After months of drilling times table facts, Mr. Lai’s class finally passed off all their multiplication facts from one through ten. The students take a 50 question timed test and have to do it under three minutes,  They have been practicing three days a week since October.  Students were also asked to do math fast facts each night for homework.  Each year Mr. Lai makes the same agreement with his class.  If they all pass their math facts then he shaves his head.  He has had to do it five times.

April 25th was Secretary Appreciation. The PTA decorated the office and provided Mrs. Debbie Dockstader and Mrs. Loura Martin capes and super hero masks because they truly are superheroes that take care of our school.  They do everything from taking care of students hurts to doing student attendance. The PTA tried to fill their shoes while they went to lunch and were utterly exhausted when the secretaries returned. Thanks for all you do!

Fifth-grade hosted its annual wax museum night on Tuesday May 8th. For a night, prominent people from history came back alive and told their stories. It was a great event and well attended. Congratulations to all the fifth grade students.

Spring Lake students in first, second, third, and fourth-grades were able to attend a play at Payson High School. Students there performed “Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose” by Dr. Seuss. They used student from the audience to help in play as well as a teacher. Those in the audience also contributed with some sound effects. It was a fun break from testing.

Students got to put on their running shoes and participate in an area track event for the first time. Students were able to choose two running events from the 50 M, 100 M, 200 M, and 400 M, as well as participate in the softball and long jump. It was a fun afternoon to learn about good sportsmanship and make  friends at other schools.

On Friday, April 6th, 2012 Third-grade students at Spring Lake Elementary visited the Monte L. Bean Museum at Brigham Young University. They watched two different shows. One on invertebrates and the other on ecosystems, which is part of third grade core for science and social studies. Students had fun looking at all the animals and learning things they did not know.

What can you do with used dryer sheets? This was the question that Mrs. Sunny Howard’s art classes were given for their Asian painting project.
Art in Japan was discussed, with examples of how they used “Nature” in their pictures.
Tagboard paper was used to draw their pictures.  Dryer sheets were then glued to the tagboard, and then the painting began. Mixing and tinting the colors until they achieved the color they desired.  They turned out beautifully.  The creation of ‘Painting on a Dryer Sheet’ was created.

On Friday, April 20, 2012 12 third-grade students took to the stage as they battled for the title of best speller. Three class winners were chosen out of each class from a class spelling bee. Then students spelled close to 200 words before narrowing it down to the final three. Pictured are the winners. Joshua Dunn (second), Dayna Chapa (first), and Camilla Adams (third). Congratulations to all who participated and a special thanks to our sponsors Zions Bank of Payson and the Spanish Fork Rotary Club.

Have you ever taken a balloon and drawn on it before blowing it up. Then inflate it. What does the original drawing look like? Stretched out!
Student from Mrs. Howard’s art class took a drawing, cut it up and spaced out the pieces. The finished drawing appears to be Stretched out.

On March 29th the third through sixth grade students at Spring Lake Elementary received a special visit from author Thomas R. William. Mr. Williams is the author of The Adventures of Dod, The Dark Hood and the Lair.  The author donated hundreds of Adventures of Dod books to Spring Lake through the Ken Garff Road to Success Program last fall. The students in grades three through six were challenged to read the book by the end of February. In all, 89 students completed the hefty 24 chapter adventure which is the first in the series.