Sturgis Elementary Newsletter

January 2025

A Note From Principal Chantal Ligtenberg

We wish you all a wonderful holiday break!

I hope you are all able to spend time with family and friends and enjoy some time away from the hustle and bustle! If you hear the words, “I’m bored” from your students during the break, I am sure you will have plenty of ideas for them. In case you run out of ideas, they are more than welcome to login to Dreambox and Lexia or nestle in with their library book.

Attendance Matters:

We have been in school for 78 days. If your child has missed 7.8 days or more at this point in the school year, they are considered chronically absent at this point in the year, regardless of the type of absence. Chronic absenteeism is missing 10 percent or more of school days. When missing more than 10% of school days, this puts your child at risk academically.

Winter wear:

There is not much we can do about weather, but there are key steps we can do to keep our students healthy.

Dress children warmly for the cold weather. Please make sure you send them with a winter coat during these colder months.
Stress the importance of eating a good breakfast every morning.
Stress hand washing, particularly in the winter months.
Talk to your doctor or school nurse about when a sick child should return to school.

Dining Room STARS:

Students have been working really hard to be Dining Room STARS. During lunch our students have the following expectations:

Stay in your seat

Talk only to your elbow buddies

Always use your manners

Raise your hand if you need assistance

Lunchroom staff give out tokens to students modeling this behavior and each week there is a drawing. The winners of these drawings will get to pick a friend to sit by at a “buddy lunch”. At the end of each month there is a drawing and students that win get to select a book from our book vending machine.

Important Dates & School District Calendar

Meade School District Calendar

Yearbook Orders - Online Only

There will not be any yearbooks available for purchase in the office.

All orders are made and paid for online.

Scholars of the Month

School Activities & FUN

Sturgis Elementary hosted the annual 4th grade spelling bee on December 5th. This process began with all students in fourth grade taking a preliminary written test. Based on their scores, nineteen finalists were selected for the final competition. These students were given two mock bees for practice along with suggestions for studying. Many were in the audience for our final spelling bee, including all third and fourth-grade classes and family members of the competitors. Students were nervous and excited for the opportunity to show their spelling skills. The bee lasted six rounds before three final winners were determined. Our qualifiers are Sawyer Sigman, Brantley Richter, and Kirra Barbee. They now have the opportunity to represent Sturgis Elementary at the Regional Spelling Bee which will be held in Rapid City in February of 2025. We are very proud of all of the students who competed and wish our three finalists the best of luck at the next level.