Important Dates to

Remember :

Thanksgiving Break

November 23-26

WE HAVE SCHOOL

December 1

Winter Concert K-6

December 4, 6:30pm

Board Meeting

December 12, 7pm

Winter Concert 7-12

& Dinner

December 20, 5:30pm

Winter Break

Dec. 22 –Jan. 1

End 2nd Quarter

January 18

Questions? call the school office

for more info at 842-5302.

Published by Sheridan School District No 5 November 2017

Superintendent’s Notes:

As I compose this note, we are having our first day of real winter weather. It froze

last night, and it is snowing this morning, which brings me to my first topic: helping

students dress appropriately for the weather. Each year as the weather changes, we

go through yet another cold and flu season. This correlates with students not dressing

for the colder temperatures. Please help us keep our attendance up by making sure

your kids are properly dressed.

We have completed the first quarter and are heading into second quarter, and

planning for the next school year. State funding for the upcoming year is largely based

on student counts. Looking at the high school numbers and moving kids from grade

to grade, I see us graduating 10 seniors and gaining 12 eighth graders, a gain of 2

students. Middle school will move 12 eighth graders into high school and gain 14

from the sixth grade. In the elementary, we will move 14 out of the sixth grade and it

looks like we will enroll 15 kindergartners. Based on moving kids to the next grades,

we should gain a total of 5 students in the K-12 count with 57 in the high school and

117 in the grades K-8. The big question will be where does the State of Montana sit

with its funding of our programs and their budget woes?

As we begin our winter sports seasons, we will have some mid-week games. Players

will need to be extra vigilant about their homework on these days. Please ask your

student-athletes about their pre-arranged absence forms and if they have their

homework completed. This may insure they are eligible to play all season. Thanks in

advance for any help you can give in this area.

I recently spoke with a colleague from across the state that has a job very similar to

mine. He was talking about the many recent referrals for behavior that he had been

taking care of in his office. I shared with him that we have great kids in Sheridan

Schools. Due to our great student population paying attention to our programs

encouraging positive behavior, we seldom have negative behavior to deal with at

either school. In conjunction with parents that care, that goes a very long way

towards having a successful school setting at Sheridan.

Micheal Wetherbee,

Superintendent, Sheridan Schools

News of the SHERIDAN SCHOOLS

Sheridan Schools participated in the National Program of Character Counts which is based on the 6

pillars of Trust, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, and Citizenship. Students wore a different

color every day to represent each character quality.

FROM PRINCIPAL STOUT’S DESK— November 13th, 2017

The school year is whizzing by—next Thursday is already Thanksgiving! As the weather continues to be chilly, please make sure to dress your student in appropriate clothing as recesses are becoming consistently colder. Also, if your son or daughter is going to be attending any activities where they will be riding a bus, make sure they are properly dressed just in case the unforeseen bus breakdown occurs.

Looking at the upcoming month, things at Sheridan Elementary are going to become very busy for everyone. Below are some quick reminders of important upcoming dates:

Wednesday, November 22nd, early-out for Thanksgiving Break. Buses will run at 1:00 pm.

Friday, December 1st, we HAVE SCHOOL.

Monday, December 4th, Sheridan Elementary Winter Concert at 6:30 pm in the high school gym.

Winter Break, December 22nd- January 1st, 2018! School will resume on Tuesday, January 2nd, 2018! We will have school on Friday, January, 5th.

With the new school year moving full steam ahead, we continue to embrace our STEAM curriculum at all grade levels. The 3rd grade students supplemented their science curriculum by building Lego robots following their study of the plant pollination unit. The students worked in teams to build and program Lego robots that had to demonstrate how honeybees pollinate plants. The 5th grade explored using the Lego robots to build dragsters that they programmed to cover a measured distance. Each team then had to make adjustments to try and increase the speed of their dragsters, i.e. changing gears, tire sizes, etc. After making their modifications to their “base” design, they programmed their cars for a second pass to see if their modifications improved the dragster’s performance. The two-day lesson concluded with each team presenting their modifications to the class, and if their dragster’s times

improved using their math and communication skills.

