Every one of the 800+ students at Lakeland Elementary School will be joining in on the largest learning event in history: The Hour of Code. Lakeland students will receive a hands-on introduction to computer programming during the week of December 8-14.
While the focus has been on a need for space for Lakeland’s middle and high school students, Lakeland Elementary will be at or near capacity in three years, as indicated by numbers put together last Spring by Lakeland School System Superintendent Dr. Ted Horrell and based on a 4.75% rate of growth for the municipality’s student population. Once Lakeland Prep is opened, the approximately 180 Lakeland students currently zoned for Donelson Elementary in Arlington will return to Lakeland Elementary. As of August 25, Lakeland Elementary, with a capacity of 1050 students (including two portables) had an enrollment of 843 students according to Horrell.
Madison Hughes, Jaxon Hindman, Piper Lee, Lizzie Coleman. Photo by Kim Hughes
For Christy Harrison’s 4th grade class from Lakeland Elementary School, a project about salesmanship has become a mission to battle cancer. The class was assigned to apply the lessons they learned from reading Jacqueline Davies’ The Lemonade War from the schoolroom to the streets. And in the end, the students are learning more than principles of supply and demand, as they work with their community to raise money for a good cause.
In the book, a pair of siblings learns about marketing and operating a small business while battling to outsell each other with their lemonade stands. Harrison’s students originally teamed up for a similar friendly competition with the winning team donating all of the class proceeds to a charity of their choice.
Instead, several students suggested that the class donate all of the money earned—regardless of which team wins–to the brother of a fellow classmate. Lakeland resident Jaxon Hindman, a 6th grader at Bon Lin Middle School and former Lakeland Elementary School Student, was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor. Once the idea was brought up, Harrison jumped on board to support the students’ efforts.
Three of the students, Madison Hughes, Lizzie Coleman, and Piper Lee, are hoping to get the entire 38002 community involved. The girls will be setting up their stand at the Arlington Sports Complex on Memphis-Arlington Road this Saturday from 9:00 am until noon. Along with lemonade, the trio will be selling Pray4Jaxon bracelets and T-shirts. Several local businesses have donated prizes for a charity raffle at the stand.
Madison Hughes has already learned one benefit of helping others. “It makes me very happy to help Jaxon’s family,” the fourth-grader said. Madison’s mom, Kim Hughes agrees, “we are thrilled that the lemonade stand is turning into a way to support Jaxon.”
Donations may also be made at www.gofundme.com/thehindmanfamilyfund.
The January “Going the Extra Mile” Award recipient is Kim McKellar. Kim serves as the Vice President of Spirituality and Family for the LES PTA Board of Managers. Her main responsibilities include monthly collections and processing our Box Top and Campbell Soup Label programs which have raised thousands of dollars for our programs.
Kim also had the enormous task of handling our Angel Tree project this December. This included determining what gifts to purchase and spending many days hunting them down for the nine Lakeland kids who benefited from the program. In a season, where it is hard enough to get everything completed for your own family, Kim went the extra mile to make sure these children had a holiday that they would never forget.
Kim is the Mom of second grader, Connor and fifth grader, Samantha and works as a fitness instructor at the Bartlett Recreati0n Center. We are thrilled to have Kim on the board for the second year and we appreciate all of her efforts to make Lakeland Elementary the best of the best.
The following students are not only Lakeland Elementary Winners, but they are also winners at the Shelby County Council Level for their hard work on the Reflections, Citizenship Literature, and Safety Poster Contests.
Congratulations on a job WELL DONE!! The Lakeland PTA will be recognizing these students at the February 20th general assembly meeting.
And the winners are..
