Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Board told of Prime Time

Jean Smithey, Prime Time Program director, reviewed the project's work activities to date for the Gurdon school board members.

Parent supporting activities continue with the beginning of a partnership with Ouachita Technical College which with Charles Fallia teaching will offer a chance for working families to earn college credits.

Those who can't afford to pay for the class you can audit and learn for free without earning college hours. For those wishing to enroll, there will be credit for the course work.

This class will begin in January and will be primarily Thursday nights for three hours.

There will be a break in the language classes through December. In January Smithey and Heather Smith will return to teaching English to non-English speaking adults and Spanish to non-Spanish speaking adults.

Extended school library hours continue. The hours for primary school library are Mondays through Thursdays, 3-4 p.m. Middle school hours are Mondays through Thursdays, 3:10-5 p.m. Finally, GHS school library hours are 3:10-4:30 p.m.

Art lessons with local artisan, Rebecca Cooper continue once a week at the primary and middle schools. As many as 24-26 students kindergarten through fourth grades per week take part in artistic activities at the GPS.

CMS after school art classes are smaller with 5-8 students each week. The students are abundantly creative and interested in participating.

Smithey said, "While in Washington, D.C., educators strongly suggested increasing students access to the arts to improve learning."

Extra band lessons were included in the arts activities to assist high school band members prepare for All Regions Band Competition. While not the only reason, surely this was a help for the now highly honored and decorated band.

Most recently, students participated in four classes on social skills with Dr. Eveline Good, HSU professor. The activity was coordinated by Dr. Alvin Futrell of HSU.

Students learned how to make proper introductions, good first impressions, etiquette tips for use at the table, how to eat in a formal setting, and the appropriate foods to eat to keep healthy.

The students then practiced their new skills at a banquet where they had to cut their meat properly, use silverware at appropriate times, and practice their proper introduction skills.

The students dressed up and performed their parts perfectly.

After the formal dinner, they walked to the planetarium to enjoy the entertainment of the evening. The students were all smiling coming out of the planetarium. Brandon Smith, eighth grader at CMS, commented he was "having a good time."

Jeff Alexander, Cabe Middle School principal, accompanied the students, said he evening was awesome.' He also commented on how well Dr. Good and her students treated the CMS students with respect and kindness.

On November 28, at the CMS campus, Julia Coria's foreign students will be providing multi-cultural sessions for our students. They will teach the students to write their names in Arabic and Japanese, learn to eat with chopsticks as they sample Chinese food, and learn how to create Origami.

During the summer of 2002, after school students will have a chance to access a variety of learning sessions and recreational activities at HSU.

Gurdon High School principal, Leonard Gills, encourages parents and guardians of high school students with lower scores to take advantage of the after school tutoring made available through the Prime Time Program.