Children’s Artwork to be Displayed on First Friday at Connell Building

Lake Ariel, PA – The Marley’s Mission Board of Directors is pleased to announce that children’s artwork from the Second Annual Blue Ribbon Gala will be on display at this week’s First Friday Downtown Scranton Artwalk on Friday, March 2, 2012, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at The Connell Building.

The artwork was created for the Gala by local children depicting the theme “Hands and Hooves,” which was the theme of the Marley’s Mission week-long 2011 summer camp.

Blue Ribbon Gala Art Committee Co-Chairs Gretchen Wintermantel and Jennifer Macknosky reached out to area school districts and asked that students participate. Children were given the theme and asked to depict their vision of “Hands and Hooves.”
“We specifically asked that art projects should reflect the fact that it is the healing power of horses that helps the children to trust and to hope,” said Ms. Wintermantel.

Marley’s Mission received nearly 40 works of art from nine area schools, including: Riverside Junior/Senior High School, McNichols Plaza Elementary School, Carbondale Area High School, Blue Ridge Elementary School, Lackawanna County Career Technology Center, Stourbridge Elementary School, Francis Willard Elementary School, Dunmore High School, and MidValley High School.

This was the second year that Marley’s Mission Gala planners wanted to have area children create works of art for the event, which is the major fundraiser for organization.

“Having artwork created by local children was very important to us because it is young people who are helped through Marley’s Mission. We felt it was important to include them in many aspects of the Gala, and plan to continue to do so next year,” said Mrs. Macknosky.

Note cards that were created from the Marley’s Mission 2011-2012 Art Contest winning drawings will be available for sale at the First Friday event. The pack of 10 all-occasion blank note cards includes the People’s Choice Award Winner, and has two each of the five winners included. The packs are $20 each, and all proceeds benefit Marley’s Mission. The note cards are also available for order by contacting gretchen@marleysmission.com.

The Second Annual Blue Ribbon Gala was held Feb. 18, 2012 at The Hilton Hotel and Conference Center. Co-chairs of the 2012 Gala were Rebecca Haggerty and Jeanne Giallorenzi. Honorary co-chairs were Patrick J. Brier and Erin Kane.
The theme of this year’s Gala was “Celebrate Classy” – celebrating the fact that Marley’s Mission was named “Best New Charity” in September by StayClassy.org, a leader in fundraising for non-profits.
The First Friday event at The Connell Building, 131 North Washington Ave. in Scranton, is free and open to the public.

Marley’s Mission, founded in July 2010 and currently based in Lake Ariel, provides Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP) to children and families who have experienced trauma, at no cost.

Bedtime Fun At Blue Ridge

New Milford, PA—February 24, 2012

Blue Ridge Elementary School was the place to be in your pajama’s February 24, 2012. Dozens of families participated in the annual “Bedtime Stories at Blue Ridge” event enjoying a special dinner, craft making and, of course, a bedtime story. Young children (and some adults) dressed in their favorite night-time attire and brought with them special blankets, teddy bears or pillows as they participated in the full evening of activities.

Students from the National Honor Society at Blue Ridge helped make the evening possible by receiving food donations and coordinating a fun filled evening based on the book Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do You Hear? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle. Young children and adults enjoyed making animal masks and puppets, providing animal sounds to go with the story and playing a rollicking round of “Zoo Keeper Says,” based on the idea of Simon Says.

At the end of the evening, each child was able to pick a book to take home choosing from a variety of titles. Families were also encouraged to sign a bedtime story contract, promising to read bedtime stories each night.

“Bedtime Stories at Blue Ridge” was made possible through a joint effort with National Honor Society at Blue Ridge, the Blue Ridge School District and Susquehanna County CARES (Childcare, Agencies, Resources and Educational Services.) CARES is a non-profit group under the Susquehanna County Literacy Program dedicated to enhancing quality early child care and education in the county. CARES is part of Pennsylvania’s LEARN initiative and supports Pennsylvania’s Promise for Children, because every child is Pennsylvania’s future.


Contact: Stephnie Thornton
Program Manager
Susquehanna County CARES
stcares@epix.net
(570) 465-5040

American Sign Language Instructor Meets with BR 6th Graders

Todd Czubek from Clarks Summit gave a presentation to the 6th grade students on American Sign Language and deaf culture. The students have been reading portions of Helen Keller's autobiography in Reading class and showed an interest in learning about ASL. Mr. Czubek has worked as an educator and interpreter for the deaf and is currently a linguistics instructor at Boston University. The students enjoyed learning about deaf culture, practicing signing common words and phrases and even watched some YouTube music videos in ASL.

2nd MP Straight "A" Award Winners

Each marking period, McDonald's Restaurant recognizes BRES 4th and 5th grade students who have earned Straight "A's" for that marking period. Cindy Lattner, owner of various McDonald's in our area was on hand to present certificates to the students.

Students pictured are:

Seated (R-L): Taylor Brant, Gia Fiore, Savannah Glover, Tori Auckland, Lisa Colwell, Morgan Mansfield, Kayleen Conklin, Madison Welsted

Standing (R-L): Todd Hand, Tyler Six, Tyler Hillard, Adam Roe, Daniel Tierney, Spencer Renwick, Seth Anderson, Sarah Marble, Isabelle Morris

Reader's Theater in Mrs. Watkin's 3rd Grade Class!!

Mrs. Watkins class has been working on improving their fluency by using Reader's Theater. Students did such a phenomenal job practicing lines, getting into their characters and acting out the actions that they decided to invite their families to come watch their plays.

On Friday, February 3rd, Mrs. Watkins' classroom was filled with students' parents, friends and relatives to enjoy the production!

Here are pictures of the cast of characters in the plays; "The Rabbit Who Stole Groundhog's Day" and "Cupid's Day Off."

Claverack's "Safety City" Presentation Visits 4th Grade

Claverack and Education Consortium Partner for Safety and give Electrical safety presentations to area students through a partnership between Claverack Rural Electric Cooperative and the Northern Tier Industry and Education Consortium.

4th Grade students at BRES learned about electrical safety through an interactive discussion while viewing Claverack’s safety city model.

Claverack Rural Electric Cooperative is an electrical distribution cooperative serving members in 8 Northeastern counties. The Northern Tier Industry and Education Consortium (NTIEC) provides job training opportunities and career exposure to youth across 5 counties.

Fifth Grade Art Club

Fifth Grade Art club made some table centerpieces for Marley's Mission Blue Ribbon Gala. Marley's Mission is a non-profit organization that provides free equine-assisted psychotherapy (EAP) to children who have suffered trauma.

Picture is attached.bottom left to right:Natasha Johnson, Taylor Brant, Jerni Schell, Matthew Glatzel, Tommy GudykunstTop row left to right: Ben Gudykunst, Adam Roe, Luis Tobon, Daniel Tierney, Krystal Hepler, Jilly McAulliffe, Avy Mudge