Parents visiting classrooms across BCPS this week - 11/17/08

American Education Week is also Spirit Week at Logan Elementary School, where children and teachers dress for “Clash Day.”

Ever wonder how your child comes home each day knowing so much more than the day before? How did they learn to read better, compute faster, and explain photosynthesis so expertly?

To see just how that learning takes place, parents across Baltimore County will visit their child’s classroom during the annual American Education Week celebrations taking place this year from Monday, November 17, through Friday, November 21. There, they will observe lessons, listen to their children answer teachers’ questions, and work together with classmates. Parents will learn how their children learn. 

Students in the culinary arts program at Western School of Technology prepare meals during American Education Week.

Through scores of classroom visits, grandparent days, art displays, Scholastic Book Fairs, and other staples of American Education Week, all 172 of the county’s schools, centers, and programs will be putting out the red carpet for parents, guardians, business partners, and community friends interested in supporting their local schools.

Since 1921, the week has put a spotlight on public education throughout the nation. The national theme of this year’s American Education Week is “Great Public Schools: A Basic Right and Our Responsibility.”

Villa Cresta Elementary School Principal Kathy Bishop (left) greets State Sen. Kathy Klausmeier (center) and her assistant, Renee Smith, as they visited the school on November 17 to kick off American Education Week.

In Baltimore County’s school system, American Education Week is a great time to showcase the instruction that goes on each day in every classroom. To that end, the most popular and well-attended aspect of the week are the parent visits to classrooms that show first-hand how instruction is being delivered to students.

There are also dozens of events and activities designed to highlight daily instruction and programs among the schools.  For information about individual school activities regarding American Education Week, parents, business partners, elected officials, and other interested community members are encouraged to contact their local schools for the times and dates of specific activities or events planned for the week. Many of the special events for the week also will be highlighted on television shows produced by The Education Channel (Comcast channel 73 and Verizon FiOS channel 35).

Students at Pikesville Middle School enjoy selecting books at the school’s book fair during American Education Week.

In honor of American Education Week, a special edition of Classroom to Community Express, the Baltimore County Public Schools newspaper, focuses on family involvement in education. This newspaper is being sent home with students and should also be available in schools and at branches of the Baltimore County Public Library.

For more information about some of the many activities taking place in Baltimore County’s public schools during American Education Week, click here.

Story by Charles Herndon, communications specialist, Baltimore County Public Schools. Photos courtesy of Christian Gromek at Cromwell Valley Elementary Regional Magnet School; Denise Kropkowski at Logan Elementary School; Jennifer Givens at Pikesville Middle School; Kim Kiernan at Villa Cresta Elementary School; and Jenna Zava at Western School of Technology.

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