The OSB E-Team was

challenged to do the ALS

Ice Bucket Challenge.

The E-Team accepted the

challenge and completed it

on August

28th.

Two of the

E - T e a m

m e m b e r s

(Karen Reed

and Lynn

Cragg) were

not able to

participate, so we let the

students vote on staff

members to take their

place. The winners were

teachers Laura Leather-

man and Jeremy Jackman.

Amyotrophic Lateral Scle-

rosis (ALS), often known

as “Lou Gehrig’s

Disease” is a dis-

ease that affects

nerve cells in the

brain and spinal

cord.

Thank you to everyone who

participated and

donated. We couldn’t

have done it without you.

Good Job Panthers!!!

Pictured from left to right:

Front Row: Rozann King, Laura

Leatherman, Ronnie Darden,

Ronna Johnston, Jim Adams,

Brian Culver, Jeremy Jackman

Back Row: Tonya Givens, Mar-

cella Bynum, Jeff Cartwright,

Tera Webb, Sylvia Sterling, Amy

Morgan, Jeana Jones

Tonya Givens

White Cane Quest - October 14th, 2014

ALS Bucket Challenge

October 1, 2014

2014-2015, Issue 2

Inside this issue:

O&M News 2

Special Olympics 2

Acad. Team Update 2

Soc. Serv. News 3

Blue & Gold Update 3

Space Camp 4

4-H & Campfire 5

Girl Scouts 5

FCCLA News 5

Power of Pink 6

PreK & KG News 6

Silver Spur Ranch 7

EL Braille Club 7

Calendars 9-10

White Cane Day 11-12

Oklahoma School

for the Blind

Join our contestants on October 14th for a celebration of White Cane Day, as they par-ticipate in a

WHITE CANE QUEST.

Eight contestants from grades 7-12 will compete along a secret route in

Muskogee, earning points for using proper cane techniques.

Each contestant will be scored by O&M Special-ists from around the state who are volunteering their time. They will also have a volunteer "shadow" who helps en-sure their safety as they travel the secret route.

Thank you to the Braille Institute for another great national program to en-

Special points of

interest:

Space Camp

Power of Pink

Silver Spur

Ranch

White Cane Day

courage our students to be involved in practicing essential skills while rais-ing awareness in the community.

Faye Miller

Who will bring home a medal?

We raised

$395

for ALS !!!

Fall is a great time of year to get

out as a family and do some hiking.

The temperature has

cooled off, yet it is usu-

ally not so cold that a lot

of bundling up is required

to stay warm. The bril-

liant fall colors and the

cooler air can be invigor-

ating!

When on outings with

your child, take time to talk about

and to ask questions about the in-

formation he/she perceives:

what appears to be a bright red

“blob” on the ground, the rustle of

leaves, or the smell of a wood fire.

For one who is keenly aware of

his/her surroundings, these can be

a rich bounty for the senses

and can offer clues about

one’s location in the environ-

ment.

A prescribed monocular tele-

scope can be a fun way for

kids with low vision to spot

and investigate more closely

interesting objects found in

the wild. If your child uses a cane,

encourage him/her to walk alongside

you or even slightly ahead as op-

posed to always holding onto your

arm. This may encourage him/her

to pay more attention to the travel

route, the ter-

rain, and other

subtle cues in the

environment.

My friend Daniel

Kish, president of the non-profit

organization “World Access For the

Blind” and one who is blind and well-

traveled himself once told me:

“Nothing develops cane technique

faster than a hike along a rocky

trail with broken terrain, or cross-

ing a stream, or walking along a nar-

row ledge.” Happy trails!

Gina Woods, COMS

OSSAA Academic Bowl: Charity

Pickup (280 points),

Logan McCoy (280

points), Garrett Nicho-

las (80 points), and

Richelle Zampella (170

points) will be represent-

ing OSB at District

Seeding on October

13th and Regional play

on November 15th.

