School news of the week: Surprise bikes, celebrating success, historic middle school moment

Amazing things happen in our schools every day — if you know where to look! Do you know some school news others would love? Let us know at [email protected].

Students at Hawthorne Elementary are about to get some help learning how to ride a bike. An anonymous local donor worked with the Strider Education Foundation and donated 24 Strider bikes, pedal conversion kits, helmets, one teacher instruction bike and certified curriculum teacher training, which is everything needed to teach kids how to progress from balance to riding a bike in eight lessons.

At Hawthorne, the program will teach approximately 60 kindergarten students how to ride a bike every year. With an equipment lifespan of up to 10 years, this will impact up to 600 kids over the next decade.

Hawthorne is a Title 1 school where “students love to be able to explore the historic district of our city,” assistant principal Sarah Easter said. “Many students don’t own a bike and haven’t learned how to ride.”

Students will be able to use the bikes while in gym class as well as during recess.

Holy Spirit Elementary celebrated being named a 2022 Exemplary High Performing National Blue Ribbon School this week.  The O’Gorman High School drum line performed at the introduction and then led a parade around the school afterward while the students waved their blue ribbons.

Students at Sioux Falls Lutheran School spent part of their discipleship class last week at the Union Gospel Mission. After touring the downtown center, some of the class sorted clothes to be sold at the mission’s thrift store. Others made spaghetti and salad for lunch and served it to residents.

It was a big week for kindergartners at JFK Elementary, who graduated from ABC Bootcamp. For the first 26 days of school, students have spent time learning about the 26 letters and sounds. Students created letter vests for each letter and found pictures of things that start with that letter to add to their vest and then strutted their stuff on the runway.

There’s some sweet strumming going on in third grade at Hayward Elementary.

Eighth graders at Whittier Middle School have done such a good job with attendance they had an activities session with the mobile rec unit from the city Parks & Recreation Department.

Here’s one way to celebrate a successful fundraiser — and one good sport for a priest. The Rev. Jacob Doty led kids at St. Mary Elementary turn him into an ice cream sundae after the school’s annual fundraiser brought in more than $50,000.

There was a historic moment for Sioux Falls middle schools this week with the first performance for seventh and eighth grade dance students. The event was held at George McGovern Middle School and involved dance teams from Ben Reifel, Edison, McGovern, Patrick Henry and Whittier middle schools. “In the fall months leading up to the event, dancers and their coaches worked hard on practicing skills such as split kicks, sharp movements and contagions, along with incorporating dance moves from other cultures,” according to the school district. “Off the floor, the teams worked on relationship-building and developing leadership skills by working together. Each dance team performed one to two routines in a gym full of fans. Cheers and applause roared from the fans section as each team took the floor.”

And finally, the Sioux Falls School District does a great video feature spotlighting seniors. In this edition, meet senior Barren Yellow Bird. In his first and final year, he has made a big impact at Jefferson High School in three sports, student council, Best Buddies and Principal’s Advisory Council.