Carson & Leatha Interview

Mr. Barry sits down before the break to talk with Leatha & Carson.

Washington Students Deliver Again!

The students at Washington Intermediate collected, organized and delivered nearly 600 food items to the local food pantry the week before break. It was quite a group effort as every class collected over 30 food items and one class, Ms. Linn's, collected nearly 200 food items on their own! The November and December Student Advisory groups helped load the food items into Mr. Barry and Mr. Maurer's vehicles. Then, the 5th grade Student Advisory students helped take the items to the food pantry near the Square and unload all the items. Mr. Barry is extremely PROUD of each and every student at Washington Intermediate for taking part in this program. It is a very CARING act of kindness before the holidays.

Red Ribbon Week Poster Winners

On Friday, December 7th an assembly was held at Washington Intermediate School in Red Oak to honor the winners of the 2007 Elks Drug Awareness Poster Contest. In the annual contest, 4th and 5th grade students create posters about the year's theme. In 2007, the theme was "Because I'm Drug Free, I Can ....".

Red Oak Elks Lodge #1304 selected Alyssa Wilkins as the 4th grade winner and Nick Carlson as the 5th grade winner. Each received $25 in Red Oak Chamber Bucks. In addition, both students won District Competition and will receive a $50 US Savings Bond. Alyssa also was selected as the State Winner and will receive a $100 US Savings Bond. In addition, her poster will be forwarded to the National Elks Drug Awareness Program for consideration to be placed in the Elks Drug Awareness Coloring Book.

The Elks are one of the nation's premiere social fraternities with one million members. Elks are extremely active in their communities with several youth programs including Scholarship, Hoop Shoot, Soccer Shoot, Americanism, and Drug Awareness. Annually, the Elks give out more than 3 million dollars in scholarship and are the leading nongovernmental distributor of drug awareness materials.

Here are a couple of links to the Elk's programs we received from Dave Fields:

http://elks.org/drugs/default.cfm This is the drug awareness section.

http://elks.org/marvel.cfm This has a digital version of our drug awareness comic book and the Teacher's guide

http://elks.org/default.cfm Finally, this is our home page, which lists all of our programs.

We are very proud of Alyssa, Nick and every student at Washington who participated in the contest.

Good luck, Alyssa! We will keep everyone posted.

Washington Student Videos

Mr. Barry met with the first two groups of students yesterday to talk about the website video project. The students brainstormed ideas and some have already started to work on some scripts or ideas. Our introduction is below! Mr. Barry will meet with more interested students during the month of December. Continue to check back for more student created videos highlighting what is going on at Washington!.

December Newsletter

The December newsletter is coming home with students on Friday, November 30th. Please look and read through it with your child! Lots of upcoming news, stories from our own students and some interesting information about what our staff members do during the holidays! Have a great December and holiday season. ~ DB

From the Desk of the Principal

December 2007 Newsletter - page 1

Parent Advisory Committee Date Change
Due to a scheduling conflict on my end, the Washington Intermediate Parent Advisory Committee meeting will be moved from Thursday, December 6, to Thursday, December 13, at 6:30 PM. This meeting is open to any parent of a Washington Intermediate student. We will host this at Washington in the media center. Some of the topics on the agenda will be: technology update, after school math update, attendance policy, healthy choices/treats, BD pilot program, and parent ideas, concerns & questions.

Holiday Happenings
Brrrr….as I write this month’s newsletter article, the north winds have brought us some chilly temperatures! As the temperatures go down, make sure your child dresses warmly. We often have students come without gloves, mittens, hats and coats. Unless the temperatures are below freezing, we head outside! Bundle up until March! J

We will be conducting our third annual food drive at Washington Intermediate during the week of December 10 – 14. Students, parents, and community members may drop off non-perishable food items at Washington during that week. Our December Student Advisory Group will coordinate the food drive and help me deliver it to a local food pantry the following week. This has always been a fun activity for the students and staff at Washington and we appreciate your generosity, compassion and help during the holiday season.

Holiday classroom parties will be held on Thursday, December 20th. They will begin after 2:00 pm. Look for notes to come home from your child’s teacher. We do want to remind parents that we do not exchange gifts at school.

Washington Hosts Pilot Program
Pending school board approval on December 13th, the Red Oak Community School District is looking to pilot a 4th through 8th grade behavior disorder classroom within the district. We are in the initial stages of putting together the program, but a Washington Intermediate classroom will be the site for this program during the 2nd semester. A question parents may have is, “What does this mean for my 4th/5th grade child at Washington?” I want to assure each parent that nothing will change for the students who attend Washington as the middle school students in the pilot program will be separate from all activities that our students participate in during the school day. Further explanation of the program will take place during our December 13th Parent Advisory Meeting mentioned above. This would be a great opportunity to hear more and get your questions answered!

Celebrating National Young Readers Day

National Young Readers Day (NYRD) was celebrated at Washington Intermediate on Tuesday, November 13. Several celebrity readers entertained 4th and 5th grade students by sharing some of their favorite books. Several parents volunteered to read in Mrs. Guinn's class and Red Oak CSD superintendent, Mr. Schmidt, read to Ms. Chelsvig's students. Mrs. Timmerman even had a former student, Marsha Fleming, read in her room. NYRD was co-founded in 1989 by Pizza Hut and a division of the Library of Congress to recognize the joys and benefits of reading. Students from all over the country set aside this special day annually to celebrate reading, one of life's most important and greatest pleasures.

A big thank you to Mrs. Burnison for setting this up for our building and for being Washington's "Everyday-Celebrity-Reading-Specialist"!

Good Luck Tigers!!

A few pictures from our black and orange spirit day & pep rally...