Faye Miller

& Laci Goins

The Academic Team

has played

15 games, so far this

season.

In our Oginali Confer-

ence we play Hilldale,

Fort Gibson, Tahlequah,

Muldrow, Roland and oth-

er local schools.

We've had a successful

season and have 4 stu-

dents who have qualified for

Page 2

Academic Team - UPDATE

Panther Pride

O&M News - Tips for Fall

Enjoy NATURE with

your child!

Great Balls of Fire

Bowling Alley,

McAlester.

Parents and Friends are

welcome to attend if they

are able.

Special Olympics will travel to

McAlester on October 22,

2014 to compete in bowling.

Tournament starts

at 9:00 a.m. at the

Special Olympics - BOWLING

OSB

students

going to

District

Seeding &

Regional

Play

We will be taking 13 Spe-

cial Olympians to compete!

Tera Webb

& Rob Culie

From Left: Ariana R., Nicholas J.-M., Jonathon P., Richelle Z. and Kaylee R.

From Left: Logan M., Garrett N., Charity P., Regan S. and Jennifer R.

We also would like to thank

teachers and Tonya for helping

out, taking money, covering clas-

ses and everything else they did.

Blue & Gold was a

huge success.

Our TOP

SELLERS:

1st Overall

- Hunter Kelley

2nd Overall

- Brianna Brennan.

Detailed recognition & prices will be awarded at the Awards Assemblies at the end of the school year.

We will know how much money

will go to the 4-H club, Camp-

fire, and Girl Scout accounts in

a few days.

Awesome job to all.

Marcella Bynum

Becky and I would like to say

for all the

help last week when the Blue &

Gold came in.

The clubs would like to thank

everyone who participated in the

sales and especially the ones

that went that extra mile to

help us:

Don, Mike and Mark for help-

ing with unloading,

Mrs. Plunkett for giving room

in the freezer, and

Ready Ice for donating a

freezer box to keep the blue

and gold frozen.

2014-2015, Issue 2

BLUE & GOLD Fundraiser - HUGE SUCCESS !!!

Page 3

Updates from our Social Services Department

September Students "Caught Being Good"

Zane Edwards - for helping another student during assembly.

William Winston - for opening the door for an adult.

Johnnie Davidson - for helping an adult without being asked.

Kaylee Ragon - for helping another student.

Charity Pickup - for helping another student in the apartments.

Social Services Department

Donna Ausmus Jane Thomas

Sylvia Sterling

UPCOMING DATES:

PLAN testing - October 6-9 ACT testing - October 27-30.

Boys Bash - October 14, 2014 - Please get your permission slips to Mrs. Sterling or Mr. Pack.

We raised

$10,335 !!!

Blue & Gold

Sausage, bacon & chicken

Written by Charity

Pickup & Destiny Tanyan

Space is de-

fined as the final

frontier and it is

said to be impossible

to overcome, but for

us, Charity Pickup,

Destiny Tanyan,

Logan Deaton, and Jennifer Rat-

liff, the word impossible was re-

moved from our vocabulary for

the week.

Ms. Daniels se-

lected us to represent

The Oklahoma School

for the Blind at

SCIVIS (Space Camp

for Interested Visual-

ly Impaired Students).

In this pro-

gram, there are stu-

dents from around the USA but

also from around the world. 28

states were represented as well

as 11 international countries.

Possibilities were truly endless.

Jennifer and I, Charity,

attended Advanced Space

Academy and were trained in

space operations and leadership

skills such as mission simulators

and acting in officer positions to

run a simulation

of an actual

space operation.

They were all

interdependent

to make the

mission a suc-

cess.

New friends from around

the world were made and we are

all walking a little taller knowing

we accomplished a challenging

week. More information is avail-

able on the SCIVIS website

www.tsbvi.edu/space/.

