Show Page 10 — The Herald Journal Logan Utah Monday April 16 2001 THEiWEATHER i(lnMm!lWffRVM3r!V!Vk Utah outlook National temperatures Cache Valley outlook Forecast for Tuesday IDAHO Temperatures Indicate previous clay’s high and overnight low to 6 Miami Beach Cheyenne Chicago Washington DC 71 48 Regional Temperatures Alta 46 23 59 23 Bryce Canyon Mpte-- St 90 70 52 25 Paul cdy sno WYOl V-- - ‘W ' irrT ' V- TUESDAY TODAY EXTENDED Mostly sunny with Sunny with highs in the upper 60s highs near 70 Tonight dear with Lows in the high lows in the 30s 30s Provo 49V71 NEK RidMMdjMPnriF Moab CodorCWy 4Sar coux By NJUL AWZ Worth Dallas-- Ft cdy 09 sno 26 cdy 53 31 63 36 81 54 Cincinnati Denver Des Moines 01 Detroit 92 cdy 62 30 48 37 El 83 46 Greensboro NC 71 50 ' Paso From the news wire l54°89° B 2001 AoeuWnatiUr Inc day drying on Thursday with showers returning lor the weekend Synopsis: High pressure aloft will remain over Utah through Tuesday with a warming trend 33"rr J St Gooey A chance of show era late Wednes-- dr dr dr 04 Salt Lake City 61 79 62 64 Honolulu Houston Indianapdis Los Angeles The Associated Press Morning rain and clouds were expected to keep southern New England and the northern dreary for most of the day Snow showers were predicted in the northern Ohio Valley Michigan and higher elevations of the central Appalachians with accumulations of up to 3 showers over the Gulf Coast were expected to dissipate but isolated showers were forecast later for southern Florida Some of die storms were to bring strong winds hail lightning and heavy downpours In the Lower Mississippi Valley and Deep South mostly sunny skies were predicted throughout the day A strong cold front racing south through the southern Plains was expected to bring brief showers after noon ' Skies were to remain mostly overcast in the Midwest while snow showers up to 4 inches were predicted ‘ over Iowa and the northern Lakes Sunny skies were expected throughout the West Temperatures Sunday ranged from a high of 96 in Cotulla Texas to a low of minus 4 in Yellowstone Mid-Atlant- 61 73 TheAjWforelliesday ic 10 Oe lOl Oe -- Ms 000 000 000 000 000 35 000 461000 331000 29!000 361000 431000 April 17 40a Mi Ma 70s Ma Ms hinamparaturs zones lor Ihatfcy: Ma Banda separate 19 cdy 10M 110s inches-Mornin- Almanac Up above Sun: Sunrise: 6:42 Sunset: B:07 Moon Sot: 1:16 pm The moon visited a planet at 1 1 am today The moon is dose visually to the planet Neptune At this time 26 degrees separate the two with the moon st of Neptune one being of the two planets you cant see with your naked eye Moon: Last Quarter April 18 7:02 aBtronomyOrockatmailcom Humidity: 56 percent Dewpoint: 31 F south-southea- Moon rise: 3:39 am 2001 AcctiWaaOiar Inc oil Wyo Jann Humphreys who teaches 21 fifth-grade- rs at Hillcrest Glass Continued from CM all subjects Pagel teacher-centere- studies Follow-u- p students better know-thei- know where each child is in the learning process and can provide more individualized instruction All of these improvements in teaching are matched by increased student achievement making teaching more rewarding studies show de Student teacher Cameron Kistemann teaches a western literature class at Logan High School? The Herald Journal received 150 responses from teachers in the Cache and Logan school districts in response to questions about class sizes in local schools appropriated to the State Boardof Education $19544621 toreduce the School District in October received $737983 in March average class size in kinder- - itiative in report said 1999-200- 0 the : Elementary findings Elementary teachers schools Additionally begin$30 million ning July lr 19 for class-siz- e reduction was appropriated for the State’s school districts The State who teach kindergarten through third grade from both districts say their class sizes have never been lower Julie Cook a kindergarten teacher at Woodruff Elementary School with 22 morning Board of Education was (reading students and 21 afternoon students said it is an enormous relative session of 1997 which Cook has taught up to 30 stu--de- in kindergarten Verla Galloway a first-grateacher at Woodruff Elemen- tary says her class of 20 stude districts report class sizes : Mowing Trimming Spray Programs Fertilizer 4H ' Edging Flower Beds Snow Removal Sprinklers Been in business for to years we will be here year after yearl Satisfaction Guaranteed Licensed and Insured For your Free Bid Call 'Km Weed Control insect Control 245-458- 4 : munity Birthday Party Fund and plan on spending much of their own money foi party activities prizes! incentives in order to make the party more fun They must also make certain die children are cared for physically and emotionally “ “Party hosts” must also take 2D hours of extra training a yew in Oder to maintain their Birthday Party Certificate The points each child scores will be posted in the Birthday Party Newsletter which goes but to every parent s in grades four through 12 ol students per period in subject areas such as English math science and social studies Some teachers reported that they have not seen any rcduc- tions in their class sizes in newly a decade But not’ every educator Rose the Mount Logan Mid-- 1 die School history department chair has taught at the Logan school for 28 years during which his classes have ranged in size from a high of 42 students to a low of 13 His cur- - : rent seven classes contain groups ranging from 22 to 28 - ' students “I have found that given this personality of the class and the period of the day students are not much harder to teach in a large number than a small number” Rose said “I like lots of student interaction and comment so theenergy of large classes is sometimes not always more invigorating” Aiding Rose’s classroom management is the incorporation of- student learning activities If the stu- dent can history information die teacher can be freed to help more students who require more personal self-direct- ed - ’I Upper grades Gass sizes vary drastically high-scho- believes these larger class sizes are problematic: Dave stud- must do this on a very limited budget from the Com- Kindergarten through third- -' grade classes