Thanksgiving Dinner at Carver High School

At Carver High School, students in Shonticia Loftin’s Foods classes prepared Thanksgiving dinner on Tuesday.

They dressed up for the day and made a point to follow proper etiquette.

Girls and Women at Bolton Elementary School on the Run

On Wednesday afternoon, the girls in the Girls on the Run (GOTR) club at Bolton Elementary School had a mission to complete before heading outside for their run: write a thank-you note to the staff at Bolton for helping them raise $200 for their community-service project.

The girls were looking for a good community-service project, and, after third-grader Johanny Paniagua noticed that the copy of Charlotte’s Web she had checked out of the school library was a bit frayed, she suggested that they raise money to buy some new books for the media center.

The rest of the 15 third- through fifth-graders in the club thought that was a great idea. So, yesterday, they served hot chocolate, bagels, breakfast casserole and other treats, and members of the staff donated whatever they wanted. By the time breakfast was done, the girls had raised $200.

“We are so proud of you – all the work you have done,” said Katherine Bryant, the school’s assistant principal.

Asked what books they would like to see bought for the media center, third-grader Lindsey Rivas-Navarette said she was hoping to see some Nancy Clancy, Super Sleuth books. Other girls mentioned Dork Diaries books, Diary of a Wimpy Kid books and Pinkalicious books.

Thank-you note done, it was time to head outside and warm up before running. GOTR has four coaches from the school: second-grade teacher Shawn Byrd, teacher assistant Susan Hair, third-grade teacher Amy Phaup and Natalie Massaro, an EC (exceptional children) resource teacher.

“They learn so many wonderful lessons,” Massaro said.

Phaup said that it’s been good to connect with the girls through the club and to watch them get to know each other better.

“It’s been great to see them form a team,” Phaup said.

“The purpose of the club is for the young ladies to be inspired to be joyful, healthy and confident using a fun experience-based curriculum which creatively integrates running,” Bryant said. “Our young ladies meet every Monday and Wednesday after school for one hour. They are such an inspiration at our school that several teachers have now joined in to work with these girls each day.”

When the club formed at the start of the year, Bryant said, they started out by walking together. It wasn’t long before everyone was running.

Once outside, the girls and adults did some jumping jacks and other warm-up exercises and then sprinted off.

On Dec. 6, the girls and adults are going to participate in the 31st Annual YMCA Mistletoe Run. The Y has waived the entry fee for the girls. For more about the event, go to Mistletoe Run

​

GO! (Girls Only) Club at Griffith Elementary School Receives Grant from The Women's Fund

The GO! (Girls Only) Club at Griffith Elementary School has received a $2,850 grant from The Women's Fund.

The grant was announced at a luncheon on Wednesday attended by six representatives from Griffith. The GO! Club grant is one of almost $105,000 in grants the fund is giving to eight organizations that help women and girls in Forsyth County.

The club was organized during the 2013-14 school year.

In the grant application, media coordinator Cynthia Needham wrote that “achievement and social learning data revealed staggering declines in academic growth for many of our 3rd, 4th and 5th grade girls (across all cultures.) So, in July of 2013, several classroom teachers, the social worker, the guidance counselor, the school librarian, the school nurse, the curriculum coordinator and the school principal came together to “brainstorm” objectives for an enrichment program that would positively impact the  “success rate” of our 8 to 12 year old female students. After hours of critical conversations, data sharing, visioning, dreaming BIG, and a whole-hearted commitment to improving the lives of our children…The Griffith Girls’ Only (GO!) Club was born!”

In addition to activities at the school such as a father/daughter dance, club members have participated in such community events as Link Up!, the annual walk to support kindness.    

This school year, students at Winston-Salem State University have agreed to serve mentors for club members.

Money from the grant will be used to support club activities, programs and off-campus events during the 2014-15 school year.

You will find a story about the club at GO! Club 

Students Baking Pies for Habitat for Humanity Fundraiser

Cory Spencer

On Thursday evening, Chef Sherry Billings and students were hard at work in the kitchen at the Career Center making and baking pumpkin pies for the annual Pie Fest fundraiser for Habitat Humanity of Forsyth County.

Some of the student volunteers take culinary-arts classes at the Career Center and others are members of Habitat’s Youth United group. On Thursday, students from Reynolds High School were on hand along with Joseph Dickerson, a West Forsyth freshman whose mother Joann Davidson works for Habitat. 

Rebecca Gordon, the Youth United coordinator for Habitat, was also there rolling out pie dough.

Rebecca Gordon

Cory Spencer, a Reynolds senior who is the president of Youth United at Reynolds, was filling pie crusts with the pumpkin mix.

