📚🏴‍☠️ We have our first Book Blast Treasure Box winner! Congratulations to Payton Spivey from Mrs. Jacobs’ second-grade class! 🎉 Enjoy your treasure, Payton! HAES families, keep the adventure going! Follow the instructions on your child’s treasure map to register and help our Panthers earn free books. No purchase is necessary. Who will be our next treasure box winner? ✨ #HAES #BookBlast #PantherPride

🌙🐾 Our HAES Panthers put drugs to rest for Pajama Day during Red Ribbon Week!

We wore our favorite pajamas to celebrate healthy choices and a drug-free future. ❤️

#HAES #RedRibbonWeek #PajamaDay #PantherPride

🐾 Who’s teaching whom at HAES today? 🍎📚 Our Panthers switched up their style for Student–Teacher Swap Day! Students dressed like teachers, and teachers embraced the student look for a fun day of school spirit! 💚 Check out our role reversals below! 📸 #HAES #PantherPride #StudentTeacherSwapDay

🎪📚 STEP RIGHT UP, HAES FAMILIES! 🏴‍☠️✨ Students went home TODAY with their Book Blast treasure maps! Check these papers for instructions on how to register and complete your child’s treasure map. No purchase is necessary! Book Blast is a way for our students to earn FREE books while having a little treasure-hunting fun! 📚💛 🎁 The first 100 students to complete their treasure maps TONIGHT will receive prizes TOMORROW! 🎁 Everyone else who completes their treasure map will receive prizes when Book Blast ends. Registering also gives students chances to win awesome prizes—including a treasure box filled with surprises that may include money, gadgets, and other treats! 💰✨ Check those book bags and help your Panther get started on a reading adventure! 🐾📖

🤠⛳ Country vs. Country Club Day at HAES! 🐾 From cowboy boots and flannel to polos and preppy style, our Panthers showed up with plenty of personality and school spirit! Whether they were ready for the rodeo or the golf course, they made it a fun day at HAES! ❤️🖤 📸 Check out our country and country club crews! #HAES #PantherPride #CountryVsCountryClub #SchoolSpirit

Wednesday, October 28, 2026, will be an early release day for all CCS schools to allow staff to participate in professional development.

All CCS schools will operate on an early release schedule.

👯‍♀️🐾 DOUBLE THE FUN, DOUBLE THE PANTHER PRIDE! 🐾👯‍♂️ Our HAES Panthers were seeing DOUBLE for Twin Day! ❤️💚 From matching outfits to coordinating styles, our students and staff showed off their school spirit with their favorite twins! 👯✨ We love seeing our Panthers come together, have fun, and make memories! 🐾 #HAESPanthers #TwinDay #PantherPride #RedRibbonWeek #SeeingDouble

🎨🐾 OUR HAES PANTHERS ARE AWARD-WINNING ARTISTS! 🐾🎨 We are bursting with PANTHER PRIDE as we celebrate our talented 6th-grade students who earned recognition for their incredible artwork at the Columbus County Fair! 🏆🖌️ 🌟 Collage * Harper Elliott – Honorable Mention 💻 Computer Art * 🥇 MaKenzi West – 1st Place * 🥈 Athena Gonzalez – 2nd Place * 🥉 Kingsten Freeman – 3rd Place 🎨 Mixed Media * 🥇 Gracelyn Babson – 1st Place 🖌️ Painting – Oil & Acrylic * Chesley Kelly – Honorable Mention 🖼️ Printmaking * 🥉 Chesley Kelly – 3rd Place 👏 SEVEN talented Panthers brought home EIGHT awards! We are especially proud that our Panthers swept the Computer Art category, taking home 1st, 2nd, AND 3rd place! 🏆 Congratulations to each of these amazing young artists! Your creativity, hard work, and talent truly shine. Keep creating, keep dreaming, and keep making HAES proud! 💜🐾 #HAESPanthers #PantherPride #ColumbusCountyFair #YoungArtists #PanthersShine

✌️🌼 Our Panthers are TOO GROOVY! 🌼✌️ HAES took a trip through time for Decades Day! From retro styles to totally rad outfits, our Panthers brought the school spirit—and a little blast from the past! 🪩🕺📼 #HAES #DecadesDay #PantherPride #TooGroovy

🖤💛 Big brains, lots of laughs, and a little friendly competition! Thank you to everyone who joined us for HAES Beta Club Trivia Night and supported our students. A special thank you to Galloway Farms for their generous prize donations! Your support helped make the night extra special. 🧠🏆

🐾 HAES Weekly Family Updates 🐾
Hello, Hallsboro-Artesia families!
We have another busy and exciting week ahead at HAES! Please take a few moments to review these important announcements, reminders, and upcoming events.

