Cathy Benson, The Botetourt View

Turner and Darden Goode enjoy the sunshine and hay ride.

Gwen Ikenberry, the family representative on hand to greet the children, said, "2,500 school kids from 54 different preschools, elementary schools and home school groups will be venturing to Ikenberry's farm in western Botetourt this fall in a six week period."

On Monday morning, Oct. 5, 79 of the students came from Greenfield Elementary School to learn about apples, pumpkins, colonial life in a cabin and to go on a hayride and view nature while hearing interesting facts about flora and fauna that one might find in the orchard. That trip also included six color associated coordinated scarecrows with pumpkin heads. Olivia Turner, a student in Mrs. Godsey's kindergarten class announced "I like the scarecrow Olivia Orange best," -- naturally!

Indeed, the Standards of Learning are reinforced with a trip to the Ikenberry farm and orchard off Haymakertown Road. Gwen Ikenberry asked some of her friends to help teach at the Apple classroom, the Pumpkin classroom and the cabin. Her cousin, Paul Craft, drove the hayride tractor and her husband's aunt, Jean Craft, helped guide students from the hayride to the cabin and the well oiled operation even had a bell ringing to announce the time limit on each classroom.

The circa 1790 cabin had its own historic interpretor, Mrs. Kip Burton, dressed in Colonial garb who described a typical home arrangement for a young child in 1790. She talked about how different the times were then and schools were a luxury on the frontier, so most children were taught by their mothers.

Appropriately, the children sat on apple crates in each of the classrooms since Ikenberry's is known for apples and peaches! Cindy Bailey, even taught the children a finger play about 5 Little Pumpkins sitting on a gate in her Pumpkin classroom.

After visiting all four learning stations, the students, parents and teachers had bag lunches under the shade of walnut and other hard trees next to the historic cabin. Thus ended a beautiful day on the historic acreage that invited the youngsters to take a step back into yesteryear as well as learn about agriculture, plants and animals.

James River High School Art Show winners at Mountain Magic

These are the James River High School art show winners in the Mountain Magic festival:

Best in Show

Tali DiPalma, clay sculpture, "Sadness"

Best Use of Medium

Cheyenne Falls, Charcoal Drawing, "Lost"

People's Choice Award

Cody Green, chalk, Chillin out in my Chippewas

Merit Awards

Ashley Austin (2), photogram and prismacolor pencil; Haley Baker, charcoal; Natalia Donnini, charcoal; Rachel Dudley, prismacolor pencil; Kendyl Kelly, photography; Emily Kettleson, Colored pencil, clay; Denver Linthicum, charcoal; Sandy Mahon, clay; Miana Patterson, watercolor; Dawn Phoenix, clay; and Casey Thompson, computer design.

Breckinridge students hit the books

Breckinridge Elementary students are off to a wonderful beginning with the Botetourt County Public Schools Accelerated Reader program. This year's theme is "Join the Accelerated Reader Team." The school's theme will be displayed all year in the school cafeteria. Students will be earning Accelerated Reader hats that were provide by the Fincastle Booster Club, Breckinridge PTA, Central Water, Inc, and Ashley Plantation Golf Club every Friday. Each six weeks students that meet their individualized reading goals will be invited to participate in a special sports related program.

The reading incentive program is organized and facilitated by the Breckinridge Reading Curriculum Team which is chaired by Stephanie Harris, the school media specialist. This six weeks students that were able to meet their goals participated in "Operation Soccer Fun" with Tony Hart, P.E. teacher and Erryn Barkett, Breckinridge parent. Students had fun learning about soccer and playing lots of mini soccer related games.

Accelerated Reader is another instructional tool that is used as part of the daily reading curriculum. It is facilitated through reading instruction and supported through nightly reading. Students, in grades 1-5, participate in the Accelerated Reader program by reading books on individual independent reading levels. They then take a comprehension quiz which is designed to promote knowledge of the process of understanding what one reads. Each student competes against themselves as they read each six weeks to meet their individual goals.

Grade 2 students:

Wyatt Austin, Emma Bailey, Sage Beddingfield, Jack Berry, Savannah Corvin, Grace Davis, Sierra Dean, KJ DeHaven, Abby Elkins, Kaylene Elliott, Nathan Farris, Lauren Fox, Amanda Garrison, Caroline Gross, Dawson Hix, Ashleigh Johnson, Gabbie Layne, Andrew Lucas, Dyllan McAllister, Hannah Michael, McKenzie Moore, Jarrett Neese, Chase Oberg, Luke Peay, Ben Rice, Mackenzie Seebo, Hunter Sluss, Cade Stanley, Mikayla Stiltner, Colin Tickner and Seth Yopp.

