Fall Course Availability The Campus Fall Term classes are ready for you to offer to your students, including:
Campus is FREE for your school to join & classes start as soon as August 21st!
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Book Your Trip Now!![]() Are you looking for a fun and educational school trip? Look no further! Located in the center of our nation's capitol, Museum of the Bible is the perfect place to plan your next school trip. School trips are often the highlight of the year for many students. Help your students grow and learn life lessons outside the classroom. Add Museum of the Bible to the list of museums your school will visit while in D.C. and let the Bible come to life! Museum of the Bible is an innovative, global, educational institution whose purpose is to invite all people to engage with the transformative power of the Bible." What does Museum of the Bible have to offer?Museum of the Bible has beautiful and interactive exhibits, concerts, plays, and so much more! With an unbeatable location (only three blocks from the U.S. Capitol building) and multiple floors of incredible exhibits, it’s a must-see when visiting D.C. This coming holiday season, bring your schools music group to The Museum of the Bible. Perform in our nations capital and receive free admission for that day. Learn more down below! Upcoming EventsCome See The Horse and His BoyStarting this June, Museum of the Bible is hosting Logos Theatre’s production of The Horse and His Boy and an unbelievable performance of a classic Narnia tale. Bring your school to D.C. between June 23rd and August 6th to make sure you don’t miss this incredible opportunity. With so many things to see in D.C., make sure that Museum of the Bible is on your tour list. There is no better choice for your students than to have the Bible come to life—take advantage of this great opportunity at Museum of the Bible.
Although school trips are fun, scheduling them and finding the right places to go can be a nightmare. Museum of the Bible is here to help you make your trip as easy as possible. Click here to find out more information about group rates and all the possible options for your school. With Jennifer (Jenn) Swain, Chief Marketing Officer We sat down with Jennifer Swain, Chief Marketing Officer at The Academy of Arts & Logos Theatre to “open the box” (the Show in a Box that is) and share with you what we found inside! Every Story Has A Beginning
But the Academy can only go to so many schools in a calendar year – how could they possibly help everyone who needed it? This was when the artistic team dreamt up the solution – what if they could put all their ideas, notes, suggestions & scripts into a physical box – and mail them to the schools? A Collaborative EffortThe team began brainstorming, just like how they would work together to put a show on stage, only this time it was to put a show into a box!
The team additionally created an exciting community hub for teachers staging their school play – from all over the country – to join together, online. The Director Hub has unlimited video training resources – everything from tips on how to apply character make-up to how to cast a show. This exclusive online membership is included in your Show in a Box and is available up until your performance date. “The Director Hub creates a community space for directors to learn from each other, ask questions and have 24/7 access to our brains”, Jenn said.
Curious For More Information?Here are a few more insights about the Show in a Box process and how you can take advantage of this resource in your school:
In 2020 WORLD News, a well established christian news outlet, decided that they wanted to create a new way to reach their youth audience. At the time they had many kid magazines and projects, but they they decided that a short daily video series would be the perfect way to reach a young audience. They began planning and aimed to create two minute videos every day and post them to their YouTube. They quickly realized that two minutes simply would not be enough time to cover everything, and planned to expand to three minutes and longer. In early 2020, WORLD approached meteorologist and broadcaster of 18 years Brian Basham to help consult on this new project. This resulted in Brian joining the team full time in March of 2020 as the Program Director and Host. Shortly after this, the world was put on pause due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Instead of letting this slow down production, WORLD saw that there was an even greater need for this tool since so many kids were now at home. The new WORLD Watch amped up production and began to post to YouTube and then fully launched in August of 2020. WORLD Watch is now a 10 minute daily show subscription featuring current events and news. Creating the show.WORLD Watch creates entertaining 10 minute videos that focus on informing youth about today's events and important news. The process of creating these episodes is incredibly intricate and requires the hard work of many people. WORLD Watch does an amazing job crafting intentional and interesting shows every single day. In every video, WORLD Watch aims to instill key elements.
Using these guidelines, WORLD Watch everyday works as a team to compile, write, shoot, and edit their 10 minute daily shows. The level of professionalism and incredible coverage is impressive to say the least. WORLD Watch has a unique ability to target difficult conversations and topics happening here and around the world. Often time Christians have a tendency to avoid what is happening in the world, but when they are forced to face issues they are often unprepared. So, WORLD Watch takes a different approach. They are going to deal with the hard topics, but from a biblical worldview so that the younger generation can learn the skill of discernment and put it into practice. Discernment is not an ability children are born with, it is a skill that must be taught and practiced. WORLD Watch is the perfect tool to help students hone this skill. Bring WORLD Watch to your school!Are you looking for a tool that will help engage your students in beneficial conversations and help create stimulating classroom conversation? WORLD Watch is the perfect tool to add to your daily classroom routine to add interest and foster a lifelong desire to engage with the world confidently.
