School Snippets – April 8, 2016

Published April 8, 2016

The information below is provided by each school. Schools are listed in alphabetical order according to grade level.

Elementary Schools

Allendale Elementary

Allendale Elementary is preparing for its annual Tailgator event on Friday, April 15 from 5 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. There will be games, bounce houses, a silent auction and food trucks. Each grade level will perform a selection of music at the following times: kindergarten – 5:30 p.m., first grade – 6 p.m., second grade – 6:30 p.m., third grade – 7 p.m., fourth grade – 7:30 p.m., and fifth grade – 8 p.m. Tickets may be purchased in advance or the night of the event.

Bethesda Elementary

Shelley Bosarge a fourth grade teacher at Bethesda Elementary School, is using new methods of teaching math. There are math problems on bright pink paper posted on the walls in the classroom. Each card has a math problem on it and an answer. The children start by picking a problem on the wall. They write the math problem down and figure out the answer. Then they have to find the answer that is somewhere on the wall posted on pink paper as well. When the children find the answer, there will be a new math problem next to the answer that must be done next. They write down that problem and figure out the answer and find it on the wall. The children continue doing this until they have solved all twelve problems. It is a math treasure hunt. This was done in small groups when they did math rotations.

Chapman’s Retreat Elementary

This week is spirit week and today is Crazy Hair and Sock Day at Chapman’s Retreat.

Clovercroft Elementary

Clovercroft’s second graders are taking a field trip to Traveller’s Rest Plantation, the home of John Overton. The students will experience what life was like in the 1800’s while participating in the World of the Plantation program. They’ll also explore one of American history’s biggest mysteries, the Moundbuilders. Clovercroft will also host a Kindergarten Sneak a Peak for upcoming kindergarten students on April 13-14. Students will learn what it’s like to ride the bus and what a day in kindergarten is like.

College Grove Elementary

College Grove teachers were enjoying country music star day. Mrs. Poston and Mrs. Bratton got up and sang us a song at the assembly last week. Our students were very excited to see the teachers having a little fun with them and dressing up.

Crockett Elementary

Crockett Elementary will celebrate its 25th anniversary this year on April 30 and we are looking for cute pictures taken over the years. If you have any pictures you would like to submit, please email them to Kathy Layden at kathyl2@wcs.edu. In regards to more current events, the Crockett Elementary Chorus is performing at the WCS Fine Arts Festival this Saturday at the Factory in Franklin at 1:45 p.m. in Liberty Hall. Come on out and show your support. It would be great to see some familiar faces in the audience. In other events, the Kindergarten Sneak a Peek will take place next Friday, April 15.

Edmondson Elementary

Throughout the winter, Ms. Beckwith’s class listened to a novel called Out of My Mind and learned a little bit about cerebral palsy – a disability that affected the main character’s body, but not her brain. As a whole, the class grew a compassion for people with special challenges, and they talked at length about how to be inclusive classmates – for we all have unique strengths and struggles. The class was inspired by the book and by some WCS academic all-stars to lead the Light It Up Blue campaign for Edmondson in honor of Autism Awareness Day. They posted flyers around the school and encouraged everyone to wear blue on Monday to celebrate people with autism, and to raise awareness for the disability.

Fairview Elementary

Fairview Elementary is wrapping up the book fair this week! We are so thankful for all the parent help and the turnout for family night. The book fair is always a good time and all the money we raise goes right back into getting books for the library. Be sure to come out and support FES at the Williamson County Fine Arts Festival this Saturday, April 9 at the Factory in Franklin. The FES choir will perform on the liberty stage at 12:15 p.m. They have been practicing and sound great so you won’t want to miss it. The FES family carnival is coming up as well. Be sure to get excited and come out on Sunday, April 17 at noon for lots of fun games and treats. Buy a raffle ticket for a chance to win a YETI cooler!

