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PRINCE GEORGE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS WELCOME BACK! SCHOOLS OPEN SEPTEMBER 7, 2010!

The 2010-11 school year will begin with Back-to-School Orientations the week of August 30 - Sept. 3, 2010. Prince George County Public Schools is anticipating 6,225 students to enroll in grades K-12. District personnel have been busy this summer cleaning and upgrading facilities and grounds in anticipation of another school year. Also, the district has made some administrative and instructional changes in staffing the schools.

Hopefully, you and your child have enjoyed various summer activities and are ready to join forces in another successful school year.

Access http://www.pgs.k12.va.us/ for specific information on Back-to-School Orientations and district and school news.

Thank you for choosing Prince George County Public Schools where all schools are accredited!

MISSION STATEMENT The mission of the Prince George County Public Schools, in partnership with the community, is to provide a quality educational program in a safe environment, to assist each student in reaching his/her potential, and to prepare students to be responsible, productive citizens in a diverse and ever-changing society.

Bobby R. Browder Superintendent

Orientation Schedule 2010-2011

2010 - 2011 School Calendar

Beazley Elementary School-6700 Courthouse Road, Prince George, VA 23875, Tel: 733-2745 September 2, 2010 Kindergarten 9:00 a.m.

Grades 1-5 10:30 a.m.

Harrison Elementary School-12900 East Quaker Road, Disputanta, VA 23842, Tel: 991-2242 September 2, 2010 Kindergarten 9:00 a.m.

Grades 1-2 10:30 a.m.

Grades 3- 5 12:00 p.m.

Moore Middle School-11455 Prince George Drive, Disputanta, VA 23842, Tel: 733-2740 September 1, 2010 Grade 6 8:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.

Grade 7 10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

September 7 October 6 November 2 November 11 November 17 November 24 November 25 & 26 December 15 December 17 December 20 - 31 January 17 January 26-28 January 31 February 4 February 21 March 2 April 1 April 8 April 18-22 May 18 May 30 June 10 June 14-17 June 17* June 22

Clements Junior High School-7800 Laurel Spring Road, Prince George, VA 23875, Tel: 733-2730 August 19, 2010 Former PGPALS Transition Orientation 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm August 26, 2010 New Summer Registrants Orientation 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Hours for Early Release Days Grades 6-12 will be released at 11:45 a.m.

Grades K- 5 will be released at 12:45 p.m.

Prince George High School-7800 Laurel Spring Road, Prince George, VA 23875, Tel: 733-2720 August 31, 2010 New Student Orientation 7:00 p.m.

*June 17, 2011 early release times are as follows: Grades 6-12 10:00 am Grades K-5 11:00 am

OUR GUIDING PRINCIPLES We provide quality education in a safe environment. We are committed to understanding and meeting the needs of our school community. We trust and respect each individual so that all may experience pride and joy in their work. We are committed to continuous improvement. North Elementary School-11106 Old Stage Road, Prince George, VA 23875, Tel: 458-8922

SCHOOL BOARD OFFICE Telephone: 733-2700 PO Box 4006410 Courts Drive Prince George, Virginia 23875 Website: pgs.k12.va.us SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS District 1 Roger E. Franklin, Jr., Chair Robert E. Cox, Jr. District 2 Lewis E. Stevenson, Vice Chair Patrick J. Bingham Kevin S. Foster Central Office Dr. Bobby Browder Superintendent Shelly Bazemore Assistant Superintendent Renèe Williams Assistant Superintendent Sandra Belshan Director of Food Services John Brockwell Director of Technology James Brown Director of Special Education Betsy Drewry Director of Finance Larry Eminhizer Director of Secondary Education Becky Kirk Assistant to the Superintendent Brenda Gore Director of Elementary Education Ron Rhodes Director of Transportation Sheila Roalf Director of Gifted & Title I T2

September 2, 2010

Kindergarten 9:00 a.m.

Grades 1-5 11:00 a.m.

South Elementary School-13400 Prince George Drive, Disputanta, VA 28342, Tel: 733-2755 September 2, 2010 Kindergarten 9:00 a.m.

Grades 1-5 11:00 a.m. New Students Grades 1-5 11:30 a.m. Returning Students Walton Elementary School-4101 Courthouse Road, Prince George, VA 23875, Tel: 733-2750 September 2, 2010 Kindergarten - 2 9:00 a.m.

Grades 3 -5 10:30 a.m.

