Minnesota New Country School

REMINDER: MNCS early release TODAY at 1:05 pm! Professional Development this afternoon for MNCS Staff.

Students dissecting owl pellets to learn what the owl ate! We found entire skulls of small rodents and birds. Students were grossed out and intrigued at the same time-what an amazing way to learn about owl life.

Kenna Ingles, age 12 from Le Sueur, is a 6th grader at Minnesota New Country School in Henderson. Last fall she applied for the Ann Bancroft Grant, with hopes to take a Special Effects Makeup Class at Faces Etc. of Minnesota in Minneapolis. She was awarded the 500.00 grant in November.

Career and College and YOU! MNCS is hosting an online event for MNCS Students and families to learn more about options after you graduate. Vermilion Community College will be online Tuesday, February 23rd from 2:00 - 2:20 http://meet.google.com/xbh-qbku-xmt

Are you dreaming of warmer weather, springtime, and sunshine? So are we! Planning a garden is really great way to pass the time when it's cold out. Who doesn't love to look at photos from a garden catalog and dream of how great everything will smell and taste when it's in your very own yard? This year, Nuts + Bolts (aka MNCS PTA) is hosting an online fundraiser with Flower Power Fundraising. All you have to do is dream about your garden and then order some things from the online catalog. Click here to order It's as easy as that! All proceeds from this fundraiser will benefit MNCS. You can help us grow by planting some things that grow --- pretty great, right? Thank you for supporting the students and staff at Minnesota New Country School! Here's to dirt under our fingernails and grass stains on our knees - Nuts + Bolts

Another junior high meet in the books! Shout out to Alli and Alex for judging tonight. 🙂 And a big congratulations to all of our competitors: Savannah (honorable mention humorous); Ashlynn; Tori; Dylan (2nd place prose); Kenna (1st place prose) & Morgan (4th place drama) We were having so much fun hanging out in my coaching link, I forgot to grab a team photo while everyone was in there. Please note attached photos of Tori & Kenna! Congratulations to all of you! 😊

We toad-a-ly love MNCS! Our elementary students wrote what they love about our school in honor of Valentine’s Day! 🐸 ♥️ 💗

DIY Beauty Buckets - Even though we couldn't be in person to do this class IT WORKED, and it was FUN! Didn't get a group picture with all 12 students :( (next time)

Speech Team - A special shout out to the Fab five (Sydney, Alyson, Allie, Presley Sue, and Alex) for jumping feet first into online judging, coaching, and cheerleading. Our team is lucky to have you! February 4th junior high meet: Kenna --1st place prose Dylan --2nd place prose Morgan --3rd place drama Victoria --Honorable Mention Humorous February 8th junior high meet: Annika --2nd place poetry Ashlynn --6th place poetry Dylan --2nd place Prose Kenna --3rd place prose Victoria --5th place Humorous Morgan --5th place drama

These "Happy little Trees" had a blast painting like Bob Ross this week.

Minnesota New Country School Paraprofessionals, You inspire, challenge and support the students at MNCS. We appreciate your dedication not only during this week, but all year long. Thank you

Trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent; these are the principles of a dedicated Boy Scout. At 10 years of age, Ben, “doing what other kids do,” took the Scout Oath and adopted these principles when he joined the Boy Scouts of America. Now at 17, and a junior at Minnesota New Country School, Ben continues his journey with the Scouts and is dedicated to earning the highest rank attainable, that of the Eagle Scout. As those of you who know Ben, he doesn’t let his disability (or his wheelchair) get in his way. “I’ve had to figure out how to do somethings differently,” Ben admitted. “But I’ve been able to keep up with the others in everything,” including rock climbing and sailing. From Boy Scout to Tenderfoot, Second Class to First Class and Star, Ben has moved up in Scouts and is currently ranked as a Life Scout. Experiential learning is the corner stone of the Scouts, which believe learning comes from doing. This philosophy works well with MNCS and Ben has been able to work some of his scouting projects into credit for school. Yet becoming an Eagle Scout takes perseverance and a lot of work, while only four percent of scouts advance to the top rank. “My brother made it and I don’t want to be the one who didn’t,” jokes Ben. As of now, he is working on badges for Citizenship in Community, Personal Management, and Communication. “I’ve got some work to do, but I’m hoping to get there by this summer.” His service project “not set in stone” is to raise head stones that have settled at the Sacred Heart Cemetery in Belle Plaine. Ben also has a week long camp coming up in April in which he’s excited to participate. Traveling to the Florida Keys, Ben said “There will be fishing, sailing, kayaking, snorkeling and scuba diving. We will be exploring Big Munson Island.” While attending camps is great fun, the community service aspect of Scouts also appeals to Ben “I get to see the boys actually doing good for the community.”

Career and College and YOU! The Career and Tech Ed Team at MNCS is hosting online events every month for MNCS students and parents to learn more about what your options are after you graduate. Thursday, January 21st from 1:30 - 2:00 Dunwoody College Google Meet Link is: https://meet.google.com/btf-orkw-ucw

In the spirit of the Minnesota winter weather coming our way... A recurring topic of discussion with elementary-aged kids (and bigger kids?! and their grown-ups?!) is... Is it safe to eat snow? See what some science-y experts say and let the debate continue! What other "snow science" can you discover on the internet, or even better yet, outside in your very own yard or neighborhood? Here's hoping all can get outside and enjoy some winter snow fun! -- and don't forget to gather up your winter gears for next week's return to school. We can't wait to play together again!

John’s student project was to create an online store to sell items he has crocheted. This unicorn, is a special piece he crocheted for his grandmother. If you would like to learn more about John’s online store email; Joan Skelly [email protected]

Rocks themed week! Grades 4, 5 and 6 looked at a bunch of rocks, and had Dr. Julie Bartley, a geology professor from Gustavus, join our class today!

SCHOOL LUNCH -- "Pre-order" lunches and pre-pay for school days Jan 19th through end of January -- deadline to order is NOON on Wed, Jan 13th Lunch information and Milk subscription - https://www.newcountryschool.com/page/mncs-lunch

ACT Prep Class is available for MNCS students grades 10th, 11th and 12th grades. Are you a 10th, 11th, or 12th grader signed up for the ACT this spring? (Remember 10th graders, if you are interested in PSEO classes your junior year, the ACT is the first step!) Jennifer will be running an ACT Prep class on February 12th and 19th. Preppers will attend both days and the hours will be logged onto their capstone project. All you have to do to sign up is fill out the information on the Google form and you are in! This class is free, but you must be signed up to attend by January 29th so the workbooks can be delivered to students' houses. To sign up go to the Secondary announcement page and scroll down to "Student Announcement " https://www.newcountryschool.com/page/announcements

Today (Wed, December 23, 2020) is a pre-scheduled Early Release Day, MNCS-Elem official school day end time is 1:15pm. Have a wonderful winter break, see you next year!

Interested in learning more about Special Education Language and Definitions. https://newcountrymn.sites.thrillshare.com/page/special-education-newsletter