GREAT things are happening at Mannford Public Schools! PT CONFERENCES 4:00-7:00 / March 7 & 8. MECC The MECC is celebrating Dr. Seuss the first week in March. Both grades are enjoying reading all kinds of Dr. Seuss books. Kindergarten celebrated the week with dress up days all week long. PreK is practicing rhyming with Dr. Seuss. Kindergarten will be visited and read to by the “Cat in the Hat” on Friday! The MECC will be visited by the Pilot Club and be schooled on the importance of wearing helmets in a “Brain Minders” lesson. PreK is beginning to work on reading skills now that they know their alphabet. They are learning about rainbows and mixing primary colors. PreK will be visited by a special guest with a St. Patrick’s Day story and they will continue to focus on kindness! Kindergarten will be starting their dinosaur unit during the last week of March. They are learning about Spring and the fun it brings! They have finished studying about some of our presidents and are making the cutest hot air balloons! Both classes are coloring Easter eggs and bunnies, having hunts and class parties/snacks to celebrate Easter. PreK will be using an Easter egg hunt as a math activity of numbers 1-10. MES PE: Did you know that our school community raised $6,609.63 for The American Heart Association by participating in the Jump/Hoops for Heart program. Way to go Pirate families! Students who raised the most money in each class will get to be PE teacher during class this month. We will also be working on balances, tumbling, St.Patrick’s games, t-ball and scooters manipulation. 3rd and 4th grade classes will be participating in a walking club during PE for an opportunity to win a t-shirt, shoe laces and shoe lace tag. Mannford Lower Elementary students are wrapping up their illustrations for their amazing class books! The students wrote the narrative portion of their book in the library with Mrs. Morrow. Now they are putting the final touches on pictures to go with their words. These books will be professionally printed. I can’t wait to see the final product! We are also looking forward to working with clay after Spring Break! Spring is an exciting and busy time in the art room. Second grade broke last year’s record as we read and tested on Dr. Seuss’ birthday. Third graders are finishing up their project based learning research reports on animals and how they adapt in their habitats. Students then used the information to create interactive presentations in iPad apps such as iMovie and the Voice app. Students are also preparing for the state reading and math tests coming up in April. They are locating and defining key terms that might appear on the test. They will be practicing these terms in class and bringing home a set of note cards to study as testing gets closer. They are also looking forward to celebrating good behavior with a trip to the bowling alley next week before Spring Break! They will also have a great time hunting Easter eggs after a well-deserved week off. First grade will celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday with lots of reading activities and a celebration with Mrs. Morrow on March 2nd. We are finishing up our plant unit. When we return from Spring Break we will begin our study of animals and habitats. Did you know that parents come to school too? Our elementary parents can be spotted helping with valentines, book fairs, Dr. Seuss celebrations, Read Across America, and much, much more. A HUGE thanks to our volunteers. March 3, 2016 is the date of the 2nd Grade Concert – “Dr. Suess We Love You”. March 7 & 8, 2016 are the dates for district-wide parent teacher conferences. March 24, 2016 is the date of our first Health FaiWe have many volunteers from the state and community who will be discussing health, safety, fitness, healthy eating habits and much more. Come join us from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the Elementary Gym. We can’t wait to see you! March 30, 2016 is the date for the Mannford Elementary School end of the month assembly. MUES 4th grade participated in Read Across America for Dr. Seuss’s birthday. They read in their pajamas and took AR tests all day. Mrs. Woods’ class studied the states and did reports to conclude the unit. Mrs. Woods’ and Mrs. Melton’s classes finished reading Because of Winn Dixie. They also had a picnic like the novel. Mrs. Melton’s class has set a goal of reading 12 million words by the end of the year. If they do, they will have a pizza party. They are quickly approaching their goal with 11,600,000 words read as of March 3! The topic last month in Mrs. Metcalf’s room was Cultures of Change. The students studied key figures in history that have