This Week

Wilson High School English teacher Laura Anne Hofler has been named the South Carolina Bar’s 2024 Law Related Education (LRE) High School Teacher of the Year.

The Law Related Education High School Teacher of the Year Award was created to honor a South Carolina teacher who best exemplifies the LRE commitment to help students better understand their roles as democratic citizens. It is presented to a teacher who has fostered public understanding of the values of our legal and judicial systems; stimulated a deeper sense of individual responsibility in students; encouraged and supported LRE programs; and increased communication among students, fellow educators and those working in the legal system.

Read more about the award: Laura Hofler, SC LRE Teacher of the Year

Thirty nine eighth grade students in Florence 1 Schools have been named 2024 South Carolina Junior Scholars. They received recognition at the May meeting of the Florence 1 Schools Board of Trustees.

The South Carolina Department of Education sponsors the South Carolina Junior Scholars program. It identifies students who demonstrated exceptionally high scholastic achievement and intellectual ability based on the students’ performance on the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT).

Each of these students took the PSAT as eighth-graders and scored a 550 or above in reading and writing or a 530 or above in mathematics.

Learn more about the award and honorees: Florence 1 Schools Junior Scholars, 2024.

In recognition of the Florence 1 Schools Classes of 2024, Baccalaureate Programs will be held at each of the three high schools on Sunday, May 19th, and the public is invited to attend.

The Wilson High School program will be held at 8:30 a.m. in the Allie E. Brooks Auditorium. The speaker is Dr. Adam Richardson, Pastor of the Church at Sandhurst. At South Florence High School, the program will be held at 2:00 p.m. in the auditorium. The speaker is Dr. Landon Reynolds, Pastor of Southside Baptist Church. The West Florence High School Baccalaureate Program will also be held at 2:00 p.m. in the auditorium, and Bishop Elect John E. Rodgers of St. James Deliverance Church is the speaker.

Third-grade teacher Kathryn Poston is using a Power of Good of $5,719 grant provided by First Bank to bring VEX Robotics’ educational kits to Lucy T. Davis (LTD) . Her new Robotic Revolution program will teach students computational skills so they can learn STEM fundamentals through the engineering and coding of their own robots.

Pictured from left to right are: Brooke Knotts, AVP Branch Manager at First Bank; Sonya Graves, Principal, LTD; Kathryn Poston-- LTD 3rd grade teacher; Sherie Sawyer--Assistant Principal, LTD; and Ashley Christenbury--City Executive with First Bank. For more information about First Bank grants, visit: https://localfirstbank.com/power-of-good-grants/.

For the ninth year, Florence 1 Schools has earned the Best Communities for Music Education award from the NAMM Foundation. For more than two decades, the Best Communities for Music Education designation has been awarded to districts across the nation that demonstrate outstanding achievement in efforts to provide music access and education to all students.

Florence 1 is one of just seven school districts in South Carolina to receive this designation in 2024.

Click to read more about the award: Best Communities for Music Education Award.

Have you thanked your school nurse this week? There is still time! Since 1972, National School Nurse Day has been set aside to recognize school nurses. National School Nurse Day was established to foster a better understanding of the role of school nurses in the educational setting. School Nurse Day is celebrated on the Wednesday within National Nurses Week, and there is still time to say thank you to your school health care professional.

Why did Florence 1 Schools open registration early this year with a goal of having 70% of students registered by May 24th? The simple answer is registering now makes the start of the new year smoother for everyone, especially our families!

𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 creating classroom assignments; making class schedules; and preparing bus routes.

There is less than a month until the third and final $100 grocery gift card registration raffle. Parents are encouraged to check registration off your to-do list today and qualify for the drawing! Get started at f1s.org/registration.

Southside Middle students and staff witnessed the installation of a sculpture made by Bob Doster, an award-winning, nationally acclaimed artist who has been creating and teaching for more than fifty years.

