EDITOR’S NOTE: The Tribune-Star’s Across the Valley submission process has changed.

We will no longer accept submissions by fax, postal service or hand delivery. Only e-mailed reports to community@tribstar.com will be published.

Submissions may be approximately 750 words. (Please use computer word count function to measure.) There is no required minimum length. Editing and proofreading will be limited to typesetting and headlines. Correction of spelling and other errors are the responsibility of the person submitting the report. Please do not use all capital letters.

The alternating publication schedule has not changed. Submissions must be received 10 days before publication. Please include a contact name and phone number. If announcing an event, list time, date, address and cost; notices will be published the Wednesday prior to the event.

Covington Elementary

Covington Elementary School will sponsor its 21st Annual Holiday Bazaar on Saturday, Nov. 21, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Vendors interested in booth information or registration should contact the school at (765) 793-2254, or write to Holiday Bazaar, 1110 Seventh St., Covington, IN 47932.

Consolidated

This year our resource room received a grant from the Vigo County Education Foundation called “Rocking Readers” to purchase Reader’s Theater books. Our 4th grade students have selected The Star-Spangled Banner Story as their first play. To make a more dramatic connection to this book, Lavonne Waldron is coming to share information about the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key. She has researched this through the Smithsonian Institute and will be sharing a sample star and stripe, as well as photos, to help students understand how large this flag was. (Both physically and from a psychological point of view.) This will take place on Tuesday, October 27, between 10 and 10:30.

— Robbie Tribby,

Resource Room Teacher

Deming

As the ladder truck pulled away with its siren blaring and lights flashing, you could see the Deming second grade students staring in awe after them. What a fabulous field trip that our students had! Brett Doan met us at the Terre Haute Fire Training Center with a smile and a ton of enthusiasm. The Deming Stars were in for a lot of learning and training that day. They learned all about the difference between a ladder truck and a fire engine. Our students were shown how the ladder truck and fire engine are prepared for medical emergencies as well as for fires. The Deming Stars were shown the differences between ladders and what all the tools were for on the ladder truck and the fire engine. They were shown all the gear that fire fighters have and what each part is for and then they were shown the ambulance and what is inside of it. It was very interesting to learn that the ambulance is just like a little mobile hospital. The Deming second graders were asked very good questions about the items inside the ambulance and their use.

All of this was just the beginning of their visit to the Training Center. As the students were led into the smoke house they were told what to expect inside the house and what to do when the house started to fill with smoke. The firefighters told them where their safe area was so they knew where to go when they got out of the smoke house. Quickly the house filled up with smoke and all of the students did an excellent job of getting out of the house speedily and quietly. The students then went to their safe spot and waited patiently for everyone to arrive at that spot. The Deming Stars did an excellent job of following directions to make sure they were safe!

Finally, the students watched an informative video that showed them everything that they need to know to be safe in a fire. A lot of the safety rules, our Deming Stars already knew, but as the students reminded the firefighters, practice makes perfect! At the end of our time, Mr. Doan told our students that anyone that does not have a smoke detector at home needs to let Mrs. McCarty know and she will make Mr. Doan aware of their need and he will make sure that those those families receive one.

— Mrs. Childress, Miss Mains, Mrs. McCarty

Wow! Cool! Awesome! Those were some of the words our fifth graders were using quite frequently during a recent trip to the Vigo County Fairgrounds. Deming Elementary participated with several other elementary schools throughout Vigo County in Conservation Days at the Vigo County Fairgrounds. One of the favorite exhibits was News Channel 2 meteorologist, Jesse Walker, and his weather station. The students learned about weather patterns and what steps to take in regards to safety during turbulent weather. The always famous “tornado in a bottle” fascinated the students as they watched Mr. Walker create many different sized tornados.

