Readers

Wendie Roberts, our librarian, is currently holding a "Read a thon" for our Black Oak students. When students fill up their record sheet, they turn them into Wendie, and she then gives them a dog tag that says something about them being great readers. New this year is the "I read to the Principal" dog tag. In addition to filling up their record sheets students can read to me and I will sign off on their sheets and they then get the principal dog tag. Yesterday morning the office was full of kindergartners and first graders sitting in the seats in the front office, swinging their legs (as their feet don't touch the ground), holding their books, and waiting for me. I really enjoy these days, as oftentimes I only see kids in the office when they are misbehaving. Having kids read to me about Mrs. Wishy Washy and Biscuit the dog helps offset the times I have to growl at students!

"Smarter"

Last night we had our "Are you Smarter than a Fifth Grader?" fundraiser for the Give Every Child a Chance after school tutoring program that will begin in January. We had four adult contestants (including yours truly)who were assisted by several fifth grade students in Mr. Dunlap's class. I was contestant number 2, and watch as our first contestant fought valiantly, but had to finally succumb and admit that he was not smarter than a fifth grader. When my turn came up I was feeling pretty confident as I had been able to answer all the first contestant's questions. My swagger was quickly subdued when my first question, "Who founded the American Red Cross?" threw my confidence. It was a multiple choice question, and I quickly eliminated Mary Lincoln, which left Clara Barton, and Susan B. Anthony. I knew Susan B. Anthony was in the woman's suffrage movement, but wasn't sure if she was also involved in the Red Cross. I suspected Clara was the correct answer, but had to use one of my lifelines to make sure I didn't blow up on the first answer. The audience confirmed my hunch, and I was on my way. It wasn't a flawless run (I confused pistil and stamen in a flower), but I am happy to report that I can proudly look the fifth graders in the eye, and tell them that I am smarter than them!

We also had our Christmas tree auction for the trees that the students decorated. the trees looked great, and they all sold and are now happily sitting in living rooms throughout our community. It was a fun night, and I look forward to getting this tutoring program rolling to help our students.

"White Christmas"

Okay, this post is not about school, so forgive me in advance for wandering off topic. Yesterday we went to see Sierra Repertory Theater's "White Christmas." What a great show it was! I've always been impressed with SRT and the quality of the productions they put on, but this one was a cut above. The sing, dancing and acting were all superb, and the sets were great looking. I highly recommended taking your family to see this great family show!

Limousines!

Yesterday and today I began to "make good" on my promise to my top fun run pledge earners. Back in early October we held our fun run, and I promised all the students who raised $200 or more that I would get a limo and take them to Applebee's for lunch. Well, we have 34 students who made that goal! I called around and found Stagecoach Liousine in Murphy's seems to be the only local(ish) limo company. They were eager to work with us, and gave us some nice discounts (hence the plug on this blog!). Anyway, we've scheduled 4 days of limo lunches to accommodate all the students. On Monday of this week, I had the first graders from Mrs. Berry's class and the fourth graders from Mr. Calbert's class. Today were Mrs. Stapp's second graders, and Mrs. Ransom's third grade. Next week I'll move up to the middle school, and we'll have a couple of days to complete all the lunches earned there. The trips have been going great, with the students all really enjoying the trip, and they've been getting a lot of attention at Applebee's (who also gave us a nice discount, as well. Plug, plug!) As a matter of fact, I believe tomorrow's paper will have a nice picture of our students outside the limo at Applebee's!

Cross Country

Monday afternoon we had the cross country county championship at Columbia College. Being this was my first year coaching at Twain Harte, I didn't know what to expect the course to look like. I was disappointed to see how hilly it was! I was hoping the conditioning we had done had been enough. The race started with the 6th graders and after about 200 yards, they were out of sight. The course is comprised of 3 different loops. After the first loop, the runners returned to sight. After the first 10-15 runners, I knew something was wrong when one of my best runners, Jason, was no where in sight. I started back up the trail and quickly came across Jason limping back in. He had slipped and fallen on one of the hills, as he was in 2nd place. A trip to the first aide tent and some ice on his twisted ankle was all that was needed, but he was out of the race.

I was very proud of how our runners did in the meet and we had several runners who placed well. Sarah was the third place girl in the 6th grade. In 7th grade boys, Jered and Ben were 2nd and 3rd, respectively. A very good showing for TH schools!

Halloween

Friday was our big Halloween parade through downtown. It was a nice day, and the weather was perfect. It was fun to lead the parade with Dr. Keiter, and to turn the corner and see the crowd lined up on both sides of the street. This year, I actually knew some of the people in the crowd, whereas last year, I didn't know a soul! To be honest, I'm a bit of an Ebeneezer Scrooge when it comes to Halloween. I'm not sure what we are "celebrating" with this holiday. But I digress. I can put my personal feelings aside, as it is fun to see the little kids all dressed up as fairies and robots and such. My two favorite costumes had to be Leo (the micro-biologist) and Liam (the microbe). Very creative costumes!

Friday night we held our first dance. I always enjoy watching some of the kids really come out of their shells. We get to see them in an entirely different light at the dance. The kids enjoyed themselves, and thank you to Mrs. Bickley, and Mrs. Anderson for helping chaperone that event!

The final Halloween event was the carnival B.O.T.H. put on on Saturday night at Telele Lodge. It was a very nice event with lots of games, a cakewalk, cookie decorating and food. I went with my two kids, thinking we'd only stay a bit, and they had so much fun, we stayed until they closed it down. The eight graders really did a great job running the games, and it seemed like everyone had a great time. Thanks to Vicki Young (not White!) and the rest of the B.O.T.H. crew for putting on a fun event!

Baseball

Last night, while watching the World Series, my phone rang. It was Phil Coke, the pitcher for the Major League Detroit Tigers. He is from Tuolumne County, and as a matter of fact, had attended Black Oak Elementary in kindergarten and first grade. I had spoken with Phil's dad the day before and was trying to arrange a time for Phil to come to school and talk to the students. Today we had our virtue assembly and it was easy to add Phil to that assembly. I had a meeting in Sonora so I swung by Big 5 on the way home and bought a bag of baseballs. During our regular assembly, the kids with the most virtue cards receive a coupon for a free pizza at the Twain Harte Pizza Factory. Today, in addition to the pizza, the virtue card winners also received a signed baseball. Phil was great with the kids and spoke to them a bit about setting high goals and working hard to reach them. The best part was when John in Mr. Dunlap's class asked where Phil would put himself on a scale of 1-10. It was a bold question, but Phil showed off his fat, diamond encrusted World Series ring he won when he was with the Yankees last year. He said that with that ring, he could have said he was a ten. Instead, his goal was to get a ring on every finger, so he only rated himself a 6.

The kids were excited to talk to Phil, and he interacted very well with them. As the assembly ended, he stood at the door, and high fived or shook hands with every kid. I was very impressed with Phil, and was glad to have him at our assembly today.