Thursday, October 30, 2008

Halloween Parade

For the past few years, the Cridersville PTO and school have sponsored a float in the annual Cridersville Halloween Parade. This year's theme of Reach For The Stars was the idea behind our float. If you remember from an earlier post, the first day of school brought us Mission Control. Some of our staff reminded students of the importance of respect, responsibility and doing our best all of the time. We tried to recreate this on our float this year.

In keeping with our theme, we had students walk as our "STARS".

PTO members Joy Baeumel and Stephanie Green dressed up for the parade.

Here is another shot of more PTO members...and their kids.

more Red Grammer

Finally, here are a few photos from the Red Grammer assembly that took place on Monday for Red Ribbon Week. Mr. Grammer brought up staff members towards the end of the assembly and got them involved, too!

Below is Mrs. Green, Mr. Searcy, Mr. Grammer, Hannah and Emma.


Mr. Searcy and Mr. Grammer with some Cridersville kids after the assembly.


Tuesday was "wear RED day"....here are Mikayla and Mr. Searcy.
Thanks for all you do for our kids at Cridersville, Mr. Searcy!!

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Red Ribbon Week

We kicked off Red Ribbon Week with an assembly from Red Grammer. He is an accomplished muscian whose album, "Be Bop Your Best" is a collection of smart and delightful songs about truthfulness, resposibility, kindness, fairness, integrity and citizenship. You can read more about Red Grammer at http://www.redgrammer.com/.

Below is a video of one of the many songs he performed for our students on Monday.



Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books
Red Ribbon Week history~
Red Ribbon Week is the nation’s oldest and largest drug prevention program in the nation reaching millions of Americans during the last week of October every year. By wearing red ribbons and participating in community anti-drug events, young people pledge to live a drug-free life and pay tribute to DEA Special Agent EnriquĂ© “Kiki” Camarena.

Special Agent Kiki Camarena:
Special Agent Camarena was an 11-year veteran of the DEA assigned to the Guadalajara, Mexico, office where he was on the trail of the country’s biggest marijuana and cocaine traffickers. In 1985, he was extremely close to unlocking a multi-billion dollar drug pipeline.
On February 7, 1985, he was kidnapped, brutally tortured, and murdered by Mexican drug traffickers. His tragic death opened the eyes of many Americans to the dangers of drugs and the international scope of the drug trade.

History of Red Ribbon Week:
Shortly after Kiki’s death, Congressman Duncan Hunter and Kiki’s high school friend Henry Lozano launched “Camarena Clubs” in Kiki’s hometown of Calexico, California. Hundreds of club members pledged to lead drug-free lives to honor the sacrifice made by Kiki Camarena.
These pledges were delivered to First Lady Nancy Reagan at a national conference of parents combating youth drug use. Several state parent organizations then called on community groups to wear red ribbons during the last week of October as a symbol of their drug-free commitment.
The first Red Ribbon Week celebrations were held in La Mirada and Norwalk, California. In 1988, the National Family Partnership (NFP) coordinated the first National Red Ribbon Week with President and Mrs. Reagan serving as honorary chairpersons.

How to Celebrate Red Ribbon Week:
The NFP estimates that more than 80 million people participate in Red Ribbon events each year. The campaign is a unified way for communities to take a stand against drugs and show intolerance for illicit drug use and the consequences to all Americans. Schools, businesses, the faith community, media, families, and community coalitions join together to celebrate Red Ribbon Week in many ways, such as: sponsoring essay and poster contests; organizing drug-free races; decorating buildings in red; handing out red ribbons to customers; holding parades or community events; and by publicizing the value of a drug-free, healthy lifestyle. DEA joins with community coalitions and prevention groups to plan and carry out Red Ribbon activities, ranging from classroom events to stadium-sized rallies.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Three For Me

The PTO started a new volunteer program this school year called Three For Me. The basic idea is to have every parent promise to volunteer three hours to their child's school this year. You can read about it and ways to volunteer by clicking on the link to "other reading" found on the side bar. Since the program has started, we have had 84 names logged in the office on the sign in sheet. We would like to list all of the parents or grandparents who have already volunteered their time to their child, our school. Before we do that, the PTO would like to express a giant THANK YOU to all who volunteered!! (please note that some of these names are on the list more than once~thank you!)

Amie Green, Angie Carder, Heather Reser, Carolee Penlington, Angie Williams, Stephanie McDermitt, Tammi McDonald, Donnie Green, Frank Oen, Jessica Martin, Deb Oen, Chrissy Dunifor, Emily Ranchel, Chip Pangle, Morry Mosgrove, Mandy Tangeman, Ashlie Foster, David Deitering, Heather Moody, Ron Miller, Angie Gierhart, Melanie Hicks, Jeff Place, Angel Grimes, Christina Fisher, Mike Bissegger, Kris Laise, Jodi Stopher, Barb Cerda, Tom Little, Vance McKenah, Jason Clark, Dan & Linda Martin, Kari Ricketts, Kathryn Steinbrunner, Dawn West, Amber Gilroy, Angie Schlesselman, Tammy Myers, Alexandra Fisher, Heather Tier, Eric West, Jennifer Neal, Matt Roby, Carli Price, Tammi Spinnati, Stacey Williams, Mrs. Atha, Carmen Young, Timothy Rhine and Brenda Clark.