Mortgage Broker in Oak Grove, SC

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Kids have always scraped their knees on the playground, gotten a thrill when first learning to write their names and competed fiercely during games at recess. But Oak Grove Elementary students have noticed a world of difference this year when stepping into the shoes of kids their age who lived two centuries years ago.

The Lexington school is celebrating its 200th year of educating children, and teachers are using the milestone to inspire their lesson plans. Students have written about life in the 1800s, read books about one-room schoolhouses and dressed up like historical figures for a “wax museum.”

The highlight of the 200th birthday celebration was a visit to the Lexington County Museum in the fall where the original Oak Grove school sits. Principal Sherry Cariens said all 700 of Oak Grove’s students were able to explore the schoolhouse and even practice writing with a quill pen.

“It made history real to them,” she said.

“We hope they see how lucky they are to have more educational opportunities and technology now,” museum Director J.R. Fennell said.

1800s: The first Oak Grove schoolhouse

One room. Two windows with no glass. About 20 kids.

The first Oak Grove schoolhouse was simple and unassuming. Kids sat on hard benches holding wooden slates to practice their letters. A fireplace at the front of the room kept the room warm, and an open-design ceiling allowed the hot air in the summer to escape a little faster.

Records from that time period indicate many schools like Oak Grove didn’t always have a professional teacher. A farmer with spare time instead was given the task of educating the local children.

“If he didn’t know how to spell something, the kids didn’t learn it,” Fennell said.

Children, most of whom walked to school, would have attended the first Oak Grove school until age of 13 for boys and 11 for girls, who had to stay home and learn the “domestic arts.”

Much like today, kids had school from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and took breaks for recess and lunch. Cariens said she was amazed to see the size of the lunch pails on display in the schoolhouse compared to the size of her students’ lunchboxes today, which are about twice the size and usually decorated with the newest cartoon characters.

No matter the century, kids still found a way to avoid going to class. Fennell said it wasn’t unusual for a student to dump the water from the communal bucket out the window when the teacher had his back turned to have an excuse to head outside to the water pump and refill it.

The schoolhouse was donated to the Lexington County Museum in 1984. Staff built an educational program around it, and about 1,000 kids come during a field trip each year.

1890s to 1974: The in-between schools

Local kids attended the one-room schoolhouse until the 1890s. The students had outgrown the space, and a larger school was built.

A family purchased the original school and used it as a barn for several years, which Fennell said likely preserved the structure better than if it had sat empty and deteriorated. The new school was a bit of an upgrade with glass windows and two rooms, but it was still one story.

Students began to see more female teachers in the post-Civil War era. They had to be single and weren’t allowed to continue teaching once they were married.

Even a few decades later the rule was still around, as referenced by the late Zela C. Boozer in her personal memoirs. Boozer’s stories of growing up in Lexington and eventually becoming a teacher at Oak Grove have been preserved by her granddaughter, Brenda Boozer Nichols, principal at Rocky Creek Elementary in Lexington.

“She always liked to tell stories, and I told her they’d be best sellers, at least here in Lexington,” recalled Boozer’s niece Mandy Derrick, a teacher at Rocky Creek Elementary.

Born in 1912, Boozer graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1933 when she said teaching positions were “scarcer than scarce” because of the Great Depression. Fortunately, there was a vacancy at Oak Grove School, where Boozer would become one of three teachers earning $55 a month.

Boozer began her career at the third Oak Grove schoolhouse, which was built as a two-story building in the 1910s. The white-frame schoolhouse was where she taught first, second and third grades.

“There were two classrooms downstairs and a big auditorium upstairs … Windows lined the outside wall so you can imagine how drafty those rooms were in the cold weather,” she wrote.

Teachers at Oak Grove had to build their own fires in a stove in the corner of the room. Groups of students took turns warming up, and Fennell said boys often would sit as far away from the fire as they could to prove their toughness.

Boozer and her fellow teachers made do not just without computers but without many of the basics.

“We had no visual aids, no library, no lunchroom nor any of the frills of today’s education system,” she said in her memoirs.