This opportunity was made pos-

sible due to the generous dona-

tions by the Anne and Henry

Zarrow Foundation and by The

Other activities included water

zip lining, Helodunker (a simula-

tion of a crashing helicopter into

a lake), climbing the pamper

pole, and team

building activi-

ties that re-

quired every-

one to cooper-

ate for suc-

cess.

Oklahoma Foundation for the

Education of Blind Children and

Youth, Inc.

We would like to thank them

very much.

THANK YOU ! ! !

Logan, Jennifer ,

Dest iny & Char ity

SPACE CAMP 2014 - “OUR PLACE IN SPACE”

Destiny and Lo-

gan were in the Avia-

tion Challenge. This

military based program

consisted of competi-

tions against other AC

(Aviation Challenge)

teams. Limits of both,

mind and body, were

tested to the max. But before

they stormed behind enemy lines

they had to learn the

ropes in “Top Gun”, a

combat competition in

simulator fighter jets. It

teaches and strengthens

team building skills. They

both enjoyed it very

much. AC also had to pa-

trol the grounds and mon-

itor outside activity.

We also

participated in

scuba diving,

rock wall climb-

ing, zip lining

and team build-

ing. We re-

ceived one college credit hour

from the University of Alabama

in Intro to Space Science upon

completion of the program.

Mr. Dan Oates, Dir. of SCIVIS, Charity Pickup & Mrs. Cheryl Daniels

Charity Pickup

Jennifer Ratliff

Destiny Tanyan & Logan Deaton

Destiny Tanyan

Page 4 Panther Pride

The girls will be making a display for White Cane Day on October 14th at the Arrowhead Mall in Muskogee.

October 19th the Oklahoma City Thunders will be at the BOK in Tul-sa and some of the girls will be at-tending.

October 28th is skating for Juliette Gordon Low birthday. We will also be working on pink ribbons for breast cancer awareness, since Juliette Low died from breast cancer on January 17, 1927.

If you have questions relat-ed to any girl scout activities, please contact me at 918-616-9044.

Becky LaRue

Upcoming Dates:

October 6th daisy, brownies, jun- iors will meet 5:30-7

October 7th workshop

October 8th cadets and seniors will meet 5:30-7

October 20th daisy, brownies, jun- iors will meet 5:30-7

October 21st workshop

October 22nd cadets and seniors will meet 5:30-7

October 19th OKC Thunder basketball game

October 28th Skating 6-8

We have new Girl Scouts

this year:

Audrey, Stephanie, Angel, Lorie, Hannah, and Phoebe Cotney.

We are so happy to have them!

The girl scouts did their “Live Healthy” walk at Civitan Park on September 16th. We even had some walkers that weren’t girl scouts … the more the merrier.

Thanks to everybody who came out to participate.

October is a busy month for Girl Scouts. The girls will be making a gingerbread house for the Phil brook Museum in Tulsa, so come out to Tulsa and see the displays.

Girl Scouts

Campfire

There are

some opportu-

nities for

camps coming

up that you can

go to. I will

send a paper

4-H

Are you interested in becoming a

4-H officer? If YES, please let

me know if you are in Cheerlead-

ing or Academic team, so I can

put your name on my list.

I will be having a meeting on

October 14, 2015 at 5:30 pm.

home with details. If you are

interested in going, please let me know without delay, since I

have to get the papers to camp-

fires in time for each camp.

Marcella Bynum

4-H and Campfire Opportunities

HURRY ...Campfire

Opportunities still

available...

Students are required to dress business casual. This includes, black or

khaki dress pants (no car-

go pants) and dress

shoes; no tennis shoes or

sandals. The FACS De-

partment will provide stu-

dents with a FCCLA polo

shirt to wear. Shirts will

be returned following the

meeting.

FCCLA members will have the

opportunity to attend the Dis-

trict Leadership Meeting,

October 22nd in Ft. Gibson.

OSB students will join FCCLA

members from NE District II in

a day of fun. They will have a

chance to get to know other

FCCLA members, play games, and

hear guest speakers.

