It is always a joy having Laura Vandaveer in our third grade hall!! She gave our students their final update on their adopted cow, Atlee. She is now 7 months, 42 inches tall, and weighs 480 pounds. 🐄 Very healthy calf!
Laura also planned a fun experiment for our students' last day with her. They made butter and got to taste test it!! 🧈 The students were very excited and the butter was delicious!
Thank you Laura Vandaveer for loving our third graders this year and bringing so much knowledge and fun to their classes!
For the past two weeks, we’ve been learning how to play bat-and-ball games in PE! ⚾️ Students have worked hard on throwing, catching, fielding, and hitting, while also learning how to run bases and understand the basics of wiffle ball.
Even though it can be a little complicated for students who are new to the game, they did an awesome job learning, improving, and giving their best effort every day!
We wrapped up the unit with two days of class vs. class wiffle ball games—always a favorite! Some highlights from this week:👏 Mackenzie Bruehl and Christopher Espiritu were voted MVPs by their peers for their sportsmanship, hustle, and focus👏 Mrs. Estrada and Mrs. Piazza for jumping in to play and cheer on their classes👏 ALL of our students for showing patience and making sure everyone had a chance to be part of the game
Coach Franco and Coach Knowles had a blast and are so proud of our Dragons! Now they’ve got another fun and active game they can take with them to recess! 🐉
BOGO BOOK FAIR IS COMING SOON!
The easiest way to pay is through ewallet. You can go to this link https://www.scholastic.com/bf/purcellelementaryschool1
It will say elementary school for this fair. We are getting excited for scholastic book fair!
Today's instant activity in PE was Dice Tag! 🎲
Shoutout to the crew at Woodhaven Middle School for sharing this fun idea that gets students moving and thinking!
The rules are simple: when a number is called, students decide quickly—if it’s odd, the blue team flees from the gold team; if it’s even, the gold team flees from the blue team. Quick thinking and quick feet are a must!
If a student gets tagged, they head outside the white line and complete 10 reps of an exercise of their choice before jumping back in.
We added an extra challenge by calling out math problems (like 49 ÷ 7) instead of just numbers—keeping both bodies and brains active!
Safe to say, this game was a hit! 💪
Hands-on learning in Mrs. Ambrose's third grade classroom!
They created their own sundials to explore how the Earth’s rotation helps them tell time. Her students loved watching how shadows change throughout the day! ☀️⛅️
In math, they built 3D shapes using toothpicks and marshmallows to count edges, faces, and vertices. Such a fun (and tasty!) way to bring geometry to life!
Learning + creativity = a great day! ✨
BOGO book fair coming May 4-May 8!
Did anyone else get hyped up for March Madness? 🏀Over the past two weeks, our third graders had a tournament of their own. Their classes read 16 total books and voted for the books they enjoyed reading the most. Today, Mrs. Swayze revealed the most loved book in the tournament, "Gaston!" If you haven't read it yet, our third graders HIGHLY recommend it! 📚✨🧡
REMINDER: TOMORROW IS $1 HAT DAY!!!!!
Our March Madness Step Challenge wrapped up last week, and we’re excited to celebrate our winners! 🏆
Congratulations to Mrs. Cochran’s 3rd grade, Mrs. Piazza’s 4th grade, and Mrs. Arnold’s 5th grade classes for stepping up and coming out on top!
To celebrate, we took a fun field trip to the baseball field to watch a HOOT game ⚾️. The Purcell Fire All Sports Booster Club generously treated our students to 🍿popcorn,🍦soft-serve ice cream, and water💦 —what a special surprise!
We also loved having our very own 🐉⚾️Dragon high school baseball players—Kash Knowles, Jace Klein, Cannan Haynes, Jackson Bradshaw, Preston Kane, and Cash Cook—spend time with our students and help pass out refreshments. It meant so much to our kids! ❤️
We had an amazing time and are so proud of everyone’s hard work and dedication throughout the challenge. Way to go, Dragons! 🐉👏🏃🏽🏃🏼♀️🥇
Dragons, please join us in welcoming our new School Resource Officer Matt Haines!
SRO Haines brings a wealth of experience from the many roles he has served in, along with a strong background working with students and young adults. We are excited to have him join our team and look forward to the positive relationships he will build with our students. Read below to find out more about SRO Haines.
"Matt Haines is a dedicated law enforcement officer with over 12 years of experience serving his community with professionalism, integrity, and a strong commitment to public safety. He began his career with the Blanchard Police Department, where he served from 2011 to 2020 and was promoted to Patrol Sergeant. During his time there, he gained valuable experience working closely with the community, responding to calls for service, and supervising other officers.
