• Thursday, Jan. 12, for the Kid’s Club at <strong>Red Cedar Elementary</strong>, the circus has arrived. Pre-K and K/1 families are invited to come for a short performance, games, fun and a new book. The event will be from 6-7 p.m. RSVPs appreciated. Also, PTO will meet at 6 p.m. in the Art Room; all are invited.

• Thursday, Jan. 12, Blood Drive at <strong>Beaufort Academy</strong>, 12-4 p.m.; all donors are welcome. Also, BA Parents Association Meeting, 7 p.m.

• Thursday, Jan. 12, report cards go home from <strong>St. Peter’s Catholic School</strong>.

• Saturday, Jan. 14, <strong>Beaufort Academy</strong> vs. Hilton Head Prep at Colonial Life Arena, 3 p.m. Charter bus for students interested in attending, see Coach Millwood for more information.

• Monday, Jan. 16, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day—No school!

• Monday, Jan. 16, <strong>Red Cedar</strong>’s Drum &amp; Dance team will march at the MLK Parade.

• Tuesday, Jan. 17, Spirit Week begins at <strong>Beaufort Academy</strong>.

• Wednesday, Jan. 18, school tour of <strong>Riverview Charter Schoo</strong>l, 11 a.m. and 12 p.m.

• Wednesday, Jan. 18, Knight of Columbus Spaghetti at <strong>St. Peter’s Catholic School</strong>, 5-6:30 p.m. All money raised goes to the school.

• Wednesday, Jan. 18, <strong>Red Cedar Elementary</strong> hosts RESPECT Ceremonies for K/1. Ms. Austin, Ms. Baker, Ms. Gump, Ms. Hill, Ms. Jones and Ms. Metz’s ceremonies are at 9 a.m.; Ms. Berglind, Ms. Cassidy, Ms. Harms, Ms. Howell, Ms. Venning and Ms. Viskovich’s ceremonies are at 9:45 a.m.

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[caption id="attachment_5039" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Riverview first grader Casey Hoogenboom playing chess at tournament."]<a href="http://www.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/School-casey-chess.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-5039" title="School-casey chess" src="http://www.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/School-casey-chess-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a>[/caption]

<strong>Riverview students reign at USCF Chess Tournament</strong>

Two Riverview students made quite a show at the Knight Invaders USCF Scholastic Chess Tournament on January 7, 2012, in Beaufort. Sixth grader Chris Hoogenboom was undefeated and came in first place in the open division. First grader Casey Hoogenboom came in second place in the under 600 division with three-and-a-half wins out of four. The boys competed against some of the top scholastic players from South Carolina and Georgia.

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[caption id="attachment_5038" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The importance of being a first grader!"]<a href="http://www.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/school-the-impt-book.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-5038" title="The importance of being a first grader!" src="http://www.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/school-the-impt-book-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a>[/caption]

<strong>The importance of being a first grader</strong>

After reading The Important Book, Broad River students in Mrs. Nan Spearman’s class made life sized replicas of themselves and wrote about the things that make them special. Answers included things such as working on the computer, playing with friends, spending time with family and playing video games. However, the most popular answer was, “being a first grader!”

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<strong>Fripp Island’s Audubon Club pairs with Beaufort Elementary</strong>

Fripp Island’s Audubon Club recently adopted Beaufort Elementary School (BES) to inspire fourth and fifth grade students to learn more about birds and bird identification, advise them on bird habitat improvements in the school’s Life Lab, and help create a “ bird walk” art display for the bird-named hallway signs. In February, in conjunction with the Audubon’s sponsored Great Backyard Bird Count, BES will hold its first Fripp partnered event with a bird feeder building workshop, bird talks and the unveiling of Fripp and BES’s collaborative artwork. In the Spring, select fourth and fifth grade science classes are invited for a birding fieldtrip at the Audubon Nature Trail on Fripp Island. For more information on the Fripp Audubon partnership, please contact: Darby James at darby.james@beaufort.k12.sc.us, or Gwen Allen at janna.allen@beaufort.k12.sc.us

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<strong>“Show and Tell”  at St. Peter’s Catholic</strong>

Students in second grade invite parents to be their “Show and Tell” each week. Recently Detective Yiralys Suarez, mother of second grader Miguel and seventh grader Omar, came in with a fellow police officer, Charles McGuire, to share with the students the details of their jobs. During their presentation Miguel read a book to the class about police officers and what they do. Both Detective Suarez and Officer McGuire reviewed safety precautions with the students. Detective Suarez brought in some of her police/detective equipment to show the class. The students were given the opportunity to try on her bulletproof vest.

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<strong>Beaufort Elementary School Achievement Highlights </strong>

• 2011 Teacher Advancement Program Recognition for Value-Added Level 5 Achievement

• Absolute Index Growth from 2009-2011 on State Report Card: 0.69

• Improvement Index Growth from 2009-2011 on State Report Card: 2.81

• MAP Reading RIT Mean Score Improvement  2009-2011: 7.1

• MAP Math RIT Mean Score Improvement  2009-2011: 8

• Decrease in Percentage of Students Not Meeting ELA State Standards on PASS 2009 – 2011: 14.9

• Decrease in Percentage of Students Not Meeting Math State Standards on PASS 2009 – 2011: 17

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<strong>Beaufort High Wrestling team</strong>

December 17, 2011, Beaufort finished second at the Cane Bay Duals Tournament. The wrestling team took eighth place at the Hilton Head Seahawk Slam tournament on December 22, and they beat West Ashley 61-14 on Jan. 4, 2012. Way to plough into the New Year!

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<strong>Beaufort Academy girls split</strong>

It was a week where the Beaufort Academy Middle School girls split two games with a pair of Saints. On Wednesday the BA girls took a while to shake off the rust from the Christmas break.  At the end of the third quarter the Eagles clung to a two point lead at 16-14. With Allison Alvarez scoring 10 of her game high 20 points BA outscored St Gregory in the fourth quarter 16 to 4 and cruised to a 32-14 victory.

The Eagles traveled to Hilton Head to take on the Wolves of St. Francis on Thursday. In a back and forth contest the Beaufort Academy girls held a one point lead with six seconds left on the clock.  With two ticks left on the clock a St. Francis player swished her first career three pointer handing the Eagles a two point loss 26-24.  Eighth grader Allison Alvarez was once again the high scorer with 11 points with seventh grader Ashley Taylor contributing seven.  With the loss the Eagles fall to 5-2.

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<em>School briefs are compiled by Tess Malijenovsky. To have your school events published, email schoolnews@beaufortislandnews.com.</em>