Students at Rye’s Milton Elementary School are jumping at the chance to fight heart disease and stroke.

Throughout the week, students are jumping rope to raise funds for the American Heart Association Jump Rope For Heart event.

This is the third year that Milton students have participated in the fundraiser.

The last two years, students raised a total of $11,395 and they are looking forward to add to that total this year. After the first day, about $1,000 has been raised. The final day for donations is Friday.

From the Tuckahoe schools, a warning:

A Las Vegas company is canvassing business in the Tuckahoe/Bronxville/Eastchester area for donations supporting a “Spring Sports Poster” fundraiser for the Tuckahoe schools.

It is operating under two different company names:

Sports Media     
167 Cherry St. #411   
Milford, CT      

School Booster Co.  
198 Tremont St. #400
Boston, MA

“Please be advised that there is no such fundraising activity for the Tuckahoe schools at this time. Should they contact you for a donation, please DO NOT respond.”

Pearl River’s Parent University Presents: General Nutrition for Learning and Performance

Pam Coren, a certified health counselor and nutrition educator, will speak about how what your children eat and drink affects their performance
in the classroom and on the athletic field.
Topics to be covered: basic nutrients, calories, protein and carbohydrates, snacks, energy and sports drinks and food supplements.

Date: Monday, March 1 at 7:30 p.m. (Snow Date: Tuesday, March 2)
Place: Pearl River High School Pirate Cove

Free and open to all parents everywhere.

From Anne-Marie Annunziato of the Southern Westchester Board of Cooperative Education:

Principal Wayne Harders of the Alice E. Grady Elementary School and the Carl L. Dixson came to school with purple and gold hair on Jan. 27. And it wasn’t Halloween or a dye-job-gone-wrong.

Harders was simply keeping a promise to his K-6 students for accumulating more than 250,000 minutes of reading time in two-and-a-half weeks.

Gail Morrow’s third-grade class, as it turns out, logged the most reading time – 55,747 minutes.

Dixson/Grady students far exceeded the initial goal of reading for a total of 157,261 minutes, by reading for 256,561 minutes, – an extra 99,300 minutes spent with their noses in books.  Translated into hours, that’s 4,276 hours!

Mr. Harders often brings “color” and fun to his role as principal, with such attention-grabbing traditions as greeting his students with a fire bell from the rooftop of Grady Elementary School on opening day. The hair-dyeing challenge will most likely become an annual event as well.

The Dixson/Grady Principal’s Reading Challenge took place from Jan. 5-22, and culminated with Mr. Harders parading around school in his crazy coiffure on Jan. 28. Any and all books counted in the read-off, and students and parents were required to record the title of each book and minutes read in individual reading logs.

“Our students were inspired to read because they loved the idea of determining what their principal would look like,” said Mr. Harders, who believes school should be a place of inspired learning. “They were just ‘dyeing’ to read!”

Dixson/Grady principal Wayne Harders has a history of making school fun. Here is a list of a few of his antics over the years:

•Annual Halloween Tradition – Every Halloween, principal Harders brings numerous costumes to school for quick changes. He is bored with just being just one character during his favorite holiday. In 2009, he was Goofy, a cowboy and a biker.
•Surprise Book Character Visits – At various points in the year, the frustrated actor dresses up as a character in a book, and reads to his students in full costume.
•Snow Fun Days – The child-at-heart educator of 27 years gives his students one day’s warning to come to school in waterproof clothing for an all-day romp in the snow on school grounds. Many Dixson/Grady children are from Latin-American countries and have never played in the snow prior to Mr. Harder’s “required” adventures. The students make snow sculptures and sled down the hills at Cobb Lane.

Henri LeGendre, 85, visited Valhalla Middle School this morning to tell the story he said is missing from the history books. LeGendre joined the U.S. Army in 1942 and served as a soldier in the 9th Cavalry during World War II. Soldiers in his unit, as were many others, were known as “Buffalo Soldiers,” a name given to the all-black regiments by Native Americans. The term became synonymous for all black soldiers at the time, beginning with the first units formed in 1866.

LeGendre, wearing the traditional yellow and blue uniform with a wide-brim hat and scarf, told the seventh and eighth graders that history books gloss over the contributions of the Buffalo Soldiers. He shared stories of the varied missions of the all-black regiments, including patrolling the southern U.S. border during the war, protecting railroads and water supplies, and guarding settlers as they moved into the western parts of the U.S. and did battle with Native Americans.

“A lot of things I can tell you is not written in the history books,” said LeGendre, who moved to New York after his service, became an architect and served for 12 years on the Valhalla Board of Education. “It’s important to show the contributions we made.”

