For the 21^st year, the National Geographic Society is holding the National Geographic Bee for students in the fourth through eighth grades in thousands of schools across the United States and in the five U.S. territories, as well as in Department of Defense Dependents schools around the world. All school winners are eligible to win the national championship and its first prize, a $25,000 college scholarship, at the national competition May 19 and 20, 2009 in Washington, D.C.

 Mac Pitts, a fifth grader in Mrs. Boggs homeroom, won the SCS Geography Bee held on January 16. Mac competed against 14 other fourth through eighth graders. Other finalists in lower school were Bennett Gilliard, Lucas Homer, and Chris Flathman.

Math Olympics is a competition that stimulates an interest in mathematics. Not only does this competition recognize the achievements of students in math, it also offers students an opportunity to glorify God in the use of their mathematical abilities beyond the classroom. Students take a preliminary math test in computation and reasoning to determine the top scorers. The top two students (one for computation and one for reasoning) are selected from each classroom to travel to the competition.

Friday, March 6 SCS students in grades 3 through 8 participated in the Regional ACSI Math Olympics. SCS competed against five other Christian schools in computation and reasoning. SCS students were awarded a record twenty five ribbons! The following students competed:

Computation—Grade 3: Lola Reyes, Joseph Day, Maddie Grace Chalfant

Grade 4: Alyssa Register (5^th place), Hannah Silvey (1^st Place), Lia Stone (2^nd place)

Grade 5: Cameron Wilson (3^rd place), Nick Bain ( 2^nd place), Grant Staarmann (1^st place)

Grade 6: David Noh (2^nd place), Katie Mruz (3^rd place), Thomas Marchbanks (4^th place)

Reasoning—Grade 3: Mason Hynds (2^nd place), Rachel Noh (5^th place), Brooke Thomas (5^th place)

Grade 4: Katie Wray (5^th Place), Timmy Doyle (3^rd place), Daniela Alvarado

Grade 5: Hailey Beville (4^th place), Noah Dean, Matthew Raunikar

Grade 6: Ashley Fowler (2^nd place), Jared James (5^th place), Richard Gully

Lower School students participated in a book drive, in conjunction with Upper School, to support Invisible Children. This organization seeks to help the people of war-torn Uganda. In war-affected regions they focus on long-term development working directly with individuals and institutions that are eager to realize their full potential through education and innovative economic opportunities, they partner with affected communities and strive to improve the quality of life for individuals living in conflict and post-conflict regions.

Lower School students cleaned off their bookshelves and brought in hundreds of books to help these invisible children. Some of the books will be sent to Uganda to use for educational purposes while other books are sold in the organization’s store. Proceeds are used to help the Ugandan people.

The Lower School Student Council organized the Lower School into teams and came up with the idea to name the teams after animals native to Africa. Second and third grades are the Lions, fourth and fifth are the Zebras, and sixth grade are the Cheetahs.   The Lions have collected 625 books, the Zebras have collected 865 books, and the Cheetahs have collected 593 books.  Lower School has collected a total of 2083 books to help the Invisible Children of Uganda!

On January 23 fifteen Lower School students traveled to Carolina Christian School to participate in the ACSI Regional Science Fair. Students were judged against a standard set forth by ACSI. Before going to the regional fair, these students participated in the SCS Science Fair and were selected as the best of the best to move forward to the regional fair. The results for SCS students were outstanding! Three students rated Excellent, and twelve students rated Superior. Participants were Kate Brett, Mason Hynds, Westin Edwards, Grant Staarmann, Christian Gianni, Maria Bryan, MaKenzie Howard, Garrett Briaud, Michael Davis, Jacob Day, Maxwell Trammell, Elizabeth Voigt, Bethany Gallion. Sara Marconi and Joseph Day were recognized for having perfect scores.  Congratulations to all of these students for all of their hard work in studying God’s handiwork!

SCS sixth graders will travel to Chattanooga, TN, April 28-30 for three days packed with educational and fun activities! Some of the activities include visiting Rock City, riding an inclined railway, the Tennessee Aquarium, the IMAX theater, a riverboat dinner cruise, spelunking and cave exploration, as well as staying at the historic Chattanooga Choo Choo. This trip provides students a wonderful opportunity to make memories with their friends and teachers as they prepare to leave Lower School behind and enter Upper School.   

Several grade levels have already celebrated Grandparents’ Day and some celebrations are still to come.

Third grade celebrated Valentine’s Day with grandparents by making Valentine cards and decorating cookies. Many grandparents were able to attend and a delicious time was enjoyed by all.

Fourth graders invited their grandparents to participate in Math Mania. Grandparents and students worked together in playing Promethean Board games, Estimation Station, Math War, and time math facts competition.

Fifth graders enjoyed a fun morning with grandparents using the theme “A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words”. Grandparents enjoyed games, juice and donuts, and having their pictures made with their grandchild.

Lower School students celebrate the birth of our Savior with a Mingle and Jingle concert in December. Lower School students, families, faculty, and staff come together with music and singing to praise Christ’s birth. Following the concert, everyone enjoys a great time of fellowship in the mall with Christmas cookies and punch.

On Friday, March 6, SCS Students in grades 1-8 participated in the ACSI Regional Spelling Bee. The following Lower School students attended the spelling bee: Second Grade – Hannah Fowler, Davis Beville, Alexandra Katz, Casey Burns; Third Grade—Mason Hynds, Caroline Walpole, Jon Taylor, Rachel Noh (fourth place); Fourth Grade— Timmy Doyle, Benjamin Blanks Hope Holmes (fourth place), Claire Blanchard (First Place); Fifth Grade – Matthew Raunikar, Conner Campbell, Madison Zvitski, Alex Whisnant (fourth place); Sixth Grade – Lucas Homer, Olivia Wells, Sarah Zdanowski, Brandi Seppala (third place). Congratulations to each of these students for a job well done! 

Southside Christian Lower School participates in the Duke University Talent Identification Program. Fourth and fifth grade students who achieve a qualifying score in the 95^th percentile or higher on a nationally-normed test are eligible to participate. Students who register to participate will receive a certificate to commemorate their success, online enrichment, exclusive publications, advanced testing, and the opportunity to compete in a writing contest. For the 2008/2009 school year, SCS Lower School had sixty students from fourth and fifth grades eligible to participate in the Duke TIP program.

The Lower School Art Show will be held April 20-28. This year several media will be showcased, such as pencil faces, colored pencil fashion models, charcoal cats, acrylic snowmen and bunny paintings. Also featured are plaster “faux” foods, such as cupcakes, pizza, hamburgers, milkshakes, ice cream cones, and pies. Select fifth and sixth graders will showcase wood burning pieces.

In addition to the art show, SCS Lower School students have had the opportunity to have the newspaper choose entries for their Kid’s Page. SCS has had five winners with artwork that was created in class this year.

Also, the new Village Hospital, located in Greer, has selected SCS to be their first school to showcase artwork for two months.   Thirty-five pieces of artwork from grades 1-12 were displayed at the hospital.

In January SCS Lower School held its first Family Fun Night in the Sabre Center. Parents and students divided up into teams and participated in games and activities to promote fitness. There was much running, hopping, leap frogging, ball throwing and water drinking as everyone had a great time of fellowship and fitness.