ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, September 4, 1996 TAG: 9609040074
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: RADFORD
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
On this, the first day of school for Mrs. Criswell's first-grade class, everything is new.
In McHarg Elementary School's new extension, still under construction, there are new white walls and clean cubbyholes. Instead of staying at school only half the day as kindergartners, these Radford first-graders will spend all day with each other, get to eat a snack and have lunch in that big cafeteria down the hall.
But to the 23 pairs of wide eyes, one thing looked comforting and familiar Tuesday morning: their teacher.
Donna Criswell taught all of these children last year in kindergarten. This year, she's following her students to first grade to test a new trend called "looping."
Actually, it's an old theory with a new name. Back in the days of the one-room schoolhouse, the teacher could follow each child's progression, both socially and academically. Now, educators are using that idea to smooth the transition from one grade to the next.
Looping is a resurgent trend across the country. One school system in Massachusetts reported looping helped lower discipline problems, increase attendance and reduce the number of students who needed to repeat a grade.
McHarg Principal Nancy McMurray said she's hoping to find the same results with Criswell's class. She plans to evaluate test scores, grades and behavior throughout the year. If all goes well, McMurray said she may expand the program so more teachers can follow a class up one grade.
Most of Criswell's first-grade class came from the afternoon session, and a few of her morning session kindergartners filled in the empty spaces. McMurray said when the school notified parents of the change, no one refused.
Priscilla Soucek, mother of Johnny, said she was thrilled to hear Criswell would follow the class to first grade.
"This is a good transition to going to school all day," she said. "He was a little nervous about that, but he was just tickled to hear he'd have Mrs. Criswell again."
"One of most obvious and first benefits you see," Criswell said, "is that the students are so thrilled to be back at school. There's no anxiety about who my teacher will be."
And there's no wasting time on rules. Sydney Van Arsdale remembered from last year how to raise her hand before speaking. Stormy Lineberry sat down with his legs crossed, just like in kindergarten.
Criswell can pick up where she left off in her kindergarten curriculum, knowing exactly how her pupils perform and how much they've already learned. She can focus on trouble spots and anticipate needs, especially for the few special education pupils in the class.
As for the students, they may not have understood what looping is, but they knew they liked it. After singing the alphabet song, "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom," Criswell printed the words "We are excited about school because ..." on her flip chart.
Kayla Fisk was the first to shoot her hand up. "Because I missed you, Mrs. Criswell."
LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: GENE DALTON/Staff. Donna Criswell asks first-graderby CNBEmily Gore to name some of the students from last year's class which
she also taught. color.