Tuesday evening the G.F.W.C. Exeter Woman's Club welcomed Linda Allen, MS, PLMHT, NCC, and a counselor from Louisville, Neb. for a presentation on the topic of bullying at school.
Allen spoke to the large gathering of women representing the Exeter G.F.W.C. Woman’s Club and the Fairmont G.F.W.C. as well as members of the community. She started the discussion with encouraging attendees to define a bully and then asked them to share a few of their thoughts with those sitting around them.
After giving an official definition of bullying Allen described some of the traits of the behavior. She also explored the reasons why kids bully and why adults should care.
Some of the more startling statistics include the future of those who bully. According to Allen, “Studies have found that 60 percent of boys who were bullies in middle school had at least one conviction by age 24 and 40 percent had three or more convictions.”
After describing the health consequences that those bullied often face, Allen explored the topic of cyber bullying. This bullying usually occurs through email, instant messaging, text messages, blogging or chat rooms and is become more and more common. Allen explained that this behavior is very disturbing for two reasons. “Cyber bullying messages and images can be distributed quickly to a very wide audience and children and youth can be anonymous when cyber bullying.”
Allen encouraged parents to keep a close eye on children when using the Internet and continue to monitor Internet usage, as they become teenagers. She encouraged parents not to erase any communication that is threatening but make copies in case they are needed for future action. “This is a whole other ballpark for parents to understand,” said Allen.
Unfortunately Allen has found that bullying “starts early in our classes, I sometimes am using the word bully with Kindergarten parents.”
She emphasized that the reduction of bullying in schools requires a “change in the school climate” and “in norms for behavior.” Respect, trust, optimism and internationality (know why we do the things we do) were what Allen described for the school climate.
As far as norms for behavior she described two solutions, mentoring and consistency in discipline. She encouraged those in attendance to look online at several websites for more information on stopping bullying in our schools and homes.
Following up on a recent housing survey by the Fillmore County Development Corporation, Exeter community members had an additional opportunity to voice their opinion about the current housing situation in town.
The event was sponsored by the Exeter Chamber of Commerce and presented by the Fillmore County Development Corporation and Hanna:Keelan Associates.
Tim Keelan opened the meeting by presenting the results of the recent countywide housing surveys and also some demographic profiles that Hanna:Keelan Associates had compiled.
The full results of the housing survey and the Demographic Profiles are available in the slideshow on the right side of the page.See the slideshow of the event on the sidebar!
You know it has to be a good time when you get responses like “Family math rocks!” from some of the twenty-eight participants in the Exeter-Milligan Elementary school evening Family Math event.
Haven't heard of Family Math before? According to Exeter-Milligan elementary teachers Marla Weber and Anita Mueller it’s “A chance for parents to get involved with their children’s math education.“
The event held in the Exeter cafeteria was open to all families with children in kindergarten through sixth grade. Family Math was developed through the University of California, Berkeley. Weber and Mueller attended a two-day training program in 1991 to learn how to set up a successful family math event.
Since their training the pair have offered ten sessions and hope to continue offering more opportunities for learning in the future.
As the parent/child teams entered they had some Venn diagrams to sign and three different items to estimate. There were also math centers to explore which included Toothpick Farmer, Bug Block, Nimble Calculator, Cut a Card, Ten Card Arrangement, Tanagram Kits and Math Maps.
At the beginning of each session Weber and Mueller demonstrated several of the math activities and then participants were allowed to choose activities. Each activity could be tailored for the age and skill of the child. “This is a springboard for parents to show math is easy to do whenever and wherever you are to make it a positive experience,” said Weber.
More than just teaching math skills Weber felt it is “challenging for parents and children, it involves more strategy than basic math skills so it is fun for everyone. Some of the parents are still asking for answers to some of the tanagram puzzles.”
The parents wrote in their evaluations that they enjoyed having the bonding time with their children and thanked the teachers for volunteering their time to help the kids have some fun with learning.
**********Here is some advice from the Family Math book by Jean Kerr Stenmark, Virginia Thomsen and Ruth Cossey (Regents, University of California, 1986)******
1) Let your child know that you believe he/she can succeed.
2) Be ready to talk to your child about mathematics, and listen to what he/she says. Ask your child to explain the meaning of each part of a problem.
