The Growth of Red Raider Restaurant

The Red Raider Restaurant reopened today for our 5th season!  The hustle and bustle of the event is always overshadowed by the positive growth shown by each student.  Students took on new roles today including taking orders (aka speaking to others) for the first time.  Although this task seems small, for the students we featured as servers today, they exceeded our expectations and shined.  One student used her communication device to string requests together to give and receive communication.  Another student has grown so much because of the restaurant.  In his first attempt two years ago, he was having trouble even standing on the tile floor in the kitchen by the guests.  He kicked and screamed when we asked him to complete a task.  Today, he was taking orders, bringing food, taking away plates, and talking with the guests.  Our 6th grader could not wait for today because she was finally able to work in "our" restaurant.  All of these positives happen because of the connection the restaurant has in their day.  Today, we gladly served 29 guests spaghetti, meaty meatballs, side salads and mini cherry cheesecakes.  The RRR would not be successful if it weren't for the middle school family and our facilities.  We used tomatoes and peppers from the garden to make our homemade sauce.  And, if it weren't for our guests, our teachers and administrators, we would not have the captive audience.  We maybe serving you food, but your presence is serving the students as they learn how to live, work, and interact.  We closed the restaurant today and read our News-2-You newspaper.  The topic today was the new movie "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs".  The students giggled as we just made 8 pounds of meatballs, 4 boxes of noodles, and 12 pounds of tomato sauce.....just like the movies!

Guest Blogger: Sarah Morgan

The Lemonade Stand

6th Graders in Starting Your Life in Business have been learning about what it takes to be an entrepreneur. The students learned about products, services, customers/consumers, target markets, marketing, income, expenses, profits, and losses. They applied the knowledge they learned to create their very own lemonade stands.  The students researched recipes; designed stands, flyers, and invitations; created their lemonades; and used customer service skills to develop top notch "businesses". PCMS staff members joined in the "Grand Openings" by tasting and admiring the students work.  Mrs. Burns is very proud of all the hard work, creativity, and dedication each and every student put into their "business venture".

Guest Blogger: Amy Burns 

Relationships - Be a Champion

What a great week!  This week we celebrated and discussed as a staff the importance of relationships.  Rita Pierson sums up the importance of being a champion for every child in her TED Talk below.  As we reflected on the relationship component to our Why, celebrations arose due to having great people in the right positions to make an impression each and every day.  Overall, we are in this profession because of the relationships....relationships are the fruit of the labor.  All students at PCMS are OUR KIDS! As Rita Pierson says, "We are educators...we are born to make a difference." Be a champion each and every day...you matter.

Smiles.......

At Pulaski Community Middle School, we believe in relationships, individuals, growth, and learning.  The past three days have been filled with pride, joy, and smiles as 845 young men and young women began a new school year at PCMS.  We shared via our Twitter account numerous examples and pictures of our students and staff engaged in our first week activities that reinforces our "Why". Throughout our building, activities jumped out that focused on relationship building, community development, and the importance of each individual. Can't wait to see what will make me smile next.

Thank you goes out to everyone that makes PCMS a special place!