Marny Lombard

Hey, moms and dads of toddlers and next year's kindergartners: A new set of immunizations is required for your little ones before they can start school or day-care in September. The series of three shots protects against hepatitis B, a liver disease.

Progress Elementary's standardized test scores are up. Again. In a quiet success story spanning the last seven years, the school's scores have steadily climbed. Reading scores for fourth graders have risen 21 points; language is up 17 points; and math is up 33 points.

1. First-grader Cheryl Freeman, left, and partner Kelsey Bergman found a bone in their hunt for dinosaur relics in the Millwood School playground. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review 2. John Rothstrom cleans and bleaches bones he collected from meat processors for use in his wife Shelby's classroom. 3. Millwood teacher Shelby Rothstrom with a "dinosaur" bone that student Kirsten Knecht brought to her. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

The half-hour tutorial/advisory period contemplated by Central Valley's two high schools is intended to give students time for club activities and school assemblies, while also matching each student with an adult advocate for his or her entire high school career. That advisor could help support students who now run into problems that sometimes aren't spotted until they've become serious.

Ness Elementary School teacher Phyllis Richeson watches in the background as student teacher Tanya Palmer leads the class in a math game. Palmer is a former student of Richeson's. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

A survey after Central Valley's four-period day pilot project shows that most teachers found their day moved faster. Most students, on the other hand, had trouble staying interested during the longer classes.

Donna Simon, first-grade teacher at Otis Orchards Elementary, gives her fellow teachers a Christmas present every year. This year, it was a poem, inspired by the November adventure we call Ice Storm '96. Simon said the storm hit early in Otis Orchards. The school lost power at 10 a.m. and from that moment on, the day never got any easier. The children ate lunch an hour early, in the dark - cooling turkey and gravy of the school's Thanksgiving feast.

1. Mauke Mauke and Tearoa Ioane teach the giggly young students at Trentwood Elementary School some dance steps from their native Cook Islands. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review 2. Mauke Mauke and Tearoa Ioane tell stories about growing up in the Cook Islands. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review 3. Tearoa Ioane dances for students of Trentwood Elementary in the clothing of her native Cook Islands.

Piloting an all-wheel-drive van, Christine DuMais, 16, passed her driver's test despite less than perfect roads. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

The first year spent working as a teacher is an education in and of itself. With nearly half of the school year under their belts, three new teachers in the Valley say the experience comes with its own high points - and its own lessons.

1. While a friend of the Valley Center of Sharing Food Bank brings gifts, a client takes a cartful home. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review 2. Food bank director Barbara Bennett loves her job. 3. The Valley Center fruit and veggie pile. Wednesday is the weekly distribution day at the food bank, located at 11922 E. First. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

School vacation in - get ready - parts of June, July, August, October, December, February, April and May may become reality for some students in East Valley schools. East Valley School District has surveyed parents once again about a proposed year-round school program.

Dr. Bill Lindquist checks a tree in Valley Misison Park. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

Mary Roe, center, meets with Otis Orchards teachers Charlene Bieber and Ginger Wright. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

1. East Valley Middle School teacher Shane Toy works with student Nick Bliesner. 2. Jared Cochran relaxes with a book on the reading couch. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

Greenacres Junior High seventh graders created Christmas gifts for the residents of Good Samaritan Village and on Wednesday the seventh-grade choir sang carols at Good Sam. Tidyman's donated poinsettias for the project. The events were the conclusion of a unit on generations. Special education students from McDonald Elementary spent a morning this week wrapping gifts for the tree of sharing at University City Mall. Classes at St. Mary's School decorated Christmas trees donated by Yoke's Pac 'N Save. Each class created its own decoration, and the trees were given to the Valley Center for those in need.

1. History teacher Ken VanSickle, of U-Hi, is developing methods of time management to cope with the four-period schedule the school is likely to adopt next year. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review 2. University High history teacher Ken VanSickle leads a class discussion. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

Members of the county Parks Advisory Committee decided this week it would be wiser to replace the county's four swimming pools than to refurbish them. The existing pools should be kept open if possible while new ones are built, panel members said.

1. Julie Seipp's humanities class is studying 300 years of London history. At top, piles of books on the people and history of London are scattered around the classroom. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review 2. Research for the class project begins with this book on English history. 3. Julie Seipp's students are assigned to write a historical novel about London. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

Members of the Central Valley School Board didn't like any of their options when it came to deciding how to make up last month's missed school days.

Centennial students Chad Sundquist, Josh Schiller, Heather Cote and Teresa Cuevas work on the Centennial Middle School quilt as part of a class project. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

Handing off a stack of canned vegetables to Crystianna Crawford, left, Greg Buringa helped load donated food Tuesday from a temporary warehouse at Euclid and Flora. About 84,000 pounds of supplies were provided to local church groups and other charities by Goad International, an Ohio-based aid clearinghouse. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

The Eagles of Horizon Junior High sit atop a pile of some of the 3,276 articles of clothing they collected for Valley Center. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

Dana Sewall leads the Central Valley A Capella Choir, which practices at 6:30 in the morning. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review