Elementary News - November

Elementary News

November, 2011

We are approaching a season of the year when events, activities, and requirements in all areas of family life can cause stress and take away joy.  As I was working this week to gather all the information you need to navigate the wonderful offerings we have upcoming during this semester, I realized how overwhelming this must seem to parents of young children. I never want what we’re offering here at school to take precedence over what is good for your family. 

We are busy here at DLES, perhaps more excited and busier than we usually are in November and December. I hope you can take a breath, say a prayer of thanks to the One who made us, and look forward with a discerning eye to the opportunities set before your family. 

Thank you, parents, for supporting our programs and our teachers here at Lipscomb. We know your insight, your understanding, and your support as we move forward are key components to the success of our school. It is with thanks to you and thanks to the Father that I enter this busy time of year, knowing that the ultimate goal here is to educate, inspire, and nurture children.

May the Lord bless you and keep you,
Sharon Farmer
Elementary Principal

The Stephens Gift:
Last week at the Lipscomb University Associates Gala, Dr. Lowry announced that a donation of $10,000,000 has been given to the Campus School by long-time Lipscomb supporters Neika and Bill Stephens, through the Stephens Christian Trust. We have spent the past year planning and dreaming for the future of our school, and this gift makes possible many of the programs and facilities we have planned. As details unfold for our updated and new facilities, you will be hearing more information. We ask for prayers and your input as decisions are made. Many of our students have been writing thank-you letters to Mr. and Mrs. Stephens. I’m amazed by the mature and spirit-filled children you are rearing. Thank you for sharing them with us.

Annual Fund: Letters have recently been mailed to Campus School families detailing this year’s annual
fund goal. We hope you will be prayerful as you consider your role in Lipscomb’s future.

Disney Planet Challenge: Our third grade team of teachers, along with our science lab coordinator Ginger Reasonover, has entered the Disney Planet Challenge. This is a nationwide initiative encouraging environmental education and community environmental projects. Since DLES is a Performer Level Green School, this initiative is a “natural” as we educate our students. Our students are studying the effects of the improper disposal of medications on our water and soil. With the help of the Lipscomb University Pharmacy School, students are running tests on soil and water and documenting results. Our students will be holding a Hazardous Waste Drop-Off Day on Tuesday, November 15th from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Their flier is the 3rd page of this newsletter. Please help us recycle hazardous materials properly. Bring your recyclables next Tuesday to the front of the elementary building.

News and Notes:

• Congratulations to our second through fourth graders who participated in Jump Rope for Heart on Friday, Nov. 4th. They raised approximately $9,000 for the American Heart Association.
• Congratulations to our fourth grade chorus members who were chosen by audition to participate in the MTVA Honors Chorus: Lydia Guertin, Annabel Williams, and Sydney Willamson.
• Thank you for your positive response to the adjustments we had to make due to the Granny White Pike road closure for the past month. We appreciate your flexibility.
• This is the time of year when our students sign up to run in the April 27th ING Kids Marathon. You have received registration information from Belle Cromwell and Melanie Grogan by e-mail. Last year we had about 130 runners. The cost is $25 per participant if you register before December 31st. The race will fill up quickly.
• Remember that you can order talent show and first grade play pictures from Scott Ellis, the school photographer. Go to his website: http://www.scottellisphoto.com/. Enter the gallery “Lipscomb.”

• Fourth graders and their parents enjoyed Pioneer Day yesterday, planned by our fourth grade team. We began the morning in chapel with Bob Wood, one of our members of the Board of Directors, talking to our P-1st through 4th graders about pioneers in the Bible—Abraham and Sarah, Moses, Joseph—people who went into a new land, trusting God to lead them to a better place, making the journey easier for the people coming behind them. This was a marvelous day of hands-on integrated learning!

Dates to Remember:

Tues., Nov. 15 Hazardous Materials Community Drop-Off, Elementary Campus
Thurs., Nov. 17 DLES Thanksgiving Lunch
Nov. 21-25 Thanksgiving Holidays, No School, No Extended Day
Tues., Nov. 29 Lighting of the Green at Lipscomb University
Dec. 14, 15 Pre-First through Fourth Grade Grandparent Days
Dec. 15, 16 DLES half-days
Dec. 19 – Jan. 3 Christmas Holidays, No School
Wed., January 4 Students return to school

Open House, Grades PK-12

Come and see what David Lipscomb Campus School is all about!  It's this Sunday... don't miss it!

DLES Third Grade - Impacting their community, taking care of the earth!

Third graders help coordinate one-stop drop-off for green-minded consumers on Nov. 15

 

As part of an annual study of earth science issues, the David Lipscomb Elementary School third graders are studying this month the negative effects of medications that get into landfills and the water supply. The students will cap off their study by coordinating a household and e-waste collection on Tuesday, Nov. 15, America Recycles Day, at the elementary school.

 

Throwing away trash used to be a simple operation. But today with more awareness of the damaging effects of mercury, lead and arsenic on the environment, throwing out household trash – including light bulbs, batteries or old electronics -- has become much more complicated with various items having to be disposed of in various locations around town.

 

And now with more than 100 different pharmaceuticals having been detected in lakes, rivers, reservoirs and streams throughout the world, disposal of expired and leftover prescription and over-the-counter drugs has become an important issue. Pharmacists recommend that many drugs be returned at only designated “take-back” locations, but they are not often easy to find.

 

At the Nov. 15 collection, held at the David Lipscomb Elementary School site, 4517 Granny White Pike, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., the third-graders will accept everything from old computer monitors to expired prescription drugs.

 

Acceptable items include various household waste items such as alkaline and rechargeable batteries, thermometers, fluorescent light bulbs and various recyclables; e-waste such as old VCRs, computers and TVs; and the Nashville Metropolitan Police Department will be on hand to accept expired and leftover prescription and over-the-counter medications.

 

For a complete list of items accepted – from electrical cords to cell phones – log on to events.lipscomb.edu and scroll down to the dates of the collections.

 

The third graders will be learning about medications and their effect on the environment by touring the Lipscomb University College of Pharmacy labs on Tuesday, Nov. 8, Wednesday, Nov. 9, and Thursday, Nov. 10. They will also visit a wastewater treatment facility, create a public service announcement and hand out information flyers on proper disposal of medications at the Wal-Mart south of Old Hickory Blvd. on Nolensville Road on Saturday, Nov. 12, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

 

For years, pharmacists have instructed patients to flush leftover medications down the toilet, but now that practice is having ill effects on the nation’s water table, said Ginger Reasonover, the science laboratory coordinator at the elementary school, who has worked with the third graders to study the issue.

 

In March of 2008 the Associated Press found that 24 major metropolitan areas had trace amounts of drugs in their water supply, meaning at least 41 million Americans have tiny levels of drugs in their drinking water.

 

Some, but not all, pharmacies and police stations will take back drugs, but it’s hard to know which ones offer the service, Reasonover said, and other pharmacies offer the option to return leftover drugs through the mail, but at a cost.

 

Patients have long been encouraged to dispose of their leftover medications immediately because of the need to protect children from accidental poisonings and to discourage patients self-medicating with antibiotics and thus increasing their resistance to the drugs.

 

But now that the Environmental Protection Agency has identified more than 100 individual pharmaceuticals and personal care products in the nation’s drinking water, simply flushing them can do more harm than good.

 

In an experiment in the school’s on-site garden, the third graders determined that throwing them away is also problematic, especially antibiotics, which can leech into the soil, making the soil antibiotic resistant. If crops are grown on that soil and we eat those plants, we also have the possibility to become more resistant to antibiotics, Reasonover said.