Staff Report

Play bound

Driver Elementary School’s fourth and fifth grade music talented classes, under the direction of music teacher Jeanie Baird, will be attending the performance of Beauty and the Beast by the Hurrah Players at the Roper Theatre in Norfolk on Thursday, Oct. 13.

Contact Baird at 538-5405 for more information.

Greek Celebritas

Come and join Oakland Elementary School third-graders as they experience the second annual Greek Celebritas on Friday, Oct. 14 from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.

This is a unique chance for students to participate in a mock Greek Olympics as well as experience food, art, dance and literature from ancient Greece.

This is correlated to the third-graders’ SOLs.

Call Principal Suzanne Rice at 925-5505 for more information.

Embroidery workshop

The Suffolk Art League will host an Embroidery Basics workshop Wednesday, Oct. 19 at Nansemond River High School from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Art students from all three Suffolk high schools will be participating.

Call Linda Bunch at 925-0448 for more information.

Jamestown trip

Driver Elementary School fourth-graders will take a field trip to Jamestown on

Friday, Oct. 21.

Reading about Jamestown and graphing the information on a web, the students are finding out about the hardships of Jamestown and are ready to see first hand the artifacts of this important part of the past.

Call library media specialist Deborah Vaughan at 538-5405 for more information.

Book fair

Northern Shores Elementary School will be having &uot;Enter the Kingdom of Reading – Where Books Rule&uot; Book Fair from Monday, Oct. 31 through Friday, Nov. 4 from 8:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. in the library.

Northern Shores Elementary School has a supportive group of parent volunteers working closely with library media specialist Mary Bransford.

&uot;One for Books&uot; is a program where $1 donations from parents, teachers, and students go directly to the school library to purchase new books.

The Scholastic Book Fair will match the funds raised and divide the money to go to Toys for Tots, the National Center for Family Literacy, and Kids in Distressed Situations.

Northern Shores is aggressively pushing the classroom wish list so that each classroom will receive new books based on the teacher’s selections.

Call library media specialist Mary Bransford at 925-5566 for more information.

PTA program

Southwestern Elementary School fourth-graders will present &uot;We Honor You&uot; as their PTA program on Tuesday, November 1 at 7 p.m.

This program will celebrate, and honor, our country and its Veterans.

All Veterans are invited to join us as we salute them in this special celebration.

Call the school at 925-5595 for more information.

Fall-a-Rama

The Alpha Theta Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma, Society of Women Educators, will sponsor their Fifth Annual &uot;Fall-a-Rama&uot; on Thursday, November 3, at King’s Fork Middle School.

The event includes grilled pork loin dinner along with an antiques, crafts, and collectibles show.

Exhibits of various items will be provided by home party sales representatives.

Tickets are $7 for the eat-in or take-out dinner which will be served from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. with the antiques, crafts, and collectibles sale running from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m.

Proceeds from the Fall-a-Rama will provide scholarships for local students who plan a career in the field of education.

Call Nancy King at 539-1024, Jane Bleiler at 539-0019, Deanna Sammons at 539-1227, Linda Perry-Clarke at 357-9121, or any member of Delta Kappa Gamma for tickets and vendor information.

Fire prevention

Mount Zion Elementary School kindergarten students, Early Childhood Special Education and Early Start students celebrated Fire Prevention Week recently with a visit from local firefighters.

Fire safety rules were reviewed and students were able to see a firefighter in full fire fighting gear, complete with helmet and mask.

They were also treated to a close-up view of the fire truck, complete with flashing lights.

Mount Zion Elementary School students were extremely grateful that the firefighters took time out of their schedule to visit the school.

At the opera

King’s Fork High School students enjoyed Virginia Opera’s Student Night at the Opera last week for La Traviata at the Harrison Opera House.

The attendees were members of King’s Fork High School’s DogPound Players, the revamped drama club.

Part of its new mission is to expose students to as much culture in the performing arts as possible.

Clyde Berry and Sid Neighbors chaperoned a group of 21 DogPound Players to this event.

For many it was not only their first opera, but their first time ever in a theater.

As a special surprise, after the performance, a member of the cast, Wes Mason, came out and talked to the students, answering many questions about being a professional opera singer.

Mason is a former student of Clyde Berry’s and was thrilled to take a moment to address the students and let them know that they can indeed be a star.

Berry is an adjunct professor in the theatre department at Old Dominion University.

Since the first opera night, several more students have purchased season tickets to the remaining shows.

The students will be attending &uot;Romeo and Juliet&uot; next time.

Call advisor Clyde Berry at 923-5240 for more information.

Opera Picture 4 (front to back):

Wes Mason and the King’s Fork High School DogPound Players

Lakeland High School students recently cut out 500 paper leaves to be sent to partner-in-education Obici Hospital for their &uot;Tree of Thanks&uot; Project.

Staff and community members are invited to stop by and write on a leaf the things for which they are thankful.

The leaves will be displayed at the hospital for a specified period of time.

Call teacher India Meissel at 925-5530 or Linda Carr from Obici Hospital at 934-4000 for more information.