T-shirts

The PE department is selling Iola t-shirts as a fundraiser! They are boy and girl shirts and are super cute!

Orders are due by November 1 and shirts are $10 each!!! 

Welcome Back!

Welcome back to school!!! We've been in school for several weeks now and I think most of us are loving the later start!

We've been working hard to understand PE rules and procedures. I have high expectations for the kids and they are doing great! Before we know it the first 9 weeks will be over!

I hated to be out today, but being sick with strep was out of my control! Snow cones will be on sale next Friday, September 14 for $1 each! The money goes into the PE fund for equipment, etc. Last year's fundraising efforts were geared toward the playground! This year I'll be trying to update and get more PE equipment!

Have a great weekend!

The best laid plans...

**Read all the way to the bottom :)

WOW! I'm not even sure where to start about today!

Let's start with the fact the delivery window for the border was 12-3 and today it was narrowed down to 12-1 but yet the truck arrive at 10:20. AHHHHH! That is all I could say...Especially since I live over 30 minutes away!

Thankfully some AWESOME people like Mr. Bliss, Mr. Bunt, Mr. Phillips, Ms. Velma, Ms. Abbott, Mr. Castleberry, Mr. Cash, and Mr. Michael were there and quickly unloaded the truck for me!

When I got there 4 football players (Jordan Mitchell was the leader of this!) arrived to help me actually install the border. Then, Mrs. Donaldson and Mrs. Bowman arrived to help too!

Y'all those boys were like workhorses! They installed the COMPLETE border in about 1.5 hours! Yes...driving each stake in with a sledgehammer and that was after hours of football practice! Take a look at all they did...

Once they got everything installed they went to eat lunch at cool off in the pool before having wrestling practice tonight...oh to be that young again! 

We too went to eat some lunch then Mrs. Donaldson, Mrs. Bowman and myself went to Home Depot to grab the supplies we needed to keep working. Let me just say that was quite an adventure, but we survived and laughed the whole time! Today all I've done is laugh just to keep going! I've rolled with the punches and everything has worked out beautifully! The best laid plans...sometimes have to change! Today I've gone from plan A to plan B and even plan C in some cases! 

After we got the supplies at the HD we came back and Mrs. Donaldson, Mrs. Velma, Mrs. Dawson (and Zach and Madi), and Mr. Castleberry helped me put down the plastic on the volleyball court. This will become a sand volleyball court for the kiddos! 

Here is the finished product from today:

My football players...still smiling!

Ta-da!!!  It's going to be AWESOME!!! 

Now to finish... YOU can help :)

Tomorrow: 5:00 PM Friday (because there's a good chance of rain for Saturday!)

Where: On the playground

What: Moving the gravel and sand around

What to bring: Yourself, and rakes or any other tools to move pea gravel and sand!!!

An Update...

As of today at 3:25 the border had made it to Nashville, TN and is scheduled to arrive in Birmingham by 8am tomorrow (Wednesday). Upon arrival they will contact me for a delivery appointment which they tell me cannot be tomorrow so I'm hoping to set that up for Thursday around noon. If you are able to help unload I would be extremely grateful!

If you are able to work Saturday morning I'd also be very grateful!

This morning I went down and marked off again where the new border will go and killed the grass that will be under the volleyball court. Laura Davis has arranged for Kirkpatrick Concrete to donate all the sand for the volleyball court! I couldn't do this without the support of some amazing parents and staff!

Check back for more updates tomorrow!!!

Border Delivery

Good evening!!!

If you know me you know that I'm a planner and all about a schedule! When I received the shipment e-mail it indicated that the borders would come 3 day shipping and were shipped on 5/31. My thoughts were that they would arrive either Tuesday or Wednesday.

As of this evening the borders have made it from California to Dallas, TX. Unless they pull some amazing overnight shipping they will not arrive tomorrow or possibly even Wednesday. Again, I will update as soon as I know when they are arriving and the work day for Saturday is tentative!

Just trying to keep everyone informed :)

Thanks!

Playground Work Day!

