STUDENTS FIRST November 2018 Volume 1, Issue 3 A Florence One Schools Newsletter Lucy T. Davis holds STEAM fest In order to show off our creative, inventive, and imaginative sides, Lucy T. Davis hosted a Fall STEAM Fest for students and parents. STEAM is an educational approach comprised of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math. Students are taught to problem solve, collaborate, experiment, and work through the creative process. LTD’s Fall STEAM Fest incorporated community partners who played an integral role in making this event successful! Families learned about wildlife and the ecosystem of Pee Dee region with members from the Lynches River Discovery Center. These partners brought reptiles, animal skins and shells, and also discussed the importance of conservation. The Francis Marion University Chemistry Department brought in Welcome! In each edition of our monthly Students First newsletter, we will highlight programs within our schools. Inside this issue: Briggs Dewey Carter McLaurin Carver 2 4 6 8 F1S Technology Department also joined in the fun! Students explored the inside of a computer, and learned about different experiments for parents and students to complete involving heat, force, and absorption. The South Carolina Governor’s School challenged students to build boats out of aluminum foil. Students had the task of building a boat that could float while holding the maximum amount of glass pebbles. The strongest boat held 51 pebbles! Families also explored properties of light and color with prism glasses. ScienceSouth presented demonstrations and provided experiments for families on optics, chemical reactions, sound waves, magnetism, metallurgy and insects. Clemson Cooperative Extension brought the Enviroscape model to demonstrate the importance of keeping waterways clean. parts as well as the important function of each part. Families could also visit other activities, which included Pumpkin Dash with Dash the Robot (coding), Makey Makey Pumpkins (building circuits), the Fall Lego Challenge, Absorption Leaves, and Candy Pumpkin Structures (engineering). At Lucy T. Davis, we believe in schools, families, and communities working together to shape the innovators, educators, leaders and learners of the 21st century!
Page 2 Volume 1, Issue 3 Fresh off the Farm In 2015, a group of Briggs’ faculty members applied for and were awarded a grant from the South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to establish a farm at Briggs, part of the National Farm to School Network. Shortly after, Jeff Murrie transferred to the school and, in addition to his regular duties as a Social Studies teacher, gained the responsibilities of fulfilling the grant. He immediately became the student, submerging himself in educational practices involving agriculture. Since taking on this new role, Jeff is now a graduate of the South Carolina Farm Bureau Ag in the Classroom Institute, he holds a certificate in Good Agricultural Practices from Clemson University and the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, he is a graduate of the School Gardening for South Carolina Educators from Clemson Extension, and he recently returned from Shelburne Farm in Vermont where he completed the course Cultivating Joy and Wonder for Early Learners. Jeff has since vacated his former position of teaching Social Studies to fully implement agriculture into the Briggs lesson plan. In three short years, Jeff along with the help of so many in the community have taken a small grant and transformed it into multiple spaces where children are able to learn agriculture. The original grant helped to furnish the materials for a raised garden. “I have never witnessed students become as excited and engaged in a subject as I have seen in Farm to School,” Jeff said. He points out how students are capable of fully engaging all five senses while they explore and learn about agriculture - they can taste the homegrown produce, hear the bees buzzing, touch the soft new growth in the garden, see eggs the chicken lay, and smell freshly picked fruit. It is Jeff’s goal to influence children to engage with the environment around them. Clemson Extension’s 4-H Club helps maintain the gardens, chickens, and helps with the bees. The 4H Club is an organized group of youths, led by an adult, with a planned program that is carried on throughout all or most of the year. The club provides important opportunities for youth to learn subject matter and life skills. In June, a group of 4-H kids that attend Briggs raised tomato plants and basil from seeds, took them to the Pee Dee State Farmers Market, and gave them away to patrons while informing them on the importance of growing their own produce. Jeff is excited about future opportunities. Duke Energy installed a fruit orchard with peaches, plums, and blueberries in which they want to continue to add to. They also hope to add a new farm piece or livestock in the coming year and install a 30’ by 10’ raised bed that will be used to grow South Carolina cash crops such as cotton, indigo, corn, and peanuts. “Fifty years ago, most everyone had a family member involved in agriculture. Now it’s really hard to find that connection. The Ag classroom gets the students involved and they get to know where their food comes from,” explained Jeff. Reprinted with permission from VIP Magazine
