School Snippets – October 15, 2015

Published October 15, 2015

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

Elementary Schools

Allendale Elementary

Seven students accepted the challenge and represented Allendale in the 2015 Special Olympics Bowling Contest. The group arrived excited and ready to knock down some pins in hopes of bringing back a ribbon. Though the competitors were fierce, Allendale had three students tie for a blue ribbon, two for a second place ribbon and two received a third place ribbon. Congratulations on all of your hard work. We are so proud of you!

Bethesda Elementary

Mr. Amore’s first grade class is using pictures to spell words. Students say the word and listen for the sounds and write the letters down.

Chapman’s Retreat Elementary

October 14 was Job Shadow Day for seniors at Summit High. Alyssa Whitlock chose to shadow Kim Pantall, a CRES kindergarten teacher.

Clovercroft Elementary

During Art classes, Clovercroft second graders are learning about artist Wayne Thiebaud and how he paints still-life cupcakes, donuts and other foods. They will design and paint their own cupcake still-life. The third graders are creating a folk art landscape inspired by the paintings of Karla Gerard. They will paint a farm field and review the elements of a landscape: foreground, middle ground and background. All of Clovercroft’s first graders are visiting the home of Sam Davis, a man that grew up on a cotton field in Tennessee and had an integral part in the Civil War. The students will be learning about toys from the 19th century along with taking a hayride around the grounds of the home and cotton field.

College Grove Elementary

Our Successory winner this nine weeks is second grade teacher Vickie Brake.

Crockett Elementary

As part of Fire Prevention Month, the Brentwood Fire and Rescue department taught first graders about how they can prevent fires and what to do in an emergency. The fire safety house is equipped with heating doors, sprinkler props, a fireplace prop and a stovetop cooking prop. Children got real life practice exiting through a window when the house filled with smoke.

Edmondson Elementary

The students in Katie Bagwell’s fifth grade class and Mr. Jeff Cicero’s second grade class at Edmondson Elementary are Book Buddies. The children exchanged letters with their buddies to get to know one another better. The group is working on community.

Fairview Elementary

In celebration of Hawk Walk, Fairview Elementary had spirit week October 12-14. We dressed up in our pajamas, our favorite team shirts and our wackiest and tackiest apparel. Wacky tacky day is our favorite – even teachers got in on the action! Hawk Walk was on Thursday, October 14 and we had a blast running and walking to raise money for our school. This week also saw kindergartners headed to Gentry Farm for a field trip. They picked pumpkins and learned about life on a farm.

Grassland Elementary

The fourth grade students at Grassland Elementary are busy learning about ecosystems and energy pyramids. They are also learning about early exploration and the impact it had on other civilizations. On October 13, GSCA hosted a breakfast honoring our fabulous bus drivers and transportation staff of WCS. The drivers were presented with notes from students and families in appreciation of their hard work and dedication.

Heritage Elementary

Heritage Elementary students celebrated the 50th Day of School on October 15. Students and staff dressed in 50’s costumes and participated in the fun. Students enjoyed a sock hop, crafts and ice cream floats provided by the PTO during their designated specials class time. HES challenged each class to collect at least 50 food items to donate to the local food pantry, The Well of Spring Hill. Over 1,500 food items were collected for donation.

Hunters Bend Elementary

Our fourth and fifth grade student council members learned about raising the flag with fifth grade teacher Mrs. Liz Brabson. Mrs. Sharon Heim’s kindergarten class learned about the living/nonliving things include tree parts and their circumference of a tree.

Longview Elementary

Longview Elementary parent and students celebrated a fantastic Fall Book Fair this year. It ran for one week and included two Family Nights to accommodate working parents. Merchandise was flying off the shelves, along with gift certificates to students and teachers fulfilling many wish lists.

Nolensville Elementary

Cyndy Lee’s second grade students are super! Super students are responsible, friendly, determined, helpful, kind, cooperative and respectful. As part of a writing activity, students shared their favorite color and favorite activity. They also wrote the trait that makes them super and shared it with the class.

