Congratulations to Destiny Wiggins for winning the Baldwin County Cattlewomen’s Association Beef Cook-off held in Robertsdale last week. Her winning recipe was Julie’s Meatloaf. Her presentation was awesome and she represented Foley High School well. Destiny will go on to compete at the State Cattlewomen’s Competition in Montgomery in January. Good luck, Destiny.
Students can have an opportunity to get training and job experience in the Law Enforcement field after high school. It’s called Exploring — a career exploration program for 14-20 year-old students that gives you a taste of what it might be like to work in a particular field and informs you of the requirements and education you’ll need to be successful in that field.
Participation in this program can students get the experience and training they need for employment in law enforcement. The deadline for registration is Nov. 14. To learn more, students can go by Mrs. Barbara Wilkerson’s office, Room 100, for more information.
The Mighty Lions head into round 1 of the playoffs tonight as they travel to Phenix City to take on the Central Red Devils. A bonfire pep rally was held at the school last night to pump the team up for the trip up to the game. Many students, teachers, and administrators as well as fans from the community came out to wish the team good luck.
To celebrate the end of the unit on ancient Greece, all eighth grade students will have the opportunity to participate in activities similar to the ancient Grecian Games today. Students are allowed to be dress in field day attire: shorts and T-shirts. Tennis shoes/enclosed shoes should be worn. Absolutely no flip flops or sandals allowed. No short shorts, spaghetti straps or tank tops allowed.
Pizza, nachos, water and Gatorade will be sold at the practice field for $1 each. Students who need a sack lunch from the cafeteria need to let their social studies teacher know.
Students enjoy being out of uniform but must follow policies. Dress down is for incentives and special events that build school spirit and reward good behavior. Students must comply with dress code policy for dress down to include but not limited to:
Length of skirt or shorts is the same as uniform policy. Length must be longer than fingers with hands placed down by side. No pajama pants, sweat pants, tights or wind pants. All shoes must be closed toe and heel. Shirts must cover the same area as uniform shirts. No tank tops or off the shoulder shirts. Hats will be permitted but not in the building unless it is an announced hat day. Inappropriate wording or graphics will not be allowed. No blankets; wear a coat or jacket. Dress code will be checked in homeroom and violators will lose their dress down privilege for the quarter. Repeat offenders will be assigned OCS. School purchased sweat pants may be worn on dress down days only. These will be sold by coach McNair.
Parents and teachers, we need your help with our auction fundraiser that we will hold the evening of Dec. 13 along with the Christmas band concert. The silent auction will be set up like last year but new for this year we are also adding a live auction. The silent auction will start at 2 p.m., closing by 5:45 so that we do not disturb the band concert. The live auction will follow the concert. All of the proceeds will go to Foley Middle School.
Joi Laurendine is already working on donations from our local businesses and that is where you can help. If you have any connections with friends or family who own a business and you are comfortable asking for a donation, please do so or at least let Joi know and she will contact them. Leave Joi a message on her home phone at 251-966-7466. Or you can email her at info@oakhollowfarm.net.
If you receive a donation from someone, please deliver it to the school. If the business needs a contribution form just let Joi know and she will get it to you. Thank you so much for any help that you can provide. It is very much appreciated.
Yearbooks are on sale for $40. Buy them online from the school website or you can turn your money in to Mrs. Combs.
By SANDARE JIMMERSON, TAYLOR THRASHER and JORDAN BOULDIN
At Foley Intermediate School we want to make sure kids never do drugs. So we do a program to remind kids not to do drugs. This program is called Red Ribbon Week. For Red Ribbon Week we have special assignments every day for a week. For Monday the theme was "Too Smart for Drugs," and that means students dressed up as a nerd. Tuesday’s theme was "Shade Out Drugs." That means students wore their favorite sunglasses. The theme for Wednesday was "Hugs Not Drugs," and that was when students brought their favorite stuffed animals. Thursday’s theme was "Team Up Against Drugs." That is when kids wore their favorite team jersey. Last but not least we had 1950s day. That means students dressed up in 1950 clothing. Boys wore blue jeans, a white T-shirt or a white button-up shirt and wore their hair slicked back. Girls wore either poodle skirts or capris, a white T-shirt or a button-up shirt. These were themes for Red Ribbon Week. We had so much fun, and never forget — Don’t Do Drugs.
