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The Charles Russell School

SMOKE SIGNAL The Charles Russell School provides equal education and employment

opportunities.

January 8, 2010 A CRS STLP/PTA Publication Volume 18 Issue 6

January JoyJanuary JoyJanuary JoyJanuary Joy 1/11-CRS SBDMC Meeting, 5:30 pm

1/18-No School, ML King, Jr. Day 1/19-Valentine’s sale starts

1/20-Faculty Meeting, 3:00 pm 1/22-2nd 9-week Awards, 8:15 am

1/25-Academic Team Meet @ CRS, 4 pm 1/29-Valentine’s sale ends

2/1-CRS PTA meeting, 6 pm

Santa’s Holiday Hoedown On Thursday, December 17, 2009, at Charles Russell Elementary, the 6th grade put on a show for the school called Santa’s Holiday Hoedown. They had two performances at 1 pm and 6 pm. They do this every year to celebrate Christmas. The kids sang Christmas songs and the actors were named after country singers and they acted like cowboys. They had reindeer, Santa and Mrs. Clause, and elves. They sang Goin’ to Branson, We’re Not Reindeer, Layin’ It on the Line, Elves Lives, I Ain’t No Willie Nelson, Will Santa Come Through, and Santa’s Holiday Hoedown. Some soloists were: Madison Howard, Cody Cline, Kacie Black, Paige Kennedy, Ashlee Salley, Haley Glass, Johnathon Litteral, Shannon Card, Levi Grayson, Haley Brown, and Kaylee Thompson. At the very end of the show, Mr. Salyers said, “This was the best one yet.” Also, the McDonald’s rep presented a check for $541 to the school for McTeacher’s Night. Out of the 85 McDonald’s in the region who did this, Charles Russell had the best turnout. What a great way to end a great show! -Cassandra Holbrook &

Makenzie Lucas

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Gun Safety On Friday, December 4th, some people from Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources came to talk to the fifth grade about gun safety. He showed us all a vest that said, please wear me, and it was orange. He explained to us that before putting a gun into a vehicle, make sure that it is unloaded. Thank you for coming; we had a great time. –Cassandra Holbrook

Christmas Poems

On December 7th, Mrs. Bonner and Mrs. Ledford did parts of speech poems together. The 3rd grade helped the kindergarteners. They wrote Christmas Poems about Santa, mistletoe, elves, snow, baby Jesus, presents, and other Christmas stuff. When they started they chose what they were going to write about. They made the poems rhyme. I thought they did a good job. Here is an example called Snow by 3rd grader Nick Endicott:

Snow Snow Snow

White snow, cold snow Lots of snow, very bright snow

Snow Snow on the ground

Snow on the roof Snow on the car

Snow falling silently Snow in the field

Snowing in the patch Snowing on the trees

Snow -Abby Crites

Cookies with Santa

On December 12th, Kindergarten thru 2nd Grade had cookies with Santa in the Charles Russell gym. The kids sat on his lap and had their pictures taken. It was a great opportunity for the kids. They ate Santa-shaped cookies and drank milk. They also told Santa what they wanted for Christmas. –Cassandra Holbrook

First Grade Snowmen

On Monday, Dec. 14th, the first graders in Mrs. Blankenship’s room made a snowman project. They made the snowmen by taking a tube sock and filling them with stuffing. Next they took googly eyes and an orange pipe cleaner for the nose and glued them on the stuffed sock. Then they got small black cotton balls for buttons on the bottom of the sock. This project took a couple hours and a lot of hard work; but when it was over, people had great looking snowmen. They all had a great time. –Amy Moore

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Kindergarten Ornaments

On December 14, Mrs. Schirtzinger’s

kindergarten class made some cool ornaments with snowmen on them. They dipped their

hand in white paint, wrapped it around a blue ornament and let go. When they unwrapped

their hand, there was a snowman! They rolled it in glitter and drew a face on so they had a

snowman. –Casey Walter

Lava Lamps

On December 15, 2009, Miss Hood and Mr. Manning’s classes made Lava Lamps. All Charles Russell fourth graders did it in Miss Hood’s science class. We did it to learn about changes and mixtures. We made them by putting about a cup of vegetable oil in a 16-ounce bottle. Then we poured water in the bottle an inch from the top. After that we put in the dye, the options were yellow, green, pink, and blue. Next we used tablets to make it bubble. Then we had to shake it up. We had a lot of fun making a Lava Lamp. –Makenzie Lucas

