Program For Children

Area schools and literacy programs seek volunteers to help children and adults improve reading skills and to assist in related projects. Among them are:Corpus Christi Community Center, 703 Whitelock St., Baltimore, which operates a three-day-a-week tutoring program for children ages 8 to 12. Volunteers are needed from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Contact: Rick Connor, 410-728- 3042.If your school or organization is seeking volunteer reading tutors and would like to be included in this listing, call Sundial, 410- 783-1800 and enter code 6130.

Area schools and literacy programs seek volunteers to help children and adults improve reading skills and to assist in related projects.Among them is:A Whole New World, the Enoch Pratt Free Library's Internet program for children ages 9 to 14. Volunteers are needed at the central library and several branches to teach children how to use the Internet and e-mail. Training for volunteers will be provided. Contact: Marion Hirsch, 410-396-9940.If your school or organization is seeking volunteer reading tutors and would like to be included in this listing, call Sundial, 410- 783-1800, and enter code 6130.

Schools, libraries and literacy programs seek volunteers to help children and adults improve reading skills and assist in related projects.Among them are:Medfield Heights Elementary School, 4300 Buchanan Ave., Baltimore, for its after-school "100 Book Challenge" reading program -- with first-graders, but planning to expand to other grades. Contact: Nadine Reaves, 410-396-6460.Uplift Reading Center, 1634 Guilford Ave., Baltimore, to assist pupils ages 12 to 18 in reading and computer skills.

SUMMER BRINGS changes in just about everyone's schedule, especially if you have school-age kids. If you haven't enrolled your pride and joy in a summer program, you still have time.The county Department of Recreation and Parks will be sponsoring summer activity centers again this year. Centers for children in kindergarten through sixth grade will be at George Fox Middle and Bodkin, High Point, Jacobsville, Lake Shore, Solley and Sunset elementary schools.The program runs from 8 a.m to 2: 30 p.m. on weekdays from June 28 through Aug. 6. The cost is $130.

Schools and literacy programs seek volunteers to help children and adults improve reading skills and help with related projects.Among them are:St. Ignatius Loyola Academy, 740 N. Calvert St., Baltimore, which needs reading tutors to work with pupils in grades six through eight at homework club meetings from 5: 30 p.m. to 7: 30 p.m. Wednesdays. Contact: Brendan Sullivan, 410-539- 8268.St. Ambrose Family Outreach Center, 3445 Park Heights Ave., Baltimore. Tutors are needed Tuesdays through Fridays to work in basic reading and General Educational Development preparation for adults or in an after-school program for children in grades one through six. Hours for adult programs are 9: 30 a.m. to 12: 30 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., and for children's programs 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Contact: Pat Villacrusis, 410- 225-0870.

The United Way of Central Maryland has awarded a $1,500 grant to support Food and Fun, a summer program for children who live in the Bishop Garth apartment complex in Westminster.The program will provide lunch and regularly scheduled activities to children in kindergarten through fifth grade."We are grateful and excited that the United Way has chosen to support this program," said the Rev. Marjorie Decker of Westminster United Methodist Church, a volunteer who helped organize the program.

|TC Astronomer David Leisawitz will present a program about modern astronomy for children ages 6 and older from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. March 5 at the central Howard County public library.The library will accept registration starting tomorrow.Information: 313-7880.

WASHINGTON -- The Social Security Administration acknowledged for the first time yesterday that parental coaching of children to fake disabilities so they can get monthly checks is a problem in some parts of the country.Saying the problem is not serious on a nationwide basis, Diane Garro, a senior agency official, told a commission looking into the disability program, "We think there are pockets of problems. . . . We're seeing a higher percentage of them [suspect cases] from specific states."

The children came early to Freetown Elementary School, their towels, trunks and swimsuits stuffed into plastic bags, book bags, knapsacks, whatever was available.They didn't want to miss the bus to Sandy Point State Park.Some waited patiently on benches in the school's hallway. Others went to the cafeteria, where they sat at the tables, chatting and drawing pictures.In one classroom, Larniece Dudley, 11, sat in a corner, tutoring two younger students in a multiplication problem.Larniece and the others were waiting for Cpl. Gordon "Gordy" March, leader of the Police Department's year-round Youth Activities Program for children in Freetown Village and Meade Village.

Pint-sized pirates invaded the Enoch Pratt Free Library yesterday as it kicked off a vacation reading program: "Treasure . . . Find It at the Pratt Library This Summer."As dozens of children, parents and librarians watched, children dressed as pirates swarmed into the children's department, captured library Director Carla Hayden, and demanded treasure. The librarians' message: The Pratt is full of treasure, books, videotapes, cassettes and more.The library has offered summer reading programs since the 1940s, but this year's will be different, said Selma Levi, children's librarian at the central branch.

