Get Your Paws on a Good Book

Can you imagine reading 1,572 books in one month? That's what the students did during the month of March at C.L. Salter Elementary School. We held a competition among grades 1-6 with a bulletin board entitled "Get Your Paws on a Good Book". Each teacher had a bag that hung from the bulletin board labeled with her name on it. As the students read a book and scored 80% or higher, they got a bone from the library and filled out their name, the book they read, their teacher's name, and their score. They dropped the bone in the bag and the competition was underway. At the end of the month, the bags were brimming over with bones. The top six winning homerooms will receive movie time in the library and a break for their teacher. Every student in the school will receive a book bag that says "Paws to Read". We are very proud of our diligent readers!!!

Ellis Emeralds Shine at Hoover

Congratulations to the Ellis Emeralds for a great performance this past Saturday. They traveled to Hoover High School to compete in their 3rd Winter Guard Competition of the season and represented Zora Ellis well. With a performance full of smiles, energy and dedication, the Ellis Emeralds happily took 1st place in the cadet class.

The Emeralds will travel to Nashville, Tennessee on Friday, April 4, 2008, to compete in their final competition of the season, Southeastern Color Guard Circuit Championships. They will compete against 11 other junior high groups in the cadet class, where the top three groups will receive individual medals.

Teaching Secrets: Students Behave When Teachers Engage

The article "Teaching Secrets: Students Behave When Teachers Engage" was originally published August 21, 2007. This article is featured as one of Teacher Magazine's best of 2007. You can read the article here.

BEAUTIFUL WEATHER.....BEAUTIFUL SMILES.....

Hal's Gifted Class Makes Bridges...

Talladega City Schools Represented at ASCD Conference

While most folks in the district are sleeping in, taking a few days of rest, or just catching up at home...

Dr. Buck is busy helping others get ORGANIZED at the ASCD Conference in New Orleans. You can read about his presentation as described by Jan G. Borelli, EdD, proud principal of Westwood Elementary School, "The Hippest School in America."

http://ascd.typepad.com/blog/2008/03/cruising-the-co.html#more

Congratulations on this opportunity. You represent Talladega City Schools with style...and of course ORGANIZATION!

Hal Henderson Honor Roll Field Trip

Schedule for April 25 Professional Development

The schedule for our April 25th Professional Development Day is as follows:
8:00-8:30 Sign-in at Talladega High School

8:30 Program begins. The program consists of training on nutrition. Three hours of training is mandated by the State Department.

11:30 Lunch

1:00-3:00 Professional development on Storytown for all elementary teachers. Training will be held in the auditorium at R.L. Young.

Ellis and THS teachers--Your principal will give you instructions on afternoon activities.
Elementary principals and reading coaches--You will receive an e-mail outlining instruction for that morning.

Picturing America

Great art speaks powerfully, inspires fresh thinking, and connects us to our past.
Picturing America is an initiative from the National Endowment for the Humanities, brings masterpieces of American art into classrooms and libraries nationwide.

You can learn about the project here. Every school in America is eligible to receive a set of 20 high-quality reproductions of American masterpieces. You can view the set by clicking here. The material is free.

All of the frequently-asked questions are here.

You will obtain a full-color manual. A copy can also be downloaded from here.

The application is here. A friend of mine made her application recently. She said the process took all of 3 minutes. Check with your principal. While I was composing this post, one of our principals dropped by my office and indicated she had received a card about it and had already filled out an application.

What's the catch? The only catch is that when you apply, you have to promise you will use the material, not a lot of ask. The material is free.

"Understanding our past, living today, creating our future"

Michelle McKinney Named to Course of Study Committee

Congratulations to Michelle McKinney, math teacher at Zora Ellis Jr. High. Mrs. McKinney has been selected to help write the new Alabama Course of Study: Mathematics.

Work will begin on this document shortly, continue through December, and be approved by the Alabama State Board of Education in February 2009. Its use will be optional during the 2009-2010 school year and become mandatory at the start of the 2010-2011 school year.

Selection for a Course of Study committee is an honor as well as a significant time and energy commitment. We know that Mrs. McKinney will represent us well.

Earn Money for Your School...EASY!

R. L. Young's PTO President, Alicia Holbrook asked me to help advertise a quick and easy way to earn money for our school. So I am also passing this information on to you!

Instead of using GOOGLE as a search engine, try http://www.goodsearch.com/. At this site, you can sign your school up to receive a penny per search. Pennies can add up! Once your school is signed up, direct your parents, family, and friends to type in the school name, verify, and then type in their search. Those pennies will quickly add up.

Happy Searching!

We Love Krispy Kreme Doughnuts at R. L. Young!

Our P.T.O recently sponsored a Krispy Kreme
doughnut sale. These three students, Keyshawn,
Sydney and Savannah were our top three sellers.
First place was Sydney, Mrs. Brooks' student, selling
43 boxes; second place was Keyshawn, Mrs. Hobbs'
student, selling 40 boxes and third place was Savannah,
Mrs. Haynes' student, selling 38 boxes. Thank you,
students and all who participated. Your support will help us
help our students. Thanks to the community for your
continued and valued support of our school and all
you do!

Mini-Grants from the Foundation

The Talladega City School Foundation is presently taking grant applications for mini-grants. Projects would be implemented during the coming year. The application is located here. You may save it on your computer.

You will find the application is constructed in such a way that you will enter your information in the gray boxes. You will simply tab from gray box to gray box.

Application deadline is April 1.

A strong preference will be given to applications which involve the arts (music, visual art, dance, and drama).

The discussion at today's Foundation meeting centered around the success of previous grant programs involving the arts and the strong desire to increase arts participation among our students.

Ironically, the discussion of the importance of the arts just happened to be at a meeting being held during "Youth Art Month" and "Music in Our Schools Month."

Daily Home Opinion

Thanks to the Daily Home for the kind words following our District Accreditation. You can read the article here.