Happy Thursday! It's hard to believe May is upon us and there are only three weeks left of school! The activity around the Lower School and Middle School is reaching a fevered pitch! Check it all out in this week's edition of Headlines.

Williamsburg Trip

The Fifth Grade classes left for their annual Williamsburg trip Wednesday morning and will return Friday afternoon. The students visit colonial Williamsburg and Jamestown while learning about the colonies and those settlers who founded our nation.  

The Fifth Grade class outside of the Virginia Welcome Center.

A reminder to parents: There will be an alternate location for parents to pick up their students upon their return. The Fifth Grade will be dropped off at Garden Ridge Home Superstore located at 11221 Outlet Dr. (across from Cotton Eyed Joe). Fifth Grade should be arriving back around 5 p.m. Students will call their parents when they are about 30 minutes from Knoxville.

3-5th Grade Field Day

Last Friday, Third through Fifth Grade students enjoyed the first of three Field Days held annually at ESK. The students had a great time enjoying a variety of games with the "Minute to Win It" theme.  

Mrs. Jenkins' and Mrs. Parham's Third Grade classes during a friendly game of tug-of-war at the end of Field Day.

Students broke into teams in each of their classes and worked their way from the Kline Gymnasium to the lawn in front of Googe Hall and the tennis courts to participate in activities ranging from stacking cups, jumping rope and hula-hooping, to throwing Ping-Pong balls into a bucket on their partner's head, trying to get playing cards into a bucket and counting the number of times they could shake their head in one minute.  

A group of Fourth Grade boys try to knock down a marker with marbles.

The afternoon ended with a tug-of-war game between each grade level and the Lower School teachers. A special thanks to Pansie Evans for planning the afternoon and for the parent and assistant volunteers who helped run each station.  

Fifth Grader Will Pensky at one of the stations during Field Day.

Lunch Menus

For the final three weeks of school, the weekly Lunch menu will be published in Headlines instead of being available on RenWeb. The menu for the week of May 6-10 is as follows:

Monday 5/6

Beef Chili

Vegetarian Chili

Beef Hot Dog

Cole Slaw

Homemade Bun

Fresh Fruit & Vegetables

Tuesday 5/7

Chinese Chicken

Brown Rice

Broccoli

Fresh Fruit & Vegetables

Wednesday 5/8

Meatloaf

Mashed Potatoes

Peas

Rolls

Fresh Fruit & Vegetables

Thursday 5/9

Cheese Grits with Sausage

Cheese Grits

Vegetable Barley Soup

Roasted Vegetables

Fresh Fruit & Vegetables

Friday 5/10

Cheese Pizza

Pepperoni Pizza

Specialty Pizza

Fresh Fruit & Vegetables

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," have been mailed! 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.

Annual Fund Celebration!

Win this happy bash! As an incentive to achieve 100% participation in the Annual Fund, the development office is offering a party to the grade with the highest parent participation level by May 9. Only one week left! Parents of the winning class will be invited to a reception in the Siler Great Hall at 6 p.m. on May 15, hosted by members of the Executive Committee of the Board. The evening will include light fare and drinks with childcare provided by our Aftercare staff. Everyone will have a good time!

Here are the current participation levels for each class:

K - 40%

1 - 49%

2 - 43%

3 - 42%

4 - 51%

5 - 33%

6 - 34%

7 - 37%

8 - 27%

Please keep in mind that a Gala Sponsorship or donation goes
toward Annual Fund participation, and that tables are still available for sponsorship at the Gala. Click here to DONATE ONLINE.

Rotary BBQ

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.

REMINDER: Early Dismissal on Friday, May 3

A final reminder that due to the size of The Rotary Club of West Knoxville's First Annual Rocky Top Hummin' & Strummin' BBQ Cookoff tomorrow, school will dismiss at 11:30 a.m.

All-School News

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 musical theater and dance. Reserve your spot NOW! The camps will run from June 3-28 with a morning and afternoon session. All camps, except for the all-day Music Theater camp, will be $150 per student. Online registration is now available at eskamp.org.

ESK will hold a pep rally this Friday, May 3, in the Kline Gymnasium from 11-11:30 in order to celebrate the spring sports teams. Both Lower School and Middle School students can participate in our Spirit Day by wearing Purple and White. Any clothing that is not purple and white should comply with school dress code.  

