Schedule Changes - Mon, Dec. 8

Sullivan County is on a 2-hour delay Monday, December 8. As a result, the daytime performance of the 3rd Grade Program will be at 2pm instead of 10am as previously scheduled.

Food Drive for Kitchen of Hope

A previous blog post described the third grade's adoption of the Kitchen of Hope as their annual Christmas service project. In lieu of doing a $5 gift exchange, the students voted instead to bring in items that are greatly needed by the Kitchen of Hope, an organization in downtown Kingsport that feeds hungry people every day. Below is a picture of the Kitchen of Hope that appeared in a Times-News article back in February.


We are thrilled to report that a caring 4th grade parent was inspired by this project and is working with the third grade teachers to involve the whole school in supporting Kitchen of Hope. A flyer was sent home Friday describing the school-wide effort. If you are out shopping this weekend, please consider picking up a few extra items and sending them in to school by Friday, December 12. There will be collection containers throughout the school, or you can give your items to your homeroom teacher.

Items needed are:
canned green beans
canned soup
macaroni noodles
canned corn
baked beans
paper towels
napkins
plain styrofoam plates
plastic forks
plastic spoons
toilet paper
instant tea
12 oz. and 14 oz styrofoam cups
monetary donations

Thanks as always for being such a caring community!

Conrad's Crafty Critters

Mrs. Conrad's first grade class had their Christmas Crafts today, December 4. They had a fun day of activities planned. They made ornaments for Christmas trees that are on display in their classroom. They also made stockings and t-shirts. The boys' shirts were reindeer and the girls' shirts were angels - made from feet and hand prints.


Mrs. Conrad's class also made blankets and handmade Christmas cards to deliver to a local nursing home. In all they had a fun and exciting day!



Thanks to Cheryl Gray for submitting this post!

Third Grade Holiday Service Project

Over the years, the third grade classes have chosen to help someone in need rather than do a classroom gift exchange. This year's third grade is providing some much-needed help to the Kitchen of Hope in downtown Kingsport. A recent article in the Times-News highlighted the struggles that Kitchen of Hope is facing, with costs increasing and donations decreasing, all at a time when more people than ever are in need. The Kitchen of Hope was founded and is run by Mrs. Geraldine Swagerty through the Full Gospel Mission Church on Sevier Avenue. The kitchen serves a meal at 3:30 each afternoon to between 65-125 people, from elderly folks down to children of 2 or 3 years old. Our big-hearted third graders will be bringing in food items, paper products, and monetary donations, all of which will be presented by them to Mrs. Swagerty on the afternoon of Monday, December 15th.

Third graders, we are very proud of you and thankful to your teachers for encouraging you in this very worthwhile service project.

Thanks to Mrs. Counts for providing the information for this post!

Fourth Graders Strut Their Stuff

A rite of passage for fourth graders at Indian Springs is learning to recite all our American presidents in order. Mrs. T. Calhoun has been teaching fourth graders their presidents for years via her own invention - a catchy, rhythmic chant. Parents of fourth graders past and present (and their siblings) can probably recite stretches of this chant themselves - it sticks with you!

Below we have our first two video clips on this blog. First, Mrs. T gives us an introduction, and then you see the 90 or so fourth graders give a group performance. The second clip takes a minute or two to load, so be patient.

Enjoy!

The Spirit of Giving

The fourth grade enjoyed Christmas crafts on November 25th. As part of craft day, each child made a fleece lap blanket for a nursing home resident and decorated a nice Christmas card to go along with it. All ~90 blankets and cards will be delivered to the nursing home in December. Thanks to the teachers and homeroom volunteers who make our wonderful Christmas crafts days possible!

Thanks for the Successful Book Fair!

Mr. Dale reports that our total sales for this year's Scholastic Book Fair were $8500, an awesome total given the state of the economy! Our library will get back about 30% of that total to spend on improvements - this year the goal is to convert to a web-based Accelerated Reader (AR) program and to replace our library's 15-year old checkout system with something more technologically up to date. Thanks so much to all who supported the book fair through their purchases and/or volunteer hours. We had THIRTY (30) volunteers who worked at the book fair in various capacities, which is almost as exciting as the sales total. Thanks for giving of yourselves to support the school!

We're Red, White, and Blue for Books at ISE!

Our Scholastic Book Fair is in full swing at Indian Springs. The library is full to overflowing with a colorful array of books and merchandise - just in time for early Christmas shopping! The book fair runs all week, so be sure to stop by if you haven't already!


