Thank you for all who showed up today for our Halloween parade. I always enjoy seeing the unique costumes! The rain, thankfully, held off for us to stay dry. I encouraged the students, as they are trick-or-treating, to stay with the adult that is walking with them. I will be staying warm and passing out candy to all the trick-or-treaters in my neighborhood. Have a safe and fun evening.

The Act of Kindness assignment for the week is for the students to help with the dishes. To my surprise, many raised their hands to tell that they already do this as a chore at home. The students will be able to share more about this assignment on Friday.

On Monday, we will be celebrating Halloween in the afternoon. The parade will begin at 1:15 followed by the classroom parties. The students are to bring their costumes in a bag and they will change into them before the parade. Any make-up or face painting needs to be done at home before coming to school in the morning. Those students who have returned the permission slip will leave with the person designated. All other students will be dismissed as usual. Let's hope for sunshine so that our parade can be outside!

Today we had an assembly presented by the American Red Cross. Mr. Tim, along with his friend, Buddy, talked to us about the importance of adults donating blood. Every student will be coming home with information about how to register on-line for our Blood Drive on November 14th. The Red Cross will be here 2:00p.m.-7:00p.m. for all that would like to donate. Each person that donates helps save 3 people. The students who get a person to donate will be entered to win a Cleveland Cavaliers ticket. Thank you for your help with this very important cause.

The students have been enjoying a Jigsaw Jones Mystery book called The Case of the Spooky Sleepover. Jigsaw and his partner, Mila, are called into action to help a friend. Their friend, Ralphie, thinks his house is haunted. To help solve the case, Jigsaw spends the night at Ralphie's house and brings his trusty dog, Rags, along too. Soon the 3 of them will piece the clues together and discover whether Ralphie's house is truly haunted. If your child liked this story, the Jigsaw Jones series is a good way to encourage independent reading at home.

It is not too late to send in veteran's pictures. Please remember to put your child's name on the back of each picture so that they can be returned. Our "Hero Wall" is looking good!

Some of our classrooms decided to enter the "Design an Ornament" contest sponsored by the Green Team. The classrooms needed to brainstorm ideas for creating ornaments from reused materials. The classrooms chose to use a variety of materials such as cereal boxes, toilet paper rolls, and items found in nature. The ornaments will be used to decorate Christmas trees at Fellows Riverside Gardens and other public locations. This is their creativity at its best!

This weekend was a perfect one to complete our 'Act of Kindness' assignment. Many students this morning told me how they helped rake leaves or pick up sticks. I told them there will be many more opportunities to continue spreading kindness with this assignment. The leaves at this point seem never ending.

Thank you to all who brought in pennies today for our Relay for Life fundraising efforts. Tomorrow is "Nickel Day", followed by "Dime Day" on Wednesday, and quarters on Thursday. The week will conclude with your favorite coin day on Friday.

I have a lot of good news to share today...

The Paw Print yard signs were raffled off and the winners are...Tyler in 2nd grade and Josh in 4th grade. Congratulations to them and thank you to all who purchased tickets.

Our 2nd grade classrooms were treated to a story and craft project presented by Armstrong Cable. The story session will air on Armstrong cable in 2 weeks. I will pass on details about the time and channel as soon as I receive them.

Our 3rd graders were busy this week creating 'pet rocks.' They painted rocks and added eyes, feathers, and pompoms to design their pet. Each student named their pet and wrote a short story about it in their journal. These pets will be making their way into your homes and the best thing about them is no clean-up or pet food to buy! That is my kind of pet!

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.

Today, we finished our book, Miss Daisy Is Crazy. The students in the story, successfully read their 1 million pages, won their video game arcade party, and had the principal dress in a gorilla suit. As for Miss Daisy, she continued to have trouble with the school subjects and needed the help of her 2nd grade students to explain things to her. The students really felt sorry for her and hope that next year's students will help her succeed!

I heard about many fun games that were played throughout the past week as part of 'Family Game Night'. The students enjoyed sharing the game they played along with who they played with. Later this week, when the rain returns, may be a perfect time to plan another game night!

On Monday,the PTO will be selling raffle tickets to win a paw print yard sign. There are 2 yard signs available to win, one for the Kindergarten-2nd grades and another for 3rd - 4th grades. These are the same paw prints that were raffled off at our tailgate. During lunch time, the students will be able to buy tickets 1 for $1 or 6 for $5. The winners will be announced on Friday, October 21st. All the money raised will go towards future PTO projects. Thank you for supporting us.

"Say cheese"! Tomorrow is our school picture day. I reminded the students to come prepared for having their picture taken. I told them to talk with their parents about their clothing choice, comb their hair, and come with a smile! Each student will have a group classroom picture taken along with an individual one. If you choose to buy a package, please return the envelope with your payment. Thank you.

PTO meeting tonight at 6:30 in our school libary. Hope you can join us!

Tomorrow evening at 6:30 will be our October PTO meeting. We will be discussing the Halloween party and parade, electing our Nominating Committee, and voting on changes to the By-laws. I will also be asking for volunteers to help on November 14th for the American Red Cross Blood Drive. Our school will be hosting the blood drive and need to provide 2 volunteers per hour from 2:00-7:00. If you are interested in helping this drive, please send me a note so that I can add your name to the list. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow for our meeting.

Our 3rd graders can breathe a sigh of relief. Today they spent the morning taking the Ohio Reading Achievement Test. The test is compiled of stories with multiple choice and short answer questions. Thank you for making sure they had a good night's sleep and a good breakfast this morning. They were wide-eyed, but a little nervous, as they arrived at school. I am sure they did very well and tried their best. They will be taking another version of the Reading Test and Math Test in the Spring.

Rain, rain, go away! Another day with rain sets the tone for our Act of Kindness assignment this week. The students are to organize a family game night before Friday. I shared some favorites from my childhood, which are still around, such as Clue and Sorry. Before the sun starts shining again, enjoy some time playing one of your favorite games. It is a great way to relax and laugh with your child! Enjoy!