Board of Education December 6 Regular Board Meeting at HO Porter
Board of Education December 20 Board Work session at HO Porter
Tuesday, Dec. 20 at 6:00 pm
Watch the Live Video Feed | On-Demand Videos
Early Dismissal Friday, Dec 16
Early dismissal on Friday, Dec. 16, 2022. Early dismissal times are 11:15 for schools starting at 7:45 am; and 11:45 for schools starting at 8:15 am.
Winter Break
Winter break is from Monday, Dec. 19, 2022, through Monday, Jan. 2, 2023, with no school for students
Professional Development Day
Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023, no school for students.
Return to School from Winter Break
Students will return to school on Wednesday, January 4, 2023
Board of Education January 3, 2023, Regular Board Meeting at HO Porter
Tuesday, Jan. 3 at 6:00 pm
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Congratulations, Spring Hill High School FFA Swine Show team!
- Reserve Champion Hereford Purebred Gilt
- Grand Champion Tn Bred Hereford Purebred Gilt
- Grand Champion Tn Bred Berkshire Purebred Barrow
- 5th Overall Tn Bred Purebred Barrow
- Reserve Champion Tn Bred Berkshire Purebred Barrow
- Reserve Champion Tn Bred Spot Purebred Barrow
- 4th Overall Intermediate Skillathon
Twelve students showed 18 pigs over two days at the 2022 Jingle Bell Rockout Classic Swine Show. Please congratulate all these students when you see them next!
Please click on the link below to see November's edition of the Coaching Corner. It has information on surviving the first year of teaching, revisiting routines, and keeping those routines in the forefront of students' minds, and all about productive struggle.
We'd like to wish an early Happy Thanksgiving to you all!
January – We awarded nearly $17,000 to 14 school-based projects led by educators in Maury County Public Schools, including a book club at Mt. Pleasant Middle, an electric vehicle team at Spring Hill High, and Kindergarten after-school social emotional exploration at Brown Elementary. Read the full project descriptions below.
March – We honored Dr. Jeff and Tina Adams at the annual YEF luncheon and heard about how a group of Baker Elementary students led a YEF-funded project to improve their playground.
April – We awarded another $4,575 to great ideas at three local public schools, including 3D printers at Howell Elementary, social emotional learning at Santa Fe Unit, and audio and visual integration at Battle Creek Middle.
September – We hosted a well-attended meet-and-greet for Maury County Board of Education officials and Maury County Public Schools central office staff to build relationships and learn more about YEF’s mission.
September – We awarded another $16,000+ to eleven projects in seven schools and one non-profit across Maury County! Read full project descriptions below.
December – Our next mini-grant application deadline is Friday, December 9th. Help spread the word to any teachers you know that they can apply for funding online at https://www.yefmaury.com/apply.
YEF-FUNDED PROJECT DESCRIPTIONS
In January:
Battle Creek Middle School – “Battle Creek Creations”
One-hundred and forty-two 8th grade students will develop valuable trade skills by planning, coordinating, designing, and printing their own sublimation t-shirts. In the process, they will study everything from budgeting and supply lists to graphic design and print technology.
Brown Elementary School – “Social Emotional Exploration in Kindergarten”
A Kindergarten classroom will hold after-school sessions using sensory light and tactile stations designed to ease student anxiety and increase student engagement. Non-consumable stations could be used in multiple classrooms for many years.
Mt. Pleasant Elementary School – “PreK-4th Grade 3D Print Designers”
All 500 students in the school will be able to access Toybox 3D printers for projects. Students can draw what they are studying and see their ideas come to life in 3D while starting to think about themselves as designers and sculptors.
Mt. Pleasant Middle School of the Visual and Performing Arts – “Bees at the Mount”
In conjunction with Farris Honey Farm, students will establish a bee yard with two initial beehives that they create from the ground up. Students will seek to become certified by the TN Department of Agriculture. This project will impact all 450 students at MPMSVPA as well as the 400 students at MPMSVPA and 500+ students at MPES through visiting the hives, learning about bee colonies, tasting honey created on the property, watching videos of the bees and harvesting process posted online by MPMSVPA students, and talking with guest experts.
Mt. Pleasant Middle School of the Visual and Performing Arts – “DiVinci Club”
Open to all 450 students, this 25-member book club promotes love of reading and artistic expression through student-selected projects such as writing, music, visual arts, and group discussion. Students use various supplies to express their creativity pertaining to their book subject, author, or genre.
Mt. Pleasant High School – “Farm to Table Greenhouse Renovation at the Mount”
Students will refurbish a 30-year-old greenhouse to be used as a classroom for 150 students in the high school’s Agriculture, Plant Science, greenhouse management, construction, and FFA programs. This project will also positively impact elementary and middle school students who will be invited to visit. Students will learn aquaculture by growing catfish and tilapia and may partner with Mt. Pleasant Grille to use vegetables they grow.