Page 3 Students First Delmae Robo Dawgs go into orbit The FIRST LEGOLeague teams (up to 10 members, ages 9-13) began at Delmae in the 2006-2007 school year. Students on this team research a real-world problem such as food safety, recycling, energy, etc., and are challenged to develop a solution. They also must design, build, and program a robot using the program, LEGO MINDSTORMS®, then compete on a table-top playing field. It all adds up to tons of fun while they learn to apply science, technology, engineering, and math concepts (STEM), plus a big dose of imagination, to solve a problem. Along their journey, they develop critical thinking and teambuilding skills, basic STEM applications, and even presentation skills, as they must present their solutions with a dash of creativity to judges. They also practice the Program’s Core Values, which emphasize discovery, teamwork and good sportsmanship. The Delmae Robo Dawgs are once again hard at work preparing for the 2018 First Lego League season. Delmae has had a Lego Robotics Team for fourteen years. The team has competed in regional competitions and qualified for state competitions for eleven of the fourteen years. This season, the students are competing in a challenge called “Into Orbit”. They have to learn how to code using the Lego Mindstorms software to program their robot and complete a series of missions. They compete against another team and have 2 ½ minutes to complete as many missions as possible. The goal is to complete those missions and gain as many points as possible. If they do well, they have a chance at winning that portion of the competition. They also have to complete a research project each year. This year’s project assignment for the “Into Orbit” season is to identify a physical or social problem faced by humans during long duration space exploration within our Sun’s solar system and propose a solution. In order to complete this portion, the team has worked to narrow down their interests and begin to focus in on one area to research. Now, the Delmae Robo Dawgs are gathering research and evidence to share with the judges at their competition. This part of the competition is the core of First Lego League. It encourages students to look at real world problems and come up with solutions to better society. The team is also challenged to share their research and ideas with as many people as possible. This year, our team will be working with representatives from NASA and local medical experts as they share their ideas and create their solution. They will also be sharing their ideas with their school community and the larger Florence community as well. This year, we shared our ideas and research with Florence community members as part of the Pecan Festival’s STEM Zone. The final piece of the puzzle is something that First Lego League calls Core Values. Core Values is all about teamwork and how the students handle adversity and demonstrate problem-solving skills. The students have to complete activities that the judges assign and are scored based upon how they work together and the strategies they use to complete those activities. “The Delmae Rob Dawgs team is about so much more than Legos and robots,” said Delmae Principal Roy Ann Jolley. “It’s about teaching students how to think critically about problems and solutions while at the same time having a lot of fun. As has been said in so many space movies, “Houston, we have a problem!” But luckily for us, the Delmae Robo Dawgs are creating solutions!”
Page 4 Students First Dewey L. Carter supports Hurricane Florence victims during Kindness Week In an effort to promote a culture of kindness within the school and community, Dewey L. Carter celebrated its third annual Kindness Week from October 8 -12. This year’s theme was “In a World Where You Can Be Anything, Be Kind.” The week was devoted to doing as many acts of kindness as possible, both in and out of school. Kindness Week consisted of a variety of activities. DLC raised over $550 through a Penny War fundraiser to support Daisy Elementary in Longs, which was flooded after Hurricane Florence. Each grade level adopted a community organization to support throughout the week. Grade levels donated supplies to the Florence Humane Society, made cards for patients and nurses in hospitals, and created posters and letters for firemen and police officers. Sixth grade students created kindness posters to be displayed around the school as reminders of the impact of one kind act. Students also participated in The Great Kindness Challenge, completing a list of kind acts at home and school throughout the week. Staff and students participated in spirit days all week, dressing up for various themes like “Kick Kindness into Gear” and “Hats off to Kindness.” Teachers included read-alouds and activities in their daily lessons to address the importance of being kind to others. Students also created appreciation cards for staff members that have made an impact on their educational experience. Dewey L. Carter’s Principal, Wendy Frazier, has been so encouraged by the kindness demonstrated by the students and staff and can’t wait to see the larger impact it will have in our communities. “Our students and staff are some of the absolute best in our school district and we all realize that it costs nothing at all to be kind to one another. Random acts of kindness are so fun because they are simple to accomplish, they promote excitement amongst our students, and they have such a positive impact that is longlasting and purposeful. In the light of recent tragic events in our community, the need for widespread kindness is even more important. We hope to be just a small part of that contagious spreading of kindness.” Because of the success of this week, DLC will continue its tradition by having more frequent Kindness Weeks in an effort to encourage kindness, not only in our school, but even more importantly, throughout the Effingham and Florence communities.
