Obion County December 2019 Newsletter

December 2019 Obion County Newsletter A MESSAGE FROM MR WATKINS I am sure that you are aware of the recent release of the State Report Card Obion County showed improvement in many areas and still has room for improvement in others Based on the combination of the results from the previous year and the data I am seeing so far this year; I feel that Obion County Schools are having a great year and will be excited with the results we will see I want to thank everyone for working through the difficult time we have had recently regarding sickness in the county Teaching is tough enough without having to deal with things we can’t control Thank you for being professional and caring while making sure the business of education continued Also thank you for pitching in and covering for each other when needed A MESSAGE FROM MR WATKINS As we approach Christmas, take time to relax and reflect on how blessed we all are to live and work in such a unique and wonderful place The more I learn about Obion County, the happier I am that my family and I now call it home NEWS FROM CENTRAL OFFICE Teachers, Administrators, Support staff, Parents, and Community- thank you for all you every day to make Obion County Schools the place where students are NEWS FROM THE Sincerely, SCHOOLS Tim Watkins, Director of Schools Upcoming events • • December 20 Early Dismissal 8:00 AM-11:30 AM NO LUNCH SERVED December 23, 2019January 6, 2020 Christmas and New Year Holiday NO SCHOOL [ S i d e b a r T i t l e ] [ S i d e b a r s a r e g r e a t f o r c a Ms Lesa Scillion In the Middle [ S i d e b a r T i t l e ] [ S i d e b a r s a r e g r e a t f o r c a As the holiday season quickly approaches, I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all of the teachers and staff in the Obion County School System for the incredibly hard work you every day I am so thankful that our students have the talented, caring teachers and staff to support their learning in school, as well as some of their needs outside of school A few of our students have experienced tragedy in their lives this semester and our schools have reached across the county to help students in other schools who are undergoing difficult times This is the “soft side” of education; teaching not only the academics but also the harder lessons such as students need to learn to care about others We may forget sometimes that all our students are not loved and respected outside of school so they may not know how to demonstrate those behaviors properly in the school setting Including opportunities to teach those lessons may be more valuable at times than anything else we can provide Thank you for every carefully crafted lesson, every act of kindness, and every smile given to our students each day I am proud to be a part of the Obion County School System and wish all of you a happy and healthy holiday season WE ARE OBION COUNTY! Mr Greg Barclay Special Education For this month’s newsletter, the Special Education Department is focusing on our teachers at Hillcrest In our new teacher submission, Ms Ali Daniel was included Hillcrest also has Ms Cindy Fielder and Ms Heather Finch in the department Ms Michelle Buchanan serves speech students at Hillcrest, Black Oak, and Obion County Central Ms Fielder teaches in the CDC classroom at Hillcrest She has been teaching for 30 years and has a Bachelor’s degree from Union University and a Master’s from the University of Tennessee at Martin She has been married to Brent Fielder for 31 years, and they have children, Kendall Fielder Barbour (26) and Jared Fielder (19) In her spare time, Ms Cindy enjoys traveling and visiting historic places, especially in her family’s motorhome She has traveled to 44 states; however, not all have been in the motorhome Additionally, she loves to read all book genres, especially thrillers and biographies Ms Finch teaches special education math at Hillcrest and has been teaching in Obion County for years Overall, she has taught special education for 17 years She has been married to Jeremy Finch for 20 years, and they have a son, Morgan, who is in the 7th grade Ms Buchanan provides speech and language services to students at three of Obion County’s schools and has 31 years of experience with 21 of those being in our school system She received her undergraduate degree from Union University and her Master’s from the University of Memphis Ms Michelle is married to John Buchanan, who teaches history and coaches at Obion County Central They have triplets, Makayla, Macey, and Ethan, who are juniors at OCCHS She enjoys traveling with her family and hiking as well as watching her kids at their sporting events Ms Michelle stated that she is passionate about helping her students have better communication skills but is even more concerned that they feel loved and important Obion County Schools and Hillcrest Elementary are thankful for the work the special education teacher for our students In the picture is (clockwise from the top) Cindy Fielder, Michelle Buchanan, and Heather Finch Mrs Judy Denman Food Service National School Lunch week was October 14-18 That just happened to