Third Grade

The third grade at Manchester Elementary School has wo the grand prize in the Manchester CAN! recycling contest, said Councilman Geoffrey S. Black, who oversees recycling and waste management for the council.The six-week contest, sponsored by the town, was intended to foster a recycling habit in Manchester's children.Each student reported whether his or her family recycled each week. The grade level with the highest percentage of participating students won the grand prize, a pizza party paid for by the town.

Baltimore has been named among a recent group of cities that will receive $40,000 grants to target third-grade reading, a critical point in a child's literacy development that Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has recently partnered with the city school system to target. The grants were announced Monday by Cities of Service, a national, bi-partistan coalition of mayors, who said the funding would enable eight cities to recruit volunteers to implement what is called the Third-Grade Reads Blueprint--an initiative that will recruit well-trained tutors to help student in grades kindergarten to third grade in high-needs schools.  Education researchers have recently emphasized the importance students being able to read by the time they enter fourth grade as a leading indicator to students' academic trajectory.

After considerable debate, the Baltimore County school board last night adopted a new grading policy for elementary schools.By a 5-4 vote, the board approved a policy that "discourages traditional letter grades" in kindergarten through third grade but "encourages" the traditional grades in fourth and fifth grades.In other action, the board told the education department's Model School Committee to study further a plan to establish a year-round, magnet elementary school, and requested a report by September.

The 17 roses that adorned the desks of Brian Rainville's third-grade classroom at Maree G. Farring Elementary/Midde School symbolized why he was named Baltimore's Teacher of the Year on Thursday morning. The roses were originally a bouquet presented to Rainville as he learned he had received the honor during a surprise visit from schools CEO Andres Alonso and other administrators. As fast as they were in his arms, Rainville handed the flowers to one of his students who distributed them to the rest of the class, as Rainville offered his first words: "It's the students' accomplishments that allow any teacher to succeed," he said.

When Superintendent John R. O'Rourke made his ambitious announcement last week that he wanted the names of all Howard County third-graders who were behind in reading and math, observers praised his leadership, his willingness to take responsibility and a kick-butt-and-take-names attitude too few school system leaders exhibit. But there's more to O'Rourke's plan - or vision, as he calls it - than gumption. Years of research supports O'Rourke's idea that third grade is a critical time in children's academic careers and that if no one's taken a good, hard look at their performance by that time and taken steps to improve it, problems can be expected only to get worse.

Percentage of Maryland schools improving or declining in third-grade reading scores on the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program tests:Declined .......... Improved199535.5% ............. 64.5%199646.5% ............. 53.5%199744.7% ............. 55.3%Pub Date: 4/12/98

Here's the revolutionary news from Rognel Heights Elementary School in West Baltimore: This year's third-graders are reading as well as third-graders across the nation."

A new nonprofit institute financed by Hungarian-born billionaire George Soros has pledged up to $750,000 to continue a unique summer camp that helps children improve their reading skills.The camp, in its second year, is open to city children between the second and third grades who need help in reading. Baltimore school tests show that 4,680 second-graders -- about 70 percent -- are reading below grade level.Of those, said Sally Michel, organizer of SuperKids Camp, "I think we can do 4,000" at a nominal price for parents.

* Total number of words in English: 500,000 (excludes scientific and technical terms)* Number of words in German: 175,000; in French: 125,000* English words recognized by the average American adult: 125,000* Words used in the works of Shakespeare: 30,000* Words used in three hours of prime-time TV: 7,000* Words recognized orally by a child entering school: 6,000* Words ordinarily read "by sight" at the end of third grade: 3,000From "Raising a Reader"Pub Date:...

WELCOME, SUNDAY readers, to the Ferndale-Linthicum column. Please call me with any neighborhood news you would like to see published, 859-3569.Oyster, bull roast setThe Anne Arundel Alarmers Association's annual oyster and bull roast will be held April 14 at the Earleigh Heights Fire Hall at Ritchie Highway and Earleigh Heights Road.Atlantic Caterers will serve dinner from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Beer and dancing will be offered until 6 p.m. Music is provided by the Lasting Impressions.Tickets are $25. Call Kroger Electric Co. at 766-1416 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., or Ruth Altvater at 761-4679, evenings.