Pie Fest will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. this Saturday Nov. 22 at Knollwood Baptist Church.

“It’s a pretty fun event,” Spencer said.

When people pay the $10 admission fee, they will receive 10 “pie dollars” that can be used to buy slices of pie as well as whole pies and to participate in Pie Fest events. 

People can use their pie dollars to buy pumpkins to smash, to have a Youth United member take a cream in the face and to participate in pie walk, which is a bit like musical chairs. There will be live music. 

In addition to the pies that students and community volunteers have been baking, such local businesses as Camino Bakery,The Flour Box, Café Arthur’s, Cloverdale Kitchen, Tart Sweets and Trader Joe’s are donating pies. Last year, Spencer said more than 200 pies had been eaten or taken home by the end of the day.

“It’s a lot of pie,” she said.

Pizzerias are also donating pizza pies.

“We are getting a lot of support from the community,” Gordon said.

All the money from the event will be used to build a Habitat house.

Sherry Billings

Helping out with Pie Fest is just one of the ways in which people at the Career Center are helping others during the holidays. Billings, who is a culinary arts and hospitality instructor at the Career Center, worked with Melissa Ledbetter, the school system’s homeless liaison, to come up with profiles for 30 students in the school system who are homeless for people to help during the holidays. Billings set up a tree at the Career Center and people have already committed to helping all 30 students.

Students at Carter High School baked decorated cookie ornaments to put on the tree.

And, earlier this week, culinary-arts students at the Career Center cooked Thanksgiving dinner for people in the community. You will find that story at Early Thanksgiving

Knollwood Baptist is at 330 Knollwood Street. For more information about Pie Fest, go to Habitat for Humanity

Carver Students Reach Goal in Food Drive

Loftin and students with Harmon

At Carver High School, students in Shonticia Loftin’s Foods classes organized a campaign to collect food for the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina.

This morning, Chuck Harmon, who is the manager of food drives for Second Harvest, came over to Carver to pick up the more than 200 items that students collected.

On hand to help were students Jovell Moore, Tionne Adams and Jayliah Thompson. Adams said that she was all for “helping people who need it.”

“I liked that everybody contributed and it was for a helping cause,” said Thompson, who is a freshman.

“I think it was good helping the community out,” Moore said.

Harmon had brought a big Second Harvest box to load everything in, and the students joined him in putting green beans, Spam, salmon, pork & beans and other canned goods along with packages of spaghetti and rice into the box.

He put the box on a dolly and headed to his truck.

As part of the campaign, students had visited neighborhoods around the school to let people in the community know about the campaign so that they could participate if they want.

Loftin said that doing that helped make new connections in the community. “When you do good, you get good,” she said.

Chicks Hatch at Lowrance Middle School

For the past three weeks, students in Beth Tucker’s class at Lowrance Middle School have been incubating 20 chicken eggs.

“The kids had to turn the eggs three times a day,” said teacher Bonnie Cristina.

Last night, the first eggs hatched and, by 11 a.m. today, all but a couple of the eggs had hatched. One chick was drying was still drying out in the incubator while the others cavorted in a tub warmed by a heat lamp.

“The kids have been so excited,” Cristina said. “They just love this.”

Principal Valeria Raynor dropped by the classroom with some students, and everyone who wanted to visited with the chicks.

“I loved doing this project,” Tucker said. “We were able to incorporate it through all academic content areas (math, science, social studies, reading/literature) as well as functional life skills. I loved seeing how much the kids enjoyed caring for another life. They took this project very seriously.”

The fertilized eggs came from April Bowman, a 4-H youth development agent with Forsyth County Cooperative Extension. After a few more days at Lowrance, Bowman will pick them up and they will grow up on a farm. 

Bowman came to Lowrance to train Tucker and Cristina provided all of the resources, curriculum, and the eggs.

“I would highly recommend the embryology program,” Tucker said. “4-H is a great partnership to have within our school system to enhance the learning of our students.”

Student Government at Glenn High School Organizes Holly Day Sale for Dec. 6

Saturday December 6^th 9am - 3pm

Glenn High School Cafeteria

GHSHollyDay@gmail.com

Over 60 vendors

Holiday Crafts, Decorations & Wreaths!

Handmade, Painted, Sewn/Knitted, Wooden, Stationary, Books, Toys, Clothing & Personalized!

Gifts for Friends, Family, Children, Babies, & Pets!

Above the Norm Designs

Adriana Chase Jewelry

Adoor Décor Designs

Aixa Marie Gift Baskets

Arbonne Skin Care

Avon Skin Care

B&B Soaps and Plants

Beaded Sunshine

Beauticontrol Skin Care

Carolina Kidz Clothing

Charity Sue Design Studio

Cookie Lee Jewelry

Creations and Recreations

Creations by DreamLady

D&P Creations

Dear Henry Design

Diesels Dogalicious Desserts

doTerra Natural Oils

Get It To Go Bakery

Healthy Home Company

It Works!