3) Be more concerned with the processes of doing mathematics than getting a correct answer. The answer to a particular problem has little importance, but knowing how to find answers is a lifetime skill.
4) Try not to tell your child how to solve the problem. It’s better to ask questions and help your child find his/her own methods of working it through.
5) Practice estimating with your child whenever possible. Estimation helps them think about a problem that precedes the doing, and it helps kids understand whether their answers make sense.
6) Provide a special place for study. Allow your child to help gear the place to his/her learning style.
7) Encourage group study, especially as your children grow older.
8) Expect that homework will be done, and look at completed homework regularly, but keep your comments positive. Praise your child for asking questions.
9) Try not to drill your child on math content or create hostilities by insisting that math work be done at one specific time or in a specific way.
10) Don’t expect that all homework will be easy for your child or be disappointed that it seems difficult,
11) Let your child see you enjoying mathematics. Include recreational mathematics in your family routine. Try to introduce math ideas (with a light touch!) at the dinner table, while traveling, or while at the grocery store.
Terry Salyer, of Exeter, had several strong motives for volunteering as an escort for the fourth Heartland Honor Flight and this was his most important one, honoring the World War II veterans.
He emphasized that “The story is not about me. It is about the World War II veterans. I was just there to help them along.” Both Terry and his wife Elaine are veterans of the Vietnam War. The served at the same hospital in Qui Nhon where Terry was a medic and Elaine was an R.N. She served a one year tour and Terry was there from 1966 to 1969.
When a spot to ride with the veterans on the October 22nd flight to Washington, D.C. came up he jumped at the chance, “I know my Dad will never get to see it so I wanted to go for him and see it for him. I sent my Dad a letter about my trip and all of the pictures and he got very emotional about it. That made the whole experience worth it for me. It meant so much to him," Salyer reported.
SEE THE SLIDESHOW OF TERRY'S PICTURES ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE PAGE
The Exeter Election Board spent 12 hours on Tuesday checking names, taking signatures, passing out ballots and collecting the completed ballots. The ladies who served are pictured from the left Bethine Leif, Sue DeJonge, Pat Koca, Elaine Krejci and Bonnie Cudaback.
Annette Gloystein
Ben Horne
Tim Pribyl
Jim ZelenyFor full interviews see http://www.pioneerpub.com/sentinelinsert.html
This is the chance for all Fillmore County residents to voice their opinion on how they think the county should take care of their roads. A vote at the ballot box on Tuesday, will decide on whether or not to dissolve the 16 townships in the county.
This proposition was on the ballot in November of 1992 according to Fillmore County Clerk, Amy Nelson. According to Nelson, 2080 residents voted to continue the townships with 1178 to dissolve. Currently 27 counties in Nebraska operate under a township government but residents in Buffalo and Phelps County along with Fillmore will have the issue on the ballot in November.
Larry Biester, a member of the Geneva Township Board, has been an active voice in encouraging the supervisors to place the proposition on the ballot. He has served on the board for 21 years. “I have seen it when it really worked good and now it just doesn’t want to work,” said Biester.The Exeter-Fairmont Township has also been running in the black mostly struggling with keeping members on the board and maintainers on the roads. Larry Cudaback, a member of the Exeter-Fairmont Township board repeated the thoughts of Biester claiming, “We spend a couple thousand dollars a year for insurance and the county already has that so it’s just a duplicate. Then the annual reports and audits and all takes quite a bit, too.”
Under the proposition Fillmore County Supervisors will become Commissioners in 2011 if the measure is passed.
See the full story at http://www.pioneerpub.com/sentinelinsert.html
Lots of Pumpkins painted
Cantrell Harrison watches her kids, Cami and Devin paint pumpkins
Jacy contemplates a pumpkin design
Alec has things all figured out!
According to Exeter United Methodist Church history book “A Journey in Faith”, the south window was provided by the G.A.R. (Grand Army of the Republic) and the W.R.C. (Women’s Relief Corp) in 1905.
Lately the storm windows have clouded and some of the glass has chipped so the church executive committee decided that it was time for some restoration. This reconditioning effort was paid for through donations and memorial funds and the work was done by Classic Art Glass Co. out of Omaha. According to Steve Rhodes, chair of the executive committee of the church, "The lead was getting bad. The windows needed a good reconditioning after 100 years."
See the full story at http://www.pioneerpub.com/sentinelinsert.html
