Weekly News: January 27 – January 31

Robotics Finish 1st!

Our Lower School Robotics teams competed against 48 teams and finished in 1st Place over the weekend at the First Lego League State Competition at the University of Memphis. The Cyber Cubs (boys) team received 1st Place in Robot Design Strategy & Innovation while the Cougar Cubs (girls) team received 1st Place in Project Innovation Solutions. We are so proud of these students! A HUGE thank you to Mrs. Joanne Askew, Faculty Advisor and Mrs. Julie Catellier, Parent Advisor/Coach. Our teams could not have done it without you both!

Pastries with Parents

CAPA would like to cordially invite all parents to our first Pastries with Parents event on Thursday, February 13 at 7AM in the Aux Gym. RSVP here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdhHQbRZpuTMEAjBg2hhrIj0gMWi2vXoC6jJG-QAEmEo-aXBA/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1

Cougar Booster Club

On Saturday, February 1 during the home basketball game, the newly formed Cougar Booster Club will begin enrolling new members. Stop by our table to learn more about this wonderful organization and to secure your spot. Anyone who enrolls by May 1^st will receive membership benefits for the remainder of this school year and all of the 2020-2021 school year. Individual/Family memberships are $100.

CAPA

The CA Parent Association will host their first annual Cougar Consignment Sale on March 7 in the main gym. At this sale CAPA will accept donations of furniture, formals, maternity, and good/excellent condition clothing and shoes. We ask that no donation be over four years old. As you continue your winter purge, save these items for this wonderful sale! More details to come soon!

Re-Enrollment

Re-enrollment opens on today for all current students. All families should have received their personalized re-enrollment packet on Friday. Be on the lookout for your PowerSchool snap code for re-enrollment. We look forward to having you continue to be part of the Cougar family in 2020-2021.

CA Experience

We are excited to announce our new CA Experience program. CA Experience is an after school enrichment program that will focus on activities, classes, artistic lessons, sports training and so much more. Each session will run six weeks and provide a variety of opportunities for our students. These will be titled, CA Winter Experience, CA Spring Experience, CA Summer Experience and CA Fall Experience. CA Winter Experience will begin in January. Please visit our site for more information! https://clarksvilleacademy.com/ca-events/ca-experience/

**Class Information now posted! Registration will open soon!

Media Club

CA’s media club has posted new content to their site! We invite you to browse this wonderful student run site for exciting content from upper school students. castudentlife.com

Athletics

Games this week:

IS Basketball –The IS Basketball season is winding down. Tonight our Cougars hit the road to Donelson Christian Academy. Let’s Go Cougars!

US Basketball—This is a busy week for our Cougars! Tonight our teams travel to McEwen, Tuesday, both teams are at home taking on Donelson Christian, Friday, they travel to Ezell Harding and finally on Saturday they return home for a match-up with Friendship Christian. Saturdays games are early beginning at 2PM and Seniors will be honored between games. Come out and show our teams some Cougar love!

Wrestling has a HOME match on Wednesday and on Saturday will travel for the DII Regional Duals. Good luck to our teams!

Bowling—Bowling had a great showing at State. We are so proud of our teams and students. Leah Hayes finished 5th in the state and was a finalist for Miss Bowler. What a great season!

Giving

By now you’ve probably read about the installation of our security upgrades. We are thankful for your support with this project through the Fun Run. Thank you! If you haven’t yet supported the annual fund, we’ve set aside 4 areas of focus this year and hope you will consider supporting them: New Playground, Updated Security, Library Refresh, Emerging Priorities such as a new PA system. For more information on this and to donate visit: https://marketplace.clarksvilleacademy.com/product/annual-giving/

Amazon

Clarksville Academy is now part of the Amazon Smile program! Simply log on using smile.amazon.com and choose Clarksville Academy as your organization of choice! Every time you make purchase using smile.amazon.com we will receive a portion of your purchase! It’s that easy!

Box Tops

CA has always used the box tops label program to earn extra money for our school. We have been so lucky in the past for all your support for the program. Over the years we have earned thousands of dollars for our school. This year it is even easier! Simply download the Box Tops for Education app from the app store, pick Clarksville Academy as your school and start scanning your receipts! It’s as easy as that! So start scanning!

