Our school has taken great pride in our innovative and creative approach to the education of young children. I remember our Board of Trustees working on the first strategic plan that I was involved in shortly after becoming Head of School back in 2007-08 school year. One of the parts of this plan was the desire for our school to become a leader in the Chattanooga area of approaching education with the mindset of innovation and creativity. As a result of that plan, we hired Mr. Chambers and one of his first tasks was to help infuse our classrooms with technology and to help our teachers with the implementation of technology like iPads into our classroom. Through the years we have continued to be innovative adding programs like our 4 C’s curriculum, CAT days, STEM lab, world languages, and many other experiences for our students that truly separate our program from the many other independent school choices that parents have in the Chattanooga area. As we have continued to grow and gain a better understanding of how children learn, a relatively new concern has become a reality - the amount of time our students spend looking at a screen each day. In our endeavor to be innovative, we placed iPads in every classroom in our building. While I remain convinced, and research clearly shows that there are benefits to students using tablets, we must also be cognitive of the amount of screen time they accumulate each day. I will reluctantly admit that as a parent, I have put a screen (either a movie in the car, or an tablet/phone of some sorts) in my children’s hands more than once to occupy them. Research is now showing that we must be more aware of how much time our children are spending on screens. Our approach at BBS is to be intentional and purposeful with tablet use/screen time. They are not used as time fillers, or time wasters (which, many of us struggle with!). Smart phones and tablets have become so ingrained into our daily lives that it is hard to remember that tablets themselves were not even available 10 years ago. Let that sink in and consider how much has changed in a relatively short time. Because tablets are relatively new, the research that study their affects are now becoming more available. I hope you will take a few minutes to read the story by Sandeeps LaMotte with CNN that is linked below. I am a

MRIs show screen time linked to lower brain development in preschoolers

If you follow the school on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, you may have noticed that we frequently use the hashtag “#learningisfunatbbs” when posting about the fun and creative things that our teachers do with students each day at BBS. We are convinced that students learn better when the process is active, engaging, and to simply put - fun. Learning activities that fit this description happen every day across all grade levels on our campus. This week our 3rd-5th grade teachers collaborated on a project that allowed all three grades to have a unique learning experience. I have asked 3rd grade teacher Jesse Robinson to talk about this experience below.

Glow Room Fun

How do teachers survive the exciting week of Halloween? They embrace the craziness and add to it! The 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade teachers decided to transform one of the unused rooms in the school into a Glow Room for the week. Each teacher would have the opportunity to use the room anyway they wanted to. We did this because we wanted to engage the students when all they are really thinking about is Halloween. We have now been in school for 12 weeks and the students can start to get a little bored with the same routine. We wanted to change it up a little and keep them excited about learning. I told my students on the Friday before that I "had something up my sleeve" for them to look forward to next week. It made them excited to find out what we would be doing.  The teachers met on Sunday to get the room ready. We put up black table clothes to make the room dark. We used fun star lights and black lights to make the room glow. There were glow balloons and we even put up spider webs to make the room pop. Each teacher added their own special touch to the room before their class entered. Each teacher also did a different lesson to go with the content they are teaching.  

The 3rd grade just finished a reading unit on Main Idea. We wanted the students to take what they used during our F & F time and use it outside their SPEC logs. The students had to find the main idea and supporting details of a few different passages that related to fall or Halloween. They also were given 6 main ideas with 18 supporting details. They had to match the supporting details with the correct main ideas. They worked hard to find the supporting details that went with the main ideas. The students were focused and working hard while we were in the glow room. They were excited about learning in a different environment. Some of the students came up to me and said thank you for doing this activity with us, that made my heart smile. To see the students engaged and excited in the learning process makes all the planning and time to put it together worth it. Learning truly IS FUN at BBS, but so is teaching!

For the last several years, Brainerd Baptist School has been offering child care for our students over school breaks and holidays. While we are happy to provide this service to our parents, it can often be a challenge because parents HAVE to sign up early in order for us to properly staff the care. We often like to reflect on the various programs at BBS. This mindset is healthy because it affords the opportunity to make improvements that benefit our students. Mrs. Ateca has been working on making some improvements to how we do our holiday childcare, and I have asked her to share those changes in the post below.

Holiday Child Camp

Brainerd Baptist School is revamping the holiday childcare that we have offered the last few years into a new Holiday “Camp” !  We want our students to love coming to school even on breaks and holidays. Our hope is to provide an organized learning environment while not being every day school.  We are  preparing each of the holiday childcare sessions into a camp reflecting the holiday it surrounds.  We will plan activities with the holiday in mind creating festive surroundings and exciting activities for each child to enjoy.  Hopefully, this will make students excited to be here even when they don’t have a regular school day and parents need our help caring for their children. 

The first opportunity we will have for our new Holiday Camps will be over Thanksgiving Break - Monday and Tuesday, November 25th and 26th.  We will explore the holiday and why we have it each year.  We will also learn to set the table for a special meal and make a special Thanksgiving dish to try.  If you need to sign up for the camp, you may CLICK HERE.

“Educating the whole child” is a mindset that permeates our approach to education at Brainerd Baptist School. We have numerous programs for our students that help differentiate our program from other schools in our area. These programs are designed to move away from the traditional subject-based approach (math, english, science, etc.) and educate the whole child. Examples of things that do this at BBS are the STEM lab, our gardening program, CAT days (curiosity, adventure, and thought), our foreign language approach, our house system, and many other things. Whenever I am touring new families for admission to our school, the first thing we see upon leaving my office is our nurse’s office. I tell those families that Mrs. Adams is more than a school nurse. While she does an amazing job of managing student health issues and concerns, she goes way beyond that. Over the last couple of years, Mrs. Adams has developed fun initiatives to help our students focus on creating healthy lifestyle choices. Some of the fun things our students have experienced are a campaign to “catch” them students eating vegetables during their lunch, a screen-time challenges, a hand-washing video competition, step challenges, as well as various other things.

