Spreading a Spirit of Generosity

​The Miner community has been directing its minds and hearts toward the winter holidays, beginning with its very successful Thanksgiving Food Drive. Students collected several boxes full of nonperishable Thanksgiving foods for the school’s needy families, and the PTO gathered donations to buy Thanksgiving turkeys.

Miner’s Holiday Greenery and Bake Sale is Dec. 6 and 7. Proceeds from the trees, poinsettias, wreaths, and garlands will benefit the PTO. The Friday sale runs 5 to 8 p.m., and Saturday hours are 9 a.m to 2 p.m. Greens can also be pre-ordered on the school’s website. 

Miner’s family-support team has been offering a host of services to parents and students, including a recent Positive Discipline Workshop, a party to create “calm down” boxes, first aid/CPR training, and a job-readiness session. The school is also participating in Roots of Empathy to teach students emotional literacy and is offering after-school homework assistance for 2nd–5th-graders through YOUR (Youth Organizations United to Rise) Community Center.

While students were off during the Nov. 4 Records Day, parent volunteers stepped in to keep teachers company in the quiet building. They cleaned and organized classrooms and restocked supply cupboards so teachers could get caught up with grading and their backlogs of other tasks. 

Busloads of the school’s youngest students journeyed to Sharp’s at Waterford Farm in Howard County, Md., on Nov. 7 for the fall field trip. Preschoolers, kindergarteners, and first-graders got to go on a hayride, pet and feed farm animals, and pick pumpkins to take home.

Miner pre-K students ride a hayrack out to a pumpkin patch during their Nov. 7 field trip to Sharp's at Waterford Farm.

Students from Miner's pre-K class show off their pumpkins during their Nov. 7 field trip to Sharp's at Waterford Farm.

In other news, Miner’s brand new playground is nearly complete. Gleeful students have been playing on the state-of-the-art equipment for the past month while workers complete the sports field, outdoor classroom, and garden features, to be unveiled in mid-December