[stextbox id=”info” caption=”Burnett’s Drug Store prices in 1930s (as told by Zela Boozer)” collapsing=”false” float=”true” align=”right” width=”250″]

Coke – 6 cents

Candy bar – 5 cents

[/stextbox]

Boozer described using a hectograph, a device with a Jello-like substance. She said she would make a carbon copy with a special pen, place it on top of the “jelly” for a few minutes and then peel off about 30 copies of the worksheet or picture. Like teachers today who buy classroom supplies with their own money, Boozer sacrificed, too.

“I could not afford to buy very much of the necessary paper, but I usually did at least two pictures for them to color each week. That was a real treat for the children,” she said.

Families often invited teachers into their homes for a meal, and Boozer remembered the excellent food she had at the Kleckley home.

“Mrs. Alma … was a cook from back yonder. Everything was delicious,” she said.

Boozer remained at Oak Grove for five years – one year having 52 kids in her classroom — until she took a few years off to have her sons Johnny and Tom. She returned to teaching in 1941 and taught at several Lexington schools until she retired in 1977.

“We did not stress creativity as is done now. We might not have produced many artists, but we turned out some mighty fine students who went on to make their mark in their community and other … places,” she said.

Nichols and Derrick said Boozer did inspire them to become teachers. Nichols said they would play school on her porch with old textbooks she gave them.

“She loved being a teacher, and she was a good one,” Derrick said.

https://youtu.be/_J3DjhNePV4

1974 to 2016: Excellence and advancement

Zela Boozer likely would be amazed to see the resources at the fingertips of Oak Grove students if she walked into the school now. Technology designed to get kids thinking is tailored for students from kindergarten on up, and they have access to it from nearly the moment the bus drops them off at school.

Students also have all sorts of materials, from glitter glue to batteries and wires for science and art projects. Libraries are filled to bursting with books and DVDs, and many classrooms even have class pets.

Cariens has been a part of the school’s history just as it’s been a part of hers. She began her career at Oak Grove in 1976 as a math teacher and returned in 2010 as principal.

“I wish we could go back in time and talk to the people who built (the first school),” she said.

The first families might be thrilled to learn what their one-room schoolhouse has become. Oak Grove Elementary was named a Palmetto’s Finest School last year, earned Lighthouse leadership status in 2014 and was a National Blue Ribbon School in 2012.

Despite the awards rolling in and kids surrounded by the latest iPads, Cariens says she thinks Oak Grove has stayed true to its “community school” roots. The school still sits on a two-lane road, not a major highway, and many students walk or ride their bikes from the nearby neighborhoods.

“Our culture … is friendly and inviting and feels like home,” Cariens said.

Nichols agreed Lexington County teachers have not forgotten the important subjects that 2016’s students need just like 1815’s.

“We still teach that work ethic and effort … kindness and respect … are important,” she said.

CNN —

Parks and recreation workers in South Carolina made an extraordinary discovery during a routine water quality test at a small lake.

The crew caught a 9-pound goldfish that was about 15 inches long in the murky waters of Oak Grove Lake, said Ty Houck, director of Greenways, Natural and Historic Resources for the Greenville County Recreation District.

That’s a whopper of a goldfish. National Geographic says the average weight for a pet goldfish is .2 to .6 pounds, though they can top 5 pounds in the wild. The average length is 4.7 to 16.1 inches.

Houck said he has no clue how long the fish, which is not native to South Carolina, has been in the lake in the upper part of the state. He told CNN the team didn’t see anything resembling a goldfish when they last studied the lake a decade ago.

In order to test the health of the ecosystem, officials use a method called electrofishing, which gently shocks the fish (without hurting them) and forces them to float to the surface of the water so surveyors can check for any signs indicating unhealthy water, Houck said.

“All of a sudden this giant fish jumped out and into the net and we quickly snapped a photo while examining it,” Houck said.

Houck said the lake is mainly used for fishing, though fisherman are encouraged to throw the fish back after catching them. That’s what the parks workers did with the big goldfish.

“We think someone must have just dropped their fish in the lake because they didn’t want it anymore, instead of flushing it down the toilet,” Houck said.

The lake is not downstream from any nuclear power plants, so the large size has nothing to do with chemical exposure, Houck said. He speculated omnivorous goldfish has just been eating a lot and had the opportunity to grow when it entered a larger physical environment, like the 12-acre Oak Grove Lake.