Mrs. Lester is doing two projects in her class. One of them is in science. We have to find three rocks and find out if they are igneous, metamorphic or sedimentary. We also have to make our own presentation and display. We had to hit the rock with a hammer so we could find out what kind it is. Because of erosion, the outside will look different from the inside. Some of them have a crystalline structure inside but not on the outside. Mrs. Lester has her own rock collection. The other project is in history. We have to make a presentation on the inventor Mrs. Lester assigned to us. We have to see what that person invented and answer some questions. We have to find some information about our inventor. We had to tell the impact the invention had on society. We had to find out what that invention led to. We had to have at least 8-10 slides and only 20 words per slide for our presentations. We have fun doing projects in Mrs. Lester’s class.
Foley Elementary will be having a Family Reading Night for second grade on Tuesday . The event will begin at 6 p.m. in the cafeteria. Information will soon be sent home.
Please keep in mind that the students will dismiss early on Thursday. On that day we will be having our Fall Festival from 4 to 8:30 p.m. Wristbands for this event may be purchased from the FES PTO. Also remember that Nov. 11 is Veterans Day holiday.
The Foley Elementary library program received the Starlight Grant totaling $991.15 from Baldwin EMC. This grant will be used to buy the entire set of Caldecott Award books for the library. The fourth grade students will use these books for a project starting in February.
Mrs. Tina Lazauskas’ first grade class worked with the inclusion teacher and turned pumpkins into their favorite book characters. The students decorated their pumpkins as a favorite character in a story and presented it to the class. There were some creative, well-decorated pumpkins that were presented on Friday. Some of the pumpkins included: Clifford the Big Red Dog, Thing 1 from The Cat in the Hat, Junie B. Jones, a baby bird, a ballerina, Pokemon, a spider in a cave, a spotted dog and Patrick from Spongebob. This was a wonderful activity that the students thoroughly enjoyed.
Mrs. Mullek’s class has enjoyed learning about some of America’s oldest communities in social studies. They have studied four different communities of Native Americans; the Navajo, Yurok, Cherokee and the Haudenosaunee. They learned how important natural resources were to all of the Native American communities. The Native Americans felt that nature was sacred and they used their natural resources with great care. The class also received two Neo boards this week. They love being able to take their Accelerated Reader tests on them.
Mrs. Barbara Lutz’s fourth grade class took adventures back in time and into the future. During the week the students read "Grace and the Time Machine" from "Starring Grace" by Mary Hoffman, adapted for Story Theatre by Donald Abramson, and illustrated by Matthew Faulkner. Some of them went back to 1968 to visit dinosaurs. This made the teacher very sad to think she lived among dinosaurs and never got to see any. Some of the students went into the future and became grown-ups with real jobs and everything. Again, this made the teacher very sad to know that she missed all that time between childhood and adulthood. All of the class decided it was best to stay right here in 2011 and keep Mrs. Lutz happy. If you could go backwards or forwards in time, which way would you go? Why?
For the latest news and information about what is happening at Foley Elementary School, please visit our website at www.foleyelementary.com.
By SARAH TILLMAN
Now that football is over the Gulf Shores High School band is starting on its concert music and getting ready for the Veterans Day Ceremony that is being held at the school on Tuesday. Thursday is going to be a half day, and we are out of school next Friday for Veterans Day. The JROTC is going on a field trip to the Blue Angel air show on Nov. 11. There is a GSHS Swim Meet vs. Robertsdale at home on Tuesday . On Nov. 12 there is a cross country state meet (varsity only). Go Dolphins!
