A (Wednes)day in the Life!

Hello Blog world!

So many awesome things happened at Sheridan Beacons on Wednesday!

So now we begin our weekly tour or Beacons!

First, I stopped into our Movie Marketing and Design group. They are working on a Beacons commercial for the Talent Show. When I came in to the group today, they were working on Beacons values that they want to include in the commercial. I will post it after the Talent Show!
Next, I checked in with our Running group. This group of young people are logging minutes that they spend being physically active for the Medtronic Twin Cities Kids Marathon. They get to go to special events and even earn prizes for the minutes that they are active!
Here they are warming up
Then I went to check out the Guitar group. Ryan found these amazing guitars for our young people to learn on. They are learning all of the different notes and scales to play on the guitar. If things go as planned, the group plans to play a popular song at the Talent Show! I won't spoil the surprise by telling you which one!
Here they are practicing their scales
Our K-2 group has been learning all about health and fitness this week. They learned about hand washing, how to stay active, why to drink water, and the food pyramid. Here is the group learning about the food pyramid!
Next I went to Sci-fi. This group is working on lots of really cool projects this session! They have perfected the scientific method, so now they are ready to experiment! The group is going to experiment with Diet Coke and Mentos. Here they are researching the results from other Diet Coke and Mentos experiments. They are pointing out a video of the eruption.
The Grub Club made Special K bars on Wednesday. This Middle School group works on lots of cool cooking projects. This is a big group of dedicated middle schoolers who love to cook and taste their food!
This week, we had Beacons Riddles! We posted riddles on the wall, one for 3-5th grade and one for Middle School. Lots of our young people wrote their answers on pieces of paper and put them in a box, hoping to win a prize!
Wednesday was Earth Day, so the 7th and 8th grade academic group learned all about the history of Earth Day and ways to "green" your school. After they learned all of the information, they had a structured debate about Earth Day. They pretended that they were back in the 1970's and discussed whether or not the US should start observing Earth Day for the first time. Here is a shot of them learning all about Earth Day.
Next, I stopped into the computer lab to see the 6th graders. They were writing papers about the books that they were reading last week. Here you can see some 6th graders using their books to write a research paper.
Then I stopped by the Kindergarteners. They were making books, reading and working on their letter recognition. Here are some of the Kindergarteners working on their letters.
Then it was time to go. It is hard to believe that a month ago, we were standing in bus lines shivering...and now we dont even need our jackets! You can even see the bushes starting to flower. Yay for spring!

Well, that's it for another (Wednes)day in the life of Sheridan Beacons! Check back soon for more exciting updates!

Check it out!

There is another FREE Family Tennis Mixer!

It's this Friday, April 24th from 5-7

at the Fred Wells Tennis and Education Center

100 Federal Drive

St. Paul, MN 55411

Go check out the cool things going on at Fred Wells Tennis and Education Center!

For more info go to www.tennisandlearning.org

A (Tues)day in the life

Welcome back, friends!

I hope everyone had an awesome spring break! I know we did here at Beacons!

We are back in full effect this week, and everyone was excited to come back to Beacons!
So, now that Beacons is up and running, I will take you along on my trip through Beacons today!

Our kindergarten group is working hard on an exciting tap dance number for the Beacons talent show! Here is a shot of them hard at work during their dance practice today:
Next I stopped by Beats & Rhymes. This group is creating a CD of beats. Here they are getting an introduction to their studio.

Have you ever wondered how to make gum? Our beacon partners with the YWCA to run a Girl Power group. Girl Power works with our young women on super fun projects around math and science.
I hung out with them and scored the recipe and instructions to making gum! Check it out:

1. Set out all of your ingredients: chicle, corn syrup, granulated sugar mixed with kool-aid, and powdered sugar.2. Put chicle into a container and pour corn syrup on top. Stir.
3. Heat in microwave for approximately 50 seconds. Stir.
4. Pour in sugar/kool-aid mixture. Stir.5. Pour in some powdered sugar to thicken. Stir until it is too thick to continue.6. Pour the rest of the powdered sugar onto your table. Then pour your gum mixture onto the sugar. Be careful, it's really sticky!7. Knead until it is firm like regular gum.8. Roll into balls or make into any shape you want!
9. Enjoy!

Next, I stopped into Y's Start. Y's Start is a YMCA program where we introduce our young people to leadership and service learning. This group of young people work on a few projects per session, and they even get paid for all of their hard work. Today, they were reading their group contract, and planning some really exciting service learning projects. Check back for more updates on those!
Then it was academic time. I stopped in to the 6th grade classroom to find them reading books. Some of them were reading about the rain forest, and some about different scents.After academics, it was time to go. Here is the tennis group unloading the super cool blue tennis bus!
Then everyone had to load the buses. Here are some shots of everyone taking off today.

Oh, and Beacons is not over after most of the students get on the bus to go home!
Today we had a meeting of Beacons After Hours (BAH). BAH is a group of Sheridan students ranging from grades 1-8 that acts as a type of student council.
Our group is planning a family event here at our beacon, but today we worked on a plan for a BAH Beacons Store. Here is our group brainstorming ideas.
Then we discussed all of our ideas. Our young people lead the discussion. Here you can see them raising hands to get a turn. We pass around a 'talking stick' of sorts in the form of a rubber shark. You can't really see him in the picture, but he is at each BAH meeting and is an honorary member of our group!
We will update on all BAH activities here, so check back soon!
So that's it for a (Tues)day in the life of Sheridan Beacons this Spring Session! We have lots of cool new groups this session, so stay tuned to check out all of the new stuff we are doing here at Sheridan!!