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.