📱 1. Parent-Teacher Communication – ROOMS
We have recently experienced a significant increase in phone calls to the front office from parents requesting to speak directly with teachers during instructional hours.
At this point in the school year, most families should have access to ROOMS, our school communication platform. ROOMS allows parents to communicate directly with teachers without interrupting valuable instructional time.
Effective immediately, we will no longer transfer parent phone calls to teachers during instructional hours. Our teachers must be able to focus their attention on teaching and supervising students without unnecessary interruptions.
If you need to communicate with your child's teacher, please use ROOMS to send a message. Teachers will respond when they are available outside of instructional responsibilities.
We appreciate your understanding and support as we work to protect instructional time for all students!

🚌 2. Career Day – Thursday, October 22
Our students in Kindergarten through 5th Grade will participate in our countywide Career Day at Southeastern Community College (SCC)!
Kindergarten–2nd Grade:
Arrive at SCC: 8:30 a.m.
Depart SCC: 10:30 a.m.
3rd–5th Grade:
Arrive at SCC: 11:30 a.m.
Depart SCC: 1:30 p.m.
IMPORTANT: Students must arrive at school on time! Our buses will be departing early, and students who arrive after their buses leave will not be able to attend.
We are excited for our students to explore future career opportunities!

❤️3. HAES Veterans Wall – Honoring Our Heroes
We are continuing to collect photographs for our HAES Veterans Wall, honoring the brave men and women from our families and community who have served in the United States Armed Forces.
This project is especially meaningful to me personally, as I have contributed photographs of both my father and grandfather. I know many of our families have loved ones whose military service deserves to be recognized and remembered.
If you would like your family member featured on our wall, please send:
A copy of their photograph
Their full name
The branch of the military in which they served
Deadline: October 30
Our goal is to have this beautiful tribute completed and displayed in time for Veterans Day.
We look forward to honoring the service, sacrifices, and legacies of our community's veterans!

🥜 4. LAST CALL – Beta Club Peanuts!
Our Beta Club peanut fundraiser has been an incredible success!
We are officially down to our LAST TWO BOXES, and there will be no additional inventory!
If you have been planning to purchase peanuts, now is the time! Once they are gone, they are GONE!
Thank you to everyone who has supported our Beta Club students!

📚 5. Red Ribbon Week & Book Blast Spirit Days!
We are combining our celebration of healthy, drug-free choices with our love of reading during Red Ribbon Week and Book Blast!
Get ready for some fun dress-up days as we celebrate school spirit, creativity, and our love for books!
Friday, October 23: 🪩 Decades Day – Dress from your favorite decade!
Monday, October 26: 👯 Twin Day – Match with a friend!
Tuesday, October 27: 🤠⛳ Country vs. Country Club Day – Pick your style!
Wednesday, October 28: 🍎 Student-Teacher Switch Day – Students dress like teachers, and teachers dress like students!
Thursday, October 29: 💤 Pajama Day – Wear your favorite school-appropriate pajamas!
We cannot wait to see everyone's creativity and HAES pride!

🎉 6. Beta Club BINGO Night – October 21
Mark your calendars! Our HAES Beta Club is hosting its FIRST BINGO NIGHT on Wednesday, October 21!
Come out for an evening of fun, fellowship, and support for our amazing Beta Club students.
We hope to see our HAES families there!

📅 Looking Ahead – Important Dates
📌 October 21: Beta Club BINGO Night
📌 October 22: Career Day at SCC
📌 October 23–29: Red Ribbon Week & Book Blast Dress-Up Days
📌 October 27: Book Blast Begins
📌 October 28: Half-Day for Students
📌 October 30: Veterans Wall Photographs Due
📌 November 2: Canned Food Drive Begins
📌 November 5: Report Cards Released
📌 November 12: Picture Make-Up Day

❤️ Thank you, HAES families!
We know that October is a busy month, and we appreciate your continued support, participation, and involvement in our school. Whether you are supporting a fundraiser, participating in school activities, or simply making sure your child is at school and ready to learn each day, you are making a difference!
Our school is strongest when our families, teachers, and community work together.
🐾 One Team, One Voice! We ROAR at HAES! 🐾

🐝🏆 Our Panthers Are BEE-lievably Amazing! 🏆🐝 A huge congratulations to our HAES students who proudly represented our school in the Spelling Bee at the Columbus County Agricultural Fair! 🎡📚 🐾 6th Grade: Gracelyn Babson & Joshua Cosby 🐾 5th Grade: Layla Bryant & Angelique Ramos-Islas 🐾 4th Grade: Grayson Mabe & Lyam Johnson 🐾 3rd Grade: Maia Andrade & Amado Cardenas-Lopez It takes courage, confidence, and hard work to step up and put your spelling skills to the test! We are so proud of each of these students for accepting the challenge and representing HAES! 💚❤️ Win or lose, you’re all CHAMPIONS in our eyes! Way to make us PANTHER PROUD! 🐾👏 #HAESPanthers #PantherPride #SpellingBee #ColumbusCountyAgriculturalFair

