While students are enjoying their summer break, Pat Costa, a fifth grade teacher at Crabapple Lane Elementary, will become a student of the 2011 Mickelson ExxonMobil Teachers Academy.
Costa was selected from more than 1,500 third through fifth-grade teachers nationwide who applied to attend the one-week, all expenses paid, professional development program for the teaching of math and science. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and the National Science Teachers Association chose the participants based on their qualifications, dedication to inspiring students at an early age, and their overall commitment to enhancing the teaching profession.
Costa is the only teacher from Fayette County, and one of 13 from Georgia, selected to attend the academy. Only 200 nationwide were chosen.
The Mickelson ExxonMobil Teachers Academy will take place July 17-22 at Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, New Jersey.
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Friday, April 01, 2011
Crabapple Lane Teacher To Attend Math/Science Academy This Summer
Monday, December 20, 2010
Walmart Gives $2,000 to Peachtree City ASP
A total of $2,000 in Walmart Community Grant checks has been given to seven Peachtree City After School Programs (ASP).
The Walmart in Peachtree City presented the grants to programs at Braelinn, Crabapple Lane, Huddleston, Kedron, Oak Grove, Peachtree City, and Peeples elementary schools. Each program has its own plans for the money. Some sites will purchase art supplies, crafts, and playground equipment, while others will fund science and math programming. One site will use their funds to pay tuition for three children to attend ASP so that their single mom can keep her newfound job.
“We are extremely grateful for the generosity the Peachtree City Walmart has extended to our programs. This money will be used to enhance student activity areas and to create an enjoyable environment for our students,” says Julia Simpson, director of ASP.
ASP provides services to school age children within the school buildings where they attend day school; the program operates from the end of the school day until 6:30 p.m. Funding is through parent fees, grants and donations. All donations are tax-deductible. For more information about ASP, call 770-460-3990, ext. 255.
The Walmart Foundation strives to provide opportunities that improve the lives of individuals in communities including customers and associates through financial contributions, in-kind donations and volunteerism. The corporation’s philosophy of operating globally and giving back locally involves store associates in determining how Walmart Foundation dollars are used to support causes that are important to them.
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Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Elementary Students Score High at Science Olympiad, Kedron Takes Third
Elementary scientists proved they have what it takes to solve scientific problems at the 2010 Elementary State Science Olympiad held at Kennesaw State University this past weekend.
Fayette County had six school teams competing against 60 others from throughout the state. Kedron Elementary finished in the top three, taking third place overall.
“I am very proud of our students. They worked hard for this victory; it is an honor for our school to be ranked in the top three in the entire state,” says Kedron Principal Mary Margaret Bivings.
Both Oak Grove and Peeples finished in the top 10, taking sixth and eighth place, respectively. Rounding out the top 20 were Crabapple Lane and Braelinn with 14th and 15th place wins, respectively. Huddleston finished 21st out of 66 teams.
The schools swept “Rock Hounds” in the individual events with Kedron taking first place, Huddleston second and Oak Grove third. Other individual event wins include: “Water Rockets” – Kedron, first and Braelinn, second; “Which Way” – Peeples, first; “Simple Machines” – Peeples, third; “Name Scientist” – Kedron, third; “My Architecture” – Oak Grove, third; “Disease Detectives” – Crabapple Lane, third; Bridge Building” – Oak Grove, third; and “Barge Building” – Peeples, third.
Elementary Science Olympiad is an inquiry-based, hands-on program that covers earth, life, and physical science topics. It also incorporates both engineering and technological principals in a meaningful and relevant manner. Additionally, Science Olympiad provides students with a variety of highly engaging activities that naturally generate interest, enthusiasm and passion for scientific exploration.
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Saturday, January 30, 2010
Finalists Named for Fayette County Teacher of the Year
Friday is usually the favorite day of the week for most people, and for three teachers, it was a day that they will not soon forget.
The Teacher of the Year prize patrol made surprise classroom visits on January 29 congratulating the three finalists selected to vie for the 2010 Fayette County Teacher of the Year title. The three finalists are Sally Meyer, Crabapple Lane Elementary; Jamie Munoz, Bennett’s Mill Middle; and Carrie Collins, Peeples Elementary. The winner will be announced on April 22, 6 p.m., during the Teacher of the Year ceremony at New Hope Baptist Church, North Campus.
For Sally Meyer, a gifted teacher at Crabapple Lane Elementary, a career in education was not her first choice. She was a s
uccessful banker, a highly ranked employee who enjoyed her work, but was unsatisfied.
“Have you ever felt like a misfit? That’s how I felt. The corporate culture left me unsatisfied because every decision I made was impersonal,” she says.
