School news you’ll love: Principal stuck to a wall, grants for games, future musical

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 Anne Sullivan Elementary and Oscar Howe Elementary are in for some fun, thanks to a $2,500 Public School Proud Grant from the Sioux Falls Public Schools Education Foundation to teachers Naomi Blank at Anne Sullivan and Kristy Dillon at Oscar Howe. The teachers will purchase board games like Guess Who, Yahtzee, Candy Land, Sequence, Battleship and Scrabble, and they will use them with K-5 English-language learners.

The students will be able to check out the games to take home and play with their families. Students from Anne Sullivan will have pen pals at Oscar Howe, and they’ll write to each other and play the games via Google Meet. In addition to language acquisition, this concept will teach social skills, critical thinking, following directions, teamwork and creativity. Thanks to The First National Bank in Sioux Falls, SDN Communications and Dakota Sports for making these grants possible.

This is a really cool grant too — the first from the foundation to Summit Oaks, a psychiatric residential treatment center focused on kids age 10 to 17. Garrett Gronlund, Justin Marsh, Julie Brandt and Dan Miller received $3,697.99 for their Public School Proud Grant for a “multidisciplinary virtual engagement project.” They will use the funds to purchase virtual reality headsets that will give students an opportunity to interact with the community and world through virtual experiences. Goals include increasing core content knowledge in science, social studies, humanities and literature; higher student achievement and educational outcomes of at-risk students; and improved in-depth knowledge of course materials through 3D exploration and analysis.

Thank you to the Independent Insurance Agents of Sioux Falls, First Premier and Mary Chilton Foundation for sponsoring these grants.

School nurses have always played a critical role in education — especially this year. Get to know staff star Sheena Watkins, who serves Hayward and Renberg elementary schools.

Nice work, Beresford High School students. Their art went on display at the high school last week.

Who doesn’t love a high school musical? Here’s what’s coming soon at Harrisburg High School.

And finally, enjoy the lengths Hayward Elementary principal Derek Maassen went to in order to ensure his students became “stuck on reading.” All those who met their reading goals in March earned a piece of duct tape to help stick the principal to the wall.