Through the Heavenly/Vail Echo program our school receives
grant support for 400 of our students to receive skiing/snowboarding
instruction in grades 2-5. Heavenly Ski
Resort is 3.6 miles away from our school.
Each student receives a lift ticket, gear, instruction and support at
their level. This is the 4th year of our partnership with Heavenly and we have experienced amazing growth
opportunities for our students with academics (students show improved diligence,
confidence and perseverance through difficulties).
Our goal is to help our students develop a lifelong passion and
aptitude for skiing and snowboarding.
Through a partnership with the city of South Lake
Tahoe and Tahoe Sports and Entertainment, our school began a morning ice
skating fitness program that emphasized skating technique, game play and
fitness in the hours before school starts.
This program is free to all students and open to all students within our
district, although only students from Sierra House receive bussing to school
from the ice arena. Over 150 students
sign up for this program and the program averages about 40 students attending
daily. This program not only gives
students access to fitness in the morning, but it also builds skating
proficiency that can be used in the winter when many of our local lakes freeze
and when many of our students and families cease getting exercise. We have expanded our partnership with the ice
arena to give ice skating instruction to all of our kindergarten through 2nd grade students to build their proficiency on the ice and to get students to have
the capacity to access other arena programs.