Spring Hill Middle School – “Green Team”
Founded four years ago, students in this club meet to promote recycling, collect recyclables, and sort materials. They will use more bins to sort items as school’s recycling demands have grown.
Spring Hill Middle School – “Simple Machines with Legos”
Students will construct simple machines with Legos to demonstrate their understanding of standard 5.PS.2 – Motion and Stability: Forces & Interactions – a standard that historically has a low score on TNReady assessment. Students will perform hands-on activities both alone and in groups to enhance instructional materials and promote the STEAM concept.
Spring Hill High School – “Large Animal Science and Veterinary Science”
This project will expand the basic FFA class to work with large animals. Students will care for young animals like goats and develop feeding and training protocols, as well as learn animal health standards. In the fall, students will work with swine. In the spring, students will prepare the young stock for a small school livestock show.
Spring Hill High School – “Make Our Own Filament: Filastruder”
Robotics students will learn how an automated system works and be able to produce high quality filament that can be used in their 3D printers. Students will set up and fine tune the manufacturing process, which will accurately simulate a scenario that they could expect to encounter in industry. The project will reach about 100 students this year and more in future.
Spring Hill High School – “Raider Leaders”
Students in 11th and 12th grades are nominated by teachers to become “Link Leaders.” They complete leadership training and host a 9th grade orientation day in the summer. Student raider leaders are assigned a group of 9th grade students to mentor, meeting one-on-one during homeroom classes and staying in contact through lunch meetings, texting, and social media.
Spring Hill High School – “Science Club”
Open to all students, this student-driven club will use additional materials for larger scale projects like using hydroponics to see if they can grow food to donate to the Well, which provides food for the Spring Hill community. Students also plan to explore clean energy and learn about how electricity is generated.
Spring Hill High School – “Shock and Awe” Electric Vehicle Team
Thirteen students are developing their first working prototype from donated Razor scooters as a proof of concept. Upon completion and testing of the prototype and competition vehicle the EV Team intends to register for the F24 EV race and possibly the Electrathon racing series. Both races involve an interactive interview about the design and build of the EV as well as passing safety and race inspections. Students hope to hand down one of the cars or prototypes to middle school teams in an effort to grow interest in the high school’s Engineering program.
Woodard Elementary School – “Crayons for a Cause”
Students help to soak, peel paper, sort, place crayons in molds, melt, and package the new design. These crayons are made as a reward for students and teachers at the school. In March 2020 when tornados struck in TN, students had a fundraiser selling the recycled crayons at the Maury County STEM Expo and donated the money to affected schools. Teachers will purchase another microwave, more silicone molds, and gift bags to continue this project with students.
In April:
Randolph Howell Elementary STEM School – “3D Printers”
Grant funding will purchase two additional Makerbot Sketch printers with supplies to provide students opportunity to generate their creations through four printers. Printers are used for student projects during and after school by all grades K-4.
Santa Fe Unit School – “A Little Spot of Social Emotional Learning”
Grant funding will provide a library of various interest leveled books that deal with feelings, social emotional learning, life skills and disability awareness. The books are intended for students in Kindergarten through Middle School.
Battle Creek Middle School – “Battle Creek Creations Audio & Visual Integration”
In this project, students will be using streaming software, cameras, microphones, green screens to create news casts, videos, and other educational materials for their classes and the school.
In September:
JR Baker Elementary School – “Baker Recording Beats”
3rd and 4th graders will create and record their own musical masterpieces using MIDI keyboards, recording microphones, and software like SoundTrap and BandLab. Students will collaborate, utilize skills learned in class (tempo, rhythm, meter, form), and comprehend how all music elements work together. This project will culminate in an end-of-the year community presentation for students to talk about the meanings and impacts of the pieces on their lives.
Joseph Brown Elementary School – “Physical Programming Project”
200 students in grades 2-4 will use programmable computing devices to easily take new steps into writing code that interacts with the physical world. Funds will be used to purchase a set of microcontrollers and additional module kits for students to work one-on-one with the STEAM teacher as well as in extended group projects. Students can gather data from the environment such as temperature, humidity, motion, or sound, and then use that data to program a response from the unit.
Randolph Howell Elementary School – “Helpful Hearts Program”
This pilot program will select at least ten student applicants from grades 3-4 and teach these participants leadership, compassion, citizenship, and social emotional skills. Students will attend monthly meetings to discuss concerns, entrepreneurial dreams, ways to overcome low self-esteem, fun brainstorm activities, and respect for each other. The goal is to start a program with district-wide potential to help children grow into strong communicators, servants, and leaders in the community.