LeGendre, who now lives in North Carolina and is one of a couple hundred Buffalo soldiers still living, also told of the racism faced by the units, being segregated from other officers and mistreated by officers and civilians.

“Those were the days of segregation, that’s the way it was,” LeGendre said.

LeGendre will give talks tonight and through the weekend as part of Black History Month celebrations. His itinerary is below:

Whitney M. Young Jr. Society Scholarship Dinner, tonight at 7 p.m. at Valhalla Middle/High School, 300 Columbus Avenue, 914-683-5000.

Theodore D. Young Community Center, 32 Manhattan Ave. in Greenburgh, Saturday at 2:30 p.m., 914-682-3648.

St. Francis/St. Martha’s Episcopal Church, 575  Tarrytown Rd. in White Plains, Sunday at 10 a.m., 914-946-8846.

Photos: Henri LeGendre prepares to sign autographs during a talk with students at Valhalla Middle School. (Photo by Dwight R. Worley). A photograph of LeGendre during his service as a “Buffalo Soldier” in the U.S. Army’s 9th Cavalry. (Photo courtesy of LeGendre).

“Families, Money & Habits – Navigating the New Normal and How Not to Be Your Child’s ATM” will be the topic of a talk by Nathan A. Dungan at the Feb. 11t Heard in Rye speaker series lecture.

The lecture will be held at the Rye High School Performing Arts Center starting at 7:30 p.m.  Admission is free.

Dungan will address setting financial boundaries and fostering healthy financial habits in children and teens.

Dungan is the founder and president of Share Save Spend, an organization that helps youth and adults achieve “financial sanity”.  He is the co-author of Personal Finance: A Lifetime of Responsibility, a textbook for high school students.  His first book, Prodigal Sons and Material Girls:  How Not to Be Your Child’s ATM, was released in 2003.  Considered one of the national media’s go-to experts on family finances, he has been widely quoted in The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal.

For 10 years, the Heard in Rye speaker series has provided parents with strategies for raising children in today’s society.  The series is sponsored by the parents’ organizations and PTA’s of public and independent schools in Rye, Mamaroneck, Rye Brook and Greenwich, as well as the Rye YMCA and the Rye Youth Council.  More information about future speakers and directions to the Rye High School are available on the Heard in Rye web site: www.heardinrye.org.

Sleepy Hollow High School is among a select number of educational institutions featured on a British Broadcasting Corp.’s Web site dedicated to informing the public about the dangers of climate change.

Students from around the world discuss how they experience climate change in their environment.  Students from Sleepy Hollow are also shown in a photograph on the site.

The U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen closed on Dec. 18. During the conference, students around the world shared their views through the Climate Change Interactive, a BBC World Class project with the British Council.

Sleepy  Hollow High School was the only one in the United States that participated.

Its inclusion came in connection with the course: Participation in Government and Contemporary Issues. EndFragment->

Fourth-graders at Port Chester’s Thomas A. Edison Elementary School will meet author Chris Grabenstein, author of The Crossroads, on Friday at 1 p.m.

Here’s Grabenstein’s Web site.

Grabenstein signing books:

And the sequel to The Crossroads:

Other authors at the school this week:

Todd Strasser, author of Help! I’m Trapped in a Movie Star’s Body, met with fifth-graders.

David Ezra Stein , author of Pouch, talked with kindergartners.
Kristen Balouch, author of Mystery Bottle, visited the third-grade.
And earlier today, David Gavril, author of Chicken Soup, spoke with second-graders.

Sixth-graders from Pocantico Hills Central School last month visited “Leonardo da Vinci’s Workshop,” a new exhibit at Discovery Times Square Exposition that showcases da Vinci’s inventive genius and features life-size model replicas of his flying machines, robots, “automobile,” Mechanical Lion and weapons of war, among other inventions.
“We came because the exhibit fits our curriculum really well, across the grade – our art and science teachers are both with us today,” sixth-grade teacher Laura Garrido said. “The kids love anything they can get their hands on, so this exhibit – with the models, the bridge, and the interactives – was a really big hit. This was one exhibit we didn’t want to miss.”

The exhibit celebrates the genius of a man who was hundreds of years ahead of his time. It includes the Great Kite, considered da Vinci’s “definitive” flying machine, as well as the world’s first working prototype of his Self-Propelled Cart, and the first physical models of his Mechanical Bat and Mechanical Lion, among others.

All of the models in the exhibit were constructed according to da Vinci’s personal notebooks (Codices), which contain thousands of pages of notes, drawings and designs, and were recreated using materials and techniques that would have existed in the 15th and 16th centuries.

