SBEC National Honor Society Service Project

On Wednesday, February 22, seventy-seven National Honor Society members had the opportunity to perform service projects for two Boys and Girls Clubs of Memphis.  Cleaning walls, reorganizing bookshelves, raking leaves, picking up trash, cleaning out and reorganizing storage closets, scraping gum off of the gym floors, sweeping and mopping, and moving furniture were just some of the projects the students performed.  The Boys and Girls clubs of Memphis provide children and teenagers a safe place to stay after school where they can play, eat, do homework, use computers and interact with good role models.  It was the National Honor Society’s privilege and pleasure to be of service to this highly beneficial and productive organization.

From Our 3rd Grade Classrooms

The 3^rd grade classes recently had an exciting day using the laptop computers in the classroom. Students used the computers for several subjects during the day. Spelling is more fun on the computer!In Science we are studying weather. The classes participated in a web quest created by the teachers. Students had several tasks to complete. There were videos to watch and questions to answer. The weather videos were informative and fun to watch. Everyone could move at his or her own pace and learn in a variety of ways. After the first class was able to use the computers, the other classes were anxiously waiting for their classes’ turn too! Technology is great. The third graders can hardly wait for another chance to use the computers again.

Delayne Morris
3rd Grade Teacher

Social Studies at SBEC

One of SBEC’s diversified departments is Social Studies.  Students participate in a number of different courses and activities.

Elaine Jenkins, government teacher, took 21 students to the YMCA sponsored Youth in Government Conference held on February 9, 2012, at Getwell Road United Methodist Church.  Schools from the Desoto County area wrote and submitted bills to be considered by the Mississippi State Legislature. Three bills from SBEC were voted Outstanding: Carly Miller’s bill “De-Criminalizing Mental Illness,” Wesley Pena’s bill “Voter Registration in High Schools,” and “Personhood” submitted by Sebastian Galante, Matt DeBerry, and Jakin Delony.  Additionally, three students were chosen as Outstanding Delegates-Sebastian Galante, Charlie Moser, and Chase Waldrip.

Abby Johnson and Will Matheson represented SBEC at the presentation of “Pennies for the Holocaust” at Horn Lake Middle School.  The memorial to the children who lost their lives will be constructed at this location using the actual pennies collected.  The Social Studies Department led the drive to collect pennies.

This month the seventh grade has learned about the Industrial Revolution in America.  At the end of the month students will present three paragraphs and a visual on a topic of their choosing from the chapter.  The eighth grade is completing the study of World War II.  Coach Daniels and his father were invited to share the story of the coach’s grandfather who stormed the beach at Omaha Beach on D-day. Students then passed around the bible that he carried during the war.  At the end of the month these students will present their Decade Projects.  This is a group project that students have worked on since early January.  They were assigned a decade from the 1920s to the 1980s to research.  On the day of their presentation, they will have a class period to share the fads, fashion, presidents, headlines, music, tv or radio programs, movies, food, and sporting events of the decade.

Brad Gentry’s economics class has begun the personal budget project; Sam Pearson’s world history class is studying the Ottoman Empire and the Muslim religion; and Brad Kimberlin’s  Mississippi Studies class is investigating antebellum society.

Eleventh grade American history students are preparing posters to honor African Americans for Black History month.

Ann Tapp

Social Studies Department

The 100th Day of School

Thursday, January the 26 was the 100^th day of school at SBEC!  There was a lot of excitement as the first grade participated in many fun activities using the number 100! The students colored a headband and silly glasses that had the number 100 on them and got to wear them all day.  They made a funny booklet that had all sorts of sentences they finished concerning 100 items. Throughout the day we did activities like doing jumping jacks counting by 5’s and 10’s to 100, estimating how long 100 seconds was and sorting 100 small objects they had brought from home to sort into groups of 5’s and 10’s. Each class made a 100 piece snack by counting out 10 different items to put in a trail mix. In the afternoon, the classes rotated to each first grade teacher’s class to do a math activity.  Mrs. Hall had the students build structures with 100 pattern blocks, Mrs. Camp had the students work 100 piece puzzles, Mrs. Vanderford had the students draw what they might look like in 100 years and where they might be in 100 years and Mrs. Quinlan had the students connect unifix cubes together to estimate how long 100 inches would be.  Overall, the students had a fun and educational day using the number 100!
Bridgette Quinlan
1st Grade Teacher

High School REACH

SBEC’s Junior High/High School REACH program serves students with diagnosed learning difficulties by providing additional instruction, training, and support needed for success in SBEC’s college-preparatory curriculum. The REACH program is designed to meet the educational needs of students eligible for and accepted into the program in at least two capacities.

