| Important Dates | |
November 27-29
Schools Closed
Thanksgiving Break
December 2, 2013
Board Meeting - 6:30 p.m.
December 5, 2013
Community Concert for Caring
Central HS - 7:00 p.m.
December 20, 2013
1/2 day for Students
January 8, 2014
Students Return to School |
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| Putting Children First Grants from Eastman Chemical Company | |
Three teachers from Sullivan County received the $750 Putting Children First Grants from Eastman Chemical Company this year. Eighteen grants were awarded overall to seven local school districts in the areas of math and science. Pictured here are our recipients: Cynthia Dye (Conquering Common Core) of Colonial Heights Middle with her principal Randall Gilmore, Amanda Barrett (Study Island) of Blountville Middle School, and Gerri St. Clair (Improving Data Collection Using Technology) of Sullivan South High School with her principal, Greg Harvey. These teachers competed in an application process and will be expected to complete followup evaluations on the impact of their plans. |
| Veteran's Day Program at Blountville Middle School | |
On November the 11th, Blountville Middle School held their 2nd annual Veteran's Day Program. The program is completely student lead and organized. Over 50 veterans attended the event and a breakfast that followed. Grasyn Hatcher and Spenser Dollar gave a speech on the origins of Veteran's Day. Kerrington Dougherty recognized BMS teacher, Mr. Tim Davis, and thanked him and the others for their service in the military. Students then introduced their loved ones, and each veteran had the opportunity to speak to the crowd. Principal Mike Wilson expressed his gratitude and hopes that the program gets larger with each passing year. The BMS band performed, and the choir sang several patriotic songs. It was a moving event and a great success.
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| Innovation Academy News | |
Viruses and Vaccines
The eighth grade at Innovation Academy will never look at viruses and vaccines the same again. With a partner, students researched one of five scenarios that request funding for vaccines and, using their argumentative skills, have presented their request to a panel of professionals. They began the unit studying the smallpox virus and the effect it had on the Revolutionary War. Through math and science they examined the different structures and functions of various viruses and their vaccines. To model their viruses, they constructed a three-dimensional structure and a two-dimensional cross-section of their virus. Our panel to hear the proposals will include an infectious disease professional, a professional trainer for public speaking, a Sullivan County Board of Education member, and a retired military professional.
Buzzing Bees and Agriculture
The seventh graders were buzzing like busy little bees at the start of this agriculture unit. In the science classroom, students learned about plant cells, asexual reproduction, and sexual reproduction as they created various 3-D models in order to better understand the parts and functions of cells. As they made these models in science, students learned ratios, proportions, and scale factor to enhance their understanding of the blueprints required for project constructions on project days; as they crunched numbers, they also studied business planning and marketing strategies to compute the break even sales volume of an agribusiness product. In the theme of agriculture, the doors were open for students to investigate topics such as deforestation and urbanization and the effects of these processes on people, animals, and the community. After studying these social studies topics, students took the research and knowledge from the social studies classroom to the language arts class, creating effective visual aids for presentations on deforestation and urbanization. Students also learned how to professionally offer these presentations in front of a distinguished crowd. A guest speaker from Northeast State spent a day in the language arts classroom evaluating our 7th graders so that they could receive feedback on their progress. They also learned how to work in cooperative groups more effectively in order to complete a common task. Public speaking and collaboration will serve students well in their everyday life, in high school, and in their future careers as they prepare to be working citizens in our community.
New to Innovation Academy: iWellness
iWellness is an in-house fitness gym designed for the 21st century. Coach Gragg aids the students to achieve maximum achievability in four domains: Aerobic, Anaerobic, Agility, and Cardiovascular. The students use their iPads to maintain an achievable goal. Students follow their own personal fitness plan on a daily basis. They use the Fitness Pal app to calculate their daily caloric intake and exercise. The information provided by the app will aid them to examine their fitness goals and give them a graph on whether or not the achievement is taking place. The students are able to understand the importance of eating the right foods in order to achieve energy to function. Also, XBox Kinects is used for Plyometrics, Training, Dance and Rhythm, and various fun games like Wipeout.
Influenza: A Transdisciplinary Study
Medicines and Vaccines was an exciting unit of study for sixth grade. One student made the comment, "I never knew the flu could be so interesting!" Small groups of students were challenged to create a docudrama to explain various aspects of Influenza: its history, medical advances, societal impacts, the influence of weather, vaccinations, and the rate of the infection. Once the research was complete, the students wrote an outline, a script, and assigned acting parts. Then the filming began! The final step was to import the videos, illustrations, and research into an iMovie. On the last project day, the entire student body got to watch the docudramas. They were incredible!
Multi-Media and iBooks
During the Agriculture STEM curricular unit, 8th grade students at Innovation Academy completed a cross curricular project that combined English Language Arts and Multi-Media. Students read the novel, Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry, which centers around a community of individuals living through the Great Depression. Students were required to complete a diary project in English Language Arts based around this novel. Students created a fictional character from the book, then wrote ten diary entries from their character's point of view and supported their entries with evidence from the novel. After completing their diary entries, students transposed their diary project from a simple word document to an iBook during their Multi-Media class. Students created their iBooks using the iBooks Author application and added pictures and other design elements to make them visually appealing. Upon completing the iBook, students were able to transfer their iBooks to their iBook Library on their iPads and create a collection of the diaries so they could view and share their iBooks.
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