Jamberry Nails

Kinder Keepsakes

Lily Leaf Soaps

La Palette Artisan Chocolates

Ma-Lis’ Crafts & Jewelry

MacDougall Sauces

Mama DEE’Sserts

Mary Kay Skin Care

Mother Nature Soaps

Novelty Joe’s DBA Sports

Not Your Old Socks

Oh Sew Cute by Linda

Origami Owl Jewelry

Pampered Chef Cookware

Perfectly Posh

Pierce Pearls

Premier Jewelry

Ring Weaver Designs

Sandy Moss Jewelry Designs

Scentsy Gifts

Smile Starters Dentistry

Stampin’ Up

Sunshine Styles

Stella & Dot

Sweet Morning Farm

Tastefully Simple Food

Thirty-One Bags & Gifts

Tupperware Products

Unbeadable Times

Wood-N-Things

Younique Skin Care

Also Breakfast, Lunch, Snacks, Baked Goods, Coffee & Drinks

For information only. This is not a program of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools. It is not endorsed or supported by the school system.

Poet Works with Students at East Forsyth High School

Laura York’s English I students at East Forsyth High School are enjoying a four-day visit from poet-in-residence Chuck Sullivan. Sullivan is a published poet from Charlotte and has been doing residencies in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia for more than thirty-five years. 

He told students, “Poets save the things that have been lost in time…and it is the poet’s job to say as much as possible in as few words as possible.”  Sullivan is teaching students the value of poetry and how our own experiences can help us create beautiful and meaningful writing. 

York commented that many students who struggle and lack confidence are making fast progress, meaningful connections, and beautiful poetry. 

Sullivan is guiding the students in a workshop style forum to build and create powerful and meaningful images that connect the abstract to the concrete.  Abstract ideas like “time” and “secrets” are connected to concrete images using simile and metaphor. Mr. Sullivan emphasizes to students that for a poem to be a poem it must contain metaphor. 

Media coordinator, Mary Naber, who is also working closely with the classes, received a grant from the Kernersville Chamber to fund the event at East Forsyth High School. 

   

Students in Foods Classes at Carver High School Collecting Food for Second Harvest Food Bank

At Carver High School, students in Shonticia Loftin’s Foods classes have started a campaign to collect food for the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina.

As part of the campaign, students visited neighborhoods around the school to let people in the community know about the campaign so that they could participate if they want.

“Each class had their own sections of the neighborhoods to visit,” Loftin said. “Many of the students took on leadership roles and self-designated themselves to be the speaker for the class. Other students were excited to visit the neighborhoods because they knew family and friends. We collected some donations but others requested that we return so they could have time to select items.

Later, students put together information packets and distributed them in neighborhoods.

The goal is to collect 200 items.

  

Students in Foods Classes at Carver High School Take Behind-the-Scenes Tour of CiCi's Pizza

On Thursday, students in Shonticia Loftin’s Foods classes at Carver High School took a behind-the-scenes tour of CiCi’s Pizza on Reynolda Road.

“They did a really, really good job,” Loftin said.

“Students met the store manager (Mr. Shannon) and the shift manager (Ms. Ginger) and asked questions,” she said. “Some questions included: ‘What happens to the food at night?’ ‘Is it donated to homeless shelters?’ ‘What determines the amount of pizza you make?’ ‘How many pounds of ingredients do you average a day?’ All questions reflected objectives discussed in class.”

While they were touring the restaurant’s kitchen, they learned more about such topics as sanitation procedures and reading food labels. They learned about making pizza dough and then made their own personal pan pizzas.

“Then they had the opportunity to enjoy the buffet,” Loftin said.

Thirty-eight students participated.  

 “They represented Carver really well,” she said. “Students displayed superior Carver Nation Pride and exuded dynamic behavior and mannerisms! We had a fabulous time!”

Charlotte Ballet Works with Students at Reynolds High School

In the Nov. 13 issue of the Winston-Salem Journal, reporter Arika Herron writes about the Charlotte Ballet working with students at Reynolds High School. Photographer David Rolfe took the pictures. Here is an excerpt:

By the time Charlotte Ballet’s second company took the stage Wednesday night at Reynolds High School’s auditorium, the dancers and Reynolds High School students had already put in a full day’s work.

The performance featured 50 dancers from Reynolds and eight professionals from the Charlotte Ballet in a modern ballet production titled “Black, Blue and Green.” The piece is about black history, blues music and environmental science. Those weren’t the only lessons taught through dance, though.

