Anderson Observer

McCants Middle School has earned candidate status for the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (MYP). 

The school received written notice of its status from the International Baccalaureate (IB) Organization. As a candidate school, McCants is pursuing authorization as an IB World School. These are schools that share a common philosophy—a commitment to high quality, challenging, international education that McCants and District Five believe is important for our students. 

Only schools authorized by the International Baccalaureate as IB World Schools can offer any of its three academic programmes: the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP), the IB Middle Years Programme (MYP), or the IB Diploma Programme. 

“The McCants community of faculty, staff, students and parents are excited about becoming an IB candidate school and look forward to become an IB authorized school in the future,” said Principal Jacky Stamps. “The IB status will further validate our commitment to providing the highest level of academic instruction possible for our students.”

McCants will now continue the professional training and preparation required by IB as it works toward IB authorization.  If authorized, McCants will become the third IB school in District Five. 

In March, Concord Elementary School was authorized to join the IB Primary Years Programme. At that time, Concord joined just 11 other elementary schools in the state with that status. One month later, T.L. Hanna High School became the 27^th high school statewide authorized as an IB Diploma Programme school. Both Concord and T.L. Hanna will begin the 2010-2011 school year as IB schools. 

“We are proud of the hard work of McCants students, parents, teachers and staff members in achieving candidate status,” said District Five Superintendent Betty Bagley. “Although this status is no guarantee of authorization, I am confident that the McCants community will persevere and be successful. When McCants earns its IB authorization, the result will be an IB track in District Five from kindergarten through high school.”

The IB Programme is nationally and internationally recognized. It encompasses a global approach to learning and provides a challenging program of study. For further information about the IB and its programmes, visit http://www.ibo.org.

Joy Farr of Midway Elementary School of Science and Engineering is among six educators selected for the 2010 AIAA Space Systems Technical Committee STEM award of $500. 

Mrs. Farr serves as the Instructional Facilitator at Midway. Her grant will allow Midway students to continue to experience the engineering design process as they design, build, and program robots during their Project Lead the Way classes. 

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) mission is to address the professional needs and interests of the past, current, and future aerospace workforce and to advance the state of aerospace science, engineering, technology, operations, and policy to benefit our global society.

Ansderson County School District Five offers congratulations to the following Elementary and Middle Strings students and Westside High School Orchestra students who participated in the South Carolina State Orchestra Division Solo and Ensemble Festival held recently at Palmetto High School in Williamston.

Elementary Strings Students:

• Gregory Gilliland (5th grade at Concord), received Superior on his bass solo.
• Jillian Greenlee (2nd grade at Concord), received Superior on her violin solo.
• Tabitha Tinsley (5th grade at McLees), received Superior on her cello solo.
• Anslie Vickery (5th grade at New Prospect), received Superior on her violin solo.

Southwood Middle School:

• Alyssa Davis (6^th grade) received Superior on her violin solo.
• Derone Massey (6^th grade) received Superior on his violin solo.
• Hunter Alewine (6^th grade) received Excellent on his bass solo.
• Alexis Mattison (7^th grade) received Superior on her viola solo.
• Ciera Price (7^th grade) received Superior on her violin solo.
• Sydney Thompson (7^th grade) received Excellent on her violin solo.
• Moea Osbey (7^th grade) received Excellent on her viola solo.
• Broderick Copeland (7^th grade) received Excellent on his bass solo.
• Jacob Jansen (8^th grade) received Superior on his violin solo.
• Gloria Manzo-Loya  (8^th grade) received Excellent on her viola solo.
• Ambra Scott & Dionna Gray (8^th grade) received a Superior on their duet.
• Christine Ines, Alexis Mattison, & Ciera Price (7^th grade) received Excellent on their trio.

Lakeside Middle School:

• Chanel Brown (7^th grade) received an Excellent rating for her performance in a duet with Westside student Justin Brown.
• Erin Tinsley (7^th grade) and Faith Simmons (6^th grade) received Superior ratings for their solos.

Westside High School:

• Cody O'Rear (12), received Superior on his violin solo.
• Cody O'Rear (12, violin), Alyssa Godwin (11, violin), Alex Villa (11, violin), Kyle Whitman (12, violin), Sarah Whitfield (12, viola), Beth Gregory(12, viola), Kandra Godwin (10, cello), Rachel Klauber (10, cello) & Drew Deaton (9, bass), received Excellent on their ensemble performance.
• Alyssa Godwin (11), received Superior on her violin solo.
• Angelina Sanders (11), received Good on her violin solo
• Kimberly McKee (10) & Rachel Klauber (10), received Superior on their violin/cello duet.
• Kayla Wightman (9) & Shay Patterson (9), received Excellent on their violin duet.
• Justin Brown (9) & Drew Deaton (9), received Excellent on their bass duet.
• Anthony Osbey (9), received Superior on his violin solo.
• Kimberly McKee (10) & Alex Villa (11), received Superior on their violin duet.
• Alyssa Godwin (11) & Drew Deaton (9), received Excellent on their violin/bass duet.
• Alyssa Godwin (11) & Alex Villa (11), received Superior on their violin duet.

Fifth Grader Anslie Vickery of New Prospect Elementary School and Eighth Grader Anthony Lewis of Southwood Middle School are among 138 winners statewide of the State Superintendent’s Writing Award.

The purpose of the program is to support the teaching of South Carolina’s academic standards and to provide fifth- and eighth-grade students with opportunities to express themselves through the writing process. 

District winners were selected from class and school winners by a panel of readers. The 2009-10 writing assignments focused on the topic of environmental issues, examining the complexities of protecting the environment and economic issues. 

Essays were judged on their content and development, organization, vocabulary and phrasing, and on the writer’s command of grammar, capitalization, punctuation and spelling. 

“You really can’t underestimate the importance of having solid writing skills in school, in your career or in your home life,” said State Superintendent of Education Jim Rex.  “These students are developing their writing skills while thinking about critical issues that are facing our society today.”

Program coordinator Caroline Savage said the Superintendent’s Writing Award provides an authentic opportunity for students to write. “In order to learn to write well,” she said, “students must write often for a variety of purposes and audiences. As they write more cohesively about increasingly sophisticated ideas, that ensures their academic success.”

McLees Elementary School is one of five South Carolina schools who are winners of the prestigious Exemplary Writing Program Award.

The other schools are are Wren Elementary (Anderson District 1); Summit Drive Elementary (Greenville); Round Top Elementary (Richland District 2); and Ben Hazel Primary (Hampton District 1).

The winners were announced by State Superintendent of Education Jim Rex after a comprehensive five-month evaluation that included site visits. The winning schools will serve as resources for others across the state.

“The ability to communicate effectively is fundamental to a child’s education,” said District Five Superintendent Betty Bagley. “We are proud of the students, parents, teachers and staff at McLees for their hard work in achieving this honor.”

Mrs. Bagley noted that McLees is also one of only two schools in the state to receive the Literacy Spot Award for 2009-2010, which recognizes outstanding emergent literacy programs in primary schools.