Grassland Elementary

The spring musical performance “Go West” was presented by chorus and drama students on April 5. Thanks to our fabulous directors Christy Summey and Pam Raney. Join Grassland Families for our first annual Songwriter’s Night on Friday, April 15 at the Franklin Theatre. Click on the link to purchase tickets: http://bit.ly/1V9KOxv Mark your calendars for April 9! The GES Recorder Ensemble (1:30 p.m.) and Chorus (2:45 p.m.) will be performing at the WCS Fine Arts Festival at the Factory in Franklin. This is a free, family event with performances by students across the county.

Heritage Elementary

Spring pictures will be Wednesday, April 6. The Heritage Elementary PTO will host Muffins with Mom Thursday, April 7 and Friday, April 8 from 8 a.m. until 8:30 a.m. Mark your calendar for HES Summer Encore June 27 through July 1. Cost for Encore is $165. Registration information can be found on the Heritage Elementary website. HES would like to celebrate sight word success with first grade student Ethan Langerbeins.

Hillsboro School

Third grade students at Hillsboro School recently took a field trip to Nashville, where they visited the Tennessee Performing Arts Center and watched a production of “The Big Bad Wolf.”

Hunters Bend Elementary

Mr. Bond, the Science Guy, paid a visit to Mrs. Larson’s kindergarten class. They learned about soil, erosion, worms and plants. They even got to measure worms!

Lipscomb Elementary

Lipscomb Elementary School multiplied the fun at its annual Math Night. Parents and students enjoyed an evening of math-related games and activities.

Longview Elementary

The 2015-2016 Longview on Broadway Talent Show was presented on March 29. Students from fourth and fifth grades rocked the house with songs, skits, musical talents and dances. It was a star studded evening for all.

Kenrose Elementary

Kenrose Elementary students in grades 3-5 were able to experience the thrill of travelling to visit far away places like the Great Wall of China, Machu Picchu, the Tolbachik Volcano in Russia, the Great Barrier Reef, and Mars using Google Cardboard viewers and a Beta version of the Google Expeditions app. Google Expeditions provides a 360 degree, 3-D virtual reality experience using an inexpensive cardboard viewer and a cell phone. “Whoa, that is so cool,” and “It felt like I was really there,” were some of the enthusiastic responses from students.

Scales Elementary

Miss Davis’ kindergarten class measures the length of each students jump during Math. Students compared lengths and determined the longest jump and the shortest jump.

Trinity Elementary

Related Arts Night 2016 was recently held at Trinity Elementary. This event is a great chance for parents to see what their kids have been learning in their related arts classes. Musical performances, visual displays and young speakers were included in this year’s event.

Walnut Grove Elementary

This week Walnut Grove was offered the opportunity to try out the new Google Expedition Pioneer Program with our third through fifth grade classes. This educational program allows teachers to guide students through a virtual field trip, using a cardboard headset, a phone and a teacher-operated tablet. Google Expeditions lets students experience 360-degree views of places like outer space, coral reefs and biomes. While students are free to explore the 3-D images, teachers can point out important things in each scene and add notes to the virtual experience. This technology can change the way our students experience learning, bringing abstract concepts to life and giving students a deeper understanding of the world beyond their classrooms.

Winstead Elementary

On Saturday, members of the Winstead Elementary chorus went to the Belvedere Commons Assisted Living Home in Franklin to sing for the residents. The Winstead Chorus, under the direction of Patrick Swencki is made up of students from the third through fifth grades and is currently 45 members strong. The chorus sang a collection of songs pulled from the younger years of the residents and included tunes like Rockin’ Robin, What a Wonderful World, and You Make Me Feel So Young.

Middle Schools

Heritage Middle

Sixth graders at Heritage Middle recently enjoyed a virtual fieldtrip with Google Cardboard Expeditions.

Page Middle

At Page Middle School, Mrs. Willingham’s seventh grade classes read The Outsiders and then divided the class into the Socialites and the Greasers. They played games in which the Socialites had an easier, more direct way to complete the task and the Greasers had more obstacles before them to complete the same task. In the end, it was very interesting to see the Greasers winning by working together to overcome the obstacles! Meanwhile, seventh grade student Jacob Williams competed in the State Geography Bee this week. He placed fourth overall!

