Electric Lincoln Elementary
Abraham Lincoln: Our School's Namesake
by Katie N.
Abraham Lincoln 
and Lincoln Elementary School have several things in common: their name for one thing. Lincoln was chosen for the name of our school because, in our opinion, he was one of the best presidents of the United States. Another similarity is that he enjoyed learning and, of course, in school you learn. Read on and find out more about our school's inspiration.
Abraham Lincoln was born in Hardin Kentucky on February 12, 1809. Abraham and his family lived in Hardin for about 2 years. They moved to Knob Creek, another farm about 10 miles away. 
When Abraham and Sarah, his sister were finished with their chores, they would go to school in a one room schoolhouse where they learned the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic. 
Abraham's family was pretty complicated. There was his father, Thomas, his mother, Nancy, and his sister, Sarah. There was a third child, Thomas, who died as an infant. In 1818, Nancy Lincoln died of Milk Sickness. In 1819 Thomas Lincoln married Sarah Bush Johnston. She already had 3 children.
When Abraham was 20, he was already 6 feet and 4 inches tall. One of his first jobs was taking a flatboat with farm produce to New Orleans. In the same year of 1828, his sister died of childbirth. When Lincoln began his life on his own, he lived in New Salem for 6 years.
Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd were married in 1842. 
Abraham became a lawyer. In 1858, Lincoln was nominated to run against Douglas for U.S. Senate. On this occasion he gave one of the first of many famous speeches.
On March 4, 1861, Lincoln took the office of President of the United States as the 16th president. Another one of his most famous speeches was the Gettysburg Address. 
The President was shot on April 14, 1865 at Fords Theatre. He was carried across the street to a neighbor's house where he died the next evening at 7:22 P.M.
These are some of the important, well known facts about Lincoln, but did you know that...Abe enjoyed flapjacks?...he kept papers in his hat?...that Thanksgiving was designated on the last Thursday of November in 1863 when Lincoln was President?
Read on and learn more about the school that was named after this famous person, Lincoln Elementary School
Lincoln School Grows and Changes
by Siri O.
Lincoln School was dedicated on October 8, 1926. When you see Lincoln School today, 
it is nothing like it was when it was first opened. Back then there were very few houses around the neighborhood, only farms. 
There also was a trolley that went from Manville Heights to the downtown area. 
It cost $33,761 to build Lincoln School in 1926 ($10.00 per square foot). The school only had two classrooms and the gym along with 38 students. The first, second and third graders were in one room and the fourth, fifth and sixth graders were in the other room. When there were enough kindergarteners, they met on the stage in the gym.
Before Lincoln School was built, the neighborhood kids went to Kellogg School, located where the Veterans Administration Hospital is now.
In 1949 and 1953, four classrooms were added to the school. In 1973, two more classrooms were added and then in 1988, the new intermediate addition was added which consists of four classrooms. The front door has changed three times. First it was at the back of the school 
(now our back door), then it was at the primary entrance 
and now it is moved out from the primary entrance. 
The flat roof was designed to hold water so that Lincoln would stay cool during the summer. Today, the flat roof doesn't keep us cool, but it sometimes provides us with a leak or two!
The first principal came in 1949. His name was A.D. Hensleigh. Other changes have happened at Lincoln, too. A few years back, they took down the structure was in the back of the school 
and used some of the materials for the new structure on the hill. Now our playground is complete!
In 1973, Lincoln could have been closed because of declining enrollment in the district but the parents and teachers persuaded the School Board not to close the school.
Not only has the building changed, but so has the instructional program and the teachers who teach here. The teachers are younger, more understanding and understand more about how children learn. They also have better materials and more interesting activities. The discipline has basically stayed the same. The teachers at Lincoln have never believed in the dunce stool or cap, but have always thought reasoning with the student would be more effective. Even though there have been many changes in Lincoln Elementary School, many traditions still remain. Junior high, high school and college students often come back to visit. Sometimes parents and grandparents come back to visit, too, because they all enjoy the sense of family they feel from having attended Lincoln Elementary! 
Former Lincoln Staff Members
by Becky G.
Question: What do Abe Lincoln and the former Lincoln staff members both have in common?
Answer: They both made changes in peoples lives! In this article you will learn about the different people who made a change at Lincoln.
Question: What do Abe Lincoln and the principals at Lincoln School have in common?
Answer: They are both the big boss!
