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The Charles Russell School

SMOKE SIGNAL The Charles Russell School provides equal education and employment

opportunities.

September 30, 2011 A CRS STLP/PTO Publication Volume 20 Issue 1

Back to School Bash 10/3 – Charles Russell SBDM, 5:30 p.m.

10/4 – Charles Russell PTO, 6 p.m. 10/7 – No School, PD Day

10/9-14 – Fire Prevention & School Lunch Week 10/19 – End of 1st Nine Weeks 10/22 – Fall Festival 11-2 pm

10/23 – 10/28 – Red Ribbon Week 10/24 – Board of Ed. Meeting, 5:30 p.m., CO

10/26 – STAR Day, School dismissal at 11:55 a.m. 10/27 – Halloween Dress-Up Day & Halloween Dance, 3-4:30 p.m.

10/28 – Homeroom Halloween Treat Bags 10/31 – Trick or Treat Night for Ashland

11/1 – CRS SBDM, 5:30 p.m. 11/3 – CRS PTO, 6 p.m.

11/7 – No School, PD Day 11/8 – No School, PD & Election Day 11/11 – Veteran’s Day Program, 9 am

11/21-11/25 – Thanksgiving Holiday, No school

This issue of the Smoke Signal is dedicated

to the loving memory of Sharon Dixon.

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Character Counts

At the beginning of the Charles Russell School year all the grades chose a theme. The theme had to be something about the circus. There are a lot of wonderful ideas. Kindergarten has an animal and they are Panda Bears. 1st grade had Kangaroos. 2nd had a dunk tank, and they also had a beach theme. 3rd had games that they would play at the circus. 4th grade had balloons. 5th grade has elephants with peanuts. The 6th had monkeys. One of the things that made the new school year interesting was our 6th grade teachers Mrs. Minton and Mrs. Hall’s creativity with our theme of monkeys. They made a tree with a monkey hanging on it; it was like we were at a real circus. We also have more than themes; we have 6 characteristics to learn. They are: trustworthiness, caring, citizenship, fairness, responsibility, and respect. I hope all the students of CRS will learn our six characteristics. Learning all these characteristics will make our school a better place because Character Counts! -Makenzie

Lucas

Open House

On August 30, the school had an Open House. A lot of the teachers and parents were here. What the parents did was go around and meet their child’s teachers. First they handed out ice cream to the students, next Mr. Salyers introduced all the teachers, and then let the parents go meet the teachers in their classrooms. -Shalayna Rice

Staff Changes Charles Russell has some staff who have moved to different positions and some staff who are new. Mrs. Nichole Moore moved from 6th grade teacher to Instructional Coach. Mrs. Kristy Minton changed from 6th grade Instructional Assistant to 6th grade Teacher. Mr. Jason Manning is now a 2nd grade Teacher moving from 4th grade. Mrs. McDowell changed to Kindergarten Teacher from 2nd grade. Mrs. Lisa Schirtzinger moved to 1st grade from Reading Recovery. Mrs. Vicki Spradlin is now the Kindergarten Instructional Assistant instead of for Special Ed. Mrs. JoAnne Reinhard is the 6th grade Instructional Assistant moving from the office. New staff members to CRS are: Mrs. Shauna Brillhart-Counselor, Mrs. Janice Moore-Reading Recovery, Mrs. Amanda Hicks-Special Ed., Coach David Arthur-PE, Coach Jeff Wilcox-PE and Mrs. Linda Handloser-Lunchroom Manager. We are expecting a great year at CRS!

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New Reading Recovery Teacher

Mrs. Janice Moore is our new 2011 Reading Recovery Teacher. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Education K-5 from Morehead State University, and a Master’s degree in Science K-8 from Walden University. She has worked as a 1st grade teacher at McKell Elementary 2005 to 2007. She also worked as a 4th grade teacher 2007-2008 at The Academy in Huntington, West Virginia. She is married to Jason Moore, (her high school sweetheart) for 8 years. They have two beautiful children, Elli, who is 3, and Asher, who was one September 18th. She has a boxer, Abbie, she will be 8 years old this year. Poor Abbie lives a hard life with a 3 year old and 1year old that won’t leave her alone. –Abby Crites

New Resource Teacher

Mrs. Amanda Hicks is our new 2011 Resource Teacher. She graduated high school from Boyd County in 2003. She also graduated from Morehead State University in 2007 with a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education. She will graduate in May 2012 with a Master’s degree in LBD. She has worked at Oakview in 2009-2010, Verity and Hager 2010-2011, and Blazer and Charles Russell 2011-2012. She got married June 25th, 2011, to Zach Hicks. She has a twin brother named Adam, a nephew named Silas, a dog named Molly and cats named Wendell and Oliver. –Abby Crites

