Sunday, April 24, 2011

"Easter" People!



I was reminded by the pastor today to live like I am an "Easter" person---to live with the excitement of the Resurrection in my daily life! What a great reminder! I pray you enjoyed a blessed Easter weekend.

I want to thank Mrs. Ahna and our third grade students and teachers for blessing us with a wonderful chapel last week! As one teacher said, "the chapel led us right into Easter worship!"




I would also like to thank our first grade choir, Ahna's Angels, and our first grade teachers for traveling to Mulder Church last Thursday to perform their final concert for this year! We appreciate all of the many parents, grandparents, and friends that traveled to hear this choir. Mrs. Ahna and the Angels did a great job of blessing all those in attendance!


Serving Others in our Community!

Teaching students to have a heart for others through service is an integral part of our Christian Education at Trinity. Our fifth graders participated recently in a service project and I wanted to share a few pictures from that time of service! We will be moving our fifth graders up to Middle School during a special "moving up" ceremony on Mon., May 16th, at 9:15 a.m.




Saturday, April 16, 2011

Kahn Academy, Upper School Students Mentor with Tech, and Superstar Market Day!

I have mentioned Kahn Academy before but I strongly encourage you to take some time and click on this extensive educational link!


Upper School Students mentor Lower School Students

I wanted to share a few photos of our upper school students in action mentoring our lower school students as they use technology daily in our classrooms and research room. The research room is equipped with its own Mac Lab of 25 laptops and smartboard for instruction. We are extremely excited about the 1:1 laptop program in 7th and 9th grade next year; this will allow lower school to have one Mac Lab on our hallway that can be rolled into each room when needed as well as one in our new research area of the lower school building set to open this summer. Our dream is to have one Mac Lab per grade level then finally one per classroom! Our teachers collaborate via the internet with educators to find new ways to enhance our entire curriculum through the use of technology. We strive to provide our students K-12 with the best learning opportunities possible!









Authentic Learning Activities!

Research shows that students learn best through authentic learning activities---taking a topic and making the hands on learning as "real world experience" as possible! This is exactly what our third grade teachers have been proving true as their students completed a unit of study on Economics! After learning about producers, consumers, products, profit/loss and supply/demand the students got creative with things they could market and sell! This culminated in a Superstar Market Day! Products included paper airplanes, cookies, bracelets, paper football sets, and art! The students used "star bucks" (class made paper money!) to purchase the goods from each other as well as inviting other grade levels and staff members to shop! Our upper school Forensics class assisted the third graders as they produced an imovie commercial that can be viewed on Trinty's SchoolTube Channel. The students also produced paper ads and business cards using the Pages program on our Macbooks.





Sunday, April 10, 2011

Fifth Grade Social Media Assembly on Tuesday!

I wanted all parents in Lower School to know how seriously we take this world of social media and networking here at TPS. We have had great success this year having an area attorney, Liz Carter, speak to our faculty, parents, and upper school students. Liz has partnered with us to make age appropriate talks for 7th and 8th graders (as a group) and for 5th and 6th graders (as a group). Many of you have heard Liz Carter speak, however, if you have not or would like to return for either of these times on Tuesday, please feel free to attend--whether you have a 5th grader or not!

Assembly Schedule for Tuesday, April 12th:

Ms. Carter will be speaking to our students in two separate assemblies with grade-appropriate content. The assemblies will be held Tuesday, April 12, at the following times:

7th and 8th Grades
9:00 a.m.
Old Gym

5th and 6th Grades
1:30 p.m.
Old Gym

Parents are welcome to attend this event. Also, we encourage you to speak with your children about the topics covered when they get home from school Tuesday. As always, we are working hard to partner with you as you navigate the difficult waters we call parenting.


16th Annual Miniworks Show

This past Sunday, April 10, was the 16th Annual Miniworks Show held on the campus of Montgomery Academy. Trinity's upper elementary students had almost 50 entries in the show and had 13 state winners! Congratulations to our students as well as a "thank you" to our LS art teacher, Becky Lee, for her efforts in this show and in the art classroom daily! Mrs. Lee does a wonderful job championing art education and creativity at Trinity!

Standardized Testing Last Week

Thank you for all of your support during last week's standardized testing. A thank you goes to our LS guidance counselor, Suzanne Satcher, for organizing and overseeing such a smooth week of testing for our students and teachers.

Upcoming Events:

*Monday, April 11: Midterm Reports Go Home
*Tuesday, April 12: Breakfast and Books for AR Monthly Top Scorers (for March) 7:45 a.m. Science Lab
*Tuesday, April 12: Fifth Grade Assembly (see notes above) on Social Networking 1:30 Old Gym
*Wednesday, April 13: Upper School Choral Performance for the Lower School Students 8:15 WH
*Thursday April 21: Lower School Easter Chapel 8:15 WH This will be led by our third grade students! Feel free to come worship with us!
*Friday, April 22: Holiday-Good Friday

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Congratulations to our Fifth Grade Science Olympiad Team


Trinity’s Lower School Science Olympiad team competed against 39 other teams from around the area in Auburn on Saturday, April 2. They placed in nine of the fourteen events in which they participated. A big round of applause goes to fifth graders Paul Bishop, Will Eagerton, Penelope Faulk, Forrest Faulkner, Samuel Henderson, Miller Johnson, Madison Johnston, Meredith Kingry, Ben Loftis, Amanda Meadows, Will Merrill, Dawson Oliver, Trace Patterson, and Ben Pope.

