Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, August 4, 1994                   TAG: 9408040081
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

WHALE OF A PROJECT MAKES A BIG SPLASH WITH STUDENTS

The black-and-white whale, composed of $70 worth of tissue paper, measures 15 feet long and 5 feet high.

Children in a Roanoke summer school program for the disadvantaged spent two weeks making the whale. All 362 students in the program at Fallon Park Elementary School had a hand in the project.

Making the killer whale was part of the students' summer studies of the ocean and waterworks.

They also made many smaller items such as books, drawings and maps with an ocean or water theme.

Michele Chafee, an art teacher in the summer program, helped the students put the paper on the chicken wire that formed the whale's frame. Each class was allowed to work on the project for 40 minutes a day, she said

``Everybody feels like they are part owners of the whale,'' Chafee said.

Elizabeth Spradlin said that she and other students had a lot of fun putting hundreds, maybe thousands, of pieces of tissue paper on the wire frame.

David Hurley, principal of the summer school, said students and teachers decided to make a whale because ``it fitted into our unit of study.''

So what will happen to the whale?

Chafee said it might be taken to the Fairview Elementary School, a magnet school for the study of animals and plants.

The teachers have talked with Valley View Mall's management about exhibiting the whale in the mall, but that seems unlikely. Chafee said Valley View might consider exhibiting a dinosaur next summer if the students make one.

Wednesday was the Magic School Bus Fair, which gave parents, school administrators, City Council and School Board members the opportunity to see what the students have been learning this summer.

The walls in the school's halls were lined with drawings and paintings by the students. There also were books and artifacts displayed on tables.

The Rev. Nelson Harris, chairman of the School Board, was among those who came to the student fair.

Hurley said the summer program combined technology, reading aloud, art, music and media along with basics to provide an enriched curriculum for the students.

``This is a summer school for the 21st century,'' he said.