Currently, our students are doing a water challenge for the month of October. We have spent time in chapel talking about the benefits of drinking more water. We have set an ambitious goal for our entire student body to consume 2,000 liters of water in the month of October. Students can earn water drops by finishing water bottles of water each day. This is a fun way to help our students develop the habit of drinking water early. Over the last two years we have installed 5 new water fountains equipped with bottle fillers to help our students in this endeavor. This also helps us be better stewards as students are encouraged to bring multi-use bottles to refill each day. Learning IS fun at BBS!

In our last post, I mentioned that it was the first in a two-part series looking at the thought of innovation at Brainerd Baptist School. I talked about the culture of innovation that we have worked hard to create. If done correctly, I believe this type of culture encourages our faculty to be risk takers and try new things. Many of the innovative things we do that make our program unique have come from teachers in our building. The expectation for our faculty is that they are life-long learners who are constantly working to become better teachers. We want them to try new experiences and techniques. The blog post below is another example. We utilize an “exposure” model and strongly believe that our students benefit from being exposed to many different types of learning in various subjects. I am really excited about what we are offering our students this year in foreign language. Baylor School does something similar to this in their middle school and I have always thought it was great for students. In the post below, our Spanish teacher April Connell explains the fun things we are doing with our students this year.

The BBS Language and Cultures class
April Connell

This year, BBS 4th & 5th grade students will begin a new journey in their language classes. Instead of remaining focused on only one language (Spanish) throughout the year, students will now have the opportunity to discover three additional languages and their cultures. After researching many of the local middle and high school language offerings, Ms. Connell gathered a list of the most common ones that BBS graduates would have the option to choose from at their future schools. By exposing the students to an array of choices, they will leave BBS, not only better prepared to make their language selections in middle school, but also with a greater understanding of the world around them.

There will be four different languages and cultures taught this year, following the school’s quarter system. These are (in order): Spanish, Latin, Chinese (Mandarin), and German. Each year, the fourth quarter offering will flip-flop between German and French, allowing fourth grade students the opportunity to experience a taste of both before graduating. Basic vocabulary, most common phrases, and correct pronunciation will be explained and practiced. Geography, including map studies and virtual travels using Google maps will be employed. Cultural highlights, including holidays, traditions, and pop culture will be explored, along with studying a brief history of the language’s origin and of the people who speak it. Students will create or experience a form of art, both literarily and thru a hands-on activity, that relates to each culture. They will also have the opportunity to try a “taste” of the different cultures with various samplings of popular foods associated with each unit.  All five senses will truly be engaged! 

The students have already shown great enthusiasm towards this new and exciting class, and Ms. Connell is anticipating a unique and fun year ahead. This creative approach to learning is just another way that Brainerd Baptist School is expanding minds and preparing hearts in its students.

The following post is the first of two in which we are highlighting something new at Brainerd Baptist School this year. We strive to develop a culture were creativity and innovation are normal parts of our day. These are traits that we want our students to develop, so it is important that we, as a school, also embody these traits. I believe that schools operate best when there is no fear of failure of trying something new. Teachers will be quick to tell you that we can become entrenched in the way we do things. A culture of innovation removes the fear of failing at something new, and replaces that fear with excitement and encouragement. Our students have been blessed by this innovation over the last few years with some amazing opportunities that are not available at other schools in our area. Some examples would be our 4 C’s curriculum or our C.A.T. (curiosity, adventure, thought) experiential learning opportunities. In the post below, John Creed talks about our new Houses of Brainerd Baptist School.

The Houses of Brainerd Baptist School
John Creed

This school year, fourth and fifth grade students will take part in an altogether new experience at Brainerd Baptist School. In addition to the many aspects of student life that make their final years as Bobcats special, these students will be the first to participate in the House System at BBS. 

The House System at Brainerd Baptist School is designed to serve as an extension of the school’s mission and vision. As both an academic and non-academic program, the House System seeks to nurture unity within the fourth and fifth grade student body. While promoting cooperation, healthy competition, and encouragement, this system will point students toward traits such as integrity, responsibility, kindness, and diligence. Our hope is to further build upon the strong culture and community of our school. 

Each house has faculty representation to serve as heads of the house. These heads are comprised of fourth and fifth grade teachers and fine arts teachers. Students were assigned to four houses after their first assembly of the year. A few days later, they participated in an initial a house meeting where house heads taught students a handshake, song, or chant to share with the members of their house throughout the year. Additionally, house members learned about their house’s unique crest and the house point system. 

During the year, students will have many opportunities to earn points for their houses. These points can be earned by displaying quality character traits or through a simple act of kindness. House competitions and specific academic goals may also contribute to points for a house.

It was a treat to hear the first house meetings draw to a close with the rumble of each house’s newfound chant or song pouring into the hallway. The early excitement of the students has been encouraging, and we are looking forward to seeing this grow and develop throughout the year! 

Much is made about the excitement of children as the first day of class approaches. Today marks the first day of class at Brainerd Baptist School. A LOT of preparation has gone into making this day run as smoothly as possible for our students. My youngest child had her first day (junior year) on Monday and I certainly understand the anxiety that can accompany this momentous occasion from a parents perspective. Moms spend time shopping (often with their child) for the various necessary, (and often unnecessary school supplies -hello locker wallpaper and chandeliers). Schedules are analyzed and memorized. New shoes are purchased, and in many cases, other things like picking out a new backpack is a tradition for many. Today marks the 20th consecutive year where I have experienced a “1st day” professionally. Of course, before that, I experienced many first days of school personally as well.

If I could say one thing to students AND parents that you may not have thought about, it would be this - your teachers are just as excited, and often times more anxious about this day as you are! They have put in MANY hours creating a space in their classrooms that is warm and inviting just for their students. They have prayed over their students and are excited to get to know them, and most importantly, their goal is to positively impact the lives of their students this year. Believe it not, I would almost certainly bet that many of your teachers also had their outfits laid out last night in preparation for the big day. I will even admit that I also got new shoes for today, although I doubt any of my students will fully appreciate my choice in purchasing new loafers from Cole Haan!

