pottery 2 Paint in Rapid City.
Teachers: Have a student who wrote something awesome, took a great photo, or made an amazing art project? Share it with the rest of us by emailing it to RapidCityDistrictCommunications@ k12.sd.us
and it could be featured in an upcoming issue of The Reporter!
(left) Fourth grade students at Horace Mann Elementary gather to find out who the winners are of the “What Home Means to Me” art contest. (Photo courtesy of Black Hills Area Habitat for Humanity)
(right) Fourth grade students participated in the “What Home Means to Me” art contest. (Photo courtesy of Black Hills Area Habitat for Humanity)
Rapid Valley Elementary Playground Gets Face Lift Amanda Rombough Informational Services Officer Instead of 50 kindergarteners looking to blow off some energy, Rapid Valley Elementary School now has 100 full day kindergarteners, which meant it was time for a better playground for them. Thanks to the hard work of kindergarten teacher Laura DeRuyter and the PTA, that is now a reality for the school. After raising $6,000 through catalog sales, the school was able to purchase a fire truck that bounces and a three piece train, as well as a bench, which Rapid Valley has never had available before. But it is not just a normal bench. It’s a Friendship Bench. “If you’re lonely and don’t have anyone to play with, you sit on the bench and kids can come and get you if they see you sitting there,” DeRuyter explained.
The equipment is still being put in, after being delayed by the snow, however DeRuyter hopes to get it in sooner rather than later. See RV Playground on Cont. on Page 6
Parents and community members volunteered to help install new playground equipment at Rapid Valley.
November 2014
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Check out the great things our staff & students are doing! A Midsummer Night’s Dream - Presented by Central High School (Below) The Mechanical Ensemble lead by Ben Newman as Bottom, rehearse the play before the Duke.
(Below) Jake Babbe and Richard Rigmaiden model the makeup and costumes for Oberon and Puck.
(Above) Nic Benson as Flute, Michael Bussell as Snout and Ben Newman as Bottom rehearse the play before the Duke.
(Left) Members of the Rapid City Area School District worked to fill over 1,800 bags of food with Feeding South Dakota for the backpack program.
(Right) Rapid City Stevens High School Track and Field and Cross Country helped to host the Turkey Trot on November 27. (Left) Canyon Lake Elementary School had a great turnout for Turkey Bingo on November 20.
November 2014
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Check out the great things our staff & students are doing!
See How They Run - Presented by Stevens High School (Below) Hannah May and Charles Johnson perform a scene from See How They Run at Stevens High School.
(Above) Jacey Merkle, Micheal Lytle, and Anastasija Kalanovic perform a scene from See How They Run at Stevens High School.
(Below) Central High School Psychologist, Dr. Keyra Comer, was recently presented the award for South Dakota School Psychologist of the Year by the South Dakota Association of School Psychologists.
(Above) The Rapid City Central High School Orchestra performs at All-State Orchestra competition in Sioux Falls this month.
Want to see yourself, class or activity in The Reporter?
Email your photo or idea to: RapidCityDistrictCommunications@ k12.sd.us
November 2014
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Named Outstanding School for Outdoor Classroom Continued: RV Playground Pinedale The latest classroom addi on at Pinedale
“(The kids) can’t wait to get on the fire truck,” she said. “They haven’t seen the train yet, but they can’t wait to get on the truck.”
Elementary School is turning heads and gaining recogni on for its innova on. However, it’s not your tradi onal classroom, housed inside the main school building. In October, the school renovated its courtyard into an Outdoor Classroom and they were recently named an “Outstanding School” by the Rocky Mountain Audubon Society for restoring habitat crucial to the survival of songbirds and pollinators.
“Mindy Chappell has done a masterful job of bringing this With two playgrounds at Rapid Valley, DeRuyter said, one of them really needed to life,” Pinedale Elementary School Principal Rick some love and attention. Owen said. The PTA has been able to raise over Second grade teacher, Chap$10,000 over the last three years. pell, was the “brains behind “Mrs. DeRuyter from Rapid Valley has the courtyard,” according been a force to reckon with these last few to Owen. The idea for the years,” PTA President Saboin Vifquain outdoor classroom came from said. “Mrs. DeRuyter knew they needed the Na onal Wildlife Federa on’s a few improvements to their playground program called Schoolyard Habiand didn’t let any setbacks or disappoint- tats. The courtyard give students ments along the way dissuade her from a local place where they can her goal.” authen cally apply the knowledge from the classroom and take it outside in a real-world se ng. “It’s definitely an honor to receive it,” Chappell said. “We’re being recognized for making a difference in the environment for animals and providing an increased pollina on feature to help save the pollinators.” The courtyard features three of South Dakota’s primary habitats: prairie-meadow, Black Hills forest, and the Badlands. Each loca on is filled with plants na ve to the area and helps to meet the needs to wildlife through all seasons. There is a large, covered pergola filled with mush-
room stools and benches for students to meet and discuss the discoveries of the day. A weather sta on sits centered in the courtyard where students can collect and record weather data or iden fy the cloud forma ons in the sky. There is also a large greenhouse and raised vegetable beds for every grade level to grow their own produce. “Life-long, healthy ea ng habits will be established as children discover new favorites that they grow and harvest themselves,” said Chappell. Ge ng students outside and literally in the dirt is something Chappell and other Pinedale staff wanted to accomplish. Because many children might live a sedentary, videogame-filled life, Chappell and others wanted to teach the importance of ge ng outside and plant the seed of outside curiosity.
“Non-mo vated, disengaged students have become far more common in the classroom over the last few years,” said Chappell. “But, when they are outside, in the dirt, experiencing life rather than just hearing about it, they are not only engaged but inspired to want to learn more.” While the weather has not been the greatest for exploring the outdoor classroom much, Chappell said the students are s ll enjoying it and ge ng a lot out of it. “They enjoy feeding the birds and keeping that going through the winter and several classrooms are hos ng worm farms so they’re crea ng nice compost that we will use in the spring.” There are plans to further expand the courtyard to include a water catchment system, a vermicompos ng (compos ng with worms) sta on, and other features.
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November 2014
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A message from the South Dakota Department of Education...
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