Pleasanton USD 344

Congratulations to Sherri Coffman-Neal for completing the Leadership Academy. What an accomplishment.

Kyla Green is keeping things positive in USD 344!!! Thanks for going the extra mile.

A huge THANK YOU to Stefanie Cook and all of our special reading guests for making Read Across America Week a success.

Good afternoon, Due to a shortage of bus drivers today, we will be transporting students who live outside of Pleasanton using school vans. Students will be dropped off at their homes, as usual, but drop off times may be different. Thank you for understanding.

Good morning! The vote is in and school will not be in session Wednesday February 15th so staff and students can celebrate the Chiefs Super Bowl win.

A huge CONGRATULATIONS to all of our Linn County Spelling Bee participants. They all did a fantastic job in the competition and represented their respective schools with honor.

I am super proud of our spellers today. We had 6 Blu Jays compete. All did a fantastic job. Here are a few fun facts about our Blu Jays in the competition. Four of the top seven spellers, were Blu Jays. (Kooper Milburn, Benson Meik, Aiden Patrick, and Erika Martinez.) Two of the top three spellers were Blu Jays. (Aiden Patrick and Benson Meik) The Linn County Champion was a Blu Jay. (Benson Meik) Congratulations to all of our Blu Jay spellers.

Tomorrow morning at 9:30 AM in the Pleasanton High School Gymnasium, our 6 finalist will compete in the Linn County Spelling Bee. Admission to the event is free and will also be streamed over the Pleasanton Facebook page. Whether it be live or on-line, tune in and support our very talented Pleasanton team. Pleasanton Elementary: Erika Martinez, Levi Dir, and Brendyn Workman Pleasanton Junior High: Aiden Patrick, Kooper Milburn, and Benson Meik

In celebration of Kansas’s Birthday, Mrs. Epps and Mrs. Workman made homemade bread and butter with their 3rd grade class. So delicious!!!

Today, I encouraged our students to wear their Pleasanton Elementary t-shirts to school tomorrow. It was also brought to my attention that we should be supporting the Chiefs for the big game this weekend. That said, students are welcome to choose. They may wear red in support of the Chiefs or wear their Pleasanton t-shirts. Go Blu-Jays and Go Chiefs!!

Mrs. Brown’s class recently studied Washington DC. During the unit, the students requested to visit DC on a field trip. While she could not deliver the field trip they requested, she gave them the best alternative she could. Today, the class took an imaginative plane ride to DC. They took a virtual tour of the White House along with several of the presidential monuments. The kids absolutely loved it and told me all about it later in the day. Just one example of the many great things our teachers are doing for our students at the elementary school. By the way….as amazing as this virtual trip was, 2nd grade is still requesting a field trip to our Nation’s Capitol.

Attention Junior & Senior parents & students: Prom is quickly approaching and we will start having fundraisers for After Prom. This is to give our kids a safe and fun activity after Prom has ended. The mid season tournament is this week on Tuesday Thursday and Friday, we are going to have a bake sale. We are asking that each junior and senior bring a bake sale item on Tuesday and Thursday. Then at the end of the night on Thursday, we will do an assessment on what we have left and determine then what we need for Friday. It has been suggested that items brought are single serve items. It doesn’t have to be, it’s just a suggestion. If you want to bake an entire cake or some kind of a meal you can do that. The bigger items we might do a silent auction on where you write your name on a piece of paper and bid it out to a certain time frame during the last game. We need students and parents to work shifts on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday the time frames are 4:30 to 6 and and 6pm until the end of the game. Items can be brought to the office or to the commons area by 4:30 each afternoon. Or if needed can be dropped off with Meredith Johnson Monday evening. We will also have a 50/50 drawing. Thank you!

Congratulations to all of our Pleasanton Spelling Bee participants. This year’s bee was very competitive. Our top spellers deserve some special recognition and will go on to represent the Blu-Jays in the Linn County Spelling Bee. Pleasanton Elementary: Champion- Brendyn Workman Finalists- Erika Martinez & Levi Dir Pleasanton Junior High: Champion- Kooper Milburn Finalists- Benson Meik & Aiden Patrick

This is a friendly reminder that tomorrow is the annual Pleasanton Spelling Bee. The event will be held in the elementary gym at 1PM. Three spellers from the PES and 3 spellers from PJHS will move on to compete in the county competition.

Our Kindergarten students were rockin’ it in our afternoon reading groups.

Happy New Year from USD #344. We hope that you all have enjoyed this holiday season and look forward to your children returning to school tomorrow (Monday, January 2nd).

One more picture of 3400 items. Whoop! Whoop!!

If you have ever wondered what 3400 items in a food drive looks like under a Christmas tree, you no longer have to wonder. What an amazing response we had from our community in support of our Pleasanton Food Drive…….and this is only the elementary side of the drive. The high school beat our record from last year with over 2500 items as well. It is humbling to think that as food prices rise, our community becomes more generous. Thank you for all of your help.

It is time to celebrate!!! Both Pleasanton High School and Pleasanton Elementary have exceeded their goal of 2000 items for our food drive. Items continue to come in, so we will not have a final count until tomorrow. This means students will be released tomorrow at 1 PM. We wish everyone a Merry Christmas, a Happy Holliday, and an amazing New Year!

I am pleased to announce that Pleasanton Elementary has reached its goal of 2000 items for our drive. This means we will be leaving at 1 PM on Thursday afternoon. More information will be sent out tomorrow about our 1 PM Thursday release. The current total is 2259 with one more day to go. Let’s see if we can break our record of 2400 items to add to our food pantries. We are close and I am confident we can do it. Tomorrow afternoon we will announce our classroom winners. Thank you Pleasanton for your generosity.