Elementary School Students

Before Lauren Preston opened the cover of the book "Spring" to read to her pre-kindergarten class at Mary Ann Winterling Elementary School, her students excitedly told her why, and showed her how, the season was underway. Daffodils - not just "yellow flowers" - were appearing from beneath the soil, they said. Hyacinths were blooming, they demonstrated with the slow unfolding of their tiny fists. And butterflies were emerging, the students showed by flapping their curled arms. In pre-K classrooms around Baltimore's school system, subtle changes like interactive reading are having a substantial effect in helping prepare 4-year-olds for elementary school - addressing an achievement gap that city schools have faced for years.

Before Lauren Preston opened the cover of the book "Spring" to read to her pre-kindergarten class at Mary Ann Winterling Elementary School, her students excitedly told her why, and showed her how, the season was underway. Daffodils - not just "yellow flowers" - were appearing from beneath the soil, they said. Hyacinths were blooming, they demonstrated with the slow unfolding of their tiny fists. And butterflies were emerging, the students showed by flapping their curled arms. In pre-K classrooms around Baltimore's school system, subtle changes like interactive reading are having a substantial effect in helping prepare 4-year-olds for elementary school - addressing an achievement gap that city schools have faced for years.

After 300 Marley Elementary school students spent about 1,000 hours reading in their spare time this semester, some got a treat: drenching the principal and assistant principal in front of all their classmates."

Local elementary and middle-school students performed in the Children's Choir at the Organization of American Kodaly Educators (OAKE) national conference in Hartford, Conn., March 20- 23. The students, representing Riderwood Elementary School, Dumbarton Middle School, Ridgely Middle School, and The Bryn Mawr School, were among 458 talented singers chosen from across the nation. These young singers performed the culminating concert at The First Cathedral on Saturday, March 23 after four days of rigorous practice with their conductors.

The conference room of one of Maryland's largest law firms was bustling with activity: People milled around a bank of computers creating graphics with an animation program, researching data on library CD-ROMs, reviewing accident reconstruction videotapes.But these weren't attorneys preparing for a big case. They were elementary school students learning the ins and outs of the legal profession.The 40 fifth- and sixth-graders from Patapsco Elementary School are members of the Law Club, a program the Cherry Hill school designed with Piper & Marbury LLP to encourage students to stay in school, attend college and join the professional work force.

Instead of paying for their lunches with crumpled dollar bills and loose change, students in Carroll County schools are having their palms scanned in a new check-out system - raising concerns from some parents that their children's privacy is being violated. The county is one of the first localities in Maryland to use the PalmSecure system, in which children from kindergarten to 12th grade place their hands above an infrared scanner. It identifies unique palm and vein patterns, and converts the image into an encrypted numeric algorithm that records a sale.

An article in The Sun in Anne Arundel County yesterday incorrectly identified the source of information about a cream-colored car involved in an attempted abduction in Ferndale. The description came from letters sent to parents of Ferndale Elementary School students.

Anne Arundel County elementary school students between the ages of 5 and 11 will be offered free FluMist vaccine at their elementary schools. FluMist is a nasal spray vaccine. It will be given to students between Oct. 23 and Nov. 17. Parents should check their children's backpacks for vaccine information and consent forms. Parents must give written consent for children to qualify. More information is available at the County Department of Health's Web site, www.aahealth.org, and at the school system's web site, www.aacps.

Local elementary and middle-school students performed in the Children's Choir at the Organization of American Kodaly Educators (OAKE) national conference in Hartford, Conn., March 20- 23. The students, representing Riderwood Elementary School, Dumbarton Middle School, Ridgely Middle School, and The Bryn Mawr School, were among 458 talented singers chosen from across the nation. These young singers performed the culminating concert at The First Cathedral on Saturday, March 23 after four days of rigorous practice with their conductors.