Grade 3 Students:

Molly Allison, Catherine Amos, Grace Barger, Abe Barkett, Logan Bingeman, Jeff Bower, Andrew Bridges, Emma Butler, Matthew Cahoon, Zacary Cahoon, Katelin Crawford, Ian DeHaven, Pandora Heitzmann, Logan Honts, Olivia Hoye, Jeremiah Gibson, Meaghan Hix, Tessa Jones, T.J. Michael, Chance Nelson, Elizabeth Rice, Jessie Rocha, Kate Smith, Maggie Stickler, Nick Tucker, Meadow Wilkerson, Logan Williamson and Aaron Workowski.

Grade 4 students:

Marcella Allison, Olivia Baker, Brian Davis, Mikayla Fay, Erik Frank, Jarrod Hix, Tara Malloy, Kaityln McClung, Donnie Petty, Ben Rakes, Susan Schultz, Montana Snavely, Ethan Stickler, Abby Swanson, Lydia Sydnor, Skyler Taube, Erin Terry, Erik Tolley, Joe Tyler, Lindsey Wiegand, Wesley Williams and Tyler Wood.

Grade 5 students:

Nicole Begley, Dalton Bellamy, Austin Boone, Nicole Boothe, Corbin Brinkley, Daniel Carson, Sean DeHaven, Ellen Frank, Jessica Gross, Eva Grumbine, Travis Hall, Taylor Hart, Dakota Hill, Bishop Jackson, Jasmine King, Lauren Ogle, Virginia Peay, Sara Peer, Mikayla Peterson, Olivia Simmons, Wyatt Smith, Eli Stevens, Taylore Sydnor and Kathryn Upson.

Introducing the new Breckinridge Bucks

Congratulations to Rachel Lybolt, the winner of the contest to design the 2009-2010 "Breckinridge Buck"! Each student at Breckinridge is paid a salary in "Breckinridge Bucks" for being a conscientious student and for performing a classroom job. Over 200 students submitted a design for the contest, but Rachel's was deemed the best this year. Her design incorporated the school's mascot, the Breckinridge Bear, and the Accelerated Reader theme "Sports -- We're a Team of Readers."

Colonial elementary  5th-graders go for a climb

Fifth graders at Colonial Elementary recently went to Camp Roanoke for a day of team building activities. Those activities included both low course challenge events and high course events, including a 44-foot high climbing tower. Activities were designed to help students improve communication and leadership skills, develop trust and teamwork among team members, and build self-confidence. At the climbing tower, students were encouraged to set a personal goal of how high they wanted to climb and to respect individual differences as they encouraged each classmate to "Climb on!"

Marching Cavaliers win awards

Congratulations to the Marching Cavaliers on another successful weekend.

The Cav's competed at the Patrick County Celebration of Pride Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 17.

The band competed in Class AA.

The band received 2nd Place Drum Major, 2nd Place Percussion, 1st Place Guard, 1st Place Music, 1st Place Marching, 1st Place General Effect, and 1st Place Band in class.

The band also received The Bill Ponds Band of the Day award for having the highest score of the day regardless of class.

This season has been a very successful one for the Marching Cav's.

The band started their season at the William Byrd Preview of Champions on Sept. 19, where they received Best Music, Best Marching, Best Effect, and 1st Place Band in Class III with a rating of Excellent.

They then continued their competitive season at the James River Mountain Magic Invitational on October 3rd.

The band received 3rd Place Drum Major, 2nd Place Color Guard, 2nd Place Percussion, 2nd Place Music, Best Marching, Best Effect, and 1st Place Band in Division II with a rating of Superior.

The band has two competitive outings before the season comes to a close.

On Oct. 31, the Cav's will make their first appearance at the USSBA Virginia State Band Competition. Following their performance on the 31st, the Cav's will perform at BandBEAT, a four state preliminary and finals championship contest hosted by Drum Corp International's Carolina Crown.

The band hosted their annual Cavalier Classic Band Invitational on this Saturday, Oct. 24.

The performance order for the show was: Covington High School, Alleghany High School, Floyd County High School, James River High School, Rustburg High School, Fort Chiswell High School, Liberty High School, Staunton River High School, Giles County High School, Patrick County High School, William Byrd High School, Heritage High School, and Abingdon High School.

After all competing bands have performed; the Marching Cavaliers performed in exhibition.

Central Academy  looks ahead to 50th

Central Academy Middle School would like to announce that it will be conducting an Open House on Saturday, March 27, 2010, from 1 p.m. till 5 p.m. to commemorate 50 years of education. A ceremony will be held at 1 p.m. to kick off the open house. More information regarding this event will be released in the near future.

Botetourt Buddies go  on first field trip to Layman's Farms

Botetourt Buddies went on their first field trip of the year to Layman's Farm in Montvale. Botetourt Buddies pairs special education students with general education students for fun and fellowship. Ramos, a senior, started the group with the help of many in the school and from the community last year because her sister Stephanie and other special education students needed a better way to interact with the rest of the Lord Botetourt High School student body. The result has been a terrific success for all involved. For more photos, visit The Notebook on botetourtview.com