First Day for Students Interim Report to Parents No School for Students No School for Students Report Cards to Parents Early Release Fall Break Interim Reports to Parents Early Release Christmas Break Martin Luther King Day Student Early Release No School for Students Report Cards to Parents Student Early Release Interim Reports to Parents Student Early Release Report Cards to Parents Easter Break Interim Report to Parents Memorial Day Senior Graduation Student Early Release Last Day for Students Report Cards to Parents

Grades

Classroom Hours

Office Hours

Phone

Address

L.L. Beazley Elementary

K-5

9:00-3:30

8:00-4:00

733-2745

6700 Courthouse Rd., Prince George, VA 23875

Jim Scruggs

D.A. Harrison Elementary

K-5

9:00-3:30

8:00-4:00

991-2242

12900 East Quaker Rd., Disputanta, VA 23842

Sharon O’Neill

North Elementary

K-5

9:00-3:30

8:00-4:00

458-8922

11106 Old Stage Rd., Prince George, VA 23875

Vera Abbott-Young

South Elementary

K-5

9:00-3:30

8:00-4:00

733-2755

13400 Prince George Dr., Disputanta, VA 23842

Robin Pruett

School

Principal

W.A. Walton Elementary

K-5

9:00-3:30

8:00-4:00

733-2750

4101 Courthouse Rd., Prince George, VA 23875

Mattie Thweatt

J.E.J. Moore Middle School

6-7

7:40-2:30

7:00-3:30

733-2740

11455 Prince George Dr., Disputanta, VA 23842

Willie Elliott

N.B. Clements Jr. High

8-9

7:50-2:30

7:00-3:30

733-2730

7800 Laurel Spring Rd., Prince George, VA 23875

Peter Fisher

Prince George High

10-12

7:50-2:30

7:15-3:45

733-2720

7801 Laurel Spring Rd., Prince George, VA 23875

Tracey Smallwood

Prince George Education Center

Alternative

7:45-2:25

7:30-3:30

733-2748

11033 Prince George Dr., Disputanta, VA 23842

Chris Scruggs

Rowanty Vocational Tech Center

Technical

8:00-2:00

7:45-3:45

732-4950

20000 Rowanty Rd., Carson, VA 23830

Dr. Thomas Cope

Sunday, August 8, 2010 The Progress-Index, Petersburg, VA

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Cafeteria workers master ‘scratch cooking’ Michelle Obama asking Congress to pass legislation to improve nutrition standards in school meals

BY KRISTEN WYATT ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

DENVER — They still wear sensible shoes, but the nation’s lunch ladies are trading in their hair nets for chef toques as they undergo a gourmet makeover.

With the childhood obesity rates creating demand for healthier foods in schools, more attention is being placed on the culinary skills of those charged with preparing it.

What good are fresh local produce and grassfed beef, for example, if the lunchroom employees know how to make only canned vegetables and frozen fish sticks?

“It’s more work to cook from scratch, no doubt,” said Dawn Cordova, a longtime school cafeteria worker attending Denver Public Schools’ first “scratch cooking” training this summer.

Cordova and about 40 other Denver lunch ladies spent three weeks mastering knife skills, baking and chopping fruits and vege-

tables for some of the school district’s first salad bars.

Denver is among countless school systems in at least 24 states working to revive proper cooking techniques in its food service staff.

The city issued its 600 or so cafeteria employees white chefs’ coats and hats and plans to have all its kitchen staff trained in basic knife skills within three years. Wellknown area chefs visit for primers on food safety, chopping technique and making healthy food more appetizing to young diners (hint: kids prefer veggies cut into funky shapes, not boring carrot sticks).

It’s serious work. School cafeterias are the front line in an effort to reduce childhood obesity as public health officials warn that nearly a third of American children and teens are now considered obese or overweight. First Lady Michelle Obama started a “Chefs Move to Schools” program in June to highlight the need for better cooks in schools, and she is urging Congress to pass legislation that calls for higher nutritional standards for school meals.

The Child Nutrition Bill would require more fruits, vegetables and whole grains and less fat and salt in school lunches and breakfasts, Obama wrote in an essay in Monday’s edition of The Washington Post.

For lunch ladies seeking new skills, “boot

AP PHOTOS/BARRY GUTIERREZ

In a photo taken on July 19, at the Bruce Randolph School In Denver, Chef Daniel Young gives hands-on training to Denver Public School food service personnel on how to properly cut a pineapple during a half day of instruction on how to make healthier options with fresher foods for students.

Please see LUNCH, Page 4

Chef Young chooses the winning fruit salad tray made by Denver Public School food service personnel during a half day of instruction on how to make healthier options with fresher foods for students. The instruction culminated with a competition and feast of what the food service workers had made.

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Lunch: Ladies going gourmet as food gets new look Continued from Page 3

camps” are booming from California to New York.

“Demand is so high we can barely keep up with it,” said Kate Adamick, a school-food consultant from New York City who started “Cook For America” lunch lady boot camps four years ago. Her business is so swamped with requests that she’s having a hard time even training new trainers to perform schoolfood cooking seminars.

