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Show Page 4 AMERICAN FORK CITIZEN Thursday, October 4, 2007 (JEWS AND IDEAS FROM CLASSROOMS AND EDUCATORS Legacy Elem. walks path of pumpEcins Karissa Neely NORTH COUNT STAFF legacy Elementary held its lf)th annual I'umpkin Walk Friday Fri-day and Saturday afternoons, and left visitors with a lot to talk about. Over 1,0M) pumpkins lined the path for this year's walk focused fo-cused on encouraging healthy lifestyle choices. And this was no sea of orange. One class painted all their pumpkins blue, and talked about not lying, while another painted their pumpkins the color of corn, with the; theme "We're all ears!" each pumpkin then had a quote about listening listen-ing better. Some fifth grade classes went patriotic, coloring their pumpkins in a star-spangled manner. Their pumpkins each had a quote from a famous American. The I'umpkin Walk is a much anticipated event Ixgacy does eac h year. It's not a fundraiser, "just a celebration," said Tamie (iivan of the PTA board. The event uses sponsors to purchase the pumpkins and supplies, and then volunteers sell food during the walk to raise funds for the next year's event. The students received their pumpkins last Monday, and had two days to decorate them. Each class came up with a theme, and then individual students did their part to support sup-port that theme. Students then English teacher takes on Barbara Christiansen N'jMHf OlINTYSTAFF Carli (iadd never wanted to teach junior high sch(xl. When she was assigned to American Fork Junior High for her student teaching, she was somewhat disappointed. Not only did she adapt to the student teaching, she has accepted her first full-time teaching job at American Fork Junior High School. AFJH administrative assistant assis-tant Carolyn Anderson praised Gadd. "She Ls a great teacher," she said. "It is her first year and she Ls going very well." "I always planned on teaching teach-ing high school," Gadd said. "That is what had always driven me. I had some teachers in high school who made such a deep impact." She told about her reaction to her student teaching assignment. assign-ment. "I thought 'What have they done to me?, she said. "I had to take a lot of deep breaths. The first day I came, I met (teacher) Jan McDaniel. I really re-ally enjoyed it. I got to know the students. I was more than pleasantly surprised how fun and engaged the students at the school were." "I never thought I would like to teach junior high, but when given all the options I knew I waned to teach here," she said. "I love American Fork and the students who go to this school. They have good parental support. sup-port. 1 think I have an opportunity opportu-nity to make an impact on a lot of students." She is teaching English to caveman Andy Cottrell In this edition of Qiveman Corner, we are going to be talking about our absolutely incredible cross-country team! Yipee! Hooray! It's not uncommon to be driving around town and see a bunch of young guys running run-ning around with their shirts off, and having the privilege IW.-!; I j : W ... w V CRAIQ DILGERDaily Herald Students at Legacy Elementary School in American Fork participate in the 10th annual Pumpkin Walk on Sept. 26. Every student puinted a unique pumpkin to be displayed along with their clussmates. Jenny Allphin's 3rd grude class had a Smurf theme and went through a lot of blue paint to make their pumpkins mutch the cartoon characters of yesteryears. Allphin say that she was surprised to find that many of her students still watch Smurf re-runs. "We are going hack in time a bit, but there is nothing wrong with loving the past "says Jenny Allpin: worked on the pumpkins at school and at home, Givan said. Third grade teacher Michael Bottita headed up the event, lnwt wfc Carli Gadd teaches her class at School. seventh and ninth graders. "I really like the variety of both of those ages," she said. "Ninth graders are really starting start-ing to understand things. I am so impressed they are growing into sophistication. Seventh graders are willing to try and are funny. They are kind. It is a great mix." She enjoys many aspects of teaching, but defined what she considered the best. "My favorite part is when we are discussing something in a book we are reading and I see the students not all of them, but some say 'Oh, that's this.' I love it when I see them light up." "One of my favorite things about seventh graders is how easy it is for them to make connections with a book," she of wearing short -shorts while doing so. The coach that they are following is a gentleman by the name of Timo Mostert. You will also see young ladies running around following either ei-ther Bruno Hunziker or Kevin Mann. Our cross-country team members are extremely dedicated to what they do. The boys team will practice twice every day and run about six miles. The girls team practices once a day and will run for an astounding five miles! I wish I could do that. The team has run a lot of races this year and done very LTL I .! ' KM More Central Utah listings than anybody. 