Principals’ Paws Family Newsletter Published by the Principals of Mary Blount Elementary School
Volume 2, Issue 1		October 17, 2006
In the glimpse of an eye!
			Mark Your Calendars Oct. 17: Report Cards Oct. 17-Oct 24 Cookie Dough pickup Oct. 19: Makeup pictures and Basketball pictures Oct. 21: Run for Education at Wm Blount High School@ 2:00pm Oct. 25: MBE v. Friendsville, 6:00 Oct. 26: PTO Masquerade Ball, 6:00-8:00 pm Oct. 29: MBE at Walland, 6:00 Oct. 30: MBE v. Carpenter’s, 6:00 Nov. 1: MBE 3rd-5^th grades Social Studies Fair; MBE at Eagleton 6:00 Nov. 5: Parent Conferences, 12:00-6:00 pm Nov. 6: MBE v. Vonore, 6:00 Nov. 9: Christmas Pictures Nov. 11: Veterans Day Nov. 13: MBE v. Porter, 6:00 Nov. 15: MBE at Alcoa,6:30 Nov. 19: MBE at Fairview, 6:00 Nov. 20: County Social Studies Fair @ Heritage High 6pm-9pm Nov. 21: ½ day, dismiss at 11:00 Nov. 22-23: No School Nov. 27 MBE at Middlesettlements 6 Nov. 29: MBE at Maryville Christian, 6:00 Mary Blount Elementary School 131 South Old Glory Road Maryville, TN 37801 Phone: (865) 980-1430 Fax: (865) 980-1428 Sandra Bell, Principal sandra.bell@blountk12.org Stan Painter, Assistant Principal stan.painter@blountk12.org
We hope this newsletter finds all Mary Blount families doing well and rested from an enjoyable fall break. I hope you are enjoying this warm dry weather. It is amazing how time has flown since school began over two months ago. We have much to celebrate as students have been engaged in classrooms that are kid-friendly and brain-compatible. Last years first graders were determined to “Save our Grass” and encouraged everyone to walk on the concrete by making signs, posters, and flyers. They got the attention of The Moss Brothers Builders and T.J. Blankenship who kindly volunteered their time, expertise, and resources to build MBE a new front sidewalk while we were off for fall break! WOW! We are so appreciative of their efforts and their caring attitude! It is really great! Mark your calendars for Sunday, October 21st for the annual Run for Education. The Blount County Education Foundation will be sponsoring the event at William Blount High School starting at 2:00. The registration fee is $10, of which $8 comes back to Mary Blount to fund instructional initiatives. Our school goal is $1,000. If we reach this goal, Ms. Bell will kiss a pig and the top earner will have the opportunity to throw a pie in Mr.Painter’s face! Your teachers will even wear their pajamas to school! Parent Conferences will be held on Monday, November 5th from 12:00-6:00. Please contact your child’s teacher to schedule a conference. Appreciatively~~Mrs. Bell and Mr. Painter The vision of Mary Blount Elementary School is to encourage a love of learning, prepare responsible citizens, develop lifelong learners, and cultivate a respect for diversity.

Making Connections-Bonding Families Using Lifeskills by Heather Tuck, School Counselor The Lifelong Guideline of Truthfulness comes from being honest in everything you say & do. When you care about what you say & do, it builds trust with other people. Being truthful is a big step toward showing how trustworthy you are. We come down hard on a child who gets caught lying or cheating, but we don’t usually congratulate a kid who tells the truth regularly. Take the time this week to watch your child carefully for times when they could have lied to get out of something, but didn’t. Being truthful is one of the most important skills we can teach our children, and it is one they will need to use for the rest of their lives. Work toward rewarding and praising your child for using Truthfulness so they will want to continue to practice it. After all, honesty IS the best policy!		Bear Basketball News, by Coaches Jennifer Boling and Betty Wilson Tryouts for our girls’ and boys’ basketball teams were held in September. The following students were selected for the teams: GIRLS: Amber Click, Montana Coffey, Chloe Daugherty, Kelsey Myers, Kassi Knight, Ashlyn Cooper, Kristin Sands, Ida Humphrey, Kelsey Perry, Kailey Dunn, Demi Coleman, Jasmine McBrayer, Alexis Wall BOYS: Austyn Balcom, Austin Bowers, Seth Caldwell, Caelan Evans, Nathan Farner, Gage Hembree, Tyler Johnson, Nick Lukins, Logan Matthews, Logan Parsons, Jordan Swoboda, Sam Taylor, Konner Webb, Manager Brady Armstrong Check the calendar on front for upcoming games. Best wishes on another great year of Bear Basketball.
SAFETY ISSUES! ***** NEW PROCEDURES***** After school pickup –The faculty parking lot will be closed each afternoon until the buses leave campus. This will prevent walking between the buses and provide necessary time for buses to exit the campus. If you want to park and pick up your student you will need to park in the visitor’s parking lot, then meet your student under the bus loading awning. Traffic is an issue due to the number of students that attend MBE and the access roads that bring vehicles to our school. Please remember that the north entrance (the one closest to highway 321) is closed 7:00-8:00 am and 2:00-3:00 pm. During this time enter at the south entrance and circle the school. Also, remember to drop students off in the morning in the designated drop-off lane or park in a marked space and walk your child into the building. The faculty parking lot is not a drop off zone. We appreciate your cooperation as we strive to maintain a safe environment for all children at MBE.
Bear Council, sponsored by Ms. Heather Tuck, MBE Counselor This year’s Bear Council students have been elected to serve as a leadership program in our school. All interested 5^th graders wrote essays and went through an interview process. Nine students were chosen to serve for this year. These students are: Kassidi Knight, Sarah Cook, Taylor Trube, Katie Crawley, Haylee Murphy, Tabitha Smith, Abbey Woods, Caitlin Stedman, and Emily Hatcher. Look for this group of girls to do some great things for our school this year!	New Faces at MBE! We would like to welcome our new Assistant Principal, Mr. Stan Painter to MBE! We know he will be a wonderful addition to our MBE family. We also welcome some new teachers: Mrs. Rebecca Bangash in K, Ms. Kari Sharp in K, Mrs. Patricia Falcon in 1^st, Mrs. Crystal Johnson in 2^nd, Mrs. Virginia Weitnauer in 2^nd, Ms. Hope Whitehead in 3^rd, Mrs. Heather Woods in Art, Mrs. Karen Scarborough in CDC 1, and Ms. Debra Deal SLP. New office additions include Mrs. Cynthia Weimer as secretary, Mrs. Bobbie Fields as bookkeeper and Mrs. Wilma Noe as Special Ed Secretary and vision/hearing screener. We also have a host of new TAs that we certainly appreciate.