Page 5 Students First Knight Life: newspaper staff sees challenges, rewards sharing the stories of West Florence By Catherine Williamson, Editor The Knight Life, West Florence’s newspaper, has a staff of just nine people, all 10th-12th graders with completely different backgrounds. Knight Life is run by two editors and two advisors. Our editors are myself, Catherine Williamson (12th), and my co-editor, Charleigh Sprawls (11th). Every day, we work together to create fun, new ways to get our reporters to interact with each other, their interviewees, and their stories. I love working with Charleigh because we are always able to bounce new ideas off each other, including how to edit others’ stories and even write our own. I also love being able to work with such an amazing staff of reporters and my advisors, Kim Cimney and Natalie Hilley. Our staff is full of fun and interesting people, including four exchange students. Being in newspaper has so many fun, and at times, difficult challenges involved. First, we brainstorm ideas for stories and claim the ones that fit our abilities and interests. Then, we immediately get to work setting up our interviews. For our first issue, we interviewed over 30 new staff teachers and took their pictures. We also did several stories on the homecoming and spirit week happenings. Charleigh even got to interview FS1’s superintendent, Dr. O’Malley. After everyone’s stories and pictures are put together and finished, we begin our computer design layout process, which is how we make our newspaper look like.. well, a newspaper! Using Microsoft Publisher, we create our paper using several methods to design our stories and pictures so that they are easiest to read and catch the eyes of our readers. We also travel around town Our first issue! and try to sell advertisements to local business owners and chain businesses. We are a small group of people, which can be quite challenging when it comes to delegating our stories and making it as fair as possible. Students are always busy interviewing, writing, editing or taking photos. As someone who has always been fascinated by media and newspaper, but has never been had the opportunity to be involved in the school paper, this has been the most amazing experience for me -- to be able to meet so many incredible people and watch my peers grow to loving journalism. I am so sad to be leaving these people and going to college next year, but I take solace in knowing that Knight Life will reach so many other people’s hearts, reporters and readers alike. Our website!
Page 6 Students First The Montessori Classroom at McLaurin By Klay Ross This year is my 17th year teaching, but my 13th year teaching Montessori. I have seen so many advantages to Montessori over the years. I love the relationships that I am able to build with my students and their parents by having the students for multiple years. The beginning of the year is easier because the students are already comfortable in the class, they know what is expected, and I already know what their abilities are. The returning students love to be helpers and teach our new students about our classroom as well. When our program first started, we had 3K, 4K, and 5K in our primary classes. I was amazed at how much knowledge these little ones would leave us with after that 3-year cycle. Montessori is child focused. The teacher is a facilitator, responsible for creating the classroom environment to meet the needs and abilities of all the students. The classroom set up helps to build independence and a sense of order in students. Students have a choice in what lessons they would like to do. They are responsible for getting their workspace ready whether it be a table or a rug. Each child completes the work as they were shown, then is responsible for cleaning up the lesson and getting it ready for the next person. This sense of order helps facilitate the learning process, teaches selfdiscipline, and caters to a young child’s innate need for an orderly environment. They also take pride in how the classroom looks and they are able to focus more on learning when everything is neat and predictable. Some people confuse this freedom of movement and choice in the classroom with a scene that is chaotic and children just doing whatever they want. If you visit one of our classrooms, you will see this is not the case at all. There are still classroom rules and guidelines. Our work time is an uninterrupted block of time with quiet music playing and children using inside voices. Ground rules include respect for the environment, respect for each other, and respect for themselves. Students only work on lessons that they have been shown. This helps to make sure they are working on lessons that meet their abilities, which helps the teacher to differentiate learning. During work time, students may work independently, with partners, or may be doing a small group lesson with a teacher. Another great thing about Montessori is the materials, which allow for hands-on learning. This makes learning more concrete rather than abstract as students work on activities that teach language, math, culture and practical life lessons. Those lessons are sequential so they also build on each other. As students learn a skill from one lesson, we are able to use what they learn and build on it with the next lesson in the sequence. Visitors are always amazed when they visit our rooms and see what our young students are learning!
