ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, September 10, 1996 TAG: 9609100030
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
COLUMN: Class Notes
SOURCE: HALE SHEIKERZ
Four teachers who form a teaching team at Dublin Middle School recently won first place in the 1996 Prentice Hall/National Middle School Association Teaching Team Awards. The teachers, who call themselves the Earth Star Team, include Shelley Bird, Carolyn Cochrane, Amy Lombardi and Carolyn Shelburne. The four were recognized for their innovative unit on "Understanding the Elderly and the Aging Process."
Students involved in the Earth Star program studied the elderly and the aging process by reading, discussing and writing about the elderly and how they are seen and treated in society. The students also adopted 95-year-old Sam Bell of Dublin as part of their project. Their interactions and visits with Bell helped them have a better understanding of the elderly.
As winners of the award, the team will receive $200 worth of educational materials and a team membership in the National Middle School Association. Their ideas also will be published by Prentice Hall in a special booklet highlighting the best teaching-team ideas of 1996. The teachers also will be honored at the group's conference in October.
The Blacksburg High School junior varsity cheerleaders will have a cheerleading mini-camp Sept. 28 from 8 a.m. to noon. The camp will be at the high school's gym. It is open to girls 6 to 12 years of age. The cost is $12 per person.
The cheerleaders will teach cheers, chants, gymnastics, jumps and simple partner stunts. Souvenirs and certificates will be given to all participants.
For more information or to register, call 951-1915. Registration deadline is Sept. 13.
Grants for teachers
The New River Valley Master Gardener Association will award grants up to $2,000 to public school teachers who will support school-based gardening projects. In its third year, the school-based gardening project supports opportunities for pupils to learn about gardening. The grant is to be used for projects involving K-12 public school pupils in the counties of Montgomery, Floyd, Giles, Floyd and Pulaski and Radford City. Completed grant proposals are due Jan. 3.
To receive grant applications, which provide further information about the proposal, call Sheila Winett at 951-3237 or sent e-mail to pcrincxc2bnt.com
Science in the classroom
The Virginia Tech Museum of Natural History will offer several workshops for the Model Inquiries into Nature in the Schoolyard, better known as MINTS. MINTS is an outreach program that is funded by a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. It serves several purposes:
Helps teachers use their schoolyards to lead effective science lessons;
Helps students develop scientific and critical-thinking skills;
Helps anyone who wants to look more closely into the natural world outside their door.
The museum expects to publish a book to go with the program. "The MINTS Book- An Inquiry Field Guide to the Natural History of Southwestern Virginia Schoolyards" will be published in the near future. Much of the book was developed by Frank Taylor, who teaches at Radford High School. Taylor was the MINTS coordinator for the first two years of the project.
Three workshop dates are being offered. Each workshop is a day and half, with the second day being only in the afternoon and two weeks after the first day to give teachers the opportunity to practice what they learn. The dates are:
Workshop No. 1: Day 1 - Sept.. 12, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. at the museum in Blacksburg; Day 2 - Sept. 26, 1-4 p.m., Harding Avenue Elementary School, Blacksburg.
Workshop No. 2: Day 1 - Sept. 19, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., at the museum in Blacksburg; Day 2 - Oct. 3, 1-4 p.m., McHarg Elementary School, Radford.
Workshop No. 3: Day 1 - Oct. 8, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., at the museum in Blacksburg; Day 2 - Oct. 17, 1-4 p.m., Harding Avenue Elementary School, Blacksburg.
The fee is $50 and is collected on the first day of the workshop. The fee covers a copy of The MINTS BOOK and other materials. For more information or to register, call Alan Raflo 231-5307. The museum's Internet site is - http://www.bev.net/education/museum/index.html
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