For Immediate Release: April 30, 2021
Contact: Tricia Runyan, Communications Specialist
Phone: 540.743.3750 ext. 2403
Email: trunyan@pagecounty.k12.va.us
Stanley Elementary School Hosts After-School Clubs
In-Person and Remote Learners Offered Exciting Experiences
LURAY, Va. ― Stanley Elementary School has something to smile about. They’ve created clubs that are offered after school for any student, in-person or remote, who chooses to be involved. These clubs, created and run entirely by teachers and staff, include Cooking, A Green Team/Recycling, STEM, Alphabet Engineering, and Running Club.
All students in grades K-5 were offered the opportunity to participate in these extracurricular activities that are held once a month, in the after-school hours and approximately 80 students have taken advantage of this fun-filled, educational experience. These clubs were created based on faculty/staff interests and support the school’s academic programs. Stanley Nutritional Services staff also stayed after school and attended these programs, during which they offered the children a snack and a warm dinner to take home with them in the evenings.
Some highlights of each club are detailed below:
Cooking Club - Sponsored by Assistant Principal Anita Webb and Mrs. Morris - (40 students K-5)
These students have learned about kitchen safety 101, decorated cupcakes, learned about kitchen appliances, measuring tools, healthy snacks, safe knife cutting skills, and explored career options in the culinary arts.
Green Team/Recycling Club - Sponsored by Mrs. Longanecker, Ms. Reed, Mrs. Good, Mrs. Keyser, and School Counselor Corey Harlow - (7 students Grades 3-5)
This club focuses on ways to make classrooms economically friendly and how to implement a recycling program for the school. The group is also working on beautification projects by planting flowers in front of the school and collecting trash from along the fence line. A big thank you goes out to BattlecreekLandfill Recycling Program for providing litter pick-up kits. Students are now “advertising” how to recycle and have placed boxes in classrooms for pick-up.
STEM Club - Sponsored by Mrs. Comer and Stanley Principal Suzanne Dupuis - (12 students K-2)
This club engages in hands-on activities including how to save our planet’s animals found on an African Safari, predicting, observing, and discovering the impact salt and sugar would have on frozen animals, and using various tools and methods to help a stranded animal find safety from the flood. They also built a bridge to help keep the animals safe from the water. This group includes challenges of working together to see which group can build the tallest tower using only cups and learning about electrical circuits.
Alphabet Engineering Club - Sponsored by Mrs. Elizabeth Kite - (6 students, 1st grade)
The Alphabet Engineering Club does activities including identifying letters on cups, stacking challenges, using playdough to model upper and lower case letters, using yarn to form letters, and solving letter riddles with sidewalk chalk.
Running Club - Sponsored by Valerie Ferrell - (23 students in the Fall, 13 in the Spring)
This club is focused on keeping students active in and outside of school. Students are challenged to complete a certain number of activity minutes per week. Runners then turn in their weekly "coupon" verifying that they completed the required minutes and in return they earn weekly prizes. Some of the prizes include: sweat bands, word search books, mini beach balls, inspiration silicone bracelets, water bottles, glow sticks, cups, bouncy balls, medals, and shirts. Another big thank you goes out to PACA, who graciously donated the prizes. Fall season runners even received a pedometer to track their steps! The culminating activity of the Run Club was the Turkey Trot and Earth Day Race 5K.
Stanley Elementary School’s motto since the beginning of this school year has been #lifeisasafari #embracingtheadventuretogether. The faculty and staff there have gone above and beyond for their students, in this most unusual year, and are most deserving of gratitude for all they do.
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If you would like more information about this topic, please call Tricia Runyan at (540) 743-3750, or email at trunyan@pagecounty.k12.va.us