Here is to the beginning of a GREAT year! We are happy that many of you have chosen Brainerd Baptist School for your child. Our enrollment is up about 7% over last years first day number. We have added 2 new classes due to growth. For many of you, today marks “the last first day” at Brainerd Baptist School for your child. My advice as a dad that has experienced this three times - soak it up and enjoy it, because it will go by fast. If I can help any of you as the year begins, please do not hesitate to contact me.

I have often said that the most important thing I do as Head of School is hire the right people to join our school. In school life, the end of each year often means change. And although we are sad when teachers leave our family, it is necessary to identify the best people to join our team. I like to joke that at our school, change is often the result of two things - retirement, or pregnancy! As we finish this year, and are preparing for the 2019-2020 school year, we are facing more changes than I can ever remember in my time as Head of School. We have some long-tenured faculty who are retiring, and we are excited that we are also adding two new classes/teachers due to our enrollment growth.
When a job is posted at BBS, we typically have 30-50 applications to consider, and this year was no different. We selected several strong candidates who had impressive resumés to come on campus for a tour, and interviews with our administrative team and also with the prospective team members. This process involves many of our teachers, and I am thankful for their hard work as they helped us select the best fit for each position. All of our new teachers have spent time on campus and in our classrooms preparing for their move to BBS in the fall.
We are excited to announce that the following individuals will be joining our faculty for the 2019-2020 school year:

• K3 - Ms. Lindsay Patty - Lindsay is a graduate of UTC and is coming to Brainerd Baptist School after teaching at East Brainerd Elementary.

• K4 - Mrs. Cheryl Johnson - Cheryl is a veteran pre-k teacher that comes to Brainerd Baptist School from the preschool program at Lookout Mtn. Presbyterian Church.

• K5 - Mrs. Angel Schrader - Angel has been teaching 1st grade at East Side Elementary in Chattanooga for 13 years. She is no stranger to BBS, as both of her children (Elizabeth Grace and Charlie) are students.

• 1st - Mrs. Katie Adams - Katie comes to Brainerd Baptist School after teaching for 5 years in Cumberland County (Crossville, TN area). Katie is also very familiar with our school as she walked the halls of BBS as a student and is excited to be returning to teach at her alma mater.

• 2nd - Mr. Tanner Winters - Tanner recently graduated from Covenant College with a degree in Elementary Education. He is also familiar with BBS. He completed his practicum in Mrs. Ateca’s K5 class last year, completed his student teaching placements at Battlefield Primary and in Mrs. Dahlke’s 1st grade class this spring.

Join us in congratulating our new faculty members. Complete bios for each teacher will be coming soon.

Later today we will celebrate Mrs. Cathy Creed’s tenure at Brainerd Baptist School with a retirement reception. The post below is from our winter 2019 issue of Foundations magazine. I attempted to highlight the tremendous blessing that Mrs. Creed has been to me during my years as head.

The Calming Presence

When trying to think of the right adjectives to adequately describe Cathy Creed, several instantly come to mind like affectionate, compassionate, witty, sincere, observant, patient, intuitive, friendly, loyal, supportive, funny, and most importantly, a champion for doing what is best for students. When I was appointed Head of School in May of 2006, Cathy was the first person I hired, and she has served as our Assistant Head of School for the last thirteen years. In her role she has overseen our  K3/K4, Summer Camp, and Brainerd Baptist After School Care program. Additionally, she has worn many other hats and taken on multiple other roles. Until we added our first Academic Counselor, Mrs. Creed worked with all ages of students who needed additional academic support.

Over the years while working as a team, Mrs. Creed and I have celebrated many highs and lows that come with our profession. Cathy is the type of person who would always be available to listen and provide a different perspective right at the time when I needed one. Many people may not know that she has a very dry sense of humor, which she utilizes extremely well. I cannot count the times our weekly administrative meetings have been interrupted with laughter due to a sly comment that is perfectly delivered by her with a straight face.

However, what I appreciate most about Cathy is her ability to be a calming presence. She is never the loudest person in a meeting or a room. She has a genuine love for her job and the people that work with her. She is an incredible listener and has even been been known to sit and cry with a teacher or parent that is going through a tough time. Over the summer, Cathy told us that this year would be her last as Assistant Head of School.  While we are sad, we are happy to announce that she will still be working at Brainerd Baptist School part time in our academic counseling office. This will prove to be very beneficial for our students who have the opportunity to work with her. There is no doubt they will benefit from her wealth of experience and vast ability to work with students who have learning differences.

As with any change, we are also excited about the future. I am a believer that good schools develop leaders from within. Therefore, we are also excited to announce that Mrs. Regina Ateca will be moving into the Assistant Head of School position this summer.  Mrs. Ateca has been working with Mrs. Creed in preparation for this move, and we know that she will do a phenomenal job.

We will have a special time to honor Mrs. Creed’s service to our school in the spring and will communicate those details at a later time.

Here is our new bus that will be delivered in the next week.

We are a few weeks removed from our annual auction, and I have some exciting news to share with our families. As was stated on the night of our auction, our goal was to raise enough money to purchase a new bus. Our friends at Brainerd Baptist Church have been very accommodating in letting the school use their motor coach (and other vehicles) for the last 24 years. The coach has served us well and we have been incredibly blessed to have such a nice mode of transportation for so long. As you can imagine, maintaining a bus this old has become a burden, because something always seems to need replaced. Additionally, a coach is substantially more expensive to maintain over a regular bus.
Back in 2017, we raised money to purchase a mini-bus for our summer camp and athletic programs to use. This has been a tremendous asset for us, but it can only hold 15 people, so it isn’t practical for field trips where an entire grade level needs to travel. We decided this year to begin working toward raising enough money for a new bus. The cost of a new bus is approximately $100,000. In previous years, our auction has raised around $55,000. Our hope was that our auction would continue it’s trend of raising additional funds for the school, and that money, coupled with money given to the school by Brainerd Baptist Church from selling the Prevost motor coach would allow us to purchase a new bus. I am happy to report that our auction raised almost $80,000! This money, along with money given to the school by Brainerd Baptist Church allowed us to order a new bus that should be delivered this week! Our 4th grade will be using the new bus to travel to Nashville and visit the state capital and our 1st graders will be using it to head to the Knoxville Zoo. As you can see, your student’s have a direct impact on your generosity. We want to once again say a heartfelt “Thank You” to our families for making this night such a success.