ESK students show off their school spirit at a pep rally in February.

Yearbook Orders

The 2012-13 ESK Yearbook will be delivered on Monday, May 13. There's still time to purchase one! Fill out an order form (available online and in the LS and MS offices) and return the form to Communications Director Melissa Anderson. You can order up until the day the books arrive! The cost for a yearbook is $40.

Speech Services Offered at ESK

ESK is proud to offer the services of Speech Language Pathologist Stacy McLemore to our students and families. McLemore is on campus two days a week and can offer a wide range of services including Speech/Articulation Evaluation and Treatment, Language and Auditory Processing Evaluation and Treatment, Behavior Rating Scales and Phonological Awareness Treatment. For more information or to schedule a time to meet with Mrs. McLemore, either contact the LS office or email mclemore@esknoxville.org.

"I have 15 years experience working with school-age children and truly love the work I've done with students at The Episcopal School," McLemore said. "It is a great environment and I look forward to the opportunity to work with more ESK students."

Upcoming Field Days

All families - please mark your calendars for upcoming Field Days! All field days are 12-3 p.m. Parent volunteers will be a must to make these annual events a success! Eighth Grader students will be manning the stations for the K-2 Field Day as a service to the Lower School!

K-2nd Grade: Monday, May 6 - UNDER THE BIG TOP CARNIVAL

Lower School News

Talent Show

What an explosion of talent took place at The ESK Lower School Talent Show Tuesday afternoon. First Grade teacher Chris Bishop emceed the event and all contestants were given five free ounces of frozen yogurt from Sweet Frog in Turkey Creek. Lower School students dazzled the crowd with hula hooping, basketball trick shots, piano playing, singing, dancing, drumming and much more. Many thanks to Ghadeer Musharbash, Nancy Laurence, Pansie Evans, Susan Darby, Christy Park, Lucy Tyler, Brett Tannhauser and Deb Sousa.  

A group of talented Lower School students put on a great performance Tuesday afternoon.

Recent Field Trips

Over the last couple weeks, several Lower School classes have taken special field trips. The Third Grade classes visited the Knoxville Zoo and James White Fort to see the Fourth Graders as docents. While at the zoo, students saw a presentation on animal classification, which they are studying in class. The Second Grade class took a trip to the Museum of Appalachia this past Friday.  

Third Grade students listen to a presentation at the Knoxville Zoo.

Both Second Grade classes pose for a picture while on their field trip to the Museum of Appalachia.

Vet Visit

Last Friday, ESK parent Tracy Dewhirst visited Mrs. Tyler's Second Grade classroom to discuss her career as a veterinarian. Mrs. Dewhirst began her presentation by talking about the education path that she had to take and some of the important classes that served as the foundation for her entire career. She then showed off several artifacts including a skull, teeth and several other items she has collected during her time as a veterinarian. The students enjoyed her visit immensely! Thanks for sharing about your captivating work, Tracy!

ESK parent Tracy Dewhirst shares with Mrs. Tyler's Second Grade class about her career as a veterinarian.

Wizard Day

Students in Mrs. Tyler's Second Grade class got an exciting surprise Wednesday morning when Mrs. Tyler announced that it was Surprise Wizard Day! The students began the day by being sorted into different houses based on the Harry Potter book series. The first round of activities included making magic wands and wizard hats along with tasting different jellybeans and working with different "potions." Following a snack that included fortune telling drinks, the students participated in a scavenger treasure hunt, took pictures in a "transfiguration" booth, created more potions and worked on their defense against dark dreams. The day concluded with math, reading and writing lessons that also tied into the Wizard Day. What fun!  

Second Graders Wilder Dewhirst and Anderson Clark show off their magic wands they made as part of Wizard Day.

Mountaintop Removal

Students in Mrs. Hoover's Fourth Grade class have been studying the problem of mountain top removal in East Tennessee and the Appalachian region and are in the process of creating a website (whataboutmountains.com) and Facebook page to help spread the word. Recently, a small group of students attended a lecture by former Energy Secretary Bill Richardson at UT's Baker Center and got a round of applause from those in attendance for challenging Richardson on the problem of mountain top removal. What bright young students!  