More culinary schools are looking beyond hotels and fine restaurants to send their students, and professors, to K12 cafeterias as well.

“You have some great cooks in school cafeterias, but just like a chef at any restaurant, you get in a rut of doing the same thing every day because it’s convenient and it works.

You think, ‘We’ll just make chicken nuggets ag ain because it’s easy and they’ll eat it,”’ said Michael McGreal, head of the culinary arts program at Joliet Junior College in Joliet, Ill. McGreal works as a mentor to the food service department at Chicago Public Schools, sharing menu tips and ideas for getting more fresh food on school trays. Lunch ladies, he said, are eager to cook healthier once they learn how to do it.

“It’s not any kind of crazy skill needed. They can turn around and do it tomorrow if we teach them,” McGreal said.

Time is a big concern for lunch ladies charged with feeding balanced meals to hundreds of picky kids in as little as 20 minutes. The frenzied pace is blamed for the lunch-line horrors everyone remembers. Soggy vegetables.

Canned fruit medleys. Rubbery pizza languishing under a hot lamp.

At the Denver boot camp, T4

lunch ladies were urged to steam or blanch their vegetables in smaller batches, even in the middle of a lunch period, so that cooked vegetables go “crate to kid” in 30 minutes or less. Instructor Beth Schwisow told the ladies that every batch of their vegetables is auditioning for a kid’s plate, so it’s crucial the veggies taste and look good.

Schwisow looked slowly around the room and dropped her voice.

“You’ve got gray, mushy broccoli out? They take a bite of that, and they may never eat broccoli again. Ever. Their whole lives,” Schwisow said, her eyes wide.

Several lunch ladies in the audience nodded solemnly.

Another obstacle? Cafeterias themselves.

Chefs say that schools embraced processed food so completely that many newer cafeterias lack the basics of a production kitchen, such as produce sinks, oven hoods or enough cold storage to keep meat and produce fresh.

“If we want to reintroduce raw meat, fresh fruit, we have to be able to handle all of it,” said Jeremy West, head of food services for a school district in Weld County, Colo. West attended a recent boot camp and plans to start his own next summer for workers in his 28 school cafeterias.

In Boulder County, Colo., cafeteria workers and parents raised $500,000 last year through grocery-store donations and restaurant fundraisers to buy better kitchen equipment. The school system bought uniforms for the cafeteria workers and added training.

“Any school district that is trying to make significant change about what they serve kids, they have to look at the kitchens and the people work-

ing in those kitchens,” said Ann Cooper, self-described “Renegade Lunch Lady” and director of Boulder County’s nutrition services.

At Denver’s boot camp, the lunch ladies were all smiles as they shouted encouragement to each other during a competition to create fancy fruit garnishes.

“We used to cook this way a long time ago, and I think it’s great,” said Marlene Camdelaria, a high school cafeteria manager who was carving a swan out of a green apple. “I have no idea why we went to all the processed stuff. This is so much better.”

Online: http://bitURL.net/9n9 http://www.chefann.com http://www.scoolfood.org

In this photo taken on July 27, at the Bruce Randolph School In Denver, Maria Chaperro, center, a lunchroom assistant, listens to Chef Daniel Young during a cooking demonstration, mainly focusing on knife skills and plating.

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Sunday, August 8, 2010 The Progress-Index, Petersburg, VA

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Principals’ silly stunts can motivate students

BY MELISSA KOSSLER DUTTON FOR THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

about the children.”

It’s a popular tool that’s not often discussed among professionals, said Anderson, ometimes it takes a minute for James Anderson to figure out why who works in Farmington Hills, Mich. “I go to principal conferences every year and people are staring at him. we’ve never once discussed this,” he said.

Then the assistant principal Offering to shave his head had an impact remembers that in June he let a on the students and their grades, Anderson group of Power Middle School students added. The number of F’s dropped from 312 shave his head with an electric razor and to 36, he said. his hair’s still growing back. He had prom“We used it as a motivating tool,” he said. ised he would let them take the shears to his “If students had a test, the teachers would locks if they had fewer failing grades in 2010 say, ‘You’ve got to do well to meet Anderson’s than the previous year. challenge.”’

Every year, school administrators like Agreeing to do something silly also shows Anderson make local headlines for silly the kids “you’re willing to give them somestunts intended to motivate students. Princi- thing for their effort,” Anderson said. He pals do everything from spending the day on also let students duct-tape him to a pillar in the roof to kissing pigs to taking pies in the the lunchroom after they exceeded a fundface to reward students for a job well done. raising goal for victims of Hurricane The antics really help “motivate and Katrina. encourage,” said Diane Cargile, outgoing That was “far worse” than his new hairpresident of the National Association of cut, he said.