and Madalon Ramey

Hanukah

On December 15th, 2009, Mrs. Janice Ledford came to tell Mrs. Amy Ledford’s class about Hanukah. She read a story called “Lots of Latkes”. She also fed the class jelly donuts, juice, Hash browns, and applesauce. I learned that Hanukah holidays usually eat fried food. Some important words of Hanukah are Hanukah-a Jewish holiday, Menorah-a candelabra, Dreidel-a top with letters, Israel-a country, Star of David-Symbol of the religion, Latke-hashbrowns or potato pancakes, and a Torah-the Jewish Bible. They passed around a Menorah—it was a nice, shiny, metal candelabrum with lions on it. They also talked about a game called Dreidel that uses the Dreidel top. The kids really enjoyed the visit. They especially loved the food, but all the kids had a great time. –Noah Roberts

Huntington Museum of Art Wednesday, December 16th, Miss Rowlett and Mrs. Ledford’s 3rd grade classes made masks with Suzanne Alexander from the Huntington Museum of Art. First she showed them a PowerPoint in the library and talked about some things they had in the museum. Then they went to their classrooms and made the masks. Thank you, Suzanne! -Cassandra Holbrook

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Polar Express Day

Polar Express day was fun. On Monday, Brandon Webb was here to read to the 3rd and 6th graders. When he was done, he took questions from the kids and signed autographs. Then on Friday Ms. Meade turned on the Polar Express movie for everyone to watch. Some classes had hot chocolate. –Paige Kennedy

6th Grade Showcase Results Charles Russell’s 6th Grade Academic Team finished 3rd overall in the annual Sixth Grade Showcase academic competition. Madison Howard-6th-Language Arts; Jason Zheng-5th-Math & 6th-Science; Quick Recall Team (Jason Zheng, Madison Howard, Thor Gonzales, Cody Cline, Taylor Donahoe, Hannah Gillette, Paige Kennedy)-3rd place

Correction for 2008-9 CATS Distinguished/Proficient

Lesley Phillips received a Distinguished in Math (incorrectly listed as Proficient).

Verity Band

Mr. Doss brought the Verity Band to Charles Russell to play Christmas music for the kids. The band played beautiful music, and also happy music. They played Jingle Bell Rock, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and more. There were a bunch of instruments, such as flutes, clarinets, and tubas. Some instruments were so big they couldn’t fit all instruments in the bus. The former CRS students were introduced to the audience. In the end, all of the kids enjoyed the music and all the teachers did too. They all had a great time. – Noah Roberts

The Money Machine

On the stage in the gym Madison Hutchinson, Madison Howard, Mattison Parks, Koriah McIntyre, Braedon Ward, Chloe Vanhorn, Dalton Gray, Andre Donalson, Jett Porter, and Hayden Staggs, sold enough items to get in the money machine. Chris Queen from the Queen Fundraising Company came to CRS to let kids in the money machine. In the money machine there was $150 possible to grab. Each kid got in the money machine. If they got below $25 dollars, Chris Queen would automatically give the children $25. Any child that was absent who qualified to get in the money machine he left them $25. This project was on December 16th behind the stage curtains. – Morgan Scherer

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STLP Photo Sales Photos of Charles Russell activities taken by STLP students and staff are available to purchase. Some activities of interest in particular might be the Limo Rides, Money Machine and McTeacher Night. There are photos of individual students in front of the limo and in the money machine, groups of students in and outside of the limo, and individual student/groups of students/families photos with Ronald McDonald. There are many other photos available of the students from most school activities. You may peruse the photo library any day after school. The photos will be printed on photo paper. The cost is $1 per 8x11.5 sheet of photo paper with the sizes and quantities as follows: 1-8x10, 2-5x7s, 3-4x6s, 4-3.5x5s, or 9-wallets. If you would like to purchase photos, order forms are available from Mrs. Elkins in the computer lab. A special e-mail message will be sent out soon with the order form attached. Thanks for supporting CRS STLP!

