Buchanan K-1 Center
It is the time of the year that I get to highlight the happenings at Buchanan through the eyes of the School Counseling department!

We have had a lot of great things happening amongst such a heavy-hearted school year as we continue after the loss of our fearless leader and principal, Mrs. Heinz in December.

We celebrated Kindness Week at the end of January. Kindness trophies traveled from classroom to classroom and the kids’ kindness acts were rewarded with pieces of “confetti” with their name written on to hang on our themed “Throw Kindness like Confetti” wall in the lunchroom.

We had a penny drive that ended up raising over $750 and donations to several areas in the community were made with the raised money. The kids loved contributing their pennies and watching the penny level rise throughout the week. Not only were donations made to the community, but kindness posters were made and distributed to Emergency Services & Healthcare facilities. All around it was a fun week to celebrate kindness.

In classroom counseling for kindergarten and first grade, lessons have been focused on Kindness, Friendship, Social Skills, and Feeling Identification. Deep breathing has also been incorporated and made a focus of each lesson.

We will be rounding out the classroom counseling lessons in April this year with a feelings identification review by playing a Feelings Memory card game! This is always a favorite activity for students & such a fun way to review, not only some of the feelings we have talked about this year but putting to use the clues they have learned to look for, to help identify different feelings.

It is such a joy to see students’ excitement for learning about feelings and their social-emotional learning!

Mrs. Laci Guy , School Counselor
Buchanan K-1 Center

Huron High School
Street Law
In street law class we are just about to finish our unit on criminal violations. We have talked about crimes against the person and will be discussing crimes against property next.

Part of our unit also involved the crime of Driving Under the Influence of alcohol or drugs, or DUI. Troopers with the South Dakota Highway Patrol came to our classroom last week to work with the students during two different class periods. They explained the process of doing a DUI traffic stop and also discussed the dangers of driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

The officers also had the students perform field sobriety tests both with and without the Fatal Vision goggles, which help to simulate the effects of alcohol and drugs on the body. We also recently had School Resource Officer Lark come in and do a question and answer session with the students.

Government

In government class we recently finished our units on the legislative branch of the U.S. government, as well as the U.S. Constitution. We have discussed rights and responsibilities of citizens as well as powers of the state and federal governments.

We will be beginning our unit on civic responsibility, which also consists of learning about voting history and rights.

World History I
We are currently in the midst of a unit based on the ancient civilizations of Greece and Rome. We have been discussing many things, including the influences of those civilizations on life and culture today, types of government, famous battles, etc.

The students have recently worked on a project dealing with Greek mythology. They will soon be taking a virtual tour of Ancient Rome and taking part in other activities and discussions to begin that portion of the unit.

Kelly Hennrich, Social Studies Teacher
Huron High School