GSES
Many thanks goes out to the PTO for our annual McDonald’s Pancake Dinner fundraiser. Lots of students, parents and faculty members attended with many in costumes. McDonald’s, once again, generously donated a portion of the money received to our school.
Don’t forget that Chick-fil-A night is this coming Tuesday night. Come out and show your support for our school.
Kindergartners at Gulf Shores Elementary school are learning about living and non-living things. We are doing several observation walks throughout the week.
Mrs. Peterson’s first grade class had an exciting week participating in Red Ribbon Week. The highlights of our week were attending the high school carnival and "Teaming Up Against Drugs." We love showing off our favorite team shirts. We recently completed our AMSTI science unit on animals and will soon begin a unit on plants. Our class is hard at work learning subtraction and solving math stories problems using AMSTI investigations.
Second graders at GSES have been learning strategies for solving number strings — adding 3, 4, 5 or more numbers. Making doubles, near-doubles, doubles plus one and making a 10 make it easy to add lots of numbers. Second graders have been practicing their Comprehension Toolkit skills by asking questions while they read, listen and view. The book "Recess at 20 Below" was a perfect book to answer many questions about cold weather living but also left the students with several lingering questions.
Mrs. Gina Pierce’s third grade class at Gulf Shores Elementary School had fall fun making their scarecrow centerpieces. The class had to follow step-by-step detailed instructions and write about their scarecrows.
Fourth graders are creating a weathering wall model for our unit on landforms. Multiple towers are growing on our wall as we learn division the Investigation’s way. We are learning and enjoying all of the AMSTI lessons in math and science.
The fifth grade students are conducting controlled experiments in science. The students created a pendulum system, and are investigating different variables to see if it affects the number of swings in a given time.
Mr. Dey’s science class is learning about asteroids and what happens upon impact with objects (Earth, moon, other planets). The activity will conclude with the students making their own impact craters using sand, flour and cocoa powder to imitate Earth’s surface.
Gulf Shores Elementary Project Jubilee students continue to work on the oceanography unit by creating a book of ocean creatures. They created an origami whale and are writing a short research paper about the sperm, baleen, and orca whale. They will also draw and label each whale’s anatomy. The next creature they will research is the dolphin.
OBES
Please join us for the Fall Festival on Friday from 5 to 8 p.m. There will be games, inflatables, food and a silent auction. All proceeds benefit the school. Please come and support our school.
Mrs. Hollis’s kindergarten class has been learning about spiders. They have learned about their body parts, what they eat, how and when they spin webs and much more. They are reading and writing every day. They love kindergarten and Mrs. Hollis loves her class. They are composing numbers and completing simple addition. They are learning to jump rope while saying their months of the year. They will be learning about bats this week and nocturnal animals. They are looking forward to OBES Fall Festival.
Mrs. Cahn’s students are discussing adjectives. They know about colors, shapes, sizes and opposites. They are studying animals in the woods and how animals prepare for winter. In math, they are making 10 frames and adding one more to make sets to 20. The "Cubby Fairy" came to their class last week and checked to see if they were keeping their papers, folders and supplies neatly in their cubbies. She rewarded them with a "gold" coin for outstanding neatness. The coin was a trick. It was really made out of chocolate. The Cubby Fairy returns every so often to check on them, so they must remember to be neat.
Summerdale has been busy this week.
Pre-K has had a lot of fun this past week. They’ve painted jack¤’o lantern shirts, and been having fun with Mrs. Ard in her music class. Also, pre-K students have a lot to say about their class. Here is some of the things they’ve said about the things they like: "I like the Writing Center" said Tyler. "I liked the field trip to the fire station." said Christopher. The students of the month are Courtney Duplesis and Payton Deese.
Kindergarten is red for the fire department. They recently took a field trip to the fire department, and had loads of fun. Not to mention learning a lot. In math they’re learning about the numbers 11 through 15.
