Nebraska Public School Advantage News

Nebraska Public School Advantage News

Painting Hitchcock County Blue: Through unification, consolidation and everything in between, Falcons soar

Painting Hitchcock County Blue: Through unification, consolidation and everything in between, Falcons soar

October 1, 2018
By Tyler Dahlgren Chapter 1: Welcome to Hitchcock County Staring down consolidation is a spot no school really wants to find itself in. Death sentence or a lifeline? Each situation is different. If a school suddenly closes, the small town it serves as a cornerstone for becomes susceptible to vanishing with the building. On the other hand, sparse resources and dwindling funds don’t give schools...Read More

A Day at the Farm!

A Day at the Farm!

September 29, 2018
For more than 40 years, students in ESU 3 have been visiting Bellevue's Gifford Farm, an outdoor learning utopia nestled in the middle of a Missouri River oxbow! On Tuesday, September 25th, NPSA joined Ralstock's Mockingbird Elementary Kindergartners for a day on the farm. On average, nearly 30,000 visitors utilize this fantastic facility every year. Check back for a story later this week!Read More

Student Spotlight: Syracuse-Dunbar-Avoca Junior Danni Schutz

Student Spotlight: Syracuse-Dunbar-Avoca Junior Danni Schutz

September 27, 2018
By Tyler Dahlgren When Danni Schutz was six-years-old, her eyesight began to fade. Her family figured she was just getting older, and needed glasses, but the problems persisted. Countless visits to several different eye doctors over the next couple of years produced few answers, until a trip to Iowa changed everything. “In third-grade, I was sent to a specialist in Iowa City, and they figured out...Read More

Moving Mental Health to the Forefront: Westside Community Schools prioritizes social and emotional well-being

Moving Mental Health to the Forefront: Westside Community Schools prioritizes social and emotional well-being

September 24, 2018
By Tyler Dahlgren Amber Biegler is beginning her second year as school psychologist at Westside Middle School, and her third overall in Omaha’s third-largest school district. Each year, her building welcomes students from the district’s 10 elementary schools, and each morning, Amber tries to give the kids in her building a positive start to the day. She checks in with intensive behavioral...Read More

"Run Like the Gingerbread Man!": Logan View Students are the Pulse of Raider Run

"Run Like the Gingerbread Man!": Logan View Students are the Pulse of Raider Run

September 12, 2018
By Tyler Dahlgren The sun was sinking fast below the rolling hills west of a six-and-a half mile stretch of gravel road linking Logan View Public Schools to the village of Uehling. Runners navigated the dips, dives and steady inclines of County Road D, some travelling in packs and some keeping their own pace. Somewhere in the middle of the herd, there I was, trying my best to put one foot in...Read More

Crazy Cool Classrooms: A cozy den, a spacious studio, and comfort in the space between

Crazy Cool Classrooms: A cozy den, a spacious studio, and comfort in the space between

September 7, 2018
By Tyler Dahlgren Want to get the creative juices of a class full of eighth-graders flowing? “Draw Mrs. Garrick with a beard!” That should just about do the trick. Emily Garrick’s second year of teaching art at Adams Middle School in North Platte is under way, and her five-minute “Daily Draws” to kick-start each class period (draw a loaf of bread at a disco was another hit) aren’t the only...Read More

Crazy Cool Classroom: Jaclyn Nielsen's Language Arts Lounge

Crazy Cool Classroom: Jaclyn Nielsen's Language Arts Lounge

August 27, 2018
By Tyler Dahlgren Poke your head inside Jaclyn Nielsen’s eighth-grade language arts classroom, and survey what you see. There’s students lounging comfortably on bean bags and wobble chairs, actively engaging in curriculum discussion. Some attentively follow along while lightly bouncing up and down on a yoga ball. Others surround a neighboring stand-up desk and listen to Ms. Nielsen, who never...Read More

Custer Capable: Where Coming Home Counts

Custer Capable: Where Coming Home Counts

August 6, 2018
By Tyler Dahlgren Investing in the Youth A handful of years ago, Custer Economic Development Corporation’s leadership team recognized a critical need to take a hard look at the county’s workforce. The group brainstormed ways to ensure a steady, reliable influx of workers into a county that produces 46 million bushels of corn annually, the most in Nebraska, and, in 2013, was home to 12 new...Read More

Crazy Cool Classroom: Mrs. Everett's Surf Shack set for Grand Opening!

Crazy Cool Classroom: Mrs. Everett's Surf Shack set for Grand Opening!

July 31, 2018
By Tyler Dahlgren The year's first bell is about to ring, but who says summer needs to come to an end? Sure, August’s heat will soon give way to crisp fall days and, eventually, cold winter whiteouts. It sounds unlikely, but Julie Everett’s incoming class of Meadowlark Elementary fifth-graders might soon confuse Kearney, Nebraska for Oahu. Under bamboo shingles, hiding amongst a handful of...Read More

We're searching for the craziest, the coolest, the most imaginative classrooms!

We're searching for the craziest, the coolest, the most imaginative classrooms!

July 10, 2018
By Tyler Dahlgren I stumbled upon this blog Click Here! while doing some intense Monday morning perusing of the interwebs, and it had me thinking back to some of the classrooms I sat in growing up. The science room with Styrofoam planets dangling from the ceiling, periodic table placemats and graduated cylinders (I had to Google to confirm what those things were called, science was never my thing...Read More

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