Manchester Elementary

Robert C. Bruce Jr., principal at Charles Carroll Elementary School since 1991, will be principal at Manchester Elementary School beginning this fall, Superintendent R. Edward Shilling announced at Wednesday's school board meeting.Mr. Bruce will remain at Charles Carroll in Silver Run until his replacement is named, said Mr. Shilling, who is seeking applicants for that job.Former Manchester Elementary Principal Bonnie Ferrier was promoted to be an elementary-education supervisor this summer.

Nick Collins and Todd Collins share a great deal - last names, for one, even though they are not related. They've also known each other since they were in first grade at Manchester Elementary, and also attended North Carroll middle and high schools togather. They are both are Carroll County natives, are both 33 years old, are both married and each have a son. The've also shared a passion throughout their lives - for skating and snowboarding. So when the two friends decided to go into business together, they tapped into their friendship and common interests - and the result is Kliq Board Shop, scheduled to open Saturday, Jan. 28, at 85 W. Main St., in downtown Westminster.

Using nature as their laboratory, about 150 fourth-graders at Manchester Elementary School had some important questions to answer. Is the stream polluted or healthy? How do nature's critters use camouflage? And how do I use nature to find my way through the woods? "We were looking for something to enhance our science curriculum," said Betty Smith, who has been teaching for 20 years. "Right now we are studying the ecosystem and we wanted them to experience it firsthand. Instead of showing them a stream, we took them to a stream where they walked around in the water in their shoes."

It was encouraging to read that a group of residents in Eldersburg and Sykesville were able to attract county officials and Jeff Degitz, the director of the county's Department of Recreation and Parks, to form a group to decide future trails in the South Carroll area. It appears this group, with support of county resources, will develop a feasibility study to obtain grant funding for trails that will serve residents in the local area. This will allow many of the unique destinations along the routes 26 and 32 corridors to be tied together, allowing citizens a healthy, safe and cost-saving alternative to travel by auto.

Seated on a blue rug in the classroom's reading corner, 6-year-old Jasmin Sarabia was all ears as she leaned in closer to hear another of Junie B. Jones' adventures read to her. This one, Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business, is her favorite so far, she said. "The mom and dad tell her they have a surprise," Jasmin said. "It's a baby! Junie B. isn't happy." For Jasmin, books are fun because "you get to learn more things." For school officials, Manchester Elementary's summer reading program - called "Catch the Summer Reading Wave" - is an opportunity to keep young reading minds from going idle.

As Megan Blair jogged with other fourth-graders on a path at Manchester Elementary School, she proudly wore a sticker that read, "Helping to score a diabetes cure for Jack." Megan, 9, said she chose to run the one-mile run/walk in honor of Jack, her 5-year-old brother who has Type I diabetes. Meanwhile, other Manchester pupils donned stickers that bore Megan's name because she, too, has the disease. They also ran in honor of other classmates, teachers and relatives with the disease. The event was part of the school's annual effort to raise funds for the American Diabetes Association as well as awareness about the disease.

Pressing the dark-blue crayon as hard as she could without breaking it, Ciera Lord earnestly filled in the sky. You have to press hard, her teacher at Manchester Elementary had told the class, so that the colors will stand out on the quilt blocks. Ciera and her classmates were creating the blocks for blankets that will be distributed to children who are grieving, hospitalized, homeless or otherwise traumatized. But these blocks will also stand out because of what they represent. Each one depicts a Maryland symbol such as the state boat (the skipjack)

The winners of the 1997 School Media Festival have been announced.Best of Show winners in photography were Jennifer Warner, North Carroll Middle, first; Jessica Boyd, Westminster High, second; and Tiffany Tarbet, Elmer Wolfe Elementary, third.First and second place winners, awarded in color and monochrome by category and grade, were:Life Study -- Grades K-2: Caitlin Costello, Mount Airy Elementary, first; Ashby Haines, Manchester Elementary, first; T. J. Desmond, Manchester Elementary, and Allyson Lethbridge, Elmer Wolfe, (tie)

Supporters of Manchester's Nature Center have formed a nonprofit foundation to maintain the center, which is used as an outdoor classroom by students at Manchester elementary and middle schools.Volunteers plan to take responsibility for most of the upkeep of the center and apply for grants to fund educational projects there.The year-old center, in Pine Valley Park off Walnut Street at the end of a path down the hill from Manchester Elementary School, began as the dream of town Councilwoman Charlotte Collett.

