Mark your calendars!  This past week's winter weather may be behind us, but it's not entirely forgotten.

District Five has announced makeup days for the two days missed by students due to snow last weekend.  Students will now attend class on February 20 and March 17, both which were previously scheduled teacher workdays.

The 2016-17 school year calendar is available on the district website for reference.

Part of Byrnes High School has a brand new look for the new year, and it's all thanks to some generous help from the community!

The new fitness room opened this year with the help of the RD Anderson automotive paint department.  Instructors volunteered their time to paint and refurbish the old weight equipment.  Thanks also go out to the District Five maintenance department, who transported the equipment from Byrnes to RD so that it could be cleaned up.

9 Rounds gym in Greer, along with owner John Ownby, donated gloves for the gym's new punching bag.  Department head and FIGHT Club sponsor, Debbie Holcombe, says the whole project would also not have been possible without the support of the district and Byrnes administration.

Students and teachers are now enjoying working up a sweat in the new facility!
 

There's a winning spirit in Ann Salway's 3rd grade class at Abner Creek Academy!  For the 2nd year in a row, Salway has led her students to take the top prize in the national Dreambox Math Challenge.

Over a three week period this fall, students across the country accepted the challenge, and worked to complete as many math lessons as they could through the online software.  When the final numbers were tallied, Salway's 3rd graders took the top spot out of hundreds of entries from across the country!  Her students completed more than 6,000 lessons in just three weeks!

As a reward, they were recently treated to a live "Skype" session with Dreambox creators, and designers, to ask questions and give feedback about what they enjoyed about the program.  Students also received "swag" bags and t-shirts, and Dreambox awarded Salway a free ticket to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Conference!

Way to go, Abner Creek students!

Earning all "A's" at Florence Chapel Middle School pays off!    Recently, the school's PTA helped scoop up a sweet reward for students who earned all "A's" during the 2nd quarter.

157 students were treated to ice cream to celebrate their achievement!  Great job, Florence Chapel students!

Beech Springs Students Win Writing Contest

There's nothing like a little humor to make a lesson come alive!  2nd grade students at Abner Creek Academy recently created their own comic strips as part of a unit on sequencing.  Students began by acting out their story and posing for pictures in Literary Arts.

Then, after putting their story and pictures in sequence, Abner Creek's media specialist, Elizabeth Koon, helped students use their Ipads to bring the comic strips to life!

Keep up the great work, Abner Creek students!

Teachers at Beech Springs Intermediate School recently had to *break out* of their comfort zone, to learn new ways to help their students in the classroom.

Teachers participated in a fun "breakout" activity, similar to the games that have gained popularity in Greenville, and across the country.  In "Breakout EDU", teachers were given a box that had several locks on it.  Then, they had to communicate, collaborate, and use their creativity to solve riddles that would give them the answers to open the locks.

Led by Jed Dearybury, with PTSA, Beech Springs teachers were able to post a new record time of 19 minutes, beating the old breakout time of 28 minutes!

While teachers certainly had fun with the activity, the main goal was to share different ways they can use the activity to get students to share information, review for tests, and see how much they comprehend a concept.

Way to go, Beech Springs!

Before the holidays, students in Sheri Stott's class at Abner Creek Academy spent their time perfecting this piece of art in their colors class!  The final masterpiece was displayed at the Chapman Cultural Center in mid-December!  Way to go!