Courier-Post from Camden, New Jersey • Page 55

August 30, 1994 PAGE 3E Education Express is looking for opinion columns on issues involving kids and schools. Students, teachers, administrators, board members and parents can share their concerns, feelings and ideas on this page. Columns should be about 500 words. We welcome your letters and comments. Let us know what's on your mind and what's happening in your school.

Please include a phone number. To reach editor Dave Hoh, write to Courier-Post Education Express, P.O. Box 5300, Cherry Hilli N.J. 08034. Phone us at 486-2455 or fax to 663-2831 A Courier-Post weekly report September 20 September 23 September 24 iiwuiBgjiuwiJ New school year brings changes Innovations: They include multi-grade classrooms, a new Medical Arts High School, team teaching and mandatory Spanish for sixth-graders.

Seven members of the Lenape High School Knowledge Bowl team participated in the Texaco Star National Academic Tournament in Houston, Texas, recently. Tho team, coached by Mary Ann Steelier, included Mike Eckstut, Dean Jurecic, Jeff Naumow-itz, Jeff Campagna, Steve Knerr, Simon Lee and Tina Patel. Thirty-six Voorhees Middle School students earned awards from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society for being the largest team and raising the most money (more than $4,000) from the Voorhees site in the '94 MS Walk. The team, called the Moonwalkers, has been led for two years by 12-year-old Nicole Beden, who organized her classmates after a friend asked her to join the walk. Hr wwm if i i Alia a n.

I mini: 1 'sVf 1 -XL I fft?) Urn mf lf I i fvyl JlfJ I 1 ft Nii.iiimi TPTW- Some first- and second-graders in Cherry Hill will be sharing classrooms this fall. The multi-grade classroom is one of the more noteworthy innovations awaiting students this fall in South Jersey schools. It's not a new idea in education, but Cherry Hill's venture marks its introduction to public schools in this area, said elementary supervisor Joe Franco. Its advantages are based largely on students spending two years with the same teacher. This year's first-graders will have that experience, and because most of the eight teachers in these new classrooms have been first-grade teachers, many of the second-graders will have it too.

"The teacher gets to know the students and families very well," Franco said. "It makes the transition (from first to second grade) a continuous process. The teacher doesn't have to re-establish a routine, and the second-year kids can help acclimate the younger "ones." Research shows students in multi-age classrooms actually do a bit better academically. But Franco said the real benefit seems to be in social skills. "The children learn conflict resolution and behavior get-ting-along skills from each other.

There's real peer learning going on." A district committee spent a year and a half studying the concept, including observing it in practice. Its most prevalent in New England and at many private schools, although a few Central Jersey districts have experimented with it tooFran-co said committee members saw some models they didn't like and compiled the best ideas from those that worked. This fall, multi-age class- rooms are being offered along with traditional first- and second-grade classrooms at the Sharp, Cooper, Barton, Harte, Kilmer and Johnson schools. Officials are hoping for about equal numbers of boys and girls, as well as first- and second-graders, in the new classrooms. The goal is to have a mix of partnerships to give special education students more regular classroom experiences this year.

The goal is to include special needs children in regular classroom activities whenever possible. That will mean more cases of special ed teachers or aides working with the regular class-room teacher so that the special education children have as normal a school experience as possible. Also this fall, the elementary school program for gifted students will expand to include computer literacy, and the school will sponsor a writers conference for fourth- to sixth-graders. Noteworthy writers will be brought in to speak with the students. Pine Hill Sixth-graders will be exposed to an entirely new language this September Spanish becomes a required course.

The foreign language instruction was recommended by a committee of parents who felt students would be more open to learning a foreign language if instruction started earlier than middle school. They chose Spanish because of its growing prevalence in the United States. The curriculum was designed to prepare the sixth-graders for 'foreign language classes they will face in middle school. A new teacher has been hired to instruct the class, which will be run in correlation with the English as a Second Language program. Gateway Team teaching will expand into the eighth grade this year after three years of success in the seventh grade.

Four teams of five teachers each will teach math, science, social studies, English and reading to a group of about 100 students for the entire school year. The teachers will meet for one period every day to discuss the children's progress problems, and that should, enable them to better handle any academic or behavioral situations, said Curriculum Director Joyce Stumpo. The teachers, will also have more flexibility rearranging their students' schedules to accommodate individual needs. Projects will be integrated between several subjects, making learning more connected. Mount Ephraim A new course in research procedures has been added- to the curriculum to give students the information and experience they'll need to take advantage' of the district's first media center.

Much of the focus will be on learning to use computers and CD-ROM files. Twice a week for one marking period, students will attend class in the media center, learning about computer networks, the filing system and sources of information. i Winslow In response to the state's mandate to include special education students in regular classes, the district will try a flew classroom structure in kindergarten through second grade. The new classrooms one in each grade will contain 28 children and two teachers. Eight youngsters will be special education students, and one of tHe teachers will be certified yi special education.

