Online Art School

LAKE WORTH HIGH

Shaun Plunkett placed eighth in the knowledge test for nutrition at the recent Health Occupations Students of America National Leadership Conference in Orlando.

SANTALUCES HIGH

Angela Vandoli received a $1,500 college scholarship from Naval Air Station Jacksonville through the Scholarships for Military Children program.

EGRET LAKE ELEMENTARY

Four teachers presented a workshop on arts integration at the recent National Staff Development Council Summer Conference in Seattle. The presentation by art teacher Linda Tylka, music teacher Terrion Nelson and reading teachers Shari Snyder and Dionne Rich highlighted the three-year arts integration pilot program grant at the school. The teachers demonstrated how Egret Lake uses professional development to enhance classroom teachers’ skills in utilizing the arts into the core curriculum.

ALEXANDER W. DREYFOOS SCHOOL OF THE ARTS

Chris Hurbs was awarded a full tuition, room and board scholarship to attend the Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation 2010 Summer Seminar Program at Colorado College in Colorado Springs.

BRIEFLY

Uniforms will be given free of charge to families in need 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday at South Olive Park, 345 Summa St., West Palm Beach. Children must be accompanied by a parent. Each child will be limited to two sets of uniforms, and each family is entitled to a total of six sets of uniforms. Call ( 561) 478-4115 for more information.

Compiled by staff writer Sy O’Neill. School news should be e-mailed to neighborhood@pbpost.com.

An article from the new web site, Capital, recently interviewed Richard Bulliet, author of The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization, about the proposed Mosque at Ground Zero.

Bulliet admits that when he first heard about the project he thought it might not be the best idea but has been surprised by “the firestorm that has developed.” He goes on to describe the difficulty the Muslim community has in responding to such a controversy:

“Some [American Muslims] are so gun-shy that anything that creates this type of reaction they want to go away. The experience of recent years has taught Muslim-Americans that they cannot depend on their views being understood as they mean them…. Everything Muslim is absorbed into the 9/11 moment, just as two decades before everything about Iran was absorbed into the embassy hostage moment. People of good will, both Muslim and non-Muslim, offer earnest correctives. But the tide flows against them.”

Bulliet also commented on the recent decision of the Anti-Defamation League to oppose the mosque

“Rightly or wrongly, I see it as linked to the broad apprehension, both in this country and in Israel, that evil deeds perpetrated by Muslims, or suspected of being part of a Muslim master plan, pose an existential threat to the Jewish people. Persuading Americans that a Palestinian suicide bomber in Tel Aviv is indistinguishable from a terrorist pilot directing an airplane into the World Trade Center or an Iranian scientist working on a uranium enrichment program has been a major policy success for Israel. Consistency in this effort might persuade some people of basic liberal sentiment that opposition to any effort to associate Islam with peaceful enterprise is off-message. But rights take priority over message. Always.”

To kick off the new school year, each week we will publish a featured Lesson Plan. Be sure to check back each week for our newest post!

Language Arts, Writing, Writing Process, Art, Mediums Grade 1- 3

If I Had a Robot. . . Objective

Students will use a visual aid to add to their creative writing.

Directions

Ask students if they would like to have a robot. What kinds of things could a robot do for them? Distribute copies of the If I Had a Robot activity sheet and have the children write about robots. After they have written about robots, have them make three-dimensional robots to accompany their writing.

To make a robot, students can choose a large item such as a milk jug or a two-liter plastic bottle to use for the body. They can glue or tape on smaller items to make facial features, arms, legs, and other robot details. Have them add other parts to the robot by cutting and gluing on construction-paper shapes, and then write the robot’s name on a name tag and attach it to the robot’s body.

Resources

• If I Had a Robot activity sheet
• pencils
• glue
• scissors
• markers
• tape
• construction paper
• an assortment of the following items:
  • milk jugs
  • two-liter plastic bottles
  • boxes
  • buttons
  • tissue-paper rolls
  • egg cartons

Download Worksheet

Kristin Lutes, a defensive specialist who was part of Kentlake’s three state championship volleyball teams from 2000-02, recently received a huge honor.

She was named the lone libero on Sacramento State’s all-decade volleyball team.

You can find more information on the team, and Kristin’s college bio, here.

The setter on the all-decade team — Lisa Beauchene — is also from Washington. She played at Fife High School.

Kristin is currently completing her master’s degree in secondary-education counseling and will be doing an internship at Tahoma this fall, according to her father, Dave.

What’s this?

Families raised concerns over the suspension of three staff members as well as education standards, the turnover of teachers and allegations the school had abandoned Holy Communion.

