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Perspective Newsletters
Spring 2002
LEARY SCHOOL, PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY
Page 2
 The
students at Leary School, Prince George's County, have spent the last few months
with many projects and events.
After the tragedy of September 11th, the staff and student body wanted to create
something to show their support for the country and to find a way of expressing their
feelings about the events of that day.
They ultimately decided on an American flag to commemorate this day. As you can see
from the accompanying picture, this seven foot wide flag, made out of cotton, is
unique. Although the stars and red stripes are undisturbed, the white stripes are
made up of patches, sewn together like a quilt. On each of those patches is a drawing
or an expression of support from either a staff member or a student. The students
hope to display this flag at our school and then present it to the members of the
Oxon Hill Fire Department to express our thanks for the work they do every day.
In addition, the students also voted to plant two trees in the field on the side
of the school building- a weeping cherry tree in remembrance of the September 11th
victims and a Forest Pansy Redbud in honor of Marty Spielberg, speech pathologist
at Leary School, Prince George's County, who died in March 2001. The students not
only helped to pick out these trees, they also planted them.
In February, the school held its annual Black History assembly. This year's assembly
was very successful and well attended, with ten to twelve students participating
by either presenting their own original poetry or reading excerpts of speeches or
biographies of noted Black Americans.
In March, we held our Nations' Day, which has become bigger and better each year.
This year, classrooms chose to study and present countries including Ireland, Jamaica,
Japan, China, Spain and England.
Each classroom group decides on a nation about which they want to learn more and,
in an interdisciplinary environment, studies the geography, culture, traditions,
history, and other facts of the country they have chosen. They also decorate their
classrooms and bulletin boards outside their classroom; many have food from their
chosen country.
Then, on the actual "nations' day", each classroom group visits all the other classrooms
and the students present the information they have learned and share the food and
exhibits in their room.
All of us look forward to warmer weather that will allow us to be outdoors more often
and participate in camping and fishing trips. The end of this school year and graduation
will be here before we know it!
Deni Brancheau, M.A.
Program Director
learyschoolpgc@bellatlantic.net
dbrancheau@bellatlantic.net
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