Happy Thursday! It has been another great week on the campus of ESK. With the start of Term 3 this week and the turning of the calendar to March tomorrow, students and faculty are getting geared up for the three weeks before spring break and then that final push to summer vacation. Check out all the activity!

A reminder that there is NO SCHOOL for students tomorrow (Friday, March 1) as the day is reserved for Parent/Teacher Conferences. Please contact your grade level teacher or student's advisor if you still need to schedule a conference.

Early Dismissal on Friday, May 3

ESK is providing the venue for The Rotary Club of West Knoxville's First Annual Rocky Top Hummin' & Strummin' BBQ Cookoff on May 3 and 4. The proceeds will go to support the Rotary Club of West Knoxville. Over 50 teams will compete for Knoxville's first sanctioned Tennessee State BBQ Championship. For more information and to buy tickets for this family-friendly event, visit www.rockytopbbq.com. Because of the size of this event, school will dismiss early on May 3. The school day will end before lunch, at 11:30am. Please make this change on your calendars!

Portfolio Artifact Fair

It was a great day at ESK on Friday as students, faculty and parents got the opportunity to see the artifact component of the Eighth Grade portfolio projects. The students have been working on the projects for a majority of the year and put their creations on display Friday. Some of the artifacts included a dress made out of duct tape, several paintings, an instructional jiu-jitsu video, a hiking pack ready for the Appalachian trail, and jewelry made of coffee beans. The artifacts will be displayed again on Portfolio Night, April 11. Great job, Eighth Graders!  

Eighth Grader Sean O'Tool put together a hiking pack with the necessary items to hike the Appalachian Trail.

Faculty-8th Grade Basketball Game

In one of the most tightly contested Faculty-8th Grade basketball games remembered at ESK, the faculty narrowly edged out a 35-31 victory over the Eighth Grade students on Friday afternoon. A special thanks goes out to the faculty that participated in the game as well as cheering on the sidelines. All in attendance were truly entertained! It was a great game!  

The Eighth Grade class put up a good fight against the Faculty on Friday but in the end, the Faculty edged out the win.

ESKamp

Looking for something to do this summer? ESK has just what you're looking for: ESKamp! During the month of June, ESK will be offering a number of enrichment summer camps ranging from technology and art to music theater and dance. New camps recently added! The camps will run from June 3-28 with a morning and afternoon session. All camps will be $150 per student. Online registration is now available at eskamp.org.

Aluminum Can Drive

Tomorrow (Friday, March 1) is the FINAL DAY of ESK's aluminum can drive. This drive has been to help raise awareness and money for our sustainability efforts. Bring the cans with you to Parent/Teacher Conferences. To date, we have about 75 pounds of recycled cans. One pound of aluminum equals 33 cans. There will be three stations set up outside of the school. Please bring aluminum cans only; please no glass or tin cans at this time.

WrAP Assessments 

A special thank you to all students and teachers for their great work during the WrAP assessment this week. It is an important test, and the students' concentration was appreciated.

Please remember, ERB's CTP, the achievement test, will be given in April. This year, we are test piloting the online version of the CTP in grades 3 and 6. Students in grades 4-8 will take the CTP the week of April 8. Third grade will take the CTP the week of April 15. For any questions about assessments, please contact your child's teacher or Lois Ross, Director of Testing.

All-School News

Interact 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament

The Interact Club of ESK is sponsoring a 3-v-3 basketball tournament on Saturday, March 9. The proceeds from the event will be donated to the Interact Club's current project called Africa ELI. Africa ELI is an educated-oriented mission located in the South Sudan. Their mission is to educate girls so that the future of the country is secure. The Interact Club hopes to raise enough money to create a new water well for the school.

The American Red Cross Knoxville will host a free Youth Preparedness and Safety Day for grades K - 5 on Saturday, March 9, from 9:00 a.m. until noon at 6921 Middlebrook Pike in Knoxville. All participants must pre-register by emailing

Jennifer.Ussery@redcross.org.

The ESK Chess Club will be competing in the Tennessee Region 1 Team Chess Tournament at Oak Ridge High School this Saturday, March 2. Participants will include Fourth Graders Austin Rhea, Jose Vowell, Eliot Jolley, Phil Spates, Bobby Moran, Megan Quigley; Second Graders Antonio Vowell, JP Quigley, Tripp Keeton, Luke Vesser, Anderson Clark and First Grader Jonathan Shaver. ESK will be competing in both the Primary Division and the Elementary Division and will also be fielding a B Team. Each team will play 4 rounds, with the top teams going to the State Finals in Cookeville, Tenn., on March 23. ESK Chess Instructor Richard Bennett is very excited about the tournament. Asked about the team's prospects, he said "Even though we have very young teams, I think we can be competitive this year."

Second Grader Tono Vowell with ESK Chess Instructor Richard Bennett after the Tennessee State Chess Individual Finals.

The 9th Annual Saints' Gala: An Evening on the Hilltop, Celebrating the Flavors of Tennessee will take place Saturday, May 11, from 6-11 p.m. on the campus of ESK. The evening includes a silent auction, student art auction and live auction, as well as a wonderful menu filled with classic Tennessee flavors. If you are interested in donating an item or being a sponsor, please contact Director of Special Events Alice Smith via email at

smith@esknoxville.org. You can also visit  https://esknoxville.ejoinme.org/Gala2013  

for all event information.

A big thanks goes out to all those who came out to Cool Sports on Saturday to support ESK Day. It was a great time!

Parents of Duke TIP Qualifiers: Are you looking for a challenging and fun academic experience for your child? If your child qualified for the Duke TIP, check out the offerings from Vanderbilt Programs for Talented Youth.   