On an as-needed basis, students receive instruction within the REACH classroom for core curriculum which includes language arts and math. Teacher-student ratios in these classrooms range from 1 to 3 to 1 to 10. These classes are minimally modified for pace and content. All REACH teachers have advanced degrees in special education and are trained and experienced in equipping students to achieve objectives of the curriculum despite the presence of a variety of learning challenges. REACH teachers maintain high expectations and standards appropriate for adequate preparation for post-secondary pursuits.

REACH teachers also monitor and support the classes their students are enrolled in outside the REACH classroom. Their supervision during the students’ study halls provide structure and encourage consistency in meeting the requirements of the regular classroom. Weekly communication with parents regarding the activities, progress, and concerns of both regular and REACH classrooms is maintained.

The REACH program is privileged to serve wonderful, capable students committed to hard work and a disciplined approach to accomplishing their goals. The program partners with parents as the REACH teachers determine how best to help students achieve positive educational outcomes. The program’s effectiveness is evidenced by the many reports of students who leave the program and successfully achieve their goals both at two-year colleges and four-year universities.

Janice Maynard
REACH Teacher

Hall of Heroes

We all need heroes.  Some of our heroes may be historical figures, sports athletes, or even movie stars.  At SBEC we want our students to learn more about Christian heroes, role models whose lives challenge us to live for the Lord.  A. W. Tozer wrote, “Next to the Holy Scriptures, the greatest aid to the life of faith may be Christian biographies.”  To encourage our students to choose Christian heroes to emulate, our sixth grade students presented the Hall of Heroes on Dec. 14.

During the first semester our 6^th grade students studied “My Spiritual Journey” an adaptation of Henry Blackaby’s Experiencing God for Pre-Teens.  The purpose of this study was to help preteens learn how to develop a continuing love relationship with God that is real and personal. Along with this study, the 6^th graders read a Christian biography.  These biographies were about the lives of great missionaries, evangelists, scientists, authors, and others who gave their lives in service to God. 

After reading about a Christian hero, the students wrote a book report as part of their reading class.  They also chose at least two creative ways to share what they had learned about their Christian hero.  Some students dressed as their hero or as someone from the people group their hero served.  Some students served food from or drew maps of their hero’s country.  Others made time lines of key events in their hero’s lives or even shadow boxes of their hero.   

The 6^th graders used the items on Wed., Dec. 14, to share about their hero with the other elementary students.  Displays were set up in the Trojan Hall gym, and the 6th graders were visited by students who listened as they told about the Christian heroes they had studied.  We hope our Hall of Heroes projects inspired some of our students to become Christian heroes too!

Cindy Brassell

Elementary Bible Teacher

From Our High School English Department

Considered one of SBEC’s more colorful departments, our high school English instructors continually involve their students in a wide range of studies and activities. Currently, Mrs. Turner’s seventh graders are concentrating on the modes of writing. Placed in teams, the students are assigned persuasive paragraphs to write regarding the topic of school uniforms.  They then share these paragraphs for the purpose of persuading classmates to accept their viewpoints.  While our seventh graders are engaged in writing, Mrs. Smith’s eighth graders are constructing poetry portfolios.  A favorite project of many, this portfolio contains a variety of selected poems gathered from diverse sources.  Original pieces written by the student are also included, and the entire portfolio is then illustrated.  Similarly, Ms. Holbrook’s freshmen find themselves in the midst of poetry as they voyage with Odysseus in Homer’s Odyssey, the blind minstrel’s second epic. During this unit the classes will construct collages representing the tremendous impact of this work upon modern society, as well as maps of the famous journey, family trees of the Greek gods, and travel agency brochures showcasing legendary sites. While Ms. Holbrook’s freshmen are immersed in literature set in 1200 B.C., Miss Holland’s sophomores venture to the 1800s, completing Alexander Dumas’s novel The Count of Monte Cristo and taking part in a mock trial, complete with personally designed period costumes.  A return to writing occurs in Mrs. Anderson’s AP English class as her juniors practice writing synthesis essays in preparation for the AP exam later in the year.  At the same time, Honors 11 students are in the middle of a short story unit that includes Southern writers William Faulkner, Flannery O’ Conner, and Eudora Welty. Finally, Mrs. Turner’s AP English 12 students are producing poetry power point projects while Mrs. Smith’s and Ms. DeFrehn’s seniors write their own “modest proposals” based upon the Jonathan Swift satire.  Obviously, the SBEC English department is a favorite among students, who know these teachers are committed to the success of each one of their students.

Tommie Holbrook

English Department