Fourth Grade students Allison Clay and Lila Davenport pose with former Energy Secretary Bill Richardson. Photo courtesy of knoxnews.com.

Fifth Grade Art

As part of her annual tradition, Lower School art teacher Marie Gibson has this year's Fifth Grade students working on an art project that will stay in her classroom and serve as a representation of that class' time at ESK. This year's project has the students pairing up and painting ceiling tiles for the art room. The students first traced out their design and then brought the tile to life with different color paints. Be sure to stop by the Lower School art room and check out their work!  

Fifth Graders Rachel Bazzoon and Eleni Christopoulos work on painting their ceiling tile for the LS art room.

Middle School News

Duke TIP Qualifiers

Twenty-three 7th graders qualified this year to participate in the Duke Talent Identification Program, allowing them to take either the ACT or SAT, tests normally taken by high school juniors and seniors. These students, who qualified to take the college entrance exams by scoring at the 95th percentile in the national norm group on selected subtests of the CTP4 or other nationally normed achievement test, are Holly Batey, Ethan Baughman, Steven Busby, Matt Byers, Peter Cooper, Zach Gilbert, Elizabeth Hethmon, Jamie Hickling, Towns Hughes, Grace Jolley, Zan Killeffer, Hallie Longest, Casey Majors, John Mullaney, Alexandra Musrock, Andrew Natter, Georgia Pappano, Damon Rodefer, Alex Schrubb, Witt Spiller, Zach Stivers, Lauren Wise, and Emerson Wright. Two students, Zan Killeffer and Georgia Pappano, qualified to participate in one of Duke TIP's summer programs. Six students did so well on the ACT or SAT that they not only qualified to participate in summer programs, but also to attend the State Recognition Ceremony at Vanderbilt University this spring. These six students are Steven Busby, Grace Jolley, Hallie Longest, Casey Majors, Andrew Natter, and Emerson Wright. To qualify for state recognition, students must score at the 50th percentile of juniors and seniors taking either test.  

ESK Seventh Grader Steven Busby, Emerson Wright, Hallie Longest, Andrew Natter, Casey Majors and Grace Jolley (not pictured) earned State Recognition through the Duke TIP.

On Wednesday during Advisory, the eight students who qualified to participate in Duke's summer programs met with eighth graders Piper Vasallo and Morgan Morton-Killeffer to hear them share their first-hand experiences about the summer programs.

Congratulations to all of the students who qualified to participate in the Duke TIP. For more information on the Duke TIP program and its benefits, please visit the websitewww.tip.duke.edu.

Guest Presenter in Guidance

Alex Haralson, Diocesan Youth Ministry Coordinator, is teaching Seventh and Eighth Grade Guidance classes for the next several weeks. In Seventh Grade, Alex is presenting an informative two-session class on Internet and social media safety. In Eighth Grade, he's teaching three sessions on sexual abuse prevention, using the Diocesan-approved curriculum "Safeguarding God's Children."  

Alex Haralson, Diocesan Youth Ministry Coordinator, teaches Seventh Graders about Internet safety this week.

Daughters of the American Revolution

Eleanor Meisenheimer and Katie Fortunato from the Daughters of the American Revolution were on campus Wednesday morning to present Amber Adams with the book Fight for Freedom for the ESK library in honor of her top finish in the Daughters of the American Revolution essay contest.  

ESK Middle School teacher Tom Jones and Eighth Grader Amber Adams along with DAR members Eleanor Meisenheimer and Katie Fortunato.

Eli Fox Presents Check

This week, Eighth Grader Eli Fox stopped by WDVX, 89.9 Clinton, 93.3 Seymour, and 102.9 Knoxville to present Linda Billman with a check for $470 from his benefit concert that was held at ESK two weeks ago as part of his portfolio project. Great job, Eli!  

ESK Eighth Grader Eli Fox presents a check for $470 to WDVX following a benefit concert he planned in their honor.

Middle School Fine Arts Celebration

Please join us on Tuesday, May 14, at 6 p.m. for the Middle School Fine Arts Celebration. Artwork by all Middle School students will be displayed. The Chorus will sing at 6:10 p.m. and the Band will play at 6:30 p.m. Claymation projects will be show at 7 p.m. All parents and students are invited to attend. Band and Chorus students are required to attend their performances! Thank you for your support of the arts at ESK!