NC Children's Promise

Country music singer Jason Michael Carroll entertained patients, visitors, and Hospital School students on Thursday in the Children's Hospital lobby as part of the 11th annual NC Children's Promise Radio-Telethon.   The kids enjoyed not only Mr. Carroll's music but were also entertained by Elvis (Keith Henderson), Jason Adamo, and Alex Rivera AND were invited to an ice cream party sponsored by Blue Bell Ice Cream.

Quilted Gifts

Durham-Orange Quilters' Guild generously donates member-made quilts to local community hospitals, churches and service organizations. Two of our Hospital School pre-school students are recipients of these colorful and beautifully crafted quilts. These quilted gifts will provide warmth, comfort and enjoyment for many years.

Jaemion

 

Shanelle

 

Jaemion proudly shows off his “Cars” quilt and Shanelle happily displays her “Princess” quilt.

Students Make Mosaic Tiles for Kidzu Museum

Melanie Hatz Levinson, curator of exhibits at the Kidzu Children's Museum, and Jeannette Brossart, local mosaic artist, visited the Hospital School and brought all of the materials for the students to make mosaic tiles for use in the new museum currently in the planning stages.  This outreach program is funded by a grant from the Orange County Arts Commission and allows Ms. Levinson and Ms. Brossart along with two undergraduate interns and one graduate intern to travel to area schools. Each student has the opportunity to make two tiles; one 6" square tile to be installed in the new building and a smaller one for them to keep.

Ms. Brossart prepared the students for the project by introducing herself and telling how she became a mosaic artist. She showed them a beautiful tile that she made of her son and his dog and then gave them a brief history of mosaic art, explaining that the tile is made of small pieces that you out together to make a larger picture. She described how mosaics were used many hundreds of years ago to be decorative as well as functional. The students used trays to hold the tiles and then designed their own pictures with glass tiles. The tiles will be taken back to the museum to be grouted and made ready for display. Our students created some outstanding tiles, learned about the history of mosaics, and had a lot of fun in the process!  Ms. Levinson also left more materials for incoming students to make over the next few weeks.

Banned Websites Awareness Day October 3

Celebrate Banned Websites Awareness Day on October 3 during Banned Books Week! 

Many schools have very restrictive filtering software that blocks websites that can be very useful in educational research. Teaching kids how to be safe on the Internet and how to find and use quality websites can have a more beneficial effect than blocking sites completely. CHCCS Librarians  and Technology  Facilitators are incorporating Digital Citizenship lessons throughout the year to ensure that students are educated about best practices when using the internet. We will be using the "Internet Safety" video from Brain Pop Jr. with our younger students this week at the Hospital School. Safe searching!

Welcome Sherron Leplin!

The Hospital School welcomes new principal Sherron Leplin who is starting her first full week at our school and we are so fortunate to have her here. Dr. Leplin was most recently the principal at E.K. Powe Elementary in Durham for 2011-12 and served as principal at Grady A. Brown Elementary School in Hillsborough for six years.  She previously worked in CHCCS as the exceptional education coordinator for the district from 1997-2000 and then as the assistant principal for Carrboro  Elementary from 1997-2000.  Dr. Leplin has been a school counselor, an EC  teacher, a language arts/science teacher, and a therapist.  Leplin holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Exceptional Children Education from Appalachian State University, three master’s degrees: one in Elementary Education from North Carolina A&T State University, two from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with one in Educational Administration and one in Counseling, and a doctorate in Cultural Foundations:  Curriculum Development, Instruction and Educational Administration from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Welcome Sherron!

The Hospital School's principal of 16 years, Dr. Flicka Bateman, retired from one job on June 29, 2012 and will be continuing a long time "second career" as mentor to the many Burmese refuges that she has helped over the years as they move into the Chapel Hill/Carrboro area. Dr. Bateman served as principal at the Hospital School from 1997 - 2012 and before that was the principal of the school at John Umstead Hospital in Butner, NC. We have missed her leadership and wish her all the best in her semi-retirement.

"Hope and Normalcy at the Hospital School"

WUNC FM aired a story today on Morning Edition about the Hospital School, stressing the normalcy that the school provides to hospitalized students. Charlie, one of our recent students, read a story he wrote about water moccasins. Principal Flicka Bateman summed up our mission; "We go to bedside, we have books, we have computers, we have iPads, we talk about the work, we give them tests. All of which says, yes, you’re sick, but there is a future, there’s hope, so let’s get on with your life." 
Read the transcript or listen to the audio.

Ikebana Class

The “plant lady”, as Sally Haskett is known to the students in the Eating Disorders and Partial Hospital School programs, led the students in Ms. Plow’s class in the geometry of Japanese flower arranging known as Ikebana.  Students were taught various elements of the art form, which involves placing vertical and horizontal  components such as rocks, flowering stems at different angles to achieve a harmonious composition.  Students used rulers protractors to help them achieve the desired result.