Recently, WRCB News Channel 3 featured Brainerd Baptist School on David Carroll’s weekly “School Patrol” segment. The story highlights the efforts of BBS teachers have made to help 1st grade student Hayden Hudgens. Hayden is currently battling Leukemia and often has to travel to St. Judes Children’s Hospital in Memphis to receive her treatment. For the last two years, Hayden’s teachers have travelled to her home to see her, and even over 350 miles to Memphis to work with her on her school work (and have some fun as well).

One of the most recent faculty additions at Brainerd Baptist School is our school nurse, Rachel Adams. This is her third year at BBS, and just about every person at BBS would echo my sentiments of, “How did we survive without her for so long?” One of the things that I appreciate about Mrs. Adams is not only her commitment to overseeing the health of our students, but also her desire to help students incorporate health into their everyday life. She is ALWAYS developing a new (and fun!) way to help our students think about their health. A few examples of some of her ideas include: the indoor walking track, the water challenge, the February fitness challenge, covering health topics (like heart health) in STEM class, and many others.
Below you will read about one of our new initiatives - helping our students realize (AND REDUCE!) the amount of food we waste each day. We are blessed with an amazing cafeteria staff, who do an incredible job of making our students great meals each day. Our new focus will show our students the amount of food that they throw into the garbage can each day at lunch. Mrs. Adams gives more details below about this initiative.

Food Waste Reduction Challenge

This past Tuesday, Feb. 19th, we launched our first ever food waste reduction challenge.  As I began researching food waste in our nation, I was blown away and saddened by the statistics.  According to a study conducted by the Natural Resources Defense Council, “Up to 40% of the food in the United States is never eaten.  But at the same time, one in eight Americans struggles to put enough food on the table.” 

This challenge comes on the heels of BBS once again winning first place in WRCBTV’s Share Your Christmas food drive for most amount of food collected in the small school division.  This was not planned, but could not have been better timed.  Last week during chapel, our students learned that 1 lb. of wasted food is equivalent to approximately 1 meal.  Each day we throw away a lot of food, but our staff was curious to see just how much.  This curiosity and the desire, to be better stewards of what we have, led us to take action.  Wingfield Scale Company has graciously loaned us a commercial scale to make data collection possible.  We are so thankful for their partnership with us.

Stay tuned for updates on our progress.

The month of February has been designated as Black History month since the 1970s when President Gerald Ford urged Americans to, “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.” Over the years, our teachers have done an amazing job of incorporating meaningful activities into our curriculum that celebrate the accomplishments of African-Americans throughout our history.

Several years ago, former music teacher Lisa Kell developed a special chapel program to recognize famous African Americans. While this chapel was the most visible of our endeavors to celebrate Black History month, it did not adequately capture all the activities that our teachers have incorporated into their classes. We have not done a good job of communicating the great things that are happening in our classrooms all month in conjunction with Black History Month. This post is an attempt to provide our parents with a general overview of activities that summarize how each grade level is incorporating Black History Month into our classrooms. Although this list is not exhaustive, it does give insight into various learning activities that are happening throughout the month.

Additionally, we have a special chapel planned for Wednesday, February 20th, to highlight Black History Month. We have three special speakers that will be talking about Black History Month from different perspectives. Mrs. Celeste Bradley, parent to both Spencer (5th grade) and Austin (2nd grade), who is an attorney here locally will talk about education advancements since the introduction of Black History Month. Mrs. Kilzma Brown, parent of Regan (‘18), and Lacy (2nd grade), will explore the topic of worship and how different cultures are unified in our worship of our Lord, and Shaq Hardy, Youth Pastor at Brainerd Baptist Church, will close our time with a challenge to all students with the concept that as followers of Christ, we have more in common than not, and that we are all created in the image of God.

Black History Month Areas of Study

1st Grade studies the life and achievements of MLK, Jr. in January with a week of reading books and center activities all centered around this great leader. In February, they study and discuss the following:
Freedom quilt craft (along with Underground Railroad discussion)
Mae Jemison craft (discussion of 1st African American woman in space)
Jesse Owens
Booker T. Washington
George Washington Carver
Jackie Robinson
Harriet Tubman
Ralph Bunche
Alex Haley
Wilma Rudolph

North America is our continent of study for February/March, so many of these individuals come up throughout our focus. It is also our "Famous American" presentation month so other folks like MLK Jr, Ruby Bridges, and other African American athletes coincidentally are presented by our first graders.

2nd Grade studies Black history in the context of our F & F reading unit which focuses on recognizing the important details in a book. All of our books are about African Americans who have made a difference, especially in the Civil Rights Movement. The children will be reading and learning about Ruby Bridges, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr, Jackie Robinson, and the topic of segregation of black baseball players in the major leagues. The students will also be individually researching famous African Americans and creating a project about them.

3rd Grade does a unit on Famous Americans during the month of February in Social Studies. The students will read a biography and complete a Coke bottle project for their famous person. This project is a fun way to show the facts that they have learned in their books. The students will choose from famous women, Hawaiians, and African Americans.
The 3rd grade will also be going off campus to see the play, Freedom Train, which is the story of Harriet Tubman. Additionally, the books that our students will be reading as a part our F&F unit are on African Americans.

4th Grade has several areas of focus during Black History Month. Some of the learning activities that are:
1. EPB black history poetry contest - students will work on this during English and Social Studies classes

2. Scholastic News Article on Black History and Scholastic activities associated with this issue - Reading class

3. The students will view the movie No More Baths. The will learn about racism in an age appropriate setting in which children can easily make connections

4. 4th graders will complete 2-3 Black History Vignette focuses per week during February. Before reading class we will highlight a person who accomplished something great among America's black community (medical, political, musical, literary, etc.). In reading class this information will be supplemented through center activities such as practicing cursive using famous quotes from books or songs, reading comprehension focusing upon a particular person with questions to help students focus on main ideas, and video clips on iPads that show special Black History features.