In first grade, they’ve been learning about Australian animals in science. In math they’re studying subtraction. Also, big congratulations to the Students of the Month, Branden Reinhart, Chloe Brown, and Ashton Buro. Not to mention, the Star Student of the Month, Alex Resmondo.
Second grade had an amazing week. In math they’re learning to count money, and in science they’re learning about the environment and living things. In Mrs. Kilgore’s they’re making books about desert animals. The Students of the Month are, Erin Parker, Caroline Chambers and Raylin Duplesis.
This week in third grade, the classes have a new AR (Accelerated Reading) goal, 300 points. They’re studying gravity in science and their literature story is "Prudy’s Problem." A lot of students said they liked math the best.
In fourth grade, the annual Montgomery field trip is today. They will be going to Fort Toulouse. In other news, their story this week is "Grace and the Time Machine." The Student of the Month was Margarita Tomas-Leca.
In fifth grade, the students are working hard on their AR goals . The students get to "pie" somebody if they reach their AR goal this quarter. Last quarter for their reward they got a silly string party. The Students of the Month are Carter Reynolds and Shayla Bates.
Sixth grade is learning a bunch. They’ve recently learned about the rock cycle in science, and the overseas expansion of European countries for social studies. Also in science, they are learning a lot about paleontology and archaeology.
In middle school this week, seventh grade is studying the kingdom animals, along with Mr. Turner’s literature class is now reading "Shane." Students of the Month are William Cook, Chris Daughtrey, Laura Causiono and Albertina Simon.
By Owen Cole, Ashton Wilson, Barbie Hardenbrook, Desmond Foy, Amber Wester, Shay Parsons and Andrew Varcoe
Magnolia School’s PTA would like to thank parents and staff for their dedication and effort with the Fall Festival. Thanks to all the families who came out on Saturday to have fun and to support their school.
In Mrs. Norwood’s pre-K class, they are getting ready to carve pumpkins. They have been learning how to use computers and the electric piano. They have also been learning about rhyme, patterns, days of the week, months of the year and the alphabet. The kids love stations, puzzles, drawing and building blocks.
In Mrs. Christopher’s kindergarten class, they are doing many Halloween projects. They are putting together a Halloween number book. They are learning about all of the bones in the body. They put together a "The Life Cycle of a Pumpkin" book. They are estimating how many seeds are in their pumpkin, how much it weighs and then they are decorating it.
This week Mrs. Schepker’s class has been working on a landform poster for science. They love using technology on compass learning and taking AR test. In math, they are learning their times tables and subtracting with zeros. Their favorite thing about Mrs. Schepker is how nice she is. Mrs. Mullin’s fourth grade class is working on a president sheet where they look up and find the answers online. Their reading story is "So You Think You Can Be President."
They are also making pumpkins made out of paper. In math they are learning how to do algebra with numbers and letters. For language, they’re learning how to use abbreviations. They are doing a project in Alabama history where they are learning about people, battles, events, the Civil War and the Revolutionary War.
Mrs. McDuffie’s class went on a field trip to see the new "Lion King" in 3D. In reading, they are reading about Paul Revere. In math, they are learning about word problems and multiplication. In science they have been learning about rocks and minerals.
They frequently use laptops in the classroom, go to the computer lab and use a Smartboard. They love how Mrs. McDuffie gives them fun things to do with computers.
This week Mrs. Williams’ class said that their AR party was a blast. They participated in a day of "tailgating" fun. The tailgate included flag football, cheerleading, food and fun. In science, they are learning about temperate deciduous forests. Their favorite thing about her is how kind she is.
In library second graders watch a movie about how pumpkins grow and see a pumpkin being carved. Sixth graders have been reading Cinderella tales from all over the world and filling out a Cinderella character chart. This week was "Cinderella Skeleton." First graders have also been reading Halloween books, such as "Are you my Mummy?" Library is special because people enjoy reading and checking out books. They use the projector and listen to books on CDs. The students are working to be "Champion Readers" for their favorite team, Alabama or Auburn.