“Oink, Oink”, the pigs went as the students learned about their lifestyles. Representatives from a local farm had a few of their homegrown pigs on display for the students. The students were excited as many of them braved the pigs’ smell and oinks to pet them. The students also learned that the pigs were not in any manner related to the current epidemic of swine flu. The real name of the flu is H1N1 and not the swine flu. “The pig industry took a hit from false advertisement”, one local farmer told the students.

Back at school the word “awesome” field trip was spreading throughout the primary grades. Future 5th graders are getting excited about their opportunity to participate in Conservation Days!!

— Becky Wiesneth, Travis Turpen, 5th Grade Teachers,

DeVaney

DeVaney kindergarten classes are off to a busy start this year. In our literacy curriculum we are studying transportation as we learn skills such as letter recognition/sounds, reading high frequency words and recognizing parts of a story. How excited the children are to be reading their first books! In Everyday Math, we continue to practice our counting, patterning, sorting, graphing and problem solving skills. Calendar time is a perfect time to learn many of these things each day.

Our families enjoyed our first Wendy’s Benefit Night on Tuesday October 13th from 4-7 p.m. The teachers greeted many of our families who enjoyed a night out and getting to know one another. A portion of the money earned during this time will be distributed among all kindergarten classes for instructional supplies or other special activities.

Once again this year our kindergarten community project is Seasonal Harvest presented by Ms. Marta Shelton. This is a community outreach to develop gardening, nutrition awareness and food preservation skills with our children. Each kindergarten class walks to the garden once a month to participate in harvesting and mini-lessons. The month of September we learned about apples. In October, we are focusing on a pumpkin theme and will actually be designing a scarecrow for the garden. Parent helpers have been greatly appreciated as they oversee our four mini-lessons and the children rotate in small groups to participate. We feel very fortunate to have such a unique learning experience thanks to Ms. Shelton’s expertise and generosity.

All of the kindergarten children are looking forward to our annual Fall party and Pajama Day on October 30th. What fun we have wearing our favorite pajamas to school as we share special nighttime stories and talk about animal hibernation. A party would not be complete without some special treats to eat! Happy Halloween!

— Kathy Drake

Dixie Bee

It’s October again, and that means time for the Vigo County School Corporation 4th graders to participate in Pioneer Days held at Fowler Park. Dixie Bee 4th graders attended this event on Oct. 15. Students were able to step back in time and see what life was like for pioneers living in Indiana in the 1800’s. Classes visited each cabin and were able to watch and participate in many exciting activities. They played games pioneer children played such as Blind Man’s Bluff and Spud. Students were able to saw logs, make rope, bake cookies and even participate in a pioneer blab school. The school was one of the most popular activities with our 4th graders. We would like to thank the Vigo County School Corporation and the Parks Department for sponsoring this trip for us.

During the month of October students at Dixie Bee have teamed up with Wal-Mart to participate in a recycling event. Students have been busy gathering, washing, and bringing in their recyclable plastic. Each classroom set a goal of how many bags of plastic they thought they could fill by the end of the month. The winning class will receive a pizza party! Dixie Bee will also earn money for each bag of plastic that is donated. What a great way to get students excited about recycling! Some classes are doing extra lessons with their students to help them understand why recycling is important all of the time and how they can do their part to help our earth.

— Fourth Grade Teachers

Farrington Grove

Kindergarten students have been studying about fire safety in the month of October. All classes went on a field trip to the Fire Training Center. Firefighters from Station 11 showed the students the fire truck and we visited the smokehouse. The firemen taught us about different safety procedures.

Also during the month of October, we have been working on letter recognition, letter sounds, sight words, and routines. We are settling in to our 90 minute reading block with no interruptions! The children are seeing the fun and importance of reading.

Farrington Grove hosted a family Chili Supper/Reading Night on Friday. Kindergarten students had special activities in Mrs. Frazier’s room. We hope our families who attended enjoyed the FREE dinner and enjoyed the reading centers that we made. Every kindergarten family that attended received a take home bag of reading materials.

