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Perspective Newsletters
Winter 2003
LEARY SCHOOL OF VIRGINIA
Page 5
 Soon
after the 2002-2003 school year started, northern Virginia was terrorized for several
weeks by snipers. To ensure the students' safety, we operated on a "code blue/lockdown" status.
This meant no outdoor activities (recess, physical education) or field trips. One
might have thought that the students would have had a very difficult time remaining
indoors for such a long time, especially not knowing how long this situation might
last. However, everyone was cooperative, supportive, and understood the measures
we needed to take in their best interest.
 Both
staff and students became very creative in finding ways to break the monotony of
staying inside the school. When the lockdown was lifted, the sound of the students
back on the playground, both on our campus and throughout the metropolitan Washington,
D.C. area, was music to our ears.
As the first semester progressed, classrooms began preparing for States' Day. This
has become an annual event and one much looked forward to by the students. Each classroom
chose a state to study and prepared reports, bulletin boards, art work, crafts, and
food to represent all they had learned. The classrooms picked states from all corners
of the country, including Alaska.
Unfortunately, on the day set aside for the reports to be presented and the students
to visit the other classrooms, the weather decided to be uncooperative, resulting
in a snow day. Although snow days tend to be very popular with our students, this
one was not as popular!
 This
did not stop many classrooms from continuing on, however. Group 14 studied Vermont
and made a maple tree (see picture), which actually produced maple syrup - to go
with their pancake breakfast. Group 12 studied Kansas and made a realistic tornado
from chicken wire and put various objects within it.
Group two prepared a very creative bulletin board representing the many facets of
Alaska, including a beautiful snow scene and the students in that group are still
eager to talk with any visitor about all the things they learned during their study
of Alaska.
January has brought us the beginning of basketball practice and, as we get ready
to start the second semester, groups are gearing up for Nations' Day and the yearly
Science Fair.
Best wishes to everyone for a happy and prosperous new year!
Michele Sullivan, B.S.
Program Supervisor
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