Publix

Did you know that CA is a Publix Partner? It’s easy to help us raise money for our school by logging your shopping. Visit publix.com/partners and choose Clarksville Academy. Then enter your phone number each time you check out. It’s that easy!

Kroger

Did you know you can register your Kroger Plus for CA? Every time you use your Kroger Plus card a portion of your bill will be credited to CA! It’s that easy! Go online to Kroger.com and register today!

FCA

Fellowship of Christian Athletes is every Wednesday for ALL Intermediate & Upper School students. You do not have to be involved in athletics to attend. Intermediate School will be in Coach Trent’s room. Upper School in Mr. Boyd’s room 117 under the gym.

Marketing

Follow us on Instagram at CACougarsTN, Facebook at Clarksville Academy, SnapChat at CACougarsTN and Twitter at CACougarsTN.

Have you seen new video? We’d love you to share it on social media or with friends or neighbors you think would be interested in CA.

Important Dates

Feb 7—NO SCHOOL LS
Feb 13—Pastries with Parents
Feb 14-17 NO SCHOOL Winter Break
March 7—CAPA Consignment Sale
April 4—Steak Dinner
April 18—Prom
May 20—Graduation at APSU

Weekly News: January 20 – January 24

Pastries with Parents

Winterim

What an amazing two weeks we have had! We had students travel both near and far, while others explored new, innovative ways to learn on our campus. We also have write ups for all on our campus Winterims including Freshman Seminar and Cougar Connections (Intermediate School) You can learn more about their journeys by visiting: https://clarksvilleacademy.com/category/off-campus-with-ca/

Welcome New Faculty

CA would like to welcome Dr. Rebecca Turney to our staff as a part time Animal Science teacher. Dr. Turney, a local veterinarian will teach Honors Animal Science and Dual Enrollment Animal Animal Science in our Upper School. We are excited about this additional course offering!

CAPA

Parks & Rec

The Montgomery County Parks and Recreation department invite everyone to Youth Glow Night at the New Providence Pool on February 8th 6-8PM

Robotics

On Friday our Robotics team will travel to Memphis to compete in the 2020 First Lego League State Competition. This team has worked hard all year preparing and we know they will do well.

Re-Enrollment

Re-enrollment opens on Monday, January 27 for all current students. All families should receive their re-enrollment packet in the mail later this week. We look forward to having you continue to be part of the Cougar family in 2020-2021.

FCA

Don’t forget Upper School FCA will begin tomorrow, January 22.

CA Experience

https://clarksvilleacademy.com/ca-events/ca-experience/

**Class Information now posted! Registration will open soon!

Media Club

CA’s media club has posted new content to their site! We invite you to browse this wonderful student run site for exciting content from upper school students. castudentlife.com

Athletics

Games this week:

IS Basketball –The IS Cougars will play Harding Academy at home Wednesday, January and travel to Nashville Christian on Thursday. Good luck to our Cougars.

US Basketball—On Tuesday, 1/21 the Varsity Cougars will travel to University School of Nashville and then they return home on Friday, January 24 to take on Nashville Christian at home. We need your help—come cheer on our teams during these District games.

Wrestling will travel to Northeast on Tuesday and Battleground Academy on Thursday.

Bowling—Three bowlers, Leah Hayes, Tyler Lucas and Luke Poston will travel to Smyrna on Thursday to compete as individuals in the State Tournament. On Friday our bowling teams will begin their play in the tournament. WAY TO GO COUGARS!!!

Let’s wish all these teams good luck!!!

Giving

Amazon

Box Tops

Publix

Kroger

FCA

Marketing

Follow us on Instagram at CACougarsTN, Facebook at Clarksville Academy, SnapChat at CACougarsTN and Twitter at CACougarsTN.

Have you seen new video? We’d love you to share it on social media or with friends or neighbors you think would be interested in CA.

Important Dates

Feb 7—NO SCHOOL LS
Feb 13—Pastries with Parents
Feb 14-17 NO SCHOOL Winter Break
March 7—CAPA Consignment Sale
April 4—Steak Dinner
April 18—Prom
May 20—Graduation at APSU

Winterim–Lab Rats Disney

Clarksville Academy Students in the Disney Lab Rats spent the first week of Winterim learning robotics coding and learning the physics principles of roller coasters.

