In some of the state’s most special schools, special events take on added significance

This paid piece is sponsored by Children’s Home Society.

Loving School in Sioux Falls and Owen School in the Black Hills might not be well known. But exciting events are happening at these schools, broadening the horizons of both students and staff.

These two schools, both South Dakota Department of Education-approved programs and special population schools, serve children age 4 through 14. All teachers are state-certified, instruction follows South Dakota standards, and a 1:6 teacher-student ratio is maintained in all classrooms.

Many of the students are in residential treatment at Children’s Home Society. In Sioux Falls, the school also accepts day-school students from the Sioux Falls School District and other area districts.

Most students have behavioral or mental health needs. But that doesn’t stop them from learning, growing and having fun through special programs.

“A common theme with our kids is that school is hard, or they don’t like school,or haven’t experienced success in a school setting,” said Mike Groher, CHS director of schools. “So what can we do to blend a traditional school setting with an ability to create success? A lot of times, it means doing things a little bit differently and providing kids with an opportunity to feel success.

“The more times we’re able to help kids succeed, we see that they start to find an appreciation for school, for their classroom, for their classmates and each other. And those are the things that they might be able to take with them from our school setting to a public school setting. And so the next time they experience that public school setting, the outcome might be different.”

Dallas Chief Eagle Residency

For years, Sicangu Lakota educator, counselor and dancer Dallas Chief Eagle has integrated cultural learning with Lakota hoop dancing to convey important truths.

In late October, Chief Eagle spent an Artist-in-Residence week at Loving School with fourth and fifth grade students and middle school students.

Each class began with students sitting around a buffalo robe on the floor with a large stone called Grandpa Rock in the center.

“Dallas introduced Grandpa Rock to the classrooms that he worked with, highlighting Grandpa Rock’s presence since the beginning of time as the oldest of our ancestors,” Groher said.

“Then, Grandpa Rock became a metaphor for sitting still, for blocking everything out, for being able to focus and not engage with the positives or the negatives around us, but just to be locked in, calm, silent and focused on oneself. The kids really took to that 60 seconds of blocking everything out of their minds. And it was pin-drop silence and 100 percent focus, which is a good skill for our kids to identify they can do.”

Students also learn simple hoop dancing moves. Chief Eagle teaches that the hoop represents the circle of the horizon around us. The finale of the residency was a performance in the gym for the full school, featuring Chief Eagle hoop dancing in regalia along with students demonstrating what they learned.

“For some of our students, interacting with a different cultural perspective was valuable, and for others interacting with their own Lakota culture was significant,” Groher said. “And students were able to spend individual time with Dallas during the lunch period, asking questions and telling stories.”

While learning to hoop dance is physical education, it also exposes children to something new. “It brings a different perspective or feel to what we might consider physical education activity,” he said. “It creates awareness of alternate activities and cultural activities, but allows kids to have hands-on experiences to explore and create and then perform for their peers.”

Prairie Ecology Bus visit

On Oct. 26, the Prairie Ecology Bus Program from Lakefield, Minnesota, visited the Loving School campus and brought along a fun and unique way to learn science in the classroom.

Assistant teacher Abbi Zuehlke initiated the activity, contacting the Prairie Ecology Bus Center. Kindergarten, second and third grade classes enjoyed this hands-on educational opportunity. They learned about insects, turtles and other parts of the natural world in the area.

Groher said students enjoyed their experiences with the Prairie Ecology Bus.

“The concept is to expand, create hands-on learning for the kids and just bring in an element that they are not accustomed to,” he said.

“Leaving campus for any setting is more and more complicated — where to go, what to do and even more so now that it’s getting colder. To have an organization like the ecology bus come to us and provide that enriched learning experience on-site was beneficial.”

Since its beginnings in 1994, the Prairie Ecology Bus Center has been connecting youth across the region to the outdoors through innovative, hands-on experiences with the Ecology Bus, its mobile environmental learning classroom.

This organization believes that “as our world changes and becomes more technology-focused, now more than ever, today’s youth need opportunities to make a connection to the outside, natural world that sustains them. While technology can help us to understand our environment, nothing can replace the inherent benefits that come with exploring a prairie, investigating a wetland, discovering the richness of soils while engaging all our senses to understand the essence of nature — and its importance in our lives.”

Authors’ book publishing party

Students in Jennifer Williams’ class in Owen School at Black Hills Children’s Home recently celebrated the publication of their first book.

“You Want to Know WHAT About Wild Animals?” was written by Williams’ students and illustrated by teacher Gillian Spiva, with coloring and additional illustrations from students.

“Over the course of my career, I have been a huge advocate for lifting the spirits of the students I work with,” Williams said. “I wanted to do something incredibly special for the students in my class at BHCH. I called the publisher, gave them the deadline for our work to be submitted, and they sent me the materials to get started.

“The students wanted to write about animals, so we chose to write the book as an informational piece about their chosen animal. We started the project back at the beginning of June. The students put in a lot of hard work in the writing process.”

As a former middle school teacher, Groher said he knows “trying to create meaning for the writing process is a challenge.

“And so the way Jen orchestrated this event engaged students in writing and showed them that they were capable of producing an outcome worthy of celebrating. I know that the process had its challenging moments. I know that some of the students were incredibly difficult from day to day to engage or find enjoyment in writing. But as they got into the development of a story and they revised it, they found they created something they can be proud of and enjoy sharing with others.”

The publication party began at 10 a.m., with teacher assistant Jace Jackson as the emcee. Residential Treatment Program director Freddy Maseman invited his friend Kayla Gahagan — an author whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Wired and more — as a guest speaker.

Children read aloud the pieces they had written and received a copy of the published book purchased by Groher along with an official author certificate from Student Treasures Publishing.

After the awards, Jackson hosted a dance party. Then it was lunchtime, and kitchen staff decorated the dining hall to celebrate the occasion and created cakes showing the book cover.

After lunch, the festivities continued with student versus teacher games, including dodge ball and tug of war.

“This is an event that they looked forward to — their hard work was beaming in their smiles,” Williams said. “I hope to be able to provide them with an event like this at least every year, so I can give them hope and inspiration for their futures.”