be the week we were out of school for fall break, so our elementary schools celebrated Obion County’s School Lunch Week October 21-25 The theme was “School Lunch is Out of This World” Any student who ate school lunch that week received a small prize Students who ate school lunch every day were entered in a drawing for larger prizes that were provided by Coordinated School Heath Black Oak and Hillcrest both topped the week off with “Glow Day” on Friday Students and staff were encouraged to wear neon colors to celebrate “Glow Day” The PTOs at these two schools purchased glow bracelets for all the students The cafeteria lines had glowing decorations which were enhanced by black lights or strobe lights at both schools School Lunch Week is intended to encourage students to eat a nutritious school lunch The cafeteria managers pack the week with the students’ favorite foods while staying within guidelines The week is always a fun week for our students! [ S i d e b a r T i t l e ] Ms Vikki Hayslet Early Literacy Obion County is blessed to have a committed ESL staff They attended the TNTESOL (Tennessee Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) Annual Conference held in Gatlinburg, TN, October 31 – November The theme of this year’s conference was “United We Stand.” The keynote speaker was Former District Judge Rene Diaz who is with the WallBuilders Organization which seeks to preserve and promote the founding documents of the United States Judge Diaz is also a former ESL student He spoke on the importance of the rights and freedoms that all people have and enjoy from our Creator that our founders sought to preserve for all people living in this country The conference was very informative with opportunities to attend a choice of thirty breakout sessions which covered a variety of learning strategies and content to enable ESL teachers and educational assistants to better serve their students There was also time for networking and fellowshipping with ESL teachers and EAs from all parts of Tennessee Those who attended include Betty Jo Davis (RES sub and ESP facilitator), Orfelinda Asbille (ESL EA), Kim Jones, and Danny Potts (ESL teachers) Obion County ESL staff work tirelessly to help incoming language learners to learn English as well as to understand and communicate in English proficiently and with confidence An excellent example of the benefits of having a solid ESL program is Alondra Guerrero, one of our ESL students She one of three students in fourth grade who was selected to read her essay at Ridgemont's annual Veterans Day program She wrote a very good essay and did a fine job confidently reading it before the student body, faculty, staff, parents, and community members We are proud of Alondra and all of our language learners, and we are proud of our ESL staff who strive to “set all student on a path to success!” [ S i d e b a r s a r e g r e a t f o r c a [ S i d e b a r T i t l e ] [ S i d e b a r s The first grade classes learned about the moon in their literacy units They used oreos to discuss the phases of the moon and had a great time learning Our Veteran’s Day program was fantastic this year Our students did a wonderful job singing and learned to sign to the song “America the Beautiful.” We had many visitors in the building as our gym was standing room only All were very complementary of the students and Mr Eric Our Beta Club completed a shoebox drive for Operation Christmas Child A total of 72 boxes were collected to be sent to children around the world Our Accelerated Reader award for the 2nd weeks was a camp reward Students had a variety of exciting games including a fossil dig a r e g r e a t f o r The South Fulton Elementary Beta Club was once again recognized as a School of Merit c a Third grade students studied polygons They used marshmallows and pretzels to form polygons [ S i d e b a r SFMS Beta SFMS Beta traveled to State Convention from 11/23-11/25 A special congratulations to these MS BETAs for their awards- Hayden Nida 1st place recyclable art, Brady McFarland/Connor Lawrence 4th place digital art, Stewart Connor 3rd place social studies SFHS Beta SFHS Beta club just returned from state convention in Nashville where they competed in many academic and creative arts events We want to congratulate them on a job well done Including the regional leadership conference that was attended in October, the club has bids to nationals in Ft Worth in June We received: We want to congratulate Ms Halle Gore for being recognized as the first ever Dale R Hughes Scholarship Award Winner Halle was able to travel, over the summer, to Washington DC for the Beta Club Leadership Conference She was presented her award by Mr Mitchell Parham of the National Beta Club at state convention We want to thank the Obion County Prevention Coalition and local businesses for providing prizes for our Red Ribbon Week Essay Winners Winners included: Natalie Duty (1st), Allie Hailey (2nd), Anna Robertson (3rd), and Abbi McFarland (4th) Mrs Cantrell was our contact for the essay contest Congratulations ladies!! 