A Warm Feeling

Barth students in Mrs. Wolfel's and Mrs. Blute's classes get an unexpected gift from a generous parent.

When Barth Elementary School parent Melissa Caballero found out about students who come to school cold, she decided she needed to do something about it.

According to school principal Ryan Oxenford, she organized "Operation Keep Me Warm for the Holiday" for two classes at Barth. 

She coordinated efforts using Facebook and was able to provide each student in those classes with a bundled package consisting of a hat, scarf, blanket, book, stuffed animal, and gloves or mittens. 

The students were extremely excited by this surprise gesture. 

"This idea was brewing in my head after going to a PTO meeting," Caballero told Oxenford. 

"We were talking about taking up donations for hats and gloves. And who we should donate them too. After the meeting I was talking to a teacher. She told me that for years children would come to school cold and ask if there were any hats and gloves that they could have. This made my decision final. I had to do something," Cabbalero said. 

"I sat down and talked to my husband about this and he was super supportive of my idea. And I knew that I could not just give them hats and gloves. I wanted to give more. So we thought and thought what else. Then that is how I came up with 'Keep Me Warm for The Holiday' name." 

"What else would keep them warm? Heads , hands, how about their brains (a book). How about their hearts( a teddy bear and blanket to cuddle) also went with it would be a snack bag with hot chocolate," she said.

She got an outpouring of support in this effort.

"I knew I was not financially table to pull off this idea alone. So I facebooked my friends and family," she explained.

"Each of us bought items here and there when we could. We pulled it off in three weeks; 80 children from three different schools."

And why would anyone undertake such a project during the holiday season? Precisely because it is the holiday season.  

"Pottstown is my home town. And I am willing to try to do whatever I can to make a difference in our town, our children's lives," Caballero said. 

"They are our future. I want to show them that no matter how tough life gets. There are ways to work them out. That WE Pottstown stick together we can make a difference to make our town the best place to be," she said. 

Is this the beginning of a new tradition? It could be...

"I hope I can do another project like this next year. I have a lot of my friends and family who are willing to help me again. I can't thank my husband, family and friends enough for their help and support," Caballero said.
Both Caballero and her husband, Alex, are graduates of Pottstown Schools and they have four children; Alex Jr., 13, who attends Pottstown Middle School, Mia, 8 and Jade, 5, both of whom attend Barth and Ethan, 3, who is a future Pottstown student.

Mia is in Kelli Wolfel's class and Jade has Colleen Blute.


"The kids were super surprised and super excited by the generosity of Operation Keep Me Warm," Wolfel said! "They looked great in their new hats and gloves reading their new books."

"Operation "Keep Me Warm For the Holidays" was an incredible undertaking by one person," Blute said. "She, along with other community partners, demonstrated to the children how important it is in this day and age to understand the true meaning of Christmas. The excitement on the faces of each and every child made the message clear to every person present."

As for Oxenford? He said simply, "I continue to be amazed by the spirit of people."

You're right about that Mr. Oxenford.

Community Service Defined

Photos Courtesy of John Armato

From left, Rotary Club member Rich Zimmerman students Mackenzie Johnson, Savannah Sluzenski, Jansen Gibbs, Destiny Cutler and George Jackson Rotarian Literary Chairman.

Savannah Johnson

Blogger's Note: Once again, John Armato, the director fo community relations for the Pottstown School District, has some news for us:

Recently, the Pottstown Rotary Club provided more than 350 dictionaries for all fourth grade elementary students in the Pottstown School District.

George Jackson, Rotarian Literary Chairman, stated, “The Webster’s

Jansen Gibbs

Dictionary for Students Third Edition is a quality addition to students’ home library of tools to assist them in developing their reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills.”

The publication provides not only access to 37,000 definitions but also six
special sections which include: world maps, countries of the world, states of the United States, Declaration of Independence, important events in American history, and Presidents of the United States.

Destiny Cutler

At Barth Elementary School when students received their dictionaries, they began immediately to work on a class project. 

Mackenzie Johnson

Building Principal Ryan Oxenford thanked the Rotary Club for their efforts to provide dictionaries to students throughout our school district. 

He said, “The Rotary has helped improve the literacy and quality of life in our
community and we appreciate their commitment to our schools and community."

Added Oxenford, "being able to have their own dictionary at home provides our students with another necessary tool to improve their academic performance.”

There's Gold in/on That There Trash Can!

At Barth Elementary School, "the trash can is coveted," a source whispered to The Digital Notebook

What does that mean exactly? We decided to plumb the depths of this mystery.

Turns out it wasn't hard to find the answer. There's even a video!

The trash can is coveted because it rewards students in a unique way for taking care of their classrooms.

As a result, the folks at Barth have a cleaner school, happier custodians and children competing for the cleanest classroom.

While all of that is great, I'll be honest with you. I'm writing about this mostly because I wanted an excuse to post this totally awesome video put together by teacher speech and language pathologist Hayley Quigley to highlight the program.

Without further ado:



(Yes, that is principal Ryan Oxenford doing push-ups with the Golden Trash can on his back).

Oxenford told The Digital Notebook that the whole thing started as a result of the renovation project now going on at Barth, and the mess it necessarily generated.

It's hard enough to keep a school clean under normal circumstances, but with the dust everywhere from the working being done, and the concrete from the stripped floors holding on to every scrap of paper, custodians Bill Grim and Annette Lacey had their hands full

"So we decided to enlist the kidsto  help," Oxenford explained.

A brief brainstorming session later, and we present the Golden Trash can, a prize given out each morning during homeroom to the room that is the cleanest and neatest.

"Part of the Barth Pledge is to keep a clean place and the kids parade the trash can through the school when they win it, and we got the kids motivated. We have seen a huge difference in the classrooms as a result," Oxenford said.

He also praised custodians Bill Grim and Annette Lacey for being good sports about their super-hero costumes.

"We have a really great staff over at Barth and they are a key part of it," Oxenford said. "We are all working together to keep our school clean."

(Also, they look great in spandex.)