Paying+It+Forward

=On August 23, 2011, our county was the epicenter of a 5.8 earthquake - something very rare and unexpected in Virginia! Our schools, businesses, and homes were then the recipient of an outpouring of love from surrounding counties, as well as places farther afield. While we lost our high school and one of our elementary schools, our spirits were "not shaken." We lost 13 instructional days, but were able to merge our high school and middle school together on alternating days, and then form a mobile elementary on the grounds of another one of our schools. Our high school "reopened" on February 1 as a mobile unit. While we were in class the day of the earthquake (and a very scary time it was!) our students were awesome at this frightening event! To feel the earth actually move under you is very unnerving, especially as we had to leave our building around 1pm that day and not return! Our students know very well what it is to be a survivor, and we were fortunate that in the entire county, there was not one fatality that day!= = = =In March 2012, severe tornadoes tore through Kentucky and other surrounding states, affecting many different communities. Like our earthquake, it was a very unexpected and scary event! Our class is ready to "pay it forward" and help those students who have suffered such tragedy. Salyersville Elementary was a total loss and now their students are displaced. We are adopting a 2nd grade class to help through this time. If you would like to make donations (monetary, school supplies, children's books, etc.), please let me know. We will be sending care packages as well as letters of support.= = = =A big thank you to Crystal Radke who initiated the "Teachers Taking Care of Teachers" support system so that we could help out these classes at their time of need! Please be sure to visit her blog for any more information! If you would like to sign up to sponsor a classroom, be sure to visit the Google docs spreadsheet and sign up!=

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=News Update! We're glad the schools were able to start back in temporary homes. Check out the news article here! :)=