Page 7 Greenwood Elementary students become creators in school media center In the media center at Greenwood Elementary, students are becoming engaged with more than just books. Students can not only read about scientists and explore the Everglades. Now Greenwood students have the opportunity to become scientists and engineers within the media center. Students are enjoying stations that focus on STEM and Makerspace. In the beginning, students created bookmarks to use in with their library books. The Greenwood APT fulfilled a grant to supply the library with Legos and the students had the opportunity to use the Legos for free build and use their creativity. Now students are taking pictures they have been given and engaging in creativity by using Lego STEM cards. Students can work together or alone to build the task on the Lego Stem cards. Students have also created reading buddies to take home and to use to remind them to read. Some students created their reading buddies from characters from their favorite books. Others wrote a short story to put in the hands of their reading buddies. Sixth grade students are using 3D pens to draw the clouds at different heights and to take back to the classrooms after studying their unit on clouds. Students in grades three and four are creating seasonal quilts with the nonfiction call numbers. Some quilts focus on the nonfiction section and helping the students know where to find the different subjects within the Dewey Decimal system and others, for the younger students, focus on all areas of the library section. The quilts will aid in the students knowing where to find their books in the library. Chromebooks and desktops are being used to read books on the Epic Website in addition to taking virtual field trips to explore places and events that they are studying in their classrooms. Epic allows the students to read and or listen to virtual books. Students also can watch the how-to videos provided by epic that spark creativity. Students in grades 1-6 will also begin using the robots funded by the School Foundation over the next several months. The Ozobots will be used to create paths that go along with a story as well as plotting points on the X and Y axis. Dash and Dot will be used to explore and tell stories to share. The students will use the MakeyMakey to work on money when they study money in the classroom. Students will also use Osmo to code, create words, and solve math problems all while in the library. The library is not your typical place to just go and receive a book to read, but to build creativity and imagination.
Page 8 Students First Carver Elementary STEAM Magnet Program shows students how to take ownership of their learning The STEAM program at Carver Elementary Magnet School supports nontraditional student participation by engaging them in real world experiences. All STEAM-specific courses are open to all students, including those with special needs. At Carver Elementary, it is our goal to create a school with a learning environment that will promote academic rigor while increasing student proficiency in problem solving and critical thinking. We have adopted Project Lead the Way (PLTW) as our school wide course of study for all grade levels. Students are exposed to various instructional practices through interdisciplinary STEAM challenges, which are aligned to the state standards. The PLTW curriculum provides opportunities for students to use inquiry based learning to solve authentic and complex problems. In the elementary setting, students must use background knowledge to explore and develop a plan to engineer a product as a possible solution to a problem. For example, first grade students explore and research the effects of the sun and moon while they plan, design, measure, and engineer new playgrounds. Third grade students study erosion, weather systems, and building structures to enable them to design, engineer, and build different solutions to save a city from a landslide. It is important to note that the “A” in STEAM represents the STEM instruction that our students are also receiving in their related arts classes. For example, there is a program called STEM in the Gym where students are physically exercising while learning about force and motion at the same time. Teachers also facilitate students’ discovery through Wonder Walls. These walls allow students to ask questions that they have pondered and wish to research. In addition to PLTW, third and fourth grade teachers are utilizing the Math Design Collaborative (MDC) tools in conjunction with their Everyday Math Curriculum to enhance STEM lessons in math. The MDC approach supports the STEM curriculum by allowing students to collaborate in small groups to discuss and solve problems. We want to continue to grow professionally as educators to ensure the academic success of our students. We have utilized partnerships with Francis Marion University, South Carolina Governor’s School of Science and Math, Clemson University, and Discovery Place to create and use additional problem based learning units to encourage both student and teacher creativity through practical applications. “All of our students have the opportunity throughout the day to be engaged and excited about learning,” said Principal Josie Little. “Our STEAM curriculum provides real life applications that students will be able to apply to real life scenarios. Research already shows that there are more STEM jobs and fewer people to fill these positions. We are working to make sure that our students, including minorities and females, have the mindset to begin thinking about all of the possibilities that STEM jobs can provide to them and to our society as a whole. I am so excited to watch our children become more inquisitive and gain valuable knowledge as they continue to learn. We are changing lives and that is a wonderful feeling for our teachers and staff.”
