A special note to Local parents/teachers from other schools: Please let us (smartkids.sc) get involved in your school. The reason you read an innordinate amount of things going on at North Augusta Elementary,  is that I am a parent there. But the board members are not. we are incorporated to help ALL of the local schools. please contact us, and help us get involved in your school.

A special shout out to these local businesses. Please shop them whenever possible! They do the best job at supporting local schools and activities.

Jim Bush Flowers

Antonio’s Resturant

Sno Cap Drive In

Maurice’s BBQ

Carolina Oak’s B and B

Rosemary hall B and B

Anything Goes gifts

Teresa’s restaurant

Sabi Japanese

the YMCA

Monkey Joe’s

LaBonbonniere Chocolate

Earthware Jewelry by Katrina Gray

Palm Beach Tan

]]> http://smartkids.sc/blog/?feed=rss2&p=441 0 http://smartkids.sc/blog/?p=428 http://smartkids.sc/blog/?p=428#comments Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:32:48 +0000 admin http://smartkids.sc/blog/?p=428 After a busy Winter season, Smartkids.SC is ready to announce the winners of the “Should Alligators be allowed in Brick Pond Park?” writing contest!

The 5^th Grade winner is Ashley Poole of North Augusta Elementary

The 4^th Grade winner is Desiree Wright of North Augusta Elementary

The 3^rdGrade winner is Tykela Snelling of North Augusta Elementary

Each grade level winner will be receiving a 4G Media Player that will play MP3 music as well as videos. Congratulations Winners! And Thank you to the 150  participants to the contest. We had entries from two schools this round, North Augusta Elementary, and Hammond Hill Elementary.

Without Further adeu, Here are the winning entries:

Click here to read thewinning entries

“Where did you get the Eggs?” I asked curiously.. “umm.. Ebay” Mrs. Wessel answered sheepishly.
I laughed.
Here are the kids that had the task of taking care of said eggs:

And here are the eggs in the (donated) incubator.

And here are the ducks, ready to face the world! Good Job!

To fill the time, we are going to document a project a couple of the board members have decided to tackle!

Arthur Shealy of North Augusta has acquired an old Cane press that he is going to rebuild this summer. He plans on having it ready by the fall harvest season.. for what, you ask? He has also planed a quarter acre of sorghum! So, if all goes as planned this fall, we are going to have a sorghum press and boil this fall at the Shealy plantation. It sounds like it will be a regular down home party! It is an old press, one that needs to be powered by a mule.. Arthur has said that he knows someone with a mule, so we should not only have the press, AND the cane, but also a power source for the press! It really sounds like some old fashioned fun.

Here is what it should resemble when it complete.

Below is a picture of the second step of the rebuild.. (the first being the disassembly) We are removing the rust from this antique! And doing it in a interesting fashion if I say so myself. A scientific method! We are going to use electrolysis to convert the rust back to steel! This process does not actually add steel to the rusty item, Rather it makes the (former)rust easy to remove, without doing any more damage to the desired piece of rusty metal. This is a picture of our setup. all those items in the back are pieces we need to rehabilitate.

Isn’t this interesting?
OK, now all I have to do is get my wife Kathi to understand why I want to plant a couple hundred square feet of sorghum in our back yard.. Hmm.. it takes 120 days to grow sorghum.. I better get planting!

Ok, I have created the video of the start of Arthurs Cane mill project..
I Here it is! Via youtube:

They are a shining example of the Charitable people we have in our community. It makes me proud to be part of it.

THANK YOU.

And now, on to the newest ways to help:.. We just received some new requests from the teachers at Fox Creek High school!

Click here to check them out!

Smartkids.sc Inc., is sponsoring a writing contests for elementary students in North Augusta.

Students may create a poem, a narrative, or an essay.

Only one piece of writing from a student may be submitted. The winner will receive a certificate commemorating the award and a new 4Gig Sansa media player. In addition, the best submissions will have their writing published at smartkids.sc, and submitted to the local newspapers for possible publication.

ENTRIES MUST BE RELEVANT TO THE FOLLOWING TOPIC:

What do you like about North Augusta?

The writing that is submitted must be original and can not have been published previously.

The deadline for all entries is February 15th, 2009. Winners are notified in March 2009.

You can mail the submission to Smartkids writing contest, 711 Georgia Ave, North Augusta, SC. 29841, or email it to contest@smartkids.sc

The writing, including the students Name, E-mail address or phone number, Grade, School, and sponsoring teacher should have been submitted no later than midnight, February 15th, 2009.

The winner agrees to allow SmartKids.sc to publish his/her name (first name and last initial only) and writing on the SmartKids.sc web site.

Teachers, if you have multiple submissions, please pick the best three per classroom.

While we might not have had as many people as we would have liked, I think the night was a resounding success!

Everyone came through with flying colors. Pauleen Fleachek and Ken Crowder in the third grade pod, Van Monroe and Steve Banks in the 4^th Grade Pod, and Will McGee and Trey Morris (in spirit) in the Gym… You all came well prepared and had great presentations!  And we certainly all could not have done it without the teachers help. You dedication to teaching our children is outstanding!

I can not thank you enough for your work.

Regards, Ed Elser, Smartkids.sc

It will be held in conjunction with the write night activities on the night of January 22nd. We are still looking for volunteers, so please, help!

Attached is a list of the equipment we need for the stations. If you can help supply any of these materials, please email us right away.

Materials List #1

Materials List #2

And here is a list of the activities (for those overachieving parents that want to get a jump on the activities! )

(rock hound, barge building, marshmallow tower, mystery architecture, building bridges, operation egg drop, weather or not, fill the bill. (alternatives are pasta bridge, and A is for anatomy))

http://smartkids.sc/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/sciolympiadset1.pdf

http://smartkids.sc/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/sciolympiadset2.pdf

Here are the assigned locations, and the teachers that will be overseeing your area during the events:

3rd Grade Pod, Assisted by Allison Spiers, and Debra Kurilla

Barge Building, run by Pauleen Fleachek

Pasta Bridge, run by Ken Crowder

4th Grade Pod, assisted by Paula Wahl and Dawn O Kelley

Marshmallow Tower, run by Van Monroe

Mystery Architecture, run by Tashonda McDonald

PE Room, Assisted by Nan Burns, and Terri Miller

Building Bridges, run by Will McGee

Operation Egg Drop, run by Trey Morris

Library, assisted by Kristi Gossett and Stephanie Morin

Weather or not, run by Steve Banks

Fill the Bill, run by ? (Mandy Greenway getting supplies)

A special thanks to all the volunteers listed above that are making this possible!

Regards, Ed Elser