Yesterday, these 16 students traveled to Disney World to see the science behind the park. Students will take courses in Exploring Careers in Zoological Sciences and Energy and Waves Physics Lab. Like their Leadership counterparts, students will take course in the mornings and will be asked to document evidence of what they learned as they enjoy the parks in the afternoon.

Day 1: Today students learned about careers in zoological sciences at the Animal Kingdom. Led by Abby, an educator with expertise in the field, began by telling students about the park and how each part focuses on conservation. The tree of life is modeled after an oil rig. We rode Kilimanjaro Safari and learned about the steps taken by Disney to function as a zoo and the many careers involved in the care of animals and development of their habitats. Student played games and participated in demonstrations before heading “off stage”. In this area no cameras are allowed. Students went to the Tembo house, where elephants receive care. We met ectotherm specialist Trevor and his snake, Siba. Nutrition for the animals was discussed and preparation was observed. We even saw Disney veterinarians operate on an antelope! Abby described the many careers that play a role in maintaining a zoo and shared her experiences with the students. Tomorrow we will head to the Magic Kingdom to learn about energy and waves, and development of special effects.

Day 2: Today’s lesson focused on energy and waves, and how both are used in the Magic Kingdom. Our leader, Rusty, discussed types of waves and their properties. Students created a human circuit to successfully power a light. We rode The Little Mermaid ride to demonstrate the manipulation of sound to enhance rides. Students rode the Haunted Mansion and then were taken underneath the ride! We saw how Disney uses mirrors and scrim to create the Pepper’s ghost illusion used throughout the ride. We were able to watch riders in “doom buggies” from the other side of the dancing figures in the haunted ballroom. Forced perspective is used all over the park to trick the eye. Our final stop was Mickey’s Philharmagic. All of our lessons merged with this attraction that manipulates sound and light, in addition to using other sensory tricks to create a rich experience. For example, over 180 speakers are used in that attraction. They range in size and direction to create a magical show.

Day 3: Today’s experience focused on the art of Disney. We participated in two classes at the Contemporary Resort. Our first class taught the history and techniques of cel animation. Artists Gina and Lynn, who worked on “The Princess and the Frog” and “The Little Mermaid ” took students through the steps of creating their own cels. Our creations will be dried and shipped next week. Kevin, one of Disney’s professional photographers, led our second class. Students received a set of lenses to use with their phones. Kevin gave the students five tasks in and around the resort. He proceeded to demonstrate and discuss tips to take great pictures and had students use the tips to redo their tasks. We then compared the images before and after learning professional techniques. Kevin was adamant that the type of camera is not what makes a great picture. The photographer’s choices are what can make a cell phone picture look professional. After our classes we visited the Animal Kingdom. Tomorrow we return home.

Winterim–Leadership Disney

Clarksville Academy students in the Disney Global Leaders spent the first week of Winterim identifying their Strengths as Leaders and as Individuals and using these strengths to complete various challenges such as a Marshmallow Paper Bag Challenge and a Robotics Coding Challenge.

19 students traveled to Disney World to learn even more about leadership as they take courses in Managing Your Personal Brand and the Disney Leadership Strategies. Students will spend the mornings learning the new curriculum and during their afternoons in the park, they will be asked to identify evidence that exemplifies these lessons.

Day 1: On Monday, the Disney Leadership students took a class entitled “Examining Your Personal Brand!” Students had the chance to self-reflect on how they present themselves through everything from dress to what they post on social media. They also set goals for the future! We then turned our perspective outward and evaluated branding and experience through the Disney Corporation in the Rock N Roller Coaster!! We spent the day exploring Magic Kingdom and capped our first day with phenomenal fireworks!

Day 2: On Tuesday, Disney Leadership students spent the day at Epcot! The morning seminar was entitled “Disney Global Leadership Strategies.” Throughout the morning students evaluated three types of a Leadership and how they are actualized in the Disney Corporation. We rode “Soarin’” and learned the history of how one imagineer took on the Leadership to create the physics behind the experience! We spent the afternoon exploring the countries at Epcot and sampling way too many tasty treats! In the evening, students opted to head back to the resort and spend some fun time relaxing at the pool!

