West Smithfield to Host Book Fair, Reading Night West Smithfield Elementary's Fall Book Fair will start on November 1 and run through November 8 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. The Book Fair will include a special Family Event which coincides with Reading Night here at the school. The annual Reading Night will be held on Thursday, November 3. Everyone is invited to come and hear their favorite bedtime stories read by the teachers. The PTO will be selling pizza and drinks beginning at 5:30 p.m. Thefirststorywillstartat630p.m. For more, please call Vanessa Watson, Media Coordinator, at (919) 989-6418. SJHS FFA Raising Money For Additional Chapters The South Johnston H.S. FFA solicited donations for the "Seeds of Hope" Foundation. This foundation's funds will be used to reestablish FFA chapters in schools on the gulf coast devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Student donations were matched from the FFA treasury for a total of $716. The money was presented at the National FFA Convention in Louisville, KY on Wednesday, October 26. For more information, contact FFA sponsors Scott Johnson or Kendall Parker at (919) 894-3146. Downtown Smithfield Businesses Supporting Smithfield Middle Downtown Smithfield businesses will host Spirit Night every first Thursday of each month. Come out to a movie at the Howell Theater and have supper at one of the participating downtown restaurants: Marla's, Gandolfo's Deli, and Riverside Coffee, and the profits from this event will support Smithfield Middle School clubs for the year. All participating businesses are donating a percentage of their evening sales to the school. For more information, please call Dr. Ann Carper, Principal, at (919) 934-4696. North Johnston Middle School Has Spirit Week Penny War During Spirit Week 2005 (Oct. 17-21), North Johnston Middle School held a competitive service project during Spirit Week: 1. Students put pennies in their grade level container. One point is received for every penny in the container. 2. Students put silver coins or paper bills into the containers of OTHER grade levels. Each silver coin or bill reduced the number of points from that container by the amount of the coin. (For example, a nickel reduced the points by five, a dime by ten, a dollar by 100, five dollars by 500.) 3. Therefore, students put pennies in their own grade level container in order to earn points. They put silver coins or bills in other grade level containers so they would lose points. 8th grade had the most points and was deemed the winner. Second place was 7th grade followed by 6th grade. A total of $723.53 was raised. The money was split evenly and donated to United Way and Relay for Life. For more information, please call Heather Parrish Anders at (919) 284-3374 Also at North Johnston Middle, a team of performers from Poetry Alive! transformed poetry into scripts for the students in sixth through eighth grades. The performers mesmerized students by reciting popular poems found in textbooks and anthologies. They brought "poetry from the page to the stage" by turning the poems into short plays and inviting students to be fellow actors. Poetry Alive! is an interactive poetry performance. Since 1984, teams of performers have traveled to each of the 50 states as well as overseas to Guam, Puerto Rico, Saipan, South Korea, and Peru. They have performed for over 7,000,000 students. Melissa Sevigny, band director at North Johnston Middle School, invited the troupe from Poetry Alive! to entertain our students. Poetry Alive! is funded by the Artists * in * the * Schools Program. The Artists-in-the-Schools Program is supported by the Fred Smith Company, the Johnston County Arts Council, Johnston County Schools and corporate, foundation and individual donors. This program is modeled on the Artists in the Schools program of the United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County and is supported in part by services provided by United Arts. For more information, please call Melissa Sevigny, Band director, at (919) 284-3374. McGee's Elementary Teachers Awarded Bright Ideas Grant Three teachers at McGee's Crossroads Elementary School have earned Bright Ideas grants totaling $3,720 from South River Electric Membership Corporation: Angela Barbour, fifth grade teacher, for "Necessary Nonfiction" has been awarded a total of $1,405; Amy Hovermale, fifth grade teacher, for "Book'Em, Dan-O" won a total of $1,730; Meg Walker, Exceptional Children's teacher, for " Learning Is Fun' has received $598. The two fifth grade teachers wrote the grants to benefit the seven fifth-grade classes. For more information, please call Vicky Temple-Rains, Assistant Principal, at (919) 894-7161. Clayton Middle Students Participate in Art Kits for Katrina Clayton Middle School Art students in Deborah Coates' classes participated in The Art Kits for Katrina project sponsored by the North Carolina Art Education Association. These kits are for students in pre-K through 5th grade who were victims of the recent hurricanes in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. The students in the art classes collected over 1,400 items and put together 74 kits with the items. Walmart and Dollar Tree of Clayton contributed items to this project. McDonald's of Clayton rewarded all the students with a free dessert coupon for their generous hearts. The classes who contributed the most were rewarded by Mrs. Coates with snacks and drinks for their hard work. The Kits will be delivered to the American Red Cross through the NC Art Education Association Conference that Mrs. Coates will be attending in Asheville NC on Friday, Oct. 28, through Sunday, Oct. 30. Also at Clayton Middle School, the students' art exhibit at the NC State Fair received the following recognitions: Griselda Flores--8th grade, mixed media still life composition Lindsey Bridges--8th grade crushed cans media experiments Ariceli Tzinzun--8th grade surreal crushed can design Skyler Cauley--7th grade value vs. contrast shoe design Jase Francois--7th grade one point perspective geometric solids Patrick Syme--7th grade one line landscape Patrick Syme also received an individual merit award for his one line landscape picture. For more information, please call Deborah Coates, Teacher, at (919) 553-5811. Meadow School Hosts Greek Festival Mr. Jackson Temple's sixth grade social studies class held a Greek Festival on Friday, October 28 in the school cafeteria. Parents assisted their children with making Greek dishes to serve at the Festival. The cafeteria was decorated with Corinthian pillars and ferns. Students dressed in togas and Landon Lee dressed as a Greek soldier. Parents and the students thoroughly enjoyed the Greek Festival.