A $5 registration fee

is to be paid to Ms.

Tonya by Oct. 9th. In

addition, students will

need to bring $6 on

Oct. 22 to help cover

their lunch.

Allison Garner

FCCLA News

District

Leadership

Meeting

Oct. 22nd

Ft. Gibson

2014-2015, Issue 2 Page 5

We have been very busy the

last couple of months in Pre-

school and Kindergarten.

We work weekly on a new

number, letter, shape, and

color.

We recently attended the

Horse Ranch and everyone

had such a great time. We

rode horses, jumped on a

trampoline, rode a mechani-

cal bull, fished, and so much

more.

In October, we

will be learning

about dinosaurs

and then attend-

ing the Tulsa Zoo

on October 7th to visit

the dinosaur exhibit.

October is fire preven-

tion month and we will

be learning about how

to be safe during a fire through

physical activities, stories, books,

and we will also be

attending the Mus-

kogee Fire Depart-

ment Fire Clown

Safety show on

October 8th.

October is also the time for

pumpkins galore! We will be

learning how to grow a pumpkin,

ways to eat a pumpkin, how a real

pumpkin feels, and will also be at-

tending the

Bixby Pumpkin

Patch on Oct.

28th.

And, finally we

will be celebrating Halloween

with dressing in our favorite

costumes and

having a Hal-

loween party.

Date and de-

tails to follow.

More information will be going

home soon for these upcoming

activities.

Michelle Rogers

There will be a

short performance

by the OSB Jazz

Band during the

evening as well.

All proceeds will be divided

among Susan G. Koman for the

Cure and the OK Children’s Can-

cer Association.

Should you be interested in do-

nating items for our basket auc-

tion or know someone willing to

be a sponsor, please contact

Mrs. Daniels or Mrs. Garner.

Please watch our website and

the School Way app for upcom-

ing details.

OSB FCCLA and the

Service Learning

class will be spon-

soring the Power of

Pink service pro-

ject.

We will host a loaded baked po-

tato dinner at the OK Music Hall

of Fame on November 11th from

5:30 to 7:30.

In addition, there will be arts

and crafts made by

OSB students and

gift baskets up for

bids in our silent

auction.

We look forward to

seeing you the even-

ing of November 11th.

Allison Garner & Cheryl Daniels

Power of Pink - FUNDRAISER - Mark your Calendars !!!

Nov. 11th, 2014

5:30 - 7:30 pm

Page 6 Panther Pride

Each year the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA), with assistance of volunteers from sur-rounding colleges, puts together a program for the students of the Oklahoma School for the Blind, to spend a day of fun at the Silver Spur Ranch in Haskell.

This year, this fun filled trip was held on September 22

nd and all of

OSB went to the Silver Spur Ranch for their annual day of fun. Volunteers from the American Quarter Horse Association, Con-nors State College Equine and Rodeo program and the Silver Spur Ranch staff worked hard to make sure everybody had a great time.

The students didn't know what to do first … there was bungee jumping, a rock climb-ing wall, horseback

riding, pony rides, and

wagon and stage coach rides. And as always the mechani-cal bull and fishing were a big hit. Jacob King caught a big bass.

Lunch was provided and served by the association (wonderful).

After lunch the stu-dents couldn’t wait to get back to jump-ing, climbing, riding and fishing again.

We all had a great time at the ranch and a great time with the volunteers and staff.

“THANK YOU”

volunteers & staff!

Some comments from our stu-

dents:

“My favorite thing about the horse ranch was climbing the rock wall. It was high up off the ground … I like to be high up off the ground.”

Cameron Hughes

“I rode a horse named Dent. … Dent is my best friend… He comes back every year. When it was time to leave I got to pet him and say Good Bye to him. He looked sad. I was sad.”

Destiny VanPelt

“The bungee jump was fun. They hook you up to a thick bungee cord and you just jump.”

