Inman Middle Students Named Winners in Reading Competition!

Congratulations to Inman for winning in the Georgia Tech Women’s Basketball Jacket 2 Jacket Reading Program! They won the middle school division for the total number of pages read in the Jacket 2 Jacket Contest for all participants at Georgia Tech. Inman also had the following overall winners for all middle schools:

· Sahana Parker – individual winner for highest reader for all 6th graders
· Genevieve Saunders – individual winner for highest reader for all 8th graders
· Mrs. Baker’s blue class – winner for total pages read among all 6th grade classes
· Mrs. Delaney’s red class - winner for total pages read among all 8th grade classes

Inman Middle and the winners will be receiving their awards during halftime during the Georgia Tech Women’s Basketball game on Dec. 16, 2012.

The annual Georgia Tech Women’s Basketball Jacket 2 Jacket Reading Program encourages elementary and middle school aged children in Georgia to read regularly and promotes reading at all levels. The students have one month to read as many pages as they can during the course of the competition.

To learn more, please visit http://www.ramblinwreck.com/sports/w-baskbl/Jacket2Jacket.html.

Save the dates: Pre-K lottery coming in April

Atlanta Public Schools‘ lottery system will determine who gets the 880 state-funded pre-K slots in 44 APS classrooms at 32 sites. Parents can register their child for the 2011-12 school year if he or she is 4 years old on or before September 1, 2011. Following are key dates and locations (with mapping hyperlinked):

• Sat., April 16 (8 a.m.-6 p.m.) – registration at Maynard H. Jackson High School
• Thurs., April 21 (6 p.m.-9 p.m.) – registration at the Instructional Services Center at the Dean Rusk Building
• Sat., April 23 (8 a.m.-6 p.m.) – registration at Inman Middle School
• Fri., April 29 (12 p.m.-3 p.m.) – lottery drawing at the Instructional Services Center at the Dean Rusk Building

Additional information – such as addresses for registration sites and required documentation – will soon be posted on the APS Web site. Prospective parents can also call the Pre-K Program Office at 404-802-3640.

APS choral groups get in tune at state event

We had a chance to check in on the Georgia Music Educators Association District 5 Elementary and Middle School large group performance evaluation, which was held in the Douglass High auditorium. APS served as host for the event. Coordinators for this year’s event were Garnetta Penn as district chairperson and Lydia Williams as host.

Participating APS schools included Parkside Elementary Chorus, APS Honor Chorus, Inman Middle Chorus, Bunche Middle Chorus and the Coretta Scott King Young Women’s Leadership Academy (CSKYWLA) Chorus. Judges included college music professors. Dr. John B. Haberlen, chair of Georgia State University School of Music, judged on tone, pitch, rhythm and diction.

The two-day event at Douglass High is being supported by the efforts of APS Music district personnel who are donating their time to make sure this event went smoothly.

Inman Middle has room to GROW on Earth Day

Inman’s GROW Club won a $1,700 grant from the Students Taking Charge Foundation. The organization supports healthy eating habits in teens and preteens. Inman students and sponsors pitched an idea called “Taste the Earth Day.”

Look for an exciting Earth Day event to come in April, thanks to sixth-grade science teacher Melissa Nunnink, who leads the GROW Club. Hat tip to Principal Dr. Betsy Bockman for the head’s up!

APS robotics teams participate in 100 Black Men of Atlanta FIRST LEGO League competition

UPDATE: That’s right, we were featured on CNN! Watch here.

Robotics teams from Parkside and Towns elementary schools, B.E.S.T. Academy, Coretta Scott King Young Women’s Leadership Academy, King and Inman middle schools and Drew Charter School competed in the Project Success FIRST LEGO League, sponsored by the 100 Black Men of Atlanta, Inc., on Dec. 11 at B.E.S.T. Academy.

Implemented in 2005, the robotics program was designed to inspire elementary and middle school students’ interest in science and technology through exciting mentor-based activities. FIRST (For Inspiration & Recognition of Science & Technology) is an international nonprofit organization that aspires to transform culture by making science, math, engineering and technology just as cool as sports.

Elementary students compete in the FIRST LEGO League. Middle and high school students vie for top honors in FIRST Tech Challenge competitions. The 100 Black Men of Atlanta manages four teams, with a goal of creating robotics mentoring and resources to more APS students.