Hampstead organizing to save old train stationA committee forming to save the Hampstead railroad station will meet Thursday at 3 p.m. in the Hampstead Town Hall, Councilwoman Jackie Hyatt said.Ms. Hyatt said interested people are invited to attend the strategy planning session.Several former Hampstead mayors and local historians have also been invited.The Hampstead train station, which is featured on the town seal, was built in 1913.It was last used for regular passenger service in 1942, but continued to house some maintenance operations until 1979.

Using nature as their laboratory, about 150 fourth-graders at Manchester Elementary School had some important questions to answer. Is the stream polluted or healthy? How do nature's critters use camouflage? And how do I use nature to find my way through the woods? "We were looking for something to enhance our science curriculum," said Betty Smith, who has been teaching for 20 years. "Right now we are studying the ecosystem and we wanted them to experience it firsthand. Instead of showing them a stream, we took them to a stream where they walked around in the water in their shoes."

Fourth-graders at Gamber's Mechanicsville Elementary are the first group in the Carroll County school system to report a 100 percent pass rate on the reading and math tests of the Maryland School Assessment, according to results released from the State Department of Education. "Obviously, we're very, very proud of the staff and students," said the school's principal, Robin Townsend. "If one grade can do it, our hope is third and fifth can, also." Test scores rose at schools throughout the county, with slight decreases only in fifth-grade reading and third-grade math.

Every morning about 8:30, the students in Kathryn Henn's kindergarten class at Manchester Elementary shuffle in, hang their coats and begin their school day. They play with LEGO bricks, learn math and reading lessons, and sing about the days of the week. By 11:30 a.m., after the students have left for the day, Henn and her fellow teachers at the Carroll County school take a breath - and get ready to do it all over again. But this year is the last time that their days, and those of public kindergarten teachers in Maryland, will bring them a perpetual sense of deja vu. This fall, kindergartners will learn, sing, play and do crafts to a more leisurely tempo, as their class time extends to a full day, completing a state mandate issued nearly five years ago. And their parents, no longer forced to rush morning errands or angle for early appointments, won't need to cram quite so much into a few precious hours of freedom.

Some people may wear their hearts on their sleeves, but the second-graders at Manchester Elementary School added other major organs to their outfits. With glue, scissors and brown paper bags, the pupils fashioned anatomy aprons - vests on which they attached pictures of organs that they had cut out and colored in. The project was part of a Carroll County lesson plan at Manchester that culminates each year in a public performance that combines biological education with musical presentation.

Seated on a blue rug in the classroom's reading corner, 6-year-old Jasmin Sarabia was all ears as she leaned in closer to hear another of Junie B. Jones' adventures read to her. This one, Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business, is her favorite so far, she said. "The mom and dad tell her they have a surprise," Jasmin said. "It's a baby! Junie B. isn't happy." For Jasmin, books are fun because "you get to learn more things." For school officials, Manchester Elementary's summer reading program - called "Catch the Summer Reading Wave" - is an opportunity to keep young reading minds from going idle.

As Megan Blair jogged with other fourth-graders on a path at Manchester Elementary School, she proudly wore a sticker that read, "Helping to score a diabetes cure for Jack." Megan, 9, said she chose to run the one-mile run/walk in honor of Jack, her 5-year-old brother who has Type I diabetes. Meanwhile, other Manchester pupils donned stickers that bore Megan's name because she, too, has the disease. They also ran in honor of other classmates, teachers and relatives with the disease. The event was part of the school's annual effort to raise funds for the American Diabetes Association as well as awareness about the disease.

Name: Jennifer HolbrookHonored by The Carroll County Sun for: Becoming the finalist from the 6th District in the fourth annual RespecTeen "Speak for Yourself" letter-writing contest; she wrote a letter to Rep. Beverly B. Byron on equal representation in Congress for womenAge: 14Residence; hometown: ManchesterEducation: Currently an eighth-grader at North Carroll Middle School; graduate of Manchester Elementary SchoolFamily: Mother: Ardice, 42, homemaker; father:...

Hearings to focus on school crowding The Carroll County public school system will hold two public hearings on the proposed short-term solution to crowding at Hampstead and Manchester elementary schools. Hearings will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Manchester Elementary and Thursday at Hampstead Elementary. The proposed recommendation is to relocate fifth-graders who will attend North Carroll Middle School as sixth-graders to North Carroll Middle until the new Ebb Valley Elementary School opens.

To ease crowding at Manchester and Hampstead elementaries, Carroll County school officials are proposing to shift nearly 200 fifth-graders next fall to portable classrooms at North Carroll Middle. The move - estimated to cost about $280,000 for additional teachers and staff - would bring "immediate relief" to the crowded elementary schools as well as provide flexibility for moving pupils around those buildings as construction of full-day kindergarten classrooms begins, according to a proposal presented at last week's school board meeting.