Monday of Homecoming is pajama day and casual wear day! Winners will be chosen later on during the week!

Winners: TBA

Homecoming coronation is Wednesday, October 5, in the high school gym at 7:00pm. The 2022 homecoming king and queen will be announced, along with new inductees to the athletic hall of fame.

Senior boys on the court are Zach Lutmer, Andrew Austin, Gable Van Beek, Simon Konechne, and Josh Elbert. Senior girls on the court are Afton Schlumbohm, Korryn Christensen, Louise Meyer, Ashlyn Murray, and Anna VanAartsen.

This year's coronation MC's are juniors Ryan Chase, Trevor Dieren, Josina Pedersen, and Reece Vander Zee.

Homecoming brings a variety of activities and competitions throughout the week. Coronation will be held Wednesday, October 5^th in the high school gym. Homecoming Olympics with several competitions between classes will be on Friday afternoon beginning at 1:00 pm. We will end the afternoon festivities with a parade around the elementary school. The FFA will host the homecoming supper in the activity center from 5:30-7:00 on Friday, October 7. At halftime of the football game vs. Sheldon, the mass band will perform. The homecoming dance follows the game until midnight. We will also have dress up days throughout the week.

Join us on our road trip to Homecoming!

Homecoming Dress up Days (October 3-7)

• Monday- Juneau, AK; Pajama Day/Comfy Clothes
• Tuesday- New York, NY; Major League Teams/Jerseys
• Wednesday- Four Cities/Class Theme Day
  • Seniors - Las Vegas, NV; Formal Dress OR Black 
  • Juniors - Tuscaloosa, AL; Sorority Vs. Frat OR White 
  • Sophomores - Honolulu, HI; Tourist/Beachwear OR Yellow 
  • Freshmen - Nashville, TN; Country OR Blue
• Thursday- Seattle, WA; Fake an Injury/Grey's Anatomy 
• Friday- Rock Rapids, IA; School Spirit/Purple & Gold

Every year, we have a button decorating contest for elementary students, with buttons on sale to public for $2. Judging for hallway and door decorating competitions will take place Wednesday after school. Each year during homecoming week, there is also a participation contest between classes, with rewards going to the class with the highest participation. In order to share rewards, students must participate in at least two dress up days and have attended the Homecoming Olympics. Throughout the week we also have individual dress up competitions.

Button winners - pictured

Door Decoration winners:  tbd

Hall decoration winners:  tbd

Class participation winners:  tbd

Dress-up day winners:  tbd

September’s Senior of the month has been noticed during her high school career by participating in many activities. Lilyann has been involved in Band (Flute), Jazz Band (Rhythm Guitar), Choir (Alto), Jazz Choir (Alto), Swing Choir, Vocal Solo Contest, Musical, Spring Play, Mock Trial, Individual Speech, Quiz Bowl, National Honor Society, and Space Settlement Design Competition. She can be found reading during most of her free time and her favorite class is Physics. The accomplishments that Lilyann is most proud of is attending the International Space Settlement Design Competition. Her team was the regional SSDC champions and got second at the international SSDC.

Congratulations to September Senior of the Month – Lilyann Downard

Elementary students at Central Lyon are taught that our four core expectations are to Respect All, Offer Help, Accept Responsibility, and Reach Expectations (ROAR). Staff acknowledge students following those expectations by giving them “ROAR cards” to point out what they were doing well. The cards are collected in a tote by the office. The cards are counted and six ROAR cards are drawn to recognize students who have demonstrated our Central Lyon ROAR expectations during that month. These students are known as “Lion Kids of Character” and are awarded a certificate to thank them for demonstrating our core expectations. Congratulations to these Lion Kids of Character! Way to ROAR!

Congratulations to the August Kids of Character! Way to work hard and ROAR!

The English II class started the year reading Lord of the Flies.  The overall plot of the novel takes place during wartime and consists of a group of young boys who get stranded on a desert island after their plane crashes.  As the boys struggle to come to an agreement on how they will survive on the island until rescue, they become more confrontational.  What starts off as a rather civilized atmosphere soon turns into an environment of wild savagery.

Each character in the book depicted significant characteristics that portrayed how they behaved within a group. Some characters were more prone to a civilized society where organized meetings with a leader were important and agreement was essential.  Other characters were eventually lost in ideas of savagery, where hunting and killing pigs in a brutal way was the #1 goal, and doing ‘fun’ things on the island was more important than getting rescued.