Baltimore School Superintendent Walter G. Amprey unveiled a plan yesterday to combat truancy that includes a public awareness campaign, a mentoring program for elementary school students and the hiring of up to 100 parents to become "attendance assistants" at schools plagued by high truancy rates.About 20,000 city school students have been identified as chronic truants -- students who miss at least 36 days of school per year. The total includes about 2,600 elementary school students. On any given day, 13,000 students are absent from school, many unlawfully, according to city school officials.

In her first 100 days on the job, Howard County schools Superintendent Renee Foose has revamped the system's legal services, established an office of accountability and called for revision of a redistricting proposal to shift hundreds of students to new schools, a move that some parents have decried. Foose is steadily imposing her management approach on the 50,000-student system as she attempts to fulfill promises to make it more transparent and accessible - directives spelled out in the entry plan she unveiled as she took over July 1. Perhaps the most controversial move she has made involves the redistricting plan.

Instead of paying for their lunches with crumpled dollar bills and loose change, students in Carroll County schools are having their palms scanned in a new check-out system - raising concerns from some parents that their children's privacy is being violated. The county is one of the first localities in Maryland to use the PalmSecure system, in which children from kindergarten to 12th grade place their hands above an infrared scanner. It identifies unique palm and vein patterns, and converts the image into an encrypted numeric algorithm that records a sale.

More than 1,600 Baltimore city elementary school students will benefit from a $7.4 million grant awarded to the Johns Hopkins University, that the institution will use to implement a new science, technology, engineering and math program that will make STEM education a community enterprise. The program, called STEM Achievement in Baltimore Elementary Schools, is a partnership between city schools and the university that targets students in grades three through five, at nine elementary schools.

Baltimore City schools CEO Andrés Alonso was merely stating the obvious when he said recently that Baltimore students' disappointing scores on this year's state standardized achievement tests in reading and math were due in large part to the fact that so many students are chronically absent or truant. It's a truism that children who aren't in class can't be expected to excel, so Mr. Alonso had little choice but to admit that educators "still have not figured out how to communicate how important it is for kids to be in school.

Westminster, Winfield students get lesson in energy efficiency Students at Westminster and Winfield elementary schools have been participating in the "BTU Crew" interactive program, conducted by a team of associates from Boland, an office of the Trane company. During this program, students explored how to make the buildings more energy efficient and sustainable. Students participated in hands-on lessons to discover how they can make an impact on energy efficiency and conservation while learning about green career options.

We receive gifts during the holiday season in many different ways. Mary Gail Hare 's article on Sandalwood Elementary School brought me an unexpected and wonderful one ("Sandalwood Elementary dances to success," Dec. 17). Sandalwood school is located in my district and has earned the recognition as a National Title I Distinguished School for 2011-2012. To say I am proud of the efforts of these young students for this terrific achievement is to put it mildly. The Title I program provides funding for additional resources for schools with economically disadvantaged students.

Stuart D. Berger, the superintendent of Baltimore County public schools, makes no bones about his distaste for giving traditional letter grades to elementary school students."

Parents and community representatives gave overwhelming approval last night to a proposal to place Belvedere Elementary School students in the feeder system for Broadneck High School.The public hearing last night at Broadneck High in Arnold, attended by about 60 people, was the second to last in a series scheduled by the school board to discuss redistricting. The board will decide on final redistricting plans next month.The redistricting plan for the feeder systems of Severna Park and Broadneck high schools calls for renovations and additions to two schools and has very little effect on students.

Students from all Baltimore County public elementary schools and their families are invited to participate in the annual Project Quality Time event 2-5 p.m. Dec. 11 at The Baltimore Museum of Art. The free event will include self-guided tours and a Free Family Sundays hands-on workshop in the museum's classroom.

Two elementary school-age children were taken into juvenile custody Thursday morning after a handgun was found in a student's bookbag at a Northwest Baltimore school, according to city school officials. City school police officers found the handgun at KIPP Ujima Village Academy, a public charter school serving grades five through eight, according to Michael Sarbanes, a city schools spokesman. No one at the school was hurt, and the gun was not loaded, Sarbanes said. Students reported seeing the gun early Thursday, and when school police conducted a search, they found the gun in a student's bookbag.