Reardan Weekly

Announcing: Wall of Fame Nominations are Now Open!

Do you know a former student, coach, or community member who has made an outstanding contribution to the Reardan-Edwall legacy? Now is your chance to ensure their achievements are honored.

We are officially accepting nominations for the Wall of Fame. This program recognizes individuals who have demonstrated exceptional leadership, character, and success during their time at Reardan or in their professional lives afterward.

How to Nominate:

Please take a moment to fill out our online nomination form with the candidate’s details and why you believe they deserve this recognition.

Help us celebrate the people who make our district great!

Mid-Winter Break

Parents Remember that Mid-Winter Break is nearly upon us. There is NO SCHOOL (All Grades) the week of February 16-20th

No Preschool Friday, February 13th

- Gravity vs. Art: 3rd Grade Edition!

Our 3rd graders are officially Force Investigators! This week, we kicked off our new OpenSciEd unit on Forces and Interactions with a hands-on building challenge.

What we did:

• Built: Students designed their own sculptures to see how balanced and unbalanced forces work in real life.

• Explored: We took the learning home! Students sketched sculptures from their own neighborhoods to see science in the real world.

• Analyzed: We added these sketches to our class collection to figure out exactly what keeps those big structures standing.

The creativity in the room was electric! We are using these masterpieces to spark our big "How?" and "Why?" questions for our next round of experiments

Hello Reardan Families,

We’ve had a great week of learning here at Reardan! Thank you for your continued support and partnership as we move through the winter season together.

Health Update
We want to make families aware that we have seen a significant amount of illness going around the school. Many students have been diagnosed with influenza and strep throat. If your student is feeling sick, please keep them home and communicate with the school office. This helps keep everyone healthy and supports a safe learning environment for all.

MTSS Updates
Next week, we will be working to rearrange MTSS groups based on:

• Final grades from the 2nd quarter

• Current AIMSweb testing data

• Student interests

• Teacher recommendation

We’re excited to better support students by aligning groups with their current needs and goals.

Middle school students are starting a Chess Club! The club will meet on Wednesdays and Fridays during MTSS. Students must be passing all classes to participate in the chess fun. We’re excited to offer this new opportunity and look forward to seeing strong engagement from our students.

This past week, we had two students compete in the Eastern Washington Middle School Chess Championships in Cheney.

This was Israel’s second time and Savas first time and they both did well.

Israel was able to take 9th standing in the middle school category.

There is another chess tournament coming up. It’s free and anyone who loves chess at any level can participate for middle and high school students. It will be February 6th 3:30pm-8:30pm.

Celebrations
Congratulations to our senior basketball players, cheerleaders, and band members who were honored at our final in-season home game. We are so proud of their dedication and contributions to Reardan!

Thank you for a wonderful week. We appreciate all you do to support our students and school community.

Have a great weekend!
JoLynn Ray - Principal

Senior Spotlight: Makayla Cheyne

Makayla Cheyne has created unforgettable memories throughout her high school years, especially during late-night conversations on the track bus after meets with her teammates. Those moments of laughter and connection are some of her favorite parts of high school.

After graduation, Makayla plans to continue running track in college while pursuing a career in cosmetology, blending her athletic drive with her creative interests.

Her advice to younger students is simple but honest: “Get your work done in class because I promise you that you WON’T do it at home.”

A teacher who made a meaningful impact on Makayla’s journey is Mr. Dewalt, who consistently encouraged and supported her. His positivity and belief in her always brought a smile to her face, even on the hardest days.

Best of luck, Makayla—we’re excited to see what the future holds!

Teacher Spotlight: Matthew Ballance

Help us shine the spotlight on Matthew Ballance, our dedicated 7–12th Grade Counselor at Reardan Middle/High School! With 25 years in education—and 22 of those right here at Reardan—Mr. Ballance has made a lasting impact on countless students and families in our community.

Education Background
Mr. Ballance is a proud graduate of Kettle Falls High School and continued his education at Spokane Community College (SCC) and Eastern Washington University (EWU). He holds an AA, a BS in Developmental Psychology, and an MS in Psychology/School Counseling—a strong foundation for supporting students through every stage of growth.

Get to Know Mr. Ballance

• Fun Fact: He lived in Texas as a young kid during elementary school.

• Hobbies & Interests: Hunting and anything outdoors

• Favorites: Of Mice and Men and currently on a Taylor Sheridan kick—Landman, Yellowstone, 1883, and more.

Teaching & Inspiration
Mr. Ballance’s favorite part of education is watching students grow into young adults and continue their journeys beyond high school—whether that’s college, careers, trades, marriage, or starting families. Knowing he played even a small role in that process is what makes education so meaningful to him.

What inspires him most? Seeing year-to-year growth and witnessing those powerful “Aha!” moments when everything finally clicks.

Advice for Students
“Don’t settle. Take the next difficult class. Leave all of your doors open as long as possible so you can make the best decision when it comes time.”

New Enrichment Classes Start Next Week

Can you believe it is already the 3rd quarter! Time sure does fly when you are having fun! We have some awesome classes lined up for 3rd quarter! Outdoor School is going to take a pause and we are going to have 5-8 graders on campus 2 days a week. Students are going to create their own tiny worlds and write stories about them, learn bucket drumming, come up with ideas for their very own “Shark Tank,” and learn how to critically think and solve master puzzles!!

Our Rainbow Trout have hatched and are waiting to be released into the larger tank. They have to stay in the hatching basket until they absorb their egg sack! It sure is cool to see them complete their life cycle right in our classroom!

