Happy Holidays . . .

This one will be brief and to the point. I wish all of you Happy Holidays. I hope Santa is good to you and most of all I hope you enjoy time with your families. Oh yea, have some fun too:) See you next year!

Go Patriots!!

Tis the season . . .

Two weeks til Christmas . . . Are you ready for the holiday season? Hopefully you have plans to be with your family and enjoy some time away from school. Try not to get stressed about the "stuff" of Christmas but focus on the true meaning.

I would like to mention this week the wonderful efforts of our EC staff: Lisa Scott, Kara Richardson, Linda Dawson-Levy (welcome back!), Ellen Weston, Pat Fetherolf, Lacey Brigman, Kaye Hunter, Julia Edmonds, Joe Miller, Janet McKay, Erma Decker, Lynn Palm, Karen Parker, Carl Archie, Kedrick Dobson, Gary Michael, and Tina Parks-Ramsey. This has been a year of change in many ways for our teachers and students. I appreciate their efforts and the efforts of all the staff in serving these students.

Garrett Davis has worked extremely hard with a group of students for the holiday production - The Jefferson House. This play has a tremendous message and I thought was well performed by our students. These students handle the lighting and even helped write the script! It was very evident of the long hours of preparation that were put into this performance. Also, thank you to Joanna Palmer and Catherine Burton for being flexible with the space of the auditorium.

Our SIT met on Monday. This dedicated group of teachers (lead by Mike McDowell) have focused on grant ideas the teachers can apply for to help fund classroom needs/wants. I've very impressed with the amount of work that has gone toward this idea - I've heard good news about many of the grants. Keep up the hard work! SIT also would like for the school to revisit some of the rules at TJMS. Please help re-inforce the rules to your students so we can continue to move forward with our Single School Culture. Time to tighten things up a bit!

On a much more serious note . . . I'm missing the NUTCRACKER from my office. It was taken and a ransom note was left. This may be funny to some but for those who are involved there will be ramifications. This was the note that was left: A holiday season without my Nutcracker will not be the same :(

"The Nutcracker decided to find a new home,

He was unhappy standing alone.

Virginia Tech was his special place,

Now he's gone without leaving a trace.

He will be happy so leave him be,

Don't go looking for him in the Christmas tree.

When you get him a companion to stand by his side,

You will show him you have Christmas spirit deep inside."

With that said, enjoy your weekend. Get some rest. 5 more days . . .

Go Patriots!

Remember when you just went outside and played . . .

My most fond memories, as a child, were running around outside (barefoot) and just playing. We played tag, whiffle ball (actually used taped up ping pong balls), basketball, football, hide and seek, and the one I really loved - "Kick the Can"! I remember playing for hours and would stay outside until dark. In the summer time, we could run around catching lightning bugs. We would fill up mason jars full. The light was fascinating. Now - there are so many other "Fun" things to do just going out to "play" just doesn't have much appeal. Kids have the Xboxes, Gamecubes, Wiis, facebook, etc . . . The closest thing I had was "Pong" and that didn't hold my attention very long!

This leads me to "Fuel up to Play 60". Thank you to Amy Peverall and Denise Francis for teaming to sponsor this incentive for our students. I hope you received a better understanding, of this incentive, by the kick off assembly that we had today. This is a National push to motivate students to exercise 60 minutes a day and to eat healthy. I know this makes me think about exercising more (Hope I do more that just think about it!). I encourage you to ask your students to go outside and exercise - I know many of you already do this. The more students hear this message, the more likely they are to "give in" and go out and play.

And for you "young folks" that don't know what Kick the Can is, here are the rules: (Try it sometime with your kids)

How to Play Kick the Can

1. Gather some friends to play (the more the better).
2. Find a soda can or bottle.
3. Decide what area to play in. The best is rather large, with plenty of hiding places.
4. Pick someone to be "it". You could use rock, paper, scissors, "1,2,3 not it!" or any other method.
5. Place the can in the center of your playing area.
6. The "it" stays at the can with their eyes closed, and counts to whatever number is decided. While the "it" is counting, the rest of the players run and hide somewhere. When the "it" finishes counting, they go look for the other players.
If the "it" sees someone they call out the hider's name. Then the hider and the "it" race back to the can. If the "it" gets there first, the hider is in jail. If the hider gets there first, they must kick the can(hard).
After the can is kicked, the hider runs to find a new hiding place, while the "it"gets the can and places it back where it was.
The "it" counts some more, and the game continues. When someone kicks the can, all other hiders in jail are free to go and hide again.
Game continues until all but one hider have been found. Last hider is winner.
7. Remember to have FUN!!

10 more days til the Christmas break and they are talking about Snow tomorrow . . . Wouldn't that be festive! Enjoy your weekend.

Go Patriots!!