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!