Elementary School Principals, based in “When it was time to come down all the Alexandria, Va. hairs on my arms got pulled out,” he “The (students) love it, and the parents recalled. love it,” Cargile said. “They know you care When students in kindergarten through

S

R E G ISTE R YO U R C H IL D B E FO R E TH E FIR ST D AY O F SC H O O L D inw iddie C ou nty Pu blic Schoolsw illno long erreg isterstu dents on the firstday ofschool. Parentsw ho have notreg istered their child/children before the opening ofschoolw illbe able to pick u p a reg istration pack et. A tthistim e an appointm entw illbe schedu led to com plete the form alreg istration process. Parentsare encou rag ed to reg isterstu dentspriorto the opening ofschool.

MEET THE TEACHER ELEMENTARY MEET THE TEACHER DAY will be held at all Elementary Schools on Thursday, September 2, 2010 from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

MIDDLE SCHOOL OPEN HOUSE will be held on Wednesday, September 1, 2010 from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Fees may be paid during Open House. Student fees are $10.00. Gym Suit fee is $12.00.

AP PHOTO/FARMINGTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS, LYNNE MEYER

third grade at East Jones Elementary School in Laurel, Miss., collected more coins than students in the upper grades, Principal Becky Stewart let a kindergartner lob a pie at her face. “It was all in good fun,” she said.

Although, “it stung my eyes.”

The pie-throwing opportunity encouraged students to bring in money to help off-

set the cost of new playground equipment, Stewart said.

“The best part was getting to draw the name of the student who was going to do it” at a 2009 school assembly, she recalled. “You could see the excitement.”

“Humor needs to be part of the day,” she Please see STUNTS, Page 6

DinwiddieCount yPublicSchools Elementary Schools

Grades Phone Number

Principal

Dinwiddie Elementary School 13811 Boydton Plank Rd., Dinwiddie, VA 23841 Midway Elementary School 5511 Midway Rd., Church Rd. VA 23833 Sutherland Elementary School 6000 R.B. Pamplin Drive, Sutherland, VA 23885

K-5

(804) 469-4580

Mrs. Patricia Moody

K-5

(804) 265-4205

Mrs. Kathy Burgess

K-5

(804) 732-4168

Mrs. Becky Baskerville

Southside Elementary School 10305 Boydton Plank Rd., Dinwiddie, VA 23841 Sunnyside Elementary School P.O. Box 250/10203 Melvin B. Alsbrooks Avenue, McKenney, VA 23872

K-5

(804) 469-4480

Mrs. Roberta Brown

K-5

(804) 478-2313

Mrs. Wanda Snodgrass

Secondary Schools

Grades Phone Number

Dinwiddie Co. Middle School JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL OPEN HOUSE will be held on Wednesday, P.O. Box 340/12318 Boydton Plank Rd., Dinwiddie, VA 23841 September 1, 2010 from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Fees may be paid during Open House. Student fees are $15.00. Gym Suit is fee $13.00.

Dinwiddie Co. Junior High School P.O. Box 660/11608 Courthouse Rd., Dinwiddie, VA 23841

HIGH SCHOOL OPEN HOUSE will be held on Thursday, September 2, 2010 from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Fees may be paid during Open House in the school cafeteria. Student fees are $15.00. Gym Suit fee is $13.00 or $6.50 per piece. Parking fee is $20.00.

Left: This undated photo provided by Farmington Public Schools shows sixth grade student Manisha Dayananda, right, as she shaves the head of assistant principal James Anderson at Power Middle School in Farmington Hills, Mich.

The students earned the right to shear his locks by doing well academically during the final grading period at the school.

Dinwiddie Co. Senior High School P.O. Box 299/11501 Boisseau Road, Dinwiddie, VA 23841

Principal

6-7

(804) 469-4380

Mrs. Trenia Harris

8-9

(804) 469-5430

Mr. Alfred Cappellanti

10-12

(804) 469-4280

Mr. Randall Johnson

“Making the Difference” • Dinwiddie County Public Schools • “Our Children, Our Pride” The Progress-Index, Petersburg, VA Sunday, August 8, 2010

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Stunts: Underscore a principal’s commitment to the school Continued from Page 5

said. “When they get to see you being funny, they love it.”

In Sheffield Township, Ohio, Vincent Ele“When mentary they get to School see you principal being Virginia funny, they Fitch love it.” kissed a pig in Becky April to Stewart, reward principal kids for meeting their math goals, the local paper reported.

Such over-the-top acts underscore a principal’s commitment to the school, said Barbara Sistrunk, an assistant principal who jumped out of a plane when the Parent Teacher Association at Greenland Pines Elementary School in Jacksonville, Fla., met their parent participation goals.