Murder at Crooked House!

The ESK Middle School Chorus will present "Murder at Crooked House" on Tuesday, March 19th at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. Please join us for this wonderful production in the Kline Gymnasium. Admission is free!

Lower School News

Rice Flour Dumplings

Second Grade students from Mrs. Thurman's class recently made rice flour dumplings during Mandarin Chinese to celebrate the Chinese Lantern Festival. The festival in China is celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunar calendar, marking the last day of the lunar New Year celebration. The rice dumpling is a special food for the festival.  

Second Grade students work with Mrs. Huang to make rice flour dumplings.

Trial of Alexander T. Wolf

First Grade students are preparing for the annual Trail of Alexander T. Wolf that has been scheduled for Tuesday, March 19 at 9 a.m. in the Chapel. Over the past two weeks students have been reading traditional versions of the story of the Three Little Pigs. The story originated in England and was first compiled in 1890 by Joseph Jacobs for his volume, English Fairy Tales. After charting the differences between the versions, students began discussing the moral of the story. One version of the story claims the pigs framed the wolf. When a decision couldn't be reached on which version was true, they decided it was time for a trial.  

First Grade students have been studying the story of The Three Little Pigs and will put Alexander T. Wolf on Trial in March.

ERB Preparation

When ESK gives the ERB's CTP assessment test in April, Third and Sixth Grade students will be the first to pilot the online version of the CTP. In preparation for this way of testing, Third Grade students spent time with Technology teacher Brett Tannhauser to become familiar with how the test will run and how the students will answer the questions.  

Third Grader HJ Mirts works in the Middle School tech lab while learning about taking the ERB's CTP assessment online.

The Beginnings of the Alphabet

Come check out this wonderful print outside the Kindergarten classrooms!

Middle School News

Middle School Science Fair Winners Honored

During Monday's Community Meeting for the Middle School, the ribbons for the students who earned recognition in the Science Fair were handed out. The following students, who are pictured as well, were honored with either a First Place, Second Place or Honorable Mention ribbon:

First Place- Calder Woodward, Steven Busby, Crosse Smith, Andrew Natter, John Morrow, Lauren Reed, Jamie Hickling, Frances James, Grace Taylor, Abigail Underwood, John Mullaney and Miela Hurst.  

Second Place- Hutch Peter, Bryce Parker, Megan Garcia, Peter Cooper, Tori Schrubb, Brent Maples, Paige Gleason, Alden Haun, Casey Majors, Alexis Hartwig, Holly Batey, Drew Milam, Addison Jones and Grace Jolley.  

Honorable Mention- Thomas Simunovic, Hallie Longest, Braden Coburn, Rosie Lambrecht, Zan Killeffer, Blair Turley, Maxwell Nownes, Tristan Stouffer, Riley Schumaker, Geoge Necastro, Lindsey Webb, Audrey Moran, Yana Kelly and Lauren Lorenz.  

The Civil War: The Union

Eighth Grade students in Mrs. Coburn's Social Studies class recently completed a unit of study on The Civil War. The students broke into two groups, representing the two sides of the war. Friday was the Union's turn to present. Eighth Graders Erin Wallace, Alex Daley, Devin Badgett, Fletcher Kress, Taylor Haun and Lindsey Stallworth discussed several important battles and key figures that were important to the Union Army. They also explored the soldiers' uniforms, food rations and talked about how the soldiers often played baseball in their free time. Fifth Grade students from Mrs. Stivers' class watched the presentation and enjoyed tasting green beans, hard tack and beef stew. Following the presentation, the students ventured outside for a friendly game of baseball, using a large stick as a bat, much like the soldiers during the war would have done.  

The Union group, including Eighth Graders Erin Wallace, Alex Daley, Devin Badgett, Fletcher Kress, Taylor Haun and Lindsey Stallworth gave their presentation on Friday afternoon.

Filming With Green Screen

Students in all Middle School technology classes have been working on turning news stories from The New York Times into videos. The students have been working on writing their scripts and then, with the use of green screen, will be able to film their videos from anywhere they can imagine. The students have been really energetic and engaged in the project.  

A group of Eighth Grade students practice filming their new story in front of a green screen.

Latin Skits

Seventh Grade students in Mr. Foley's Latin class got the opportunity to step out of the box with their latest passage translation. Instead of simply translating the passage, this time students acted out the passage for their classmates.  

A group of Seventh Grade students present a passage in Latin.

Read Across America Day

This Saturday, March 2, is Read Across America Day in honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday. During Lower School library classes this week, students read Yertle the Turtle and Daisy Head Mayzie. Librarian Mary Lovely encourages students to read on Saturday to celebrate the occasion. Fourth Grade students also had the opportunity to research Dr. Seuss using iPads, biographies, online biography databases and encyclopedias to learn interesting facts and quotes. 

Gene Luen Yang Visit

ESK will welcome author Gene Luen Yang for a presentation to Grades 5-8 on Tuesday, March 5 at 8:30 a.m. in the Siler Great Room. Yang will visit ESK and discuss American Born Chinese, Avatar, and graphic novels. Please feel free to visit his website (http://geneyang.com) for additional information about Gene and his books.

He will also speak to educators about "Comics in the Classroom" on Monday, March 4, at 7 p.m., in the UT Hodges Library Auditorium. This event is open to the public, but seating may be limited, so arrive early.

He will then present, "How to Make Comics" on Tuesday, March 5, at 6 p.m., at the East TN History Center. Registration is required for this event. Please contact Betsy Connally 215-8700 or register online at www.knoxlib.org.