Playground TLC

We would like to thank our playground co-chairs, Cindy Buckingham and Toby Lett, for arranging to have our big playground structure pressure-washed this past week in preparation for the new school year. My children played in it last night and pronounced it squeaky-clean!

Due to the lack of a water supply down on the playground, a pressure-washing service that brings its own water was called in. $200 from the PTA playground budget was spent on this cleaning. These are your PTA dollars at work to keep things nice for your kids!

Raised Bed #2 is Finished!

Sara Manis installed our new raised bed in the landscaped area in front of the school this week. This was one of the special projects approved at the May 09 PTA meeting. The new bed provides another island of color and interest in our pea gravel hardscape. It looks very nice with its fresh plants and is ready for the school year! We thank Sara and Fall Creek Landscaping for installing this bed for us.


While she was at it, Sara also freshened up the plants in the first raised bed near the entrance. It looks great!

From Concept to Reality!

We are proud and excited to announce that our sign was installed today. Drive by and take a look! Pictures below show today's work:

Here is the finished concrete base, ready to receive the new sign...


We loaded the crated sign onto a trailer to move it over to its new home...


It was a slow, careful procession across the parking lot...


Setting the sign upright...


The un-crating process...


And finally, the sign is placed on its base, bolted down, and leveled...


Thanks to all our helpers today!


And here is the finished product! Stewart Signs was our sign supplier, and they were great to work with on this project. Great customer support!


And of course, we could not have done the project without the $5000 grant from Lowe's and the money raised by our hard-working PTA.


The sign looks fabulous and we look forward to enjoying it for many years!

Kickoff Meeting on July 20th!

Everyone come on out and help us get the ball rolling in PTA for the coming school year! We are meeting in the student assembly area (old sanctuary location) at Indian Springs Baptist Church from 6:30-8:30pm. We will be going over our plans for the year and getting ourselves organized. Come out to learn more about what PTA will be doing this year!

One More Note of Thanks

I mistakenly left out a thank you in my last post...

Thanks go out to Dave Salley, who helped to level the site for the new sign and prepare for the concrete pour.

Sign Installation - Phase II Complete!

This week, we reached another milestone on our way to having a shiny, new school sign in place - concrete!

Here you see the giant hole that Harold Bishop dug for us, outfitted with the required wooden frame. The board going across the frame is the template that holds the anchor bolt/rebar assembly at the proper dimensions during the concrete pour. Special thanks for this part of the project go out to Ken Hunter (my Dad), who built the wooden frame and anchor bolt assembly to the exact dimensions required by the sign manufacturer. Thanks also to Jeff Beverly and Chuck Gillenwater for leveling the site for the wooden frame and getting everything placed into the hole securely prior to the concrete pour.


Now, for the concrete! We would like to thank Byerley Construction for giving us a great deal on the 2 cubic yards of concrete required to fill that hole! They were out there with the concrete less than 48 hours after our call, despite a very busy schedule. Mr. Scott Byerley had recently poured a base for a sign at his son's school, Mt. Carmel Elementary, and he was very willing to work with us on our project. Thank you Byerley Construction!


Scott Byerley himself (in red shirt) helped pour the concrete...


And he also personally finished the surface for us free of charge (he even had to leave and come back due to Thursday's afternoon thunderstorm)!


The concrete is now curing, and we should be ready to set the sign in place within a week!

Sign Installation - Phase I Complete!

We made a lot of progress on Wednesday, July 1, on getting our new sign installed. After being cleared by the utility companies and given permission by the County to dig the hole, we fine-tuned our sign location. "X" marks the spot!

At 4:00pm, Harold Bishop drove his backhoe up Hill Road and dug us our hole.


The backhoe saved us hours of backbreaking work - thanks Harold!


Yes, folks, that's a big hole. Five feet long, two feet wide, and 3-1/2 feet deep. Our sign manufacturer, Stewart Signs, gave us specific instructions on how to build the concrete base for our sign to give us our lifetime warranty. Our sign should be hurricane proof with a concrete base this big!


At 4:30pm, right on schedule, the delivery truck arrived with the sign itself. Thanks to all the strong guys who helped unload the sign - it took all of them!


This completes phase 1 of the sign installation. Next up, concrete!

Fifth Grade Graduation Memories

The graduating 5th grade class of 2009 had a great ceremony to send them off. The ISES 4th & 5th grade chorus serenaded guests until the ceremony began at 1pm. We welcomed special guests Jack Barnes and Elizabeth Sells - both former ISES principals. So many family and friends turned out to congratulate the graduates that they filled all available seats *and* lined the walls!

Ms B presented Preston Hall with the "Character Counts" award - given to the graduating 5th grader whose peers feel he most exemplifies the Pillars of Character. Ms Sparks recognized all who maintained an "A" (93 or higher) average this year - there were MANY - and we are very proud of each of them! Mr Dale shared that the 2009 Legacy Project - a donation of 16 books to the library - have been checked out a combined total of OVER 200 TIMES in the two-short months they've been on the shelves. Wow! It was fantastic to learn that E-V-E-R-Y MEMBER of this class has supported the school in *SOME* kind of extra activity, like working in Art, the Office, the Library and with WISE. That spirit and hard work is a great example for the upcoming grades to follow!

After the ceremony the graduates enjoyed Snow Cones, karaoke, and spending time with their friends playing games and taking photos. Not even a sudden downpour of rain - JUST as they were getting their Snow Cones! - could dilute their enjoyment. The casual after-graduation-party atmosphere was contagious and parents joined in the picture-taking and saying of goodbyes, too. Each child received a frame-able silhouette of themselves to match their end-of-ISES essay and a photo-collage DVD of all their friends and years at ISES. We hope they will remember ISES as fondly as we will remember each of them!!

Good luck, Graduates! Best wishes in all your endeavors!

Career Days at ISES

On May 21 and 22, the fourth graders enjoyed listening to people tell about their jobs.

Mary Alice Kinsler, from ISES, shared her husband's photos from the Vietnam War. It was so interesting to hear her tell his story. She even brought his uniform and allowed students to try it on. Mary Alice told how her husband thought America was the greatest country!!

Other occupations represented included: Bays Mt. Naturalist, Eastman employee, Our Very Own Nurse Laura, Fire Dept., Coach Warren, Agricultural Specialist, Vet, Chef, and Pilot.

Thanks to all who participated!

Thanks to Mrs. T. Calhoun for submitting this post!

Shiver Shack Coming Tomorrow!

Just a reminder that the Shiver Shack is coming to ISE tomorrow, courtesy of Fifth Grade Graduation. If you have not yet sent your $1 in and would like to have a snow cone, please be sure to bring it to school tomorrow!