Hill Rag Entry for March 2020

Visit to the Future
Miner fifth-graders took a step into the future on Feb. 11 when they visited Eliot-Hine Middle School for Buddy Day. This was no typical open house. The fifth-graders got to team up with upperclassmen on an International Baccalaureate engineering project, visit the art studio and the design-and-modeling classrooms, speak to a student panel, and meet Principal Marlene Magrino.

Fifth-graders from Miner Elementary pose with students at Eliot-Hine Middle School during Buddy Day in February. Miner is a feeder school for Eliot-Hine.

Miner Elementary and Eliot-Hine Middle School students collaborate on an IB engineering project during Buddy Day at the middle school on Feb. 11.

Spring Celebration
The PTO’s annual Yard Sale will be March 21, featuring great deals on games, toys, books, clothing, household items, and more. Volunteers will collect hazardous household waste like paints and oils and recycle used electronics and batteries. Also on that day, Miner will welcome D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen for a ribbon cutting of the new playground and sports fields, which will be open to the public for a springtime play date. 

A Real Growth Period
Miner has formed a Green Team to lead its garden-related programming and to manage the school’s two recently renovated gardens: a large vegetable plot known as the Peace Garden and a smaller ECE pollinator patch known as the Discovery Garden. 

The Peace Garden will be replanted this spring after a long closure during Miner’s new playground construction. The Green Team will host community work days in March and April as well as a garden play date to celebrate the Peace Garden’s official reopening. It will feature tables, benches, an irrigation system, and composters acquired through a $35,000 grant from the Office of the State Superintendent of Education, which has established and strengthened MIner’s garden programming over the past two years. 

Additionally, Miner is partnering with FoodCorps to have a full-time servicemember visit K–5 classrooms weekly to provide garden-related instruction and hands-on experiences. Miner also has a popular Garden Club open to K–2 students.

Yes to the Dress—and the Suit
Miner is collecting formalwear and dressy clothes, including shoes and accessories, for children pre-K to fifth grade, leading up to its Spring Dance on April 3. Donations may be brought to the school office.

Tomorrow, I Love Ya
Students have been rehearsing vigorously for the school’s spring musical, Annie Jr., with performances on May 28 and 29. Khloe Thomas will star as Annie, Kemontae Chaplin as Mr. Warbucks, and Nijayah Ross as Ms. Hannigan. Music teacher Stephen Chubb is directing.

A Heartwarming Valentine’s 
Parents and students showed their love for teachers by presenting them with roses on Valentine’s Day and distributing snacks and sweets during the month. And Capital Candy Jar supported the school by donating proceeds from a day of sweets sales to the PTO.

​Miner students and parents enjoy some sweets in front of the Capital Candy Jar at 15th and Constitution NE on the day the store donated a portion of sales to the school’s PTO.