We kicked off the book fair with a fun Family Night on Monday, November 10. Thanks to all who came out with their families to enjoy the shopping opportunities, games, and good times. In keeping with the patriotic theme this year, Uncle Sam was on hand to answer questions and help point shoppers in the right direction.


Uncle Sam (a.k.a. Mr. Dale, of course) showing his patriotic spirit and enthusiasm for our book fair event!


Book Fair takes a great number of volunteers on Family Night and all week long. We are so fortunate to have had many volunteers pledge their time this week to make the Book Fair a success! Thanks to all you ladies and gentlemen who helped run the games and cash register at family night, are helping with sales duties and money counting during the school day this week, and will help with tear down next week. You are very much appreciated!!

What is the Clinic?

Our last post explained all about what Nurse Laura does for our school. Now we'll explain what the Clinic does and how the Clinic differs from the nurse's office.

In the pod, across from the Nurse's office, is our Indian Springs Red Cross Clinic.
Lisa Lambert, one of our Clinic co-chairs, gave us this description of the Clinic and how it fits in to the school (thanks Lisa!):

The school clinic is provided through the American Red Cross School Clinic Program and is separate from the school nurse program. All clinic workers are volunteers who have taken a Red Cross Clinic training course, have completed a background check, and have worked for 10 hours with a trained clinic volunteer. Although a few volunteers have a medical background, most do not. The Clinic must follow all rules and guidelines set forth by the Red Cross. Volunteers may not attempt to diagnose, give medications, or even remove splinters (even if that volunteer is a nurse or other medical professional). Those types of issues are left to the school nurse. But the Clinic volunteers can do many things which frees up our school nurse and teachers to do what they are hired to do. The Clinic volunteers can take temperatures, apply bandages and ice packs, offer crackers and Sprite for upset tummies, and provide comfort and TLC to our students. They even keep some spare items of clothing for students who may have spilled something or gotten sick on theirs. So when the Clinic volunteer calls you about your child complaining of a sore throat, please understand why they will not be able to tell you what your child's throat looks like. They are following the rules that have been established by the Red Cross. You might also like to know that not all schools in Sullivan County have a Clinic. It takes space and willing volunteers to have a Clinic. We are fortunate at Indian Springs to have both!

We appreciate our dedicated Clinic volunteers who provide such a valuable service to Indian Springs!

What Does Our School Nurse Do?

Everyone recognizes this door, right?


But do you know the lady whose office is behind it, Nurse Laura, and what she does at Indian Springs every day?


Laura Jennings, RN, is our school nurse, of course, but her job involves far more than just taking temperatures and handing out band-aids.

Nurse Laura has been at Indian Springs for 8 years. As the school nurse, Laura is an employee of the Sullivan County Health Department. She is contracted out to the Board of Education to serve Indian Springs Elementary. We are lucky to have Nurse Laura all to ourselves. Some school nurses must cover two schools every day.

The role of the school nurse has evolved over the years. School nurses have taken on more and more responsibility in terms of helping children with chronic health issues remain in school. In this vein, our own Nurse Laura does a variety of daily procedures at Indian Springs such as catheterizations, blood glucose checks, and feeding tubes. She also administers all prescription medications and treats asthmatic patients by doing peak flow meters and giving inhaler and nebulizer treatments. Administering these treatments for chronic conditions are a high priority for Nurse Laura each day.

In addition to these procedures, Laura also gives all over-the-counter medications, treats injuries, and follows up on all accident reports. Laura keeps track of all the medical conditions and allergies of the people who work and learn at Indian Springs and works with the cafeteria staff and others as needed to make sure everyone stays safe. Her role involves participation on the disaster preparedness team at ISE and she also chairs the Health and Safety committee for the PTA, where she tries to teach a health/safety topic to the students each month. Laura also works with families with financial difficulties to obtain medication and health care. She oversees the medical aspects of school events such as Grandparents Day, Mega Party, Field Day, Walkathon, etc. This is only an abbreviated list of what Laura does at ISE each day - whew!

Since she has been at ISE, some of the more serious issues Nurse Laura has dealt with are staff with strokes, a staff member with a heart attack, a grandmother who fell and fractured her hip at grandparents' day, serious cuts, broken bones, and teachers in preterm labor.

As you can see, Laura is VERY busy and plays a huge role in keeping everyone at our school safe. We are very thankful for her!

Now, you might ask, what goes on in the Red Cross Clinic located near the Nurse's office?

Stay tuned for an upcoming post to find out!