At the end of conference season we randomly selected our winner from everyone who had entered. We were thrilled to find out that there could not have been a more deserving winner. This year's $500 gas gift card went to a teacher at Kid's Life Preschool. This teacher has been faithfully serving there for many years. Jan Rule, the owner and director of Kid's Life, said the winning teacher sacrificially gives to her kids and the school everyday. She has been driving an hour each way to work for years and we are so thrilled that God so provincially choose her to receive this blessing! God cares for us in the little things and we are so thankful that we get to help teachers accomplish their calling everyday. We can't wait for the 2023 conference season and continuing our mission of assisting schools by providing quality educational resources. God has blessed us in this industry and has allowed us to work with so many incredible partners and educators. We are so excited for everything to come this year and we look forward to giving back to more teachers in the future. We hope to see you all this coming year!
She began to write reading activities to help keep kids active in reading while schools were shut down. What started as a reading activity book, turned into a full supplemental reading curriculum. Learning to read is a foundational skill and an essential building block in a child's education and development. Due to COVID-19, we have more kids than ever behind in reading. According to a recent article by the New York Times, almost a third of children are missing significant reading benchmarks, leaving them unprepared to move on in school and setting them behind in nearly every subject. Our children need easy-to-use reading resources now!
The program consists of online videos that introduce children to new concepts and help them to understand difficult topics through fun examples and exercises. The Reading HQ strives to make reading engaging and fun as well as instructional and practical. How to implement The Reading HQ at your school.This program is designed so that it can be easily used in a school or home setting and is available for kindergarten through fifth grade. The Reading HQ offers material for both instructors and students with prices starting from $49.99 for student materials and $79.99 for instructor materials. The ReadingHQ digital platform subscription includes all access to grade levels for the program and is available for only $9.99 per month. Here's what is included.
Introducing Campus!
Campus is bringing innovative, Christian dual enrollment courses to your doorstep. By partnering with Campus, you can expose your students to a catalog of world-class courses unlike any other. ​
Why Should You Join Campus?
What Courses Does Campus Offer?
Campus offers a variety of quality courses including:
Contact Us!
Contact us to hear how accessing these faculty-led courses will allow your school to open a new revenue stream and serve your students even better!
It's a scary world out there...
Wars, political unrest, hurricanes, disasters - the list of tragedies and difficulties goes on. We live in a broken world that is difficult to navigate as we are bombarded with false ideologies and competing views. Students hear about world events from every avenue of communication, and it can be overwhelming and hard to discern what is true from what is not.
WORLD Watch is here to help.
How can I use this in my classroom?
Implementing a new curriculum tool can sometimes be more work than it's worth. Using a tool efficiently is often more important than the tool itself. We know that teachers spend so much time and effort putting together interesting and informational lesson plans. We want to help you make this process easy, so here are some ways that WORLD Watch can effortlessly be added to your classroom.
How schools use WORLD Watch:
What does WORLD Watch report on?
​All these subjects are covered throughout the short daily videos. These videos perfectly coincide with and reinforce what you are already teaching, and open portals for students to see and hear about important things happening all around them.
They get to learn about technology, history, government, art, and many other subjects, and discover important advancements that may change the world they are growing up in. WORLD Watch offers a safe space for kids to see, hear, and learn about things happening outside of the classroom from the safety of their desks.
Here's what you get:
So what are you waiting for?
We would love to talk with you today about WORLD Watch and how you can incorporate it into your classroom! Talk to an educational consultant today and unlock your Free ​30-day trial.
Finding curriculum is hard! There are so many options, and sometimes it can be overwhelming and difficult to distinguish what is most important. Here at Palmetto Fortis, we want to help you do what is best for your school, so we sat down with Karrie Edwards, Textbook Training Coordinator at Purposeful Design Publications. We asked her all the important questions you might have when trying to find the right textbooks.
What is the most important thing to consider when choosing new curriculum or evaluating your current curriculum? There are a few things that you should think about when deciding what curriculum would be best for your school.
Who better to talk about choosing a script than a former director and actor herself? Callie Summer—Educational Consultant at Palmetto Fortis—has both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Theatre. Callie has directed, designed, adapted, and acted in over a dozen shows at the elementary, high school, and collegiate level, and has toured in a children's show group across the country. She shared insight on how to choose a play that is the best fit for your school and your students.
