Buffalo Clan Fall Impact Report
Your Impact
St. Labre is more than a school. With your help, we offer our students the tools and resources to become a generation that is Proud, Prosperous and Free, including:
nutritious school meals served
weekend backpacks filled with food
gallons of fuel used by our buses
college attendance rate
in direct community outreach
"Everyone likes the teachers here. They really care about us."
- Sierra*
While many students stay in our campus dorm during the week, others travel over 2 hours by bus every single day just to pursue their education. That's true dedication.
Among the highlights of the school day at St. Labre are the nutritious meals the students enjoy.
Staff and students were excited to see one another and trade stories about the summer months.
Students Explore the Great Plains Ecosystem
From meeting “Bandit,” a black-footed ferret, whose species was once thought to be extinct, to hiking Bear Gulch Canyon featuring Indigenous art dating as far back as the year 1000, ten high school members of St. Labre’s Environmental Club had unforgettable experiences during a recent field trip to Lewistown, Montana. The trip offered new insights into the Great Plains ecosystem and Native tribes’ connection with plains animals, the natural world and the technologies of yesterday and tomorrow.
Students examined the life cycles of the many trout species that rely on the precious Madison Aquifer at the Big Springs Trout Hatchery. And the Billings Office of the Northern Plains Resource Council hosted the students for an exploration of energy production, from coal mines to windmills, solar panels and a proposed nuclear plant.
To round out the trip, Cheyenne elder, Otto Braided Hair, spoke to the students about the tribe’s relationship with the natural world and how each living thing has a spirit.
Vertical Alignment: A New Learning Approach for a New Generation
Do you remember learning to read? Whether it was Dick, Jane and Spot, phonics, or “sight words,” chances are it involved a lot of repetition, so you learned to identify words. This worked better for some kids than others.
At St. Labre Elementary School, we launched a new approach called “Vertical Alignment” that is showing great promise across subject areas such as math, literacy and media.
When it comes to reading, students in grades 1-4 take pre-tests to determine where they could use some help. The program then helps them progress more quickly in word recognition. Skill levels improve and before long, the kids are learning new vocabulary words and putting together phrases and sentences
Mrs. Small says the students enjoy working in teams and get excited to try out their new words. We are excited to see what new worlds this new generation of readers will discover thanks to this innovative learning method!
A Place to Learn, Grow and Belong
Every smile, friendship, lesson and activity reflects the supportive community your generosity makes possible.
Trick or Treat!
As soon as school is in session, our students start looking forward to the next big milestone in any kid’s year: Halloween! If you like pictures of cute kids in costumes (and who doesn’t?), watch your inbox later this month for a link to photos of cute kids in costume. Who can resist?
* Student photo changed to protect privacy.