On the Blackboard On the Blackboard (April 21, 2004)

AT THE CAR WASH . . . Is your car covered in pollen? Roll down to Terman Middle School April 24 and do something altruistic while you get spring's offerings scrubbed off your wheels. The school is raising money to hold graduation ceremonies for its first eighth grade class with a car wash and bake sale. To keep ticket prices to the momentous occasion low, the school is hoping to offset the cost through proceeds from the event. The car wash and bake sale will be held at Terman Middle School, 655 Arastradero Road, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Cost is

HIGH ENERGY TEENS . . . Charged-up teens are using Earth Day to help the city promote its environmentally-friendly energy program, P>PaloAltoGreen. The program asks homeowners to power their dwellings with alternative sources of energy, like wind, in an effort to make the city more energy-independent. Acterra Schools Group will be shopping the program at community centers and school campuses this week. "Earth Day is a great way for families to get involved with conservation in their communities," said Rosie George, a senior at Gunn High School. You probably don't have to tell these conservation-minded teens to turn off the lights. Cost is $5 for an external car wash and $2 for an interior cleaning.

WHALE OF A TIME . . . Dive into May Day with the 82nd annual May Fete parade. The May 1 parade, with an Under the Sea theme, will begin its march down University Avenue at 10 a.m. Afterward, attend the second annual Town Fair at Addison Elementary School from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. For more information, call 463-4921.

FISHY CHALLENGE . . . Castillja and Jordan middle school students are busy preparing to meet San Jose Tech Museum's annual Tech Challenge April 24. This year's assignment, Pick a Pike, asks kids to design, build, and operate a device that can find and collect one northern pike fish (one free floating, partially submerged plastic fish) from Lake Davis and place the fish within a collection area on shore. Each year, Bay Area fifth through twelfth graders are presented with a design challenge to solve a reality-based problem. In the past, students have been asked to construct devices that will navigate a planetary surface, climb a swaying mast, or explore a pyramid.

RAISING READERS . . . Kids learn best by example and there are no better mentors than older siblings. A new program at Green Oaks Academy in East Palo Alto aims to increase literacy rates among kids in high-poverty, non-English speaking households by turning older siblings into reading role models. The program trains these first-graders in reading-aloud strategies and gives them picture books to share with their younger siblings. The goal is to instill reading habits in the nine to 24 month old kids.
Send notices of news and events related to schools, child care or youth activities to Jennifer Aquino, Palo Alto Weekly, P.O. Box 1610, Palo Alto, 94302, or jaquino@pawkeekly.com. The monthly school section runs the third Wednesday of each month. The deadline is the second Thursday of the month at 5 p.m.

E-mail a friend a link to this story.

[an error occurred while processing this directive]