Centertown School principal Pam Cowan reported on some of the new programs and equipment her school is utilizing this year at the School Board meeting Monday night.
One of the main additions Centertown is using are Boxlight Panels, which are interactive touch boards teachers can use to engage students and allow them to interact in the lesson.
“We have purchased 25 and have plans to purchase a few more,” Cowan told members of the School Board who were meeting at Centertown School. “We put them in every homeroom classroom. This system is a perfect way to communicate with a technology-wise set of students. Our students get up and make presentations on them. They are very versatile in how to use them. We find this is an excellent tool we have adopted this last year to use with the students and we think we have spent the money wisely.”
Cowan says these interactive boards are about $3,000 each, but were definitely worth the money. Fifth-grade math teacher Kaylee McClure also agrees these boards are an asset and says students love them.
McClure says it is a treat for the kids to come up and use the board. She also uses her Boxlight Panel to present her slideshows to the students, and it can also connect to the Elmo Projector.
Another topic Cowan touched on at the School Board meeting was the accelerated reading program.
“We think it promotes a love of reading and offers incentives for our students,” Cowan said.
She said the school librarian randomly divided all students into four different houses and they are all in a competition for total words read. So far, the four houses combined have read 9 million words since the start of the school year.
Cowan also explained the “Best Day Ever” at the meeting.
“Trisha Robinson, our school secretary she had the idea that since we couldn’t have the fall festival last year because of COVID, what we would do is have a day just for students. And we did the Best Day Ever in May. We went outdoors and had a school carnival,” she said.
They have now made this an annual event to celebrate good behavior.
Centertown Elementary is participating in the TVA Energy Grant which provides more heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems and the bonus of this grant is possibly receiving an outdoor solar classroom. The school also purchased Read 180 in order to promote reading fluency and close the learning gap caused by COVID-19. Centertown is also doing a recycling program again this year. They were successful in recycling 7 tons of paper last year.