Children's classes at the Savage branch library, 9525 Durness Lane, include "Play Partners," a 20- to 30-minute program for infants through toddlers (age 23 months) with an adult, held at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. Wednesdays, Oct. 1 through Nov. 19. Registration is not needed. "3, 2, FUN!" for ages 2 to 3 with an adult is offered at 10 a.m. Tuesdays, Oct. 7 through Nov. 18. Registration is not needed. "Picture Book Parade!" for the same age group, with an adult, will be offered at 7 p.m. Tuesdays, Oct. 7 through Nov. 18 (there will be no class Oct. 28)

NEW YORK - It's 7:30 a.m., and Altheo Serrao's family has just arrived in Harlem from Staten Island, a two-hour journey by bus, ferry and subway. They do this every school day to be part of a program that isn't available anywhere else in New York City - or, for that matter, anywhere else in the country. Ezekiel, 8; Isaiah, 6; and Sarah, 5, are enrolled in the Harlem Children's Zone, an ambitious project that has staked out 97 blocks of Central Harlem and seeks to draft every single family into its tight network of health, parenting and educational services that extend from infancy to college.

The Columbia Association will celebrate the opening of the renovated Mini WaterPark with a party from noon to 4 p.m. May 31. The Swansfield Mini WaterPark features a 104-foot-long water slide, 1,500-square-foot SplashPad and several Funbrellas around the pool. The grand opening celebration will include music, games, food and give-aways and is open to everyone. A ribbon cutting, face painting, tug of war, moon bounce, carnival games and swimming are also planned. Each person who attends will receive a ticket for a free hot dog, snow cone, popcorn or soda.

As House and Senate negotiators sit down this month to hammer out a compromise on renewing the popular health insurance program for children of the working poor, President Bush has made sure he gets a seat at the table. Not content with veto power alone, the Bush administration has unilaterally tightened the rules for a program Congress hopes to expand. He wants to drop thousands of children from the benefit rolls, including 3,700 in Maryland. If lawmakers fail to reach agreement before the State Children's Health Insurance Program is set to expire Sept.

They knew that solving mysteries would be the theme of this year's summer reading program for children, but county library officials discovered that they had real-life mystery on their hands: The Case of the Missing Totes and Backpacks. The bags are presented to children who sign up for the popular program, which began about 25 years ago. Although the bags were ordered in January, a random inspection led to them getting hung up en route to Harford. "We found out the bags are stuck in New York City in customs," said Margaret Polischeck, a children's librarian at the Abingdon branch and the chairwoman of this year's program.

To celebrate her sixth birthday in March, Gabriella Cinquini of Monarch Beach, Calif., invited several dozen pals to her house. Spread across a backyard, with dazzling views of the Pacific Ocean, were all the accoutrements of pint-sized party-making: a moon bounce, petting zoo, streamers, balloons and a cake with blazing candles that needed extinguishing. Nowhere to be seen, however, were stacks of gaily wrapped presents. That's because Gabriella asked that her friends forgo purchasing gifts, but instead make a donation to her favorite charity: the Mustard Seed Ranch, a farm in Southern California's Orange County that specializes in therapeutic horse-riding lessons and other animal therapy programs for underprivileged youth.

The central library, 10375 Little Patuxent Parkway, will offer "Incredible Insects," a program for children ages 4 to 8 led by a naturalist from Patuxent Research Refuge, at 2 p.m. Aug. 9. Registration is to begin Tuesday. Children's programs at the central library include "Play Partners," for infants and toddlers to 23 months, offered at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. Wednesdays, this week through Aug. 17. "Super Saturdays," a program of stories and songs for small groups and families of preschool through early elementary-age children, is offered at 10 a.m. Saturdays through Aug. 20. Registration is not required.

Elected officials and health care leaders held a pep rally in East Baltimore yesterday to call attention to the recent expansion of the state's health insurance program for children, urging people to spread the word that thousands of additional families are eligible for low-cost coverage. The state is estimating that up to 14,000 children of working parents could take advantage of the Maryland Children's Health Program. The program's income limits were raised July 1 to $52,950 for a family of four, which is three times the federal poverty level.

Eating cookies is a normal activity for most toddlers, but it's not quite that simple for 3-year-old Ian Dvornicky. When snack time at Ilchester Regional Early Childhood Center is over, Ian has only touched some of an Oreo's cream filling to his lips. But even this is a victory. "We've made amazing progress," said Ian's mother, Laura Dvornicky, explaining that Ian has difficulty swallowing and a sensory disorder that makes eating all but impossible. But he has come a long way with the help of the center's staff.

Eating cookies is a normal activity for most toddlers, but it's not quite that simple for 3-year-old Ian Dvornicky. When snack time at Ilchester Regional Early Childhood Center is over, Ian has only touched some of an Oreo's cream filling to his lips. But even this is a victory. "We've made amazing progress," said Ian's mother, Laura Dvornicky, explaining that Ian has difficulty swallowing and a sensory disorder that makes eating all but impossible. But he has come a long way with the help of the center's staff.