Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, December 14, 1993 TAG: 9312140263
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Melissa DeVaughn
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
And they're right.
The kids are involved in a yearlong project in which they are studying the concept of ``1 million.'' Part of that project is to collect 1 million pennies.
``So many times you hear a kid say ``well, I have a million of those,'' principal Denise Boyle said. ``We wanted them to learn the concept of a million and see just how much that really is.''
As part of the project, the students learned all sorts of interesting facts about the penny. For instance:
One million pennies equals $10,000. That will buy A LOT of ice cream sandwiches!
If you stretch 1,000 pennies in a row, they will be 67 inches long. One million pennies stretched in a row equals 93 miles.
And an easy question for the kindergartners: ``Whose face is on the penny?'' (Abraham Lincoln, of course!) And ``What are pennies made of?'' (bronze, mostly).
At the beginning of the penny drive, Boyle, who is the brains behind the project, had no idea how many pennies would come in. On the first day alone, she said, the kids brought in 3,000 pennies.
``I had no idea they'd bring in that many,'' Boyle said. ``Even community members come by and drop off pennies - people who don't even have children or grandchildren who go to Elliston.''
One enthusiastic parent, Becky Weddle, even takes aluminum to be recycled and gets the money from the collection converted into pennies.
To keep the children excited about the project, Boyle has come up with all sorts of games to make the project stay interesting. Each week, all new pennies added to the jar are counted, graphed and a contest is held to see who can guess how many pennies have been added to the collection. Winners receive little prizes such as ice cream, popcorn or a movie.
``And once we collect all the money, it will be totally up to the kids how it is spent,'' Boyle said.
So far, almost 30,000 pennies have been collected, much more than Boyle ever dreamed. The pennies are kept in a water jar, which is about as full as it will get right now. They will soon start to fill another water jar.
And how much would you guess that water jar weighs? 40 pounds? 80 pounds? 125 pounds?
It weighs 167 pounds and takes the physical education teacher and a helper to move.
For the kids, though, most of the fun of the penny program is deciding what to do with the money.
``We want to get a swimming pool to put outside on the hill, so we have a place to go in the summer,'' said 11- year-old Boyd Hinkley.
``We need new playground equipment for the older grades,'' Kristen Wood, 8, said.
``Air conditioning,'' 10-year-old Melissa Garrett said.
``Baseball equipment would be good,'' Nicholas Wells, 8, said.
``What about new books for the classrooms and the library?'' Gary Heslep,11, suggested. ``Or maybe some gym equipment.''
Maygon Sowder, 6, said she has donated about 100 pennies. ``Mostly my mom gets them and gives them to me,'' she said.
``I have a friend who gets pennies from the tooth fairy and she gives them to me,'' Kristen said.
``I got 105 once from my dad's work,'' Heather Sweeney, 7, said. ``I told him about it and he brought them to me in a big bag.''
Boyle expects it to take at least two more years before all 1 million pennies are collected. By then, she said, many of the current pupils will be students at Shawsville Middle School. To keep her promise, though, Boyle intends to send every child involved in the program a letter, inviting him or her back to help make the final purchasing decision.
``This is their project,'' Boyle said. ``We want to foster pride in their school and their community.''
A free WINTER CONCERT will be held at Christiansburg High School Sunday at 3 p.m. The program will open with ``Smith and Company,'' the swing choir and band, singing ``Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree,'' followed by the mixed chorus and the chorale.
For further information, call the school at 382-5178.
The fifth-graders at Christiansburg Elementary School will celebrate world cultures with a WORLD BAZAAR Wednesday from 1 to 3 p.m. The pupils have been learning about different countries and have written reports on their countries. They also have prepared food, made passports and explored the currency exchange rates between the countries they are studying and the United States.
According to principal Janice Roback, many of the pupils chose to study countries that are similar to their own heritage, making the projects much more personal and involved. Students, parents and community members may spend the day Wednesday learning about the different countries, sampling some international cuisine and talking to pupils about their projects.
RINER ELEMENTARY SCHOOLo will hold its December Parent-Teacher Association meeting Monday at 7 p.m. Children from all grades will participate in the winter musical.
At last month's meeting, the PTA held an ``Open Menu'' format, in which parent's could choose from four programs to attend. Tom Kegley spoke on Focus 2006, Montgomery County's strategy for future education. Dianne Wagoner led a workshop to help parents learn how to help their children with homework. Linda Waggaman described a new math curriculum which is concept-oriented and verbal in style. Sandy Moore talked on the Whole Language approach, describing the inclusion of several areas of study in various projects.
Bob Fletcher, principal of Christiansburg Middle School, will hold a PRINCIPAL'S CHAT Wednesday from 9 to 10:30 a.m. in the school library. Parents may drop by to discuss anything with the principal in an informal atmosphere.
The Shawsville High School Distributive Educational Club of America and the Shawsville Ruritan are teaming together for the next area BLOODMOBILE. It will be held Friday from noon to 6 p.m. in the school auditorium.
Both groups are encouraging participation as the holidays are traditionally a time when blood supply is in great need and is usually lower than normal.
