LINKS O2K8

Today is April 28th! This month flew by!! LINKS has had a great month! We wrapped up our Family Intergenerational

Workshops with a potluck family dinner and a family slide show to celebrate our super families. I hope to continue these evenings next year! Dodgeball wrapped up with over 150 players earning almost $1300 for LINKS!! 5th graders celebrated their D.A.R.E. Graduation on April 9th thanks to Officer Marley! Team 5 and Pfish hosted a wonderful Oral history day for Grandpeople on April 10th! The IOC, Jr. planned special events to celebrate Earth Week, including daily trivia and a Friday morning all school treasure hunt - won by Mrs. Cope’s France and Mr. Agins’ Mexico homerooms!!

LINKS fundraising to date has us at about $8000 towards our senior center reading and music center!!  Donations are always welcome. Please make checks out to Pawcatuck Middle School. Special thanks to Mrs. Heughins and all the students who sold flowered pens and candy bars at the duck race. They earned LINKS another $150!!

Our Golf Tournament was cancelled due to low numbers, but we have scheduled a June 13th CT Defenders game and fireworks!!! We earn $4.00 for everyone who attends. Please spread the word!!!

Our Senior/Junior LINKS Dance Marathon is scheduled for May 15th!!! We are looking forward to a great day!! Stop in if you’d like. Look for details in Panther Tracks and on this website!!

Thanks for caring!!!!    Janis

What a busy month! CMT’s, Basket Bonanza, Basketball Awards Dinner, Family Intergenerational Night II, St. Patrick’s Day, Mother-Daughter Volleyball, PTO, FAB,  Dodgeball for LINKS, senior birthdays, and more… Today is March 21st - Good Friday! One week to go in March, and it is also filled with big activities!  Tuesday, March 25th is Skate Night at the Galaxy Rink from 6-8 p.m. Weds., the 26th is our LEARNING EXPO NIGHT that includes our Music Boosters pizza dinner and our LINKS Silent Auction!! Stop by between 5 and 7 to see lots of learning activities/displays  and our art show, enjoy the pizza dinner, and bid on a few cool auction items.

7/8 Dodgeball for LINKS is Tuesday the 25th, and 5/6 LINKS Dodgeball is Thursday the 27th. Friday, the 28th is our 7/8 grade dance in the gym at 7:00 p.m.

Saturday, March 29th, the PTO is having a huge bake sale at Walmart’s. We can use all the donations you are willing to bring. Walmart’s will match our profit!!! March 31st is our final Family Intergenerational Night at 6:00 p.m. 

On May 24th, we are sponsoring a Scramble Golf Tournament at Richmond CC at 1:30. We would like to fill the course.

All profits go to the LINKS Project!!!        Please call Janis if you have any questions or ideas… 599-5696

I can’t believe it is almost March. I will post new scores for the Olympics this weekend. Last night, we held our first Family Intergenerational Evening. Eleven really wonderful families attended, and thanks to Mrs. Cope and Mrs. Steinnagel, we enjoyed some stories, some snacks, some poetry, and a kugawana sharing questions game. Night number two will be held on March 12th. If you would like to attend(parent, student, and grandperson(s), please contact me ASAP!! In March, we will be playing a little Family Feud!! Call anytime with questions (599-5696).  Zikomo!  Janis

Time flies! I can’t believe January is almost over already! We have some exciting LINKS news to share. Last week, we held our Coat, Sweater, Glove, Scarf… Drive - thanks to the parents encouragement, and the IOC’s collected and packed up close to 900 winter items for the PNC Clothing locker!!! Many thanks to all donors and to Mr. Logan for his lifting and delivery work!

The second half of our Challenge #6 (WARMTH Challenge) was our annual coin drive!! We set a new record raising over $1133 dollars for our LINKS project!! Halfway through the school year, students and staff have also provided birthday cards and treats to over 100 local seniors.

We have begun work planning our May 24th Golf Tournament, and we have scheduled a series of Family Intergenerational Celebration Nights. Details and sign up forms will be in Panther Tracks and on this website. Call Janis Ingham if you have any questions, and mark your calendars for February 27th and March 12th. The evenings will include videos, games, family heritage and storytelling, as well as snacks and friendship and fun…

Students will also be going on a field trip to the PNC to meet seniors and work on oral histories. I will write again soon, because alot is happening. Door bears are starting to go up, so we know Friendship Week is on the way!
New Olympics LINKS scores have also been posted!! Everyone is doing great!

