Jumpstart’s Read for the Record will be all over APS on Thursday

On Thursday, Jumpstart‘s Read for the Record will be a major part of Atlanta Public Schools’ day. There’s the major event planned at the Hyatt Regency (265 Peachtree St. NE, Atlanta GA, 30303), in which guests will read from Eric Carle’s classic, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Guests readers include David Chandley, meteorologist from WSB-TB; Mike Beatty, commissioner for Georgia Department of Community Affairs; Kwanza Hall, Atlanta City Council member; and Brian Rhodes, Pearson Curriculum Manager. There will be 120 schoolchildren in attendance including those from APS’ own Finch and Venetian Hills elementary schools. The event will run from 10 a.m. to noon.

Also, don’t forget a smaller event with the same book will be held at Garden Hills Elementary. This event will start at 8:30 a.m., with the book being ready by teachers in both English and Spanish to celebrate the school’s diverse student population.

Visit http://readfortherecord.com/media and click on Atlanta for more info.

Morningside Elementary gets into some green acres

This just in, courtesy Morningside Elementary Instructional Specialist Kori Sanchez, who shared with us this video on the Atlanta-based Mother Nature Network of recent garden work at the school. The host is Atlanta’s own Farmer D.

F.L. Stanton Elementary gets a ticket to ride … the BioBus

Frank L. Stanton Elementary fourth-graders will receive a valuable environment lesson when they hop on Georgia State University’s BioBus on Thursday morning in the school parking lot. Students will learn about “Water in the Environment in a session that will run from 9 a.m.-11 a.m. The water module provides several visual and hands-on activities that teach students about the importance of water.

First, students are taught about the properties of water and the water cycle. Demonstrations illustrate the properties of water such as specific heat and cohesion. The Earth is presented as a closed system in which water is continually recycled. Secondly, students are educated about where fresh water comes from. An experiment with an aquifer illustrates how lakes and rivers are continually refilled, and also shows how pollution from underground storage tanks and leakage from landfills contaminates the water. A demonstration with a filter column shows how layers in an aquifer filter wastes from water, and shows the properties of water in action.

Thirdly, students are taught about how run-off can contaminate our freshwater and affect the food web. This phenomenon is illustrated with a demonstration of how phosphates can cause algal blooms which prevent light transmission into rivers, lakes, streams, and even sections of ocean. This presentation ties directly to fourth-graders’ Georgia Performance Standards and is the fourth grade’s current unit. Students will board the BioBus to participate in this activity.

Two APS teachers get surprise visits from OfficeMax

Two teachers in the Atlanta Public Schools system got the most pleasant surprise of the new school year on Tuesday when OfficeMax provided each with $1,000 worth of supplies for the classrooms. White Elementary‘s Benita Edwards and Parkside Elementary‘s Ronnie Thomas had been nominated by their principals in the annual “A Day Made Better” sponsored by OfficeMax. Edwards (pictured above, in purple sweater) is a fifth grade reading and ELA teacher at White who has been teaching for six years in APS.  Last year she received Georgia Schools Superintendent Kathy Cox’s Award for Improvement in 5th Grade Reading.

In this program, schools across the nation receive $1 million worth of supplies in the form of basic things like paper all the way to printers and digital cameras. Some 1,000 teachers received the gift Tuesday.

APS Special Olympics master softball team wins state championship!

Atlanta Public Schools’ Special Olympics master’s level softball team brought home gold medals by winning the state championship held Oct. 2-4 in Statesboro. After a grueling three-day competition, the team ended up No. 1 in the state of Georgia. APS Special Olympics athletes also competed in the softball-skills competition, winning gold, silver, bronze and fourth-place ribbons.

The winning team was comprised of student athletes from North Atlanta and Mays high schools, and the Bobby Dodd Institute (BDI).  Other APS athletes from these schools also participated in the softball skills competition and were awarded a total of five gold medals, two silver medals, one bronze medal and two fourth-place ribbons.  The list of APS student athletes who participated in the state championship were:

 Team Players:                                    Skills Players:

Brandon Black                                         Grace Ashby

Kirby Broughton                                       Nikki Brown

Shonta Campbell                                     Carrie Crayton

Travis Greene                                          Tioka Harris

Mike Hightower                                        Ashley Martel

Lloyd Howell                                             Nasha McCoy

Jermaine Parks                                        Catrina Perdue

Robert Perdue                                         Jasmine Spencer

Jermaine Russell                                     Mamie Strickland

Aquinas Tolan                                         Faith Williams

The team coaches are Patricia Merkerson from BDI, Lisa Oglesby and Mike Slack from North Atlanta High, and pitching coach Wendell Hale from Washington High School, who was an integral part of the team’s success.  Student chaperones included Dondra Perkins, Natalie Jefferson and Mike Sullivan.  The APS Program for Exceptional Children Special Olympics program is under the direction of Regina Gennaro.