• October 27th (Friday): Horace Mann School Halloween Party (Tonight, 5:30-7:30 p.m.)
• October 31st (Tuesday): Halloween Day!; Sight Night!
• November 2nd (Thursday): Picture Retake Day; PTA Meeting (7:00 p.m.)
• November 3rd (Friday): Family Fun Night; Geckler Fundraiser Pickup and Ice Cream Social (4:30-7:30 p.m.)
• November 6th (Monday): Get Out The Vote Student Rally (See Information!)
• November 8th (Wednesday): Site Council Meeting (5:00 p.m.)
• November 9th (Thursday): Early Release Day (Students dismissed at 12:50 p.m.)
• November 10th (Friday): Conference Day (No School for Students)
• November 14th (Tuesday): Staff Meeting (3:00 p.m.) November 16th (Thursday): Evening Conferences (3:30-7:30 p.m.)
• November 17th (Friday): Scholastic Book Fair (See Details Below!); New Recycling Assembly (9:25 a.m.)
• November 20th (Monday): 3rd Grade and Special Needs Kindergarten Field Trip to Belwin
• November 21st (Tuesday): 3rd Grade Heritage Feast; Evening Conferences (3:30-7:30 p.m.)
• November 22nd (Wednesday): Professional Day (No School for Students)
• November 23rd & 24th: Thanksgiving Holiday (No School)
• November 27th (Monday): Start of New Recycling Program at Lunch (See Details!)
• November 28th (Tuesday): Staff Meeting (3:00 p.m.)
• November 30th (Thursday): Lock-Down Drill (1:30 p.m.)

HALLOWEEN PARTY IS TONIGHT! The 5th and 6th Graders and Horace Mann School PTA are sponsoring a Halloween party for the entire school, tonight from 5:30 to 7:30 P.M. in the Horace Mann Gymnasium. There will be games, the 6th grade famous haunted house, monster walk, food and much more! Students, please wear your Halloween costume! The money raised supports the 6th grade trip to Eagle Bluff Environmental Center in the spring. SEE YOU THERE!

THANK YOU MINNESOTA WILD Minnesota Wild Marketing and Game Presentation Intern Garon Rowlund paid a visit to our 2nd graders on October 24th. Ms. Rowland read books from the "Brady Brady" hockey theme collection to our students. From the comments, it was apparent that our students enjoyed being read to, and that they have an interest in hockey. At the end of her visit, Ms. Rowland donated the entire collection of "Brady Brady" books to the Horace Mann library.

Thanks again Minnesota Wild!

GET OUT THE VOTE STUDENT RALLY SET FOR NOVEMBER 6TH November 6th, 2006, at 1:00 p.m., will be a very special day for 5th and 6th grade students attending Horace Mann School. Students at these grade levels are working hard in their social studies class in preparation for Election Day, November 7th, 2006. They are excited about their "Get Out The Vote" project.

As you are aware, the teaching model for this project is from Kids Voting USA. Kids Voting USA is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that teaches students about the concepts of citizenship, civic responsibility, democracy and the importance of political participation. The design of this program simulates an authentic voting experience to help students gain knowledge, skills and confidence to be active citizens. What makes the program truly unique is that students have the opportunity to cast a Kids Voting ballet on Election Day, voting on the same candidates and issues as adults. This year our students will participate and pilot a new on-line voting system.

The culmination of this student driven project will be a Get Out the Vote Rally program which will be held on Monday, November 6th, 2006, in the Horace Mann School gymnasium at 1:00 p.m. The program will include speeches by Horace Mann students on the importance of voting, patriotic songs and a discussion with area politicians on "The Importance of Voting In Our Republic."

Participants in the program will include Horace Mann School students as well as Congresswoman Betty McCollum, State Senator Richard Cohen, Attorney General Mike Hatch/representative. Students are waiting to receive additional confirmations of attendance from candidates (watch for an update in the next newsletter). Parents and community members are invited to attend. Please circle this important date and time on your calendar.

TAKE AN ADVENTURE TO THE READING RAINFOREST! GO WILD FOR BOOKS! The Scholastic book fair will be held November 16-21 and will coincide with parent/teacher conferences. This event is a major fundraiser for Horace Mann so we look forward to participation from every family. Volunteers are needed to create the rainforest, to excite the kids with games and prizes, to work the sale, or to help dismantle our forest. If you are not interested in purchasing books, please volunteer or encourage grandparents or other family members to support our school.

Any questions or to volunteer, call Chris Aerts 699-6575 or chrisbillaerts@comcast.net.

RIF EXTRAVAGANZA

A WARM BLANKET, A CUP OF HOT CHOCOLATE, AND A GOOD BOOK! We all enjoy snuggling up with a good book as the weather begins to get colder. Every student at Horace Mann School will be able to choose a new book the week of October 30th through November 3rd during his/her regularly scheduled library time. This book give-away is made possible from the RIF, Reading Is Fundamental, Inc. RIF is the nation's oldest and largest nonprofit children's literacy organization. Its purpose is to help young people discover the joy and acquire the habit of reading. RIF supports literacy development by providing free books for children to choose and keep.

Students who are absent on their library day will still receive their RIF books. If you have any questions regarding the program contact Mariana Tennyson at 293-8965.

ICE CREAM SOCIAL Please join us on Friday November 3, 2006 for an ice cream social! This event will take place in the gym during the fall fundraiser pick up. FREE ice cream will be served from 5:00pm to 7:30pm. This event is sponsored by the Horace Mann PTA. See you there!

SCARE UP YOUR OLD EYEGLASSES FOR A GREAT CAUSE Horace Mann School is partnering with the Saint Paul Midway Lions Club to collect used eyeglasses and sunglasses through trick-or-treat night. If you have old eyeglasses, please drop them off at the Horace Mann office through November 1st. Volunteers from the Gift of Sight Foundation and Lions Club International clean, repair and classify the prescriptions and then hand deliver glasses to people in developing countries. Please donate to this worthy cause.

October 27, 2006

Dear Horace Mann Parents and Guardians:

In the month of November we will begin our focus on turning elephants into pigs (smile). Starting the week of November 27th, we will begin reducing the tons (elephants) of garbage our school throws out every year, and feeding as much as possible of what's left to local pigs. By doing so, we can significantly reduce the costs we are required to pay for dumpster hauling.

Having piloted a food waste-recycling project last year at four schools?

Galtier, Hancock, International Academy-LEAP and Maxfield?the school district plans to implement the project district wide by the end of this school year. At our up-coming all-school assembly on November 17th, at 9:25 a.m., we will demonstrate how the sorting process will work at breakfast and lunch. County helpers will be at the schools for our first week of recycling, showing the volunteers how it works. Basically, if the pigs can eat it, it goes in the blue bucket; if they can't, it goes in the gray bucket.

In addition to saving money, benefits of this food waste-recycling project include:

· Improved workers safety (in-house maintenance staff won't have to lift as many heavy garbage bags)

· Increased cleanliness and reduced odors (eliminating beverage waste from the garbage stream reduces much of the mess and smell)

· Better pest control (less garbage means fewer flies and wasps hovering around our dumpsters)

· Students learn to take responsibility for their environment and their community.

Barthold Farms, from St. Francis, Minn., will then pick up everything we put in the blue bucket and deliver it to the pigs. For more information, go to the Saint Paul Public Schools Nutrition Service website http://www.sppscafe.org/ and click on the sidebar; Food Waste Recycling.

We are excited about this opportunity to save money and reduce waste. We know the pigs are, too!

Sincerely,

Lewis Scott, Principal