5th Grade reads The Watson's Go to Birmingham about the bombing in the Birmingham church.  Our F&F unit is on fact and opinion and we will read articles on famous African Americans.

Most of the articles are from a book called Famous African Americans.  Rube Foster, Ruby Bridges, Hank Aaron, MLK, Jackie Robinson, Booker T. Washington, Sarah Breedlove (later became Madame C.J. Walker), Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, and Dr. Ben Carson are a few of the people we read about.  People were selected from many different areas of walks of life that would interest the students, but also would give them examples of how people can influence many lives in small or big ways. It also gives our present students a glimpse into the past where black people suffered much hardship to gain the civil rights they deserved. 

Rachel Adams, our school nurse, has done a phenomenal job of developing fun and creative ways to help our students focus on improving their health and their choices that they can make to help them have a healthy lifestyle. Last year, Mrs. Adams partnered with our PE program to develop a monthly fitness challenge in the month of February. This year, Mrs. Adams and Mr. Owens have developed another fun and challenging month to help our students focus on their health. Mr. Owens has written the following blog post to help our parents see all the fun ways they can be involved with this special challenge as well as a special calendar showing the days/events.

February Fitness Challenge

We hope that you will join in on this year’s fun by participating in the BBS February Fitness Challenge!

Here are the instructions for students who want to be entered into a raffle to choose a daily activity/game to play in PE class:

Follow our February Fitness calendar of exercises on the back of the page to complete this challenge. Each week that you complete all of the daily exercises, cut out the raffle ticket on the bottom of the page, fill out your name and teacher, and have it signed by your parents. Then, turn the ticket in to your homeroom teacher on the following Monday to be entered into the raffle drawing (to lead PE for one day). There will be 1 raffle winner per grade level that week, and the winner will be announced on the Tuesday morning announcements. If you complete the entire February Fitness Challenge, simply bring in the final “February Fitness Champion” raffle ticket to receive a special certificate.

Good Luck as you become BOBCAT STRONG!

Back in September I wrote a blog post here on the Bobcat Blog that explained the SAIS accreditation process that our school was going to be completing in November. We are fresh off of our visit and are excited to share the results with you here. Additionally, we also want to share the results of the Value Narrative Survey that many of you completed as a part of the accreditation self study. This will be shared in an upcoming blog post as well.

The following is a summary of the 2018 accreditation visit that was conducted in November, 2018 and chaired by Mr. Brendan O’Shea. Brainerd Baptist School used the strategic plan that was created by our Board of Trustees in 2013 as the guide for the self-study. The plan focused on improvement in 5 different areas. The visiting team responded to each of the focus points of the strategic plan in their report. Their recommendations and commendations are listed below. We hope that you will take a few minutes and read through the results of many hours (I could even say, weeks, months, and years!) of work that this report represents.

As always, if you have any questions, or would like to have additional discussion about what is in the following summary, please contact me and I will be happy to discuss or explain in more detail.

SAIS Visiting Team Summary Report

Area 1 – Create a continual feedback loop of all shareholders in the school community that will fulfill and further the mission of Brainerd Baptist School.

Description
Teachers and administrators of the school regularly and successfully gather feedback from shareholders of the Brainerd Baptist School community. The SAIS survey demonstrates parents' complete and thorough satisfaction with their children's educational experiences. Parents and teachers hold multiple conferences throughout the year to report student progress. ERB testing provides feedback to both parents and teachers about individual student's progress as well as progress of various classes. Teachers and school officials use testing results appropriately to review and advance curriculum and document overall school progress.

Commendations
The visiting team commends the school for the following:

• Establishing the Foundations and Frameworks (F&F) program to focus on literacy and reading fluency with the intention of strengthening skills and standardized test results;

• Scoring extremely high on the SAIS parent satisfaction survey;

• Communicating regularly and efficiently with parents to ensure information is easy to access;

• Having teachers readily available to communicate personally with parents;

• Creating a culture of access and harmony between school personnel and parents through intentional programming to focus on retention;

• Focusing on trying to make the parent experience as smooth and easy as possible for families.

Recommendations
The visiting team recommends that the school consider the following:

• Sharing the executive summary of the annual survey with community shareholders;

• Researching the correlation between the Foundations and Frameworks (F&F) program and ERB scores over several years;

• Continuing to promote the successes of Brainerd Baptist School to the parent community who serve as the school's most important and authentic marketing team.

Area 2 – Examine and create financial sustainability for Brainerd Baptist School.

Description
Brainerd Baptist School, now a separate entity from Brainerd Baptist Church and its own 501(c)(3), has taken measures to create its own financial reporting system. With a newly hired business manager, Brainerd Baptist School is poised to change internal accounting from a cash basis to an accrual basis, present a balance sheet for review, and develop financial models for the future.

Commendations
The visiting team commends the school for the following:

• Taking ownership of the financial management from the church and bringing all financial operations in-house;

• Establishing an endowment to secure the financial future of the school;

• Taking advantage of extremely low facilities costs, resulting in significantly lower tuition rates than local competitors;

• Reducing the school's dependency on the annual fund in the yearly operating budget.

Recommendations
The visiting team recommends that the school consider the following:

• Restructuring the financial reporting to include accrual-based accounting, balance sheet and other necessary reports;

• Raising tuition gradually over time to increase endowment funds, to make teacher salaries more competitive, to provide additional financial assistance for families and to create funding for deferred maintenance needs.

Area 3– Examine the school's current plans and policies, updating and creating new plans and policies when necessary to help ensure the school's future.

Description
Brainerd Baptist School has developed clear policies and procedures that facilitate the mission of the school.

Commendations
The visiting team commends the school for the following:

• Creating and implementing policies and procedures that support the mission of the school;

• Cultivating and developing a competent leadership team that is capable of executing the school's plans and policies;

• Developing a school culture that promotes innovative thinking from all staff members, as evidenced by the number of positive and meaningful enhancements implemented in recent years, including programs such as The 4 C's (carpentry, chess, coding, and cooking);

• Working toward and successfully establishing a positive working relationship with the leadership of Brainerd Baptist Church.