The exhibit also includes a restoration of da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” as well as touch screens where visitors can translate more than 500 sketches from da Vinci’s Codices into 3-dimensional models.

Hyde School, a national leader in character-based education, will host a February Open House on Saturday from 1 to 3 p.m. at its Woodstock, Conn., campus.

The afternoon’s activities will begin in Annhurst Hall where guests will be greeted by Hyde faculty, students, and parents.  Campus tours begin promptly at 1 PM.  A short presentation by Laura Gauld, head of school and co-author of The Biggest Job You’ll Ever Have will follow the tours.

Guests can then enjoy refreshments and some time learning about Hyde’s academic, art, and athletic programs from those most closely involved – teachers, coaches, students and parents.

The school asks that visitors call to make a reservation before the event.

Known for its success in developing leadership skills in teenagers, Hyde School offers students in grades 9–12 and post-graduate studies, a strong academic curriculum, a wide range of sports, a performing arts program, plus many enrichment programs, including the Hyde Wilderness Program located on its 600-acre wilderness preserve in Eustis, Maine, Summer Exploration, and AP and honors courses. Hyde also offers a family program, in which parents and teenagers work together to build family character and pursue individual potential.

Hyde School was founded 44 years ago on the premise that attitude, effort, and the development of character are keys to helping students reach their fullest potential. Between 96 and 98 percent of Hyde graduates attend four-year colleges.

Since the founding of its first school in 1966 in Bath, Maine, Hyde School has grown to include its boarding campus in Woodstock, Connecticut, and public schools in Washington DC and Bronx, New York.

To make a reservation or for more information about Hyde School and the upcoming Open House, contact MaryAnn Tingley in the Admission Office at 860-963-4736.

Second-graders at Museum School 25 in Yonkers will get a lunchtime lesson about the dangers of lead paint on Thursday.

An EPA-certified risk assessor/lead-based paint professional from the Westchester County Department of Health’s Lead Primary Prevention Program will visit the school.

The health department chose this school because it is in the 10701 zip code area of Yonkers, in the program’s target area, which includes sections of Yonkers, White Plains New Rochelle and Mount Vernon. These areas have a significant concentration of children identified with elevated blood lead levels.

“Lead poisoning can cause learning problems, mental retardation, seizures and in severe cases, death,” Acting Health Commissioner Patsy Yang said. “That’s why it’s so important to teach children how to avoid lead poisoning in the first place.”

In most cases, the sources of contamination are lead hazards in the home, such as peeling and chipping lead paint and lead paint dust, which children breathe, lick or swallow.

Lead paint was banned for residential use in 1978, but is still found in a majority of the county’s older housing stock. Lead and lead paint also can be found in imported toys, jewelry, candy and make-up, and in some pottery.

UPDATE:

Here’s a picture of Beth Lorenzen from the EPA with second-graders at the Museum School in Yonkers.

Five Bronxville High School students have been selected to perform in Honor Choirs at the 2010 Eastern Division Conference of the American Choral Directors Association  in Philadelphia from Feb. 10 through 13.

Juniors Lydia Ciaputa (soprano 1) and Hannah Geiling (soprano 2) will sing with the High School Women’s Honor Choir. Sixth-grader Kathleen Conaton (soprano 1), eighth-grader Charlotte Gemes (alto 1), and ninth-grader Allison Cane (alto 2) will sing with the Children’s Honor Choir.

The singers were chosen on the basis of audiotaped submissions last fall of two scales, the first verse of My Country ’tis of Thee, and one to two minutes of an aria, art song or folk song.

Honor choir members will gather in Philadelphia on Feb. 10 for three days of rehearsal culminating in performances on Feb. 13 at the Church of the Holy Trinity on Rittenhouse Square. In addition to their official performances on the 13th, the honor choirs will sing on Feb. 12 in the lunchtime recital series at Macy’s-Center City, home of the famous Wanamaker Organ, the world’s largest operational pipe organ with more than 28,000 pipes.

The Women’s Choir will be conducted by Dr. Sharon Paul, associate professor of music, chair of Vocal and Choral Studies, and director of Choral Activities at the University of Oregon. The Children’s Choir will be conducted by Elaine Quilichini, director of the University of Calgary’s Women’s Choir and founder and artistic director of the Calgary Girls Choir.

Cutline: Left to right: Lydia Ciaputa, Charlotte Gemes, Allison Cane, Kathleen Conaton, and Hannah Geiling.

The Ardsley Family Academy presents Ty Sells, an inspiring and comedic storyteller who teaches people to think.

