ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 24, 1996 TAG: 9612240053
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
COLUMN: Class Notes
SOURCE: HALE SHEIKERZ
Logging onto the Internet and exploring the World Wide Web is nothing new for schoolchildren. Many schools and classrooms have direct access to the Internet and students regularly log on to do research.
But designing web sites and creating links is something that few children have the opportunity to do. At Christiansburg Elementary School, a group of fifth-graders meets once a week to learn about the intricacies of the Internet. The Web Weavers group was started last year. The original members have moved on to middle school. This year's members are new but already familiar and comfortable with what they are learning.
The group includes Laura Stallings, Ellen Lefko, Hillary Levine, Andrew Hickling, Sean Osborne and Jake Carver. They meet each Monday with fifth-grade teacher Catherine Ney and her assistant John McDonald. The students spend time researching topics on the WWW, designing Web pages and publishing them. The group is in charge of maintaining the elementary school's web site (http://www.bev.net/educationschools/CES). Each has his or her own homepage which includes photos, links to their favorite sites and drawings. The students also have each designed his or her own logo for their pages.
The group has done such an impressive job that last month they were invited to make a presentation at an educational technology conference in Chesapeake. The group presented two sessions of "Web pages by and for kids" at Chesapeake High School. The sessions were well-attended by students and teachers.
Of course, the Web Weavers were very well organized. They used the presentation program Harvard Graphics and interfaced the program with the Web, going on line to show the audience some of their work. Each student made a 5- to 10-minute presentation. The group even handed out business cards. The group has been invited to make a similar presentation at the Virginia Society for Technology in Education at Virginia Beach in the spring.
Some of their ongoing projects include developing a teacher resource site. The site will include links to areas that teachers and students can use as part of their classroom curriculum. So far the sites are science oriented and include the ocean, water and weather. In addition to links, the sites will include lessons and activities that teachers can use.
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Two Christiansburg High School students recently graduated from the Citizen Police Academy. Jay Clark finished the fall program through the Christiansburg Police Department and Steven Lawrence finished the program through the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office. Both students had the opportunity to spend an eight-hour patrol with an officer. They also did dispatch work, visited the firing range and attended lectures covering topics such as search and seizure. Two teachers at the high school also completed the course work with Christiansburg Police Department. They are Mollie Prillaman and Karen White.
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Students around the New River Valley spread holiday cheer in various ways. Following is a wrap-up of how some students gave back to the community during the past month.
* A group of 40 kindergarten and first-grade children from Claremont Elementary School in Pulaski visited the Pulaski Senior Center on Dec. 19. They were accompanied on the field trip by their teachers Barbara Graham and Conchita Robinson.
The children spent the morning spreading holiday cheer. After visiting with the residents, they read poems, sang Christmas songs and presented a finger-puppet show. The children also handed out goodies, such as oranges and candy, to the residents.
* Second-graders at Shawsville Elementary School presented a holiday program for residents at Brookmeadow Adult Care Center. The children also collected and wrapped gifts for the residents and gave them their gifts during their Dec. 5 visit.
* The Student Council Association at Auburn High School collected more than 300 canned goods during its food drive. The cans, along with other goods such as flour and sugar and other gifts, were divided and given to seven families for the holidays. The families were identified as those who need assistance during the holidays. The families have children who attend the school.
Students and faculty at Auburn participated in other holiday activities, such as an Angel Tree program (also sponsored by the SCA) and volunteering at the Montgomery County Christmas Store. In addition, members of the Women's Studies Group at the school collected clothes for the women's shelter.
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Prices Fork Elementary is one of thousands of schools across the country to participate in the "Wee Deliver" program. The 2-year-old program was started by the U.S. Postal Service to help promote literacy. The program lets elementary-school children use the experience of writing letters through an in-school postal service to supplement their regular reading and writing lessons.
Schoolchildren perform post office functions similar to the postal employees. The school post office has its own student postmaster, letter carriers and clerks. Classrooms receive street names, addresses and ZIP codes. The students then write to and receive letters from each other using a school-certified stamp. The mail that they generate is then collected, sorted and delivered by the student postal workers.
At Prices Fork, the program is administered by members of the Student Council Association. Before the program was implemented, the SCA members took a field trip to the Blacksburg post office and participated in a training session.
LENGTH: Long : 102 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Lawrence< Clark (headshots)by CNB