fresh air - Quaboag Current

WCES Teacher
of the Week
Karen Bys
By Cristy Bertini
Reporter
- WARREN -
Karen Bys said that when she was a teenager,
she spent more time playing with
children at parties than hanging around
with the adults.
“I always had a good interaction with little kids.
I would babysit and I just love them – especially
the preschool to third-grade age group,” she said.
“I feel that I have a great connection with them.”
Bys – a resident of Springfi eld - earned her
bachelor’s degree in early childhood education and
is now in her 17th year of teaching, with the last
six of those years spent teaching kindergarten at
Warren Community Elementary School. She also
taught preschool and fi rst grade classes prior to
coming to Warren.
Bys says she loves to sing with her students and
some of the songs, she makes up herself.
“I have little songs that I do to teach them a lot
of things – whether it’s their words or their numbers,”
she explained. “Some things I can’t apply
music to, so some of it has to be note practice.” She
said she also uses games in her instruction, which
the children love to play. A favorite game is called
“Zap”, where children choose a number between 1
and 20 out of a bucket. When the child chooses a
number, they have to clap however many times the
number states. If their card says “Zap” instead of
a number, they have to put all of their cards back
into the bucket. “They really like that one, and we
don’t have a winner with the game. It’s more about
taking turns and waiting your turn.”
She said the hardest part of teaching kindergarten
varies from day to day. “I have to say I think a
lot of demands are put on this age group and some
of the children may not necessarily be ready for it,”
she said. “It can be hard because you really have to
differentiate and meet all of the children’s’ needs.”
She said educational expectations have increased
over the years – not only for kindergarteners
but for all students. “I notice it with my
own children, who are in high school,” she said.
“Everything is a year ahead. The expectations are
much, much more. I remember when I was in high
school, we had algebra in my freshman year and
now they have it in eighth grade. We learned to
read in fi rst grade and now they are learning in
kindergarten, and like I said, some are quite capable
of it, but some are not. Some children need
more help with social skills, such as learning to
play with other children – getting along and taking
turns – which is why I like to try to incorporate
a lot of games into the way I teach, because it
helps them with social interaction.”
Bys said her favorite part of teaching at this age
level is the excitement the children have. “They
are so excited about school – they love coming
to school and they love their teachers,” she said.
“They have such a curiosity to learn and they want
to ask you so many questions. The difference in
growth between when they come in at the beginning
of the year and maybe not know their entire
alphabet, to be able to read at some level by the
end of the year is amazing. They are so excited to
learn and it makes you excited to teach them.”
TURLEY PUBLICATIONS PHOTO BY CRISTY BERTINI
A Turley Publication • www.turley.com I Thursday, February 9, 2012 PAGE 11
– education –
Reaching for
the stars…
WARREN - The Boston Museum of Science
brought its StarLab portable planetariums to
Quaboag Regional Middle School on Feb. 1,
giving students a tour of space, from the inside
out.
Using a projection system inside the planetariums,
students were able to see the stars,
planets and galaxies at any time of the day or
night on any date, during any season to help
them understand how the motion of the Earth
changes the appearance of the sky throughout the year.
Quaboag math teacher Christine Kirally-Thomas
and science teacher Kim Spock explained that this is
the fi rst in a series of special presentations to be held at
the school. Students will also participate in a heat and
temperature presentation on March 28, a fi eld trip on
April 9 and a travel program on May 30. The StarLab
By Cristy Bertini
Reporter
- WARREN -
Walking into the Quaboag
Regional Middle/High
School cafeteria during
lunchtime, one might think they
were in a restaurant instead of a traditional
school “cafeteria”.
Lunch is bean empanada with a
cilantro sauce and fresh salsa – a creation
of one of the talented Quaboag
cooks – and for those students who
want something different, they can
choose from fresh salads, sandwiches
or homemade soup. For dessert
- apple cobbler using locally grown
apples.
The “Act Relative to School Nutrition”
bill was signed into law on
July 30, 2010, requiring the Massachusetts
Department of Public
Health to establish standards for
competitive foods and beverages
sold or provided in public schools
during the school day.
Janice King, director of School
Nutrition for the Quaboag Regional
School District, said that she has
been meeting with a work group,
which involves about 30 allied organizations
to implement the new
guidelines. “It’s a strategic planning
process where we are looking to develop
outreach communication messages
that will let everyone across
the state know this coming spring
what we need to do to make this nutrition
bill become a reality,” King
explained. “It is one of the strongest
nutrition bills in the nation right
now.”
King, a resident of Warren and a
medical nutritionist, has worked as
a hospital nutrition director, college
food service director and certifi ed
diabetes educator and is now in her
eighth year with the Quaboag District,
overseeing a staff of 20. She is
a recipient of the 2011 SNA President’s
Award of Excellence for her
work in 2010-2011 as president of
the School Nutrition Association of
Massachusetts. “I am a strong advocate
for children,” she said. “When
I fi rst started here, I made contacts
TURLEY PUBLICATIONS PHOTOS BY CRISTY BERTINI
and travel program are part of the innovation grant and
the fi eld trip and heat and temperature presentations are
provided with scholarships from the Boston Museum of
Science.
TURLEY PUBLICATIONS PHOTO BY CRISTY BERTINI
Janice King, director of School Nutrition for the Quaboag Regional School District with some of her happy diners.
King sets students on healthy road to success
with the Department of Education
and with the School Nutrition Association
because professional organizations
help all of our school staff.
It’s not just what I’ve been able to
accomplish on behalf of children in
our state, locally and nationally too.
All of this actually fi lters down into
our department. We have eight employees
that are certifi ed in school
nutrition at level one and one of our
staff members, Brenda Schultz, who
works in the Warren Elementary
School won a state award for our
fresh fruit and vegetable program.”
King said she is very proud of
what her staff has accomplished.
“We’ve done a lot in the last year. It’s
been a lot of work, but a lot of fun
too. All of us are really committed to
doing great things for kids.”
She said the aspects of the school
nutrition bill focus in on childhood
obesity and childhood health in general.
“It’s not just a weight issue,”
she said. “We are looking at overall
health. It was reported last year that
See HEALTH I PAGE 12