A huge thanks goes to Mrs. Trischman for spearheading our continued relationship with MT Tech and its engineering department. Our 5th and 6th grade students were invited to visit MT Tech’s campus and see some real-life engineering in practice. They visited the campus on Thursday, November 2nd, for the day. During the tour, the students visited many of the engineering labs and received some hands-on experience as they built “egg-cages” out of bubble wrap, straws, Popsicle sticks and hot glue. This activity was concluded by the students dropping their “cages” filled with an egg off of the stair landing. One student’s “cage” provided enough protection for the egg to survive—congratulations Gunnar! The students also worked in another engineering lab to build “jitter discs” out of CD discs, electric motors, batteries, wire, corks and hot glue. Each student built one and demonstrated how it worked. MT Tech also provided our students with a great lunch, and the visit was wrapped up with a short trip to the Mineral Museum. Thanks so much to the professors and graduate students who took time out of their busy schedules to share their knowledge and experience with our students and staff.

To wrap up this newsletter, I was very proud of the elementary staff and students during our Quarter 1 Celebration, held on November 9th,and the great projects each class presented to the packed gym. The focus, or theme, for Quarter 1 was Lewis and Clark. Classes studied Lewis and Clark’s journals, influence and discoveries as the Corps of Discovery explored much of Montana. We also recognized that we had 74 Panther Pawsitives given to our students for demonstrating the school’s universal expectations: Be Respectful, Be Responsible, Be Safe, Be Successful, and BE A PANTHER! From these, I drew three students who will be going with me to “Lunch with the Principal” at the Prospector. For Quarter 1, the students are Maycee Hyndman (Kindergarten), Haze Hardy (4th grade), and Jaxon VerHow (4th grade). Awesome job to all of our students and staff who are really stepping up to make our school great!

Have a great holiday season, and I hope all of your travels during this time of year are safe and time with family relaxing.

Rodney Stout, Principal Sheridan Elementary School

Ben, Titus and Bella with their “plant

pollinator“ Lego robot.

5th & 6th Grade showing off their

“egg cages” at MT Tech.

FCCLA Members Gain Leadership Skills

Six Sheridan FCCLA (Family, Career and Community Leaders of America)

chapter members attended the annual Leadership Rally held on the MSU campus in

Bozeman on October 1-3, 2017. This year's theme was “Inspired by FCCLA”. Those who

attended where Isaac Bendon (State VP of Finance/Chapter President ), Sofy Du-Pond

(Chapter Reporter), Destiny Fabel (Chapter Historian), Beth Hamilton (Chapter

Treasurer/Secretary), Devany Davidson (chapter member), Jenna Nate (Chapter

member). According to our FCCLA members, it was a fun learning experience. Their

favorite part about it was getting to know so many people and make new friends. They

also enjoyed the keynote speaker, Julian Kent, and getting to bring amazing ideas back to

our chapter and community. There were workshops by the State Officers which included:

Community Leadership, Fundraising, Running for Office, Competitive Events, Membership

Recruitment, Social Media, Your Brand, Promoting Your Chapter, Say Yes to FCS,

Chapter Programming, Better Before Bigger, Campus Tours and MSU Workshops, FACTS

Resource Fair, District Officer Training, and Networking. Overall, the FCCLA members

had such a great time and would have not traded any second of Leadership Rally for

anything in the world.

November 7, chapter members traveled to Butte for the District XI convention.

The theme was “Building for Your Future”. Isaac Bendon, District President and State

Vice-President of Finance led the conference. Members were given the opportunity to

hear Butte High history teacher, Chris Fisk, who talked about building your future.

Workshops were also presented by Reach Higher Montana and the Montana Department

of Transportation, along with a Jeopardy competition titled “Knowledge Quest”. The day

was ended with some friendly games of bowling at the local bowling alley.

The state wide FCCLA service project this year is “Vision Zero”, which is a

traffic safety awareness project in partnership with the Montana Department of

Transportation and Ford Driving Skills. The Sheridan Chapter recently received a grant to

help carry out their project. Members are in the planning stages and will be conducting

activities within the next month to try to reduce traffic incidences involving teens in

Montana.

Grade 2 News by Heather Kenworthy

The second graders had a terrific time performing the play, The Strongest One, at our quarter one celebration. These students are also

a thankful bunch! They each wrote down three things they are

thankful for:

Hannah- I am thankful for my family, friends, and food.

Waylon- I am thankful for God, my family, and the world.

Morgen- I am thankful for my teacher, my friends, and

money for doing my chores.

Tyce- I am thankful for my dog, my dad, and my mom.

Riley- I am thankful for my family, my friends, and chores.

