• Thursday, Dec. 8, Lady’s Island Elementary’s 2nd-4th graders will perform the “Annual Holiday Concert” at Beaufort High School’s Performing Arts Center, 6:30 p.m.
• Thursday, Dec. 8, Beaufort Elementary School: SAGE Meeting 6:30 p.m. at OES.
• Thursday, Dec. 8, and Friday, Dec. 9, Lady’s Island Elementary will visit the “Festival of Trees” Greene Street Gym as part of  its Arts Integration.
• Friday, Dec. 9, Coosa Elementary students may pay $5 donations to wear jeans to help raise money for the Joshua McBride Memorial Fundraiser.
• Monday, Dec. 12, Grandparents Raising Grandchildren support group of Beaufort County meets at Hilton Head IB Elementary School, 5:30 p.m. Please enter through the Wilborn Road Entrance (Yellow Doors).

[caption id="attachment_4571" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Military children craft Christmas cards for the White House."]<a href="http://www.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/military-cards.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-4571" title="military cards" src="http://www.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/military-cards-300x168.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="168" /></a>[/caption]

• Monday, Dec. 12, Money collections are due at Coosa Elementary School for the Joshua McBride Memorial Fundraiser.
• Monday, Dec. 12, Mossy Oak’s Elementary School presents its Winter Performance, 7 p.m. in the gym. PTO will conduct a brief meeting prior to the performance.
• Monday, Dec. 12, Beaufort Academy 7th grade will depart at 6:30 a.m. for Union, SC, for a tour of Pre Civil War Home, Rose Hill Plantation, and Carnegie Library Museum.
• Monday, Dec. 12, Riverview’s Sting Ray basketball team plays away game against Hilton Head Prep, girls 6:15 p.m. and boys 7:15 p.m.
• Tuesday, Dec. 13, Beaufort Elementary School: AMES students provide invocation at school board meeting.
• Tuesday, Dec. 13, and Thursday, Dec. 15, 11th grade students at Beaufort Academy will be hosting a Holiday Store for 1st – 4th graders.
• Wednesday, Dec. 14, Beaufort Academy’s Upper School students will be performing the play “Free”, 7:30 p.m..

Lady’s Island Intermediate School responds to White House request
First Lady Michelle Obama made a worldwide request for Christmas cards, handmade by military children. The cards will be used to decorate the White House for Christmas. Several of Lady’s Island Intermediate students accepted the challenge, working hard to make cards to honor the service of their military family members. Student Sydney Wiese, a 5th grader at LIIS, specially designed and decorated the envelope carrying the cards.

RCC Winter Event
Riverview Community Cooperative (RCC) is sponsoring its winter event at the National Guard Armory (on Highway 21 near the Air Station) on Sunday, Dec. 11, from 5-7 p.m. It will be an evening of free family fun and a visit from Santa Claus! Back by popular demand, there will be entertainment by Dryesdale Entertainment with music, dancing, trivia, games and karaoke. Food, drinks and dessert will be provided including a Chili Cook-Off. Winner of “best chili” gets a prize. Please email Bernadene Giles at threegiles@embarqmail.com to participate. Donations of one to two dozen cookies or holiday cakes for this event would be greatly appreciated; please contact Nicole Gates.

Mossy Oaks Holiday Food Drive
Mossy Oaks Elementary Encouragers Club is sponsoring a Holiday Food Drive until December 16.  Donations of canned and dry goods can be dropped off in the barrels located in the front foyer of the school. All
donations will go to our local help agency for families in need.

School lunch money limits
The Beaufort County School District has set a limit on the amount of charges a student can accrue in the cafeteria. This limit is ten dollars and once your child’s account reaches it he or she will not be able to purchase breakfast or lunch from the cafeteria until it is paid. This goal is to reduce the debt accumulated each year by all of the schools in district. If your child has reached their limit an alternative lunch will be provided the first day. Parents will receive a phone call or letter indicating if their student is at the limit or close to it. If your financial situation has changed since the beginning of the year you may qualify for free or reduced lunch, please contact the front office to complete an application.

BES rated excellent for improvement
The South Carolina School Report Card ratings were released and for the second consecutive year Beaufort Elementary School has earned an Average rating for Absolute Growth and for the first time an Excellent rating for Improvement. The school would like to attribute all the students’ hard work. Five students earned perfect scores on their PASS tests last year: Lyla Gahl, Robert Miller, Alan Wiser, Dalton Frazier, and Steven Jones. This year PASS Writing is the end of March for 5th graders and 3rd through 5th take ELA, Math, Science and SS in May. If the students continue to read nightly, miss school only when sick, actively participate in daily lessons and maintains open communication between school and home, Principal Morillo is confident that the school will continue to improve and meet AYP for 2011-12.

Twilight Run T-shirt design contest
Designers, artists, doodlers and all creative types are invited to enter the Beaufort Twilight Run’s first t-shirt design contest. The winning design will be printed on the runner’s t-shirts during the fourth annual run on March 24, 2012, in Beaufort. Winners will receive praise and accolades from the runners, be highlighted on the BTR race website and win a $100 Amazon.com gift card. All details and rules are available on the Beaufort Twilight Run website. Deadline is Dec. 15.

[caption id="attachment_4572" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Right: BES parents designed turkey feathers to express love and pride for their students, a tradition started by fifth grade teacher Mrs. Angela Peterson."]<a href="http://www.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/turkey-1.jpg"><img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-4572" title="SAMSUNG" src="http://www.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/turkey-1-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a>[/caption]

Proud Parents Project
For more than 15 years, Mrs. Angela Peterson of Beaufort Elementary School has sent home a flyer prior to Thanksgiving inviting parents to demonstrate their pride and love for their student. This school year, BES 4th and 5th grade teachers adopted Mrs. Peterson’s tradition by participating in the Proud Parents Project. The project began by making large with missing tail feathers. Each student was then sent home with a blank feather template. Family members were charged with the task of exhibiting their love and pride for their student through poetry, descriptive words, pictures and more. The Proud Parents Project provided families the opportunity to show why they were thankful for their student. The following are examples of a few words that were shared about BES students: “Alaysha is Grampa’s special angel” and “Sade is my pride and joy.”

Joshua McBride Memorial Fundraiser for the Leukemia &amp; Lymphoma Society
Seven years ago, Coosa Elementary lost a school family member to Leukemia. Joshua loved school and the friends he made while attending Coosa. Coosa asks you to honor Josh by joining them for their annual Joshua McBride HOP for Leukemia &amp; Lymphoma Fundraiser.  The past several years, the group raised almost $35,000, but success in raising money to help cure this disease depends on your help. Students can earn some prizes depending upon how much money they collect. Please, only collect from family, friends, and co-workers, and do not let children go door to door. Make checks payable to “Coosa Elementary School.” Collections are due Monday, Dec. 12.