FMA Live! Comes to Northwestern Middle

FMA Live will host 2 performances at Northwestern Middle School Tuesday, March 22 at 8:30 and 9:30 a.m.

This innovative, traveling hip-hop science concert will reach more than 17,000 middle-school aged students during its 10-week, 20 city tour of the United States. Named for Sir Isaac Newtons's second law of motion (force = mass x acceleration) FMA Live! uses professional actors, original songs, music videos and interactive science demonstrations to teach middle school students Newton's three laws of motion and universal law of gravity.

Created in 2004, FMA Live! is a collaboration between NASA and Honeywell International of Morristown, N.J. It is the only nationally touring, multi-media, science-education production of its kind.

During each FMA Live! performance, students, teachers and school administrators interact with three professional actors in front of a live audience to experience Newton's laws firsthand. A giant sticky wall is used to demonstrate inertia; go-carts driven across the stage illustrate action and reaction; and "extreme" wrestling and a huge soccer ball show that force is determined by mass multiplied by acceleration.

All three of Newton's laws are demonstrated simultaneously when a futuristic hover chair collides with a gigantic cream pie

For more information about the program visit: http://www.fmalive.com

Zachary Agriscience Department / FFA Holds Plant Sale

The Zachary High Agriscience Department and FFA will hold its annual Spring Plant Sale in the school’s production greenhouse. The sale will run from Thursday to Friday, March 25-26 and again on Friday and Saturday, April 9-10. Sales times are 7:30 – 4:00 on weekdays and 8- 2 on Saturday. The greenhouses are located on Ada St., at the back of the campus, near the stadium.

The Agriscience students have grown a variety of vegetable and flowering bedding plants, and hanging baskets to sell as one of their spring semester projects. New items this year, include our Gardens to Go. Proceeds from the sale fund other ZHS Agriscience and FFA sponsored activities.

For more information, contact Kathy Conerly, Agriscience Teacher, at 658-7326

Kindergarten Round-Up to be Held March 22

All future kindergartners and their parents are invited to take a tour of the school, see a kindergarten room, meet the principals and teachers, and have a snack!

When: Monday, March 22, 2010

Time: 4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.

Where: Northwestern Elementary School

Who: All incoming Kindergartners for the 2010-2011 school year

*If your child will be five by September 30th, he/she is eligible for Kindergarten.
**If your child is currently enrolled in Pre-K at Northwestern Elementary, you will not need to attend Round Up (pre-k students are automatically rolled over into kindergarten).

What to Bring:
If you have a registration packet, please complete it prior to coming to Round Up Night. You may download the registration form from the Zachary Community Schools Website under “Forms for Parents”.

• Registration Packet
• A copy of your child’s Birth Certificate
• A copy of your child’s Social Security Card
• A copy of your child’s current Immunization Records
• 4 Proofs of Residency (please see registration packet for details)

*If using the City of Zachary as proof, please be certain to make a copy of the payment stub before mailing the payment, as the address shows on the payment stub.

ZHS Baseball Team to Participate in Real Men Wear Pink Double Header

The second annual Real Men Wear Pink Baseball double header between Zachary High School and Parkview Baptist will be held Saturday, March 27 at Parkview Baptist School beginning at 11 a.m. with second game at 1 p.m. This event is sponsored by Lane Regional Medical Center with donations collected at the gate in lieu of the usual gate entry fee for the Susan G. Koman Foundation for Breast Cancer Awareness.

Last year approximately $2000 was collected at the gate on game day. The game was started with the first pitch by Randy Olson, CEO Lane Regional Medical Center after the national anthem was sung by James Pierce, a LaneRMC employee who also has a nephew playing on the ZHS team. The ZHS team wore black jerseys with pink lettering and PBS had blue with pink lettering. Jerseys were donated by LaneRMC. The teams also added to their attire pink wrist bands and socks. The field was lined with pink chalk, had pink bases and had pink ribbons chalked at the on deck and behind home plate locations.

In an effort to raise even more for the cause this year, LaneRMC will collect $5 from employees to wear jeans and a pink shirt and ZHS students will pay $2 to wear jeans and pink shirts on Friday, March 26.

Zachary fans are encouraged come out to Parkview Baptist School on Saturday, March 27, at 11 a.m. to support our ZHS baseball team and this great cause. And don’t forget to wear black and pink!

Michelle Clayton Receives Prevent Child Abuse Louisiana Honor

Zachary Community Schools Director of Academic Accountability Michelle Clayton was recently selected a recipient of Prevent Child Abuse (PCA) Louisiana’s 2010 Champion for Children Award. This is the highest honor that PCA Louisiana bestows upon individuals who have made a difference in the lives of children. The awards were presented during the 24th Annual "Kids Are Worth It!” Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect. Clayton serves on a local level to prevent child abuse in her role as homeless liaison and Director of Academic Accountability in the Zachary Community School District. She acts as an advocate for the district’s children and families in crisis. Mrs. Clayton works to find students safe, loving homes and works with the families to ensure that they have the resources they need. She has impacted the lives of countless families. Clayton and her husband Aristead are raising their 4 daughters, 1 adopted son and are currently in the adoption process for another son. She has worked in the Zachary Community School District since 2003.

New Warriors on Display at Northwestern Middle School

Inspired by a field trip to Houston Museum of Natural Science Terra Cotta Warrior Exhibit, Northwestern Middle Talented Arts students have produced some amazing artwork currently on display in the school’s library.

The Terra Cotta Warriors of Emperor Qin are a cultural treasure of China. They are the recently dug up remains of the Terra Cotta Army that Emperor Qin constructed for his afterlife. They were buried for hundreds of years before being discovered by well diggers in 1974 in Xi’ai Shaanxi Provence China.

Northwestern Middle School Talented Arts students, along with Tammy Wood, Margret Atkinson and Talented Arts Teacher Shawn Quincy Foreman traveled to Houston to see the Terra Cotta Warriors from China.

Foreman describes the exhibition as “amazing; just being in the presence of the works of art was truly a once in a lifetime experience. The students had a wealth of information passed on to them by the docents; they were shown how the warriors were constructed as well as the reasoned for them being built,” he explained.

Upon returning their first assignment this year was to construct a three dimensional Asian type warrior figure with armor. The purpose of the trip was to get an idea of how a figure could be constructed three dimensionally and what Asian motifs may have been like during the Qin dynasty. The students worked long and hard on constructing these new warriors. They used a construction technique called tape casting. This is where they covered a body part with plastic wrap, and then taped over it in several layers. They then cut it off and reassembled the pieces into a figure and painted it.

The Talented Art students jumped in with both feet and produced some amazing pieces of work. The New Warriors will be on display at the Northwestern Middle School library until the Christmas Break.

ZHS Band Christmas Concert

The Zachary High School Band will be having their 2009 Christmas Concert this Friday night, December 11th, at 7:00 in the ZHS Band Room. They will be performing selections from the Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky, as well as collections of many carols we all know and love.

If you are going to the town open house, you can watch the tree lighting, grab a bite to eat, then head over to the high school for the concert.

Whether you are able to make it or not, we would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Jason Venable Donny Alexander
ZHS Band ZHS Band