Kinzie Peters

“My favorite thing of all was to fish… Before that I did some horseback riding. The horse I was riding was a brown horse about 90 years old.”

Joey Owens

Silver Spur Ranch

Braille Club Members for the

2014-2015 School Year:

Pricilla Diaz - Mykel Eagle -

Scott Moore - Skyler Moore -

Kolton Pennington - Blazen Sit-

terly - Katelynn Zampella

This is the third annual Braille

Club for Elementary students,

and I would like to take this

time to welcome each student

listed above to the Braille Club

for this school year.

We want this club

to be fun filled and

promote braille lit-

eracy. We want

each one of them to

strive to be the

best braille student

they can be.

Our first meeting

was September 30,

2014 and we will

meet each Tuesday

from 4:10 p.m. until 4:45 p.m.

When we can’t meet

we will inform the

students as soon as

possible.

Thank you parents

for signing and re-

turning the forms.

Ruby Barker

Elementary Braille Club

Braille made fun ...

2014-2015, Issue 2 Page 7

3300 Gibson Street

Muskogee, OK 74403

Oklahoma School for the

Blind

Toll Free: (877) 229-7136

Voice/TTY: (918) 781-8200

http://osb.k12.ok.us

/

It takes more than sight to have

vision!

Please check out

our website at:

GOING THE EXTRA MILE

- September 2014 -

Don, Mike and Mark for helping with unloading Blue

& Gold.

Mrs. Plunkett for giving room in the freezer for

the Blue & Gold.

Becky & Marcella for working with the kids in 4-H,

Campfire and Girl Scouts and for putting the Blue &

Gold Fundraiser on.

Thank you guys !

REMINDER … Forms to be returned to OSB by October 5 !!!

(Letter with forms previously mailed to you on/about September 23, 2014.)

Dear Parents or Guardians,

The OSB clinic is excited this year to be able to offer Dental services from Ocean Dental

and Flu shots from Cherokee Nation, to our students at no cost to you.

We have sent consent forms home with all students to be completed and returned no later

than October 5, 2014.

If you have not done so yet, please complete and return the Cherokee Nation Health Ser-

vices Consent and Ocean Dental forms to the OSB clinic when your student returns to school

on Sunday, October 5, 2014.

We would greatly appreciate your assistance in accomplishing this very important task.

Thank you in advance.

Respectfully,

OSB Clinic staff

Page 8 Panther Pride

Mon.-Thur. 6-9 P L A N T e s t i n g (10th Grade)

Tue. 7th Elementary Field Trip to Tulsa Zoo

Wed. 8th Muskogee Fire Department Fire Clown Safety Show

- PreK-2nd Grade -

END of First Quarter

Mon. 13th Academic Team at District Seeding

Tue. 14th White Cane Day, Arrow Head Mall Muskogee

White Cane Quest, Downtown Muskogee

Boys Bash at Civic Center, Muskogee

Sun. 19th Oklahoma City Thunder game, BOK Center, Tulsa

Wed. 22nd DRS Expo

Special Olympics “Bowling”, McAlester

FCCLA District Leadership Meeting

Mon.-Thur. 27-30 A C T T e s t i n g

Tue. 28th PreK-KG to Bixby Pumpkin Patch

Fall Carnival (evening)

Wed. 29th Pumpkin Palooza, Blvd. Church, Muskogee (evening)

Dorms

Open NO

School School

IN SESSION!

Upcoming Events at a Glance (for busy people)

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8 9 10 11

12 13 14 15 16 17 18

19 20 21 22 23 24 25

26 27 28 29 30 31

All calendars are “subject to change”.

ALL Calendars are “subject to change”. - Please visit our website http://osb.k12.ok.us for updates.

October 2014

2014-2015, Issue 2 Page 9

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Page 10 Panther Pride

2014-2015, Issue 2 Page 11

Page 12 Panther Pride