Colby Area Schools News

Greetings Everyone-
My name is Matt Cihlar, and I am the new elementary principal in Colby, WI. I am excited to take this opportunity to share with you some of the great things happening in our school. Our motto at Colby Elementary is “Pride in the Hive.” Many of our systems revolve around this motto. Along with pride in the hive, we stress to our students the importance of the 3 B’s: be safe, be respectful, and be responsible. Not only do we want our students to grow academically, but we also want to create independent, productive citizens to be a part of our community.
It has been a busy start to the school year. One of our biggest initiatives this year has been the adoption of our new English Language Art curriculum, CKLA. One of the main purposes of switching to this curriculum is to better align to Act 20 requirements. Act 20 is a new Wisconsin state law that focuses on early literacy for all students. Our staff has been working diligently to learn this new curriculum, and have spent many hours in professional development to master the “in’s and out’s” of it. As I walk the halls of our school, I am constantly in awe of how our teachers have embraced this curriculum, and how the conversations around doing what is best for our students occur.
Along with this new curriculum and Act 20, we have continued to refine our behavior program, PBIS. PBIS stands for Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports, which is a research-based framework that helps schools create a safe and positive environment for all students. One of our goals in this program is to “fill the hive” for an all school reward. The hive gets filled when a staff member sees a student going above and beyond what is expected when students are out and about. When staff members see this, they fill out a hive piece and place it in the hive. It is always exciting to see the reaction of our students when the hive gets close to being filled! Rewards have been an extra recess, popcorn and a movie, and hot chocolate.
Another program that we do to recognize our students that go above and beyond is our monthly Super Stinger assemblies. Each month, we focus on a character trait and recognize our students that have excelled in this area. During these assemblies, a group of teachers organizes a short slideshow talking about the characteristics that we are focusing on, and gives examples of what that looks like. Students then practice what that character trait is during the assembly, and then go and take action on their own. Students who are our Super Stingers receive a certificate and a prize for winning! We are so proud of our students for displaying these characteristics that make a great citizen!

This fall, we had a visit from our local fire department (Central Fire and EMS) to talk to our students about fire safety. Central Fire and EMS volunteers came in and gave a short presentation to our students about fire safety, and then had the opportunity to go into the smokehouse. The smokehouse is a small trailer (that looks like a house) that students go into, along with our first responders, and fills up with smoke. Students then need to use the skills that they learned during the presentation to get themselves out of the house and to a safe area. Our volunteers then debrief with students on how they did. A huge thank you to all of the volunteers who gave up time in their day to come and educate our students about fire safety.
Also this fall, we have some of our high school students that are involved in the Educators Rising program come into our building and work with our students and staff. Educators Rising is a program for students aspiring to be teachers to come into a teacher’s classroom and get hands-on experience working with students. This program is different from a student coming into a classroom and just helping a teacher. These students learn from some of our veteran teachers the skills it takes to run a classroom on a daily basis. Students then work with our staff to plan lessons and team teach with our staff. We are so grateful to our teachers who are willing to go above and beyond to help our high school students to see if teaching is something they want to pursue one day!
Over the holidays, we had a surprise guest stop by the elementary school, the grinch and Santa Clause! Santa stopped by each classroom and delivered a book to each student in grades K-5 (thank you Santa), and had a short time listening to what students wanted for Christmas. And the grinch, well he was up to his usual shenanigans! The grinch made stops in classrooms, in the lunch room, the health room, and even ended up on the roof with Santa to say good-bye to students before they left for winter break. We ended the school day on the last day before break with an all school sing and dance party! Needless to say, it was a very enjoyable day for students!
There is not enough room to tell you about all of the great things happening in Colby. In my short time here, I already know that Colby is a special place to be. I am so proud of how our school and community work together to support each other to help create productive citizens who will be the future of our community. We know that it takes a village to raise a child, and the Colby community does an outstanding job working together to accomplish this. We are proud to call Colby home! Go Hornets!
Matt Cihlar
Elementary Principal
Colby Public Schools