Day 3: Today, Disney Leadership has the good fortune to return to Hollywood Studios and to have a second course, from our new favorite instructor, Dave! Through hands on activities and riding a couple more roller coasters, we learned about how rollers coasters manipulate gravity and speed to function!! What better example of both gravity and speed than The Tower of Terror!! We also learned about how the science and set design interact to tell a story!! We are now in Animal Kingdom ready for yet another phenomenal day!!

Disney Leadership Winterim: Day 4

On Thursday, there was no seminar, and it was Hollywood Studios Day!! Half of the students elected to wake in the pre-dawn, to check out of the hotel, and to race with a mass of other Star Wars fanatics for a place in an electronic cue to ride the new Rise of the Resistance!! We were successful!! It was spectacular!! Students rode the Rockin’ Roller Coaster and the Tower of Terror repeatedly until it was time to leave for the airport. We arrived in Nashville at midnight and Clarksville by 1 a.m.! We were exhausted but elated after a 22-hour day!!

Weekly News: January 13 – January 17, 2020

Second Grade

Second graders finished up last semester by learning about many important people from history. As a culminating activity for their Biography project, the second graders presented very eloquent monologues of their chosen person. Dressed in character, they told about the life and times of their person from history. The audience enjoyed monologues from Walt Disney, Dolly Parton, Davy Crockett, Harriet Tubman, Lucille Ball, Jacqueline Kennedy, Julia Child, Neil Armstrong, Joan of Arc, George Washington, Black Beard, Albert Einstein, Selena Quintanilla, Jerry Rice, Clara Barton, Jane Goodall, and Jenny Lind. They did such an AMAZING job on their presentations.

Winterim

We hope you are reading up on our Winterim experiences! We have students all over the globe! Some returned home over the weekend while others left. We also have write ups for all on our campus Winterims including Freshman Seminar and Cougar Connections (Intermediate School) You can follow along on their journeys by visiting: https://clarksvilleacademy.com/category/off-campus-with-ca/

REMINDER

Friday, January 17 is a half-day for teacher in-service. IS & US students will be dismissed at 11AM. LS will follow a staggered dismissal time of 10:40 PK, K and 1st; 10:50 2nd & 3rd and 11:00 FUSE.

CAPA

The CA Parent Association will host their first annual Cougar Consignment Sale on March 7 in the main gym. At this sale CAPA will accept donations of furniture, formals, maternity, and good/excellent condition clothing and shoes. We ask that no donation be over four years old. As you begin your winter purge, save these items for this wonderful sale! More details to come soon!

FCA

Due to Winterim, High School FCA will meet on January 22.
Intermediate FCA began the New Year on January 8.

We welcome and encourage everyone to join us in 2020!

CA Experience

**Class Information now posted! Registration will open soon!

Media Club

CA’s media club has posted new content to their site! We invite you to browse this wonderful student run site for exciting content from upper school students. castudentlife.com

Athletics

Games this week:

6th Grade Basketball begins MTCS Tournament Play.

IS Basketball travels to Friendship Christian tonight and will play Davidson Academy at home Tuesday, 1/14. Games begin at 5.

US Basketball – The Varsity teams have a full week of play! On Tuesday, 1/14 they will travel to Friendship Christian, on Thursday they return to Procter Court to take on Davidson Academy and they end the week on Friday at Mt. Juliet Christian. Games begin at 6.

Wrestling will travel to Kenwood on Thursday.

Let’s wish all these teams good luck!!!

Giving

Annual Giving has kicked off! We hope your family will support this important campaign. Annual Giving is used to offset the overall budget for those things not covered by tuition alone and is also used for focus areas. We’ve set aside 4 areas of focus this year and hope you will consider supporting them: New Playground, Updated Security, Library Refresh, Emerging Priorities such as a new PA system. For more information on this and to donate visit: https://marketplace.clarksvilleacademy.com/product/annual-giving/

Amazon

Box Tops

Publix

Kroger

FCA

Marketing

Follow us on Instagram at CACougarsTN, Facebook at Clarksville Academy, SnapChat at CACougarsTN and Twitter at CACougarsTN.

Have you seen new video? We’d love you to share it on social media or with friends or neighbors you think would be interested in CA.

