Today, our first graders were treated to a 'Fire Prevention' assembly given by the Western Reserve Fire Department. Some students were lucky enough to dress up as a smoke detector and fire fighter to help with the presentation. The 1st graders went outside to see the fire truck and equipment. The program ended with the students singing the song "Stop, Drop, and Roll" to the firefighters.

Tomorrow is the last day to purchase raffle tickets for our bulldog yard signs. The winners will be announced during the lunch times. Bulldog Pride day on Friday. Please wear your Poland shirts or anything blue and white.

Last week, a paper went home with the students about a "Hero Wall" to honor past and present Veterans. It is North's way of saying 'thank you' to members of the military. The students are to bring in a picture of a Veteran with the bottom of the paper completed. The pictures can be of parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, or neighbors who is serving or has served in any military branch. I would like each student to have at least one Veteran honored on our "Hero Wall". The pictures are due by October 26th. Please make sure your child's name is on the back of each picture so that it can be returned. My goal is to have the wall complete so that it can be viewed by the parents attending the Halloween Parade on October 31st.

Today was our first "Breakfast of Champions." I had the pleasure this morning of having breakfast with 13 fourth graders. They successfully completed 100 addition problems in 5 minutes with a score of 95% or better. Our goal is to improve our math facts in all grade levels. Please review facts as often as possible so that your child can be successful. The third grade will be completing 50 addition and 50 subtraction problems this week for their chance to earn their breakfast. Good luck!

Glad to see everyone is well-rested after our long weekend. Our Act of Kindness assignment is very appropriate for this time of year. The students are asked to clean up a neighbor's or relative's yard by raking leaves or picking up sticks. This will be an easy task after all the strong winds we had this past weekend. Mrs. Hruby even volunteered her yard in case there was someone looking for some leaves to rake! Encourage your child to get outside and enjoy the fresh air while doing a good deed!

Today the students enjoyed the story Incredible Ned by Bill Maynard and Frank Remkiewicz. Ned had a problem, every word that he spoke appeared over his head or next to him. This caused no work to get done in his classroom because the students had much more fun watching Ned's words appear. The parents, teachers, school nurse and principal could not fix his problem. He was ordered to "say nothing at all or go stand in the hall." Finally, the art teacher came to his rescue and gave Ned pencils, paper, and paints. Ned's pictures that were in his head, did not appear above him or next to him, but instead appeared on his paper. His problem was solved by letting his creativeness out!

Did you know that it took Thomas Edison 10,000 tries to invent a working light bulb? Today, we talked about our monthly character trait, creativeness, and related it to inventions. The students heard about the many inventions of Thomas Edison such as the phonograph and his creation of the first silent film. They also learned the lesson to 'not give up' on your creativity, it may take many tries before you succeed. Ask your child the name of the state that Thomas Edison was born in?

Our October character trait is creativity, using your imagination to do something unique. We discussed the possible was to show your creativity such as building legos, drawing, painting, or writing poetry. Today we highlighted Norman Rockwell for his creativeness and inspiration expressed in his art. I shared some background information and showed the students some pieces of his artwork. Throughout this week, we will continue to focus on this trait by meeting other people that are famous for being creative.