Candyland Family Night

Makenna Holt enjoys making a craft with her friends

3rd Grade teachers organized a fun evening for our parents and students to come and enjoy each others' company.  On December 9th, we filled the cafeteria with students, eager to have a good time.  Parents came to participate and some came so socialize with other parents.  All went way with goodies and fulfillment of time well spent.

Diana and her mother enjoy putting together crafts

Students played games at the 3rd Grade Candyland.

10 Years

Birthdays used to be so important when I was a child.  I think students at our school think more about their birthday than they do Christmas or any other holiday.  It's THEIR SPECIAL DAY.  They don't share it with anyone else.  All the attention for that day is on them.  Students of mine come up to me to make sure that I will announce their birthday in our morning assembly.  I'll ask them when their birthday is.  They'll tell me that it is the next month or two months from now.  To them, their birthday is right around the corner.  I assure them that I will remember to announce their name so we can sing to them.

As adults, most of us don't think too much about birthdays.  We have our "special landmark birthdays" that identify how young we are NOT anymore.  "20" is a good birthday, "30" is okay, but comes with the idea that we're not really young anymore.  "40" shows maturity, but we start feeling some aches and pains.  I had more joint problems in my 40's than in any other time so far in my life.  Once I hit "50," I started feeling old in some ways.  The number "50" was very tough for me.  My birthday came and went that year and all I had was the number to let me know my status in life.  

My recent birthday over the Christmas holiday brought me a little closer to the next plateau -- "60."  Wow, that number rings a bell in me.

So, with all this comes a reflection on TEN YEARS.  When I came to the Waco area, I was forty years old.  My children were in elementary and middle school and we were beginning a new life in Central Texas.  Ten years after that, both my boys had left the house and were in college.  Ten years doesn't seem like much, but it brings so much change to one's life.  I look back in our church directory to see people who attended ten years ago.  Many of them had small children, a husband and a wife.  Since then (10 years later), their children are grown and may have moved away.  Sadly, there are many couples who split up in that time.  Divorce takes over so many of our lives today.

When I speak to students who are 8, 9, or 10 years old, I tell them that they won't be this age forever.  Most students don't think about getting older.  Their concern is today, this week, and what video game they'll be playing when they get home.

As parents, we need to also realize that our children are not going to be this age forever.  I used to tell my own children, "Stop growing!!"  They never listened to me.  We need to continuously feed our children, not only food, but things to enrich their minds - Books being one of the best sources.  Get your children interested in reading by reading to them at home.  My last book that I read to my boys was "Bridge to Terebithia."  I never finished it with him.  Bedtime rituals went away when my youngest got older.  I know many of you read to your children at bedtime.  This will benefit them to no end.

Besides reading, giving them life long experiences in problem solving will benefit them so much.  My dad fixed everything when I was growing up.  I held many lights for him as he fixed his cars.  Ironically, I held many lights for my oldest son when he was fixing his cars.  

Don't let 10 YEARS slip away.  Use every minute of every day reflecting on how you can enrich your childrens' lives physically, academically, and spiritually.  

November @ Lorena Elementary School

Wil Ferderer and James Webb
receive the Principals' Award

Elijah Turley and Mason Blalock
receive the Principal's Award

     We've been blessed to have a fantastic year so far.  In my eleven years as principal, I can't remember a year that has been so full of hard work, especially by our students.  Students come to school to learn, be with their friends, and to take on whatever is given them both academically and socially.  I appreciate how well our students are behaving this year.  

Marissa Zechmann and Kaitlyn Sheffer
receive the "Growth Award" from
Mr. Anderson

     The following are some special events that we've had this month.  Our Awards Assemblies take place in our Performing Arts Center.  Teachers give away a lot of awards.  Students earn other awards, like honor roll, perfect attendance, homework, no tardies, and clean slate.   Mrs. Miller (our counselor) put together some memorable videos for each of the three grade levels.  Her thrust in her lessons with classes focuses on Rachel's Challenge - how to spread kindness to others.  The students enjoyed seeing their art work set to music.

