Great things are happening at Winside Elementary school. Major construction can be seen from the outside the school. What has been happening on the inside has been changing lives one positive action at a time and will make a lifetime difference.
April Knust, who is in her 26th year of education, has embraced her new job as the PK-6 grade principal with enthusiasm and positivity. Knust believes that by creating a relationship with students shows that she values them as a student and who they are. She said education is important but so is learning to be kind and how to relate to others.
Knust took some of the previous activities the students were involved in and enhanced them while also implementing new ones.
Every month students are nominated for the Student of the Month award in the Wayne Herald. All students nominated are recognized on the school website while also receiving an award and candy. The overall winner each month is determined in a drawing.
Every Thursday Kindness Awards are given to students that have seen being kind. These students receive a certificate, a piece of candy and are recognized on the school website. Examples of kindness have included doing tasks without being asked, helping out other students and saying nice things to others.
Students who have received Kindness Awards and Student of the Month Awards are put into a drawing. The first drawing took place before Thanksgiving and prizes awarded were two sets of two movie tickets, yo-yos from Ned’s Resilience Ride, Bluetooth speakers, Squish mellows and pens. The next drawing will be held before Easter.
On Fridays, the students start their day off with High Five Fridays. All students give high fives to each other to encourage them to start their day off right.
Birthdays and half birthdays are celebrated daily before school starts by singing Happy Birthday to each student.
This year the Homecoming parade was brought back with the Elementary school creating chants and walking in the parade.
Assemblies are being brought to the school. Ned’s Resilience Ride came and talked about never giving up, encouraging others, and inspiring students to do their best.
Halloween was celebrated in style. Students that wanted to participate in dressing up for Halloween were encouraged to show off their best attire in the first Halloween Fashion Show. The high school Student Council announced each participant as they walked across the stage and parents in the audience cheered with encouragement.
Celebration of Christmas is everywhere when you walk around the school. Students and teachers worked together to decorate each classroom door. A contest will be held with awards given to the classrooms voted on by the high school students.
The twelve days of Christmas changed the attire of the students each day during this activity. Prizes were given for the class that dressed up the most.
Examples of dress up days were Candy cane day (wear stripes), Jingle toes (wear funny Christmas socks), Christmas pajamas, and team Santa vs team Grinch (dress as either).
Knust hand crafts treats for each holiday for all students. For Thanksgiving, students received a handmade turkey with a sucker in the center.
One of Knust’s goals is to help students to gain more books for their home libraries. This year she implemented a program called Book Blast. This is a national program that partners with schools to bring popular books to students, fostering literacy, imagination, and a lifelong passion for learning. Winside Elementary School helped all students earn two free books to take home.
Students participated in NSCAS testing in the fall. Students who had growth in testing scores and students above 90th percentile all received certificates and recognition on the website.
James Gubbels, the school counselor, also is seen throughout the day in the classrooms writing fun math problems, riddles or hiding a miniature Christmas ornament for students to find. He said he absolutely loves Christmas and by his interactions with students you can see he really cares for the them.
Winside School and High School FCCLA sold Christmas Grams for a fundraiser. All proceeds went for testing rewards, kindness/student of the month and playground items.
The Elementary Student Council had also helped with increasing kindness in the school. They have read books to preschool students, collected food for the Winside Backpack program and other encouraging activities to promote leadership and share joy.
Teachers, along with the students, participated in the fun activities. Because of all their hard work, there is a group of mystery parents that come once a month on a Friday to bring them well-deserved treats with sayings to provide encouragement and thank them for all their hard work.
Knust held a decorating pumpkin contest for the teachers with the students voting. The top three winners received gift certificates, and all participants were given a candy bar. After the end of the first quarter teachers were treated with Apple Nachos, before Thanksgiving break, an array of dips was available for teachers to snack on, all made by Knust. For Christmas, the teachers participated in a Secret Santa.
Knust hopes with all of the above activities, they will increase the climate and culture. Knust reported that she had been told that the air feels lighter at the school.
"We still have our issues, and it will take time to work through those," Knust said.
She does love that the students who are always doing what is right are being recognized.
The sixth grade students shared how great this school year has been. They reported how they loved the recognition, the prizes, and opportunities.
Making a difference one child at a time is truly happening at the Winside Elementary School.