throughput the i - They when she had 32 students to : ' self-discov- er ? the-qualit- to er class sizes are even larger ranging up to more than 40 Dent’s analogy continued: ' dents is an improvement compared to 15 years ago averaging between 20 and 24 students Class sizes which were several students larger at the beginning of the 2000-0- 1 school year have decreased as Education school district ? students have moved out of enrollment figures from OctoCache Valley the majority of ber 2000 show that 13170 stu- -' elementary teachers surveyed dent in the Cache County f by reported School District received Brenda Dept a e $1653082 in March 2000 for teacher at Lewiston Elemenclass-siz- e reduction programs tary who said she loves her Likewise 5778 students-enrolle- job said the best analogy for in the Logan City parents and the public' tp Residential & Commercial Weekly Maintenance Middle- - and thing districts can do to raise test scores and improve of education would beta drastically lower class size emotional-an- behavioral needs seem greater' each yew as well” English spelling writing-sociaies science health computers media art physical education music) and everyone has to understand each game and be able to perform - perfectly because they are responsible" relief to have smaller class sizes right now In the past : math l fourth-grad- Senate Bill 191 was approved in the general leg? pre-prim- -- ail A state overview classroom from 11th grade Their year-old- garten through the fourth grade iri- the state’s public the-numb- students-directl- understand how critical it is to have small class sizes is for them to imagine having 27 8- s over for a birthday that lasts six hours and party 180 days Keep in mind that the “guest list” is arbitrary and includes students with special hindrances including language barriers “In this time they have to play some 13 plus games 2000 on benefited from the in- seem to extend more and more each yew” Stewart explained “I have reading levels in my Herald Journal file photo " than 17 million the single most important “Their educational levels charged with distributing 20 percent of the appropriation to school districts based on a for' mula developed by the board A national overview after taking into account each The US Department of district’s ability to raise money Education reported in 1999 ' for enrollment growth and that in that year resulting capital facility needs Each year the Legislature efforts included recruiting qualified teachers’ improving has provided an adjustment in early reading achievement the appropriation authorized in proportion to the increase in strengthening accountability and turning around' of students in the ' state in grades kindergarten forming schools and addressthrough sixth based ori guideing space limitations' The report said 29000 new lines outlined by the state’s reduction funding teachers were hired as a result Class-siz- e ' formula reducof a national class-siz- e tion initiative In early grades class size A local overview was reduced by an average of According to information five students per class More provided by the Utah Office of class-reducti- ’ er of the same students showed that high’ school students who were in small classes in grades one through three beginning in 1985 were less likely to be held back a year or be suspended compared with their peers from larger classes Stu- -' dents from small classes were found to be making better grades in high school and tak-- : ing more advanced classes the studies concluded Teachers benefit! too spend- ing 'more time on instruction and less time on discipline problems Teachers said they interaction from the educator he said Peer tutoring can also be an aid to teachers and students who are able to under- stand and achieve objectives of lessons more readily than others and can be a boon to teachers who cannot possibly hope to get to all students at all times Rose explained ' Elementary expressed appreciation to district administrators for allotting funds wisely “Our district is fortiinate to have such student- - and d administra- tors!” Humphreys said “They ' are not only competent but also thoughtful keeping the Still other teachers with needs of die children in mind” those large classes say they Not all classrooms are have altered their lesson plans because it is too hard to keep enjoying such a manageable student-teachstudents on task during extenratio though sive activities These teachers Nancy Stewart a fifth-grateacher at Woodruff Elemen- - who see more than 200 stuhas 28 students dents every day and grade tary School this yew ' their work every evening say classes studies from the US Department of Education sav At the end of fifth grade stu- dents who were in small class-- ’ es in grades one through three were about a half a school year five months ahead of students from larger classes in ’ KCtaudy Cache Valley forecast provided by National Weather ServiceTUpAbovel feature provided by Astro Data L !' G3E3EIHE3M3ES3 : What does the future hold? Many teachers those satisfied with their class sizes as well as those who haven’t seen any reductions worry that class sizes will increase next yew Lewiston Elementary School for example’ is expect- ed to have class sizes four to five students larger in several grades Greenville Elementary School fifth-grasections with up to 29 students this yew could have even higher’ numbers in the fifth grade next yew if the proposal to move one of the teachers to the third grade is implemented Nibley Elementary is considering a proposal to consolide date four classrooms of e students into fourth-grad- three fifth-graclassrooms with the addition of a halftime employee Another concern expressed by Marian Pittman a resource teacher at Mount Logan Mid- 'die School is that state special education guidelines allow up to 18 special needs students to be placed in her classroom at one time “I perceive this as a statewide problem rather than a local one and our district is great about doing what they can” Pittman said “We’re the lucky ones but we' would be in even better shape if all districts were required to place limits on special education loads” de ' : ' |