It was an exciting day at Dakota Elementary on September 27! As part of their “Engaging Families” initiatives, the staff organized a visit from Tom Ross, the Mayor of Minot for the first-grade classrooms. Each month the students are given a word of the month to learn and develop a new skill. For the month of September their word was empathy.

The mayor went to the first-grade classrooms to discuss what it means to be a good citizen and how it coincides with their word of the month. When talking with Mayor Ross after his tour, he explained that the kids had incredible answers to what they believed made a good citizen, writing things like be good to your city, and help others. When I asked him how he enjoyed his visit he said. “This is the best part about being mayor. Being able to attend events like this and talking with the kids, showing them that they can be a mayor if they want to be.”

At the end of every month, parents are invited to attend an end of month assembly that gives them updates about what has been happening at the school that month. Starting with the school song and ending with their Soaring Eagle awards, the pep rally is a fun way to celebrate the students. This month, the mayor was there to present the awards to each of the students, offering them a handshake and congratulations! Along with their mascot, the eagle, giving them a big hug! It was truly a great way to honor the work these students put into their school and community.

Let’s give big congratulations to the soaring eagles of this month for their great job at showing empathy!
Kindergarten: Grace Simon, Lucas Mulrain, Penelope Gerard & Jack Paczesny First Grade: Avigail DeRyke & Avery Mose Second Grade: Abygail Carbo & Luna Blythe Third Grade: Julian Lane, Harper Mann, Maleah Whitworth & Greyson Campos Fourth Grade: Aubrey Peele, Paisley Henley & Sophia Mathewson Fifth Grade: Emma Coon, Anayeli Gonzalez & Seamus Holmgren

Along with their Soaring Eagle awards, Dakota Elementary does traveling trophies for their classes. These trophies are for classes that are showing strength in different areas around the school. The winning classrooms this month were: Golden Lunchroom: Knecht’s classroom, Little Librarians: Knecht’s classroom, Recess Rockstars: Jones’ classroom, Fabulous Fitness: Keller’s classroom, Music Maestros: Knecht’s classroom.

Along with their monthly assemblies for families, Dakota Elementary is working to break down the barriers between families and the educational system. With multiple successful events in the past such as Trunk-or-Treat, Donuts with Grown-Ups, and a Fall Festival, the school is looking forward to growing this program and introducing more events.

Laurie Kimball, the Title 1 teacher at Dakota said, “It’s so exciting to be able to offer events such as the Berry Acres event to our families. We know that increasing family engagement has a positive impact on student attendance, social skills, behavior, and academic achievement, so the more we can break down barriers families may have with the school system, the better it is for our students and the staff as well.”