Important Dates

Jan 6-17 Winterim for IS & US Students
Jan 17—HALF DAY
Jan 20 NO SCHOOL—MLK Day
Feb 7—NO SCHOOL LS
Feb 14-17 NO SCHOOL Winter Break

Winterim–Freshman Seminar

The Freshman Seminar Winterim is designed to allow them to explore a wider range of subjects and skills. This will be a chance for them to learn in a variety of settings and from a variety of professionals. They will work in both large and small groups and have a chance to expand their leadership skills. Throughout the two weeks students will visit the Makerspace, Fine Arts, leadership, fitness, learn etiquette, ACT prep work and more. Winterim encourages deeper faculty-student relationships and reminds us that learning is not restricted to a classroom. Each day we will post short updates and photos on what our Freshman are experiencing.

In ACT Prep students have been playing Proof, a mental math game. Using 9 numbers written on their card, students must create equations. If a successful equation is made, they get a point.

During fitness, students have travelled to Skyline Bowling and Rotary Park. Both off campus experiences were a nice change of pace for the students.

What is your soundtrack of 2020? From the lyrics of a classic Kenny Chesney song I Go Back, “Everytime I hear that song, I go back. We all have a song that somehow stamped our lives, takes us to another place and time”

This week Freshman have been thinking about their goals/resolutions for 2020. Students were asked to think of 3 short term goals to finish up freshman year and 3 long term goals to begin Sophomore year. Each student then created a 2020 Playlist of songs that will inspire, remind, and motivate them as they challenge themselves to meet and exceed their goals for the year!

Freshman learned about the brain, how to enhance their memory, and then challenged themselves in some games of the Match Game.

STEM Challenges in the Maynard Makerspace are always fun!

Winterim–Where is Your Next Meal Coming From?

The Winterim course “Where Is Your Next Meal Coming From” will explore where meals “come from” both literally and philosophically.

Day 1: We spent the day talking about our food experiences and examining ways that food “shapes us into who we are.” Kenny York, founder of Manna Cafe, and Hope Boyd, volunteer coordinator at Manna Cafe, visited our class and spoke about the work their organization does to nourish the body and soul of people who don’t know “where their next meal is coming from.”

Day 2: Building on the theme of “where is your next meal coming from,” we explored food etiquette. Certified etiquette consultant Pat Woods visited and spoke about the evolution of food etiquette and the importance of knowing food etiquette and displaying proper manners at the table. We then prepared no-bake desserts and our table. Ladies seated, napkins in lap, proper utensils in hand, we sat down for a mannerly meal together.

Day 3: On this beautiful January day, we traveled to Manna Cafe’s new building to help with food box distribution day, which occurs from 9:30-4:00 every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The day was bright and sunny, but the warehouse was cold! We worked throughout the day either sorting donations or helping distribute a week’s worth of groceries to clients. By the end of the day, more than 250 food boxes had been distributed to people in need.

Day 4: Shanna Lively of the Tennessee Department of Agriculture visited our class today to discuss food safety. She explained how state and federal laws and regulations safeguard “where our meals come from.” For lunch, we walked to Johnny’s Big Burger to experience a local favorite since the 1960s. After eating the “best hamburgers in town,” we went to the Smith-Trahern mansion for another food safety lesson — which led to an impromptu tour of the historic mansion.

Day 5: We spent the day with Joanne Askew, lower school science lab and STEM instructor, and Brandi Phillips’s 4th grade students. We learned about the importance of the farmer and about growing the food we need whether we live on a farm or in a city. Mrs. Askew shared her knowledge about farming and about creating a city garden in a downtown Clarksville neighborhood. She instructed the students on planting vegetable seeds. Upper school students and the 4th graders planted seeds together, and the 4th graders will continue to watch them grow.

Day 6-7: Heavy rains over the weekend kept us from taking a field trip to Mrs. Askew’s family farm, but CA Alum (and Mrs. Askew’s son) Walt Askew brought the farm to us. He talked to us about his farm and business, Barker Beef, and enlightened us on how food, especially meat, gets from farm to table. Mrs. Askew donated and cooked her locally raised beef, which we made into a chili lunch. CA Director of Marketing and Development, Sally Allen, also visited today to provide her expertise on planning and throwing a tailgating event.