The first principal at Lincoln was A.D. Hensleigh. He had all of the classes taught in the gym. The kindergarten was taught on the stage. It must have been a challenging job but he got it done.
Lincoln has had many principals, but Mrs. Jan Harvey 
was a very special principal because of the things that she did. She formed the Primary and the Intermediate Units and teams. The grades were combined with grades 1-2-3 in the Primary and grades 4-5-6 in the intermediate. The Kindergarten is a part of the Primary but is taught by itself.
Teachers are something we should be grateful for. Lincoln has had many wonderful teachers. There are a few which Lincoln students and staff members will always remember.
Mrs. Ruby Ayres was very important to Lincoln because she started the Student Council. With a President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and two students elected from each room, the Student Council is very active yet today. She was also very involved with UNICEF, which stands for United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund. There is now an award given in her memory to teachers who support cultural awareness. There is also a garden by the back door and it is the "Ruby Ayres Memory Garden". 
Everyone at Lincoln will always remember her.
Mrs. Cam Vanni 
was a kindergarten teacher and she started DAP. That is where the children pick out a set of manipulatives and work with them. It is mostly done in the kindergarten, first and second grades. Children have loved DAP and love DAPPY, the lima bean which is the symbol for DAP.
Mrs. Pam Kautz 
loved math. She was very special because she began getting into working with students on computers. Mrs. Kautz still works with students and math and visits often.
Ms. Walton was a great librarian because she loved to read books. She made it fun to go to the library because she would help you find a book and if she had time, she would read some of it to you! She had the most wonderful voice that just took you into the book.
Mrs. Adams 
as another very special teacher. She taught in the primary unit for a long time and without her, some people would not be where they are today.
The Outdoor Classroom
by Becky G.
Some people are very special in our lives. That is why it is sometimes necessary to build something in their memory. There is an outdoor classroom at the back of the school. It is dedicated to two former Lincoln School students, Kyle Wegman and Teal Wilson, who while attending Lincoln in 1975, were killed in a plane crash.
A structure was built in their memory but because it had deteriorated over the years, it had to be torn down. When it was decided to make an outdoor classroom, Lincoln students wished to rededicate this area to Teal and Kyle.
On May 18, 1992, all of the Lincoln students, some special people and Kyle's and Teal's parents came for the rededication. The West High Industrial Arts class built the flower planters and Mr. Cady built the benches. There is a plaque which reads: "This outdoor classroom is dedicated to the memory and spirit of Kyle Wegman and Teal Wilson, sixth grade students at Lincoln School in 1975." This plaque will always be here and the spirit of the two students will always be at Lincoln. 
The patio is used for teaching on nice days and for enjoying the nature surrounding our school.
The Tree
by Eben S.
The old tree, 
which used to stand where the corner of Intermediate teacher, Mrs. Hutton's room is now, had been there for a long time. According to its rings, it was 591 years old. Although this age might seem surprising, it was a Red Oak and Red Oaks live a long time. It was a huge tree, extremely tall, and over eight feet in diameter.
Although a tree might not seem worthy of a topic for this electronic book, the reason this tree was so special is that it witnessed, in its last years of life, the construction of Lincoln School. It was a source of fun for many children who would climb it and play games around it. On the day it had to be cut down (sometime during the 1987/88 school year), the children wrote about how they would miss the tree. 
The old oak tree had to be cut down because Lincoln needed to be expanded and the only direction available was to the southwest, in the direction of the tree. This seems to be a good reason, but it is sad that the tree had to be cut down.
On the brighter side, the tree would have had to be cut down anyway, as it was dying. It we had not had to cut it down because of the construction, it would have gone down just because it could no longer stand.
After the 1993/94 sixth grade students graduate, there will be no students at Lincoln School who remember the tree. The memory will only be with the teachers who were there when the tree still stood. We did save a piece of the tree, which you can see in the library, so a little bit of it is still at Lincoln. 
The Time Capsule
by Ian D.
The time capsule was sealed up in 1989 never to be disturbed until the Spring of 2001. The time capsule was sealed during the dedication of the new addition. The location of the time capsule is near the front door in front of the principal's office. 
What was put in the time capsule? 
It contains stamps, Lincoln buttons, pencils, 1989 pennies, a five dollar bill and other things.
What do people think of the time capsule? Everyone I asked had a positive attitude towards it. But the real questions are: What will Lincoln be like in the future? What will the kids be like in the year 2001? What will they think of the things we put in the time capsule? Where will you and I be? I guess we will just have to wait until the Spring of 2001!