But two people at the meeting – Sue Evans and Martine Paterson – then received letters warning them against making “slanderous statements” about Jane Vaterlaws, 51, the head teacher.

In the letter, the National Association of Head Teachers said: “Your actions are viewed as malicious and as harassment and you are warned that should you continue to make false and slanderous statements about Mrs Vaterlaws, you are likely to find yourself in court.

“Please be in no doubt that action will be taken against you and any other individuals that persist with what is an illegitimate campaign.

“The NAHT will not tolerate any malicious campaign against any one of our members and you should take heed of this warning.”

Parents at the 200-pupil school claimed they had been left in the dark about the head’s decision to suspend the three members of staff.

Some parents also claimed some children as old as nine did not have basic literacy, teachers did not always know children’s names because of high staff turnover and the school was failing to offer Holy Communion.

Last month’s public meeting – held in a church hall – was led by Mrs Evans who later wrote to the Roman Catholic archdiocese listing a number of “areas of concern”.

The letter to the two mothers was signed by Annie Hovey, the NAHT regional officer.

Mrs Hovey’s letter said: “You are strongly advised to consider your position carefully as what you are doing is wholly illegitimate and is open to direct challenge from us as well as from the school, Cardiff council and the diocese.

“We have advised Mrs Vaterlaws to consult the police with a view to taking action against you for harassment.”

Mrs Evans said: “They are very threatening letters. The other parent involved has been absolutely distraught about the one she received.

“We have been told the church had a letter as well, about us using the parish hall for meetings.

“But we have got to keep on with this now; we can’t let these parents down.”

MOBILE COUNTY, Alabama — Thousands of students in Mobile County and Saraland’s public schools return to class Monday.

And it won’t be just the children who are nervous.

“I’ll have butterflies in my stomach at 5:15 that morning,” said Saraland City Schools Superintendent Wayne Vickers. “I’ll sleep very little that night, same as when I was a teacher, same as the students. It’s that nervous energy.

“But we’re prepared.”

While students in the Mobile County Public School System can expect to feel the impact of state budget cuts, most classrooms should, at least, have properly working air conditioning, said Facilities Manager Tommy Sheffield.

About a dozen schools in the state’s largest school system have some air conditioning units that have a broken thermostat or other problems, meaning some classrooms may be a little warm, he said.

“There’s no doubt we’re going to have some issues,” Sheffield said. “Our workers are out there 12, 14 hours doing all we can. It’s a challenge, but my guys never let us down.”
 
The school system’s Facilities Department has lost 80 employees over the last 2½ years, making it more difficult to keep up with work orders at the 93 schools.

All but a couple of teaching positions have been filled, said schools Superintendent Roy Nichols.

A new Dawes Intermediate will open Monday in west Mobile, and students from the Chickasaw School of Mathematics and Science will move into their completely renovated school across town, the former Clark School of Mathematics and Science.

(Press-Register/Bill Starling)Faculty and staff take a tour of the new North Mobile County Middle School on Friday, Aug. 6, 2010 as Van Smith with A-Plus Painting, works in the boys locker room. Students won’t move into the new North Mobile County Middle School until right after Labor Day, but teachers got a tour of the new facility Friday. Students at North Mobile County Middle School will have to hang tight for a couple more weeks at their temporary location at Robert E. Lee Intermediate in Satsuma. Their new school on Salco Road in Axis is supposed to open Sept. 7, when students return from Labor Day.

High-schoolers in Mobile County will no longer have a four-block schedule. A fifth “mini-block” has been added in the middle of the day so students can take an intervention class or elective.

Vickers said the three schools in Saraland are all in good shape for the first day. As the system begins its third year as a separate system, enrollment is up to about 2,000 students. Saraland High School is adding an 11th grade, and varsity sports.

The Mobile Police Department is encouraging all drivers to be careful Monday, particularly in school zones.

Police officers will be out with radar in school zones making sure drivers aren’t speeding, said Officer Chris Levy. And crossing guards will direct traffic to allow children to cross the streets.

Several area private schools resume classes this week. UMS-Wright Preparatory School and Mobile Christian start Monday; Faith Academy and Bayside Academy on Tuesday; St. Paul’s Episcopal on Wednesday (high school only); and the Catholic schools on Thursday.

Baldwin County public schools open Aug. 16.

(Press-Register/Bill Starling)Principal Randy Campbell gives a tour of the new North Mobile County Middle School to his faculty and staff Friday, Aug. 6, 2010. Students won’t move into the new North Mobile County Middle School until right after Labor Day, but teachers got a tour of the new facility Friday.