Hello everyone!!! I'm still waiting on the delivery call for the border. The more I've thought about it I may simply unload the border tomorrow and not do too much more. So, here's my plan...

Playground Work Day!
When: Saturday, June 9
Time: 7AM until....

If you are willing to help please comment here or send me an e-mail iolapollard@yahoo.com! I want to be sure I have enough help!!! Also, I simply lifted the sledge hammer and realized I'm not superwoman so I'm going to need all the strong muscles that are willing to help get this installed :) When you e-mail me let me know what tools you are willing to bring!

I will provide some snacks and plenty of water :) (I'm not beyond begging for help!)

Playground Border Delivery

Hello all!

I'm traveling home from a much needed beach break today and just got email confirmation that the new playground border will be delivered Tuesday, June 5.

I've order 75 new pieces and each piece weighs approximately 10 pounds or less. I opted to save the $500 they wanted for a lift gate because many people said they would help me unload the truck!

If you're available Tuesday I certainly can use your help!!! I will get a call probably later today or Monday to schedule the delivery time and will pass that along as soon as I know it!

If I have lots of help I would like to start installing this new border.  Then, I plan to return Friday to put finishing touches on everything! Again, another day you can help :)

From my (lack of) knowledge about tools I think we'll need sledge hammers to install the stakes in the ground. Feel free to bring any tools you think we'll need!

Again, I'll pass along more information as I get it! Thanks for being willing to better the playground for our kids!

Playground... As of Today!

Just a few last minute pictures of the playground as it looks today...
May 24, 2012!

All will have a brand new look come August!!! 

Check back for updates about work days!!! 

Right now I'm looking at June 8 and 9, but could change based on when the new border is set to arrive! Again, I will keep you posted here on everything!

Lawn Mower

Hello everyone!!!

This week our lawn mower has been giving us trouble. We are in the process of having it looked at to see if it can be fixed. If it cannot be fixed we will be forced to purchase a new one.

If you have any connections to someone that might could give us a good deal on a lawn mower please let Coach Green or Mr. Bliss know!

Coach Green's e-mail: iolapollard@yahoo.com

Mr. Bliss' e-mail: rgbliss@yahoo.com

Playground Update

We have raised a great deal of money over the past month for our playground fund!

That is a great thing because these playground upgrades will be expensive! Right now I'm getting ready to place the order for the border that is around the equipment. My plan is to change the shape of the play area from a circle to a rectangle. In order to pull up (and try to save some) of the existing border I think I'm going to need a bob cat or similar type of machine.

If you know anyone that could give me a good deal on one of these PLEASE let me know!!! I'm trying to do all of this in the most cost effective way! The border alone is going to cost between $1,300 and $1,500.

Also, I'm trying to look at the calendar for possible work dates! Check back here for those!

Stay and Play

Our first fundraiser for the new playground updates will be held Thursday, April 26 from 3-6PM.

The students will stay after school, have lots of time to play and enjoy dinner while you enjoy the afternoon free!

The cost will be $15 per child and all proceeds will go towards the playground costs!

The last day to sign up is Wednesday, April 25 and space is limited to the first 50 students!

I hope your students get to stay and play!!!

Playground Upgrades

Look for a note coming home Monday about Coach Green's newest project... updating the playground!!!

The current equipment and border was installed at least 15 years ago! It has been great and sturdy, but needs updating. I plan to begin fundraising to pay for this project as I know it is going to be expensive, but I believe we can do this for our children!

This will be my first task... replacing the black border that surrounds the playground. I will make the playground area a rectangle rather than a circle and have more rocks added. Believe it or not the rocks are great for the children to play on... as long as they don't throw them :)

My goal is also to add a "beach" volleyball court between the black rim and the fence...of course if funds allow! 

Another goal is to add more swings because the kids absolutely love to swing! This is where I would place them:

at the end of the last set...they blend in with the trees in this picture! 

I believe these upgrades to the playground are needed and would mean more safety and fun for our students. This would still allow plenty of grassy areas for a good game of kickball which the kids are loving these days! 