They also grab students’ attention. After Sistrunk’s sky dive, 12-year-old Katie Blackwell decided to do her science project on what type of fabric makes the best parachute. She experimented with paper, plastic, silk and nylon parachutes.

Nylon worked best, she concluded.

“It took longer to get down,” she said.

Jumping out of a plane showed that Sistrunk “believes that the school can be a champ,” said Katie.

Sistrunk didn’t initially believe the PTA really wanted her to jump out of a plane.

“It’s nothing I would have dreamed of doing,” she said of her March 20 jump. “I did it for the kids. I won’t do it again.”

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AP PHOTOS/NAN RAMEY

Top: This undated photo provided by Nan Ramey shows Barbara Sistrunk, assistant principal at Greenland Pines Elementary School in Jacksonville, Fla., left, as she poses for a photograph with skydiving instructor Todd Lundgren in Jacksonville. Sistrunk agreed to skydive when the Parent Teacher Association at Greenland Pines Elementary School met their parent participation goals. Left: Sistrunk skydives with her skydiving instructor.

Sunday, August 8, 2010 The Progress-Index, Petersburg, VA

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Home-school options: curriculum or not Choices abound for parents who want to home-school

BY CAROLE FELDMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

Janice Hedin’s son was into model rockets, so she used that as a starting point for his home-school curriculum. Her daughter loved horses, and that became a focal point for her education.

“She owned it,” said Hedin, of Maple Valley, Wash. “It was hers. I didn’t have to force anything because she loved every minute of it.”

Some home-school parents create their own curriculum for their kids. “There should never be a set curriculum,” said Hedin. “Every child is so unique. Our goal as parents is to custom design the education that fits our children.”

For those who find that daunting, there are many prepared curricula available for home schooling, as well as guides to what a child should know at each grade and age. Material is available online and in libraries, at bookstores and through home-school support groups.

The World Book, for example, provides a free online guide detailing typical cours-

es of study for students from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade.

The National Center of Education Statistics reported last April that about 1.5 million American children were home-schooled in 2007, representing 2.9 percent of the school-age population. The number of home-school children increased by 74 percent since 1999. The upward trend is believed to be continuing.

As a first step, parents new to home schooling should check out their state’s laws.

Helen Hegener, director of the American Homeschool Association, noted that there is a wide variety in state requirements.

In Washington state, for example, parents must meet specific qualifications to home-school. Instruction must be given in math, science, history, reading, writing, spelling and other subjects <0x2014> but parents have flexibility in determining how the subjects will be taught.

In Alaska, by comparison, there “are no requirements to notify, seek approval, test, file forms, or have any teacher qualifications. The burden is on the state to prove that parents are not teaching their children,” according to the Home School Legal Defense Association.

That organization has information on its Web site

about the laws in each of the 50 states. Local home-school support groups also are good resources on state statutes and regulations.

Parents also must decide how they want to teach their children. There are different styles of home schooling, from a traditional, structured, school-type setting to “unschooling,” where the child sets the parameters for learning. “Unschooling is totally throwing out the curriculum,” said Hegener, who said she never had a textbook in the house when she homeschooled her children in Alaska. “Life itself is a learnAP PHOTO/JEFF ROBERSON ing resource.”

One popular form of home Lauren Garber of Ballwin, Mo., looks over study aids at the Christian Home Educators schooling is unit studies. Fellowship Conference and Curriculum Fair June 22, in St. Charles, Mo. Garber home-schools Please see OPTIONS, Page 10

her three children, ages 6, 9 and 11. Many home-school associations hold conferences that include exhibits on curriculum and a variety of workshops.

& Child Development Center

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6764 Billy Williams Memorial Drive, Prince George, VA 23875 Phone (804) 732-3245 • Fax (804) 732-7870 www.woodlawncs.com The Progress-Index, Petersburg, VA Sunday, August 8, 2010 PI_PROGINDEX/SPECIAL_SECTION/PAGES [T07] | 08/06/10

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Help give them the power to succeed

F

or thousands of children in our community, having healthy, reliable food isn’t a sure thing. In fact for some, it’s a rarity. But our leaders of tomorrow need regular, nutritious meals to thrive.

Otherwise, hunger can rob them of the power to succeed, both in school and in life.

That’s why, with your help, the Central Virginia Food Bank provides essential building blocks like peaches and bananas, green beans and broccoli, peanut butter, tuna, and more to those in need.

In fact, last year we supplied more than 15 million pounds of food to neighbors, along with tens of thousands of hot, healthy meals in summer and after-school programs.

