Sandymount

YOU WOULD THINK things would change after teaching for 40 years. But for Norma Brown, vocal music teacher at Sandymount Elementary, the important things have remained the same. "The children and the families are as wonderful as they have always been," said Brown, who has spent 20 years of her career in Carroll County. "I've had total community support, particularly at Sandymount. I'm really going to miss that." On May 14, the teacher directed "I Need a Vacation," the fourth-graders' ode to summer break and all its activities.

FINKSBURG - Two men held up a gas station Friday night and made off with an undetermined amount of cash, state police said. Shortly after 10 p.m., two robbers entered the Sandymount Amoco station in the 2100 block of Baltimore Blvd. One man ordered a cashier to open the cash register while the other pointed a handgun at the cashier, police said. The cashier turned over the money and the men fled.

PUNCHING A TIME clock. Paying off a loan. Pretty serious stuff for fifth-graders. Unless you are the residents of Exchange City, a Junior Achievement program piloted in two Carroll County elementary schools this year. The program, which Sandymount Elementary pupils recently concluded, involves six weeks of life-skills training, such as filling out checks, making deposits and balancing a checkbook. Pupils also gain basic economic knowledge, such as learning about supply and demand, and the difference between needs and wants.

"I read 'One Hot Summer Day' by Nina Crews. My favorite part of the book is when the main character ate two grape popsicles because it was so hot." -- Chiquita Hopson Highlandtown Elementary " 'The House at Pooh Corner' by A. A. Milne has a lot of fantasy in it. It started out in the woods with talking animals. Pooh is a cuddly, yellow bear. He has some funny friends with names like Piglet, Rabbit, Kanga, Tigger, Eyore and Owl. " -- Emily Mattison Freedom Elementary "The biography 'Shaquille O'Neal' by Edward Tallman has many pictures of Shaquille in basketball action.

The Carroll County Volunteer Firemen's Association held its fifth annual Carroll County Prevention & Life Safety Poster Contest awards program Oct. 21 for elementary-school children. At a reception for children and their parents, the committee, led by Debbie Gartrell-Kemp, presented awards to children who entered a poster. Winners honored were: Grand prize: first grade, Falesha Lewis from Charles Carroll Elementary; second grade, Christina Staines from Mount Airy Elementary; third grade, Shannon McHale from Sandymount Elementary; fourth grade, Nicholas Vidi from Winfield Elementary; fifth grade, Chris Schultz from Sandymount.

Police Westminster: A Pennsylvania Avenue resident told police Feb. 22 that compact discs were stolen from his vehicle. Loss was estimated at $200. Westminster: A Robins Way resident told police Feb. 19 that clothing was stolen from a home. Loss was estimated at $450. Westminster: A resident of Union Street told police Saturday that a stereo was stolen from her vehicle. Loss was estimated at $250. Westminster: Employees of Wakefield Valley Golf and Conference Center told police Sunday that someone damaged two greens and removed two marker flags.

Acting on their hopes for the world in the year ahead and beyond, Sandymount Elementary School pupils created a Kingdom of Peace on Friday. Dressed in their ideas of what people will wear in the future, the pupils sang songs, recited poems and celebrated the dream of peace. The program, planned by a team of five Sandymount teachers, is one of several activities this month designed to mark 2000. "We wanted to do something for the year 2000," said guidance counselor Andy Yount, who created the month's activities with music teacher Norma Brown, media specialist Karen Boggs, art teacher Jennifer Yust and physical education teacher Robin Stansbury.

This table shows the percentage of Carroll County third-graders in each school who scored at a satisfactory level each year on reading tests administered under the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program. The last column shows the percentage point improvement since test results were first recorded 1994.'99 '98 '97 '96 '95 '94 Chg.Maryland 41.2 41.6 36.8 35.3 34.0 30.6 10.6Countywide 49.4 52.0 49.7 46.7 41.4 42.2 7.2Carrolltowne 60.3 56.6 50.4 61.5 50.9 65.3 -5.0Charles Carroll 47.8 56.1 29.3 42.5 30.2 29.7 18.1Eldersburg 50.5 43.7 47.5 43.9 39.6 47.3 3.2Elmer A. Wolfe 47.9 49.4 40.5 34.2 28.6 29.7 18.2Freedom District 45.2 59.9 57.5 41.7 41.3 47.3 -2.1Friendship Valley 56.4 63.4 54.5 47.6 41.1 42.6 13.8Hampstead 59.5 49.0 57.8 38.5 45.6 45.7 13.8Linton Springs 36.5 NA NA NA NA NA NAManchester 54.9 42.1 43.4 43.0 34.8 41.6 13.3Mechanicsville 55.3 56.8 61.5 56.0 50.0 56.5 -1.2Mount Airy 50.0 55.6 60.6 58.3 54.7 41.2 8.8Piney Ridge 55.6 50.0 53.7 48.0 31.1 37.2 18.4Robert Moton 48.2 52.3 48.5 43.2 36.6 41.1 7.1Runnymede 31.3 53.3 55.0 25.6 30.5 23.1 8.2Sandymount 50.6 45.1 46.9 64.3 41.9 44.8 5.8Spring Garden 55.9 57.1 47.3 59.6 47.0 40.9 15.0Taneytown 40.7 52.4 42.9 26.7 46.3 37.3 3.4Westminster 46.1 50.0 41.5 47.1 44.7 45.5 0.6Winfield 53.3 48.7 62.5 51.7 46.8 45.9 7.4Wm.

PoliceWestminster: A light at Westminster City Park was reported damaged Monday. Damage was estimated at $900.FireReese: Firefighters responded at 9: 49 p.m. Monday to a truck fire in the 2400 block of Sandymount Road. Units were out 1 1/2 hours.

EMILY FISHER and Kasey Parr have been best friends since they met in kindergarten at Sandymount Elementary School three years ago.They love to play soccer and talk (and talk and talk) on the phone. But what holds this friendship together is their pact to make the world a better place."These two friends are from a whole class of motivated learners, and they have vowed to stay motivated to help other people," said Kasey's third-grade teacher, Karen Jolle. "When they write paragraphs or papers, they write about how to cure diseases or how to help people."