The team placed in the following events:
Aerodynamics--------------2nd
Straw Egg Drop------------3rd
Write It/Do It-----------------3rd
Pentathlon--------------------4th
Rubber Band Catapult----4th
No Bones About It---------6th
Orienteering------------------7th
Barge Building--------------9th
Can Race-------------------10th

Thank you to Teresa Henderson, our lower school Science Lab teacher and her parent volunteers for helping prepare these students for competition.



Dress Code Reminder!

We are in our final weeks of a great school year! Thank you so much for helping us stay true to our dress code so we can finish strong! The dress code is in our handbook which is available through Edline. For your convenience, I have included the Lower School dress code portion below:


UNIFORM POLICIES &GUIDELINES
GRADES K-5
Boys

Slacks and shorts

1. All slacks and shorts must be worn at the waistline and must not expose underwear when sitting or
standing. Young men in grades 4 and 5 must wear a uniform belt—black or brown solid or braided
leather belt. Slacks may not bunch over shoes, nor may slacks or shorts be excessively baggy.
2. The hem of the shorts must come to the knee.

Shirts

1. All shirts must be tucked inside slacks and shorts at all times. Shirts must cover the entire torso at all
times even with movement.
2. All shirts must be worn with the collars down and buttoned.
3. Oxford shirts may be purchased from Buckhead or other stores but may not contain any emblem, logo,
etc. on the outside of the shirt. When wearing the oxford uniform shirts, all but the top button should
be buttoned.
4. Only plain red, navy or white t-shirts or undershirts may be worn under uniform shirts.
5. Trinity issued sweat shirts, sweaters, vests and jackets must be worn with a uniform shirt.

Shoes

1. Shoes are not required for students in grades K-3 except on field trips.
2. Shoes are required at all times for students in grades 4 and 5.
3. Laces on shoes must remain tied and must be the predominant color of the shoe.
4. All shoes must be in good condition and worn correctly.
5. The following are the shoe requirements:

Boys (grades K-5)—black, brown or tan shoes—must be closed toe and closed heel;
predominantly white or gray athletic shoes with minimal colored trim; NO plastic shoes, water shoes, flip flops,
high tops or boots.

Hair

Hair is to be well groomed and neatly styled. Hair must not extend below the collar in the back, nor to the
eyebrow in the front, nor over the middle of the ears. Unusual hairstyle or color is unacceptable.

The administration reserves the final decision about the appropriateness of a manner of dress.

Girls

Cosmetics:

LOWER SCHOOL STUDENTS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO BRING COSMETICS TO SCHOOL. Trinity
Presbyterian School strongly discourages lower school students from wearing makeup during the school
day.

Jewelry:

Lower School girls are not allowed to wear large earrings due to safety issues. They are allowed to wear
small stud-type earrings in keeping with the uniform guidelines.

Jumpers, skirts, skorts, shorts, and slacks

1. Jumpers, skirts, blouses and slacks, and other like combinations are to be neat and modestly tailored in
appearance to fit the individual in such a way as to conceal undergarments and the line of
undergarments while sitting, standing, bending and getting in and out of desks.
2. Jumpers may not be worn without a blouse.
3. All slacks, skorts, skirts and shorts must be worn at the waistline, tailored to fit the individual
including traditional leg width and modest enough to conceal undergarments
and the line of undergarments. Slacks may not bunch over shoes.
4. Skirts, jumpers, skorts and shorts must come to the top of the kneecap or longer. Order the longer
length skirt or skort if necessary to comply with the dress code. Allowances for growth should be
considered when ordering.
5. It is recommended that girls order at least one pair of slacks.

Shirts and blouses

1. With the exception of the ribbed shirt and fashion-fit shirt, all other shirts must be tucked in at all
times. When a shirt is worn under a sweater, vest or sweatshirt, it must be tucked in as well.
2. All but the top button must be buttoned on all shirts. Oxford shirts may be purchased from Buckhead
or other stores but may not contain any emblem, logo, etc. on the outside of the shirt.
3. All oxford shirts must be worn with the collars down and buttoned.
4. Blouses must be loose-fitting enough to conceal undergarments and any cleavage.
5. Only plain red, navy or white t-shirts or undershirts may be worn under uniform shirts and blouses.
6. Turtle-neck shirts are allowed in red, white or navy.
7. Trinity issued sweat shirts, sweaters, vests and jackets must be worn with a uniform shirt.

Shoes

1. Shoes are not required for students in grades K-3
except on field trips.
2. Shoes are required at all times for students in grades 4 and 5.
3. Laces on shoes should remain tied and must be the predominant color of the shoe.
4. All shoes must be in good condition and worn correctly.
5. The following are the shoe requirements.

Girls (grades K-5)—plain black, brown, tan or navy closed-toed shoes with backs; heel may not
exceed 1 inch; Yellow Box shoes are not allowed due to PE safety; predominantly white or gray
athletic shoes with minimal colored trim;

NO plastic shoes, water shoes, flip flops, high tops or
boots.

The administration reserves the final decision about the appropriateness of a manner of dress.