Platte River Elementary Knights: Cold Season

Winter is definitely here now. It was one degree below zero on my drive to school Friday morning. Some wind gusts reached 50 mph Saturday night. It'll be this way for a while...cold all day, dark on the way to school, and again on the way home. Sure, we'll get glimpses of the sun on some days, but we don't wake up in the morning expecting it.

There are some people who really struggle during these winter months, but most of us can get used to it. Still others thrive in it, and see winter as a beautiful time of year.

I fall into that last category. It really isn't too difficult for me to see the beauty in the snow-covered trees. The cold is only cold when I'm not prepared for it. Without the cold and snow, I could never properly appreciate the warmth and sunshine of summer. I absolutely love each of our seasons, and I'm glad northern Michigan always has a good winter.

In the end, it's like anything else: we have to do the best we can with what we're given. With our work at school, it's no different. Some days are more challenging than others. What makes what we do so special is that even though we know that challenges await us, we face each day with fresh perspective and a renewed hope. When we enter a season of darkness, (and we all do at times) ...when it's winter, we move forward knowing full well that it won't last forever. The sun is still there, even when we can't see it. And soon, it'll shine through. It always does.

The 2nd Semester begins on Monday. This means students will begin going to Music classes rather than Art on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Here is the Betsie Valley Specials Schedule (click to enlarge):

Great Things at Betsie Valley This Week

Mrs. Reed brought her Music supplies to Betsie Valley on Wednesday morning. Kids are getting excited about Music starting this week. Welcome back to the Valley, Mrs. Reed!

3rd Graders earned the cafeteria reward this week. Great job, Mr. Luebke's class.

5th graders enjoyed the change in their classroom jobs this week. Mr. Wassa's always keeping things fresh and new for the kids.

Mr. Cox was a snowboarding hero to a handful of 5th grade boys at Crystal Mountain on Thursday. WOW!

On Wednesday afternoon, 4th graders had a classroom celebration in honor of Mr. Booth, our high school "teacher academy" student who finished his time in Ms. Herban's room.

January is National Mentors Month. Be sure to thank the Kid's Hope mentors that spend time with our kids every week.

Fun Article Worth Your Time
50 things that everyone should know how to do (I feel successful with 42/50 of these. I'm getting really good at #49. I've never done #40.)

Last winter, voters in our school district decided to provide our schools with $1,985,000 for improving technology and transportation, and now we have 36 new computers in Betsie Valley's computer lab, and each classroom has a document camera, allowing us to display everything from textbooks to coins and insects for everyone in the room to see. Without a doubt, our community supports our work here.

This is a tutorial for our new Elmo TT-12 Document Camera (<5 mins)