At the conclusion of the novel, students ‘drew’ a character that they would create a mask for. In the book, the characters wore masks to camouflage themselves when they went hunting.  The masks not only served as a visual camouflage device for hunting, but they also served as a symbol of ‘hiding one’s uncivilized actions’ per-se.

 Through researching the characters further, students found ways to artistically incorporate important symbols, scenes, and settings to their masks that their particular character exemplified. Students also incorporated elements from a Power and Control Wheel and Respect Wheel. These wheels showed ways in which ‘real-life’ and ‘fictional-life’ people/characters can either build their relationships around an abusive premise using power and control or, hopefully, through mutual respect. Unfortunately, for most of the characters in Lord of the Flies, power and control became the norm.  

Check out the pictures of some of the masks that were created.

This afternoon, our school nurse, Miss Brenda, came in to remind everyone about the importance of proper hand washing. First, she spent some time discussing the reasons why we wash our hands, when we need to, and how we do it correctly. Everyone practiced using imaginary soap and water. She encouraged them to sing the alphabet song or the birthday song twice while they washed their hands to know how long to scrub them. Next, she gave a few classmates some "magic powder" to represent fake germs on their hands. She encouraged everyone to join her on the carpet, shake hands, and give lots of high-fives. Following this they circled up to see how much the germs had spread to one another by using her black light. She then sent everyone to the bathroom to practice their new hand washing routine. When they returned she used her black light again to see who had done a good job washing their hands and removing all those "germs". Thanks for caring so much about us and our health, Nurse Brenda! We hope everyone stays healthy this school year!

*please click on the top pictures to see more photos

Seven of our students share birthdays in September: Conner S., Desta H. and Maddie R. who have birthdays on 9-8; twins Anna V. and Grant V on 9-14; Derek L. and Kegan K. on 9-21. Happy birthday to the rest of the September birthdays: Laura M., Sierra S., Molly K., Reece VZ., Ryan C.,  Jaylynn S., Cody K. Jac VW., and Rylie M.  and Jessa P. The evidence of the birthday paradox at Central Lyon is the pictured students with same-day birthdays.

What is a paradox?  Dictionary.com says a paradox is"... a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd, but in reality, expresses the truth." Have you ever heard of the birthday paradox, also known as the birthday problem probability theory? According to https://www. scientficamerican .com the birthday paradox states that in a random group of 23 people, there is about a FIFTY per cent chance that two people have the same birthday! Seems crazy, right? There have been different groups that have tested the birthday paradox. The results have been successful in proving, that in fact, the birthday paradox is real.

If more information and an in-depth explanation of the birthday paradox is wanted, please visit http:/ betterexplained.co

This afternoon we invited Megan Timmer-Stubbe from Health Services of Lyon County to share with our students about the importance of drinking water. She was pleasantly surprised by how many of the children already knew several facts and benefits of staying hydrated. Her office generously donated a water bottle for each student and she encouraged them to refill it once during the day. The bottles have the time on the hour printed on them to encourage the student's pace for drinking throughout the day. We think this is a great way to help us stay focused and have the brain power we need to keep learning a lot here in 2nd grade! Thanks for the cool water bottles, Health Services of Lyon County and thanks for taking the time out of your busy day to visit us, Megan! 

*please click on the top pictures to see more photos 

Central Lyon will be hosting the Community Blood Bank blood drive on Wednesday, October 5.  Please use the sign up link below to reserve your time slot.  Thanks!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/centrallyonoct5

Date: Wednesday, October 5
Time: 7:30am-3:40pm
Place: Central Lyon High School

Donation Requirements:

• You must be 17 years old (16 years old with signed parent/legal guardian consent form, see website for form) and weigh at least 110 pounds.
• Be in general good health. You can't have cold, fever, flu or sore throat.
• Make sure you eat a good meal prior to donating and drink plenty of water!
• Please bring a valid I.D. with you (Driver's License, Student I.D., State I.D. etc)

YOU CAN SAFELY DONATE EVERY 56 DAYS!

 This afternoon our class walked down to the Lyon County Fairgrounds and met Emily Ostrander, the Lyon County Conservationist, at the flower garden. Emily taught us how to identify a Monarch and also determine if it was a boy or a girl. She shared with the children that Kansas University encourages people to help track the butterflies by placing a sticker tag on them and reporting data on the computer. We learned that this creates job opportunities for people in Mexico to collect and report this data when the butterflies eventually migrate there. Emily let the children take turns trying to net butterflies in the garden. They were able to catch and tag a few Monarchs and then release them. It was so exciting to see them fly away again and then try to catch more. We had a few minutes left so we walked over to the Community Garden and were able to net some there, too. Everyone had a fantastic time and even caught other kinds of butterflies,too. Thanks for the amazing outdoor lesson, Emily. 