'IV (:' r ii -i-. and his class had the corny theme. The pumpkins now sit in the students' yards and homes around the area, smiling with Amer. Fork ""L,,r, BARBARA CHRISTIANSENNorth County American Fork Junior High said. "They tell me stories from their lives. I love that part to see them connect with the literature lit-erature we are reading." During the first part of the school year, she spends a lot of time planning. "I think that is a real challenge chal-lenge of a new teacher," she said. "We look five weeks down the road and see our targets. That is what I want them to know, and what are the desired results in our students' stu-dents' learning. I look forward to really being able to focus on that." She has goals for her students stu-dents and for herself. For the students, it is to instill a love of reading. For herself, she would like to get a reading endorsement endorse-ment for teaching. "I am quickly learning well in every single one. Both girls and boys ran in a race last Saturday where the boys team took first and the girls came in third. Region is on Wednesday and both teams are feeling very confident going into this race. When asked about the race, Shay Baugh said "The boys have a very good chance of winning this race. Our girls team hopes to come in second but we are going to try our hardest to win." With state only two weeks away, the team is working as hard as they can. They have been preparing for quite some for- t v . a ' : ( , r i ii. v7 r v-- c their encouraging messages, a reminder of a school project celebrating creativity and imagination. Junior High how reading is falling out of habit," she said. "There have been some authors who are introducing our children to reading. I want my students to see that reading is accessible and that they can enjoy it. It doesn't have to be boring or tedious. "I want them to make personal per-sonal connections with literature. litera-ture. I believe literature can be a great driving force in a society. It is an opportunity to address social concerns I want them to be able to see because of the problems they present." Getting an endorsement to teach reading takes her a step beyond. "It is to help me be more skilled at helping struggling readers," she said. "This helps me employ techniques." She praised American Fork Junior High School for its work with those who may be behind. , "One thing I really like about this school is there is a large focus on identifying students who are struggling. They set up classes, including study skills classes, and help them catch up on work. It is very student focused." When she's not teaching or preparing to, she enjoys being outdoors. "I have always loved to camp," she said. "My family owns rafts and we go white water rafting." And she enjoys what she is trying to teach her students to enjoy. "1 love to read I am not ashamed to admit I love the Harry Potter series," she said. "I also love classics." time to get ready for the state competition. The team's theme is "The will to win is nothing without the will to prepare to . win." Our boys are ranked ninth in the entire southwest region, an outstanding achievement, and keep climbing up in the standings stand-ings with every race. They just recently beat Orem who was ranked number four in the southwest region. We are thankful for all the hard work our cross-country team puts in and wish them the best of luck in the upcoming upcom-ing races they have, especially state. rwa. All schools There will be no school on Oct. 11-12 for fall break. Teachers will be back on Oct. 15 for professional development develop-ment meetings. Students will not attend Oct. 11, 12 or 15. School will resume on Oct. 16. American Fork High School Dance planned -'-A stomp will follow the football game Friday from approximately 8:30 to 11 p.m. Tickets must be purchased at the door. Only AFHS students will be admitted. Parking The PTSA reminds re-minds students and parents that all students attending AFHS should park inside the parking lot with a valid parking park-ing sticker. Sophomores need to park in the driving range. The street of 520 North is an automatic towing zone by the American Fork Police Department. The police will not give any warnings; cars will be automatically towed and the towing fee is $75. There is an additional storage fee from American Fork City of $20 for each day the car is not claimed. Inside the school's parking lot, students will be ticketed for not having a parking pass. After three tickets, parents will be called and any subsequent violations will result re-sult in the school booting the vehicles. The fee to remove the boot is $50 and must be paid at the student finance office before the boot will be removed. PTSA information Parents Par-ents and students are encouraged encour-aged to join