Doster has been featured in publications and broadcasts including Southern Living Magazine, Carolina Arts, Sandlapper, SCETV, Arts Hub, National Welders Magazine, and a myriad of newspapers and travel magazines. Works by Doster can be found in museums, galleries, public art, corporate and private collections worldwide. Doster’s works are prominent in local, regional, and national competitions,

Students in Emily Viering's class submitted designs for the sculpture, and the design by Aubrey Fowler, a 6th-grade Fine Arts Academy Honors Visual Art Student, was chosen by Doster for creation into a 14-foot sculpture. The sculpture is displayed on the front grounds of Southside Middle School.

Students in the International Baccalaureate (IB) Program at Wilson High School excelled on the National Spanish Examination sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP). IB students in Spanish 2, Spanish 3-4 and Spanish 5 recently took the examination in Achievement and Proficiency and received special recognition for their performance on the 2024 National Spanish Examination for High School Students. Instructors are Griselda Milligan (Spanish 2 and Spanish 5) and Dawn George (Spanish 4).

Spanish 5 Students: Pictured on the front row are Margaret Milligan, Krisha Patel, Maria Evans, Andrea Elya, Javon Riles and Lily Merzlak Pictured on the second row are: Samuel Floyd, Grady Chapman, Fletcher Townsend. Read more here: Students Excel on National Spanish Examination.

1. Celebrate YOUR successes.

What the students achieved this year is a due to your hard work and dedication. Celebrate that! Also, pat yourself on the back for going above and beyond. What new technology or organization system did you implement this year that made it so much easier? Take some time to congratulate yourself for all those #nailedit moments throughout the year.

2. Don’t over complicate things!

Simplify. Simplify. Simplify. "Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated."– Confucius-

3. Have students help out.

4. Amp up the fun.

A little joy and whimsy can go a long way in keeping morale high.

5. Choose joy.

Simply choosing your mindset before you start the day has a profound impact on your experiences. Choose to enjoy your last few days with the students. You’ll never be with this same group of students again. Maybe you had a trying year with them or possibly it was your best year of teaching yet. Either way, you’ve been on a journey together and that’s worth honoring.

End-of-course examinations will be administered to high school students in English 2, Algebra 1, Biology 1, and United States History. Eighth graders currently enrolled in Algebra 1 will also be tested. The End of Course test schedule is: May 9th- English 2 Writing; ; May 16th- Block 1; May 17th- Block 2; May 20th- Block 3; May 21st- Block 4; May 18th- Algebra 1 (grade 8).

Parent information can be found here.

For more information contact Shemia Yearwood, Florence 1 Schools Executive Director of Assessments and Accountability.

Florence 1 Schools will present the annual All-City Art Show featuring elementary and high school art exhibits in the Yellowjacket Room of the McClenaghan Building. The elementary and *Horizons art display is on Thursday, May 16th (5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. Awards will be presented at 6:00 p.m.) The high school and *Horizons 2 art display on Friday, May 17th (5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. Awards will be presented at 6:00 p.m.)

*Horizons is a visual arts G/T program available to rising 4th and 5th graders.
*Horizons 2 is a visual arts G/T program available to rising 6th through 8th graders.

Saturday, May 25th is the Florence Flamingos fundraiser night for F1S elementary schools. Each school will receive a promo code and with that code, $5 from each $16 ticket will benefit the school. Tickets include unlimited food and drinks, an exclusive Flamingos hat and a school shout-out during the game.

Receive more details at this link: https://florenceflamingos.com/2024/05/02/elementor-1125/.

Florence 1 Schools is sponsoring a trip to New York City this summer. The trip will include 30 students, 10 chaperones, and two lead chaperones.

Priority will be given to rising 8th through 12th grade students who are active in Florence 1 Schools secondary arts magnet programs. Students must have a clean discipline record in order to attend. If selected, a recommendation from a principal and a teacher in the arts program will be required.

For more information visit bit.ly/24NYC.

South Carolina Entrepreneurs will also offer a virtual Spanish class for students. For more information, visit www.scfutureentrepreneurs.com.