Day 7 : Tasked with throwing an epic tailgating experience to celebrate CA and to support the basketball teams’ games against Friendship Christian, we became full-fledged event planners. We divided into teams and learned first-hand the intricacies of orchestrating a successful tailgating event. The logistics team gathered the supplies and planned our overall vision; the decorating team planned the overall look of the event to highlight CA; the caterers coordinated the food and even made festive snacks; the entertainment team planned and set up games and music. Mr. Christmas fired up his grill and grilled burgers and hot dogs as his Winterim group joined ours for food and fellowship.

Day 8: We volunteered at Manna Cafe again this week. Last week, Manna Cafe distributed 999 food boxes (274 of which we helped distribute last Wednesday). We not only distributed food boxes again this week but also built USDA food boxes to be distributed to families this Friday. Building the boxes required a great deal of organization, cooperation, and persistence, so we put our event planning skills to good use and built three pallets of boxes (that’s 108 of boxes of canned goods) in less than two hours.

Day 9: We walked Downtown today. Teams navigated around Public Square, Strawberry Alley, Franklin Street, and the Downtown Commons on a scavenger hunt to learn about the various places to grab a meal as well as historical points of interest. After completing their missions, students went to the Blackhorse, one of Downtown’s most popular restaurants, for lunch.

Day 10: We ended this Winterim exploring “where your next meal is coming from” on a college campus. Despite the freezing temperatures, we took a tour of APSU’s campus and their dining hall. Corey Choate, Director of Dining at APSU, greeted us, talked to us meal plans for students living on campus, and invited us to eat lunch — all you can eat lunch. Lunch at “The Caf” was outstanding.

Winterim–Backcountry Camping

Our Backcountry hiking course is designed for the high purpose of experiencing and observing self and nature for the improvement and appreciation of both. Some excellent benefits of this course are personal health, maturity, and independence. We’ll also learn some practical survival skills and have an adventure. During our two weeks together we’ll spend time learning about gear, practices, principles and philosophies of hiking. We’ll also take several hiking trips, each one longer than the last, culminating with a 3 night backcountry hike in the Apalachicola National Forest in Florida. This year we have 7 young men participating and having a great time. Hammock camping is the way to go!!

Aside from on campus training, we had three main off campus events. First, we attended a training session at Dunbar Cave with ranger John Ball. We hiked at LBL, making a 5 mile loop to test our gear. Then we headed down to Florida and hiked 12 miles to a backcountry campsite in the Apalachicola National Forest.

We camped and hiked and learned about backpacking and prepping for survival in the wilderness. We got to know each other better and had a great time and got some great memories. This was a wonderful experience for our students. When asked about their trip a couple of the students commented,

“It was like a reset for my brain, so I can come back and I don’t take for granted the things I have.”

-Landon Bailey

“Keep your head up and look at the world around you”

-Tyler Lucas

Winterim–Intermediate School Cougar Connections

Intermediate School Cougar Connections Winterim (CCW) is off to a great start. Students are participating in ten different small group rotations each day. These rotations are designed to meet all different learners and interests. CCW is a great opportunity to take students to the next level in their learning. They are problem solving, engineering, actively moving, thinking outside the box, learning about themselves, and exploring future career options and more. Each of the rotations below are 30 minutes each day. Then, students end the day with their advisor, a teacher assigned to them for support, discussing the day’s events and discoveries. Advisors will continue to meet with students throughout the second semester to check in on their academic progress and to offer support navigating the middle school years.

Music– Ms. Thomas is working with students to explore all the different aspects of music in cinematography. They are exploring different jobs and how movies use music in careers.

Lower School Mentoring– Coach Daniels is using team building concepts and games to have our students mentor and encourage our 3rd-5th grade children to work together.

Lower School Mentoring (2)– Ms. Procter is using literature and the library resources to mentor our PreK-2nd grades children. These groups are focusing on ideas of empathy, kindness, and leadership.

Escape Games- Mrs. Trent’s rotation is using problem solving and critical thinking to solve math puzzles and compete in Escape Games.

STEM (2 groups)– Coach Welch and Mrs. King are utilizing the Maynard Makerspace to have students plan and engineer the design and building of parachutes and rockets from various materials provided.

Career Exploration– Coach Hughes is facilitating the exploration of top careers in different fields. This group will not only explore the careers, but also hear from multiple guest speakers that are working in some of the fields they are researching.

Clarksville History– Ms. Kretz is walking her students through the history Clarksville and landmarks right here in their city. This rotation will also feature historians as guest speakers.