Performers met with students earlier in the day in a variety of Reynolds classes. The collaboration is part of Reynolds’ fall campuswide arts experience, an annual event where the school brings in artists to assist with lessons in many different subject areas. Last year, electric violinist Mark Wood aided in a physics lesson about sound waves before performing with Reynolds students.

While last year’s theme was self-expression and awareness, this year is all about social justice and human rights. Karen Morris, arts magnet director at Reynolds, said that students have been exploring the topic in their classes. Teachers also received professional development in using dance and movement in all classes before the company’s arrival, Morris said.

Wednesday morning, Charlotte Ballet apprentice Ben Youngstone shared the stage with dozens of Reynolds students to assist in English, math, anatomy and physics lessons. The English students read their own poetry while Youngstone performed improvisational dance along with it, using the subject matter, cadence and tenor of the students’ voices as inspiration.

For the complete story, go to Winston-Salem Journal

Main Street Academy Students Visit Civil Rights Museum in Greensboro

Marilyn Holder, S. Dalton, Joe Miller and Garrett Davis with students

On Nov. 10, students at Main Street Academy participated in a tour of the Civil Rights Museum in Greensboro. During the tour, students were able to view artifacts and learn about individuals in the Civil Rights Movement. By the conclusion of the tour, students were able to identify and verbalize the courage and resilience of many people during the Civil Rights Movement.

Miracle Harris, a sophomore at Main Street Academy, was very excited about visiting the museum. “I’m very proud of my ancestry. I’m amazed that America would treat African-Americans as second-class citizens simply because of our race.”

Alaja Dixon, a freshman at Main Street, was very excited to learn more about her history. “It was interesting to me to learn how life was in America before desegregation. I’m also glad to learn more about persons who fought for our civil rights besides Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks.”

Courtney Prevette, a sophomore at Main Street, was intrigued by what she learned about her country. “I learned a great deal about how bad America was. I’m glad the country appears to be trying to change.”

Marilyn Holder, a teacher at Main Street Academy and the organizer of the trip, was very pleased with the outcome. “This is the type of exposure we have planned for our students at Main Street Academy. We have an excellent group of children and they deserve the best that we have to offer”.

Women in STEM Day at Atkins Academic & Technology High School

On Nov. 8, a program called Women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) was held at Atkins Academic & Technology High School. Participants included students from Atkins, Walkertown High School, Downtown Middle School, Southeast Middle School, Hanes Magnet School, Paisley IB Magnet School and Brunson Elementary School.

One purpose of the event was to motivate girls to follow their dreams and explore their talents, said Atkins teacher Monika Vasili.

“All students enjoyed being in this event,” Vasili said. “They loved all the activities that Atkins female students had prepared for them.”

Speakers included Toni Wilkins of Monsanto, Anne E. Loccisano of Reynolds American, Jennifer Burg of Wake Forest University and WFU students Makenzie Whitner and Riana Freedman. Students were able to chat with the speakers, and activities included biotechnology, engineering, game design and fashion design.

Vasili said that she wanted to thank Kim Marion, who is the school system’s program manager for magnet schools and STEM programs; all the business partners; the schools that participated; and Atkins teachers Terry Howerton and Kevin Hamilton, who, along with parents, helped Vasili to organize the event.

“I am looking forward to next year's event,” Vasili said.

Business partners for the event included:
Carolina Liquid Chemistries
Caterpillar
Davenport
Forsyth Technical Community College
SciWorks
Volvo Winston-Salem State University Life Science

Wake Forest University Biology and Chemistry
WFU Computer Programming
WFU Nanotechnology
WFU Documentary Film

Monsanto
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.

Carter High School Students Help Show Animals at Dixie Classic and N. C. State Fair

Carter student Alexandra Howerton with youth exhibitor 

For the past few years, students at Carter High School have been showing animals at the Dixie Classic and N.C. State fairs.

Often the Carter students do that in partnership with a youth exhibitor. Sometimes, the connections made the first year lead to continuing to show with the same youth exhibitor in following years. Even after the Carter students graduate, they may continue the partnership.

The fair tradition continued this year. 

"I would like to thank all the people at the Dixie Classic and State Fair for all of the many wonderful things they do to make this event so very special for the students and their families," said Claudette Goodwin, who teaches agriculture at Carter. "It means a lot to them, and it means a lot to me."

Wyatt Kendall with Carter alum Tiffiny Boyd

Carter student Chase Smothers with youth exhibitor Clayton Leonard

Youth exhibitor Madison Sifford with Carter student Andy Mazza

Carter alum German Garcia with Carol Turner