— Erin Frazier, Vicki Thiede, Debbie Smith, Heather Royal,

Kindergarten Teachers

Franklin

Franklin Elementary School has an active Student Council. Throughout the school year Franklin’s Student Council holds many fun and exciting activities that provide opportunities for fund raising and creating school spirit. Students chosen to be members of Franklin’s Student council must have good attendance, maintain better than average grades and be responsible citizens. Therefore it is with great pride that Mrs. Cox, Franklin Elementary first grade teacher and faculty sponsor of Franklin’s Student Council, announces the members of this school year’s Student Council:

Representing Mrs. Norris’ class is Rogelio Sanchez and Brenda Johnson; from Mrs. Cox’s class, Zackery Jackson and Brooke Griffith; from Mrs. Phegley’s class, Jenna Whitney and Joshua Kirmse; from Mrs. Afdahl’s class, Billy Reynolds and Isabel Rivas; from Mrs. Hewitt’s class, Aaron Whitecotton and Kassi Rapier Ward; from Ms. Newport’s class, Skye Bennett and Alexis Cummins; from Mrs. Marrs’ class, David Brown and Olivia Sowards; from Mrs. Haley’s class, Carlos Aguilar and Codilyn Winn; from Mrs. Greasor’s class, Monica Sanchez and Brock Morley; from Ms. Garrett’s class, Khavion Williams and Shelby Montgomery; from Mrs. Dunkin’s class, Iziaih Brown and Amber Winn; from Mrs. Huey’s class, Xylon Briner, Mary Galbraith, Bryson Woods, Frankie Ferando; from Mrs. Earl’s class, Jocelyn Fish and Sierra McKinney.

Franklin Elementary’s annual Grandparents Day was held on October 14th. It was wonderful to see our halls and classrooms filled with Franklin grandma’s and grandpa’s. Your grandchildren so enjoyed showing you their classrooms, their school work - and sharing a cookie with you!

— School staff

Hoosier Prairie

Second grade is off to a good start this year. All 71 of our second graders are adjusting well to their new environments and teachers.

We’ve been hard at work studying living things, both plants and animals. We have learned about classification and how they adapt to their environments. As a culminating activity, we took a trip to watch the Hudson Vagabond Players perform a wonderful puppet show about the life cycle of the butterfly. The students all enjoyed it very much!

As a show of support, Sam’s Club representatives visited Hoosier Prairie and presented several teachers with $100 gift certificates to help supply materials for their classrooms. We all give a great big thank you to Sam’s Club for their gracious donation. All teachers have enjoyed our recent training on our new Social Studies books and curriculum. Thank you to the presenters and hosts.

We look forward each year to a visit from the Honey Creek Fire Department in October. They teach us all about fire safety and how to protect ourselves during a fire. We thank them for their time and energy in helping to educate our students. Currently, we are looking forward to our PTO-sponsored Fall Festival. We always have a great turn-out with lots of support from our local community. Thanks to PTO for all of your hard work in making this happen.

— School staff

Lost Creek

Lost Creek’s Fall Festival 2009 was held Friday, Oct. 2nd from 5:00 to 8:00. Dinner was Fazoli’s spaghetti with marinara or meat sauce, salad, breadsticks, drink, and dessert. What a great night for moms not to cook at home but to enjoy an already cooked meal with family. There were a large variety of games for the students to play such as: ring toss, dunk-it, a hockey game, putt-putt, tic-tac-toe, bean bag game, and even a Cat in the Hat game. With tickets won, fabulous prizes could be purchased in the prize game room. There was also a sucker tree, face painting, and a bounce house. Many purchased raffle tickets for the big prizes of huge baskets filled with goodies collected by the different classroom students. All in all, it was an outstanding night of fun!

Lost Creek’s Mayor’s Character Award for October is for “Attentiveness,” showing the worth of a person or task by giving my undivided attention.

