Social Studies

St. Mary Catholic School in Hagerstown held its middle school social studies fair recently.  The judges for the event were Bridget Bartholomew, principal at St. Maria Goretti High School, and Ida DeGraw and Ryan Hellum, social studies teachers at St. Maria Goretti High School. Winners were: Sixth grade: first place - Sarah Sardina and Emily Saylor; second place - Emma Ortiz and Ellen Judge; and third place - Elizabeth Fisher and Meghan Scott. Seventh grade: first place - Emma Shearer; second place - Jared Semler; and third place - Isabelle Snyder and Katherine Alexander.

WAYNESBORO, Pa. -- John Poniske considers his hobby to be not just fun and games, but a teaching tool. Poniske started creating his own board games 12 years ago and filled them with strategy and history. Three -- "Hearts and Minds," "Leaping Lemmings" and "King Philip's War" -- have now been published. The people who choose to play historical simulation games often use them as a starting point for further research, Poniske said. "Finding out the minutiae of an event is a joy," he said.

The Common Core standards, the basis for a new curriculum to be implemented in Washington County Public Schools in two years, focus on math and English-language arts. The English-language arts portion of Common Core also addresses literacy in history and social studies, as well as science and technical subjects. Some local science teachers attended training sessions this summer to learn about those standards and teaching strategies such as promoting science, technology and engineering in a cross-disciplinary approach, said Clyde Harrell, director for curriculum and instruction for pre-kindergarten through 12th grade.

Katharine "Kate" Long, 26, was named Washington County Public School's 2011-2012 Teacher of the Year Wednesday night, after only five years as an educator. "I was very surprised and completely honored," the eighth-grade social studies teacher said of her initial reaction to receiving the award. "To be honest, I really didn't think that I would win. " Six people were named finalists for the title, which comes with a car from Hagerstown Honda/Hagerstown Kia to drive for an entire year.

Eleven students in Jefferson County (W.Va.) schools took honors May 4 at the West Virginia Social Studies Fair in Charleston, W.Va., according to a school system press release. First-place winners were Jacob Morse of Harpers Ferry Middle School for his project "Global Warming: How it Affects Climate"; Justin Hardy and John Rickards of Charles Town Middle School for their project "The War of 1812: Lesser Known but not a Lesser Struggle"; and Rachel Guyot and Krystal Thomas of Jefferson High School for their project "Mental Illness: Demonology to Psychotherapy," according to the release Placing second was Cody Segraves of Jefferson High School for his project "Communism: What's the Fuss?"

scottb@herald-mail.com WASHINGTON COUNTY - Some students at Lincolnshire Elementary School have been getting less instructional time on science and social studies in recent weeks after students at the school scored low in Washington County Public Schools' math tests, Principal Darlene Teach said Thursday. Parent Stacey Hambleton said Wednesday that about three weeks ago her fourth-grade daughter was told there would be no more social studies or science classes in the near future.

HAGERSTOWN pepperb@herald-mail.com A former Boonsboro Middle School social studies teacher was arrested Thursday on rape and sex offense charges stemming from allegations he raped a 13-year-old girl and fondled three of her classmates at the school during the 1983-84 school year. Robert Merle Haines Jr., 46, of 511 Dewey Drive in Annapolis, faces a charge of second-degree rape and four counts of third-degree sex offense, according to court documents. Haines was 24 years old at the time of the alleged offenses.

pepperb@herald-mail.com Life, liberty and the pursuit of a diploma are allowing some Tri-State students to abandon constitutional studies, a move that's leading some school officials to blame the United States government. The federal No Child Left Behind act is designed to close the achievement gap between schools and make sure all students, including disadvantaged groups, are academically proficient, but proficiency doesn't yet mean that all students understand the government system that created the act. According to the U.S. Department of Education Web site, states should have created standards in math and reading by now and must develop standards for science by the 2005-2006 school year.

Proposed course changes for county high school students were made to the Washington County Board of Education during a work session Tuesday afternoon. Clyde Harrell, the school system's supervisor of secondary social studies, suggested that the sequence of high school social studies classes be changed from government being taught in ninth grade to U.S. history being taught in ninth grade. He said students learn about U.S. history in eighth grade and if they take the second part of U.S. history in ninth grade, they'll have a better understanding of government before going into 10th grade.

In the first years after the Sept. 11 attacks, classroom discussions about the event were weighted and energized by students' personal memories of that day, local teachers said. Where were you when it happened? How did you find out? How was your family affected? "It had so much meaning for them, because perhaps a parent is in the military, and then it becomes this personal discussion about how that moment in time -- that one single moment -- just changed everything in their lives," said Rossana Cardinale-Larrick, who teaches world history and AP U.S. history at Washington County Technical High School.

