Hometown Rankin - December 2015 & January 2016

As shown by the high inspection rating, the Pelahatchie High
JROTC is achieving its mission to motivate students and teach
them the values of citizenship, leadership, service to community,
personal responsibility, and a sense of accomplishment while
building upon teamwork, self-discipline, and enhancing self-esteem.
PHS Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC)
is a program offered to high school students that teach cadets
character education, student achievement, wellness, leadership,
and diversity. Collectively, these lessons motivate cadets to be
better citizens which is the main focus and mission of JROTC.
In addition to promoting citizenship, JROTC also prepares
cadets for college while providing service opportunities involving
school and community.
Pelahatchie Chiefs - Game Changers Building Literacy
Dr. Bryan Marshall and Lisa Attkisson
How to motivate young children to read is a question that is
typically asked by most parents and teachers. When contemplating
how to reach beginning or struggling readers, it is highly
important to bring a sense of excitement to the literature.
This year at Pelahatchie Elementary and High School,
students are helping students learn to read and to develop a love
of reading. These are not
just ordinary students
from Pelahatchie High
School but are senior
football players. The
players spend their time
reading to the kindergarten
through third grade
students. These reading sessions are held several different ways.
Some sessions are held with individual students, groups of
students, and sometimes they read to an entire class. The football
players are given a series of questions that probe for higher order
thinking to ask before, during and after the reading session.
This program has been hugely successful and has brought
about a new attitude toward reading in the schools. This is a two
way street because the football players see how much of a role
model they really are and how much the younger students look
up to them. The elementary students, in turn, see the importance
of reading, and it is fun for them to see their heroes up close and
personal.
Literacy has been a focus on both campuses at Pelahatchie and
will continue to be an important part of the education of the
students. Literacy is the foundation for building life long readers
and consequently life long learners is the ultimate goal of the
Pelahatchie school zone. The faculty and staff at Pelahatchie
Elementary and High School encourage each parent to promote
reading and to help develop a love of literature that will spill over
into the school. It is the parents that make our jobs easier, and we
thank you for sending the students we educate daily. We are truly
blessed to be a part of their lives.
Pisgah
Pisgah High School is proud
to announce its Teacher of the
Year for 2015-2016, Mrs. Lindsey
Winn. Mrs. Winn has taught
junior high science at our school
for the past five years. She
graduated from William Carey
University with a degree in K-8
Education, and also earned certification to teach reading, history,
and science. She recently earned her M.Ed. in Administrative
Leadership from the American College of Education. She is
originally from Flowood and is a graduate of Northwest Rankin
High School. Lindsey is married to Jamie Winn and they have
two children, Rivers and Laken.
Mrs. Winn teaches all of Pisgah’s seventh and eighth grade
science courses, and therefore is able to guide students through
both grades, culminating at the end of eighth grade with the
Mississippi Science Test 2. Mrs. Winn chose a career in teaching
science because “it is full of experiments, it is engaging, and it
allows me to create a fun learning environment.” She enjoys the
challenge of competing to improve her students’ test scores each
year and also creating innovative ways to design a reflective
environment. Last year, her eighth graders created a portfolio of
their strengths and weaknesses in science; the preparation taught
them to be optimistic about their abilities, and she thinks that
Hometown Rankin • 103