A Little Birdy Twittered the Schools Closed Early

I really like the way that Falls Church City Public Schools experiment with new technology ranging from online tools for the teachers to share assignments with kids (like Angel) to paying for lunches online  (even if it is too expensive) to teachers blogging.  One other innovation is FCCPS’ “twitter” feed used to announce school news including bad weather early closings and cancellations – http://twitter.com/fccps.

A lazy parent (like me) who wants to be informed of  schedule changes without hunting for them on the web or suffering through TV/radio listings of closings can now get them via twitter and have the notice sent via SMS to your phone if you choose.

While the announcements are free, they take a few steps to setup.  Namely,

1. create your own free twitter account.
2. login to your new account
3. tell twitter how to reach your phone by going to “settings” and “devices”.  You’ll have to fill in your mobile phone number.
4. click “follow” on the Falls Church Public Schools twitter account  http://twitter.com/fccps,  (while you are at it, you can follow other people including me; Mr. Baxter, Principal of TJ; Heidi Lang in the TAAP program at TJ; Andy Rankin from the Falls Church  Insider blog; Ms. McCarty Principal at MEHMS; or Shaquille O’Neal.)
5. On the FCCPS twitter page turn device updates “on”.  If you don’t want to get updates via phone, leave device updates off.

Worked like a charm last week when I got notification of the school closing via text message at 4:30am.

Relay for Life Schedules First Team Meeting for Wednesday, February 11

More than 30 teams already have signed up for the 2009 Relay For Life of Falls Church, an American Cancer Society fund-raiser that will be held overnight on May 30-31 on George Mason High School’s football field.

The first meeting for team members will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday, February 11, at the Falls Church Community Center.  The event will help team members get to know each other and share ideas as they prepare for this year’s relay.

More information about the Relay For Life, how to start a team or how to join one, is available at

www.fallschurchrelay.org.

2009 Falls Church Relay for Life Off to Strong Start

An estimated 100 people turned out on Sunday, January 25 for the Relay For Life Kick-Off Event at Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School. Last year’s relay saw 40 participating teams raise more than $83,000 to support the American Cancer Society’s fight against cancer.

“We’re very excited with the level of interest we’ve already seen for this year’s event,” said Co-Chairs Katie Clinton and Terri Rollo. “We’re confident that the 2009 Relay will be even bigger and better.”

All City schools will be participating in this year’s relay. Dr. Lois Berlin, superintendent of the Falls Church City Schools, will be serving as an honorary co-chair. Carol Ann Siciliano, a City resident and cancer survivor, will serve as the other honorary co-chair.

Persons interested in entering a team or joining an existing one can sign up for the relay at www.fallschurchrelay.org. The organizers also are interested in reaching out to cancer survivors in Falls Church and encouraging them to participate.

* Thanks to Gary Mester for the photos.
Left photo: Terri Rollo, Supt. Lois Berlin and Katie Clinton, co-chairs and honorary co-chair of the 2009 Relay.
Right photo: George Mason High School chorus performed at the event.

Kids can do Politics too

I know most people think kids and teens cannot understand the complexity of politics.  Well, some do.  Consider the sixth grade TAAP advanced class which is trying to sort and classify remarks from the candidates. Another example of young politics is how all the MEHMS grades are doing a mock election, casting votes for Obama or McCain.  Election coordinator, Rory Dippold, is looking for poll workers for this October 30 morning event.  Contact Mr. Dippold to volunteer.  I’ll make a later update to let you know the winner.

Treasure Hunting in Falls Church

With names like “Cherry Hill Micro,” “Capping Tinner Hill,” and “Brandymore Castle Cache,” there are treasure troves hidden around Falls Church.  Or,  “geocaches” more accurately.  A geocache (pronounced “geo-cash”) is something placed at a specific location, identified by its global  positioning system (GPS) coordinates, by a fellow geocacher.  The cache almost always includes a log book to record your discovery and then may be a box with trinkets (take one,  leave one), a puzzle, a letter, or special travel objects.  When you and your kids go search for these treasures you are geocaching.

To join the treasure hunt go to Geocaching.com and search for a cache in your area.  You can search by zip code, town, etc.  There are more than 34 caches around Falls Church and over 650,000 around the world.  Print out the coordinates and any directions for the cache you are after, grab your handheld GPS device, and head out the door.

Caches are ranked by “terrain” (how hard it is to get to) and “difficulty” (how hard it is to find once you get there).  For your first try, pick an easy cache.  You can often do several caches from the same area in an afternoon.   When you get back to the computer record your discoveries and make comments.  If you really get into the game, you can start creating your own caches and listing them online for others to find.

Please tell us how your geocaching adventures go in the comments below.  Who doesn’t love a treasure hunt?

[Thanks to Wikimedia Commons for the home page image.]

Attention Campers!

Where did you go? What did you do? Would you do it again? Tell us about your summer camp experiences so others can learn from them. If you really liked your camp, encourage more Falls Church kids to go. If you didn’t like it, tell us why and warn them. Leave your comments below or send me email with your camp reviews.

My kids, Adam and Zach, both spent 3 1/2 weeks at Timberlake in Vermont. The camp doesn’t allow any electronics and it rained a lot (so they were covered with mud much of the time.) Nonetheless, they both say they’d go back.

[Thanks to Rob for the camp pictures.]