There were pumpkins everywhere down the hall at Milford Elementary in keeping with the Halloween spirit. The students and teachers had lots of fun painting pumpkins. Some were painted as a bat, a ball player, The Tin Man, a clown and a pirate.

Friday, October 31 was Halloween and Stafford Elementary did it up right for their students. Throughout the day the students were invited to play games, jump in a jump house and get their faces painted.

Friday morning around 8:30 a.m. it was a “howling” sight in the halls of Stafford Elementary. Skeletons, the walking dead, mummies, witches, pirates and many more frightening creatures were roaming the halls.

When you walked into Stafford Elementary, Thursday, October 30 lots of laughter and cheering was heard through out the gymnasium. Stafford Elementary teachers were playing “Knock Out” (a basketball game) for a prize, as all the students cheered on their teachers.

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Pumpkins, pumpkins and more pumpkins. But these were not just any ordinary pumpkins — oh no! These were pretty pumpkins, scary pumpkins and all kinds of decorated pumpkins. There were spider pumpkins, witches and pirate pumpkins, just to name a few.

Monday morning at 9 a.m. students at Stafford Elementary began Red Ribbon week activities. Accompanied by Mrs. Bedard, school counselor, and Rita Garza, school nurse, children put their hand prints on a huge red banner signifying their desire to live a drug free life.

It is time for box top collecting again! The children at Stafford Elementary are being asked to collect box tops. The box tops will be counted once every six weeks. They will be collected by each grade (Pre-school through 6th grade) and every six weeks the grade that collects the most box tops will win a “Box Top Party” sponsored by one of the local businesses.

Cans, cans and more cans! This is what you see right outside of Mrs. Dorzil’s fourth grade classroom in the hall at Stafford Elementary.

Friday morning in the Stafford Elementary gym, the bleachers were packed with proud parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. And proud they should be! Miss Maevers said there were more awards given out this time then any other time she can remember.

Monday night at 6:30 p.m. Stafford Elementary was full of beautiful artwork, fun, laughter, and students with their parents. Stafford Elementary hosted their first art show of the year.

Every year Stafford Elementary puts on a book fair to encourage students to read. This year’s book fair was a Jungle Book Safari theme. Everywhere you went you could hear wonderful music and everywhere you looked you saw children with their parents picking out lots of books. Not only does this encourage reading but it also provides family time.

Carroll Grimes is another wonderful addition to Avalon ISD. She graduated from Texas A&M Commerce and landed her first teaching job at Corsicana ISD where she taught Kindergarten and second grade.

Amanada Pustejovsky originally started out going to college to be an orthodontist. She began substitute teaching during a college break and realized that teaching was for her. “I did some subbing and the kids won my heart.” Pustejovsky continued, “I saw how eager the kids were to learn, they got so excited. Just to see that you are part of what helped to ‘turn the light bulb on’ is amazing and so worth while.”

Holly Hernandez has started her teaching career this year with Avalon ISD teaching second grade. She graduated from Waxahachie High School and earned her teaching degree at North Texas University in August of 2007.

This is Bethany Matous’s first year to teach school. She teaches fifth grade for Avalon ISD. Matous graduated from Ennis High School, continued her education at Navarro Jr. College for two years and graduated in 2007 from A&M Commerce at Navarro with her degree in education. She pursued education as her career field because she loves kids, “I just bond with kids and I love them.”

Monday, August 8, Stafford Elementary celebrated Grandparents Day by inviting grandparents to eat lunch with their grandchildren. It was quite the success. There were many smiling students with their grandparents chatting and enjoying their lunch together.

This cookie sale is a little different than most. Every time a student sells cookie dough, the profit goes 100% to that student’s teacher for use in their class, it is not shared. For instance, last year the fourth grade made enough money to purchase some recess equipment. The grades that are involved in this sale are Pre-K through the 6th grade.

Cynthia Small has been educating children on how to be safe for approximately 15 years. She is with Region 10, an education service center, which serves eight counties teaching several educational workshops which include: Bully prevention, Developmental assets, Drug prevention and True colors (respecting diversity).

Gena Low grew up in the little country town of Nash, TX, so what a perfect fit Avalon ISD is for her. She graduated from Waxahachie High School, got her associates degree at Navarro Jr College and finished with her bachelors degree in education in 2006 from North Texas University.