Kindergarten students begin the day with their SMART exercises.

Another week at ESK has come and gone! It's hard to believe that Spring Break is just around the corner!

Check out this week's edition of Headlines for information on a chance to meet our new security officers, the upcoming Middle School Spring Musical and all the happenings in both the Lower and Middle School! Enjoy!

Meet our New Security Officers

In an email last Friday, Headmaster Jay Secor announced the addition of two security personnel and other measures to the campus. Beginning Monday, March 18, a pair of security guards from The Walden Security Company will begin service at ESK.

Mr. Doug Harter and Mr. Anthony Morabito were introduced to faculty and staff this week during division meetings. Parents have the opportunity to meet the security guards on Wednesday, March 20, at 8:15 a.m. in the Bishop Center Dining Hall.

4th Grade Service Project

The Fourth Grade will begin their community service project, Hams for the Hungry, this week. The project provides Easter dinners through Second Harvest Food Bank for those that can not afford it. The schedule is as follows:

Friday, March 15 -- Free Dress Day ($2 Tickets at car pool)

Monday, March 18 --- Bake Sale (Morning car pool- All ITEMS $.50)

Tuesday, March 19 -- $5 Jazzy Jars (Morning car pool, 1 per child)

Wednesday, March 20 -- Wednesday Wacky Hat Day ($1 Tickets) 

Thank you for your support and participation! For more information, please contact Fourth Grade teachers Jeannie Hoover and Melissa Bornemann.

Organic Growers School

Last weekend, ESK Director of Development Mat Luce and Garden Manager Nathan Crowder attended the 20th anniversary Organic Growers School in Asheville NC. This intensive conference held over two days on the campus of UNCA is designed to not only promote unity and good will among organic gardeners and farmers, but also to provide teaching from the professionals leading in fields such as beekeeping, soil quality, farm efficiency and management, and small livestock. Mat visited sessions about Aquaponics, organic beekeeping and a session titled Gardens that Give, which discussed in broader terms how a garden like ESK's could have a broader reach in the community by giving surplus produce to food banks. Nathan attended more focused classes on cover crops, plant rotation and soil composition.

A look at some honeycomb from a session on organic beekeeping.

They were also able to visit a local 'giving garden', The Lord's Acre, for a tour of what a larger garden project would look like. The visit was timely, as thoughts and discussions have been in the works for the ESK garden. "Its exciting to think about where we are going in the future," Luce said. "We could potentially provide a large amount of produce to local food banks in our area, while still providing for all the needs of the school."

The Lord's Acre, a 'giving garden' in Asheville, N.C.

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!

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.

CTP Achievement Testing

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

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. The cast of characters includes Eleanor Tant, Erin Wallace, Peter Cooper, Abi Wilson, Bevin and Braden Coburn, Nick Lovely, Mary Margaret Banick, Piper Vassallo, Damon Rodefer (in a hysterical role as Colonel Chutney), Calder Woodward, Lindsey Stallworth, Nathan Cooley, Grace Taylor, Rosie Lambrecht and Lauren Wise! Admission is free, but donations to Hams for the Hungry are welcome!

Interact 3v3 Basketball Tournament

The ESK Interact Club hosted a 3v3 basketball tournament this past Saturday in the Kline Gymnasium. About 10 teams competed in the all day event, which raised funds for the Africa ELI project in the South Sudan. The Gen 3 team, featuring current student Fletcher Kress along with his father Tyler and his Grandfather Tom, won the tournament! Thanks to everyone who participated or donated to the event as nearly $1000 was raised!

Spring Break

ESK's Spring Break will begin with Early Dismissal at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, March 22. There will be no school March 25-29 along with Easter Monday on Monday, April 1. School will resume Tuesday, April 2. There is no Aftercare on Early Dismissal days.

Lower School Science Fair

The ESK Lower School will hold its annual Science Fair this Friday from 8 a.m. - 3 p.m. in the Siler Hallway of the Brewington Family Lower School. Make plans to stop by and check out the work of our talented Third, Fourth and Fifth Grade students!

Holy Eucharist

Please mark your calendars for Friday, March 22, as ESK will have Holy Eucharist that day in honor of Easter. There will be an all-school chapel at 10:30 a.m. prior to Early Dismissal. Keep in mind this will be a formal uniform day.