Oak View Elementary

Student Council is recycling for Oak View. They met and are making plans for the first drive, which will be a food drive to benefit Graceworks. In first grade news, students are learning about fire safety and all the cool equipment firefighters use to help us in an emergency.

Pearre Creek Elementary

Fifth graders are studying physical and chemical change and states of matter. Students created an experiment of their liking and observe a substance change states of matter. They documented these changes in a table. Ashton Hanson decided to observe dry ice (frozen CO2) and document it changing from a frozen state directly to CO2 gas while skipping the liquid state. She demonstrated sublimation to the fifth graders. She also added dish soap to the dry ice. This allowed students to see what really happens to the gas inside a bubble when it pops. They were able to see the gas disperse and eventually disappear as it thinned out and filled the room.

Scales Elementary

Kindergartener Evan Thomas nominated his teacher Teresa Monroe for a Successory. He wrote, “thank you for teaching me sight words. I want to learn to read. Thank you for letting me stay after class. I like the shows you pick.”

Sunset Elementary

Mrs. Cato’s second grade class released their butterflies. They have been studying and observing the butterflies from being caterpillars.

Trinity Elementary

Mrs. Hullett’s fourth grade class and Mrs. Barnwell’s first grade class are enjoying their Buddy Time together by reading stories to one another. The fifth grade students had a wonderful time on the field trip to Biz Town. They were able to learn how to run a business, experiencing everyday life challenges and rewards for the business. In other news, Cole Anderson was officer for the day on October 13. Officer for the Day was an item that was auctioned off at our fall festival, Romp and Stomp. He learned about the behind the scenes events of being an Officer from our own Officer Ted.

Walnut Grove Elementary

Third graders at Walnut Grove Elementary have been studying rocks and minerals. Students have observed the properties of rock samples and sorted them based on those properties. They have investigated minerals and performed tests just like those organized by a geologist to determine luster, hardness and color. Throughout this study of rocks and minerals, students have reviewed what they have learned and made text to work connections by reading books like The Magic School Bus Inside the Earth by Joanna Cole. In computer lab this week, students are using the new Go Math! series. They will be taking an assessment and practicing using the interactive website.

Westwood Elementary

Westwood kindergartner students have been learning about the life cycle of a pumpkin. They took a field trip to Gentry’s Farm to see and feel all the things they have been learning about. Students got to explore the pumpkin patch, act like farmers in a dramatic play barn, problem solve in a hay maze, discover where corn/wheat come from and observe some small animals. Each student was able to bring a pumpkin home as well.

Winstead Elementary

Winstead’s Bucket Brigade was a huge success. Thank you to all parents, students, staff and friends who helped beautify the school grounds. Winstead kindergarteners are excited to learn about plans and animals when they visit Gentry Farm this week. They are also working hard to segment and blent letter sounds, practice sentence writing and solve word problems. Dates to remember: Fall Break, October 16-19; Fall Picture Retakes, October 22; Winstead Library Book Fair, November 13-19.

Middle Schools

Brentwood Middle

The students celebrated the first nine weeks PBIS success with individual grade parties. Games, dancing, snacks, karaoke, ping pong and just hanging out with friends were some of the activities in which the student participated. A big shout out to all our parent volunteers who help make these parties such a success and for our teachers who jump right in with the kids and play along.

Grassland Middle

Thank you to our amazing GMSPC General volunteers. Congratulations to Andy Mangrum, GMS eighth grade science teacher. He is the first recipient of the 2015-16 Successory Award. Way to show your General spirit!

Hillsboro School

Lady Indians Basketball will be in full swing starting October 21. Open gym for the Lady Indians Basketball team will begin October 21 from 3:30 p.m. until 4:30 p.m. The first round of tryouts will be held the last weekend in October. Former players will begin fundraising before fall break. In other athletic news, Riley Grindstaff is Hillsboro’s first ever gold medalist! He is the individual champion of the WMAA District Golf Tournament. Congratulations, Riley.

