Preschool students got a first hand look at how to make witches brew. Students were dressed up in their costumes and had a fun Halloween party, where they got to try witches brew and carve out pumpkins. These guys got guts!
Preschool students had some special visitors that came in to show them tools that they use when they come to rescue people. They put on their fire suit to show them that they are not scary guys. If students ever have a fire at their home the firemen will come and help. Students had fun exploring the fire truck. Thank You Payson Fire Department.
Third grade students at Spring Lake enjoyed a Thanksgiving Feast. Students wore pilgrim hats along with Indian headbands and enjoyed school Thanksgiving lunch. Students made placemats as part of a math glyph to have their meals on. Afterwards parents provided pies and whipped cream. Thanks for all those who helped this day be a great success and something students will remember.
Spring Lake Elementary students have been reading towards their goal of 2.6 million minutes. For five nights of reading students get to put a ticket in the drawing. For a complete week of reading they get to put in two. On Friday November 5th they pulled the first winner of six for the year for a bicycle. We will draw another winner in seven weeks. Keep reading.
There was a busy week of coloring at Spring Lake Elementary in all the grades in hopes of being the lucky winners of the ‘Fire Prevention Week’ coloring contest. The Payson fire department collected all of the pages and selected the following winners: Kindergarten – Jared Ullery, First grade – Kate Golding, second grade – Brinnley Layton, third grade – Daniel Fordianni, fourth grade – Darby Miller, fifth grade – Brandon Earl, and sixth grade – Stephanie Scott.
So on Friday October 8th the Fire Department came in with lights and sirens and picked up the lucky winners. They treated them to lunch along with students from other elementary schools in Payson.
Thank you Chief Scott J. Spencer and all the brave men and women that keep us safe!
On Friday October 1st, 2010. Third grade students at Spring Lake Elementary had an encounter with dinosaurs. After reading their Scholastic story about Mary Anning from England who discovered an Ichthyosaur near her home in Lyme Regis, students were able to meet two paleontologist who work in Utah. Charlie McClellan is a specialist with fish plates. He has prepared fossil bones and fish for several years at both the Brigham Young University Earth Science Museum and for Western Paleontological Labs. Charlie’s work is on display for sale at Knott's Berry Farm in California, Ruby's Inn at Bryce Canyon, the North American Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, Utah, and various other locations in the U.S., Canada and Japan. Charlie brought some of his specimens to show the students. He had one fossil that the students got to touch and pass around which they thought was neat. Only at the end to find out it was coprolite. (Dinosaur poop) Students learned that the state dinosaur is not the Utah Raptor but in fact the Allosaurus as we have been able to find many more specimens in Utah. Karen Cloward also came and shared her vast knowledge about dinosaurs from the Jurassic time period with the students. Karen has been an active paleontologist for the past 18 years. She has co-authored several scientific papers and has named teo new species of dinosaurs and one new species of pterosaur. She was on the design team for the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point and the Director of Education and Exhibits. She is currently preparing dinosaurs for a traveling exhibit, and museums around the world. Students learned that the T-Rex was actually around 75 million years after the Jurassic time period so he did not eat the long neck dinosaurs or stegosaurus like you would think from movies and books.
They encouraged students to study hard, stay in school, and go to college. You have to take math classes and sciences to go into the field of paleontology. Usually a Bachelors in geology or biology and then a Masters or Doctorate in paleontology.
For more information about our paleontologist friends or to have them visit:
On September 17th, fifth grade students at participated in the annual Spring Lake Boot Camp at Memorial Park in Payson.
“Boot camp was awesome! A lot of parents participated, and helped make the activities fun for everyone.” Said Tamber Gregory.
There were several activities. One was an obstacle course where students had to climb a rock wall, run through the playground, go down two slides, under a big parachute, through the swings, walk along the curb, jump off and jump into a sack and hop off to victory! They also played capture the ball, built towers out of spaghetti, and had some relay races. The final event after lunch was a flour bomb war. Each student wore a ribbon with their class color and then Mr. Ewell explained the rules. You could only have one flour bomb at a time. They played three rounds and everyone was covered in flour. After the flour war, students walked back to school.
On Friday the 17th Spring Lake Elementary celebrated Constitution Day. Eight sixth grade gentlemen in Mrs. Davies class wore Boy Scout uniforms and helped in a meaningful flag ceremony. The boys were: Braden Petersen, Tyler Johnson, Brody Caras, Norman Dinkins, Anthony Fordiani, Tyler Batty, Garret Figgins, and Van Sorensen. The sun was bright and we had a soft breeze as the American Flag, which flew over Afghanistan, was raised to the top of the flag pole. The school recited The Pledge of Allegiance and sang the national anthem. The student body also sang God Bless America, This Land is Your Land, and God Bless the USA. Miss Evans, a second grade teacher at Spring Lake talked about the raised flag, which flew over Afghanistan while her brother was stationed there. The feeling at the school was amazing. Constitution Day is a day to remember and it was even more remarkable.
On September 17th Spring Lake hosted its first PTA Carnival. Each grade level hosted an activity. There was a bounce house and slide as well as face painting, balloon animals, fish pond, ring toss, football throw, soda pop walk, flag tag, and everyone’s favorite the fun flush. There were also food booths with popcorn, nachos, cotton candy and thanks to a generous off from Sara Lee – hotdogs, chips, and drinks.
Kindergarten students made gingerbread men that have come alive and run away. They are exploring the school and meeting new teachers and staff as they search for the missing gingerbread man. If you have seen him please contact the kindergarten teacher immediately!