Building Each Other Up

On Tuesday January 21, the entire school participated in assemblies to kick off our new bully prevention program.

lining up, waiting our turn to enter the gyms

Friendly, the clown, entertains us with his personality

more Friendly (the clown) anticipation

"Did you hear?! There is a clown here!"

(Friendly was an entertaining clown!)

Friendly asked for Mrs. Vickers  to help

("I can't believe he is doing that!")

"I'm a Little Teapot" - How does he do that?!!

Our Principal, Mr. Voshell, introduces our guest speaker, Jonathan Friesen.

 Author and guest speaker, Jonathan Friesen shares his experiences with Tourettes Syndrome. When he was six, the uncontrollable muscle twitches and more began. He shared his experiences in school and how he lived in his room for two years, until a girl came to talk to him, and noticed him. It changed his life, to be noticed.

 Friendly the clown returned as the Kindergarten through third graders joined our elementary assembly. He inspired some teachers and staff to show off their Hokey-Pokey, Chicken Dance, and other dance moves.

 One of our elementary social workers, Mrs. Stupar spoke and welcomed everyone.

 Suddenly, our gym was filled with Super Heroes.

Superman (a.k.a. Asst. Principal Mr. Meyer)

Spiderman (a.k.a. Principal Mr. Voshell)

Mr. Olweus (a.k.a. Mr. Vedders, 6th grade teacher and wrestling coach)

We watched as one student was bullied and another was left out. Superman and Spiderman needed some help, and Mr. Olweus arrived to save the day.

We learned about the four school rules to a bully-free school.

 Then we watched a video. Music filled the gym as we saw friendly faces showcasing our rules with K-12 students and staff showing their support.

our kitchen staff

Mr. Lee, our custodial staff

 The highlight of the day for the students was the Pie in the Face Contest. Staff members volunteered for the event. For the entire week, there were containers in the fifth grade hallway with staff pictures on the containers. Students (and staff) could vote for their favorite (or not) by dropping coins into the containers. There was fun among the classes as 6th grade teacher, Mr. Rademacher encouraged sixth graders to fund fifth grade teacher, Mr. Follmuth, and Mr. Follmuth went on announcements, subtly using Mr. Rademacher as an example. Mr. Follmuth collected $104! The money will be used to fun additional Olweus events. Students were excited to hear who was selected!

 One of our own students was selected to deliver the pie in the face.

our helper

our student "helps" Mr. Rademacher, 6th grade

5th grade teacher, Mr. Follmuth

Phy-Ed Teacher, Mrs. Beckmann

When the pies were "shared", it was time to return to our classrooms. In Ms. Leom's room, we started our weekly meetings. This wasn't a change for us. We call our meetings, "Community". We'll be learning specific skills and problem solving as a class to make our class and school a healthier place to be.

We are thankful to our sponsors who provided our school-wide T-shirts:
* Pearl Crisis Center
* Community Closet
* First National Bank of Milaca
* Benton Telecommunications Foundation
* Mille Lacs County Attorney's Office
* Shopko
* Walmart

Now all of our students and staff have white shirts to wear on White Out Wednesdays. Building Each Other Up ...