5th Place in Creative Writing Division I: Aaliyah McKnight 4th Place in Recycled Art Division I: Mary Pitts 4th Place in Jewelry Division I: Lilly Holzner 2nd Place in Social Studies Division II: Jake Lilly T i t l e ] [ S i d e b a r s 1st Place in Agriscience Division II: John Grant McConnell 1st Place in Portfolio/Scrapbook: Jake Clapper, Olivia Murphy, Emily Gaskins, Jenny Beth Brundige G.O.L.D Key Award for Convention Growth National Qualifier for Service Snapshot from Regional Leadership Summit Students in Mr Whitesell's class were working on critical thinking and problemsolving based on a given objective by playing games of Chess a r e g r e a t f o r c a [ S i d e b a r T i t l e ] In conjunction with celebrating Obion County Manufacturing, Lana Woods with Northwest Economic Development/American Job Center, coordinated this event for our students Keisha Hooper, Tyson employee and OC School Board Member served as our contact for Tyson The OCCHS Beta Club Academic Quiz Bowl team practiced two rounds of academic trivia against a group of very smart OCCHS teachers Wednesday afternoon Special thanks to these teachers: (left to right) Cori Tucker, Lane Akers, Donya Angel, and (not pictured) Coach Lannom Students are (left to right): Hudson Angel, Jake Smith, and Kaylee Ccok OCCHS Beta students are preparing for the state’s Beta Convention which is held in Nashville next week Tyson welcomed OCCHS Ag Business and Intro to Food Production students into their fantastic facility on Wednesday Students and their teacher Mr Stuart Watson and School Counselor Heather Kendall were given a tour of the facility Students gained information about the manufacturing process, gained information about the various skills needed, and the history of the Union City facility It was an amazing morning learning about Tyson Foods and how they produce chicken nuggets and patties for McDonald's who is their largest customer We were served fresh chicken and biscuits upon arrival, straight from the Tyson kitchen The vast amount of opportunities for advanced manufacturing jobs in the Tyson plant is impressive [ S i d e b a r s a r e g r e a t f o r c a Our school is COVERED with KINDNESS! The students’ lockers and our doors have post-it notes with handwritten, sweet, inspirational notes Rebels loving on Rebels! Officer Melvin Dowell with the UCPD spoke with several classes at OCCHS He spoke to them about the dangers of distracted and drunk driving Our first graders ended their reading unit on space by celebrating with a Space Party on Friday, November 22nd They enjoyed treats such as Rocket Juice, Moon Chips, Star Crunch, and Saturn Rings The students had a great time Mrs Regena Lindsey encouraged students to wear yellow on Friday, November 22nd in observation of “You Matter Day” Students were greeted with You Matter notes as they walked into Ridgemont [ S i d e b a r T i t l e ] We had a very moving Veterans’ Day program on Friday November 8th Our choir of third and fourth grade students, led by Mr Pledge, did an excellent job performing in front of a gymnasium full of veterans and their loved ones We were honored to have Mrs Mollie Morel, mother of the late Captain Brent Morel, as the guest speaker for the program Mrs Amy Windsor’s 3rd grade science classes have been learning about plants, animals, and ecosystems over the past several weeks They are hosting an Ecology Museum on Monday Nov 25th We cannot wait to see our students present their material to parents and community members Be on the lookout for pictures next month [ S i d e b a r s a r e g r e a t f o r c a Earning Honor Roll Status for the second marking period: [ S i d e b a r T i t l e ] [ S i d e b a r s a r e g r e a t f o r c a First Grade Charli Adams, Sydney Barker, Lauren Bentley, Ben Blakley, Noah Chandler, Bryson Floyd, Ava-Grace Hutcheson, Cameron Irvine, Brayden Mayhall, Adi Miller, Julie Morgan, Willie Pickett, Grayson Warren, Zach Williams Second Grade Briar Blakley, Jordan Bryant, Raeleigh Dean, John Edwards, Chloe Garrigus, Ryder Hutcheson, Kyndal Johnson, Callen Jones, Landon Jones, Charleigh Beth Mahome, Carly Morgan, Molly Pitts, Kolby Richardson, Braddix Roberson, Lily Stockdale, Serenity Tippy, Tryton Truett, Ricky Walford Third Grade Carli Armstrong, Michelle Batchelor, Tucker Cagle, Natalie Daniel, Megan Fisher, Kendall Clanton, Becca Eaves, Sawyer Homra, McKenzy Pitts Some of our students were recognized for demonstrating their ability to be Responsible by doing what is expected of them this month through our Character Counts Program Students were selected by their teachers and were pictured during their recognition celebration Students pictured from left to right: Row Jase Tippy (K), Julie Morgan, Willie Picket (1st), Landon Jones, John Edwards (2nd) Row – McKenzie Pitts (3rd), Kamrie Smith, Cami Turner (4th), Brooke Hall (5th) Fourth Grade Alyssa Decker, Kailey Shirley, Kamrie Smith, Cameron Homra, Cami Turner Row – Hailee Patterson, Natalie Barker (6th), Gracie Rae Martin, Jace Hall (7th), Gracie Patterson (8th) Fifth Grade Chloe Adams, Sarah Batchelor, KinLee Dean, Carter Fortner, Katie Gardner, Brooke Hall, Owen Hall, Alexis Jacobs, Maryhannah Jenkins, Diesel Litchford, Talon Mulvaney, Noah