New medal standings have just been posted. This includes honor roll, dodgeball, attendance, effort and service points… Everyone is doing great! Challenge #6 continues next week. Please send in loose coins to help fill your homeroom’s bucket to help heat local people’s homes!!! Please send in coats, sweaters, gloves, mittens and scarves on Weds. a.m. to help the PNC Clothing Locker!! Each item is worth 200 Olympic points!!! Enjoy the weekend!!

Chimwem-mwe Cha Chaka Chatsopano! Happy New Year! 2007 seems to have flown by. As we get going in the new year, there are many cool things happening at school! Our Olympics LINKS Challenge #6 starts January 7th. It is a two part challenge called WARMTH LINKS. For part one, homerooms will be trying to fill a bucket will loose change to help Operation Fuel and help local families and seniors cover heating bills. Part two involves a one day only Coat, Sweater, Scarf, anf Gloves Drive on January 16th outside the Health Room from 7-9 a.m. Warm clothes in good condition will be given to the PNC Clothing Locker. The Challenge #6 poem and details can be found under the LINKS Challenge category!

Our annual Book Fair is coming up February 4-8. Pat Domnarski has kindly volunteered to organize it. She is looking for volunteers daily at lunchtimes. Please call her if you can help out.

FAMILY DODGEBALL is WEDS. January 9th ! Everyone is welcome! Please sign up ASAP! I’ll give you more updates over the weekend. Have a healthy and a happy new year!!!

Hi everyone! We watched a great video broadcast this morning - thanks to the video club!! New Olympic medal standings have been posted. After vacation, we will have our Family Dodgeball Night on January 9th and our Coat and Sweater Drive on the 16th.

Seniors are enjoying all of their birthday deliveries and treats. Josh Labbe and his troop in Iraq loved the care packages we sent.

Thanks to everyone for their continued caring spirit!! Enjoy a healthy and happy holiday… Janis

Hi everybody! A half day for snow is kind of helpful near the holidays! Great news- the entire LINKS website, pictures and all, is up and running for your info and use!! Many thanks to Sue McCarthy for her help and instruction!! Panther Pause has been changed to next Wednesday at 2:00. We will be making cards for veterans and wounded soldiers in ICU’s… Chikumbuso Club meets Monday at 2:45 in the Thanzi Room. Two packages of supplies and gifts were sent to Josh Labbe’s battalion in Iraq thanks to everyone’s generosity. Gift packages and cards have also been sent to Chikumbuso. NEXT WEDNESDAY is HOLIDAY DRESS UP DAY for ReNUH(hospitals in Uganda). Students are asked to chip in 50 cents or more and get in the spirit by dressing in holiday colors, outfits, Santa hats, or any holiday spirited clothing that won’t disrupt classes… Donations will be given to Erin Lee who is in contact with some young people going to Uganda in January!!

Our young people’s caring and community spirit continue to amaze me!! Enjoy the holidays and keep in touch!! Janis

Many thanks to Sue McCarthy, I was able to upload many pictures into the O2K8 LINKS Web area. Enjoy them. Also, all scoring charts and current medal standings are updated as of today. The What is LINKS section is ready, as is the Fundraising section. Sue has been very patient teaching me. I hope the other three sections will be ready by next week. The IOC Committe section has a great picture of our 8th grade IOC kids in it.

Thanks to everyone who donated to Operation Oversea ELF! We will be shipping care packages to Iraq on Monday. Christmas presents and cards are also being sent to Chikumbuso thanks to the Chikumbuso Club.

Sorry about the cancellation of Polar Express. Field Trips, Basketball games, and the holidays had everyone too busy. Thanks for all you do. Keep in touch. PTO meets the 19th. All in attendance will receive an amazing 1000 Olympics Christmas bonus point!!! Janis

Today is Dr. Ballard Day!! Many thanks to Mrs. Meagher for arranging this special event! Thanks also to Mrs. Heughins, Miss Comeau, Mrs. Eisenbeis, and Mrs. Giulini for arranging everything. Skate Night is tomorrow night (Dec. 4th) from 6-8 p.m. The Polar Express Movie afternoon is Friday at 4 p.m. at the Olde Mistick Village Cinemas. Stop by for free!! We have invited all area seniors and hope many of our students invite their grandparents…

The LINKS website is still under construction. Bear with me. There are pics of the Opening Ceremony under photos, the program explanation is under Olympics LINKS, and scores are posted. I hope to post everything else clearly this week.  Janis