Make a powerful difference! Call 804-521-2500 or visit feedmore.org The Progress-Index, Petersburg, VA Sunday, August 8, 2010 PI_PROGINDEX/ADVERTISING/AD_PAGES [T09] | 08/06/10

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Options: Key is to know what interests or excites a child Continued from Page 7

“Basically, take something like trains, say, and it’s amazing what you can learn,” Hegener said.

Among the questions parents should ask in deciding how to home-school: • Do I want to create my own curriculum or use a prepared one? Do I even need a curriculum?

• Do I want to use a textbook?

• How will I keep track of my child’s progress?

The key is knowing your child, Hedin said.

She urges parents to discover their children’s interests, what excites them and what they want to learn.

“Then, together you begin to seek out resources and curriculum. You do it as a team,” she said.

Home-school associations provide a forum for families to share ideas, resources — even instruction. It’s a way to find out what has worked for others and what hasn’t, and what is available in the community to supplement home learning. Many associations hold con-

ferences that include workshops and exhibits on curriculum. Some offer standardized testing, with certified proctors, for families that want it.

Hedin said she’s not mathematically inclined, so when her son wanted to learn algebra she went to a local home-school support group to find other students who were interested, and placed an ad for an instructor.

She also formed a small cooperative with other families to take field trips, do crafts and plan other projects built around various themes.

“We were really active with other home schoolers,” she said.

“We support one another,” said Shelly Nelson of the Crossroads Areas Home School Association of Bloomington, Ill. When people inquire about curriculum, Nelson said, she asks about their teaching style and their child’s learning style.

“There are different ways to educate your children,” she said. “When you get to the junior high and high school level, I believe there is a great need for some books.”

That doesn’t necessarily mean going to one curriculum company for all subjects, she said. “You choose the best curricula for each subject level.”

But buying curricula and textbooks can be costly, especially if it means purchasing several until you find one you like.

To help parents, the association’s National Home-School Honor Society chapter created a curriculum closet filled with material collected from publishers and homeschool families. Some of the 400 or so volumes are religion-based; others are secular.

One company offering home-school curricula is Time4Learning. Operations manager Jennifer Eaton said the computerbased material is “like your textbook laid out on your desk.” Often used along with other materials, the programs also grade children’s work and track their progress.

“Parents will need to be involved not to teach the things, but they should be there to support the child,” Eaton said.

Some parents like a prepared curriculum because it gives them “confidence in knowing they are really providing their

children with a comprehensive academic foundation,” said Michelle Simpson-Siegel, director of the high school program at Oak Meadow Curriculum and School in Brattleboro, Vt. “The parent is the primary teacher,” she said.

Oak Meadow offers a distance-learning program where students are enrolled at the school and are assigned teachers. She said the arrangement provides the student with freedom and flexibility, as well as an academic record for college admissions officers.

While some home-school parents grade their children, Hedin said, she didn’t. “What was key to me was progress — progress on their timetable.”

Online: American Homeschool Association: http://americanhomeschoolassociation.org Home School Legal Defense Association: http://www.hslda.org World Book course guidelines: http:// www.worldbook.com/typicalcourseofstudy. html

Fall Registration is Monday August 9th.

New Student Registration is August 10th and 18th. 6-8 pm.

If you register these dates you are invited to a SWIM Party on Thursday August 19th.

More info will be given at registration.

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Recess coaches hired to make play constructive Growing number of schools using playtime professionals

BY DIANA MARSZALEK FOR THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

For years, recess at Grout Elementary School in Portland, Ore., was fraught with the same sort of playground woes common around the country.

Some kids would play, some wouldn’t. Some roughhoused and got into tussles.

Resolving those tussles, teachers said, ate into postrecess classroom time.

“Kids are not inherently kind to each other,” said Principal Susan McElroy.

The pattern was broken about a year ago when McElroy hired a recess coach to

help children do what they used to do naturally: play.

Now, Grout has its own professional coach on school grounds all day who not only organizes and supervises playground games, but also trains kids to be junior coaches, teaches conflict resolution and serves as a mentor, McElroy said.

A growing number of schools nationwide are hiring playtime professionals to help transform recess from a free-for-all into what they hope will be a healthier physical experience. In some cases, that means hiring fulltime professionals; in others, it might mean training school staff and parent volunteers.

Grout, like many lowincome schools, established its program through Playworks, an Oakland, Calif.-

based group that this year will provide assessment, training and a full-time coach to 270 schools in 16 cities. Thanks to a recent $19 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and other support, Playworks subsidizes more than half the $55,000 it costs for a school to have a full-time, onsite coach.