*please click on the top pictures to see more photos

Central Lyon employs a total of 20 high school substitute teachers, needing around 10 each week. There are many factors in deciding who to call for a sub. Some substitute teachers are available certain days of the week and a teacher may also request a particular sub. If it is last minute, the subs that live in town are the first to receive a call. Central Lyon tries to use all our subs equally. The substitute teachers at Central Lyon are flexible for they all try to do their best to adjust their personal schedules to help us out if we need them. During COVID, the demand for subs increased which made it difficult to keep up with the demand, as some substitutes chose to not sub for a portion of the year due to the pandemic. Many of our subs are retired staff members who want to keep in contact with the school and students. Others are individuals who work part time or not at all, so they love to come in and interact with students and staff. They get to see students from a different light in the classroom, compared to outside of the school. They also get to meet new students that they may not have if not for subbing. Not many people get the chance to interact with students in the classroom setting, so when subs come in and give encouraging feedback about the students, it is a great feeling! 

Our substitutes highlighted this spring are Jan Meester, Randy Meester, Heather Heimensen, Kyra Waletich, Bruce Eckenrod, and Barb Foltz.

Mrs. Meester has been a sub for the past eight years at Central Lyon, the only school she subs for. Before she was a substitute teacher, she was an English/Spanish teacher for 30 years at Central Lyon. Her husband also subs at Central Lyon; he previously worked as a middle school science teacher at GLR. Mrs. Meester limits her subbing talents to Central Lyon and does not have another part time job. Students appreciate her humor and her ability to tutor/help them review for Spanish tests. They both like to know ahead of time if she is needed as a sub, but accept morning calls because they live right across the street from the school! What Mrs. Meester likes best about subbing is keeping in communication with students and faculty. Although she prefers to substitute grades 7-12, her experience in lower grades has been very positive. Outside of being a substitute teacher, Mrs. Meester enjoys visiting children and spoiling her grandchildren, reading, doing jigsaw and crossword puzzles, painting, crafts, gardening, and watching her husband rearrange furniture!

Mrs. Heimensen is married to Corey and has three children, Zed, Hayden, and Grace who are all graduates of Central Lyon. Mrs. Heimensen has been a sub for one year at Central Lyon. Before she was a substitute teacher, she worked as a Victim Witness Coordinator at the Lyon County Attorney’s office. We are lucky to have her at our school for she does not sub at other schools and does not have another part time job. She enjoys interacting with the students as much as the students like interacting with her. She enjoys substituting for all grades from elementary to high school. In her free time, Mrs. Heimensen likes to read, bake, and she enjoys the outdoors.

Mrs. Waletich has been subbing for two years while also working at the school as a para! Since she works at Central Lyon when she’s not subbing, she does not sub for any other school. She really enjoys working with kids to see what they are currently working on. Mrs. Waletich has worked with all grade levels and each has its own qualities that she enjoys. This is her fourth year working as a para. She has been working on her teaching degree and next fall she will be working on her student teaching at Central Lyon.

This is Mr. Eckenrod’s first year subbing for Central Lyon, after retirement in 2021. He previously taught 7^th and 8^th grade social studies for several years here at Central Lyon. Other than substituting for us, he also is a substitute for West Lyon and is a groundskeeper for Central Lyon! Mr. Eckenrod’s favorite thing about subbing is getting to see former students. He prefers to work with 5^th-12^th graders. Mr. Eckenrod is married to Rachel, and they have two kids; Kiley and Kalen who is married to Emileigh. In his free time, he loves golfing, going to sporting events, and fishing.

Mrs. Foltz was an elementary teacher for 42 years; 39 of those years were at Central Lyon and her first three years were in South Dakota. She has been subbing at Central Lyon, West Lyon, and occasionally in Sioux Falls for nine years. Mrs. Foltz loves to interact with students of all ages. She believes that we can learn a lot from listening and talking with them, and most have an encouraging zest for life! She thinks working with younger grades is fun because the students are cute and will say whatever they think or feel. Mrs. Foltz has four children, Chad, Jen, Kelli, and Michael. She has nine grandchildren with the oldest being almost 21 years old and the youngest is 19 months with a sibling on the way! She loves to travel, meet people, and see new places!