Tubs of Love

   Our Community Service Project this year is called "Tubs of Love" and we will be thanking those who serve our community like members of the Police, Sheriff, and Fire Departments, as well as EMS, local hospitals, and Animal Control.

   We will be filling Rubbermaid tubs full of student artwork, thank you cards, non-perishable food and drink items, clothing, games, etc.

   We are asking our Parsley families to donate supplies beginning now through June 3.
   Suggestions for non-perishable food and drink items include microwavable meals, canned goods, salty snacks, protein bars, coffee, tea, sugar and creamers, bottled water, Gatorade, etc.
   Suggestions for miscellaneous items to donate are board games, decks of cards, large socks, gift cards to grocery stores and restaurants.
   Donations for Animal Control could be pet food and newspapers.

Community Service Project: Tie-Dying T-Shirts

Besides learning to read, write, and perform calculations, our students learn to care for others through our school-wide community service projects. 

This year we returned to a project that is close to our hearts: tie-dying shirts that will be made into hospital-style gowns for hospitalized children. Parsley first began tie-dying t-shirts back in June 2011 in honor of Parsley student, Zack Mayo, who spent many months in hospitals. Another former Parsley student, Jordan Pipkin, a good friend to Zack, wanted to do something to help so she came up with the idea of creating fun and comfortable hospital-style gowns for children. With help from her mom, her dream became a reality and e-Z Tees was born. Thus began Parsley's history of tie-dying t-shirts. This is our third year doing this project.

All of the t-shirts we tie-dyed were donated by our students. As each of the Kindergarten through 5th grade classes came to art over the course of a week at the end of May, Mrs. Sload began by explaining why we were doing the project. She then demonstrated how to 'tie' the shirt using one of many techniques that included twisting, folding, and scrunching the t-shirt and then securing it tightly with lots of rubber bands. Older students quickly caught on and some even got creative and came up with their own way of tying the shirt. For younger students, learning how to secure the fabric with rubber bands was a new skill. Thankfully, we had Mrs. Wilcox's help all week! We were also fortunate to have the help of some classroom teachers and/or assistants as well as parent volunteers.

After the shirts were prepared for dying, Mrs. Sload modeled the proper 'stance' for learning over the bucket and dipping the shirt first in one bucket of dye, and then in a second, complimentary color. After wringing out excess liquid from the dyed shirt, they were placed in bags and then they 'baked' in the sun for a couple days to help the dye set.

The shirts were then hung out in the sun to dry. The shirts were washed by staff members volunteering to take them home. All together, we tie-dyed over 600 shirts this year!

Our t-shirts will be transformed into hospital garments by e-Z Tee volunteers who will cut open the back of each shirt and sew on ties. The finished shirts will be donated to hospitals for children to wear during their stay. 

Our students also made cards that will accompany the tie-dyed hospital gowns letting the children and their families know that we care about them.

There are many more pictures of our students working on this project on Parsley's Facebook page.

Kindergarten Supports 'Adopt An Angel'

In May 2015, Kindergarten students in all four classes were working on persuasive writings in the classroom. During their "pet" unit they learned that 'Adopt An Angel' supports dogs and cats in need. They decided to write persuasive letters to people at home and at school to ask for goods that could help the animals. Some students even wrote letters to their parent's work and made it a community project! The kids were especially excited when people wrote them back and many donated to the cause.

The folks from Adopt an Angel came to visit the Kindergarten students and even brought a dog with them. The dog must have thought he was a celebrity because the students were very excited to see him. The students helped load the over-flowing boxes and crates of donated pet food and supplies.

Friends Feeding Friends Food Drive 2014

In December, Parsley's Student Council sponsored 'Friends Feeding Friends' Food Drive, in partnership with Lowes Foods, collected 1910lbs of food that has been donated to the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina. There almost wasn't enough room in the truck for all the bags of food! 

We thank everyone who donated food that will be given to local families in need.

Student Council's 'Keep It Clean' Drive

Parsley's Community Service Project this year was begun by the Student Council who initiated the collection of toiletries that would be donated to a homeless shelter.  It was called the "Keep It Clean" drive.

From this idea, Mrs. Sload, art teacher, involved all students in each grade level by integrating art lessons with a product that could be used to make the donations more special and heart-felt.

As a texture lesson, Kindergarten students sponged the white paper bags with paint.

First graders created Eric Carle inspired tags. If you've ever read an Eric Carle story, you've no doubt admired his beautiful illustrations. Using a similar technique, the students created beautiful tags for the bags.  A sticker on the back shares that the bags were donated by Parsley Elementary students.

Second grade students had been studying the life cycle of butterflies so in art class they made a butterfly clip decoration that would be used to close the bag.  

Butterflies and flowers naturally go together and since third graders had been reviewing the plant life cycle in science, they created tissue paper flowers for the outside of the bags.  

As a review for EOGs, fourth graders wrote poems that were put into the bags.  Receiving one of these poems would bring a smile to any one's face!

The fifth grade students divided the donated toiletries among approximately 100 bags.  The poems were also put in the bags and the tags and flowers and butterfly clips were used to decorate and close the bags.

Boxes of Love Project

Parsley students designed cards to send to students at Sandy Hook Elementary. Students carefully designed their cards to show their love and support.  These cards of love will be delivered with the Boxes of Love project.

Friends Feeding Friends 2012

 Each fall, Parsley's Student Council, along with Lowes Food Stores, sponsors the Friends Feeding Friends Food Drive. This year our families donated a total of 2005 pounds of food.
Student Council members helped load the bags of food onto the food bank truck. All donated food will be given to local families.