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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Pioneer School students putting care at forefront

Pioneer School in Spokane Valley has a variety of Christmas activities through the month of December.

The students are demonstrating their character trait of the month – caring – by reaching out to the community.

Last Wednesday, the fourth- and fifth-grade classes visited Brighton Court Retirement Center to interview residents about history and share holiday crafts.

This Wednesday, the students will celebrate Dozens Day (12/12/2012) with activities in groups of 12 at the school.

The kindergarten and first-grade classes will sing Christmas songs at 10:30 a.m. Dec. 13 at Broadway Court Estates.

Second-graders will deliver Toys for Tots to the Greenacres fire station on Dec. 14 at 10:45 a.m.

There will be an all-school play, “The 13 Colonies,” in the theater at Central Valley High School, 821 S. Sullivan Road, at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 17.

The kindergartners will deliver pet food to Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Services on Dec. 18.

Elementary school toy drive

Fifth-grade students at South Pines Elementary School in the Central Valley School District spent a month collecting toys for the U.S. Marines’ Toys for Tots program.

The boxes at the school were overflowing with toy donations, which were collected by two Marine gunnery sergeants.

During the toy drive, students participated in an Apple Cup Food Drive – students cast a vote for their favorite Apple Cup team with each donation.

Turned out to be a double-winning year for the Washington State Cougars, who not only won the real Apple Cup, but won the vote by South Pines students, who collected 608 food items in total.

Schools of Distinction

Spokane and Spokane Valley schools in the Northeast Washington Educational Service District 101 were honored with the 2012 Schools of Distinction award.

The following schools were recognized for their students’ academic achievement:

The Mead Education Partnership Program in the Mead School District; Reardan Elementary School in the Reardan-Edwall School District; Greenacres Elementary School in the Central Valley School District; and the Continuous Curriculum School and Otis Orchards School in the East Valley School District.

The selected schools were in the top 5 percent of improvement across the state. The awards were based on improvement on standardized tests over the preceding five years.