🎪🎡 STEP RIGHT UP! THE BOOK BLAST CARNIVAL IS COMING TO TOWN! 🎟️📚 🎠 Get ready for a BIG TOP adventure filled with BOOKS, FUN, and EXCITEMENT! 📣 Starting October 27, Hallsboro Artesia Elementary School is kicking off BOOK BLAST! Our Panthers are invited to step right up and join the reading excitement as we work together to put more books into the hands of our students! 🐾📖 🎟️ Amazing books! 🎪 Exciting prizes! 🎡 Fun surprises! 🍿 A celebration of reading! 🎉 THE BEST PART? NO PURCHASE NECESSARY! Every Panther can participate in the Book Blast fun—no purchase is required! 📚❤️ The greatest show in town is about to begin, and EVERY Panther is a STAR under the BIG TOP! 🌟 📅 The fun begins October 27! 🎉 READ BIG. DREAM BIG. BLAST OFF! 🎉 #HAESPanthers #BookBlast #ReadingIsTheMainAttraction #StepRightUp

🐾💚 Panther Leaders in Action! ❤️🐾 Some of our HAES Beta Club members had the opportunity to attend the Regional Beta Leadership Conference at Great Wolf Lodge! 🌟 Our Betas spent time building leadership skills, working together, making memories, and learning what it means to lead with confidence and character! We are so proud of these students for representing HAES and continuing to grow as leaders! The future is bright for these Panthers! 🐾✨ Leading today. Inspiring tomorrow. Legends in the Making! ❤️💚 #HAESPanthers #NationalBetaClub #BetaLeadership #LegendsInTheMaking #PantherPride

After discovering that Adam Sandler is apparently not the household name we thought he was among our students… we realized we might be showing our age. 😂 So, we’re making a slight change to our Red Ribbon Week lineup! Friday, October 23, will now be Decades Day! 🪩✌️ Pick your favorite decade and dress the part! We can’t wait to see everyone’s throwback styles! 🐾

🌟 Honoring Indigenous Peoples’ Day 🌟 Today, we celebrate and recognize the rich history, diverse cultures, traditions, and lasting contributions of Indigenous peoples. Our students have a wonderful opportunity to learn about and appreciate Native American heritage through traditional clothing, cultural expression, and meaningful connections to history. At HAES, we believe that learning about different cultures helps us grow in understanding, respect, and appreciation for the world around us. ❤️

🐾 HAES Weekly Updates | October 12–16 🐾 Thank you to all our families who supported last week’s book fair! We loved seeing your smiling faces and appreciate the support you give our students and school. ❤️ 📅 Monday, October 12 — No School for Students Parent conferences will take place during our adjusted hours of 11:30 a.m.–7 p.m. Please contact the school if you have questions about your scheduled conference. 📚 Wednesday, October 14 — Read to Achieve Testing for select fourth-grade students. 🎡 Thursday, October 15 — Kindergarten Fair Trip Lunch will be provided, or families may pack a lunch. 🚌 Friday, October 16 — Powwow School Days Participating students will arrive at the event at 9 a.m. and leave at 2 p.m. 📝 Indian Education Please return signed program forms to Ms. Freeman as soon as possible. 🎨 Art Club Only four spots remain for fifth- and sixth-grade students! Interested students should write a one-page paper explaining why they would like to join. 🇺🇸 Veterans Wall Help us honor veterans in our community and students’ lives! Submit through the provided link or send a copy of a veteran’s photograph with their name written on the back. Please do not send original photos. 💼 October 22 — Career Day Kindergarten through fifth grade will visit Southeastern Community College for this free county-wide field trip. Please return signed permission slips to your child’s teacher ASAP. Pre-K and sixth grade will have a separate Career Day opportunity. ✅ October 27 — First Nine Weeks Ends Please make sure all outstanding work is completed and turned in by this date. Thank you for partnering with us! We ROAR! 🐾

Even more fun from Pastries with Grandparents!

Monday, October 12, 2026, is a Teacher Conference Day for all schools except CCCA, which will observe a regular Teacher Workday. There will be no school for students on Monday, October 12.

Teachers will be available from 11:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. (except CCCA) to meet with parents in person, by phone, or virtually. Please contact your child's teacher to schedule a conference time.