Page 9 Moore Intermediate KICK team encourages students, builds leadership skills John W. Moore’s KICK TEAM is at it again! KICK, or Keeping It Classy Kids, meets once a week to talk about the variety of issues that pre-teen girls encounter, as well as provide opportunities to strengthen their leadership skills. The KICK team meets with approximately 40 girls for twelve weeks each semester to help them meet our schoolwide behavior expectations. The students were selected by homeroom teachers and identified as students with special qualities who show tremendous leadership potential. This year we are encouraging kindness by distributing Kindness Jars to each of our home rooms. The KICK girls are responsible for going into the classes and explaining the project to our students. As the Kindness Jars are filled, the home rooms will be identified as a Certified Kind Classroom. We are also partnering with high school girls at the Governor’s School in Hartsville and becoming Pen Pals with them. We are planning a trip to visit our pen pals this spring and are thrilled to experience some of their STEM activities on their campus. Today’s KICK girls will be our community leaders of tomorrow. Character.org selected the KICK TEAM as a 2018 Promising Practice. Moore was one of only three South Carolina schools to be chosen.
Page 10 Students First Southside arts students showcase skills in “Sights and Sounds” Southside Middle School will host their 7th Annual “Sights and Sounds of the Season” at Francis Marion University Performing Arts Center on Tuesday, December 18th at 7 p.m. The program is made possible because of grant funding from the SC Arts Commission and the Florence Regional Arts Alliance. Thanks to these grants, our students are afforded the opportunity to perform in an acoustically sound facility designed for rich art performances. Performances will include the dance team, chorus, band, orchestra, piano, drama and guitar students. There will also be an art exhibit in the lobby featuring the works of our visual artists. The students are working very hard to prepare outstanding performances to express their love and passion for fine arts. The program is open to the public. Admission to the program is $5. “The impact of performing in this beautiful space is seen on the faces of the students when they see it for the first time,” said teacher Gloria Turner. “Students feel professional and it shows in the performances. It is an awesome experience for us all. It is worth the cost and preparation time to see students have an experience they will always remember.” Lynn Perkins, 20182019 Southside Teacher of the Year and Florence One and District Honor Roll Teacher said, “As I prepare my students for high school and beyond, the Profile of the SC Graduate requires students to demonstrate world class knowledge, skills and characteristics. The Winter Concert experience allows every chorus student the opportunity to stand on the Performing Arts Center stage and work in a state-of-the art facility to demonstrate their knowledge, skills and characteristics. Students work together to perform their part of the program singing a variety of songs of different genres and languages. To prepare and perform, students are engaged in learning and work on being focused in this process. Teamwork, collaboration and listening skills are developed as students prepare for “The Sights and Sounds of the Season.” The Academy for the Fine Arts and Technology at Southside is open to all rising 7th grade Florence One Students. Applications and audition information is found on our school website and available January 15, 2019. An informational meeting will be held February 26, 2019. Applications for the 2019-2020 honors classes are due March 15, 2019. Vocal Honors Auditions are April 9, 2019. Drama, Visual Arts, Band and Orchestra Auditions, also held in April, are by appointment only.
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