Cade- I am thankful for being free, being alive, and being an

American.

Brody- I am thankful for having manners, being able to play

with other people, and for my teacher.

Ryan- I am thankful for my new puppy, my sister, and my parents.

Charlie- I am thankful for my mom, my dad, and my family.

Hazalin- I am thankful for my family, my dog, and my cats.

Logan- I am thankful for my friends, my family, and food.

Regan- I am thankful for my family, food, and schools.

Daniel- I am thankful for God, having friends, and air.

Eirik- I am thankful for my cousins, my friends, and my life.

Jaxon- I am thankful that I go to school, have a house, food, and water.

Addison- I am thankful for having a school, my house, and my parents.

Carli- I am thankful for my family, my dog, and Earth.

In grade two, we recently learned about an organization called Ryan’s Well Foundation which digs wells in Africa for villages and schools

that don’t have clean drinking water nearby. We are collecting money to give to this cause. Any spare change would be greatly

appreciated! Have a wonderful Holiday Season!

Mountain Men at River Resource

Field Trip by Jaxon Verhow

On September 21, students, grades 3-5 from Sheridan, Twin

Bridges, Alder, Glen and Melrose schools attended River Re-

source day at the Woodson Ranch. The mountain men station was

my favorite. I liked it because it was cool. They had old time

guns they taught us about. They didn’t shot the guns, but they

taught us a lot. They had real guns. When it ended, we went back

to school and went home. It was fun.

Store Comes Into Business By Brayt Wood

RW Outdoors [ Rumbly Wood Outdoors] comes into business.

The store contains 90% fishing supplies and 10% guns and camo.

The owners, William Wood and Steve Rumbly, these two hunt-

ers started the store in Sheridan MT. William works for Steve

Rumbly in Florida for Skybridge Tactical. He goes to the state in

January. He stays for a week in Florida. The store hours are

from 8am to 6pm. The camo is Sitka. Instead of going to Ennis,

MT, to get guns, stay in Sheridan. Bill says, “It’s important to pass

on outdoor skills to the next generation”.

RW Outdoors Main Street Sheridan MT, guns, fishing, and camo.

More Technology for Mountain View Veterinary

Service By James Reedy

The Mountain View Veterinary Service’s vets are Douglas

Reedy, Ellie Reedy, Zach Barrett, and Megan Igo. All of them have

new devices, like new computers, laptops, blood work machines, and

dart guns. They just bought them this summer! They bought them

because maybe it would make the job easier. They also have new

staff, like Kennedy, Alex, Cindy, and others. The clinic has 4 vets so

every weekend or night one of them is on call. The new machines a

lot are taking a lot of getting used to.

The blood work machines measure chemicals in the blood.

The computers and laptops all have software called corner stone,

which helps keep track of appointments. The dart guns have a c02

canister that build up pressure and shoots the dart, containing

medicine, or sedation. They have a paint ball like gun that shoots

deworms cows by soaking into their skin. They have an archer that

reads electronic identification tag to track cows. It’s a joy treating

animals and helping out in our community,” says Ellie Reedy. As you

can see it is a lot of work owning a vet clinic.

School Farm Fieldtrip By: Kaden Quilici

Third, fourth, and second grade went to the school farm somewhere

around the 19th of October. When we got there, my group first

learned about the tractor. Then we swapped places. Then we went

to learn how to weld metal together. There was some cow poop

there. Then we got to go see some pigs and a corgi. They were so

cute. Then we got to see how much we weighed and then we got to

see how much we weighed on a scale for pigs and cows. Then last

we got to see how they crush corn seeds. It was fun!

Sheridan School Red Ribbon Week By Ethan Shepard

If you walk in Sheridan School halls you might notice something

about everyone, the red ribbons on their wrist. That’s because it’s

Red Ribbon Week!

The week of October 23-27 is for drug free awareness. On Mon-

day, we wore college/sports gear, on Tuesday, we wore hats,

Wednesday, we wore red and white and Thursday, we wore purple.

our school color. The grades are excited to win prizes and wear

hats and other clothing. We do this because in 1985, people started

to wear red ribbons to protest the killing of a drug police officer.

Every year is a new theme; this year is Your Future Is Key.

On the 25th of October, I interviewed the 3rd graders. I asked them

questions like, Do you think Red Ribbon Week is a good thing?

They all said yes. Do you know what it’s about? Almost all students

said no except Jace. He said. “It’s a week about staying drug free”.