Recommendations
The visiting team recommends that the school consider the following:

• Examining continually the relationship between the church and school with consideration given to establishing a written agreement to ensure a lasting, secure and cohesive relationship in the future;

• Developing a succession plan for school leadership including the head of school and board chairman;

• Establishing permanent working board committees, such as a finance committee.

Area 4– Communicate our elementary school academic excellence as found in our Christ-centered loving environment, sustained in a cost-effective manner.

Description
Parents affirm they learn about the excellence of Brainerd Baptist School most regularly via word of mouth. Stakeholders in the school community know and proclaim the success of the program through informal methods, often incorporating social media, including the school website and outlets such as Instagram, various blogs written by school personnel, videos, photographs, and the school magazine.

Commendations
The visiting team commends the school for the following:

• Developing and protecting the trusting relationship between school personnel and constituents as evidenced by numerous affirmations from parents regarding the school delivering on its promises;

• Providing as-needed access for parents to school team members to enhance the partnership between families and the school;

• Clearly communicating, demonstrating and living the mission in every aspect of school life;

• Having a head of school deeply involved in the admissions process, meeting and touring just about every prospective family who comes to campus;

• Affirming and motivating all school employees as they initiate innovative student programming.

Recommendations
The visiting team recommends that the school consider the following:

• Including employees other than the head of school in giving admissions tours to prospective families and training these employees appropriately with the intent of involving more personnel in the process, exposing prospective families to more members of the team, and relieving some of the pressure on the head of school;

• Developing social media protocols and guidelines for all members of the community to ensure consistent, positive messaging from all members of the community.

Area 5– Ensure that the classroom instruction models best practices, are child-centered and engaging.

Description
In every classroom and every conversation, it was evident the teachers were focused on child-centered, developmentally appropriate instruction. The school culture calls for rigor, interest, and high-order thinking skills at each level of instruction. There was clear demonstration of the joy of both teaching and learning throughout the school, and students confirmed their engagement in the educational process with genuine excitement and praise for their school.

Commendations
The visiting team commends the school for the following:

• Hiring and supporting a faculty that is dedicated to student development, and exhibits joy in the process;

• Choosing to focus on the most valuable school asset - the people associated with Brainerd Baptist - working in recent years to enhance faculty salaries and benefits as well as professional growth opportunities;

• Selecting and instituting a rigorous, challenging curriculum enhanced by the faculty's desire to instill the love of learning in its students;

• Using creative and innovative approaches to teaching in all grade levels and all subject areas;

• Providing classrooms spaces that are modern, allow for movement, and appealing to the children.

Recommendations
The visiting team recommends that the school consider the following:

• Ensuring the careful training and encouragement of teachers continues to be a high priority;

• Offering opportunities for the school's current parents and potential parents to be introduced to the excellent methods of instruction used in the classrooms;

• Striving to retain a cohesive and exemplary faculty through continual examination of competitive salaries and benefits as well as opportunities for professional development for all members of the team;

• Encouraging teachers to share their skills with others at TAIS, SAIS and NAIS conferences.

Summary, Conclusion, and Recommendation

Summary
Currently, Brainerd Baptist School is operating from a position of strength. With a healthy enrollment, sound financial position, stable faculty, excellent leadership team, and long-serving head of school, the school is faring well in a highly competitive independent school market. Major strides have been made in recent years, solidifying Brainerd Baptist School's independence from Brainerd Baptist Church as the school now operates as it's own 501(c)(3) entity. To protect it's future, Brainerd Baptist should consider developing succession plans for both the head of school and board chair position, further strengthening the board by establishing standing committees with documented responsibilities, and securing the current facility use agreement with the church going forward. All school constituents should be commended for the efforts put forth to advance the school to the position it currently holds.

Conclusion
Brainerd Baptist is an excellent school. So much can be learned by witnessing a school's culture. This is where Brainerd Baptist truly excels. It is clearly evident that all school personnel are completely engaged in providing the best possible experience for the children in K3-fifth grade. A wholesome, caring, loving environment exists for the children who benefit from a comprehensive and innovative curriculum delivered by an impressive group of educational professionals. The visiting team was impressed with all aspects and components of the school.

The visiting team would like to offer special thanks to Head of School Sean Corcoran and Accreditation Coordinator Missy Henson who both were organized, forthright and hospitable during our stay. We found all factions of the Brainerd Baptist community to be courteous, forthcoming and supportive of school leadership, and most importantly, devoted to the academic foundation and moral development of each child served by Brainerd Baptist School.

Standards Compliance
The school is in compliance with all standards of the SAIS accreditation process as verified by documentation, observations, and interviews.

Self-Study Quality

The self-study conducted by the school meets the standard of quality and thoroughness required by the SAIS accreditation process and answers the four critical questions as outlined in the Guidebook.

Recommendation
The school is unanimously recommended for accreditation.

Last year, I asked 4th grade teacher Vikki Cole to write a blog post about her “Shakespeare on the Playground” creation. Over the last two years, she has done an after school club for interested 4th and 5th grade students focusing on the famous works of Shakespeare. She guides them through a specific literary work, and then the students act out this work in a mini play. The plays are rehearsed to be performed in the open air on our playground (our own version of the Globe Theater!), but the weather does not always cooperate. In the post below, Mrs. Cole talks about the fall production that was performed this week. I so appreciate that our faculty is dedicated teachers like Mrs. Cole, who strive to provide new experiences for our students.

“What if I mess up?” a student wailed. 

 It was two minutes until show time, and I was talking nine, nervous 9 and 10-year-old “players” off the proverbial edge of panic. Huddled just offstage, they were a mishmash of wings, fake mustaches, velvet flat caps, and ivy crowns - the absolute best the church’s wardrobe closet offered for their diminutive sizes.

 “Someone will mess up,” I stated calmly. “We’ve even practiced that. We’ve got this!” I assured my tiny troupe.

 Alas, the fall 2018 BBS production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream did NOT go off without a hitch, just as predicted. Oberon and Puck had a conversation in Act Two, which wasn’t supposed to occur until Act Four. There were a few mispronounced words. A two-ton truck metaphorically ran over a couple of Shakespeare’s original lines. And one player ran on stage at the wrong time, paused, and loudly declared, “I’m not supposed to be here right now!” before dashing away.