New Guidance Counselor

Mrs. Shauna Brillhart is our new Guidance Counselor. She graduated from Greenup County High School on 2000. She completed her Bachelor’s and Master’s programs at Marshall University. She did her student teaching in Kindergarten and Preschool in West Virginia. For the Past 5 years she has taught 5th grade at Greysbranch Elementary. Her husband’s name is Andy; they have been married for 5 years. She has a little girl named Riley- she is 4. Her mom, dad, and sister live in South Shore, Ky. Her brother lives in Florida. -Abby Crites

Art Anyone?

Mrs. Suzanne Alexander from the Huntington Museum of Art visited both 3rd grade classes. She shared the elements of art: color, line, shape, form, and texture. She shared many examples of art such as cocoa pods, crossbows, pottery, sculptures, and carvings. The 3rd graders each got to make a decorative, celebration mask. Masks can be used for plays, parades, culture, or parties. The mask helped them show their creativity and learn the elements of art. If you are interested in art, maybe you should attend “Saturday Kids Art” every Saturday at the Huntington Museum of Art from 1:00-3:00 p.m. – Preston Ledford

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The OWAP Team

On Tuesday, May 11th, our OWAP team went to the state competition at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky. The team includes Ema-Leigh Forbes, Ivy Hobbs, William Zheng, Tyler Williams, Madalon Burnside, Madelyn Hamilton, and our coaches, Mrs. Elkins and Ms. Meade. Our OWAP Team placed 1st in the state competition. Then in June we won 1st place in Oracle Education Foundation’s International Competition. There were more than 33,000 participates from 52 countries. Winners were select from among 7,603 teams and we amazingly won. We won a computer each, school grant, and a trip to San Francisco. We tried to help kids be aware of obesity. We made our program using a website called www.thinkquest.org. Then in October our OWAP Team is going to San Francisco to get our award. – William Zheng & Ema-Leigh Forbes

Lighthouse Bunch The Lighthouse Bunch is where kids can come on Wednesday mornings at 7:30 am in the library. This is a place where kids can meet and pray about friends, family, school, or anything they are concerned about. This is a wonderful place to pray! -Abby Crites

Boyd County Fair Winner Preston Ledford won 1st place for his Insect Collection in the 4-H competition at the Boyd County Fair in August. Preston is in 5th grade. Good job!

6th Grade Cell Project

Mrs. Hall’s 6th grade Science classes at Charles Russell Elementary have been studying cells and their functions. As an enrichment activity, the students had to create an edible plant or animal cell. They also had to label and describe each organelle in the cell. Design winners were: Most accurate design-Jakob Williams; Most disgusting designs-Brock Rogers & Shelbi Owens; Best Design-Alannah Molenda. The project was a huge success!! -Mrs. Hall, Makenzie Lucas, & Madalon Burnside

Goats

Mrs. Dawn Geyer, Kindergarten Teacher, brought her family’s goats to school on Friday, September 16. They have a Momma called Trucker and two babies. One baby was mostly black; the other was mostly white. The students and staff all enjoyed petting and holding the baby goats. –Carrina Hensley

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Pet Pig

My name is Abigayle Crites; I have a pig named Mr. Paris. He can get up to 8-12 pounds, and he is now 1 pound. He is a teacup potbelly pig. They drink warm milk with bread. Mr. Paris was born August 1, 2011, and has blue eyes. He is black and white, he snorts a lot. I brought him to school 1 day, and I sat him on the floor and he started jumping around, because the floor has hog’s hair carpet. All the kids in the class loved him. That is all about my pig. –Abigayle Crites

Johnny Appleseed

Mrs. McDowell’s Kindergarten Class had a special lesson on Johnny Appleseed. One of the student’s (Tucker) grandmothers, Mary Kay Hudson, came to class on Monday, September 12, to read the story of Johnny Appleseed, do some fun activities, and show some apple tree seedlings. She even brought Johnny’s hat that was really just a pot.