Swift School
Mrs. Whatley’s fourth grade will be starting fundraisers this month to raise money for their trip to Montgomery in April. Their class is also starting animal studies in science. They have built habitats and introduced African dwarf frogs, millipedes and fiddler crabs to their classroom. In Mrs. Whatley’s class, the students are increasing the use of their laptops by integrating their Moodle 2 accounts into their classroom curriculum. The students will soon join Mrs. Whatley’s Moodle2 class and will be working on projects that are assigned to them on the site.
Mrs. Taylor’s fourth grade has been hard at work. They just started a new AMSTI science unit on animals. They built three different animal habitats and are enjoying learning about millipedes, frogs and fiddler crabs. It has been so much fun to have these exciting visitors in our classroom and to watch them move about. In math the students are racing to learn their multiplication facts and beginning to learn about division. It is so exciting to learn and practice this new concept. In reading they are reading a story about a child who becomes president. This has really gotten them thinking about what it would be like to run the U.S. and they are writing about what they would do.
Mrs. McAleer’s third grade class has begun working on multiplication and division using AMSTI Investigations.
We have a lot of activities planned for November. The Mobile Infirmary Drug Bus will be with us Friday, for the fifth graders. During the week of Nov. 14–18 we will have our annual Auburn/Alabama food drive. Please be sure to look in your cabinets and bring an extra can for someone in need. The Bon Secour Fire Department will be here with the firehouse and to teach about fire safety on Nov. 17. The students really look forward to this each year. Nov. 21–22 the Student Council will be selling Auburn and Alabama tattoos for $2. All proceeds go to the yearbook to help with production costs.
Please remember that Thursday is a half day for students. Students will be dismissed at noon on that day. School will be closed Nov. 11 due to Veterans Day.
October was Breast Cancer Awareness Month at Elberta Middle. Last Friday, students were able to wear pink shirts and jeans to show our support for those who are fighting this cancer and remembering the ones who have lost their lives to it.
Elberta's students were encouraged to wear jeans the previous Friday to aid Mary's Shelter. More than 200 students and teachers helped the SGA make a considerable donation to help in providing needed supplies to the shelter.
Sixth grade students have been working on special writing projects. Mrs. Blackmon’s science classes have been learning about the rainforest. Mrs. Blackmon decided to have her students to research the subject, write essays, and to make rainforest dioramas. Mrs. Bishop’s language classes are writing poetic essays.
Students in grades 4, 5 and 6 who made their AR goals were treated to an afternoon at the Elberta Park. Refreshments were served as students enjoyed their time playing and visiting with friends.
During the last couple of weeks, Mrs. Goforth’s FACS students have participated in two successful contests. Twenty-five students entered the Sweet Potato Cook-off. All of the dishes were tasty and attractive. The winner of this year’s event was Alexys Robinson with a "Sweet Potato Casserole," Rebekkah Stevens with "Autumn Bread Pudding" and Katelyn Stegall with "Sweet Potato Cupcakes." Alexys took her dish to the Baldwin County Fair. The Beef Cook-off was another great success. The third place winner with "Cheeseburger Soup" was Cassie Touchstone. In second place with a Japanese beef dish was Brandon Santos. In first place with " Wilson’s Beef Stew" was Jordan Jensen. She went to Robertsdale to compete in the county contest and won.
P.E has a new athletic program. Each day the girls P.E class does a new activity. On Mileage Monday we run laps on the track for the whole period. We are grooving’ to the Wiis on Two Step Tuesday. On Workout Wednesday, we divide into groups and do different exercises. Team up Thursday is dedicated to dividing ourselves into teams and having some friendly competition. Volleyball, basketball or football is what we choose to play on Free Play Friday.
It’s Red Ribbon Week here at EMS. One of the service projects we support is "Standing Up For Our Military."
Students have been asked to bring items such as snack foods and toiletries for our troops. Response has been terrific. The homeroom that brings in the most items gets a pizza party.