The Guinness Book of World Records says the longest known goldfish measures 18.7 inches from nose to fin and belongs to Joris Gijsbers of the Netherlands. The weight, however, was not listed.

“Goldfish grow to the size of their environment,” Houck said. “To have a 9-pound goldfish survive in our lake must mean we are doing something right.”

A 9-pound “goldfish” was caught in a South Carolina lake during a routine electrofishing survey.

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Officials conducting a routine fish population survey in December 2020 wound up with quite the unexpected catch when they discovered a 9-pound “goldfish” in a South Carolina lake.

A photo of the giant goldfish was shared to Facebook and Instagram on Dec. 7, 2020, by Greenville Rec, which oversees the park.

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“Anyone missing their goldfish?” joked Greenville Rec on social media. “This 9lb goldfish was found in Oak Grove Lake during some work including electrofishing, a method of measuring the health of the fish population.”

Ty Houck with the Greenville County Parks told NBC that the fish was found swimming on Nov. 16 in the 18-acre lake Oak Grove Lake in Greenville, South Carolina. A fisheries management plan was implemented in 2014 and as of June 2015, the fish population was deemed stable enough to open the lake for fishing on two days a week. The lake is intentionally stocked with bass, bream, and catfish — but the “goldfish” appeared to be an anomaly.

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Though county officials claimed that the fish was a goldfish, some social media users pointed out that it was in fact a species of koi.

Both koi, the scientific name Cyprinus carpio, and goldfish, Carassius auratus, are domesticated forms of carp from the same family, Cyprinidae. The Smithsonian National Zoo noted that koi have been domesticated for their ornamental features for centuries in China and Japan, and are bred in dozens of different colors. But despite the urban legend, Japanese koi exporter Koi Acres said that a koi will not grow to the relative size of its pond or aquarium — the bigger the pond the bigger the fish. Rather, koi have a genetically predetermined size, like most animals, and will grow according to their environmental factors and health.

It’s not abnormal for koi to grow to pretty massive sizes. Koi can weigh up to 35 pounds and reach a length of 3 feet — and with larger sizes comes greater age. Koi have an average lifespan of 40 years, but the oldest known koi lived to be nearly 230 years old. (Researchers were able to determine its age by counting growth rings on the fish’s scales.) Goldfish, by comparison, typically vary in length from 4 to 16 inches and weigh up to a half-pound, according to National Geographic. That being said, the world's longest goldfish measured in at a whopping 18.7 inches from snout to tail-fin.

As for the South Carolina giant, surveyors reported that it was released without issue.

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“Currently unnamed goldfish is obviously very happy and healthy at Oak Grove Lake so we just said hello and put him back,” wrote the rec department in an Instagram comment.

Here is this week’s NCHSAA, NCISAA and SCHSL playoff schedules in North Carolina and South Carolina.

Several games were moved to Thursday due to weather concerns Friday.