Meet our Employee of the Month, Alice Brownlee! Alice has a vast amount of experience in the
education field. She has been an Educational Consultant here at Palmetto Fortis for 4 years. Prior to working here, she served as a kindergarten teacher/administrator for 20 years, as the ACSI Southeast Early Education Director for 8 years, and as an educational consultant for ACSI/Purposeful Design for 10 years. We are so thankful for the level of expertise that Alice brings to our team. Alice has been happily married to Brad Brownlee for 45 years, and has two kids and 5 beautiful grandchildren! In her free time, Alice enjoys reading, running, cooking, and working in the yard. She also serves on a committee that oversees a historical cemetery in the Atlanta area dating back to 1840. Alice and her husband also enjoy traveling, being involved in the community, serving at their church, and seeing their family! Alice’s favorite verse is James 1:17 — “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” We are so thankful to have Alice as a valuable part of our team here at Palmetto Fortis!
Back to School Q&A
Q: What was most important for you when tackling a new school year as a teacher? A: "BE PREPARED. In my experience there is no such thing as over preparation! Preparation may look different for every teacher and at every grade level, but knowing your scope and sequence before the year begins is crucial to staying on track!" Q: How do you prepare yourself before the year begins and each day before stepping into the classroom? A: "The first thing I recommend is to start your morning in the Bible. We need to be in the Word and there is no better way to prepare for the day. The second thing I do to prepare is listen to podcasts in the morning. Learning from professionals in the field is so easy through podcasts and it is so beneficial. To teach others to learn, you have to keep learning yourself." Q: Any last tips or recommendations for teachers this year? A: "Over communicate with parents! It is crucial to start communicating early with parents. Don’t wait till a child is far behind, start early! This will help everyone involved, and it will help to build relationships." Purposeful Design Publications is a Biblically-sourced curriculum company. With more than 30 years of experience, they have a strong reputation for academically sound and Biblically grounded textbooks. Purposeful Design Publications exists for three main reasons. 1. "To EQUIP teachers with the very best textbooks and resources for their classrooms." 2. "To INSPIRE educators and students to be lifelong learners, spiritually and academically." 3. "To SERVE the Christian school movement effectively."
Meet our Employee of the Month, Josiah Magnuson! Josiah is an educational consultant for Palmetto Fortis, and has been on our team since October of 2020.
Josiah is serving his fourth term as a South Carolina state representative where he was the co-founder of the SC Freedom Caucus. Josiah has used his extensive knowledge and experience to teach a variety of classes on history, science, and American government. Josiah has been happily married to his wife LeeAnne for three years, and in his free time he enjoys writing, hiking, numismatics, and making disciples of Jesus! His favorite verse is “For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; He will save us.” (Isaiah 33:22) We are so thankful to have Josiah as part of the team here at Palmetto Fortis! The past few years have been incredibly difficult for educators. So many components of teaching are challenging—switching between online and in-person learning, managing the ever-changing policies and safety measures, while still managing the responsibility of shaping the minds of the next generation.
A recent survey by Gallup Panel Workforce Study concluded that 44% of K-12 educators said that they always or very often experience symptoms of burnout. This number is higher than any other profession nationally. Teachers are building the next generation and we appreciate you! So here are a few tips on how to rest and recover from burnout this summer.
Jamie Mellor is an educational consultant on the Palmetto Fortis team. She has been serving with Palmetto Fortis for almost four years. Jamie has over twenty-eight years of classroom experience as a K-2nd teacher.
Jamie and her husband Dave recently celebrated their 45th anniversary. They love any time they get with their two daughters, Steph and Ally, and their six grandchildren. Some of Jamie's favorite things are reading the Word, anything mint chocolate, shopping, walking the beach, snow and cold weather, and talking to people. We are so thankful for Jamie and everything she does for our company. One of Jamie’s favorite verses is Psalm 126:3 “The Lord hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.”
Logos Theatre has exclusive rights to this show. Don't miss your opportunity to stage Prince Caspian!
Included with the script, you'll also get access to the experts who brought this show to the stage for the first time. Their team of artists share with your school how to do everything including props, costumes, blocking the play, and much more. Learn more here! Additionally, you'll get access to the director's guild, an online support community of fellow teachers and directors across the US. So, what are you waiting for? Purchase your Show in a Box today and take your school on a journey to the spectacular land of Narnia! Hear what other schools are saying about Reading HQ!
"[The Reading HQ] is straightforward and cleverly presented — I wish I had been able to learn this way as a kid!" Will M., South Carolina Help children become better readers with The Reading HQ! This summer, as you consider opportunities for your school, take a look at the exciting virtual programs offered by Museum of the Bible. These one-hour adventures bring the Bible to life as museum educators provide a unique journey for your classroom. The virtual programs engage students with the history, narrative, and impact of the Bible through immersive experiences that are specially designed for all ages and follow accepted standards of learning. Contact us to learn more about these virtual programs and visit our website to see the virtual program opportunities. Brenda Love is an educational consultant on the Palmetto Fortis team. She has been serving with the company full-time for over four years. Brenda has a background in education, teaching in a Christian school for over ten years, and brings a wealth of experience to her current role.