Dana Perdue takes her third-grade classes bowling, attends karate competitions and treats the pupils she mentors to lunch. "The more I can give to them outside of school, the more they can give in the classroom," the Central Elementary School teacher said. Perdue, 27, also mentors new teachers and is credited with helping the school earn some of the highest standardized test scores in the state. For her dedication and hard work, Perdue was honored this week with a $25,000 National Educator Award at a surprise announcement at the Edgewater school.

Anna Iacoboni, who came to Baltimore as an immigrant and became the matriarch of her family with four generations of descendants, died of congestive heart failure Sunday at St. Joseph Medical Center. She was 98. Born Anna DeNicolis in Brazil, where her parents were temporarily working, she grew up in the village of San Salvo in the Abruzzi region of Italy. "As a child, she carried water from the town square to her home," said her grandson, Thomas M. Culotta, who lives in Remington. "She could talk about World War I troops coming through her village and how her family hid food from them."

To watch Sheree Ledbetter work the court for Southside, it's hard to believe she never wanted to play basketball in the first place. The lightning-quick moves to the hoop, the effortless flight for a rebound and the smooth three-pointers might never have emerged had Ledbetter not listened to her father when she was in the third grade. Until then, she spent most of her time watching television or playing hide-and-seek with her friends in their Cherry Hill neighborhood. "One day my father said, `I'm going to make you start doing something.

Under the federal No Child Left Behind standards, all students in the country must score proficient or advanced on their state's test by the 2013-2014 school year ---- a challenge that the 22 third-graders at Norrisville Elementary School in White Hall already have accomplished in reading. Each Norrisville child scored proficient or better on last spring's Maryland State Assessment's reading section. In math, 81.8 percent of the third-graders scored at the proficient or advanced level.

The head of a Baltimore nonprofit group that brought phonics-based reading instruction to some city schools in the 1990s has been tapped to head President Bush's $975 million reading initiative. Christopher J. Doherty, executive director of the Baltimore Curriculum Project, is set to begin tomorrow as director of the president's Reading First initiative, overseeing the distribution of grants to states and school districts that use approved reading-instruction programs. "The bill stresses that the federal government must focus in early reading on those programs that have been scientifically proven to be effective," Doherty said yesterday.

PRESIDENT BUSH'S education reform plan includes federal support for efforts to enable all children to read by the end of the third grade. Early literacy has become a national crusade. Poor readers rarely catch up if they fall behind early. In fact, the newest research shows that reading by seven - in the first grade, with age-appropriate fluency and comprehension - is the first crucial milestone. The landmark 1998 report of the National Research Council, "Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children," explains that "students become readers" during first grade.

OWINGS MILLS -- Two Baltimore-area first-graders have won statewide awards for writing and illustrating their own books.Shannan Jones of the Imani Private School in Baltimore and Chloe Danielle Heckman of Centennial Lane Elementary in Ellicott City received first- and second-place awards, respectively, in ceremonies Tuesday at Maryland Public Broadcasting in Owings Mills.Shannan's book is "Just Like Daddy," and Chloe's is "Cody and Crackle: The Mystery of the Lost Boy."The two were among eight winners -- two each from kindergarten through third grade -- chosen from among nearly 800 entries.

PRESIDENT BUSH'S education reform plan includes federal support for efforts to enable all children to read by the end of the third grade. Early literacy has become a national crusade. Poor readers rarely catch up if they fall behind early. In fact, the newest research shows that reading by seven - in the first grade, with age-appropriate fluency and comprehension - is the first crucial milestone. The landmark 1998 report of the National Research Council, "Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children," explains that "students become readers" during first grade.

Third grade is too late to help problem learners The plan put forward by John R. O'Rourke, the new Howard County superintendent of schools, to create a remediation plan at the end of third grade for each child behind in reading and math may be well-intentioned but is definitely poorly timed ("Third grade called key to achievement," Oct. 22). The idea that third grade is somehow a crucial time for learning how to read is wrong and not supported by data. It is based on the incorrect notion that reading is developmental and kids catch up in the third grade.

THIS MAY BE a promising trend, or it may be a couple of guys taking on too much. John R. O'Rourke, the Howard County schools chief, announced late last month that he would require individual reports this year on every third-grader who is behind in reading or math. He would be personally responsible, said O'Rourke. Kids below grade level in either subject would require a personalized one-year plan of improvement. On the day of O'Rourke's announcement, the Hartford, Conn., superintendent, Anthony Amato, was in Baltimore to talk to city principals about reading.