The program is designed to help children:

Deal with peer pressure
Look inward to find strengths
Explore consequences of making decisions based on what is “cool” today
PLACE: Ardsley High School cafeteria
DATE:  Tuesday
TIME:  7:30 P.M.

Seats are limited and light refreshments will be served.
Please RSVP by email to ArdsleyFamilyAcademy@yahoo.com

Jenkins Award
It is that time of the year again to honor individuals who have had a significant impact on the youth of Ardsley with the recognition of the Jenkins Award.  Visit our district website at  www.ardsleyschools.org for more information about the award and for instructions about how to nominate someone for consideration.

Elizabeth Alexander, a Pulitzer Prize finalist and poet who  StartFragment->composed and delivered “Praise Song for the Day” for the inauguration of President Barack Obama will read at Manhattanville College next month as part of the Meet the Writers spring series.

She has published five books of poems: The Venus Hottentot, Body of Life, Antebellum Dream Book, American Sublime, which was one of three finalists for the Pulitzer Prize, and her first young adult collection, Miss Crandall’s School for Young Ladies and Little Misses of Color. Her two collections of essays are The Black Interior and Power and Possibility.

Alexander will read on March 2 at 7 p.m.

The following month, on April 13, Phyllis Theroux will read from her newest book, The Journal Keeper: a memoir which that is to be published by Grove Atlantic in March.

Theroux is an essayist, columnist, teacher and author.  Born in San Francisco, California, she is the critically acclaimed author of California and Other States of Grace, a memoir, two collections of essays, Peripheral Visions and Nightlights: Bedtime Stories for Parents in the Dark and an anthology, The Book of Eulogies,   Her first children’s book, Serefina Under the Circumstances, was published by Greenwillow Press.  In 2002 a novella Giovanni’s Light was published at Christmas. Her newest book, The Journal Keeper: a memoir is being published by Grove Atlantic in March 2010 . A contributing essayist on the Newshour with Jim Lehrer from 1992 – 1996,  her columns, op-ed pieces, reviews and feature stories have appeared in various newspapers, including The New York Times, Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, and International Herald Tribune.  She is a graduate of Manhattanville College, with a B.A. in philosophy.

A reception, Q& A and a book signing are included in each program. Readings are free and open to the public, but reservations are required. They take place at Manhattanville’s College Reid Castle, 2900 Purchase Street, Purchase NY.  For information and reservations, contact  Karen Sirabian, Director of Manhattanville College’s Master of Arts in Writing Program at 914 323-5239, e-mail  sirabiank@mville.edu or log onto www.mville.edu/writing <http://www.mville.edu/writing>

CAPTION: Elizabeth Alexander

Mark Wood, international recording artist, Emmy award-winning composer, and electric violinist, is performing with his band, The Mark Wood Experience, at the Harrison Performing Arts Center on Saturday

The show is at 7 p.m. The address is 255 Union Ave. in Harrison.

Wood is an original member of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and has toured and performed with Celine Dion, Billy Joel and Lenny Kravitz. He starred in the Pepsi commercial produced by Kanya West.

Wood and 325 student musicians from all the Harrison schools will play Zeppelin, Cream, Kansas, Beatles, and more, incorporating strings, woodwind, brass and percussion instruments in a concert of classic rock music.

Tickets are available for Electrify Our Band! The Mark Wood Experience by going online to: www.HBPAEVENTS.com, or by calling (914) 552-8005.

“We go into schools all over the country, and this one is especially exciting because we are including the brass, choir and strings,” Wood said. “In working with all this great talent at that district, we’re going to empower and inspire them to reach higher in their goals in relationship to music – and also their lives – to push themselves into exciting new territory.”

Wood has created special arrangements for the Harrison High School Band, and will also be working with the Harrison Avenue, Purchase, Preston and Parsons elementary schools string instrumentalists, and the Louis M. Klein Middle School orchestra.

Singer Laura Kaye – who is a member of the Mark Wood Experience, and has sung with Aretha Franklin and James Brown – will be working with the high school chorus during the workshop and concert.

Wood will be joined by his son, 14-year-old Elijah Wood, on drums.

The Harrison High School Band, led by Ferdinand Pasqua and Charles Briem, is scheduled to participate in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade down Fifth Avenue in March, and will be performing in an East Coast tour in April, which includes the cities of Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. The group will compete in the Heritage Music Festival, and be featured artists on the Mall in our nation’s capital during that trip.

For more information on the Harrison High School Band, contact Charles Briem at (914) 630-3112 or by e-mail at briemc@harrisoncd.org.