St. Mary Catholic School in Hagerstown held its middle school social studies fair recently.  The judges for the event were Bridget Bartholomew, principal at St. Maria Goretti High School, and Ida DeGraw and Ryan Hellum, social studies teachers at St. Maria Goretti High School. Winners were: Sixth grade: first place - Sarah Sardina and Emily Saylor; second place - Emma Ortiz and Ellen Judge; and third place - Elizabeth Fisher and Meghan Scott. Seventh grade: first place - Emma Shearer; second place - Jared Semler; and third place - Isabelle Snyder and Katherine Alexander.

Walter E. Duke is again seeking the voters' stamp of approval to continue representing the people of Martinsburg and Berkeley County in the West Virginia legislature.  Duke, a Martinsburg Republican who represents the 61st District, said he is proud of what he has helped accomplish over the last 10 years. “Republicans like me have been the driving force in working with those across the aisle that has led to reforming workers comp, phasing out sales tax on food, reducing high business taxes that harm job creation and doubling the Senior Citizen Tax Credit,” Duke said in a news release.

The Common Core standards, the basis for a new curriculum to be implemented in Washington County Public Schools in two years, focus on math and English-language arts. The English-language arts portion of Common Core also addresses literacy in history and social studies, as well as science and technical subjects. Some local science teachers attended training sessions this summer to learn about those standards and teaching strategies such as promoting science, technology and engineering in a cross-disciplinary approach, said Clyde Harrell, director for curriculum and instruction for pre-kindergarten through 12th grade.

The silence of Jeanette Monteith's Greencastle-Antrim Primary School classroom was suddenly interrupted Thursday by a phone ringing. "Is that Mr. Malone?" asked one of the students awaiting the arrival of their Trucker Buddy pen pal, James Malone. A number of false alarms followed until Malone entered, met the group of 20 students from kindergarten through second grade and received a round of applause befitting a visiting dignitary. "Hello, my name is Alexis. I'm 7 years old and I like to play with my horse," a student said in her introduction to Malone.

Katharine "Kate" Long, 26, was named Washington County Public School's 2011-2012 Teacher of the Year Wednesday night, after only five years as an educator. "I was very surprised and completely honored," the eighth-grade social studies teacher said of her initial reaction to receiving the award. "To be honest, I really didn't think that I would win. " Six people were named finalists for the title, which comes with a car from Hagerstown Honda/Hagerstown Kia to drive for an entire year.

In the first years after the Sept. 11 attacks, classroom discussions about the event were weighted and energized by students' personal memories of that day, local teachers said. Where were you when it happened? How did you find out? How was your family affected? "It had so much meaning for them, because perhaps a parent is in the military, and then it becomes this personal discussion about how that moment in time -- that one single moment -- just changed everything in their lives," said Rossana Cardinale-Larrick, who teaches world history and AP U.S. history at Washington County Technical High School.

WAYNESBORO, Pa. -- John Poniske considers his hobby to be not just fun and games, but a teaching tool. Poniske started creating his own board games 12 years ago and filled them with strategy and history. Three -- "Hearts and Minds," "Leaping Lemmings" and "King Philip's War" -- have now been published. The people who choose to play historical simulation games often use them as a starting point for further research, Poniske said. "Finding out the minutiae of an event is a joy," he said.

BOONSBORO -- When David Spurrier was in high school, he didn't meet his guidance counselor until May of his senior year when he was asked if he had career or college plans. Spurrier did. He wanted to play professional football, but the guidance counselor never learned that because he didn't ask for specifics. Asked what he would say if a student walked into his office in Boonsboro High School's guidance center and told him he wanted to be a pro football player, Spurrier said: "I'd say shoot for your dream.

Gretchen Smith, a social studies teacher and department chair at North Hagerstown High School, has been accepted into a select group of American and Austrian educators who will spend Oct. 24 to Nov. 1 in Salzburg and other locations in Austria. They will attend a workshop titled "A Visionary Partnership across Continents: George C. Marshall and the European Recovery Program in Austria. " High school level U.S./European history, social studies, German and economics teachers were invited to apply for placement in the workshop.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. -- A Chambersburg Area Senior High School social studies teacher was recently named the Educator of the Year at a luncheon sponsored by the Chambersburg Area School District Foundation. "It was one of the best days of my life," said Thomas VanArsdale said, adding it was especially meaningful because a good friend was the luncheon's keynote speaker. VanArsdale teaches world history and cultural studies. He works with two philosophies: that no one can take away something you've learned and "don't talk about, be about.