Former Pittsburgh Steeler, Robin Cole, visited McAnnulty Elementary on October 17, 2007 and spoke to students and staff regarding the importance of good character.  Mr. Cole's experiences as a member of a very successful team helped the students realize that with good character, kindness and determination that anyone can achieve their dreams.  Thank you Mr. Cole for being our true Starfish Buddy!

The kindergarten classes at McAnnulty were visited by Whitehall paramedics and their search dog, Band - Aid! Students were able to see first hand what it is like inside of an ambulance.  Paramedics Adam and Todd showed the students what to expect in the event that they need to be treated in an ambulance.  They were shown the equipment that may be used and assured that nothing in there would hurt them. Some lucky students got to lie on a stretcher and have their heart monitored!  Thanks Adam, Todd, and Band - Aid!

Continuing to work with the Starfish Buddy program, Mrs. Weisbrod’s kindergarten and Mrs. Griener’s second grade classes teamed up to build two scarecrows.  Parent volunteers as well as other staff joined in this group project to help the kids stuff and accessorize our scarecrows.  Both creations have been donated to the PTA’s Fall Festival.  Thanks to everyone who helped us!

Griener’s Greats have been working hard in the classroom.  As they read Roundup at Rio Ranch, children participated in a review activity while dressed in western attire.  Groups of students wrote sentences with vocabulary words, identified the subjects and predicates of each sentence, and then used the game of Charades to act it out for the rest of the class.  What a fun way to review!

On Monday October 15th 2007, John Bower from the South Baldwin Fire Department spent the afternoon with all 8 of our Kindergarten classes.  Mr. Bower discussed fire safety and the children practiced the stop, drop & roll technique.  After the classroom visit the children went outside to see the fire truck.

Mr. John Doyle, a  naturalist, visited Mrs. Urban's and Ms. McPaul's classes on October 10th.  He shared artifacts, such as deer antlers and a tortoise shell, as well as presented a slide show of different geographical regions, like the wetlands.  It was a follow-up to South Taylor Environmental Park.

Miss Anderson’s First Grade Allstars had a fabulous time learning about the history of apples and Johnny Appleseed!  The students participated in various Apple Activity Centers that promoted important concepts taught in class. We loved working as a Team with our Allstar Parents!

For the past two years, teachers at McAnnulty Elementary have participated in Denny Barger’s Starfish workshop.  This program addresses the issue of how severely put-downs affect our lives.  It focuses on how little things like smiling and saying hello can brighten a person’s day.  The PTA arranged for Mr. Barger to speak with our children.  After grade level meetings with him, Mrs. Griener’s second graders and Mrs. Weisbrod’s kindergarten students engaged in a teaming activity.  They met new friends in the different grade level, talked about how to be a starfish buddy, and created the starfish craft.  After helping and chatting with each other, students gave their starfish to their new friends.  Our McAnnulty team members will be sure to smile and make others feel comfortable!  Great job kiddos!

Mrs. Urban's and Ms. McPaul's first grade classes visited South Taylor Environmental Park on October 4th.  The children toured the wetlands, caught bugs, and learned about nature.  They are looking forward to returning in the spring so they can compare/contrast the environment in the different seasons.

The Marvelous Minds of Room 114 celebrated Johnny Appleseed Day by partaking in a variety of apple activities.  Do you know how many different ways there are to sort apples?  Well the M&Ms found out some of the ways by looking at the apples that we all brought in from home. We had a wonderful time making Apple Puppets and then putting on a play in front of our class using the apple facts we learned.  We were also able to discover the star in the middle of the apple and then created apple prints so we could show other people.    But the most “applelious” thing we did was making applesauce all day and then finally being able to eat some.  Mmmm, our mouths were watering all day long, but it was definitely worth the wait!