School Snippets - October 24, 2014
Published October 24, 2014
The information below is provided by each school. Schools are listed in alphabetical order according to grade level.
Elementary Schools
Allendale Elementary
The fifth graders at Allendale Elementary are busy preparing for their field trip to JA Biztown. After lessons on the economy, work readiness, learning to balance a checkbook and voting in an election for town mayor, the students were ready to interview for their JABiztown job. Each student had to complete a job application and go through an interview process with one of the wonderful volunteers. The students have applied for a loan to start their business and can’t wait until they can actually put all of their practice into action.
Bethesda Elementary
Bethesda Elementary School library is pleased to announce the upcoming Scholastic Book Fair on Monday November 10 through Friday November 14 during regular school hours. We will have a community and family night Tuesday November 11 from 3:30-7:30 p.m. Come out to support the school library and purchase new books!
Clovercroft Elementary
Fourth and fifth graders at Clovercroft Elementary School have been working on balance and rhythm in PE for the past month. The students created dances and performed two of them for the entire school during an assembly October 24.
College Grove Elementary
College Grove Elementary will be hosting their annual fall festival on October 25 from 4–7 p.m. Each year this is such a fun night for families to get together in support of our school! Our school goal is to purchase more laptops for students to use during the school day and the proceeds from Fall Festival will help us reach that goal.
Crockett Elementary
Crockett Elementary held its annual Fun Run October 17 and raised almost $10,000 for Make-a-wish. Meanwhile, kindergartners visited Gentry Farms. The children had fun going thru a maze made of hay, seeing the farm animals, enjoying hands-on learn discovery activities in the barn and playing in the store. Their favorite part was picking out a pumpkin and watching the cows eat pumpkins; otherwise known as cow candy.
Edmondson Elementary
Edmondson Elementary third graders are learning about plants in science. Students in Audrey Hunter’s class went to the science lab and planted seeds of corn, sunflowers, peas and rye grass. They are anxiously watching their arrival!
Fairview Elementary
Fairview Elementary third graders in Joycelyn Gibbs’, Kim Martin’s, Mandy McClure’s and Kristi Smithson’s classes visited Bowie Nature Park on Friday, October 17. The field trip activities included an owl study, a scavenger hunt, stream exploration and “food chain” games. Students learned about the history of the park and viewed artifacts in the Nature Center. Naturalist Dennis Gibson shared photos of owls and a variety of mounted owl species. On the scavenger hunt hike along the Hidden Lake Trail, students noticed plant and animal interrelationships, plant competition for sunlight, and sighted a variety of wildlife, including a wood pecker and other birds, butterflies, turtles, fish, insects and a green snake. Students also noticed signs of erosion and created a list of living and non-living things seen on their hike while comparing and contrasting a forest and stream ecosystem. At the Hidden Lake, students used nets to capture creatures in the lake, such as crawfish, tadpoles, minnows, and snails. A special thanks to Jenny Henna, Program Director at Bowie Nature Park, Staff Naturalist Nancy Carter and Dennis Gibson, and park volunteers Jason Ingram, and Trisha Kittrell for leading the fun and informative activities. Students felt invigorated after spending the day outdoors.
Grassland Elementary
In social studies, third grade is studying the Southeastern region of the United States. Thank you to everyone who came to Spirit Night at Glow Galaxy. A great time was had by all. Spirit Day is Friday, October 31. Show your Eagle pride and celebrate GES! Thanks to Wendy Zupa, Tracy Olson and Lacey Steih for coordinating our Spirit activities.
Heritage Elementary
Heritage Elementary participated in their fourth annual Fun Run on Friday, October 17. All grade levels worked on pledges and character building throughout the week. On Friday, students enjoyed running their laps in honor of their school. After the Fun Run the students enjoyed watching the Independence High School Homecoming parade!
Hillsboro K-8
Hillsboro’s annual Barnaroo event has been rescheduled for Saturday, November 15 from 5-8 p.m. at Hillsboro! You don’t want to miss this fun event! Pre-Order Tickets NOW! Visit www.barnaroo.org. Admission is $7 per attendee, with a $30 maximum for immediate family members. The price increases to $9 each and $40 max if you purchase tickets at the door.
Hunters Bend Elementary
First graders will be learning how to make liquid rainbows in the library with Ms. Nesbitt this week. Second graders are working hard disguising pumpkins as their favorite book character. We can’t wait to see them on display starting October 28. Third grade will be learning about poetry this week in reading. The students will create and write similes, limericks and alliteration pieces. In social studies, the students have learned facts and information about the southeastern and northeastern states. Fourth graders did research on topics that interested them and chose a creative way to present the information to class. They did news reports, science experiments and demonstrations.
Longview Elementary
The Longview Elementary School’s Physical Education department would like to thank Scott Rodgers from Rodgers’ TaeKwonDo Academy for introducing taekwondo to a group of second and third graders. The students truly enjoyed being challenged physically while learning self-control, self- confidence, and self- defense. Thank you again for a great experience!