Project-Based High School

Our Project-Based High School students finished the first semester strong! This week they are coming up with some new projects to take them through the end of the year. They have some really amazing ideas so far and we can’t wait to see where this semester takes them! One of the projects is based around the driving question: How do muscles, the nervous system, and energy systems biologically adapt to different types of physical training? The thought and wonder that goes into these projects are pretty amazing!

We are excited to see where this half of the year takes us!

Below is information about the 2025-2026 NE2B Leabue Dual Championship Wrestling Match at Davenport High School on 2/7. If you have any questions, reach out to Kenton at kclairmont@reardansd.net

Dear Families,

We are currently seeing a significant increase in respiratory illnesses among students and staff. Many children have been experiencing high fevers, cough, sore throat, congestion, and runny noses.

We understand that students want to be present for school, sports, and activities, especially with deadlines and team commitments. However, coming to school while sick increases the spread of illness and leads to even more absences across classrooms and teams.

We ask for your support in helping keep our school community healthy by monitoring symptoms and keeping students home when they are not feeling well.

This resource provides helpful information about current respiratory viruses, symptoms to watch for, prevention tips, and guidance on when to stay home:

Know the Symptoms: Respiratory Infections
https://healthy.kaiserpermanente.org/health-wellness/respiratory-infection/know-symptoms

Please remember: Students should stay home if they have a fever, significant cough, sore throat, or other symptoms that prevent them from participating comfortably in school. Staying home when sick is one of the best ways to protect classmates, staff, and teammates.

Thank you for your partnership in keeping everyone safe and healthy. Please call with any questions of concerns.

Sincerely,

Shannon Landt,RN
School Health Office / Nurse

Hi Parents,

The end of February we will be partnering with RECAP to put on another parent training on Raising Digitally Responsible Youth. Till then I thought I would send out some highlights and tips and tricks.

As students spend more time on social media and online gaming platforms, we want to remind families about the importance of staying safe online. While these spaces can be fun and social, they can also expose children to risks if proper safeguards aren’t in place.

Important safety tips to review with your child:

• Set all social media accounts to private and regularly review friend/follower lists
  
  

• Avoid oversharing personal information, including school name, location, schedules, or daily activities
  
  

• Never give out personal information such as a home address, phone number, passwords, or photos
  
  

• Never meet in person anyone they have met through social media or online gaming
  
  

• Be aware that some online users pretend to be children or teens when they are not
  
  

• Avoid playing games on open or public platforms where anyone can join
  
  

• Encourage local play or invite-only games, so children are only interacting with people they know in real life

• Turn off metadata on their cell phone cameras
  
  

We encourage families to have regular conversations with their children about online behavior, trust, and speaking up if something feels uncomfortable or concerning. Working together, we can help keep our students safe both at school and online.

Please check out this link of an unfortunately scary outcome that came from online gaming.

Missing Teen

Monday for breakfast we served up some homemade Breakfast Burritos. Scrambled eggs, shredded hash browns, turkey sausage and shredded cheddar cheese all wrapped up in a warm local tortilla So delicious. We will definitely have them again

For lunch we had homemade No Peek Beef Tips. Served with mashed potatoes and a warm dinner roll. I bet you are wondering what no peek beef tips are...they are pieces of local beef stew meat that are slow roasted in a brown gravy sauce for hours. It gets its name from the fact that you do not peek (no lifting the lid) while slow roasting.

Tuesday we had Strawberry Artisan Belgian Liege Waffles. These are waffles with little bits of a crunchy texture mixed in with the dough. Delicious!!!

At lunch we had Fish Patty Sandwiches.

Wednesday was NATIONAL BLUEBERRY PANCAKE DAY!! So of course we had to celebrate. We had delicious warm Blueberry Pancakes

Lunch was a new recipe that we will DEFINITELY have again. We served Country Fried Chicken with country gravy, mashed potatoes, and a warm dinner roll. Comfort food We had a couple of special helpers come and serve with us. Thank you Ashley, Marina and Addie!! Your help was greatly appreciated

Breakfast on Thursday was a fresh baked Lemon Blueberry Scone. They smell and taste amazing!!

Lunch was a student favorite...Orange chicken served with rice.

Friday we tried a new item...Cinnamon Toast Crunch French Toast.

Lunch is the ever popular Pizza Ripper. They are a great end to a busy week!!

Have a great weekend!!

A few things to look forward to next week...Homemade muffins and Pizza Factory Pizza

We are launching a new online menu link. The menu will still be available on the schools website and printed by teachers for students to take home. The new online menu is super helpful if you need to know the nutrition facts about an item. It also has the allergens as well. All you need to do is click on the link below. Then type in Reardan. Then select which menu you'd like to see...Breakfast, PK-8th or 9th-12th. Each menu is the same (or close to) 9th-12 grade might have a bit more food for their calorie needs. Once in the selected menu just click on each item.

We are just learning this process, so it is pretty basic right now, however as we learn more there will be pictures of the menu item and clickable items on the side that will contain more information. You will also be able to toggle back to the December menu if needed. And as more menus get published you will be able to toggle to that one as well.

Hope this helps you and your students

https://menus.healthepro.com/organizations/646/

There's Still Time to Join NACAC's First Spring Virtual Fair!

You and your students are invited to the NACAC Virtual College Fair happening on Sunday, February 1 from 1- 6 p.m. ET.

The virtual fair provides students with the wonderful chance to connect with hundreds of colleges and universities, all from the comfort of their home. Plus, it is completely free.

Register Here

Don't Forget College Matchmaking®

Our fairs offer College MatchMaking®. During registration, students can select the college features that are most important to them. They will then receive an email that matches them to specific colleges and universities that best match their criteria and that will be available at the fair. College MatchMaking® is an incredible opportunity for students to identify their top choices.

The Reardan-Edwall School District does not endorse any activities or opportunities from groups not directly connected to the school district.