Talking Preps postgame show

Clover dominates Woodmont

Charlotte Catholic upsets Myers Park

Independence shuts out Lake Norman

Northwestern shuts out Laurens

Clover dominates Woodmont

Thursday’s second round

Class 2A

West

Reidsville 42, West Stokes 7

Shelby 41, Lincolnton 21

Salisbury 40, Maiden 0

East

Northeastern 55, Holmes 28

Class 1A

East

Tarboro 48, Northampton 0

Lakewood 35, Perquimans 28

Friday’s second round

Class 4A

West

Chambers (8-3) at Weddington (9-2), 7

Charlotte Catholic (8-3) at T.C. Roberson (9-2), 7

Porter Ridge (9-2) at Hough (10-1), 7

Sun Valley (8-3) at Grimsley (11-0), 7:30

Mount Tabor (7-4) at Mooresville (11-0), 7

West Forsyth (8-3) at Butler (10-1), 7

Independence (8-3) at East Forsyth (10-1), 7

Mallard Creek (7-4) at Watauga (11-0), 7

East

Wake Forest (7-4) at Rolesville (10-1), 7

Fuquay-Varina (5-6) at Ashley (7-4), 7

Millbrook (9-2) at Cardinal Gibbons (9-2), 7

Clayton (9-2) at Pinecrest (11-0), 7:30

Jordan (8-3) at Hoggard (10-1), 7

Laney (9-2) at Apex Friendship (9-2), 7

New Hanover (6-5) at New Bern (5-6), 7

Leesville Road (9-2) at Cleveland (11-0), 7:30

Class 3A

West

Statesville (8-3) at Crest (11-0), 7:30

Hibriten (7-4) at West Charlotte (8-3), 7

Northwest Cabarrus (10-1) at Jay M. Robinson (11-0), 7

Central Davidson (6-5) at Dudley (11-0), 7

East Lincoln (8-3) at West Henderson (11-0), 7:30

Pisgah (9-2) at Oak Grove (10-1), 7:30

Kings Mountain (10-1) at A.C. Reynolds (8-3), 7

North Lincoln (8-3) at Hickory (11-0), 7:30

East

Cape Fear (9-2) at Havelock (11-0), 7

J.H. Rose (5-6) at North Brunswick (8-3), 7

Southern Durham (7-4) at Scotland County (9-2), 7

Northern Nash (10-1) at Southern Nash (10-1), 7

Jacksonville (9-1) at Southern Alamance (10-1), 7

Terry Sanford (7-4) at Harnett Central (6-5), 7

Currituck County (8-3) at Fike (8-3), 7

Williams (9-2) at Seventy-First (11-0), 7:30

Class 2A

West

North Stanly (8-3) at Brevard (9-2), 7:30

West Lincoln (9-2) at Monroe (10-1), 7

Burns (8-3) at Bunker Hill (11-0), 7:30

East Surry (8-3) at Community School of Davidson (10-1), 7

Forest Hills (10-1) at Randleman (10-1), 7

East

Beddingfield (7-4) at Clinton (11-0), 7

Southeast Alamance (7-4) at Cummings (9-2), 7

Hertford County (9-2) at Wallace-Rose Hill (8-3), 7

West Craven (8-3) at Nash Central (9-2), 7

Farmville Central (9-2) at SouthWest Edgecombe (9-2), 7

East Duplin (10-1) at Whiteville (9-2), 7

Louisburg (6-5) at Princeton (8-3), 7

Class 1A

West

Mountain Island Charter (8-3) at Robbinsville (10-1), 7:30

Swain County (10-1) at Bessemer City (6-5), 7:30

Starmount (10-1) at Mountain Heritage (9-2), 7:30

Corvian Community (6-5) at North Rowan (9-2), 7:30

Hayesville (7-4) at Eastern Randolph (10-1), 7:30

Thomasville (8-3) at Albemarle (6-5), 7:30

Murphy (8-3) at Bishop McGuinness (6-5), 7:30

Mitchell (9-2) at Mount Airy (11-0), 7:30

East

Southeast Halifax (9-2) at North Duplin (9-2), 7

Rosewood (6-5) at Bear Grass Charter (8-2), 7

East Bladen (6-5) at Pinetown Northside (8-2), 7

Weldon (5-4) at Wilson Prep (9-1), 7

Bertie (5-5) at North Moore (9-2), 7:30

Pender (5-6) at West Columbus (9-1), 7

NCISAA PLAYOFFS

Friday’s semifinals

Division 1

Christ School (4-6) at Rabun Gap School (12-0), 7

Charlotte Christian (8-3) at Providence Day (10-1), 7

Division 2

Hickory Grove Christian (9-2) at Asheville School (6-3), 7

Trinity Christian (9-1) at High Point Christian (8-2), 7

8-Man Football

Faith Christian (6-3) at Wayne Christian (10-1), 7

Rocky Mount Academy (9-2) at Halifax Academy (9-0), 7

Friday’s second round

(all kickoffs at 7:30 p.m.)