Matt later served as a full-time CLEET instructor for five years, where he trained and mentored both new and experienced law enforcement officers. His work focused on preparing officers to make sound decisions, communicate effectively, and serve their communities safely and responsibly. He holds multiple instructor certifications, including firearms, defensive tactics, law enforcement driving, and active shooter response. In addition to his law enforcement duties, Matt has a strong passion for working with young people. While at the Blanchard Police Department, he created and led an Explorer Program that gave high school students the opportunity to learn about careers in law enforcement and the military. Through this program, he helped students develop leadership skills, discipline, and confidence while building positive relationships with law enforcement.
Matt also serves on the Mid-America Vo-Tech advisory committee for criminal justice, where he works with educators to help guide curriculum and ensure students are prepared for future career opportunities.
Outside of work, Matt enjoys staying active and involved in his community. In his spare time, he trains in jiu-jitsu, enjoys kayak fishing, and most importantly, spends time with his two girls."
Have you ever heard of the very special bird that only comes out in the spring time and loves marshmallows? Ms. Cochran and Miss Windham's class learned about marshmallow farming and went on a Lirpa Loof hunt yesterday! So fun!!! ✨🌳
We wrapped up our badminton unit with a fun tournament to put all our skills to the test! 🏸💥 The improvement and effort from everyone has been awesome to see!
To celebrate the season, we also played a festive Easter game—Bunny Hop 🐰🥚—where students worked together to collect as many eggs as possible by hopping through hula hoops and challenging opponents with Rock, Paper, Scissors. Lots of teamwork, laughter, and energy all around!
Great job this week! 👏
🏸 This week in PE, we’re learning the basics of badminton!
Students have been working on the forehand serve, forehand strike, and backhand strike. 💪
We put our serving skills to the test with a fun game of Birdie in the Cage, where students aimed for a hula hoop target 🎯, and practiced rallying with Keepy Uppy to see how many hits they could keep going! 🔁
The progress has been awesome—we might have some future tennis (or badminton!) stars at the intermediate! ⭐️
⛳️🏌️♂️ Our Golf Unit is in Full Swing! 🏌️♀️⛳️
We are cruising right along with our golf unit in PE, and our students are doing an amazing job! So far, they’ve learned how to putt, chip, and pitch—and they’re having a blast practicing their skills.
A huge THANK YOU to Healthy Schools Oklahoma and TSET for providing our school with the SNAG Golf system. This equipment makes teaching golf fun, engaging, and easy for students of all skill levels!
It’s been awesome watching our students grow in focus, coordination, and confidence while learning a lifelong sport. We’ve got some future golfers in the making! ⛳️👏🐉#DragonStrong #PEFun #SNAGGolf
Mrs. Jones’ 5th Grade Science 🌎✨
Our scientists have been exploring Earth’s Place in the Universe through hands-on learning! Students have been observing and drawing shadows with chalk, building and testing simple circuits, and modeling Earth’s movements to understand rotation, day and night, and seasons.
Curiosity, creativity, and discovery are at the heart of our classroom!
Thank you, PTO, for the bagels this morning and for always knowing the perfect time to brighten our day. Whether it’s a pick-me-up, a snack, or just something to start the morning right, we truly appreciate the way you take care of us, here at the intermediate! You guys are truly the best. Thank you, thank you.
🎉 Today was our annual Road Week Carnival and it was an absolute blast! 🎉
The Purcell High School Student Council spent the day at our building playing games, hanging out with students, and bringing amazing energy to our school! Some band members even played music in the cafeteria during lunch 🎶 which made the day even more fun.
Students got to play Nitro Ball, 9 Square in the Air, basketball, gaga ball, and many other games 🏀🎯 It was a day full of laughter, movement, and smiles all around!
Some students got to pie their teachers in the face, and it was hilarious! Thank you to the teachers that volunteered!
A huge THANK YOU to Amy Menhusen the high school students for taking time out of your day to spend it with us. Our kids had an absolute blast and loved every minute of it! ❤️🐉
Tomorrow is $1 hat day! Bring a dollar and wear your favorite hat.
In PE, we have officially kicked off our March Madness Step Challenge! 🏃♂️🏃♀️
Students are using pedometers to track their steps during the first five minutes of class each day. We’re focusing on effort, movement, and starting class with energy and purpose!
At the end of the month, the class in each grade level with the highest average number of steps will win an exciting reward — a field trip to the Heart of Oklahoma Baseball Tournament hosted by our very own Purcell Dragons! ⚾🐉
We can’t wait to see which classes bring the intensity, teamwork, and hustle all month long. Let the madness begin! 💪🔥
We would like to give a BIG shoutout to Savannah and Veronica from Missoula Children’s Theatre for spending the morning with our fifth graders!
They led engaging theater games that helped students practice important performance skills in a fun and interactive way. Our students worked on role play, used their imaginations, strengthened their focus and memorization skills — all while playing games and having a blast!
It was wonderful to see them collaborating, socializing, and stepping outside of their comfort zones. Thank you for bringing creativity, energy, and confidence-building experiences to our students! 🎭✨