Outside of Palmetto Fortis, Brenda has the additional position of being a full-time pastor’s wife. Brenda is actively involved with the music ministry and women’s teaching ministry at their church. In her free time, she loves to read, listen to podcasts, walk, and spend time with family. One of her favorite verses is I Corinthians 15:10, “But by the grace of God, I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” Brenda serves schools in Florida, North Carolina, Delaware, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Do you know how often your students are on social media? According to the Statista Research Department, children and young adults in North America will spend roughly 170 minutes on social media every day.
A study released by Common Sense Media showed that most teens (over 78%) believe it is important to stay current with the news of the world, but more than half of them receive their news from social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter—and 50% say they receive their news from YouTube. The point? Students want the news, but they receive it from social media. They want video-based, brief, engaging content that covers the issues in a way that resonates with them. Meet World Watch—a daily news content source created just for students. This platform provides uniquely created, journalistically styled and biblically sound 10-minute daily videos on an app-based platform. Once subscribed, you can provide access to World Watch to your entire school! It serves as a supplemental device for the classroom and as an informative source for your students at home. You can secure a preview to see if World Watch is right for your school! Sign up now and get the summer free Previewing a product can be complicated, time-consuming and difficult! We want to change that.
The ReadingHQ Sample Lesson includes the essential items that enable you to review what an actual lesson would look like and see how you can use the material for your students. Each grade level sample lesson includes a daily video, a media presentation, an instructor guide, and a student activity sheet. It's simple. Click the link below to request your sample lesson for FREE right now! Test it out. See what a difference a little practice can make for your students. Michele is an educational resource consultant for Palmetto Fortis. She has been an employee of PF for almost five years and has served in a variety of roles as the company has grown and the needs have changed. She currently serves Alaska, Idaho, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
After graduating with her Bachelors in Elementary Education, she married her husband Tim, and began teaching. Her education background, both in the classroom and at home with her own children, has given her insight that has been invaluable for the company. Tim and Michele have been passionate advocates of Christian education for decades and have instilled this passion in their three children, who all work in businesses that support Christian education. In her time outside of work, she enjoys serving in her local church using her gifts of singing and hospitality. She also loves spending time with her family—especially her 5 grandchildren! Duane Nichols is the Creative Director at Palmetto Fortis. Duane maintains the company brand and leads design projects while collaborating within the marketing team.
After graduation from BJU in 1982, he and his wife spent the first 15 years of their marriage working at the Bill Rice Ranch, which is a Christian camp in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. In 1997 he and his family moved to Greenville, SC so he could work as a Christian school curriculum designer at BJU Press. He worked there until he joined Palmetto Fortis 7 months ago. Since being on the Palmetto Fortis team, Duane has brought enthusiasm for excellent design and collaborative teamwork. He has two married children and four grandchildren. In his spare time, he enjoys riding his bike on the Swamp Rabbit trail, working in the yard, and, of course, spending time with family. Let’s face it: the last two years of educating have been difficult ones. Prior to March of 2020, no one could have predicted the rollercoaster of changes and obstacles that would come to face every school in the nation. How can we protect our kids? More importantly, how will we continue to help them learn? While Covid-19 brought health in schools to the forefront, other viruses and germs have been keeping students and teachers out of the classroom and will continue to do so—unless we have a solution.
“The common cold causes children to miss 22 million school days each year. Influenza, another common sickness among students, causes kids to miss 38 million school days each year.” (Education World) After the past two years, we’ve seen what can happen when students are out of the classroom, and we want to help make a difference. The Air & Surface Pro can help bring school back to the way it used to be—for schools who want to protect the students in their classrooms, and for parents who want peace of mind for their child as they attend in-person. The Air & Surface Pro is an air and surface sanitizer that is specially designed to combat viruses and reduce dirt and dust in the air. For a classroom, that means having a machine that reduces the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in the air and on surfaces by 99.9%. That percentage isn’t just a guess, either—the Air & Surface Pro has been lab-certified by the FDA for a space of up to 3,000 square feet! Details and specific findings of the research can be found here. In total, it sanitizes your space, freshens the air, and reduces the presence of all viruses—including COVID-19—in your classrooms. If you’re interested in the possibility of further protecting your classroom and your students with the Air & Surface Pro, give us a call at (800) 484-0197 or check out our website. We want to lessen the stress of teaching—and give your kids the space to learn as safely as possible. |
Palmetto Fortis BlogThese articles provide resources and solutions for your educational institution. Check back for monthly updates! Archives
August 2023
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