Guardian Angels for the Kitchen of Hope

The Indian Springs drive to support downtown Kingsport's Kitchen of Hope was a great success! Thank you to the Third Grade for initiating this very worthwhile project and to all who contributed school-wide. There was a nice article in the Kingsport Times-News on Tuesday describing how the contributions from Indian Springs Elementary and other organizations have greatly eased the immediate financial concerns of the Kitchen of Hope. It truly is a heart-warming Christmas story, and we are proud to be a part of it. Three carloads of goods were donated by Indian Springs, along with $260 in cash donations. There is a video clip of Monday's visit by Indian Springs to Kitchen of Hope on the Times-News website. I could not attach a link directly to the video, but if you go to the local news page and look at the column titled "Local Videos", there is a clip called "Kitchen of Hope Receives Donations" about halfway down. You can see Mrs. Lancaster give an interview along with many of our students, other teachers, and parents. Great job as always, Indian Springs!

Gift Ideas

Are you wondering what to get that special teacher for Christmas? As parents, we strive to give our teachers thoughtful gifts that will be useful and also express our appreciation for the wonderful work they do every day with our children. We took a small poll of a few teachers to get their ideas on what makes a good teacher gift. Below are their suggestions:

Gift cards to restaurants, bookstores, teacher supply stores, and other businesses are always nice. Some nice places have opened up in Kingsport this year like Marble Slab, Panera, Starbucks, Books-a-Million, etc.

Donations to charity in honor of the class are a thoughtful, meaningful gift.

Other practical gift ideas include:

postage stamps for mailing of class letters or teacher notes

practical dish towels

pot holders

kitchen soap

cooking utensils (like wooden spoons)

cheese ball with crackers

basket of bananas or pears

packets of flavors for water

tub of lemonade mix

Picture frame

favorite teacher drinks (like Coke or Diet Dr. Pepper)

hand lotion

A Letter To My Teacher (just telling us what we do that they like)

One teacher summed it up nicely by saying, "Any gift given from a child's heart with a joyful smile is always appreciated. It humbles me that others would share the gift of giving with me this blessed Christmas season."

Happy shopping!

Don't Forget to Send in Items for Kitchen of Hope!

If you would like to help support Kitchen of Hope via the Third Grade Service Project, please send in your items by this Friday, December 12. You can place your items in receptacles at school or give them to your homeroom teacher. Just as a reminder, items needed are:

canned green beans
canned soup
macaroni noodles
canned corn
baked beans
paper towels
napkins
plain styrofoam plates
plastic forks
plastic spoons
toilet paper
instant tea
12 oz. and 14 oz styrofoam cups
monetary donations

Thank you!

Get Text Messages About Schedule Changes

If you would like to receive a text message when there are school schedule changes (closing, early dismissal, morning delays), text the Sullivan County code sull to 62582. You only have to do this one time. You'll receive a confirmation text message to let you know you've been signed up. Standard charges will apply to all messages.

Schedule Changes - Mon, Dec. 8

Sullivan County is on a 2-hour delay Monday, December 8. As a result, the daytime performance of the 3rd Grade Program will be at 2pm instead of 10am as previously scheduled.

Food Drive for Kitchen of Hope

A previous blog post described the third grade's adoption of the Kitchen of Hope as their annual Christmas service project. In lieu of doing a $5 gift exchange, the students voted instead to bring in items that are greatly needed by the Kitchen of Hope, an organization in downtown Kingsport that feeds hungry people every day. Below is a picture of the Kitchen of Hope that appeared in a Times-News article back in February.


We are thrilled to report that a caring 4th grade parent was inspired by this project and is working with the third grade teachers to involve the whole school in supporting Kitchen of Hope. A flyer was sent home Friday describing the school-wide effort. If you are out shopping this weekend, please consider picking up a few extra items and sending them in to school by Friday, December 12. There will be collection containers throughout the school, or you can give your items to your homeroom teacher.

Items needed are:
canned green beans
canned soup
macaroni noodles
canned corn
baked beans
paper towels
napkins
plain styrofoam plates
plastic forks
plastic spoons
toilet paper
instant tea
12 oz. and 14 oz styrofoam cups
monetary donations

Thanks as always for being such a caring community!

Conrad's Crafty Critters

Mrs. Conrad's first grade class had their Christmas Crafts today, December 4. They had a fun day of activities planned. They made ornaments for Christmas trees that are on display in their classroom. They also made stockings and t-shirts. The boys' shirts were reindeer and the girls' shirts were angels - made from feet and hand prints.


Mrs. Conrad's class also made blankets and handmade Christmas cards to deliver to a local nursing home. In all they had a fun and exciting day!



Thanks to Cheryl Gray for submitting this post!

Third Grade Holiday Service Project

Over the years, the third grade classes have chosen to help someone in need rather than do a classroom gift exchange. This year's third grade is providing some much-needed help to the Kitchen of Hope in downtown Kingsport. A recent article in the Times-News highlighted the struggles that Kitchen of Hope is facing, with costs increasing and donations decreasing, all at a time when more people than ever are in need. The Kitchen of Hope was founded and is run by Mrs. Geraldine Swagerty through the Full Gospel Mission Church on Sevier Avenue. The kitchen serves a meal at 3:30 each afternoon to between 65-125 people, from elderly folks down to children of 2 or 3 years old. Our big-hearted third graders will be bringing in food items, paper products, and monetary donations, all of which will be presented by them to Mrs. Swagerty on the afternoon of Monday, December 15th.

Third graders, we are very proud of you and thankful to your teachers for encouraging you in this very worthwhile service project.

Thanks to Mrs. Counts for providing the information for this post!