Today, the students are coming home with a paper about a new program sponsored by our PTO. It is called the SCRIP program. There are gift cards listed from various places. Each card sold, will donate a percentage to North's PTO. For example, I can buy a Barnes and Noble gift card for $25 and the school will receive 8.74% of the sale. The percentages our school will receive from each purchase is marked on the sheet. The program ends November 9th. The gift cards will be distributed a few weeks after that date. Please consider ordering a few gift cards and help the PTO raise additional money for North. Thank you!

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.