Spring Hill Middle School – “STEAM tools and robotics”
165 students in 8th grade will benefit from working with a set of coding robots and 3D pens with filament. Materials for this STEAM-oriented classroom will help students learn through exploration and critical thinking and can be used in many different lessons.
Whitthorne Middle School – “Middle School Counseling Meeting Room”
The 945-student body in grades 5-8 could benefit from the creation of a comfortable space where counselor- and student-led groups can meet and individual students can feel welcome to discuss their needs and feelings. Funds will purchase furniture, lighting, wall posters, curriculum, books, and sensory items to help equip students with social and life skills that they can carry with them for years to come.
Whitthorne Middle School – “Energy Expo”
6th grade students ages 9-11 would like to conduct a one-time Energy Expo to extend their learning and understanding of all the forms of energy required by educational standards. The expo will be on display in the main hall to benefit the whole student body. Each team will create a science fair board with claim, evidence, and reasoning and a working model or display of the following energy forms: Solar, Mechanical, Wind, Chemical, Nuclear, Kinetic, and Electrical. Medals will be awarded to top presenters.
Spring Hill High School – “Battle Bots in the Classroom”
35-45 robotics class students in grades 10-12 will use the engineering Design Process to design, build, and test Combat Robots. Once students have functioning robots, they will be competing with classmates and students at other schools to see how their designs hold up in combat. Funds will help cover the initial cost to build a safety arena, then to replenish components such as motors, wire, batteries, and other things as they wear out.
Columbia Central High School – “Battle Bots”
25-40 students in grades 9-12 who are enrolled as Skills USA members will directly benefit from the formation of this new 3D printable Battle Bots team. Students will think critically, work with their hands, collaborate, and demonstrate competencies by using the engineering Design process to evaluate and improve robot building. This grant will help students investigate whether Robotics and Automation would be a beneficial pathway as a career.
Columbia Central High School – “Doggie Daycare”
60 students in grades 10-12 will offer dog grooming services for high school faculty and staff. They will learn basic training techniques, washing strategies, and oral and nail care. Through this experience, students will discover how to work together in groups of three to four, be responsible for a particular task, record their actions, communicate with the dog owners, and use their time wisely. The most deserving students will get to move on from basic care to trimming hair on the dogs.
Columbia Central High School – “Envirothon Academic Team”
55 students in grades 9-12 will be able to continue to compete for their school’s envirothon academic team, “an environmental competition that encourages stewardship of natural resources through group interaction and brings students into the outdoor classroom” (TEEA, http://eeintennessee.org/resource/about). Funds will be used to purchase soil lab equipment, animal pelts, scat molds, and track molds to prepare students for regional and state competitions.
Word of Life Inner-City Youth Ministry – “Project Van Outreach”
This nonprofit’s mobile outreach visits youth in different neighborhoods to provide gospel rap, a message of hope, education materials, canned food, and clothes. It also provides a safe place and programming for approximately 50 local youth from PreK through college in Maury County every Sunday where they receive food, clothing, tutoring, and resources for parents. At risk of dropping out of school, these youth receive counseling on how to obtain an education and a job through the Word of God, school, college, and the military.
Upcoming Community Events and Services
- February 11, 2023, One Generation Away Mobile Food Pantry at Columbia State Community College at 8:30 am
Weekly Wellness Insights – Flu Season is Among Us!
It seems like the flu is hitting Maury County hard this year, and Tennessee is one of the top three states for the highest rates of flu activity, according to the CDC. Here are some tips to decrease your risk of contracting the flu:
- Try to avoid close contact with sick people.
- While sick, limit contact with others as much as possible to keep from infecting them.
- If you are sick with flu symptoms, it is recommended that you stay home for at least 24 hours after your fever is gone except to get medical care or for other necessities. (Your fever should be gone for 24 hours without the use of a fever-reducing medicine.)
- Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
- Wash your hands often with soap and water. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth. Germs spread this way.
- Clean and disinfect surfaces and objects that may be contaminated with germs like the flu.
- Get plenty of sleep every night, 7-9 hours every night.
- Eat well balanced meals including all food groups.
- Vitamin C may help protect your immune system which fights off illness. Fruits and vegetables are great sources of Vitamin C. Strawberries, citrus fruits, bell peppers, pineapple, kiwi, broccoli and cauliflower are some of the best sources of Vitamin C.
Have a healthy, happy week - stay well and wash those hands!
About MCPS
If you would like to submit an article for the MCPS News, please email here!
Email: jcobb@mauryk12.org
Website: https://www.mauryk12.org
Location: 501 West 8th Street, Columbia, TN 38401, USA
Phone: 931-388-8403
Twitter: @MauryCoSchools
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