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Princess Anne High’s Paula Raines recognized
as Rotary Club Fellow
Princess Anne High School gifted resource specialist Paula Raines was named a Rotary Club Fellow in recognition of her dedicated work as the faculty sponsor of PA’s Interact Club, a Rotary-sponsored club. She has served as faculty sponsor since 2007. During her tenure, students have participated in numerous community service projects both locally and internationally. Foundation Committee Chairman David L. Rosmer and Rotary District 7600 Area 15 Assistant District Governor Wayne McCoy made the presentation to Raines on June 24 at the club’s Annual Installation Banquet at Princess Anne Country Club.

Interact is Rotary International’s service club for young people ages 14 to 18. Interact clubs are sponsored by individual Rotary clubs, which provide support and guidance, but they are self-governing and self-supporting. Each year, Interact clubs complete at least two community service projects, one of which furthers international understanding and goodwill.

The Princess Anne High School Interact Club is sponsored by the Princess Anne Rotary Club at Town Center.

Tweeting creatively
John Merritt, English and VTfT (Virginia Teachers for Tomorrow) teacher at Kellam High School, is “tweeting” in a creative way. He has two accounts—one for his ninth-grade classes and one for his VTfT class. He tweets to remind his students about projects, to return signed forms, about noteworthy events, and the like. As he points out, parents can also subscribe as followers and be apprised of what is happening in their child’s class. Merritt says he also uses Twitter as a “follow-up” to what he taught that day. For example, he could tweet a question based on something the students read such as “How would you feel if you were in (put in a character’s name) shoes?” Such tweets keep students “thinking about the piece of literature we just read”.

PDP at First Colonial
On August 28, the faculty of First Colonial High School participated in Cruising Through the 21st Century: A Technology Conference as part of their PDP requirement. Faculty selected three concurrent sessions to attend throughout the day. Sessions included such topics as “Wiki Wiki-Wow,” Audacity, and Digital Storytelling, and were taught by FC teachers and central office personnel. Upon conclusion of the sessions, teachers worked collaboratively to create learning plans that incorporated something they learned from the day. The conference aligned with Compass to 2015 Strategic Goal #1 in that it afforded teachers the opportunity to receive instruction about technology that they could then integrate into their classrooms. Well done!

Citywide Teacher of the Year Betsy DiJulio published in national journal
Congratulations to Princess Anne High School art teacher and Citywide 2010 Teacher of the Year Betsy DiJulio on having an article published in SchoolArts Magazine, a national art education journal. The article is about DiJulio’s International Baccalaureate/Middle Years Program Art Foundations course she teaches, and specifically details the Mutambo! Project she developed as part of the larger course. Featured in the article are three of DiJulio’s students and their work. Here is a link to the article:
http://www.schoolartsdigital.com/schoolarts/200910?sub_id=CkgAsPZGxvooJ#pg44

Elementary school teacher Lynn Bullock participates in summer institute
College Park Elementary School fifth-grade teacher Lynn Bullock, in partnership with 23 other educators from across Virginia, is bringing her students new knowledge and experience gained during her participation in the 2009 Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation Summer Teacher Institute. Held July 12-17 at Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown Victory Center history museums, the institute centered on instruction correlated with the Virginia Standards of Learning and emphasized interactive, inquiry-based methods of teaching American history. A major component of the program was the opportunity for participants to work in period costume alongside museum historical interpreters.

The institute included tours of the museums’ exhibition galleries and outdoor living-history areas – a re-created Powhatan Indian village, 1607 ships and 1610 -14 colonial fort and riverfront discovery area at Jamestown Settlement - as well as the re-created Continental Army encampment and 1780’s farm at the Yorktown Victory Center. Teachers also toured Historic Jamestown and Yorktown National Battlefield and attended a Colonial Williamsburg evening program, “Cry Witch.” Participants attended presentations on Powhatan Indian culture, the origins of the Jamestown colony, Africans in 17th-century Virginia, indentured servitude and slavery, the chronology of the American Revolution, and the seasonal cycle of work on an 18th-century farm. They also took part in “A Sea Grammar” and “A School for the Soldier,” hands-on programs featuring 17th-century seamanship and 18th-century military life.

Prior to spending three afternoons as costumed historical interpreters, the educators attended workshops on historical clothing and interpretation theory and methods. The institute concluded with presentations of lesson plans developed during the week. Each participant received a kit of reproduction artifacts to use in the classroom.

The institute was financed through a grant from a private family foundation and The Ukrop Foundation. The 24 teachers were selected from among 83 Virginia applicants.

Virginia Teachers for Tomorrow encourage early reading skills!
VTfT students across Virginia Beach participated in a community service project on October 8 and 9 as part of their Future Educators Association membership. Students visited elementary schools and day care centers in Virginia Beach to read to young children to highlight the importance of early education opportunities for children in low-income communities. This year, in honor of the 40th anniversary of its publication, the official book of Jumpstart’s Read for the Record campaign is The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. By encouraging a single, common day of reading engagement where participants read the same book Jumpstart hopes to set a new world record and raise awareness about the number of children entering kindergarten unprepared.
The link to the site for more information is www.futureeducators.org/fea/read.htm.
(NOTE: VBCPS students performed two consecutive days of reading because of block scheduling.)

