Principal's Corner

Big Shanty Teachers Recognized

 Several teachers at Big Shanty have recently been recognized for their contributions to education. Ms. Leslie Phillips has received an excellence in education award for the elementary level. This award is granted yearly by the Corky Kell Foundation for commitment to educational advancement and service to students. The teacher must have completed or be enrolled in a graduate study program. Mrs. Carol Kell paid a surprise visit to Big Shanty last Wednesday to present Ms. Phillips with the J. Corky Kell Teacher Scholarship Award.

                           Kennesaw State University recognizes one outstanding supervising teacher. A supervising teacher mentors a student teacher for a semester. We are proud to announce that Mrs. Lisa Green is the recipient of this honor. She was chosen from among all the supervising teachers who work with Kennesaw State students.

                           Big Shanty is happy to announce that Mr. Charlie Cook is our Teacher of the Year for the 2009-2010 school year. His peers recognized him for his dedication and hard work. He will represent us well in the county level competition for the Cobb County Teacher of the Year.

Chorus Shines at the Depot

On Saturday, April 18 our Eagle and Little Eagle Choruses performed at the Big Shanty Festival. The students, under the direction of Mrs. Brown sang beautifully at the depot stage. The students sang the following:

    I'm Original

    Ash Grove

    The Cutting Edge

    Wonderful World

    Children of the World

They ended their program with a lovely rendition of God Bless America and invited the audience to join in the singing. Thank you to all our parents who drove their children to the festival.

We are busy at Big Shanty

There are and have been many wonderful things taking place at Big Shanty. Our Science Oympiad team competed at Walton High School and will compete again in May at Kennesaw State University. we have many future scientists in our midst. These students are coached by Mrs. Green, Mr. Cook, Mrs. Gordon, Mrs. Taylor ( mother of Andrew) and Mrs. Jordan ( mother of Tessa).

Our choruses performed at the Kennesaw Business Association and delighted the members who were present. They also performed at Acworth United Methodist Church as part of a North Cobb Cluster Concert. Many people were enthralled by their voices.

We have many talented students and I am amazed by their outstanding performances at our talent show. A special thank you to Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Palen for all their hard work with this annual event.

As you know Ms. Kenneday was the recipient of a $5000.00 grant from Lowes. Work on the nature trail is about to begin. A team of teacher volunteers will be cleaning the trail on Saturday, March 21. Our wonderful PTA will join the staff on March 28 to work on the trail and the school grounds in general. If you are able to join us on March 28 please do so. Your children will benefit from the improvement to the trail.

 

Conference Week

We will have early release all next week due to Conference Week. This is a wonderful opportunity for you to spend some time with your child's teacher. Report cards will be distributed at the conference. We are also beginning a new bus behavior program entitled Safe Rider. Information will also be given to you at your conference.

Thanks to all of the hard work of Ms. Janney our fifth grade has been selected to see a Crew Systems briefing from the US Space Center in Huntsville.  In this talk  life in space will be discussed. Two information sessions, lasting approximately 45 minutes, will be held for our fifth grade on Tuesday, February 16th. This will be a great preview to their trip in March!!!

Big Shanty Receives Grant

I am happy to announce that Big Shanty is a recipient of a $5,000. grant from Lowes. Ms. Betsey Kennedy applied for the grant to help us improve our nature trail. We received word this week that her grant was awarded and we look forward to enhancing the trail. We appreciate Ms. Kennedy's work in securing the grant.

Two of our robotics teams will compete this Saturday ( January 10) at the regional level. The competition will be held at Warner Robbins. The advancement to regional competition is exciting as our teams competed against middle schools as well as other elementary schools. Mrs. Monica Burke, Mrs. Marlene Crane, Mrs. Melissa Gerhardt, Mr. Bill McAllister, and Ms. Christy Morris will be with the students at the events. We are very proud of our teams.

Big Shanty Robotics Teams Compete

  On Saturday, December 6, robotics teams from Big Shanty competed at the Circuit Runner's First Lego League Qualifier tournament at Wheeler High School. Thirty two teams participated in the competition.Our teams are under the sponsorship of Mrs. Monica Burke, Mrs. Marlene Crane, Mrs. Melissa Gerhardt, Mr. Bill McAllister, and Ms. Christy Morris.

Two of our teams received trophies. The Weather Warriors earned third place in the team work category. Second place in the Champions Award was presented to the Robo Ozone Snowcone team. Both of these teams placed in the top ten and advance to the Super Regional Tournament in Warner Robbins on Saturday, January 10, 2009.

All our students and coaches worked very hard and did an excellent job of representing Big Shanty. We are proud of all of them!!

            

Betsey Kennedy Grant Recipient

It is with great pleasure that I announce that Betsey Kennedy, fifth grade teacher, has been awarded an Impact Grant from the Cobb Schools Foundation. An awards ceremony will be held for all recipients on November 18. Her winning grant will provide math materials for fifth grade students.

Red Ribbon Week

Thanks to our PTA for organizing a very exciting Red Ribbon Week. Lynn Smith has put time and effort into this week and we appreciate all her hard work. The general theme for Big Shanty is:

Do the Math, Drugs Don't Add Up

Our schedule for the week is:

Monday: distribute red ribbons to all students. Homeroom classes will decorate their doors.

Tuesday: Wear Red Day

Wednesday: Big Shanty CAN Do Without Drugs - bring in canned food items for our food drive.

Thursday: Help Combat Against Drugs - wear Camo Day. The three classes who won the door decorating contest will attend a K9 demonstartion by the Kennesaw Police.

Friday: Prize drawings will be made from the Student Pledge Tickets.

September 30

Betsey Kennedy and Barbara Powell-Schager have been diligently planning a math night for October 7, 2008 following the 6:30 PTA meeting. The theme is Math Safari so you may see all kinds of animals around Big Shanty. Students  from Kennesaw State University will have activities for students in grades K- 5. This is a family math night so we look forward to seeing you and your children.

Congratulations to Betsey Kennedy who has been chosen the 2008 WalMart Teacher of the Year. She was nominated by students and their parents at the Chastain Meadow WalMart. Ms. Kennedy is recognized as an "outstanding educator dedicated to making a difference in the lives of her students."

September 10

Next week we will begin testing in Grades 3 and 5. On September 17 we will administer the Cognitive Ability Test. During the week of September 22, the Iowa Test of Basic Skills will be administered. This is a test which will compare our students to other third and fifth grade students in the nation. Please be sure that your child has a good night's sleep and a healthy breakfast.

The PTA Reflections Program theme for 2008-2009 is "WOW". Please encourage your child to enter in one of the following categories: literature, musical composition, photography, visual arts, dance, or film production. The Big Shanty deadline for submissions is Friday, October 3, 2008.

Please consider helping our PTA raise money by using the Publix and Kroger cards for Big Shanty. Everytime you make a purchase and have the card scanned, you are contributing to our PTA. Again this year, we will collect box tops and Campbell labels. This process is easy and all our students will benefit.