Because of the efforts of our incredible students and staff, Patrick Henry has been recognized as one of just SIX schools across the entire state as a Missouri Green School! We have been recognized for our current efforts to maintain a healthy school community through our garden, but also for our upcoming projects this year to make this an inter-generational garden and change the face of our neighborhood as one of a healthy collaborative. We are so proud of our students who work in this space every day, our staff who use their free time to volunteer in this space, our neighbors who assist us in gardening and bring their wealth of knowledge and experience to the table, and our community partners who help us daily to maintain this space as a true farm.

On Thursday, October 7th, the Patrick Henry Parent-Teacher Organization met on Zoom to discuss improvements and ideas for this school year. A few suggestions included creating an anti-bullying campaign or group of students, restarting the Student Council, contacting our local Alderman to request consistent clean-up of our neighborhood (specifically the alleyway next to Patrick Henry), and pairing students together for a buddy program of older students with younger students to promote positive connections between grade levels. We are excited to get started on these ideas!

This is the first P.T.O. Patrick Henry has had in years. We are so excited to see our parents step up into leadership positions and make sure their voices are heard. We are also looking forward to the P.T.O. supporting the school and making improvements! Please consider joining the P.T.O. so that our school community can thrive. Contact Shanice Webb at shanice.webb@slps.org or 314.231.7284 to find out how you can get involved!

A.I.M. stands for "Academics In Movement." A.I.M. Zones are spaces that are set aside in a classroom or a common area where students are encouraged to move, get their wiggles out, and find a free moment to exercise. A.I.M. Zones have special equipment that is designed for children to move while they are still participating in academic activities. For example, pedal exercisers are bike pedals that remain on the ground that students can use while they sit at their desk and continue to do their work. They allow students to keep moving while they are meeting the expectations of the classroom and participating in their work. Many schools have a few A.I.M. Zones, but Patrick Henry was lucky enough to become the first fully equipped A.I.M. Zone school, which means that every single classroom will have an A.I.M. Zone for their students to use anytime throughout the school day. A.I.M. Zones will be distributed next week to our teachers, so stay tuned for highlights from our students moving and learning at the same time!

Students in Mrs. Ralph's P.E. class have been enjoying their flag football unit. Students have been running like mad during P.E. to keep all of their flags to themselves. It has been fun to see their skills and their smiles as they dive into their latest athletic pursuit! With the addition of our A.I.M. Zones, our school is on target to become one of the healthiest schools in the district. Our P.E. minutes, our A.I.M. Zones, our Healthy Schools Healthy Communities Grant, and our incredible school garden all play a role in keeping our students (and staff!) physically and mentally healthy. It is so special to have all of these opportunities for movement, mental relaxation, and healthy eating for our students!

Ms. Jackson's third graders were found playing "Guess that Sound" in Music class this week. Ms. Gonzalez played a clip of a sound that could be heard in different contexts, maybe like crickets chirping, and students had to battle head other head to head to guess the sound. Pictured here, Clarence and Marshae were locked in an epic battle over the sound of popcorn popping. Students were heavily invested in their teammates' successes!

Stay tuned for another music update coming soon. Our team has worked hard to make sure that our piano lab is up and running! We currently have one of our smaller classrooms in process of being set up as a true piano lab for small groups of students to learn how to read music and play beautiful songs on the keyboards!

Even though we are a fully in-person school, we are staying fresh in our technology usage! Our students are well-versed in the iPad and all that it has to offer. Teachers have been so creative over the last two years of figuring out not only how to incorporate technology into their classroom, but also how to make it work for the most educational impact on our students' learning. Pictured below is Ms. Teska's class diving deep into reading through an app called Epic and Reading A-Z. Ask your child about how they use their iPad for fun and learning throughout the school day!