Photos by JUSTIN COOK The Roanoke Times

Workers from the Virginia Department of Transportation show off some of their trucks to kindergartner Cyrill Rooker and his classmates at Falling Branch Elementary.

Kindergartener Joey Eanes watches VDOT workers and their trucks.

Students at Falling Branch Elementary in Christiansburg are learning about transportation this week in a schoolwide series of lessons on the subject.

To kick off the unit, maintenance workers from the Virginia Department of Transportation visited the school with four large vehicles.

Four maintenance workers brought a loader, snow plow, grader and dump truck for the students to see and learn about.

"I just wanted the operators to kind of tell the kids how they work above and beyond what they do and how that's related to keeping the public moving," said Jeff Stanley, maintenance manager for VDOT's Christiansburg residency.

Stanley's wife works at the school, but he said the department used to work more closely with schools for similar projects. Within the past year, Stanley said, he's had requests from several schools, including in Giles and Pulaski counties, for vehicles to be brought to the school for lessons.

"I think it was a real good opportunity for us as much as it was for them," he said. "Hopefully, those kids will relate right back to it [when they see a VDOT vehicle]."

The state's Standards of Learning says elementary school students must understand systems of transportation and how they have changed through the years.

Health department urges flu vaccines for children

It's almost time for runny noses, aching bones and hacking coughs, and the Virginia Department of Health is urging parents to vaccinate their children against the flu.

The department suggests that all children, ages 6 months to 18 years, get a shot. That's a change from last year, when the department suggested that only children ages 6 months to 4 years get the shots.

Joni Underwood, Montgomery County schools' health coordinator, said the school system does not offer any vaccinations themselves but that she and other school nurses are encouraging parents to have their children immunized.

Blacksburg teacher named Wal-Mart winner

Candy Willis, a kindergarten teacher at Gilbert Linkous Elementary School, has been named the Wal-Mart Teacher of the Year from the Christiansburg Wal-Mart. On Friday, during a 35-minute ceremony at the school, Willis' current and former students, colleagues and parents spoke about her kindness, patience and love for children and teaching.

Willis' former student teacher Kelly Trotter nominated her for the award. As one of several winners nationwide, Willis received $100 in classroom supplies and a $1,000 check for the school.

Willis has taught at Gilbert Linkous for more than 20 years.

Applicants sought for student advisory panel

The Virginia Board of Education is looking for students to sit on the 12-member Student Advisory Committee, which advises the board on issues of interest to students.

The committee meets three times a year and includes students from each of the state's eight regions. Each public high school or middle school and statewide student organizations can nominate students, but only one student from each region can be selected.

Radford, Giles County and Pulaski County are in the same region, and Montgomery and Floyd counties are in another district.

Students are chosen based on their grades, leadership and communication skills and their outside school activities. The deadline to apply is Nov. 7.

Anna L. Mallory covers events and issues affecting Montgomery County schools and beyond. If you have information you'd like featured, e-mail anna.mallory@roanoke.com. You also can visit Chalk Dust, the New River Valley's education news source, at blogs.roanoke.com/chalkdust.