DAPHNE, Ala.—A big special thanks to three wonderful volunteers: Mr. Jay Parke, Mr. Ronny Champion and Mr. Ken Basque have graciously donated their time and expertise toward getting our LCD projectors mounted on our ceilings. Over two late afternoons, they have mounted seven LCDs and will be back up at our school Monday afternoon to do two more.

Parke has two children at our school: Annabelle and Christian.

Mr. Champion has a son, Dylan, here.

Mr. Basque is one of our bus drivers.

We are still recruiting parents who could continue to help install LCD mounts. We are in the process of ordering one for every classroom. No technology experience is necessary. Basically, volunteers would need to be able to attach the hardware for the mounts onto the LCDs and run wires above ceiling tiles. The school is working to get an installation demonstration set up so further volunteers would know exactly what to do. The goal is to get enough volunteers to do two to four classrooms.

Ever since the beginning of September, students have been doing something special on Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays in P.E. The students have walked, jogged and run for about 10 minutes at the beginning of class.

Before the students began this, though, each class chose a place in the United States that is far from Daphne. Mrs. Elizabeth Jennings, the school’s P.E. coach, calculated how far away each place was. Now, when the students are walking, jogging, and running, they are also trying to run enough miles as a class to reach their destination. They aren’t running to the actual places—obviously—but the students do enjoy looking at the maps Ms. Jennings has created to track how close each class is to their particular ‘destination.’

This week marked the beginning of a brand new quarter! That meant new class work, new averages, and new Accelerated Reading goals.

Our Halloween Hop is coming soon. This is a PTO-sponsored event for our fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade students. Come in costume or come as yourself. There will be a costume contest for the best costume. It is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 24 from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Admission is $5. There will be food items for sale. You can even have your picture taken for $1 so you will never forget this great night of fun.

In sixth-grade Project Jubilee, students are learning about Pablo Picasso and his interest in African masks.  Papers on this topic are due Oct. 21.

Students are also creating their very own African mask out of milk cartons.

Students are collecting money for United Way. They are earning the money for the children and adults who can not afford glasses, clothes and other necessities.

Everyone who brings in $2 will get some ice cream. The class that brings in the most money will get a popsicle party. The teacher of that class will get a free pedicure.

Our fifth-grade students do a program with the Daphne Police Department called D.A.R.E., which stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education. DARE stands for Define, Assess, Respond, and Evaluate. A Daphne policeman comes to a classroom every week to discuss drugs, alcohol, choices, etc. He talks about drugs and what they do to your body and strategies that help you say NO to drugs.

We also have a guidance counselor, Mr. Durand Curtis, who talks to us with the officer. DARE is a nationwide program for fifth-grade students.

 Fifth-grade teacher Mrs. Michelle Gay and her students were recently spotlighted in a USA Today article about students who ‘elect’ Barack Obama president.

In a poll taken every four years, the readers of Scholastic magazines spent weeks filling in presidential ballots. The article said that student voters—about 250,000 this year—have an 88 percent prediction rate. Only twice since 1940 have their results been at odds with the nation’s: in 1948, when Harry Truman defeated Thomas Dewey, and in 1960, when John F. Kennedy beat Richard Nixon. In Mrs. Gay’s class, Obama won by just one vote. The final result of the poll gave Obama 57 percent of the vote.