 However, the performance was a hit in its own topsy-turvy, uniquely creative way. These young actors showed up despite their fears. They delivered their lines and “caught” each other when necessary. They laughed with the audience, and one another. They kept going when something went wrong. 

Though I boast of no previous theatre experience, I am now convinced of the absolute necessity of such activities within an elementary school program. Such productions provide an excellent platform from which children can gain hands-on experience in collaboration and grit.

 Actually, there was little chance of this elementary performance becoming a complete fail. After all, the audience was primarily composed of parents and grandparents, shoe-ins for standing ovations and catcalls of praise. Yet, even without such a generous audience, the show would have still been a success. These children acted their hearts out. They gave it their all and left it on the stage for our utter enjoyment. They showed courage, perseverance, dedication, and humor. I have never been prouder of a group of people.

If you have been around Brainerd Baptist School long, you will know that we like to frequently ask questions that focus on learning. We are consumed with examining how our learning processes align with a research-based focus. We spend much time in our in-service and faculty meetings talking about things like this. Our teachers are challenged to look at how the teach in relation to what is best for students. This is not a new phenomena at our school. I vividly remember when my son (who is now in college!) was in the first grade at Brainerd Baptist School, his teacher (Mrs. Stromberg) realized he would do better on his work if he stood up. Seems simple enough - so she let him stand up to work. This is just a small example of ways our teachers have taught for a LONG time!
A popular trend in many schools over the last two years is to offer students multiple options of seating as they work. Although some teachers have been doing this for years, there is relatively new research that speaks to the benefits of these choices for students. There are several grades at BBS that have incorporated alternative seating choices for students. About two years ago Mrs. Payne approached me about the possibility of adding these desk to their classrooms. I have asked Mrs. Payne to talk through the logic behind us adding these desk to our classrooms in the post below. I am thankful for teachers who believe so strongly in what they do that they continue to go above and beyond to make our school better! See Mrs. Payne’s thoughts on the desks below.

Why A Standing Desk?
Koko Payne
I like to say that teaching elementary students is such a neat experience because, their minds are like little sponges, absorbing so much!  However, we are faced with the challenge of providing a high quality academic curriculum with the understanding that you have a limited amount of time for sustained attention! As educators, we are always trying to seek the most effective way to teach our students while also providing the best possible learning environment for them. For years, we have implemented movement and various seating options to help our students with sustained attention, but there is still, room for improvement.

 So much research has been done on performance and productivity in the work place, hence the introduction of standing desks! This research has shown that standing while working improves working memory, processing, alertness, focus and enhances physical health.  Movement is important because research proves that shifting weight, fidgeting, and subtle movements support mental processing.  When blood gets flowing through the body and to the brain, memory retention increases. Because of these benefits, standing desks have become very common in the corporate world, and now, schools are also incorporating them into classrooms.

 Because the research suggest that it is what is best for students, we believe that this is what we need at BBS for our fabulous first graders!!! And so for our first grade, this is where our journey began. 

 In the winter of 2017, we began to research how we could add these desks to our classrooms.  While there are many desks available for the secondary schools, not as many were available for a self contained elementary classroom. After much searching, we found that the Hyde Park Day School in Chicago, IL had worked with Marvel Desks to develop a desk that would meet the needs of young students. 

 After deciding that this desk would be the desk that we wanted our students to use at Brainerd Baptist School, the difficult task of funding these desks became a reality. Teachers LOVE to teach, but do not necessarily like to talk about raising money!  These desks were well above the normal budget that BBS spends on desks. It was obvious that this amount would not be available in our school budget.  With the help of our development director, Ellen Baggenstoss, in fall of 2017 we applied for a grant hoping to obtain funds to purchase the desks!  We were disappointed when we were not awarded the grant.  Although disappointed, we believed so strongly that these desks would benefit our students, that in the summer of 2018 we decided to try a different avenue to raise the money.  Who would be willing to help? We realized that the people we needed to reach out to were the ones who loved BBS as much as us, but also did not want to ask our current families, who already give so much to our school. So we reached out to parents of former BBS students. In about a one-month time period we raised almost $6,000. I think we surprised Dr. Corcoran with how quickly we were raising the money more than ourselves! Since the goal to obtain desks for our classroom was so successful, the decision was made to purchase desks for the entire first grade.  Our dream has become a reality. On October 1, 2018 – with the help of our parents – these desks were placed in our first grade classrooms! We are so excited to see how this will impact our students for years to come!

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Having had three children of my own that matriculated through Brainerd Baptist School, I certainly understand how much extra work is involved when the fundraiser packets come home. When my children were at BBS, the fundraisers typically consisted of taking magazines door to door or asking friends and family to purchase cookie dough, gift wrap, cokes, or some other form of merchandise that you really didn’t need, but felt like you had to buy. Our families would work very hard on selling the items, and in the end, our school would profit anywhere from $7,000-$13,000. Although there is nothing wrong with that approach, a few years ago we began thinking about how we could raise funds differently. On the heels of our capital campaign to redo our playground, we conducted a walk-a-thon. The idea was that we could get the kids involved, they would have a great time, and raise money to help us complete construction of the playground. The event was an overwhelming success (raising over $20,000). This success caused us to wonder why couldn’t we do something like this each fall instead of having students selling items? This was about the time the TV show Ninja Warrior was becoming popular. We decided to do our own version of an obstacle race designed with student’s in mind. The thought process would be two-fold: parents wouldn’t have to solicit friends and relatives begging them to purchase random items; and the school would retain a higher percentage of the money collected. In a typical school fundraiser, the school only keeps about 40% of the money taken in. Another added benefit of doing this type of fundraiser is that our students get to enjoy a fun day being physically active outside. Now that I have explained the logic behind our move to this type of fundraiser, let’s talk about the exciting part…the results!