Our school’s overall winner is Savannah Limcaco, a fifth grader in Ms. Fendrick’s room. We want to pass on good wishes to Savannah for being our school representative this month. Our other classroom winners were: First-grade winners were: Cierra Orndorff in Mrs. Bilyeu’s room, Abigail Vire in Ms. McDonald’s room, Allison Cloutier in Mrs. Plasse’s room, Emma Lynch in Mrs. Ralston’s room, Malerie Kraemer in Mrs. Smudde’s room, and Bella Johnson in Mrs. Zimmerman’s room.

Second-grade winners were: Ginny Clark in Mrs. All’s room, Jessica Terrell in Mrs. Bartley’s room, Mason Onger in Ms. Buck’s room, Faith Southard in Ms. Carder’s room, and Renee Sivertson in Mrs. Thompson’s room.

Second/Third grade winner was: Ishan Bhanot in Ms. Cottom’s room.

Third-grade winners were: Jacey Adams in Ms. Diehl’s room, Morgan Thompson in Mrs. Hall’s room, Hailey VanVactor in Mrs. Huxel’s room, Adam Kapperman in Mrs. Runyan’s room, and Kendall Young in Mrs. Wright’s room.

Fourth-grade winners were: Emmie Drake in Ms. Ballinger’s room, Damon Hankins in Mrs. Conder’s room, Sarah Dultz in Mrs. Elliott’s room, and Anna Urton in Mrs. Greulach’s room.

Fourth/Fifth grade winner was: Caaveh Siahmakoun in Mrs. Laubert’s room, Fifth grade winners were: Riannon Kuykendall in Mr. Bitzegaio’s room, Richard White in Ms. Ellis’ room, Savannah Limcaco in Ms. Fendrick’s room, and Molly Farmer in Mr. Frisz’s room.

— School staff

“Healthy Hearts” is the P.E. Theme for 2009-2010. The students are learning 36 important facts about their heart. Our next grading period the students will play different games reenacting the blood flow through the heart!

Running is always the focus at the beginning and end of each class. Leg speed, form, and endurance have improved greatly! Four units have been completed: A mini triathlon (learning bicycle safety and transition tips), the big 10 Hula Hoop Challenge (mastering flexibility and agility), and the Hoop & 5 Coop drills (improving eye and hand coordination.) One week was spent on the Hoop Shoot Competition. Winners representing Lost Creek will be: Christopher Murray, Jillian Ruark, Grant Dennany, Annie Heck, and Chris Barelay.

The “Haunted Gym” begins the 19th of October through the 30th of October.

I love your kids!

— Debbie Anderson

Aren’t grandparents just grand! Students and teachers are preparing many projects for our grandparents to see, hear, and receive. Many grandparent-related activities are being incorporated into various lessons. Then on the following dates all projects made from students’ labor of love will be presented. Lost Creek’s Grandparent Week:

Mon., Nov. 2nd a.m. (9-10) All, Buck, and Carder

p.m. (1:15-2:15) Bartley, Cottom, and Thompson

Tue., Nov. 3rd a.m. (9-10) Plasse, Ralston, Zimmerman, and Johnson

p.m. (1:15-2:15) Bilyeu, McDonald, Smudde, and Johnson

Wed., Nov. 4th a.m. (9-10) Bitzegaio, Fendrick, Black, and Crawn

p.m.(1:15-2:15) Ellis, Frisz, Black, and Crawn

Thur., Nov. 5th a.m. (9-10) Diehl, Huxel, and Laubert

p.m. (1:15-2:15) Hall, Runyan, and Wright

Fri., Nov. 6th a.m. (9-10) Elliott, Greulach, and Casey

p.m. (1:15-2:15) Ballinger, Conder, and Casey

There will be a photographer here from Lifetouch to take pictures of those grandparents that are interested in purchasing one.

