On March 27, three board members from the Washington County Farm Bureau came to read a special book to the kindergarten classes. The readers were Mac Johnson, Joyce Millsap, and Sandi Puckett. The name of the book was Kelly's Big Day and was about a little girl and her family's preparation for and trip to the county fair. The children enjoyed these guest readers, who took time out from their busy days in order to share their love of agriculture. Meadowview Elementary School has enjoyed having readers from the county Farm Bureau for three years in a row, and we hope that they will be back again next year to help our students celebrate and learn about Agriculture Literacy Week.

After school on Friday, March 15th, students at Wallace Middle School competed in the second dodge ball tournament of the school year. More than a dozen teams registered and showed up with plenty of spirit, color-coordinated attire, and cheering supporters and fans. New strategies and techniques for staying in the game and eliminating opponents came into play, and in the end, over seven hundred dollars was raised for the PE Department and Girls Basketball program. The big news is that a new team was crowned champions! Students are already rumbling about another tournament after all the SOL tests are over in May. Everyone wants to know if the sixth grade team will be unseated! Members of the winning team are Dakota Worley, Landon Casteel, Gracie Gillen, Colleen Haderer, Adam Terry, Laurent Rhoten, Alyssa Maiden, and Haylee Dye.

Congratulations to Abingdon Elementary School for winning the Washington County 4-H Virginia History Bowl for 2012-2013. To increase the knowledge and understanding of Virginia history and to help prepare 4th grade students for the Virginia History SOL, Washington County 4-H developed the 4-H Virginia History Bowl contest. A team of 4th grade students from each of the seven elementary schools competed on April 16 at Meadowview Elementary School in a double elimination contest. The team from Abingdon Elementary School won in a close championship match against High Point Elementary. The Abingdon Elementary School team was coached by Mrs. Amy Gray. Special thanks to Phil Blevins and Crystal Peek from the Washington County Extension Office for developing and moderating this event.

On March 8, first-grade students at High Point Elementary performed several songs for members of the Virginia Association of Elementary School Principals. These songs, written by principal Sherry King, are a fun way for the students to learn phonics, grammar, and spelling rules, and make reading more meaningful! Mrs. Wiles’ class broke out their boogie boards and sunglasses, as they sang about r-controlled vowels to the tune of “Surfin’ USA”. Harry Potter joined Mrs. Egan’s class, as they waved magic wands while singing a digraph song to the tune of “Witches Brew”. Ms. Hendrickson’s students wore bathrobes and shower caps while singing a lively phonics song to the tune of “Splish, Splash”. Ms. Jenkins’ students rocked out their twisting moves with bright-colored guitars, as they sang about vowel diphthongs to Elvis Presley’s, “Hound Dog”. Mrs. Woodby’s students finished up the class performances dressed in bibbed overalls and farm tools, and sang about the sound of /ind/ to the “Green Acres” theme. For the finale, all the classes joined together to sing about the sound of /au/ and /aw/ to the tune of “Rocky Top”. The visitors really enjoy the songs, and were impressed with all these young students had learned. The first-graders are looking forward to an encore performance!

Congratulations to Catherine Grossman, in Mrs. Tackett's 5th grade home room, for being the sixth student at Meadowview Elementary to reach the million-word reading goal! Catherine has always really enjoyed reading, and this year, she has particularly enjoyed reading several book series. The series that have captured her interest lately are The Daughters of the Sea by Kathryn Lasky, The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins, and The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart. Catherine has also begun the Dragonsdale Series by Salamanda Drake and the Emily Windsnap books by Liz Kessler. This is the second year in a row that Catherine has met this amazing reading goal!