Jill Vialet started Playworks, then called Sports4Kids, in 1996 after meeting with a beleaguered principal bemoaning the problems of recess. She said that at schools with recess coaches, teachers report reclaiming instructional time that was previously lost AP PHOTO/PLAYWORKS to working out kids’ problems. In addition, playing This undated photo provided by Playworks shows Playworks program director Jabari Wimbs cooperatively and, in some working with students during recess at Sherman Oaks Elementary School in San Jose, Calif.

Please see RECESS, Page 12

The trend toward transforming recess from a free-for-all to a healthier physical experience is meeting mixed reaction.

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Recess: Coaching idea drawing criticism and praise Continued from Page 11

cases, earning leadership roles as “junior coaches,” builds a sense of community among students.

“The return is a much better place to learn,” Vialet said.

The idea of putting recess in the hands of professionals, however, has drawn criticism from those who feel that childhood today is in danger of being micromanaged by adults. Learning to play cooperatively is an important step in children’s development, and that includes learning how to handle difficult situations, they say.

Lee Igel, a New York University assistant professor who has worked with schools as a sports and organizational psychology expert, said recess coaching is wellintended.

But the problems it is meant to address, he said — stopping bullying, encouraging inclusion, fostering cooperation — are too wide-ranging and have deeper causes.

“We’ve always had bul-

lies, but it seems to be on the increase,” Igel said. He thinks that’s the result of changing social values “and how people and community are no longer there.” Fixing those problems must be done on a larger scale and start with a discussion of values.

In addition, Igel said, some of the hard lessons learned on the playground — being picked last for a team, for instance, or not gelling with other kids — often turn into motivation for success, or at least lend perspective, later in life.

“You don’t want to set children up for failure,” said Igel, “but you don’t want to always prevent it either.”

McElroy, the Grout principal, said the days are gone when kids were adept at finding ways to play creatively on their own. The rise of electronic entertainment and the decline of spontaneous neighborhood play have left many children ill-

equipped to handle unstructured playground time; they don’t have the social skills.

“Kids by and large don’t know how to do that anymore,” McElroy said. “They weren’t doing it, anyway.”

Alexandra Penn, founder of Champions Against Bullying, a nonprofit that offers workshops and other services, agrees. She says more playground supervision is essential, as is specific training in how to manage bullying.

“Kids bully for many reasons and they also bully because they can,” Penn s a i d . “ W h o ’s s t o p p i n g them?”

In addition, she said, it’s incumbent on schools to ensure that all children — including those prone to being bullied — receive the benefits of recess.

“Play stretches a child’s imagination and boosts selfesteem,” Penn said. “Children become more resilient, develop cognitively, learn

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how to problem solve, interact with others, discover all they can do on their own and get in touch with their feelings and those of others.”

Having recess coaches doesn’t mean that schools have lost sight of the benefits of self-motivated play, proponents said. Helping kids get there is part of the plan.

“It’s really getting these kids more and more working together as a team,” said Marc Sickel, founder of Fitness for Health, a Washington, D.C.-area organization that trains school staff and volunteers to facilitate playg round activities. “We assume too many times that the kids have the ability to work out their conflicts, when they really don’t have those yet.”

As head of a culturally diverse school, McElroy said, she welcomes all opportunities for cooperative learning.

“Anything we can do like this helps build a school community,” she said.

AP PHOTO/PLAYWORKS

This undated photo provided by Playworks shows Playworks program director Jabari Wimbs, background right, working with students during recess at Sherman Oaks Elementary School in San Jose, Calif. The idea of putting recess in the hands of professionals has drawn criticism from those who feel that childhood today is in danger of being micromanaged by adults. And some say recess coaching is well intended, but the problems it is meant to address are too wide-ranging and have deeper causes.

At home traditions to make first day of school fun

BY MELISSA KOSSLER DUTTON FOR THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

R

ebecca Miller Wilson wants her three children to look forward to the first day of school, so she makes a celebra-

tion of it.

She hangs signs outside their rooms, prepares special foods and takes lots of photos. The traditions ease the transition back to school and give the kids a reason to be excited.

“I want to set them up for enjoying school,” said Wilson, of Phoenix. The first day should “set the tone for how the school year should go.”

Back-to-school traditions at home can help children adjust to the changes a new year brings, said Tim Sullivan, founder of School Family Media, which focuses on increasing parental involvement in schools.

“Anything that encourages the thought that school is a special time is a good thing,” Sullivan said from his office in Wrenthem, Mass.

Parents who make a fuss about the first day back also are sending the important message that “school’s a priority in our family,” he added.

Jessica Fisher of San Diego serves her six children homemade apple pie for breakfast on the first day of school. It’s a sweet way to signal their return to their homeschool schedule.

“It helps to mark that shift and make it really fun — not something they dread,” said Fisher, who started the tradition four years ago.