Famous black inventor and scientist, Dr. Lonnie Johnson, an active member of 100 Black Men of Atlanta, works closely with the initiative and houses the 100′s Robotics Program at his laboratory. Dr. Johnson’s donation of time and resources provides the teams an opportunity to see scientists at work, while supplying furniture, computers, software and the services of an IT specialist and engineer.

During Saturday’s main event, students milled in and out of the gym, monitoring the action and waiting for their chance to compete. After one victory, members of the B.E.S.T. Academy team shook hands and congratulated their competitors.

Photos by Scott King, look for a video soon.

Inman Middle student reads books, wins prize (as if she needed motivation)

Spend a few minutes speaking with Inman Middle School sixth-grader Vicky Walters, and you get the feeling she didn’t exactly have to enter a contest to read more. But that didn’t stop her from blazing through 19 books spanning 5,388 pages to finish among the top 10 in Georgia Tech’s fourth-annual Jacket2Jacket area reading contest. In fact, Walters, who placed eighth, was the only middle-school student to reach the top 10. (Inman Middle as a school logged 224,856.)

For her efforts, Walters will join the other winners at the Georgia Tech-Georgia women’s basketball game at Alexander Memorial Coliseum, where they will be honored at halftime. Coincidentally, Walters’ three older sisters are current or former college basketball players.

Save the date: Inman Middle School 5K Race, Nov. 6

The Inman Middle School 5K Race will be held at 9 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 6,  (registration will be at 7:30 a.m.). The theme: “Walk, Run, Soar Like an Eagle.” The cost is $10 per student, $20 per adult and $25 on the day of the race. The school welcomed 200 runners last year and hopes to double the number for this year. There are several ways to register and scholarships are available for this event:

1. Runners can download a registration form from the Inman PTA website and then mail it in;
2. Obtain a form at Inman Middle School and then mail it in;
3. Register at www.active.com;
4. Register in person at Phidippides Shoes in the Ansley Mall (1544 Piedmont Ave., Atlanta, GA 30309 (404-875-4268);
5. Register at Inman at 7:30 a.m., day of the race.

Questions? Contact Michelle Hendry at 678-468-3736 or michellehendryusa@yahoo.com.

Four APS teachers earn Master Teacher Certification

Four Atlanta Public Schools teachers have earned Master Teacher Certification from the Georgia Professional Standards Commission in 2010.  They are Emily Boatright (Inman Middle, profiled here), Endia Way (Perkerson Elementary), TaiShara Twyman (Dobbs Elementary) and Wendy Baker (Inman Middle). To earn the Master Teacher Certification, candidates must have at least three years experience in the classroom on a Georgia Clear Renewal Certificate and demonstrate evidence linking their classroom instruction to student achievement and academic progress. Master Teachers serve as mentors and coaches for other teachers and are invited to attend conferences and seminars throughout the year as the voice of Georgia educators.

Check out this previously posted video of Wendy Baker with student and award-winning poet Tessa Szalkowski.

Highlights from the Math and Science Summer Academy at the Woodruff, Part 1

We kick off our coverage of the second annual Math and Science Summer Academy for the Arts and Sciences at the Woodruff Arts Center this week with a few words from Brown Middle School teacher Leslie Robertson, a gifted endorsement candidate, and Inman Middle rising eighth-grader Najah Jones. Here they discuss their respective participation in the academy, which is the stepping stone for Atlanta Public Schools’ planned Atlanta Studio Conservatory, a fine-arts school that is scheduled to open in 2011-2012 as part of a massive expansion by the Woodruff. More on that later.

Emily Boatright joins the club: Inman Middle’s Master Teachers*

* UPDATE: Sixth-grade English/language arts teacher Wendy Baker, featured recently in Talk Up APS, learned she’s been named a Master Teacher!

Inman Middle School eighth-grade teacher Emily Boatright would like to say she’s joining a select company, but when it comes to Inman, Master Teachers almost seem like the rule and not the exception. Just as the 2009-10 school year winds to a close, Boatright learned that she was named a Master Teacher, which is mainly based on her students’ consistent ability to make gains on the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (CRCTs).