Quick, Brody Reed, Favel Simmons Not pictured – Klara Beth Clanton (Pre-K), Natalie Daniel (3rd) and Livee Seals (8th) Sixth Grade Hayden Blakley, Katelyn Dixon, Ezra Gurien, Carson Homra, Aiden Jackson, Tucker Moore, Peyton Mulvaney, Hailee Patterson Seventh Grade Haleigh Bender, Jace Hall, Jarred Hutcheson, Clara Isbell, Olin Johnson, Alexandria Leland, Gracie Rae Martin, Lauren Perkins, Casadi Richardson, Coy Sawyer, Summer Truett, Bryson Warren, Genesis Wilson Eighth Grade Tristyn Cooper, Kassidy Faulkner, Autumn Jackson, John Wesley Martin, Gracie Patterson, Livee Seals, Hannah Walley, Abby Walton Mrs Angie Morris and her wonderful food service staff prepared a fabulous Thanksgiving meal for the students, staff and family members on Thursday, November 21 Parents were invited to eat with their students and feasted on traditional Thanksgiving dishes including turkey and dressing with gravy, glazed brownsugar ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce and rolls Lunch was topped offed with Ms Linda B’s homemade sugar cookies The meal was enjoyed by all and no one left wanting for anything (except a nap) The students and faculty/staff at Black Oak have participated in a school-wide project incorporating the book The Dot by Peter Reynolds During library classes with Mrs Tarrah Reed, all students, preschool through 8th grade, heard the story The Dot, discussed the theme and message of the book, and created their own dot like character Vashti International Dot Day was earlier this semester and we took a week to honor the message of creativity, positive thinking, and the value of having a reliable support system from teachers, friends and families Mike Hampton of Woodland Mills, recently came to his daughter's class at Lake Road Elementary to teach the students about planting corn and soy beans Mrs Angie Partin's class has been learning about healthy eating and where food comes from as part of a Thanksgiving unit The students were able to plant some corn and soybeans in the classroom are checking for growth each time they come back to the room Congratulations to these students who were chosen to be a part of the Duke Talent Identification Program These students had state testing scores above the 95% or had an IQ score above 124 The Duke University Talent Identification Program is a nonprofit organization that supports academically talented students in grades four through twelve They offer above-grade-level testing, enrichment resources, year-round learning options, residential summer programs, online courses, and original research to supplement what students receive in school Congratulations again to these students! Caroline Gurton, a Freshman at The University of TN at Martin recently donated clothing and bags collected by UTM students to Lake Road Elementary Caroline is an Ag Business major from Paris, TN She started a service project called the Skyhawk Shed Items were donated from students at UT Martin and shared with the community Red Ribbon Week Essay winners Left to right, Brooke Lee, Levi Akers, Ella Cagle, Sara Beth Key [ S i d e b a r T i t l e ] [ S i d e b a r s a r e • November 11th we honored our Veterans with a breakfast, and Mr Johnny Dyer was the speaker for the event • As a thank you to faculty and staff there was a coffee bar provided on November 13th • November 25th Band members performed at Quad State in Murray • Kindergarten thru 4th grades enjoyed Ms Suzanne Hill's art students doing projects with them on the 25th of November • 8th graders were involved in Job Shadowing on November 26th • Lake Road enjoyed Career Fair on the 26th of November • Participants were, Ag Safe Agriculture Insurance, Aviation Everett Stewart Airport, Animal Science, Career Technology OCCHS, Computer Technology, Cosmetology, Dentistry, Education Teaching, Emergency Medical, Law Enforcement, Military, Nursing g r e a t f o r c a [ S i d e b a r T i t l e ] [ S i d e b a r s a r e g r e a t f o r c a During the month of November, students at Hillcrest were working to help show support for our troops and our veterans Students worked to collect care package items to send to National Guard troops who are being deployed to Cuba this month A large number of snack and hygiene items were collected in support of those going to serve our country Also, students wanted to honor those who have already served by collecting items to send to those veterans who are in the VA nursing home in Humboldt Many items were brought in, and were personally delivered by students who are a part of our History Club  ... to be a part of the Obion County School System and wish all of you a happy and healthy holiday season WE ARE OBION COUNTY! Mr Greg Barclay Special Education For this month’s newsletter, the Special... like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all of the teachers and staff in the Obion County School System for the incredibly hard work you every day I am so thankful that our students... Finch in the department Ms Michelle Buchanan serves speech students at Hillcrest, Black Oak, and Obion County Central Ms Fielder teaches in the CDC classroom at Hillcrest She has been teaching for