Woodland Middle

In coordination with the school’s one day book fair at Barnes and Noble in Cool Springs, author Raymond Arroyo visited with students at Woodland on Monday, April. It was wonderful to have the opportunity to hang out and hear about his exciting new book Will Wilder: The Relic of Perilous Falls!

High Schools

Brentwood High

The Brentwood High School Art Department invited the City of Brentwood to enjoy an evening admiring a year’s worth of artwork including mixed media, painting, sculpture and more on April 14. With over 300 pieces submitted to the show, talent is extraordinary across the 9-12 grade levels. The formal awards ceremony will be in the cafeteria beginning at 6:30 p.m. Refreshments will be provided from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m.

Centennial High

Congratulations to CHS senior Jack Crouch on breaking his own personal record as well as the school record by clearing a height of 15’ 1” in the high jump competition this week. Jack is currently ranked among the top three jumpers in the state. Senior Caps and Gowns will be handed out again from the Aux Gym on April 13 during lunch. The program to honor the “Most Outstanding” students for this year at CHS will be Tuesday, April 12 at 7 p.m. in the PAC.

Franklin High

The Franklin High robotics team, the Robokomodos, competed in the Smoky Mountain Regional. There were 50 teams from 15 states and the Robokomodos finished 23rd overall. Those who were at the competition were Caleb Patrick, Tyler White, Dawson Whitehead, Michael Barrette, Ryan Coke, Liam Griese, Camden Whitehead, William Johnson, Mikhail LaMay, Jack O’Donohue, Vishnu Reddy, Ethan Hobson, Grant Hobson, Ahmed Mustufa, and Matthew Nichols. In other news, the two FHS Linguistics Olympiad teams earned first place and tied for second at the 10th Annual MTSU Linguistics Olympiad. The competition is open to all schools in the state and included participants from at least three WCS high schools plus many others from around the state. Each group was presented with 11 problems that involved decoding, translating, interpreting and other linguistic skills in languages such as Sanskrit, Maori and many more less-commonly spoken languages. Our groups scored the highest among the high school teams of 3-4 people. Amelia Crowther, Justin Ma, Nicholas Ma and Deepak Subramanian came in first place. Abdul Aleryani, Christine Barham, and Mia Unni tied for second place.

Page High

A wonderful breakfast was held Friday, April 8 for the Top Ten Seniors. It is an honor and the students are treated to all their favorite breakfast foods while enjoying each other’s company. All Juniors will be taking the ACT at school Tuesday, April 19. Freshman and sophomores will be taking a practice ACT and seniors will be job shadowing or visiting a college of interest also on Tuesday, April 19. We will be forming a dance team at Page High. Dance Team Try-outs will be Wednesday, April 20; Thursday, April 21; and Friday, April 22 from 3 p.m. until 5 p.m. in the Ringstaff gym. Dance Team packets should be picked up in the office for all information and forms. Awards Night will be held Tuesday, April 26 at 6:30 p.m. in the auditorium.

Renaissance High

Bertlekamp Automation & Motion, and Control Express recently brought Baxter to visit the robotics team iLab at Renaissance. Baxter is a rethink robot that can learn on the spot. The demonstration and presentation of ongoing robotic inventions and applications sparked a lot of interest in engineering in our robotics group.

Summit High

Key Club bought a “shoe kit” from Sole Hope, gathered old jeans and empty milk bottles and turned them into shoes on Tuesday night at Summit High School. Fourteen Key Club members showed up to gather to eat tacos and work for a good cause. Sole Hope uses volunteers to purchase shoe making kits and then the pieces are cut from the denim and plastic and bundled to be sent to Africa and assembled by local Africans who are paid a fair wage. For more information on how to order a “shoe making kit” go to SoleHope.org. Key Club is a branch of the Spring Hill Kiwanis Club. Summit’s Key Club sponsor is Kate Hickey.