Constitution Day

On September 16, 2011, Mrs. Janice Ledford went to the 2nd grade class to talk about Constitution Day, and why we celebrate Constitution Day. Mrs. Ledford brought a folder that is red and says “Constitution Day September 17, 2011” and she also brought some fun activities for the 2nd grade to do, like a hat to color and a dot-to-dot work sheet. All the kids got a red folder and a paper hat. They got to color in the hat red, white, and blue. Mrs. Ledford talked and asked if anyone knew what the Constitution was. Gwen said “ Something like the law?” Correct. The act or process of constituting establishment. Then the kids did a dot-to-dot sheet. The dot-to-dot turned out to be a building. What kind if building you ask? Where they wrote the Declaration of Independence, at the Independence Hall. She read a little about the Independence Hall. Then the students got a green sheet that told them about how many states there were when the Constitution was written. Do you know? 13 states. Why do we celebrate Constitution Day on September 17? On the 17th of September the 39 delegates signed the Constitution to say they would follow the rules. –Makenzie Lucas

Parent Reminders State law requires student pick-up/drop-off to be in the back of the school. The front of the school is for Resource Center day care drop offs, staff parking, and buses only. Parents may park in the back of the school if they wish to accompany students when coming to school. They may escort the students to the gym. Parent/Teacher conferences must be scheduled ahead of time via phone or email. Any concerns or questions, please call the school 327-2735. Thanks for your cooperation.

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Apples

Mrs. Bonner’s Kindergarten class learned about apples in September. They made apple trees using their hands and feet and cut apples in half to make apple prints. They learned about the life cycle of an apple tree and tasted different apples making a pictograph of their favorites. They estimated and counted the seeds in an apple. What a fun way to learn about apples. Mrs. Bonner

PTO News It’s not too late to join the PTO; each membership costs $2. The class that has the most members represented will win a prize. The Fall Festival will be October 22nd from 11 am to 2 pm. New this year will be vendor tables; anyone who wants to set up one for $25, please contact Pat Greene pgreene16@gmail.com or call the school. The next PTA meeting will be October 4 @ 6pm. Please come, plans for the Fall Festival will be discussed; volunteers are needed.

Newsletter Info The Charles Russell Smoke Signal newsletter is published bi-monthly. All newsletters are posted on the school’s web site. A reminder notice with the newsletter link will be emailed to all families who have email. Only families without email receive a hard copy. Others may purchase a color hard copy for $1.00.

Students of the Month

Bryce Fradd Bonner

Brady Callahan Geyer

Holly Harris McDowell

Mya Chaffin Bocook

Lucas Wicklund Schirtzinger

Lucas Geyer King

Shannon Phipps Manning

Jocelyn Damron Ledford

Melanie Grimm Rowlett

Kyle Webster Hood

Holden Harris Foster

Shalayna Rice McDavid

William Zheng Hall

Hattie Killin Minton

Bentley Meade Brillhart

Zach Stafford Elkins

Hope Harris Meade

Preston Ledford Wilcox/Arthur

Rilee Vanover Jackson

Nikki Williams & Aiden Daniel Green/Salyers

Nathan Abbott Lees/Brown

Kaitlyn Lee Foudray

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Recycling Collections for Funds Bonner 394 Geyer 205

McDowell 272 Bocook 684

Schirtzinger 203 King 254

Manning 199 Ledford 254 Rowlett 108 Hood 210 Foster 124

McDavid 146 Hall 108

Minton 104 Please save Campbell’s Soup UPCs, General Mills/Pillsbury box tops, printer cartridges, and old cell phones, digital cameras & camcorders, laptops, iPods, MP3s, GPSs, radar detectors, book readers, handheld games, pop cans and tabs. Soup UPC’s help get stuff for our school (Mrs. Elkins, sponsor); box tops (Ms. Meade, sponsor) & pop cans (Miss Rowlett, sponsor) provide funds to support AR; printer cartridges, cell phones & cameras, etc., supports STLP (Mrs. Elkins, sponsor); and pop can tabs (Mrs. Baier, sponsor) are donated to a fund to send kids to a special camp. Any questions or concerns, please contact the sponsor. The classes to bring in the most UPCs/box tops by the end of the year will receive a prize.

20010-11 Yearbooks Last school year’s yearbooks (2010-11) are in the works. We estimate a delivery before the end of the year. As soon as the yearbooks are in, we will be making deliveries. If you have any questions, please contact the yearbook sponsor, Mr. Brown. Thank you.

Coming in November-- Operation Holiday Cards

In October all students will be designing their own Christmas graphic for the annual STLP Operation Holiday Card sale. All designs will

be posted on the school’s web site so prospective buyers may choose the design they like best. Be on the lookout in the next

newsletter for ordering information.

Scenes from Open House