She decided to change careers and become a teacher because school had always been a positive place where she felt successful. Now, she applies what she learned in banking to make real life connections to math and social studies.
Meyer creates her own teaching units that focus on the Georgia Performance Standards. Her original curriculum integrates subjects and links real life to school.
“I enthusiastically share my sense of wonder and love of learning through original units that require critical thinking, are based on my own learning adventures and make specific connections to real life outside of school,” she says.
Meyer has presented her original teaching units at annual conferences and some of them have received awards and honors from various organizations. They are also used as part of the curriculum for gifted students in the Fayette County Public School System.
Although she has received recognitions for her teaching accomplishments, she says the accomplishment that makes her most proud is the impact she has on children everyday.
“I see it in the excitement and pride shown when they have worked through their frustration and finally understand a concept. I feel it in my heart when I have to say good-bye or when I read the newspaper and learn that one of my former students accomplished a personal goal,” she says.
Meyer sets high expectations for her students and tells them that when a brain is stretched, it says “thank you.” When her students struggle, she praises their efforts and facilitates progress by tutoring, developing specialized lessons and sponsoring clubs.
Looking back on her decision to leave the corporate world to be become a teacher, Meyer says she has no regrets.
“Twelve years later, I still love teaching; it is the perfect career match for me. It has allowed me to make decisions with my heart, not just my head, and seeing the positive impact I have had on adolescents has been exceptionally rewarding,” she says.
Meyer has taught for 12 years in the Fayette County Public School System. She started her teaching career at Peeples Elementary and has worked at Cleveland, Tyrone and Robert J. Burch elementary schools prior to teaching at Crabapple Lane.
Like her colleague, Jamie Munoz, a science teacher at Bennett’s Mill Middle, didn’t dream about becoming a teacher when she was young. Instead see dreamed about a corner office 
with a wall of windows, a leather chair and a big executive desk. She was on her way to achieving this dream, majoring in accounting at the University of Georgia, when her dream started to change.
She volunteered for a nonprofit organization, Reading is Fundamental, and worked with second grade students at a local elementary school where she discovered she enjoyed watching them grow in their reading skills. A summer job as a camp counselor later solidified her decision to change her major to education.
Munoz says part of being a great teacher is the willingness to want to entertain students to help them learn. She says building relationships with students is integral to their success. Students learn more if they respect, enjoy and feel connected to the teacher.
“I am willing to stand on my head, to amuse, for the sake of students’ learning. If learning can be both educational and fun, why not capitalize on both,” she asks.
Much of the learning that occurs in her classroom is hands-on, interactive and collaborative. Students often work cooperatively within groups because the shared effort requires students to employ communication and critical thinking skills. She also utilizes students’ interest in music and technology.
“I teach students songs and raps with lyrics depicting scientific concepts, and I encourage students to take advantage of the innovative technology to access relevant science data and present their findings,” Munoz says.
Munoz loves watching students experience light bulb moments and delights in the fact that she is the reason they are able to grasp complex scientific theories.
“Although I may not have a corner office with a wall of windows as I had once planned, my classroom is on the corner of the sixth grade and main hallways, and the view into the delicate minds of our future is often breathtaking,” she says.
Munoz has been teaching in the Fayette County Public School System for 10 years. She began at Whitewater Middle as a science, math and reading teacher before moving to Bennett’s Mill.
Carrie Collins, a kindergarten teacher at Peeples Elementary, always knew she wanted to be a teacher, more specif
ically, a kindergarten teacher. She loved playing school with her sisters, but her real inspiration was her kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Walker.
“She had a way of making me feel special in a classroom full of students needing the same attention. She was interested in my life and that made me interested in hers,” says Collins.
Collins tries to emulate Mrs. Walker in her classroom by forming relationships with students, motivating those who seem impossible to motivate and inspiring students that need the extra push to be all that they can and more.
“It makes me feel wonderful to reach a student who struggles academically, socially or behaviorally. I know I have made a profound impact when these types of students look forward to coming into my classroom, smile when they see me outside of school, and send me notes years after completing kindergarten,” she says.
Collins realizes that students learn at different levels; she sets up her classroom so that high performing students are challenged and those who need extra help are equally supported. One way she engages all learners is by creating songs with motions to teach everything from oceans and continents to money skills.
“I know all students can learn and achieve at high levels if given appropriate resources and adequate time,” she says.
She also believes that students need to feel safe and have a sense of belonging in order to learn. She says her students feel comfortable working, exploring, taking risks and learning because they think of the classroom as a second home.
“We often take time to acknowledge feelings, celebrate successes, comfort friends, and assist each other with problem solving,” she adds.
Collins has taught in Fayette County for 11 years at Peeples Elementary.
