Community happenings 4-20-12

Bryan Nerren, senior pastor at International House of Prayer, was invited to be the minister of the day at the State Senate Session on Thursday. From left are: Sen. Jim Tracy, Nerren, Rhonda Nerren and Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey.

Kevin Nerren, Rep. Pat Marsh and Bryan Nerren.

Southside Elementary School third graders in Mary Tim Cook and J. Hildebrandt's classes combined reading with science in am especially fun, but especially messy project. After reading the Dr. Seuss book Bartholomew the Oobleck and talking about the properties of matter, the third graders made their own oobleck with cornstarch and water. Iris Basurto, Natasha McClain Chunn, J. Hildebrandt and Valynn Corley enjoy the oobleck in its liquid form. (Submitted photo)

Gage Allen shows the oobleck in its solid form. (Submitted photo)

Southside Elementary School third, fourth and fifth graders are busy practicing and getting ready for the upcoming TCAP tests. To blow off a little steam, students went to the gym on Friday afternoon and had a special TCAP Pep Rally. Mary Tim Cook, Sue Smith, Vickie Ransom, Delorse Taylor, Tracy Broadway, Kyle Prince, Brian Waggoner, Jan Hix, Jon Martin, Layne Talbott and Sal the Salamander (a.k.a Reita Vaughn) lead students in a Southside cheer. (Submitted photo)

Luis DeOsio, Kimberly Diaz, Diana Hernandez and Julia Andres enjoy the dancing during the pep rally. (Submitted photo)

Southside kindergartners in Pat Simmons, Jeanna Brandon and Christy Herrod's classes ended their unit on the food pyramid in a fun way, by preparing and eating their own mini pizzas. Gracie Herrod, Rosalia Viveros and Delainey Green take their turns adding pizza sauce (vegetable), cheese (dairy) and pepperoni (meat) to the biscuit dough (bread).

Michael Baker is ready to dig in to his mini pizza.

Southside 3rd graders in Mary Tim Cook and J. Hildebrandt's classes had a long-distance class via web cam with the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. The topic of the lesson was endangered animals. Students received their own passports and got to view animals in the zoo live through the eyes of the web cam. They also got to participate in fun learning experiments. Jordan Newsom, Edgar Rodriguez Castro and Mili Gaspar volunteer for a demonstration to show students how the shrinking habitat causes animals to become endangered.

Valynn Corley shows a map of the world that the students used to find locations of endangered animals as the long distance instructor talked about them.

Town and Country Garden Club held its monthly meeting on Wednesday, April 18. University of Tennessee Extension Agent John Teague presented a program on tree and shrub care. Winners in the arrangement and floral specimen categories were, left to right: Barbara Thomas, Doris McCord, Charlene Judd, Nancy Reak, Rita Huffman and Margaret Jarrell.

Daughters of Deborah, a non-denominational group, held its quarterly meeting recently at the home of the Rev. Adrienne Hickman. From left are Sandy Carlton of Riley Creek Baptist Church, Paula Williams of Church of the Anointed One and Margaret Brewer of Fairlane Church of Christ. Finger foods were served during a time of fellowship, followed by a group prayer focusing primarily on the institution of family.

Angela Atonsa and Denise Hobbs, left, representing the Center for Family Development discussed statistics with Katie Guthrie and Teresa Seagraves of Duck River Electric Membership Corpoation during a coffee hosted by CFD Wednesday at the Chamber of Commerce in recognition of Child Abuse Prevention Month.