Nolensville Elementary
Nolensville Elementary held its annual Fun Run on Friday, October 17. Students in every grade level participated. Allyson Fitzsimons and her volunteers worked hard to make this event successful. Thanks to all those that contributed in some way, whether it was counting laps, passing out popsicles or cheering on runners. This is a huge fundraiser for the PTO. Students have until Friday, November 7 to turn in pledges and donations. Prizes will be awarded to the class that raises the most money, to students who raise the most money, and to individuals who ran the most laps. Every child received a participation prize.
Oak View Elementary
What if a book could come to life and talk to you? Recently at Oak View, second grade students got a glimpse of what that would look like using an iPad app called Aurasma. Different books specifically chosen for second graders, who were moving into the yellow fiction section of the library, served as a “target” for the Aurasma app. The second grade students placed an iPad over a target book and watched the book come to life with a video made by former fifth grade students. The video gave a brief description of the book and welcomed the second grader to a new section of the library!
Pearre Creek Elementary
The Pearre Creek library is decorated in the Medieval time period. The Book Fair started this week and continues through October 31. Students and teachers have been visiting the Book Fair all week and preparing their wish lists. Doughnuts with Someone Grand is next week and students have invited someone special for doughnuts and to visit the Book Fair with them.
Scales Elementary
It’s almost time for the Scales PTO’s 12th annual Pumpkins, Poems and Pictures Contest! Here’s a chance for all Scales students to show their creative side! To enter, decorate a pumpkin to the absolute MAX, write a poem or create a picture depicting the festive fall season. Poems and pictures should be submitted on 8½ x 11 paper. Bring your pumpkin, poem and/or picture to the cafeteria between 8-8:25 a.m. on the following dates: Wednesday, October 29th–Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grades; Thursday, October 30th–3rd, 4th, and 5th grades. Each grade level will have a winner for the best pumpkin, best poem and best picture. Winners will receive a gift certificate to the Book Fair in November. All winners will be announced on Friday, October 31.
Sunset Elementary
The third graders at Sunset will honor the men and women who have served our country in the United States Military on November 11, “Veteran’s Day” at 10:15 a.m. The program will be held in the gymnasium. Students will sing patriotic songs that will honor our country and the men and women who have pledged to defend our nation. We hope you can help us celebrate this important occasion.
Walnut Grove Elementary
The computer lab at Walnut Grove is an important place at school where students are connecting what is taught in their classrooms with technology education. Our students have been able to access the many programs our district has to offer like Big Universe, DreamBox and Type to Learn. They have been busy learning how to change their avatar and background design in Big Universe and have enjoyed reading the online books. Students love playing the math games and spending their tokens on DreamBox! Typing plays an extremely important role in the area of standardized testing; so our students have been busy learning the correct way to keyboard!
Westwood Elementary
Westwood Elementary kindergartners are learning about the Life Cycle of a pumpkin, as they get ready for the first field trip of the year to Gentry’s Farm. First grade will be investigating the properties of matters in science and learning how to sort and classify objects. Second graders are writing “how to” essays. They will give directions on how to do something.
Winstead Elementary
The first graders at Winstead Elementary learned about fire safety when the Franklin Family Fire Safety House visited the school. The students learned about the equipment that keeps the firemen safe, sprayed a real fire hose, and how to escape from a room filled with smoke.
Middle Schools
Brentwood Middle
Ever wanted to know how to change the background or set the alarm on your iPhone? Or how about how to make Emoticons? Well, students in Ms. Teri Schoof’s eighth grade media classes are creating presentations demonstrating how they use all forms media in their daily lives. As part of this project, students must assume that their audience knows nothing about technology and develop a detailed outline which thoroughly explains each step. Then using this outline, they produce a tutorial video on their topic.
Fairview Middle
Teachers and staff at Fairview Middle served students and families October 16 at the Fairview McDonald’s for McTeacher Night. A portion of the proceeds from this event go to Fairview Middle.
Grassland Middle
Don’t try this at home! Eighth grade science guru Andy Mangrum stunned his classes with spectacular science demonstrations such as chemically inflating a balloon (and then exploding it!), burning a dollar bill (hint: it doesn’t really burn!), and other captivating lab lessons.
Heritage Middle
Williamson County Juvenile Court is hosting an “All Things Cyber” Parent Awareness Seminar on Monday October 27 at 5:30 p.m. in the Heritage Middle School Library. Please join us for a free informative discussion regarding a range of subjects including tools for parents, how to protect your child’s privacy, and how to teach your child to be a good digital citizen in this technological age. There will be representatives from a variety of governmental agencies such as the FBI, Juvenile Judge Sharon Gufee, the 21st Judicial District Attorney’s Office, and the Williamson County Sheriff’s Department to answer questions and share their unique perspectives on these topics.
Sunset Middle
Sixth-grade math students have been applying their conversion of fractions, decimals, and percentages by creating a mosaic tile art piece. Students studied the history of mosaic art, and then created their own piece of art while explaining what inspired their creation. Students then found the number of tiles they used for every color in their creation, and used that information to find the fraction, decimal and percent of each color! Sixth graders also are journeying back to ancient Egypt in their next world history project. Student groups, each of whom represent Egypt, will elect a Pharaoh, raise crops, engage in barter, develop stone-working skills, and ultimately build a pyramid (digitally and with models, of course!). Students will develop a better understanding of Egypt’s social structure, farming system, and the method by which Pharaohs utilized their people for large-scale projects.