Among the VTfT teachers and schools participating in the initiative were Ginny James, whose Cox High School students visited Trantwood Elementary; Scarlet Sager, whose Landstown High students visited Holland Elementary; Beth Hubbard, whose Ocean Lakes students visited Corporate Landing Elementary; Cindy Chadwick, whose Tallwood High students visited Tallwood Elementary; Andrea Stanley, whose First Colonial students visited LePetit and KinderCare; and Carrie Gantt, whose Princess Anne High students visited Windsor Woods Elementary.

The VTfT program is a year-long course where students are introduced to teaching as a profession, gain experience with students prior to entering college and have an opportunity to earn a contract with the city of Virginia Beach upon the successful completion of a college degree with a teaching endorsement.

Since 1993 Jumpstart has worked with more than 70,000 preschool children across America. This year volunteers will serve more than one million hours with 15,000 preschool children in 80 communities. (http://www.readfortherecord.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Jstart_homepage)

Tri-Campus explores Covey’s 7 Habits
Staff at the Bayside Tri-Campus is excited about learning about Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Successful People. This school year will be their first year to launch into Stephen Covey’s Leader in Me program. Diamond Springs Elementary School started the school year by broadcasting the seven habits on its morning announcements. At Newtown Elementary, staff is piloting The Leader In Me program in five classes where teachers are incorporating the seven habits into the instructional day. Additionally, the hallways are named after the seven habits, such as Be Proactive Lane and First things First Blvd. Williams Elementary will begin book talks this year and staff is showcasing the seven habits throughout the building.

Keyboarding Club at Lynnhaven Elementary
Lynnhaven Elementary has a before-school keyboarding club run by one of the school's PE assistants, Jane Smith. Students in the keyboarding club are learning proper hand placement so they can type without looking at the keyboard, as well as basic computer terminology. The club is open to third-, fourth- and fifth-grade students. Three nine-week sessions will be held during the school year with each session lasting 45 minutes each day, five days a week. Some third graders will remain in the club through fourth and fifth grades taking all of the sessions. Students who have participated in the club have averaged a typing speed of from 45 to 70 words a minute.

Congratulations to Jane Smith on starting Lynnhaven Elementary’s Keyboarding Club!

BeachBags bring much-needed help for students
A new initiative – VBCPS BeachBags – is off to a great start! The program is the result of a partnership between the Foodbank and VBCPS and is designed to help feed needy elementary students during the weekend when school breakfasts and lunches are unavailable. The premise is simple: “BeachBags of donated shelf-stable food are provided every other Friday to 200 students at the Tri-Campus and at Birdneck, and Cooke elementary schools. The “BeachBags, really brown paper bags of food, are packaged by volunteers and then placed in students’ backpacks for them to take home for the weekend. Each beach bag contains at least 10 specific items, designed to feed a child for a weekend. It is hoped that with additional funding the program will be expanded to every weekend and to more schools.

For those who may wish to help in this effort, there are several ways to become involved:

•	The Foodbank will take tax deductible donations at www.foodbankonline.org. Their buying power is typically greater than the normal shopper.
•	Schools, PTA’s, parents, and community members can also pack a beach bag by assembling the 10 items (see the list below) in a paper or plastic (unsealed) bag.
•	BeachBags can be delivered to School Administration, to the Foodbank, or to participating schools.

For more information or to volunteer, please contact Melissa McQuarrie, director of the Office of Community Relations at 263-1700 or by email at Melissa.McQuarrie@vbschools.com.

Each Beach Bag Contains:
(2) individual cereal boxes: small, individual-sized boxes or bowls
(2) 8 oz. shelf stable milk: individual cartons (juice box sized)
(2) shelf-stable main course items
Ravioli, spaghetti & meatballs, beef stew, chicken & dumplings, tuna/chunk chicken, tuna helper, macaroni & cheese, chunky soups, peanut butter & crackers
(2) 4 oz. or larger fruit cups and/or 100% juice boxes
(2) snack items
Granola bars, pop tarts, cereal bars, cheese/peanut butter sandwich crackers, pudding cups, raisins, fruit cups, juice boxes (100% juice), pretzels, trail mix, snack crackers, peanut butter & crackers

	Birdneck Elementary principal Irv Beard (left), school social worker intern Cassie Benson (center), and school social worker Shahana Magee (right) are delighted with the donation of BeachBags for their students.
	Those participating in the BeachBags program have generously contributed bags of food. In fact, community members are getting involved. Pictured is a generous donor who heard media coverage on TV and decided she wanted to help, even volunteering to deliver food to schools.

Technical and Career Education Center dental assisting students work to contribute to the community!

The dental assisting class as the Technical and Career Education Center recently worked in tandem with the Oral Health Improvement Coalition of South Hampton Roads to provide dental services to members of the community needing dental care. A clinic was held October ninth and tenth at the Oakgrove Methodist Church in Chesapeake as part of the Panke Institute’s efforts to sponsor a dental access day for the community's dentally uninsured. Approximately 150 patients were treated each day and students provided chair-side assistance to the dentists, hygienists, and assistants. The students were complimented by the staff on their diligence and expertise, but especially on their positive attitudes and willingness to try new procedures.