The Annual Fairy Tale Ball at Village Elementary School had young princes, princesses, knights, queens and all manner of characters from the favorite stories of childhood coming to life in April. Pictured here are Sophia Barbaro, May Hoover and Lillian Hubbard all dressed up for this favorite event of the first-grade year.
Courtesy photo

FROM JAPAN TO YORK. When second-grade students at Coastal Ridge and Village Elementary Schools study Japan in the weeks ahead, they will have the help of a very special teacher: Hiroko Harada. Harada, a visiting teacher from Japan through a program that brings teachers from Japan to work with students in the United States, is seen here during a ceremony in honor of her arrival at Village Elementary School on April 28. In fact, this is her third year working with students in the York Schools. Harada will remain in York for the next five weeks, dividing her time between the second-grade classrooms in the town's two elementary schools, as students learn about Japanese crafts, language, culture and more.
Photo by Tori Rasche

PROTECTING THE RIVER. Coastal Ridge Elementary School teacher Charlotte Pierce is joined by students Jenna Healy, Mac Walter, Malcolm Hughes and Emily LaFlamme as they are welcomed to Augusta by State Rep. Windol Weaver, R-York, on April 15. The fourth-grade students and their team leaders, including parent Beth Walter, were recognized in Augusta by Gov. John Baldacci and the Department of Education for their project "What's in Our Backyard: Understanding and Appreciating the York River." The project introduced students to the historical, economic, ecological and scientific importance of the York River. KIDS Consortium, a Lewiston-based, nationally recognized leader in the service-learning movement, organized the day's events in Augusta.
Photo by Diane Johanson