Do you think all grades should do this? They all said yes. Do you

think you should wear things to celebrate? Yes. Can you think of

anything else to do on red ribbon week? 2 students said we should

wear certain color shoes and red ribbons.

Will you stay drug free?

Panthers’ First Winning Season in a Long Time

By Mia Schwend

The coaches of Sheridan football are Jake Steiner, Mike

Wetherbee, and Nick Clark. The football season started on

August 15th, 2017. I interviewed my brother, Tyrell Schwend. His

favorite part was his touchdown. It was the last game of the

season! He made the last touchdown. The football team won 5

games and lost 4. They made 42 touchdowns. It had been 4 or 5

years since they had won a lot of games. It was a great season for

our Panthers!

WALTERS IGA HAS A LOT OF HISTORY

IN SHERIDAN MONTANA By KT Schuller

Walters IGA has been around for a long time. 128 years to be

exact! The owners of the store are Tom and Marilyn. They are

my grandparents. Tom’s dad started the business.

My uncle Mike works there too. I have a job there also. I work

there on Wednesdays and I get 5 dollars an hour. I help carry

out groceries, sweep, bag, mop, face, vacuum, and shred paper.

The workers are very nice. I think working at the store is fun

and it kills time. I want to work there so I can start saving up for

a car.

Walters IGA hopes to continue serving the Sheridan community

for many more years to come.

Grizzly Bear Awareness By Brandin Sayler

Did you know that grizzly bear numbers are rising

at a fast pace? 10 years ago, you would barely see grizzly

bears in Yellowstone National Park. Now people see them

all the time. In Montana, there have been 7 documented

fatal grizzly bear attacks since 2010 and many more to

come if we don’t learn grizzly bear safety. Both my dad and

I fear of a fatal grizzly bear attack in a lot of our favorite

mountains, The Upper Ruby. It is the second most hunted

area in the state and there are a lot of bears there. Over

1,000 people hunt there on opening weekend. A lot of

people heard about the grizzly bear attack outside of Ennis

last year.

What to bring hiking in a bear populated area:

Bear spray

Gun even a 22c will scare it away

Hunting pack

What to do if attacked:

Roll over

Put hands on neck

Play dead

*If camping, don’t leave food out. If in a tent, tie food in a

tree.

Hour of Code with the Sophomores By Haze Hardy

On November 1st , the 4th grade went to the high school.

The sophomores taught us The Hour of Code. Everyone

chose Minecraft. Most of us were with two sophomores. I

was with Cody Scott. We had multiple choices. We would

drag the commands to a box and hit run. It would do what

you told it to do. There were obstacles, and you had to get

to a certain place by choosing the moves. The Hour of

Code uses computer games to help students learn how to

code. It was fun to go to the high school and work with the

sophomores.

Hello from Mrs. Minert’s

8th grade math!

Lots of energy and a lot of hard work is

what these 8th graders bring to the table.

After spending time having fun with

transformations (there are four different

types; ask an 8th grade student what they

are) and angles, we have found ourselves

working on equations. Things start

getting a little tricky now, therefore

diligence and patience are imperative:

simple, multi-step, and equations with

variables are just the beginning. We will

be working with equations for the next

few months. I try to take this part slow

so students will start their high school

math career with a solid foundation and

find truth in the following post.

Art News

In October the high school art students’ work was on exhibit at the University of Montana in

Missoula, in the college’s Fine Arts Gallery with many other

high school students’ artworks.

This month the class finished portraits in pencils and are

learning calligraphy. Recently the class visited the Holter

Museum of Art in Helena to go to an interactive exhibit called

The Cave. They experienced this art/science multimedia

installation which was created by the group, The NeuroCave

Collaborative. Then they enjoyed exploring alcohol inks while

creating an image of their brains/what’s on their minds/what

their minds do.

The junior high art class finished two clay projects

and made dazzling table decorations for the senior citizens’

Harvest Dinner. Their fab turkeys and pumpkins found homes

at the nursing home and Home Park after the supper. We hope they brought good wishes of the season to

all the folks living near to us. Now they are working on drawing skills and realistic wildlife portraits.

Elementary art has included offering the Original Works program as a way for families to get

their children’s artwork printed on useful

product, from cards to magnets, to wall clings.