Football

Class 5A

Upper State

Dutch Fork (6-5) at T.L. Hanna (10-1)

Gaffney (8-3) at Clover (9-2)

Spartanburg (6-5) at J.L. Mann (9-2)

Hillcrest (9-2) at Byrnes (10-1)

Lower State

Fort Dorchester (7-3) at White Knoll (10-0)

Sumter (8-3) at Stratford (5-6)

Berkeley (6-5) at Summerville (11-0)

West Ashley (6-5) at Carolina Forest (8-3)

Class 4A

Upper State

Greenville (8-3) at Greer (6-5)

Greenwood (6-5) at Northwestern (10-1)

York (8-3) at Westside (10-1)

South Pointe (8-3) at Midland Valley (11-0)

Lower State

Richland Northeast (6-4) at South Florence (11-0)

Lancaster (2-9) at Lucy Beckham (9-1)

Myrtle Beach (9-2) at Irmo (11-0)

A.C. Flora (5-6) at James Island (11-0)

Class 3A

Upper State

Wren (6-5) at Daniel (11-0)

Chester (9-1) at Chapman (10-1)

Pendleton (9-2) at Belton-Honea Path (11-0)

Broome (9-2) at Clinton (9-2)

Lower State

Camden (8-3) at Dillon (10-1)

Gilbert (10-1) at Hanahan (7-4)

Phillip Simmons (10-1) at Brookkand-Cayce (9-2)

Loris (8-2) at Crestwood (10-1)

Class 2A

Upper State

Newberry (6-5 ) at Abbeville (10-1)

Fairfield Central (9-2) at Silver Bluff (8-3)

Keenan (5-5) at Strom Thurmond (9-2)

Chesnee (6-5) at Gray Collegiate (9-2)

Lower State

Kingstree (5-6) at Andrew Jackson (8-3)

Andrews (8-3) at Hampton County (10-1)

Cheraw (6-5) at Oceanside Collegiate (8-2)

Barnwell (7-3) at Marion (9-1)

Class 1A

Upper State

McBee (7-4) at Christ Church (9-2)

Wagener-Salley (7-3) at Blackville-Hilda (9-2)

Denmark-Olar (6 -5) at Calhoun County (10-1)

St. Joseph’s (9-2) at Lewisville (10-1)

Lower State

Lake View (7-3) at Johnsonville (7-2)

Casrvers Bay (5-6) at Lamar (8-3)

East Clarendon (5-5) at Bamberg-Ehrhardt (10-1)

Allendale-Farfax (5-6) at Cross (10-1)

This story was originally published November 3, 2023, 7:01 PM.

Mention goldfish, and the image that comes to mind is that of small, colorful creatures swimming in circles in fish bowls or home aquariums. However, the one recently discovered by biologists conducting a fish survey at a South Carolina lake was no ordinary goldfish - it was a 9-pound, 15-inch-long behemoth!

The massive marine animal was discovered in the 12-acre Oak Grove Lake in Greenville, SC, on November 16, 2020. It came to light accidentally when the researchers were testing the aquatic ecosystem's health through electrofishing. Commonly used in scientific surveys, the harmless technique gently shocks fish and forces them to rise to the water's surface, allowing surveyors to determine the abundance, density, and species composition. "All of a sudden, this giant fish jumped out and into the net, and we quickly snapped a photo while examining it," Ty Houck, director of Greenways, Natural and Historic Resources for the Greenville County Recreation District, told CNN.

The experts, who released the goldfish back into the water soon after, are unsure how it got there or how long it has been living in the lake. "We think someone must have just dropped their fish in the lake because they didn't want it anymore, instead of flushing it down the toilet," Houck said. He attributes the fish's size to its large home and the abundance of food. "Goldfish grow to the size of their environment," Houck said. "To have a 9-pound goldfish survive in our lake must mean we are doing something right."

The ginormous goldfish, which has become an internet celebrity since the image was posted on Greenville Recreation Center's Facebook page on December 7, 2020, is certainly impressive. However, it is no record-breaker. According to the International Game Fish Association, the world's heaviest goldfish is a 9-lb, 6-oz (4.26 kg) specimen found by Mathew Servant in 2002. The Guinness World Record for the longest is held by an 18.7-inch goldfish found in the Netherlands by Joris Gijsbers in March 2003.

Resources: CNN.com, USAtoday.com. Igfa.org/guinnessworldrecords.com

El libro de trabajo contiene:Artículo, Comprensión de lectura, Preguntas de pensamiento crítico, Vocabulario en contexto (+ respuestas), Prueba de opción múltiple (+ respuestas), Prueba de partes del discurso (+ respuestas), Juego de vocabulario (+ respuestas)

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