Elliston-Lafayette Elementary School will hold DINNER WITH SANTA Friday beginning at 6 p.m. The menu includes pizza and a drink for $1.50 or hot dogs, chips and a drink, also for $1.50. Santa will give surprises to the children and listen to their Christmas wish list.
Two Christiansburg Middle School musical groups will perform Monday at Falling Branch Elementary School. Representatives from Taiwan, Pakistan and Italy will share their winter holiday traditions at SEASONS GREETINGS FROM AROUND THE WORLD.o There will be a parade by the elementary school kids, representing 12 different countries, topped off with international carols and food.
The Radford High School and Dalton Intermediate School bands will present a HOLIDAY CONCERT tonight at 7:30 in Preston Auditorium at Radford University. Admission is $1; children under 12 can attend for free.
Radford High School chorus and concert choir alumni are invited to join in the singing of ``Hallelujah Chorus'' from Handel's ``Messiah.''
For further information, call Rick Elliott at 639-1068 or 731-3649.
The Shawsville Elementary School Parent-Teacher Association will hold its December meeting and WINTER HOLIDAY MUSIC PROGRAMo Thursday at 7 p.m. The theme for this year's program is ``A Holiday Gathering.''
For further information, call the school at 268-2208.
This week's featured high school is BLACKSBURG HIGH SCHOOL. Here's the latest scoop from there:
The school laboratory playschool opened this year with its 21st group of preschoolers. There are sixteen 3-and 4- year olds in the school who attend three days a week from 8 to 10:20 a.m.
Band director Diana Love is serving as president-elect of the Virginia Music Educators Association.
Senior Matt Feret auditioned for and was selected to participate in the Virginia Music Educators Association Honors Choir to perform at the VMEA conference in Norfolk.
Twenty-one students were named Advanced Placement Scholars by the college board in recognition of their outstanding performance on the Advanced Placement exams. Only 11 percent of the 424,000 students taking the test performed at this level. The students are: AP Scholars with Distinction, Benjamin Fields, Christine Gibson, Amy Ney, Jenny Schuetz, Robert Susil; AP Scholars with Honor, Tristan Carolan, Anthony Chen, Rebecca Farkas, Michael Sharov, Christopher Tyson; AP Scholars, Ryan Brown, Jeffrey Fox, Benjamin Green, Heather Hendricks, Bradley Hicks, Sheng Lin, Geoffrey Murphy, William Sherman, Jonathan Tze, Sanra Ulloa, Xiaooing Wang.
Teacher Johnna Elliott attended the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps Conference in Chicago, to learn about inclusion strategies for special education internationally.
Guidance counselor Shelley Blumenthal completed his Ph.D. and will graduate from Virginia Tech on Saturday.
French teacher Joan Campbell, as a Rockefeller Fellow, was invited to the National American Council of the Teaching of Foreign Languages Convention in San Antonio, Texas.
Twenty-two choral students were selected to participate in the All-District Chorus.
Junior Nahla Durrani recently won a T-shirt design held by the band boosters. Her logo portrays a hand catching a music staff, with the words, ``Catch the Beat in Blacksburg.'' The logo has been put on T-shirts and sweatshirts and is on sale throughout the community. Money raised from the saleswill go toward funding the school band trip to Canada.
At the last Town Council meeting, Nahla and two other students presented a T-shirt to Blacksburg Mayor Roger Hedgepeth. The high school band and chorus, the Blacksburg Community Band, the New River Valley Symphony and several music organizations at Virginia Tech will be selling the shirts.
Other events happening at Blacksburg High School this week include the WINTER CHORAL CONCERTo Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and CASHOLA NIGHT at the Blacksburg Burger King Monday to raise money for the choir. The event will last from 5 to 8 p.m. and 20 percent of the ticket sales will go to the choir.
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLSo are still collecting food and clothing for the less fortunate to donate to area agencies.
Gilbert Linkous Elementary School is collecting coats, cans of fruit and cash. The items collected will be donated to the Montgomery County Christmas Store.
Elliston-Lafayette Elementary School pupils also are collecting canned food, dried milk and boxed foods to donate to the Montgomery County Christmas Store.
SHRITI PATEL of Radford was named to the first-quarter High List at Episcopal High School in Alexandria. A freshman at the school, Shriti is the daughter of Bharat and Bharti Patel. She is a member of the dance program and the Spectrum club. The High List represents the top 15 percent of the school`s students.
As part of the Christiansburg Elementary School third-graders` studies on COMMUNITIES, long-time Christiansburg residents were invited to talk to the classes. Bill Harman, 99-year-old Leola Burford, and Earl Palmer, past mayor of Christiansburg and author of a book on the history of the town, shared their memories of life in Christiansburg.
The pupils then interviewed the guests and wrote their own news stories on them.
The NOXZEMA EXTRAORDINARY TEEN AWARD recognizes outstanding teen volunteers from across the United States, and awards over $30,000 in cash prizes to the winners. Middle, junior and senior high schoolers are eligible to participate.
To find out how to nominate yourself, a group or another teen who has done some outstanding volunteer work, contact your school guidance counselor or call (800) 488-7288. Entries must be received by March 15.
by CNB