9th Annual Saints Gala

Save the Date: May 11! Invitations for The 9th Annual Saints' Gala, "An Evening on the Hilltop, Celebrating the Flavors of Tennessee", will be mailed soon. If you would like to be a Sponsor click on the link: Join Me at the Gala! The auction and dinner are the school's largest fundraiser to help provide students with the tools for Technology, Athletics, Library Resources, and Fine Arts for each classroom. The Episcopal School will host a fun-filled evening with fresh food stations to represent products within the state of Tennessee. If you would like to be a sponsor, donate an item, or just volunteer please contact Alice Smith, Director of Special Events, at 218-4494.

Lower School News

Kindergarten Art

This week during art class, Kindergarten students began creating sculptures made from paper towel rolls and strips of poster board. Each student begins with the same materials but is given the freedom to create their own design. Lower School Art teacher Marie Gibson helps the students glue each piece to a square of cardboard. Once the sculptures are finished, each student will have the chance to paint their creation. The project is based on sculptures done by Frank Stella.

Kindergarten student Nancy Tant shows off her Frank Stella creation.

Soap Carving

Second Grade students in Mrs. Thurman's class continued their study on the Arctic during class this week. On Tuesday, students were given the opportunity to carve polar bears out of soap. The students had a great time!  On the right, Anabel Wilson with her carving.  

Chocolate Makes Fractions Fun

Students in Mrs. Tyler's Second Grade class recently used a sweet treat to learn about fractions. The students were each given a Hershey chocolate bar that they then used to practice with fractions. Math is certainly more fun when chocolate is involved!  

Second Grader Caroline Rice learns about fractions with a Hershey's Chocolate bar.

Biography Memory Box

Third Grade students in Mrs. Jenkins' and Mrs. Parham's classes recently completed Biography Memory Boxes. Each student selected a historical figure to read biographies about and then created a "Memory Box" with collected and created items that told the class about the person. Students included artifacts for major life events including when their person was born, where they went to school and other interesting facts about their figure. Historical figures chosen included Houdini, William Shakespeare, Vincent Van Gogh and several others.  

Third Grader Alex Sawinski shares her "Memory Box" about Vincent van Gogh.

Ossoli Circle Winners

Current ESK Second Graders Alexis and Madison Farmer were honored last week for their submissions to the Ossoli Circle poetry contest for students. Madison was awarded 3rd place in Category 1 (Grades 1-3) for her poem "Joyful Dance" and Alexis earned Honorable Mention honors for "A Winter Day".

Middle School News

Eighth Graders Visit West Knoxville Rotary

Last Friday, six ESK Eighth Graders had the opportunity to attend The Rotary Club of West Knoxville's weekly meeting to share chapel talks, portfolio projects and other talents with the Rotarians. Teddy Colocotronis and Bevin Coburn shared their chapel talks while Madison Howell and Erin Wallace made short presentations about their portfolio projects. Chandler Buhl and Eli Fox closed out the afternoon with musical numbers on the acoustic guitar and banjo, respectively. The Rotarians were very impressed by the students! It was a great afternoon for all.  

Eighth Grade students (L-R) Teddy Colocotronis, Bevin Coburn, Eli Fox, Erin Wallace, Chandler Buhl and Madison Howell, along with MS Director Kevin Foley, presented at the Rotary Club of West Knoxville.

Fifth Grade/Eighth Grade Business Lunch

During lunch on Monday, Eighth Grade and Fifth Grade students joined each other in a business lunch to share about topics that each had been studying in class. With the Fifth Graders fresh off of their experience with Biz Town and the Eighth Graders studying careers they might want to pursue, it was a great opportunity for the two grades to share their experiences and what they have learned about the working world. The students seemed to get a lot out of the experience. It is always wonderful to see students sharing and learning together.  

Fifth and Eighth Grade students sharing lunch together Monday. (L-R) Elliott Headden, Cooper Milam, Will Pensky, Parker Jones, Taylor Haun, Jonathan Adams, Alex Daley and Chris Daley.

Sentence Snowstorm

Sixth Grade students in Mrs. Lancaster's Literature class weathered a snowstorm of sentences Wednesday. As a way to work on combining dependent and independent clauses into complex sentences, each student wrote a dependent clause on a piece of paper. They then crumbled that piece of the paper and threw it in the air. When each student picked up another snowball, they had to make that dependent clause into a sentence. This Tribes Activity provided fun and learning!  

Sixth Graders make it snow while learning about complex sentences.

Claymation

In Seventh Grade art class, students are working on creating Claymation movies. After finishing the storyboards for their movies, each group is now creating their characters out of clay and building the sets for their story out of other materials. Can't wait to see the finished projects!  

Seventh Graders Matt Tambornini and Atticus Hull work on the characters and sets for their claymation movie.