Each year, I meet with Ellen Baggenstoss and we talk through the fundraisers and set goals. There is ALWAYS worry that this may be the year that no one participates! I don’t know why we worry, but we do! Our parents and students respond so well, that you would think that by now we would just trust the process. This year, our Spartan Race has brought in over $33,000! This is AMAZING and we are SO EXCITED to be able to add some things to our school that were desperately needed. The important part for parents to know is that your children will immediately begin to benefit from the money raised. Here are the highlights of the improvements that we are making because of the success of this fundraiser:

• Fan - I am guessing you have probably heard by now, but we added a 24-foot ceiling fan to our gym. Our gym does not have air conditioning, so this addition has been amazing for our students (and teachers!).

• New Gym Lights - Our gym had many lights that were not working. We are updating all the lights in the gym to LED lights. We hope to complete this in the next couple of weeks. Our last goal will be to replace the ceiling of the gym as well as add ing noise cancelling panels.

• ICE CREAM! - You may have also heard that our students have not had ice cream on Wednesdays like they are accustomed to and Mr. Chris has missed serving our students each week terribly. Sadly, our ice cream machine has been broken since the beginning of school. We knew that the ice cream machine was old, but we did not realize it was 35 years old! The new version of the ice cream machine we currently have is around $9,500 (that is a big chunk of money-so we have been patiently waiting to see if we could raise enough to make this huge purchase)! We are now in the market and actively shopping for a replacement for our beloved ice cream machine. We are doing our research and working toward this purchase!

I hope you can see how your involvement in our fundraisers has a DIRECT and IMMEDIATE impact on your child. I know that it can be a bit of a hassle, but all the time and effort you put into it is worth it in the end! We are so blessed by our families believing in what we do and supporting it. I also want to say a HUGE thank you to our parents that helped make this event the success it was - Chairs: Courtney Embry & Phil Grubb (alumni parents), Katie & Tim McBryar (current parents), Builders: Allen Myers (current parent), Josh Woodard (current parent) and Bailey Adams (current/alumni parent).

Our school year is off to a smooth start. Our enrollment is up from last year, and we are excited about all the new families that are now a part of the BBS community. Now that our students (and parents) are in a routine, we have turned our focus to a pretty major event that will be happening in November- our accreditation visit. 
Once every five years, a team of educators from across our region visits our campus to assess the quality of the program. They will spend three days on campus meeting with our board, faculty, parents and even students learning more about our school. Their goal will be to celebrate the successes we have enjoyed in our program as well as recommend opportunities for growth and improvement. We are accredited by the Southern Association of Independent Schools, which is the premier accreditation for independent/private schools in our region. Their entire focus is working to help independent schools like Brainerd Baptist School be better. SAIS assembles our team from other SAIS accredited schools across the 14 state region where their member schools are located. 
Our faculty and board have been preparing for this visit for quite some time. Through the accreditation process, the school has to respond to a set group of standards showing how we adhere to, or meet those standards. Back in the spring, our accreditation chair spent two days on campus making sure that our school was ready for the full visit in November. We now need your help. As a part of the accreditation process, we will be sending you a link to a survey that will be gathering information about how our parents feel about the school. This survey will launch in the next couple of weeks. It will take approximately 8 minutes for you to complete. We are hoping to gather data from the majority of our families that will provide us with a significant amount of data that represents our entire constituency. Please be looking for this email soon. Closer to the date, many of you will be asked to particpate in a meeting with the accreditation committee during this visit. Please let me know if you have any questions. 

As I have written previously, I am convinced that one of the most important aspects of my job is hiring the right teachers to join the faculty of our school. I echo this theme each year when I write this blog post, but it really is true. Identifying the teachers that align with our culture and mission is critical to the sustained success we have enjoyed at Brainerd Baptist School. I have often joked that "retirement and babies" are most often the culprits for change in our faculty, and this has once again proven to be the case this spring. 

While we had more openings this year than I can ever remember having at one time, we were blown away with some amazing applicants for our open positions. What was particularly encouraging for us was the number of alumni and former faculty who applied. With so many great applicants, just selecting the candidates to interview was a challenge. However, our faculty teams did an amazing job interviewing many candidates for our positions. Please join me in welcoming the following new teachers to Brainerd Baptist School for the fall of 2018.

• 1st Grade - Ms. Natalie Daniel - Natalie is a graduate of Brainerd Baptist School and was involved in our STUCO organization before attending Baylor School. She is a recent graduate of Birmingham Southern College where she was involved in activities like lacrosse, Honor Council, student government, and many more. 
   
• 2nd Grade - Mrs. Christy Martin - Christy is a former first grade teacher at Brainerd Baptist School. She trained under Mrs. Deb Stromberg, and her first students are now seniors in high school! She also graduated from Baylor School before attending the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga to earn her degree in elementary education. After taking time to have children and assist her husband in their family business, Christy is excited to return to the classroom.
   
• Bible/Chaplain - Mr. Preston Kane - Preston is also a graduate of BBS. He then graduated from David Brainerd Christian School and attended the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga. He has spent a year in Mongolia on mission work during college, and has recently returned to Chattanooga after living in Louisville, KY, where he attended the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Preston and his wife, Alex, are the proud parents of a beautiful baby girl, Elowen. 

In addition to the new hires, we have made the following internal moves:

• K4 - Mrs. Karica Harner will be moving from a teacher assistant position into a teaching position. Karica is finishing up her master's degree in education from Liberty University and has been waiting for the right opportunity to move into a teaching position.
• K5 - Mrs. Rebecca Stubblefield will be moving from K4 to K5. Rebecca also recently completed her master's degree in education from Carson Newman University and has been patiently awaiting a full-time position. 
• PE/AD - Dr. Chad Owens will be moving from the Bible/Chaplain position to serve as our PE teacher/AD. Over the last few years, Dr. Owens has helped coach both volleyball and basketball. He is an exercise, nutrition, and wellness enthusiast and is looking forward to building upon the foundation that Coach Ledbetter has put in place.
• K4 - Mrs. Chelsey King will be moving from K5 to a K4 position. Mrs. King has taught K5 the last two years. Mrs. King recently had her third child and is moving into a part-time teaching position to accommodate her new schedule.