Students to Sample Fresh Produce

By Anna L. Mallory anna.mallory@roanoke.com 381-8627

Students at Critzer Elementary School in Pulaski County will get to taste-test fresh veggies and fruit during lunch and snack times this year.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture gave the school $5,634 to purchase the produce and find ways to encourage healthier eating habits. School staff members must find ways to incorporate the produce into students’ diets, but they are not allowed to place the food on their school lunch or breakfast trays. Both meal programs are separate, federally funded programs.

The taste tests will be in separate areas of the cafeteria, said Sarah Burkett, an agent with the Cooperative Extension in Pulaski County.

“We would like to see them [students] hit fruit stands, farmers markets, anybody,” Burkett said.

Burkett will help shape the program. She said the county can’t always work with local farmers to obtain the produce, but she said that scenario would be ideal.

One idea behind the program is to get parents involved as much as possible with what their children eat. The school will send parents a letter explaining about the benefits of fresh produce and of the program.

Grants were awarded to schools with a higher population of students on free or reduced lunch.

Twenty-four other Virginia schools received a similar grant.

10th-day enrollment falls in Montgomery County

According to a count on Sept. 3, Montgomery County has 40 fewer students than the same time last year.

As of that date, 9,541 students were enrolled. The school board budgeted for 9,591 students.

New day care planned in Christiansburg

A new day care center is scheduled to open this fall in Christiansburg. The Learning Ladder Child Development Center at 95 Patricia Lane is expected to be open by November, said co-owner Rhonda Dean.

The center will serve as an after-school program and a school for young children as well, she said.

The Learning Ladder is waiting for its licensing to be approved, but Dean said the program is accepting applications.

Dean plans to offer a half-day program for 3- and 4-year-olds using the A Beka curriculum. A Beka was created through Pensacola (Fla.) Christian College, an unaccredited fundamentalist Christian school.

Dean’s center will have room for 55 children, from 6 weeks to 12 years old. School-age children in the Falling Branch Elementary School area will be eligible for before- and after-school care. The school is five minutes from the center.

Dean said she’d like to expand toward other schools in the future.

The center also is looking for employees. Dean said the center will have eight to 10 employees, with at least five who should have teaching experience.

Dean said she has an early childhood education degree from Radford University.

Dean can be reached at 320-1450.

Bridge classes could help with math, language

Bill Gates plays, and so does Warren Buffett. Now students in Montgomery County can learn to play bridge.

The card game, which focuses on counting and bidding, has been introduced in public schools across the nation. Last year, Gates and Buffett gave $1 million to a national program designed to start clubs for the card game in schools.

Research shows the game can help with math and language.

On Sunday, students starting in fifth-grade can take a course through the Blacksburg Parks and Recreation Department to learn the basics of the game. The course continues through Oct. 26 and costs $2 for residents and $4 for nonresidents. Sign-up can take place on site.

Play begins at 2 p.m.

Anna L. Mallory covers events and issues affecting Montgomery County schools and beyond. If you have information you’d like featured, e-mail anna.mallory@roanoke.com. You also can visit Chalk Dust, the New River Valley’s education news source, at blogs.roanoke.com/chalkdust.

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