Woodland Middle
This week, 7th and 8th grade students had the opportunity to think critically about their futures! Seventh graders took the Kuder Career Assessment’s interest inventory and skills assessments to explore possible career opportunities. Students assessed career options by looking at daily tasks, education requirements and salaries. Eighth graders built upon their Kuder experience from last year by looking at another career inventory included in the ACT EXPLORE. Students critically thought about the types of careers that may interest them as they prepare for the 8th grade Williamson County Career Fair. While these were some specific career exploration activities, Woodland students continuously learn more about careers through the College Major of the Month which is posted outside the counseling office.
High Schools
Brentwood High
Please support the Brentwood Marching Band with a subscription to our U.S. Flag Service! For a one-year subscription of $50, BHS band students will install a 3′ x5′ American Flag in your yard from dawn until dusk on the following national holidays:Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, Labor Day and Veterans’ Day. Join your neighbors and show your pride for our country! Go to www.brentwoodband.com and click on the U.S. Flag Service link to print and mail your order form. Contact Kim Warkentin at kandkw@outlook.com for more info.
Centennial High
Congratulations to Centennial High Senior Destiny Newsome on being awarded a $1,500 scholarship to attend the 2014 National Leadership Awards in Washington D.C. Destiny was selected by the Statewide Leadership Committee based on her involvement in JTG-College & Career Readiness and a 1,000 word essay she submitted. Centennial is excited to host “Let’s Talk School” on Tuesday October 28 with Dr. Looney and Williamson County School Board Members. The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in the library as a whole group then move to small group breakout sessions in surrounding classrooms. Be sure to join us for this informative event.
Fairview High
On October 24, the night of the Page Pink Out game, the Fairview High School boy’s basketball team will host a chili cook off from 5-7 p.m. in the cafeteria. The cost is $5 for a bowl, all the fixins’, and a drink. The second annual Fairview High School Fall Festival will be held October 25 from 12-5 p.m. You can take a walk in the Thespian Society’s haunted hallway, play on the inflatables in the Fun Zone, shop in the Country Store, eat at the food court, dance, watch or participate in the first annual harvest pageant, play games, take a hay ride or try your luck at the dunk tank. Members of the Fairview High School Thespian Society are finishing up work on their annual fall play. Students recently put on the production, “Almost Maine.” Fairview High School students learned important college and career tips during the Counseling Center’s College and Career week activities. Professional dress up days, interview advice and lunch and learn sessions featuring local business executives provided students with an opportunity to hear real career advice.
Franklin High
Franklin High School will induct its third class of honorees on Friday, October 24 at 5 p.m. in the Main Gym. The honorees include individuals from the Class of 2001 through the Class of 2008 and teams from 1963 to 1994. The Franklin High School Athletic Hall of Fame was opened in 2007 at the suggestion of current FHS assistant principal Dr. Shane Pantall, working in conjunction with Executive Principal Willie Dickerson and a committee of alumni and staff. The Hall, located between the main and auxiliary gyms at the school, honors athletes from both Franklin and the former Natchez High School. The Hall was recently updated by Joe Critchlow, the Rebels starting quarterback, as part of his Eagle Scout project with the assistance of the athletic director, Toby Ruth.
Independence High
Join us this weekend for the unforgettable story of Anne Frank and her family. The students do an amazing job bringing this bittersweet story to life. Show times are October 24-25 at 7 p.m. There will also be a matinee performance at 2 p.m. on October 25. Presale tickets are available at lunch – $5 students and $7 adults. Tickets at the door will be $8. Seniors who have not already done so are reminded to pay their graduation fee of $65 to Ms. Perrin in the IHS front office. This fee is required for the graduation cap/tassel and rental of the graduation gown, as well as expenses associated with graduation.
Page High
Volunteer badges will be made at Page High School on Tuesday, October 28 from 7:15-9:15 a.m. and on Wednesday, November 5 from 2:30-4:30 p.m. Those wanting to volunteer should have the School Volunteer Application and Confidentiality agreement filled out and should have their valid Tennessee Driver’s license with them. The application form may be found on the Williamson County School web-site. Seniors will have a meeting Thursday, October 30 at 9:05 a.m. in the theater to receive information on senior announcements. Senior announcements will be ordered Friday, November 7 during the students lunch.
Ravenwood High
Your Ravenwood Raptors varsity hockey team hits the ice against Brentwood October 24 for their first regular season game of the year! The game starts at 9:40 p.m. at A-Game Sportsplex so after watching the Raptors take down the Bruins on the field, come watch us do it again on the ice! Get ready for another great season of Raptors Hockey.
Summit High
Kacie Beirnes’ physical science classes just finished learning about simple and compound machines and how they impact our lives. Using their knowledge of simple machines, students were required to design and build a catapult out of everyday materials. The catapult had to be capable of launching a tennis ball or jumbo marshmallow a distance of at least 20 feet.