Blog

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For the fourth straight year, the mallards have returned!  Last week, 20 new little ducklings joined the long line of Rousseau ducks who have called our courtyard their home.  A second nesting hen was discovered this week so…make way for MORE ducklings!

Astronomy Day Flyer (PDF)

CONGRATULATIONS to three Rousseau School Destination Imagination teams that earned their way to the Nebraska State Affiliate Finals in Kearney, Nebraska on Saturday, April 9, 20911.  The Mythology Mission team placed 15th,  the Triple Take Road Show team placed 4th, and the Unidentified Moving Object team placed 1st, earning a chance to compete at the Global Finals in Knoxville, Tennessee.  Job well done, Rousseau DIers and team managers!

The Mayor’s Run is April 30 this year and registrations are due to school NO LATER than April 20 or on-line at www.lincolnrun.org.  Don’t miss a chance to run with more than 100 Rousseau friends and more than 3000 students from the Lincoln area.  Registration forms were sent home in the Community News last Friday or can be printed from the Rousseau website.

• Mayor’s Run Registration Form (PDF)

Recently our 4th class visited Heritage School and here is a slide show of their day courtesy of Mrs. Trobee’s class.

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Archie recently visited Rousseau to get kids excited about the 140th Anniversary of the University of Nebraska’s State Museum!

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Rousseau students enjoyed Pat Etherton as the Cat in the Hat, with grandson Eli Etherton and  TJ Taylor as Thing One and Thing Two, to celebrate Read Across America, Dr. Seuss’s birthday.

We held a Community Open House to celebrate the end of our 16-month renovation project and THANK everyone who made the project possible.  Highlights of the renovation include:

• Renovated kindergarten classrooms that feature skylights and restrooms in each room
• Remodeled Media center and adjacent computer lab
• Integrated student services wing that consolidates programs and services for special education, academic support, and gifted.
• RESTROOMS – new restrooms in east, middle, south hallways, handicap accessible, staff and health office restrooms.  The beautiful new restrooms are a favorite with students!
• Renovated main office featuring an open design, records room, and updated health office
• New production room & conference room
• Attractive new main entrance canopy that better defines the entrance to the building
• Secured entrance system that guides visitors through the main office to check in before gaining access to the building
• Security access control at exterior doors that can be locked electronically at a moments notice
• Cafeteria boasts skylights, a lowered ceiling, sound panels, new lighting, and paint
• Large mezzanine on the roof that houses the new mechanical equipment
• South wing has new lockers and 2 suites, east and west, with 4 classrooms each for fourth and fifth grades
• In the 1964 original building and 1970 addition, new energy efficient windows, ceiling and lighting, which are 15-20% more efficient
• New flooring throughout almost the entire building
• New mechanical system with an energy recovery unit that reclaims 35% of exhausted energy
• New energy efficient geothermal heating and cooling system.  A well field with 144 geothermal wells, 270 feet deep, is located on the lower playground, with 15.5 miles of buried piping

Rousseau 5th grade student Mason and his dad created this video to promote his fundraising for and raise awareness of the annual Rousseau Jump Rope for Heart through the American Heart Association.  For more information on Jump Rope for Heart, please contact Rousseau PE teacher Mrs. Lana Peterson.

On Wednesday, February 23, world renowned and award-winning paleoartist Gary Staab visited Rousseau School to share his love for art, biology, and natural science with us.  Mr. Staab, who grew up in Grand Island, Nebraska, has said that he “always liked making stuff” and turned his Hastings College studies into a directed study with a focus on art and biology. Mr. Staab produces natural history and prehistoric life models for museums, publishing and film.  His work spans sculpting a flea to a T-rex and everything in between.  His sculptures and models are displayed in the halls of the National Geographic, The Smithsonian Institute, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, the American Museum of Natural History, and have been used in Walt Disney animation. In his career he has had great adventures such as being invited on archeological digs and measuring crocs in Costa Rica.  He even got to venture into King Tut’s tomb with scientists to research then create the first exact 3D replica of King Tut’s mummy.  All students got a chance to hear him speak about his work and some had the extraordinary opportunity to watch him work and participate in creating a clay dinosaur of their very own.  To learn more about and see examples of Gary Staab’s work, go to www.staabstudios.com.  Thank you to the Sepaphur family for making this unbelievable opportunity possible!