Our Lakota (Sioux) eighth graders are learning to cook in their Personal Living Skills (PLS) class. Pam, our PLS teacher came by the office and dropped off their most recent effort, a pepperoni Stromboli. The crust was perfectly flaky and it proved to be a tasty and delightful midday snack!
Later I stopped by the classroom and saw they are also working on a money management project. Finance workbooks have been developed through one of the local banks in Chamberlain, and are a great resource for our Native American students.
While it’s all pretend money at this point, they have to keep track of bills and payments like car and phone, log income and keep track of taxes. Money management is one of the lifelong skills we try to make sure they get a good handle on as early as possible.
A grandparent called me today to discuss some bullying issues with other students. We do have fights and bullying pop up on campus, and we take all incidences seriously. We want to stop the smaller shoving and name-calling before it develops into something much worse. Respect is such an important Lakota virtue and we hope our students learn to appreciate each other and work together. Whenever there is a problem, we want to use it as a learning experience, and get at the deeper issues that are bothering a child.
