Winter Session Recognition Celebration!

Hello Blog friends!

We just wrapped up another awesome session here at Sheridan Beacons! At the end of each session, we have a recognition celebration where we recognize our amazing young people for all of their hard work!

Our awesome Junior Staff helped decorate the auditorium

They even worked with Mr. T. to set up a balloon drop!

Our group leaders picked students from their groups to be recognized for their leadership, attitude, effort, and improvement!

Some of our young people were recognized for their demonstration of the 4 core values of the YMCA.

Caring, Honesty, Respect and Responsibility

The ceremony ended with the super crazy and exciting balloon drop!
After the ceremony, everyone got to have some cake. We got some beautiful cakes and added to their decorations here at Beacons! Check out the progression!

Now we close for Winter Session '09. Enjoy your spring break everyone! We will see you soon! Check back soon for more updates!

Penny Wars Update

Hello Blog world!

We are really excited to update about our penny wars!

The winners were announced on Monday, March 23rd.

Sheridan Beacons 3-5 unit raised $105.34. The group voted to donate the funds to Heifer International! Our group was able to purchase a share of a sheep, a flock of ducks, a flock of geese, a flock of chicks and a hive of honeybees to families in need. Our young people are so proud to give a meaningful gift to children and families to receive training and animal gifts that help them become self reliant. For more info go to www.heifer.org.

And the winners??
AYP!!!
AYP raised $24.76. That's a LOT of pennies!
Here they are holding the check for $105.34

Then there was the Ice Cream Bonanza...and it truly was a bonanza!!! Be careful, you might need to brush your teeth just from looking at these pictures!
Here is the spread of all the ice cream options!
Here are some of the ice cream sundae creations!
Look out for Sheridan-wide Penny Wars coming soon!

A (Thurs)day in the Life

Hello blog friends!

Happy Thursday! Its time for your weekly tour of Sheridan Beacons Center!

First, we go to the K-2 room, where we sang a bunch of songs today. Here is the group singing a rousing round of LaTouche!
THUMBS UP!Here is a shot from second base during a large group game of Big Base! It's like kickball, but more fun!Next, I went up to the Y's Start group. They are doing Base Math, learning a new way to look at complex math problems. They do algebra level problems with these manipulatives, it's pretty cool.I popped into the computer lab to check in on the Boy Scouts, but they were so into their work, that they didn't even look up!
The birds of Northeast Minneapolis are in luck...our first and second grade group made bird feeders, today!
Who knew dirt tasted so good? One of our K-2 groups made "dirt cups" today. But don't worry, it's only pudding, cookies and gummy worms!Next, it was snack time...our amazing Junior Staff pass out snacks to all Beacons participants.
After enrichment activities and snack, it was time for academics.
Some Third graders read books
Our 7-8th grade group is working on research projects about animals of their choice. Some of the animals that they chose were ligers, dolphins, and monkeys.It may look like our Kindergarteners are just coloring, but they were actually working on a literacy activity! They are working on the letters of the alphabet!
And before we knew it, it was time to go! Here is one of our groups coming out to the bus.Thanks for checking in on us!

That's a (Thurs)day in the life of Sheridan Beacons!

St. Patrick's Day!

Hello blog world!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

A bunch of people dressed up for St. Patty's, and I wanted to do a fashion expose!

Here are some of Sheridan Beacons' most fashion forward St. Patty's celebrants!

Observational Activity

The warm weather yesterday made for a great outdoor activity that Hayley and myself came up with. Basically we took an observational neighborhood tour to get outside a bit and to use up some of that youthful energy that is bursting out of each of these young adults.

We walked around the school and I had the youth take notes on what they saw, ranging from street names, what billboards say, to different names of buildings and stores. After we walked for a half an hour or so, we went back inside to test how well they observed their surroundings with and without hints from myself.

Here are some pictures of our outside adventure.

Here are the girls taking notes















More observing















And the test and the end of the activity




















There was a tie for first place, and the winners were.........(drumroll please)..........................I am waiting.................................................................................just please do a drumroll on the table so I can announce the winners............................................................................................................................



Darrian and Shalaya



These two were the winners but the others were very close, congrats and enjoy your prizes.


-Ryan

P.S. Here is a little video for you all to watch

A Beacons Weekend

Beacons opportunities don't always stop when the school week ends! This weekend we had two cool events!

On Friday, we had an awesome Beacons Family Night at the Fred Wells Tennis and Learning Center by Fort Snelling. A group of our young people go to the Tennis Center twice every week to work on their tennis skills and work on academic enrichment, too!

Here is a shot from the second floor of the Tennis and Learning Center. You can see into the tennis dome where our young people get lessons twice a week.
While at the Tennis and Learning center, our young people get to work on computers a lot. They work on keyboarding software. Here is a shot of one of our families practicing together!

Families took to the courts at the Tennis and Learning center.

There was even a little table tennis!



The day after our super fun Family Night, some of our Middle School participants got a chance to attend the Multi-Cultural Achievers Regional Summit. There were young leaders from all over the country at the Holiday Inn in Bloomington.

We got to attend informational workshops like "Money Management", "Loving the Skin I'm In", and "Buff, Fit and Fine."
We ate a delicious lunch!
Stacey and Alyson found a meeting room with a familiar name
Then we watched a really thought-provoking speaker. Dr. Farrah Gray made his first million at the age of 14. He was raised on the South Side of Chicago. He is a business mogul, best selling author, and was the youngest person to have an office on Wall Street. He spoke about how to pursue your own success. He was so inspiring to our young people!

We even got a chance to meet him!So now you know what happens outside of regular Beacons hours! Happy Spring everyone! Now get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather!