May 5, 2008

SCHOOL MATTERS: Don't let go of Lego building!

By Joanie King / Daily News columnist

What is black, white, red, blue and green all over? Lego Night at El Carmelo Elementary School.

This free event brought dozens of families together for a frenzy of fanciful imagination and fun, building Lego creations and community all at once.

Highlights of the volunteered-led evening included Lego car racing down a ramp, Lego Bingo, Lego tower building, Lego tossing and much more.
PTA organizer Michele Kaspar and her team of enthusiastic volunteers spread out a massive blue tarp in the center of the El Carmelo multipurpose room, where literally thousands of donated Legos provided two hours of design opportunities for eager kindergarteners through fifth-graders.

They packed this free-for-all construction area - building, sharing and creating together. A loaded display table featured many of the children's impressive creations, including a massive and magnificent Star War's Death Star, built by a fourth-grade Lego expert.

"That was the most amazing scene I have yet to see at El Carmelo," exclaimed El Carmelo mom and recent Palo Alto Tall Tree Award winner Megan Fogarty. "I will forever remember the big blue tarp with thousands of Lego pieces and a hundred kids creating - I'm so glad my daughter made me go."

Indeed, for everyone at El Carmelo, this was a most memorable, magical night, perhaps best summed up by one enthusiastic fifth-grader: "Everything clicked."

Legos have a way of capturing the imagination, but increasingly, our kids are turning to electronic video games for their flights of fancy. With every generation of game technology, and an explosion of choices and themes, many games push the boundaries of acceptable "action."

The national PTA feels that it's the responsibility of parents, teachers and other caregivers to control children's exposure to electronic media and to promote their media literacy. This includes the ever-evolving world of video games.

We are faced with shifting elements as we assess our kids' gaming options. How do we translate game ratings? How do parental controls work? What tools can we use as parents to ensure safe online gaming for our children?

The national PTA has partnered with the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) to produce "A Parent's Guide to Video Games: Parental Controls and Online Safety," a guide full of the information parents need to help their kids make informed, thoughtful decisions about electronic games.

Copies of the English- and Spanish-language versions of the guide can be downloaded from www.pta.org/media safety.

Whether they are immersed in a Lego project or in the heat of an electronic battle, our kids are still kids, and they need us somewhere nearby to react, set limits, play along, or preferably, all three.
We need to take their fun very seriously. After all, the suppliers do.



School Matters is written by Joanie King. Contact King at schoolmatters@paloaltopta.org.