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Monday, May 18, 2009
Crabapple Lane Media Specialist Leaves Her Mark
Retiring Media Specialist Peggy James has put Fayette County's Crabapple Lane Elementary School media center on the map in Georgia.
The elementary school’s media center was named “exemplary” last year by the Georgia Department of Education, an honor that is given to only one school per year. Now, as James gets ready to move on to another chapter in her life, she brings recognition to the school once again as the 2009 Georgia Library Media Association’s Library Media Specialist of the Year.
“Peggy is the reason our students rush to the media center each day. She has transformed our media center into a forest, pirate’s ship, beach in the Bahamas, barnyard with livestock, and a wedding chapel,” says Principal Doe Evans. “She involves our students by having them transport themselves to these far way places. She consistently searches for ways to make her teaching more interesting and informative.”
The award is given for individual excellence in the library media field through service to students, teachers and community at the K-12 levels. The winner must show that she has gone above and beyond what is expected in a normal media program by demonstrating use of innovative techniques, promotion of information technology utilization and literacy, promotion of reading and literature, involvement of parents and/or the community in the library media program, and working collaboratively with the school’s teachers.
As the state winner, James will receive $200, a commemorative plaque and a one-year membership to the Georgia Library Media Association.
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Friday, May 08, 2009
Young Fayette County Mathematicians Showcase Skills at Annual Tournament
Elementary math competitors at the 2009 Fayette County Elementary Math Tournament proved they knew their subject, forcing tiebreakers during the two-day event.
This marked the ninth consecutive year that the school system has hosted the competition for fourth and fifth graders. Teams of three from each of the county’s 17 elementary schools were represented at both levels. Teams were determined through competitions held at each school.
Crabapple Lane Elementary swept both the fourth and fifth grade competition this year, capturing the first place award at each level. John Childers, Samantha Schmid, Cameron Stephens and (alternate) Michael Young represented the fourth grade team; Lota Erinne, Carson Silbert, Josh Trebuchon and (alternate) Asa Smith made up the fifth grade team.
As the first place winner of the fourth and fifth grade competitions, Crabapple Lane’s name will be engraved on the plaque of champions that is displayed in the math classroom at the LaFayette Educational Center.
Rounding out the runner-up teams for the fourth grade division were Peeples Elementary, second place, and Oak Grove Elementary, third. Team members for Peeples included Brian Buck, Nick Palmer, Joshua Tysor and (alternate) Ashley Broderick. The Oak Grove team consisted of Abby Burke, Selina Krieg, Carter Rogers and (alternate) Kevin McBride.
Fayetteville Intermediate and Robert J. Burch Elementary placed second and third, respectively, at the fifth grade competition. Fayetteville Intermediate team members were Lemoine Dillon, Alyssa Jones, Terrence Thompson and (alternate) Benjamin How. Team members representing Burch were Jasmine Clark, Amanda Lockridge, Maria Quintero and (alternate) Shelby Worrell.
“Congratulations to the students who represented their schools at the competition. Thank you to the teachers and parents who have contributed to the students’ love of mathematics. It was a pleasure for me to celebrate mathematics with them,” says Lynn Ridgeway, math coordinator and organizer of the tournament.
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Thursday, April 30, 2009
Fayette County Students Showcase Reading Skills at County Invitational
Fourth and fifth grade teams from all of Fayette County's elementary schools participated in the seventh annual Fayette County Reading Invitational, with each school walking away with awards in both grade levels.
The Reading Invitational is a voluntary event for avid readers in the fourth and fifth grades. Interested students read books from an approved list on their own time, independent from their classroom work. Schools conduct contests to select the students who will make up the teams to represent them at the county level. Awards are given at the gold, silver and bronze level.
Gold Level (4th Grade): Fayetteville Intermediate and Kedron Elementary. (5th Grade): Braelinn Elementary, Robert J. Burch Elementary, Peachtree City Elementary, Peeples Elementary and Spring Hill Elementary.
Silver Level (4th Grade): Braelinn Elementary, Brooks Elementary, Crabapple Lane Elementary, Huddleston Elementary, Inman Elementary, Sara Harp Minter Elementary, Oak Grove Elementary and Spring Hill Elementary. (5th Grade): Brooks Elementary, Crabapple Lane Elementary, Fayetteville Intermediate, Huddleston Elementary, Sara Harp Minter Elementary, Oak Grove Elementary and Tyrone Elementary.
Bronze Level (4th Grade): Robert J. Burch Elementary, Cleveland Elementary, North Fayette Elementary, Peachtree City Elementary, Peeples Elementary and Tyrone Elementary. (5th Grade): Cleveland Elementary, Inman Elementary, Kedron Elementary and North Fayette Elementary.
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