The pie does lessen the pain of returning to school, said her 8year-old son, Calvary.

“The first day of school is both good and bad,” he said. “It’s the end of summer vacation, which

makes it bad, but we get pie for breakfast so that makes it good.”

Keeping the traditions simple makes it easier to do them year after year, said Alanna Stang, executive editor of Martha Stewart Living magazine.

“Simple and thoughtful is always the best,” she said. Small gestures “show kids someone is thinking about me.”

Having first-day-of-school traditions also gives parents the opportunity to mark milestones in children’s lives that might otherwise get overlooked, Stang said.

“In our fast-paced lives, the meaning of the moment can get lost in the shuffle,” she said.

She suggests finding a mix of traditions that involve small surprises for the children, and projects that parents and kids can work on together.

Please see TRADITIONS, Page 14

AP PHOTO/REBECCA WILSON

This undated photo provided by Rebecca Wilson shows her daughters Alex, 9, left, and Winter, 5, showing off their new backpacks for a new school year. Every year Wilson lets her daughters pick out new backpacks to start off the new school year. She wants her children to look forward to the first day of school so she makes a celebration of the day.

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Traditions: Ideas to help kids look forward to the first day of school Continued from Page 13

In addition to preparing treats, Wilson takes her children shopping and lets them each pick out a new backpack. She takes photos of the kids with the new bags, which often reflect their developing personalities or interests.

“It’s fun to see some of the choices they’ve made,” she said.

Shopping for school supplies has already become a tradition for Summer Werchowski of Dublin, Ohio, and her 4-year-old son, Miles. When he was preparing for preschool last year, they bought supplies for him and some of his friends.

They passed out the supplies at a back-to-school party, which they plan to throw again this year.

Werchowski also created a way to help Miles, who couldn’t wait for school to start, count down the days.

About a month before school began, she placed enough pieces of candy in a jar that he could have one a day until school started.

“It saved my sanity because he could physically see it was getting closer and closer,” she said. “It stopped him from asking every two minutes.”

She plans to fill the jar for many years to come. She also is continuing a tradition

her own mother started: taking yearly photos in the morning and in the afternoon on the first day of school.

“I looked all cute in the beginning,” she said. By the end of the day, “I just looked like I had been through a war.”

She hopes the photos and activities will create lifelong memories for Miles.

“Looking back on my childhood, that’s what I remember — all the special traditions we had,” said Werchowski. “That’s where my memories lie.

I’m hoping it will be the same for him.”

Here are more ideas for back-to-school traditions: • Pack a note with a loving message, joke or drawing in the child’s lunch box.

• Make a bracelet or necklace, or braid a pair of shoelaces together that the child can wear on the first day.

• Decorate a backpack with a beaded key chain, homemade pompoms or a name tag.

• Hide a small treat, such as a sticker or small toy, in the child’s pocket.

• Decorate the student’s lunch bag or box.

• Make a special breakfast, dinner of after-school snack.

• Take a photo before school and have it printed or

in a frame when the child gets home, or break out the scrapbook and show the child that this milestone is already part of your family history.

• Measure the child’s height and weight, and record it in a special place on the eve of the first day of school.

• If the child is riding a bike or scooter to school, decorate it with flags and streamers.

• Buy an extra set of school supplies and donate it to an agency that helps needy families.

• Ask children what they want to be when they grow up, and preserve their answers with a video camera or voice recorder.

— Source: Martha Stewart Living magazine

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AP PHOTO/REBECCA WILSON

This August 2009 photo provided by Rebecca Wilson shows her daughter Alex Wilson, 10, holding up a sign. One idea for a back to school tradition is to ask children what they want to be when they grow up and preserve their answers with a photo or video.

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Today’s lesson:

Back to School shopping doesn’t have to break the bank.

Donate. Shop. Do Good. Repeat.

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Superintendent’s Message Welcome to the 2010-2011 school year!

The teachers and staff of the Petersburg City Public Schools are ready and excited to see the yellow buses arrive. We promise that your child’s school will continue to be a clean, safe, happy place to learn.

During the summer, we worked hard to prepare for the new school year. We want your child to have access to the best technology, textbooks and learning programs available. We want his or her teacher to be enthusias-tic, knowledgeable and understanding. We have taken specific steps to make these things happen.

Parent and guardians, be sure to join the Parent Teacher Association for your child’s school. This is a great way to keep up with news and to support the school. Get to know your child’s teacher through regular communication and visits to the school. Find out what extracurricular and after-school activities are offered. Encourage your child to take part.

Please join us in celebrating a new school year in the Petersburg City Public Schools!

Sincerely, Dr. Alvera J. Parrish Superintendent of Petersburg City Public Schools

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