The teachers have been specially trained in how to create new types of lesson plans that will be effective in the new classroom environment. The program is designed to create more individual instruction in class, since there will be two teachers for 28 students instead of the typical ratio of 6ne teacher to 22-25 students. It is patterned after a similar program in Delaware that he's been successful for 10 years. By Ron Karafin, Courier-Post Gearing up for class: Dana Nebel, 11, Kelly Cannon, 5, Michelle Garner, 5, and Matthew Cannon, 9, check out their class lists at Parkview School in Westville recently. Thomas Christensen, principal of Woodcrest School in Cherry Hill, participated in the 1994 National Principals' Leadership Academy at the University of Delaware this summer.

Principals from around the country met to develop specific goals for the coming school year. Also, Cathleen A. Sheridan, principal of St. Luke's Catholic School in Stratford, completed the 1994 National Catholic Elementary School Principals Academy this summer and becomes part of a national support network for Catholic principals. Second and third graders from Dudley School in Camden and Central School in Haddonfield made a friendship quilt to celebrate their year of working together and becoming friends.

The quilt became part of a permanent art exhibit at the Research for Schools offices in Philadelphia. To have news items from your school included in this column, send information and a contact name and phone number to School News, co Dave Hoh, Courier-Post, P.O. Box 5300, Cherry Hill, N.J. 08034. students by age and ability similar to that in traditional classrooms.

"It's a choice on the part of the teacher, the parents and the school. We're not trying to change the system, just to offer a new choice," Franco said. Other new programs awaiting students this fall include: Camden The city will open a new Medical Arts High School at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center. Sixty freshmen students will make up the inaugural class. Their seven teachers will work with a curriculum built around medical themes, the first being "wellness." Literature, writing, math, history and science classes will be interrelated.

The goal is to immerse students in medical issues and prepare them for medical and scientific careers. During their four years, students also will get hands-on experience at Lourdes and other hospitals. The health-care industry is the number one employer in Camden. Students were chosen by a committee of school and hospital officials based on essays, teacher recommendations, attendance and behavior. The Campbell Soup Foundation has donated $100,000 to the project.

Clementon Teachers will expand their Kids' Summer Travel Adventure Prize drawing Send in the answer to the research question along with your name, address, age, and school to be eligible for our weekly prize drawing. Mail to the Courier-Post Newspapers in Education, PO Box 5300, Cherry Hill, NJ 08034. From Newspapers in Education and the Courier-Post Kids Club THE BEST OF THE USA The top seven attractions kids chose to visit USA Trivia St. Petersburg, 768 consecutive days of sun shine from Feb. 9, 1967 to March 17, 1969.

Mt. Waialeale, Kauai, Hawaii: 451 inches of rain in one year. 1 7 i 3 V) Map Activity Match the place with its number on the map. The Everglades Mt. McKinley Yellowstone National Park Hawaiian Volcanoes Niagara Falls The Grand Canyon THE GRAND CANYON Located in northwestern Arizona, the canyon is 10 miles across and 277 miles long.

It is considered one of the seven wonders of the world. You can take a mule trip down the canyon and back up, hike the trails, fish in the Colorado River, or just view the magnificent scenery. YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK The park consists of 3,472 square miles. The most exciting part of Yellowstone are the geysers. A geyser is water that builds up under the earth's surface and erupts when the pressure is too much.

Old Faithful is the most famous of Yellowstone's geysers. It spouts water every 70 minutes. MT. McKINLEY The mountain in Alaska rises 20,320 feet above sea level, making it the highest point in North America. Thousands have climbed to the top, but some have died trying.

EVERGLADES The Everglades is actually a river that is 120 miles long, 40 miles wide, and only two feet deep. The Everglades is a maze of marshes, swamps, trees, snakes, alligators, Unusual Town Names Eek, Alabama Zzzx, California Needles, California Belcher, New York Jackson Hole, Wyoming Books to read: Hawaii Volcanoes, by Lewann Sotnak Everglades, by Christine Sotnak Rom Yellowstone, by Carol Marron Grand Canyon, by Jan Mell Sequoia and Kings Canyon, by Maxine McCormick and hundreds of other strange and mysteri ous creatures. While walking along the wooden boardwalk, watch out for the alligators! NIAGARA FALLS Niagara Falls, one of North America's best known tourist sites, is actually in two countries the United States and Canada. The falls are 1,060 feet wide and drop 167 feet. Daredevils have ridden over the falls in barrels and walked over them on tightropes.

VOLCANOES Hawaii's volcanoes are part of the "Ring of Fire," a series of about 300 active volcanoes in the western Pacific Ocean. Among the things to see in the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park are lava flows, a fern rain forest and many craters. SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK Giant Forest is the heart of the park. Four of the five largest trees in the world grow there. Some trees are 3,000 years old and as tall as a 26-story building.

You can take guided tours, have a picnic beneath the towering trees, climb rocks or go fishing in the many lakes. Text by Jodi Jolley, Graphics by Meera Bowman Prize winners This week's winners are Katherine Pryor, a student at the Forrest Hill School in Camden, and Audrey Daggan, who attends the Mark Newbie School in Collingswood. Name:.