PTSA and can do so for $6 each. Student members mem-bers will receive discounts to the PTSA sponsored dance and the senior all night party. PTSA dues can be paid at the student finance window. The PTSA is collecting e-mail e-mail addresses for an e-mail PTSA newsletter. Any interested inter-ested parent should e-mail their address to afhsptsa gmail.com. The PTSA is encouraging students to get on the A.R.K. by doing and noticing Acts of Random Kindness. When parents or students see someone some-one doing a kind act, they are asked to put that persons name in the ark in the main office. American Fork Junior High School School colors Tomorrow is red, white and black dress up day. Students are invited and encouraged to wear their spirit shirts andor red, white and black. Lunch Students who live within walking distance of the school may be eligible to walk home for lunch when parents fill out a card requesting re-questing permission for their student to leave the school grounds during lunch. Request Re-quest cards may be picked up in the office. Involvement Students are invited to get involved in school activities and clubs. This is a fun way for students to expand interests and to get to know new friends. There is a complete list of activities posted above the computers in the main hall of the school. Students should also listen for announcements because new activities and dances are announced an-nounced regularly. Good news Principal Theron Murphy would like to know about good experiences that parents have had with teachers. Parents are asked to email Principal Murphy at tcmalpine.kl2.ut.us. The body of the e-mail should include the teacher's name, what heshe did and the parent's par-ent's name. Passwords Power School passwords for 8th and 9th graders are the same as last year. Passwords for seventh grade students have been Period. heraldextra.comhomechoice mailed home. Parents and students who have forgotten their password or who may not have received them may receive them in the front office of-fice or the counseling office. Passwords can not be given over the phone. Financial information Parents and students are reminded that the financial office of-fice can not give change from a check that is brought in by a students. If Mrs. Cleveland receives a check for more than the amount of the purchase, pur-chase, she will either have the student get a new check or issue a credit to the student's account. Barratt Elementary School School pictures School pictures will be taken Tuesday. Tues-day. Picture fliers were sent home and should be returned to teachers prior to picture day. All children will have their picture taken even if pictures pic-tures are not ordered. SEPs SEPs conclude today. Book fair Parents are reminded re-minded that today is also the last day of the book fair. Walk to School day Friday Fri-day is the PTA sponsored "walk to school" day. Parents are encouraged to walk with their students to school and discuss safe routes and street crossing rules. Reflections The Reflections Reflec-tions theme for 2007 is "I can make a difference by ..." Students are encouraged to enter as many categories as they would like. Entries are due Oct. 22-26. For more information, contact JaLayne Bangerter at 756-6465. Shelley Elementary School Book fair Friday is the last day for the PTA book f air being held in the library. Parents Par-ents are invited to attend. Field trip The second grade students will be going on a walking field trip tomorrow. tomor-row. PTA board meeting The next PTA board meeting will be Monday at 10 a.m. Forbes Elementary School School pictures School pictures will be taken Friday. Picture packets were sent home Tuesday. Non-students and preschoolers can have their pictures taken from 2-2:45 2-2:45 p.m. Birthday table The PTA sponsored birthday table will be Friday. Parents are invited to come and eat lunch with their student. Students are invited to sit at the birthday table where they will receive a birthday treat. Reading program BEAR Reading started on Monday and charts were sent home with students in the school newsletter. This is a PTA sponsored reading program that the children participate in daily. By charting their reading read-ing minutes and returning them monthly on the chart provided students may attend the end of the year activity which will be Classic Skate for grades 3-6 or Kangaroo Zoo for grades K-2. Fall Fair The Forbes PTA Fall Fair will be Monday from 5 to 7 p.m. This is an 'old-fashioned' fair with games, prizes, and food provided by the PTA. Tickets will be available at the door for three for $1 or four for $1 for PTA members. PTA memberships can be purchased pur-chased at the door. A pizza or nachos dinner which includes a drink can be purchased for $2 per persoa All are invited to attend. PTA meeting The next PTA meeting will be next Wednesday at 4 p.m. in the PTA room. All are welcome and invited to attend. Datt$pf f craid |