This week we have had students exploring topics such as Earth and space, what plants need to survive, and the Bill of Rights. They have also planted carrots, pursued vacuuming and paper shredding and completed a variety of arts and crafts projects. At Hollis, teachers were able to televise their morning announcements from the office using new Nabi devices they have gotten; and, on both campuses, folks had their pictures made. Today we had a visit from about 18 teacher cadets from Eastside High School, and we enjoyed giving them a tour and introducing them to students and staff.

SIC met this week and discussed plans for new elections. Teacher representative elections were held on Thursday, and serving this year will be Marisa Davis and Nardia Lloyd from the main campus and McKenzie Riley from Hollis. Amy Garbe has also consented to remain on the board as an ex-officio member. Next week we will be sending home nomination forms asking folks to suggest or self-nominate parents who might be willing to serve on SIC. These are two year terms, but people can be reelected for an unlimited number of times. SIC serves as an advisory group, providing input on various aspects of the school program and helping with the development of the Annual Report to Parents and the Report Card information.

We have asked teachers to send home the Cherrydale Farms catalogs today and we hope you will find lots of things you would like to buy in order to support this PTA fund raiser. Also, you can access ordering information for Honeybaked Hams on our website. Your support of these initiatives will be greatly appreciated.

Teachers are making plans to begin their community based experiences in about two weeks. Parents will receive schedules and permission forms prior to trips, so those should start coming home soon. Next Friday will be Challenge Day at Bob Jones University, and we are all very excited about that event. A few of us will be late arriving, however, in that Barbara Bingham and I, as well as several students, will be going over to Eastside High School for their Spirit Week kickoff assembly. We can’t be two places at once, but we definitely want the Eastside students to know how much we appreciate what they are doing for us, and of course, everyone always looks forward to Challenge Day. So, it is our plan to get to both places. 

If you have not done so already, please go to www.Eastsidespiritweek.com to see how you might support Eastside students as they raise money for our nature trail. Several of our staff members plan to participate in the 5K run on October 1, and some of the parents and past employees are going to play in the golf tournament on October 4. I think maybe a group from here will also be going on spaghetti and bingo night. Next week, I expect to receive order forms for Spirt Week tee shirts, so I will get that information out to you when it is available.

That is it for us. Have a great weekend and enjoy this beautiful weather.