These sales help the high school art trip

members (Zach P., Traci M., and Jasmine and

Jenna Driscoll) pay for their trip to Seattle in

March. THANKS FOR SUPPORTING THIS

NEW FUNDRAISER!

Finally, the fourth grade is grateful for

the generosity of Silver Star taxidermist Steve

Rhodes and his donation of beautiful hides.

The students made wonderful winter counts

on the hides; these images illustrate important events in the students’ lives so far. Thanks, Steve!

Kindergarten Newsletter

We’ve been having a fantastic year in

Kindergarten so far! These kids are funny, smart, and

lots of fun. We now know our Spanish colors, numbers

to 16 so far, all the days of the week, and months of the

year. In math we’ve been adding and subtracting, and

we are starting to read! The new letter of the week is

“I”, and I think they may have me talked into bringing

them ice cream. Every day we read a character building

story, teaching kids how to be kind, share, help others,

and be good citizens. During our quiet time, kids

master books by reading to me individually or play

learning games on tablets. Our computer activities

reinforce math concepts we’ve learned in class. At the

end of the day we do writing activities and write in our

journals. Happy Thanksgiving!

Miss J. Konopacki

Thank you to the

community for

supporting the

Sheridan High School

Spanish Club’s trip to

Peru.

The students are looking

forward to Nicaragua &

Costa Rica in 2019

News from Business & Technology By Mrs. Howser

The Digital Media Technology class recently used Powtoon to make an animated presentation.

Students created a 60-90 second cell phone advertisement which included a salesman selling a phone to a

customer. Students were able to choose their own theme, but were required to include music, text, voice-

overs, and several different animations.

Sophomores in Digital Media Technologies also teamed up with the 4th grade class to participate

in an Hour of Code activity. The Hour of Code is a one hour introduction to computer science with

activities for grades Kindergarten and up. Students use block based coding where they drag blocks of

instructions into the editor to code a Minecraft activity. Madison Van Houten, a sophomore, said “Brandin

was excited to know what made one of his favorite games work. He seemed to really enjoy being able to

code and make the Minecraft character do what he wanted him to do.”

Created by Isaiah Davis

Created by Micara Devereaux

Family and Consumer Science News–By Roxane Shammel

7th Grade Family and Consumer Science students have been working

on their financial literacy skills. They have been using an online

curriculum called Understanding Money sponsored by Ruby Valley

Bank. This curriculum covers: Responsible Money Choices, Income

and Careers, Making Plans with Money, Credit and Borrowing,

Insurance and Safety, and Savings and Investing.

Career& College Finance is a required course for Juniors. These

students have just completed a unit on Depository Institutions. To

finish this unit the class was able to listen to and learn from two

community members who are experts in this field. Sharing with the

class were: Kali Stender representing High Peaks Federal Credit Union

and Karen Town representing Ruby Valley Bank.

Students in Culinary Arts class have definitely been satisfying their

Sweet Tooth. After learning the basics of safety and sanitation, tools of

the trade, and food preparation techniques students have been honing

their skills with making pies and candy.

Alumni Spotlight

Congratulations to Arnold Smithson (class of 2017) who was selected as one of the prestigious Hilleman Scholars at Montana State University

" The MSU Hilleman Scholars Program provides worthy high school graduates from Montana with exceptional financial and academic support throughout their four years at MSU so that they, too, can realize their full potential and actively contribute to their communities."

PANTHER ADVENTURE

LEARNING ZONE

IMPORTANT DATES

NO PALZ - NOV. 22-26

DEC. 1

DEC. 4

DEC. 7

DEC. 21 - JAN 5

Sheridan School District #5

Home of the Sheridan Panthers

211 Madison Street

P. O. Box 586

Sheridan, MT 59749

SHERIDAN BOX HOLDER

NONPROFIT

U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

SHERIDAN SCHOOLS

PERMIT NO. 1

FIRST GRADE NEWS by Ms. Elser

The first graders have been very busy the first

quarter. Students each received two books from the

Montana Department of Agriculture’s Ag in the classroom

program. These hands on learning books introduce

students to agriculture commodities. Students had the

opportunity to learn where all the ingredients come from

and how they are processed in the state of Montana. They

came together to make some wonderful muffins. They

also had the same experience making hummus.

They have been studying about Lewis and Clark

with an emphasis on Sacagawea in Social Studies. They

presented what they learned at the quarter celebration.

The class was very excited to receive their first

Book It pizza reward from Pizza Hut.