— School staff

Meadows

The teachers and students at Meadows Elementary school would like to congratulate Sammy Nasser for receiving the Mayor’s Character Award for the month of September. September’s character trait recognized by the mayor is punctuality. Congratulations Sammy, you deserve it! The third grade students and teachers would like to thank Mr. Mike Farr from the Rotary Club and Mr. Dick Pittelkow from Community Foundation. Mr. Farr and Mr. Pittelkow recently visited Meadows Elementary and gave all the third grade students dictionaries and instructions on how to use them properly. The students and staff at Meadows would also like to bid Miss Ashley Walker farewell. Miss Walker was a student teacher with Mrs. Rose in Physical Education. Miss Walker will be continuing her student teaching at Honey Creek Middle School. Mr. Young would like to thank Mrs. Lana Shuck and the students from her Fit for Life class at Terre Haute South for making the Meadows Fall book fair a success. We really appreciate you help every year!

— School staff

Ouabache

Ouabache recently held our fall book fair and it was a HUGE success! Mrs. Secrest would like to thank all of her wonderful parent volunteers who always help make our book fairs run smooth: Trishia Bailey, Tom Roggee, Loretta James, Kenon Dawson, Marty Goodwin, Dawn Newport, Jenny Todd, Brandy Padgett & Sandie Page. We also had an amazing turnout for our Family Fun Night. The theme this year was “Read Around the World” and that’s just what we did! Ouabache was transformed into a regular World’s Fair with many countries represented. Our students were given “passports” and then proceeded to visit these seven countries – Mexico, France, Germany, Scotland, Saudie Arabia, Bahrain & the United States. Special thanks go out to three of our Terre Haute North teachers who allowed us to “borrow” their students for the evening: Mrs. Amigo’s Spanish Club did a “magnifico” job! Not only were our students taught how to make the Mexican craft “God’s Eyes”, they were also treated to the Spanish version of Goldilock’s and the Three Bears. Members of Mrs. Layton’s French Club brought along musical instruments and treated our families to many different songs throughout the evening. And finally, Mrs. Cantin’s German Club’s enthusiasm was contagious! Seeing the delight these young men and women took in teaching our kiddos about Germany was a joy to behold. Many of our high school students dressed in their country’s regalia which made it all very authentic. Our school was also blessed to have one of our very own families set up a booth showcasing their nationality. Lana Alruhaimi was thrilled to run the Saudi Arabia table with her father Abdullah! Not only did Mr. Alruhaimi bring in many different items from their recent trip to the Middle East, he also set up a station which allowed our students to play an Arabic version of Nintendo WII game! Needless to say, this became one of the “must see” attractions during the night and Mr. Alruhaimi was very patient and kind with all of our eager students. Special thanks also go out to our very own Barb Cooper and her husband, Richard, for turning our music room into the Scottish moors. It takes a brave man to wear a kilt in Terre Haute and Mr. Cooper fit the bill nicely! Finally, ISU graduate student Layla Haidar brought many items from her home country of Bahrain. Ms. Haidar had only been in our country for one month and was very eager to meet our students. She did a fantastic job of teaching many of our children about her very small, but very beautiful country. We would also like to thank Cindy Rider for joining in on all the fun and setting up a booth so our students could receive their free Vigo County Public Library card. Ouabache Elementary is very proud to be a part of such a wonderful community! Everyone is always so willing to jump in and help, and it is this kind of commitment to our students that helps to always make our special family events such a success!

— Mrs. Secrest

Media Specialist

Riley

We blasted off into second grade successfully at Riley Elementary. This smooth beginning made our first grading period zoom by as quickly as a spaceship’s lift off. We started the year in a scientific fashion studying the lifecycle of the Painted Lady Butterfly. We watched them transform from stage to stage right before our eyes. We culminated this with a visit to Rose Hulman where we watched a retelling of this circle of life using life-sized puppets. We always enjoy it when theater performances come to Terre Haute. Our next adventure takes us back in time. We are learning about life long ago. Conner Prairie is on our itinerary this fall. It is a treat to listen and watch these Colonial folks in action. Life sure has changed for us since the 1800’s. We are blessed to be a part of the 21st Century.

