By Principal Steve Waigand

This time of year can feel like a juggling act at times to a classroom teacher as he or she continues to push the academic rigor while mixing in those end of the year to-dos. Our Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) tests are in full swing in the elementary as well as plans for end of year activities including field days, awards assemblies, and class field trips. What a great opportunity to showcase the talents on display in the classroom and extend that learning beyond the four walls as well.

The weather has been prime for some outdoor recess games. In particular, kickball draws a crowd every afternoon at recess. During a kickball game it is not uncommon for the ball to land up on the school roof and sit there for a couple days until someone comes by with a ladder to retrieve a collection of playground balls. It is a scene right out of the movie “Sandlot.” The ball goes on the roof, students give the kicker a hard time, and then they find a new ball. Last year around this time we challenged our students to create a device to get the balls off the roof. We gave them two guidelines . . . it could not involve a ladder and had to be something a student could successfully use. A couple weeks ago the winning design came in from a brother-sister team. They submitted a simplistic yet highly effective device that passes the test with flying colors! Real life problem solving at its finest.

Our Talented and Gifted (TAG) program students put the finishing touches on a playground project by planting two trees on Arbor Day. The students spent a considerable amount of time researching good shade trees that would also be suitable for playgrounds. They created a Google survey and sent it to our staff to get feedback as well as captured aerial views of our playground at different times to locate ideal locations for shade during the school day. The students visited with administration for final approval and made the call to Missouri One Call before planning to dig. They held a presentation for the kindergarten and first grade students on Arbor Day, shared important benefits of trees, and showed students how to plant a tree. The project came full circle as our first grade students made connections to a Project Lead The Way (PLTW) unit earlier in the year where they designed playgrounds with areas of shade to help protect kids from UV rays. A special thank you to Chuck Ellis and the Earl May store for donating these two trees for the project.

We have some extremely talented students walking our school hallways . . . many talents that may never show up on a state assessment but will undoubtedly make our school, community, and world a better place. We are continually trying to find ways to highlight these talents right along with our successes in core curricular areas. Stay connected with daily classroom and school updates, including end-of-year festivities, on Twitter @RPBluejays. As always we strive to . . .

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