Please let me know if you would be willing to help work some this summer on these projects. Also, let me know if you know of any businesses that might be willing to donate to this cause! I can use all the funds I can get :)

Have a great weekend!!!

Walk, Jog, Run

I’ve found a website that I think my students would enjoy! All of my students enjoy running when they feel they are running to another city or state. This website http://www.walkjogrun.net/ is great because you can enter an address and it will calculate where you will end up!

Let me know if you use this and decide to "run" to somewhere outside of Pell City :) 

Have a great week!

Read Across America Week!

Last week at school we celebrated Read Across America week because Dr. Seuss' birthday was Friday, March 2nd.

We celebrated with wacky sock day, pajama day, Sneetch day, and even had green eggs and ham in the lunchroom! One day we all "dropped everything to read" and read in the hallway for 15 minutes and enjoyed some "cat chow" which is made of a mix of goldfish, crackers, etc.

Some of my favorite "wacky socks" had Army men climbing them!

Mrs. Carr's 2nd graders made these and were so thoughtful to bring me one :)

Our fabulous Sneetch shirts!

Mrs. Donaldson & Coach Green are Thing 1 & Thing 2

In PE I found another Thing 2 with Anna :) 

She is absolutely precious and one of my best helpers!

We also had a door decorating contest... 

We had a ton of fun around Iola during RAA or Dr. Seuss week! 

Exciting things are going on out back at Iola as well... I was able to snap this from an upstairs classroom! 

Come on Down... to the History Fair!

This week our fabulous 4th grade students participated in the school history fair. Their instructions were to construct a project representing a portion of Alabama History. My Mom teaches 4th grade in my hometown and I loved Alabama History when I was a 4th grader so this is always dear to me! I love to see what all the kids come up with and am anxious to ask them how much work they did on their projects :)

Take a look at what the 4th grade academy hallways looked like over the last week... I'm happy to say my "home" is in the 4th grade academy!

Some students even did Iola Roberts Elementary... I say it is an AWESOME part of Alabama History in St. Clair County!

This was the winning project... A perfect representation of downtown Pell City! 

Some of the other wonderful projects...

The Battleship!

Several students did Avondale Mills which is a large part of Pell City history. 

The 2nd place project... another great one!

Alabama Theater

 

Very detailed work!

If you've ever been to Noccalula Falls then you have to appreciate this one!

As you can see some of the students chose other parts of Alabama History, but some chose to stay close to home in Pell City and St. Clair County. You can also see that I teach some pretty amazing 4th graders! These kiddos were in kindergarten my first year at Iola and if I think about it I start to tear up to think that in 3 months I have to send them to the intermediate school! This class is full of leaders, comedians, and fierce competitors! I have no doubt they will go on to do great things!

Have a great weekend!

School Supplies for Center Point

Our boys and girls had a school supply drive for Center Point Elementary which was damaged during the recent tornadoes. We were able to donate about 10 boxes of pencils, papers, crayons, markers, folders, books, and lots of other supplies!

We had a boys-vs-girls competition and when this picture was taken the girls were ahead of the boys, but the boys made a great come back and the end result was a tie!!!

Popcorn Fridays

Popcorn Fridays have been a huge hit at Iola this spring! The great response has allowed us the opportunity to purchase a new machine and it is AWESOME!!!

This was our trip to Sams to purchase the machine and some more supplies! The lovely Ms. Velma went with me!

Coach Green getting ready to make a "test batch" of popcorn before Friday!

And as my shirt says...everyone needs some peace, love, and PE in their life :)

The first batch of popcorn in the new machine!

Popcorn Friday Information:

• $0.50 per bag
• Orders must be turned in on Thursdays
• $ and orders go to your homeroom teacher

Have a great weekend! We are gearing up for Fun Friday tomorrow!

100th Day of School

Yesterday was the 100th day of school!!!

We celebrated in PE by doing 100 exercises!

Miss Maycie showing off her ticket she earned!

And Mr. Dylan!

Jackson showing his ticket while wearing his 100th day hat that his class made!