At Riley, our Fall Festival will take place on Friday. We always enjoy a night out with the families of the school community. Our school community is a lot like family.

— School staff

Sugar Grove

Thursday, October 8th was Jumpstart’s Read for the Record. All of Sugar Grove’s kindergarten, first and second grade students participated in this annual event sponsored by the Wabash Valley Chapter of the IRA. Mrs. Knierim invited four guest readers which included: Dr. David Mutchler from Rose Hulman, Judge Chris Newton, Cindy Caton — our cafeteria supervisor and Melynda McKinney — our head custodian. These four guest readers shared The Very Hungry Caterpillar with eleven classrooms for a total of 224 students. Each guest reader had to sign in and then Mrs.Knierim had to fill out the Witness Verification Statement so we would be part of the official count. Students speculated about the totals worldwide that would be participating this year.

— Mrs. Knierim

West Vigo

Fifth graders visited the “Covered Bridge Capital of the World” on Oct. 14. This was one of the major events that concluded the covered bridge unit study. Students had made several trips to the computer lab over the previous weeks in order to learn about these historic sites using a website compiled by Parke County. The online scavenger hunt lead students to learn about: the bridges that are no longer standing, why some bridges have windows and others do not, Jackson Bridge which is the only white bridge in the county, and all of the different routes that tourists can take to see the 31 bridges that are still standing.

The buses were boarded on the wet and dreary day with each student having his/her own covered bridge investigator’s notebook that they used to collect data. The first stop was at the West Union Bridge, which is the longest covered bridge in Parke County. While there, students used measuring tapes to measure the length and width of the bridge. They also estimated the height of the bridge opening and then explained in words how they arrived at their estimate. We then loaded the bus and headed toward Phillips Bridge, which is the shortest bridge in the county, and is celebrating its centennial anniversary. Again, students measured the length and width as well as estimated the height of the opening. But their favorite part was talking about the ways that Phillip’s Bridge was different from the West Union Bridge. Students discovered that the bridges used different structural components, one was a single span while the other was a double span, one was held up by trusses while the other was held up by Burr arches, and one had windows while the other did not.

After visiting the bridges, we ate under the pavilion at a park in Rockville and then had a few hours to experience the Covered Bridge Festival. Each student was given money to purchase a pressed penny with a covered bridge on it as a souvenir. We were fortunate enough to get to see a man using a chainsaw to cut bald eagles out of a tree trunk! The most popular items purchased from vendors at the festival included rock candy, Native American sling shots, and delicious foods (especially crullers).

The following morning, families were invited to join students at school for “Breakfast and Bridges”. After enjoying muffins, fruit salad, coffee, and juice, the challenge was to build a covered bridge out of popsicle sticks! There were no blueprints given to students, they had to use the knowledge that they gained from the field trip in order to construct their own bridge. After the glue dried, students had the opportunity to paint their bridge, including their bridge name, year constructed, and the famous saying “Cross this bridge at a walk”.

What a great opportunity for students to learn about a festival that is known around the world and bridges that hold so much historical value! This trip really measured up!

— School staff

Marshall North

The Marshall Elementary Boosters have been busy these past few months! Marshall Elementary Students now have the opportunity to show off their Lion Pride with their new Marshall Elementary t-shirts! Shirts are still available for purchase in the elementary school offices or you may contact any MEB volunteer. Get your walking-running shoes and bring the whole family out for the first Marshall Elementary Booster’s Turkey Trot-5k & Fun Mile…Nov. 21 at 9 a.m. at North Elementary School.

We are also planning or supporting many fun educational activities during the rest of this school year. So come on out and join us! We can always use more Boosters!!!

The next Marshall Elementary Booster’s meeting: Oct. 29 at 5:30 p.m. in North School Commons.

For more information find us on Facebook under Marshall Illinois Elementary Boosters or call (217) 826-8938, 3916 2714 or 8994.

— School staff