Page Middle

Ms. Suzi Constantine’s eighth grade social studies classes were having a Liberty Tea party while studying the tea boycott and the destruction of the tea at Boston Harbor. Students had to answer questions about the event correctly to receive a sample of unsweetened mint tea. What a great hands on learning experience! The Page MS Drama club, directed by Bradley Brown, performed A Midsummer’s Night Dream this week in an open air theatre setting at the school courtyard. All the performers were from grades 6-8 and the students were responsible for designing all the costumes and sets as well. Congratulations on a job well done. Bravo!

Spring Station Middle

The TransCanada Mid-America Regional Office Community Investment Team has selected Spring Station Middle as one of their Community Investment partnerships for 2015. On October 13, Mrs. Murgas and co-worker Jeff Pollack came to Spring Station Middle and presented Assistant Principal Amy Seago with a check for $5,000 to be used toward chrome books.

Sunset Middle

Friday night’s SMS talent show on October 9, led by emcees Ryan Stallsmith and Dash Breaux, enchanted the audience with a host of singers, instrumentalists, dancers and even magicians. Ultimately the first, second and third place prizes were taken home respectively by eighth grader Shannon Claire Barnes, sixth grader Isabella Wickham and seventh grader Jordyn Snypes. Congratulations are in order for Saber Nation! Thanks to your tremendous support during the Milk Challenge/COW fundraising campaign, we are thrilled to announce that we met and exceeded the $16,500 goal. As promised, during the PBIS parties, students had a chance to see Doc Brown get dunked in a tank filled with milk. What a great show of Saber Spirit to answer the WCS milk challenge in such a big way.

Woodland Middle

Congratulations to Mr. Bruce Hicks for winning the Successory nomination with a submission by Pate Brasfield.

High Schools

Brentwood High

The Brentwood High volleyball team won districts last week with a decisive victory over Franklin. They hosted the regional tournament this week, again coming out victorious and earning a bid to the state tournament. Congratulations, Lady Bruins!

Centennial High

CHS will be participating in the canned food collection for Graceworks beginning October 22 called Drive Away Hunger. Students are encouraged to bring canned foods, peanut butter, pasta, cereal and other non-perishable items to school where collections bin will be available. This is an annual event that strives to stock the shelves of Graceworks for the winter months. In other news, Centennial orchestra director Allison Cowan received an invitation to bring the CHS orchestra students to the NafMe National Conference on October 26 in Nashville. The CHS Orchestra will perform at a professional development session under the direction of Dr. Sandra Dackow. Dr. Dackow is a world class composer and educator who is known worldwide for her work with orchestras. Congratulations to the CHS orchestra as they step into the national spotlight.

Franklin High

Congratulations to Andrew Kochamba who for Senior Shadow Day was in New York City shadowing Jimmy Fallon. This was all done through the power of Twitter and a great plan by Andrew. In other news, the WCS food drive is gearing up again. Now through October 30, FHS will be collecting cans and cash donations for the benefit of Graceworks. Lastly, Homecoming Week activities are going strong. Theme days, float building, a parade in downtown Franklin on Thursday and the big game Thursday night followed by a great Homecoming Dance.

Page High

Page High was fortunate enough to be visited by two living recipients of the Medal of Honor, Leroy Petry and Salvatore Giunta. There are only 78 living recipients of this award, the highest honor in the United States military. The two addressed PHS JROTC, social studies classes and an assembly on October 9.

Ravenwood High

Andie Altemeier from the RHS student council represented Ravenwood and the state of Tennessee at the annual Southern Association of Student Councils conference in southeast Louisiana. Andie participated in activities such as networking within and outside the state, gaining leadership development, collecting project ideas and hearing inspiring speakers. Andie also was selected as a workshop presented in which she led twenty minute sessions on Dodge for a Cause, Ravenwood’s successful dodgeball tournament. Ravenwood is scheduled to host the state convention in March.

Summit High

The Summit High Marching Spartans participated in the Mid-South Marching Invitational at Austin Peay State University on October 10. In preliminary competition, the Spartans were second place in music, second in visual and second overall in Class AAAA. In Finals competition, the Spartans were second in music, visual and were second place overall out of eight bands.