Correction for Operation Holiday Cards

Additional awards left out in the December issue are: Kindergarten Teacher’s Choice-Elizabeth Davis & John Young 1st Grade Teachers Choice-Uriyah Hall-Clark & Alexis Greene 2nd Grade Teacher’s Choice-Kyle Webster & Zach Francis 3rd Grade Teacher’s Choice-Jake Damron, Shalayna Rice, & Jaden Stevens 4th Grade Paint Teacher’s Choice-Blade Lester, Zachary Stafford, Aly Taylor, Megan Atkins, Andre Donalson 4th Grade Manipulated Photo Teacher’s Choice-Eliott Collins, Baylei Park 5th Grade Paint Teacher Choice-Breck Oppenheimer, Koriah McIntyre 6th Grade Paint Teacher Choice-Taylor Donahoe, Madison Howard, Cameron Reffitt, Tori Williams, Dylan Blevins, Austin Kelly, & Sarah Mullins

4th/5th Academic Team Meet Results Charles Russell’s 4th/5th Grade Academic Team placed the following in the December 8 Meet @ Hager: Social Studies-Bryan Lucas-2nd & Amy Moore-4th; Arts/Humanities-Breck Oppeheimer-4th; Science-Elijah Keaton-2nd & Casey Walter-3rd; Language Arts-Chase Goodrich-4th; Math-Bryan Lucas-5th; Quick Recall- (Amy Moore, William Zheng, Chase Goodrich, Blaine Collins, Bentley Meade, Eliott Collins, Elijah Keaton, & Zachary Stafford)-1 win & 1 loss

On-Line Smoke Signal The CRS Smoke Signal newsletter is available

to view on-line. The web site address is: http://www.crussell.ashland.k12.ky.us/Smoke%

20Signal/ssn_main_page.htm We still offer color copies for 50 cents each or

you can be added to our distribution list to have it e-mailed to you. For questions or comments, please call the school or e-mail Mrs. Elkins @

cynde.elkins@ashland.kyschools.us.

Golden Fork Award

There was a tie in December with Mr. Manning and Mrs. McDavid’s classes earning the award for one week each. Good job!

Extra 2008-9 Yearbooks There are some extra 2008-9 yearbooks available for those who may have forgot to order one. Contact Mrs. Elkins in the computer lab if you are interested in purchasing one for a cost of $16. First come first serve.

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Recycling Collections Monthly Totals Bonner 455

Schirtzinger 457 Blankenship 523

Bocook 570 King 164

McDowell 260 Ledford 384 Rowlett 176 Hood 1098

Manning 272 Foster 31

McDavid 186 Childers 306 Fields 154

The classes to bring in the most by the end of the year will receive a prize. Please continue to save soup label UPCs, box tops, Capri Sun & Honest Kids juice pouches, printer cartridges, cell phones, old digital cameras and hand held electronic games, pop cans and tabs. Soup UPC’s help get stuff for our school (Mrs. Elkins, sponsor); box tops (Ms. Meade, sponsor) & pop cans (Miss Rowlett, sponsor) provide funds to support AR; printer cartridges & cell phones supports STLP (Mrs. Elkins, sponsor); Pop can tabs (Mrs. Reinhard, sponsor) are donated to a fund to send kids to a special camp. Capri Sun & Honest Kids juice pouches (Mrs. Fields, sponsor) help 6th grade earn money for yearly field trip. Any questions or concerns, please contact the sponsor.

Inclement Weather Info Decisions concerning school closings, delays and school bus operations relative to inclement and/or hazardous weather conditions or any emergency will be made at the earliest possible time in order to assure the safety and convenience of our students, families and staff. If inclement weather occurs during the school day, children will be sent home at a time that will allow for roads to be made safe prior to dismissal. Announcements will be made over the One Call phone system as well as on local TV and radio stations, tune to: Television Radio WOWK - Channel 13 WKEE - 100.5 FM WSAZ - Channel 3 WTCR - 103.3 FM WCHS - Channel 8 WRVC - 92.7 FM

Students of the Month

Bethany Ledford Bonner

Abigail Baldwin Schirtzinger

Hunter Bonzo Blankenship

Taylor York Bocook

Allie Stussie King

Luke Maze McDowell

Blake Gibbs Ledford

Maddy Greene Rowlett

Tommy McGlone Hood

Lyndsey Lowe Manning

Brendan Wheeler Foster

Sydney Jackson McDavid

Thor Gonzales Childers

Talynn Burgess Fields

Morgan Vanover Slater

Bryce Horton Elkins

Caleb Draucker Meade

Ashlee Salley Love

Emily Schipmann Reinhard

David Dehart Jackson

Katie Turner Green/Salyers

Madison Hall Lees/Brown

Carlee Salley Minton

Nadia Caldwell Armstrong