Averie Zant and Jacey Dewbre
enjoy some pizza and games

     The day before the Awards Assembly, a drawing was held, choosing 15 students (5 from each grade level) who made the honor roll, to eat pizza with Mr. Anderson at Peter Piper Pizza.  As always, we had a great time eating and playing for a few hours away from scho

Caleb Blanek is proud of his
efforts both in academics
and the ability to win 1,000
tickets at Peter Piper

ol.

Abigale Fuller and Emma Romer
enjoy some dress up time
at the 5th Grade Family Night

     This month was the setting for our first 5th Grade Family Night.  This year's family night was "Team up to Win it."  Students and parents visited our school cafeteria on the 20th to play games that focused on the gameshow, "Minute to Win it."  The cafeteria was full of families who came to enjoy each others' company and to play games competitively.

Emi     Finally, our students have not only been playing, but they've been working hard.  Each of the three grades took some important benchmark tests in Math, Reading, Writing, and Science.  3rd - 5th graders took a lengthy test to determine what they've learned so far in these subjects.  Writing was given to the 4th graders and the Science test was given to our 5th graders.  In each of these areas we use the data to determine students' progress at this time of the year.  We plan to have a longer, more comprehensive test called our Mock STAAR later in the year.  

     

Red Ribbon Week - Week of Activities

Lorena Elementary had a great week celebrating Red Ribbon Week!  Along with a dress-up theme each day that encouraged the importance of a drug-free lifestyle, each morning a varsity football player spoke in our morning assembly.  The purpose was to motivate our students to have a healthy lifestyle to achieve their future dreams.  On Friday morning, Coach Biles spoke to the students and read a motivational poem.  Ther week ended with a visit from the McLennan County Sheriff's Department where there bomb team did a very unique assembly for our students with the bomb robot.  The bomb team, along with the SWAT team and Lorena Police Department, led the students in our annual Red Ribbon Week parade to close out the great week!  Thanks to Mrs. Miller, our school counselor, for organizing a great week of fun and pertinent information for our students.

Lorena PTO TShirts for Sale

The Lorena Elementary PTO is selling the following tshirt designs for a fundraiser. Each design is available in short sleeve, long sleeve, or hoodie. Click the design to download the order form which you can return to the Elementary School with your payment.

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4th Grade Texas Night - A Rootin' Tootin' Great Time

Every year our grade levels organize an evening of fun for parents to come out with their children to enjoy the school setting in a more informal way.  The 4th grade teachers sponsored Texas Night on October 14th.  We had about 60 families come to enjoy cookie decorating, games (the washer toss was a big hit and Texas Bingo), crafts, and dancing (Ms. Abbe was very tired after the night was up.  Sixty minutes of dancing is a lot after a long day at work.

This activity was a great way to kick back and spend some time with family, mingle with the teachers, and hang out with friends.  Our next Family Night will be November 20th.  The fifth grade will have a game night.  More details and pictures of Texas Night will come later this week.

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Who are all these tall people?

We are through four weeks of school and we've had a wonderful start.  Our 5th Graders are not new to us, but their size is.  We're not used to having such tall folks walking our halls on a regular basis.  I'm very pleased at how they perform at school.  They are a very pleasant group of students.  I'm looking forward to having them "lead" for the 2nd straight year.

One of the best things about this group of students is their willingness to learn new concepts.  They are very receptive to the new material they're being taught.  These students show much responsibility in their actions.  As a group, they get along really well with each other.  This quality will benefit them later in life when they play football or other sports for Lorena High School.

Our 5th Grade teachers have a great relationship with this group of students.  Mrs. Browne and Dr. Curtis teach math, Mrs. Kelley, teaches them science, and Mrs. Ordner and Mrs. Biles are their language, social studies, and reading teachers.  We're blessed to have such a strong group of teachers leading this "new" group of learners.

This is the 4th year for most of these 5th graders.  I can honestly say that they like being here at the elementary.  We're going to enjoy their stay here as long as possible.  Let's hope these students take us to greater heights in our academics this year.  

So, all in all, we're blessed to have such a great group of students being taught by teachers who love to teach and are willing to go the extra mile for them.