Team Building– Coach Miles has each group creating and developing a PE game as a team. Each team must design their game and then the different groups will play the games. Some of the games may even be put into our PE rotations!

Reading and Research– Mrs. Wall’s rotations are reading various texts and articles to support the focus concepts for each of the grade levels. Each grade level is focusing on a concept. Sixth grade is focusing on empathy, seventh grade is focusing on kindness, and eighth grade is focusing on leadership skills that will take them to high school.

Each day we will add photos and brief descriptions from a variety of these activities.

Students had to try to flip the blanket without leaving the blanket.

Looking at short stories in new and exciting ways.

In STEM student created rocket ships, roller coasters, and parachutes!

In PE each group is designing their own game.

Our Cougar Connection groups participated in a “Collaborative Art Project”. They each started with a blank piece of paper and were prompted on a subject. They had about 2 minutes to draw then every 2 minutes they passed their sheet and the next classmate added to the sheet until all the sheets made their way around room.

IS students worked with LS students on a Marshmallow challenge. Students were given 50 marshmallows and 50 toothpicks and asked to make the tallest free standing structure possible.

During STEM Challenges this week, 6th grade created and tested parachute designs and catapults, 7th grade created and tested rockets and 8th designed roller coasters and created and tested containers for the egg drop challenge.

After reading an excerpt from “Out Of My Mind”, students road in a wheelchair to have the experience of not talking and not being able to move.

The Cougar Connection groups participated in “Get to know you balloons”. They each wrote a question on a strip of paper then inserted it into the balloon, blew it up & tied it. They had a few minutes to pass the balloons around before popping them. They then took turns reading the question they ended up with and sharing their response.

Interactive reading to Lower School students provided a fun activity for both age groups.

Winterim–Entrepreneurship

Over the next two weeks students will learn what means to be an entrepreneur. They will meet with local leaders, small business owners and financial advisors to learn what it takes to begin a small business. The culmination of their work will be to produce and sell a self crafted soda.

Day 1: Students began by getting to know one another, dream casting their ideas and learning about leadership theory. We began by playing Jenga–with a twist; the task was to encourage one another so that all 15 students would get a turn, and on each block there was an icebreaker question. Students were separated into three business groups by random draw and this will be their small business team for the week. Groups later toured campus to decide on the best use of the funds raised through their business venture–where and how can they give back to CA? The afternoon was spent in a master-class in leadership theory led by CA Alumna Erica Christmas.

Day 2: Students traveled to the Escape Game in Clarksville to try their luck at problem solving, team bonding and identifying leadership skills of their group members. After successfully escaping all four rooms, students travelled to the Ft. Campbell Outdoor Recreation center to participate in the Odyssey Challenge Course, a ropes course activity. This course was just another way to learn team work, community building and leadership in their groups.

Day 3: The group traveled to Thrive Creative Group to speak with owner Lorilee Rager and her team. Mrs. Rager provided the group with a wealth of information on marketing and branding. After lunch, students returned to campus to brainstorm product names, marketing strategies and branding opportunities.

Day 4: The group travelled to Project 2231 to tour Miss Lucille’s, Belle Hollow, ACME Athletics, and The City Forum. We heard from Clifford who told us the story behind each business venture, and the students came out with a new appreciation for all of the hard work that goes into the entertainment business. We bowled, ate delicious pizza, and played in the arcade before returning to CA to finish our work for the day.

Day 5: The group heard from three key figures in the entrepreneur community in Clarksville: Janie Manning, owner of NBalance Yoga Studio; Austin Cherry, CA alumnus and owner of Cherry’s Custom Concrete; and Lorneth Peters, Director of the Tennessee Small Business Development Center at APSU. The students listened to a panel discussion and an open Q&A session afterward. Later that morning the group walked over to F&M Bank to hear from Nelson Boehms about small business financing options for emerging entrepreneurs. After a meal at Blackhorse, they headed back to CA to work within roles to develop graphics, marketing strategies, sales plans, and more.

DAY 6:

We had a big time brewing our sodas at Kings Bluff Brewery! Dustin Brewer gave us lots of details about how his business operates and what they stand for in our community. The groups will brew Root Beer, Orange and Grape Sodas! Stay tuned!