contributed in changing the culture of our world. Some of the figures we studied were Martin Luther King, Jr, Eleanor Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln and Susan B. Anthony. The students completed art projects that related to different nationalities. All academic areas were centered around Cultures of Change. Ms. Saliba’s Math class did a Gallon Bot decorating contest. The best decorated winners used objects to specify cups, pints, quarts, and 1 gallon. In Mrs. Kyser’s class, students researched different planets. The students answered questions for their presentation and made a planet model. Mrs. Sellers class just finished reading Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse. This is a historical fiction book that takes place in the Oklahoma Panhandle during the 1930’s. The book is written in poetic form and the students studied figurative language along with the story. They will be reading the book Hatchet after Spring Break. The 5th grade academic team had their Beta tournament in Mannford at the First Methodist Church on Friday February 26th. They Won 1st place! The 4th grade academic team had their Beta tournament in Hominy on March 2nd. They won Runner-Up! Kaleidoscope did a unit on the Civil War and took a trip to the Civil War Reenactment in Yale. MMS The 8th grade boys and girls basketball teams won the Tulsa 7 Conference Championship for the 2015-2016 basketball season. Track season is underway with the first track meet starting on 3/24 at Bristow. The MMS Talent show is scheduled for Thursday, March 10th at 1PM and will be held in the middle school gym. That the MMS 6th grade has read 4,005 books so far this year and has an 86.4% passing rate on quizzes taken on those books through the Accelerated Reader program!!! MHS Jaron James is our March student of the month. Mannford Girls Basketball Team is in the second round of Area Playoffs (“Sweet 16”). This is the first time that Mannford Girls basketball team have made it this far into the playoffs since 2008. Congratulations Players and Coaches on a great girls’ basketball season! Mannford Boys Basketball Team were Tulsa 7 Basketball Conference Champions. Noah Garner was selected the Tulsa 7 Player of the Year. Braden Whittenburg & Bryce Brinker were selected to the All-Conference Team. Chandler Wasson & Jorge Carvajal were All Conference Honorable Mention selections. Congratulations Players & Coaches on a great boys’ basketball season! 15 Gifted & Talented Students attended Oklahoma Close Up in February. They got to hear & ask questions of many state official, shadow a legislator, witness a Criminal Court of Appeals Case and participate in a discussion panel over earthquakes. As always, our students represented Mannford Public Schools very well. Former student Dae’lyn Smith was a Program Instructor (Camp Counselor) with Ok Close Up this year, which shows how much our students (and former students) are valued by Ok Close UP. MHS Concert Choir & MMS Cambiata Singers traveled to Pryor HS in February to perform in the OSSAA District Choir Festival and received “excellent” ratings. (11) MHS soloists will travel to Claremore HS and perform in the OSSAA District Solo/Ensemble Festival on March 5th. Our soloists are Zoe Blair, Caleb Collins, Noah Foster, Tessa Hill, Nic Johnston, Emily King, Britney Mace, Jacob McDaniel, Mataya Pawloski, Homer Smith and Leigh Welch. MHS Show Choir will travel to Edmond Santa Fe HS on Wednesday March 9th to perform in a Show Choir Festival. MPS Choir is currently selling $5.00 tickets to “all you can eat pancake dinner” at McDonalds. The dinner will be held on March 29th from 6:00-8:00 p.m. All proceeds will benefit the choir department. See Ms. Lee or a Choir Students to purchase your tickets. Congratulations to Savanah Childers, Bryan Geurkink, Jessy Medrano and Mariah Nicolet for being our 2016 Valedictorians! Congratulations to Jaron James for being our 2016 Salutatorian! Congratulations to Garrett Cochran, Savana Childers and Tyler Knox on being nominated and interviewing for the prestigious President’s Leadership Scholarship. Congratulations to Garrett Cochran for receiving the Presidents Leadership Scholarship!Congratulations to Savana Childers for interviewing for, and receiving the prestigious RISE Scholarship! Congratulations to Junior Students Zac Young & Beecher Owens as being finalists for the Indian Electric essay contest. They both will compete on March 24th for all expense paid trips to either Colorado or Washington D.C. (5) MHS students qualified for the Creek County Livestock Show Premium Sale. Congratulations to Kevin Remington, Jill Remington, Makayla Donaldson, Hannah Kupec and Savana Childers.