GOVERNOR P.E.: Charlie Crist visited Tampa to tout his plans for all elementary school kids to have 30 minutes of physical activity daily. Excuses about money don't bug him. "How much is it costing us, and more importantly our young people, not to be encouraging them?" he said.
PART OF THE EXPERIMENT: Children at Lake Myrtle Elementary in Pasco County love the days they get to discover new things in the school science lab. Little do they know they're part of a study, too, into the best way to teach science in the youngest grades.
SPEAKING OF SCIENCE: If you have any question that kids learning science matters, look no farther than St. Johns County. That's where two high school students determined that the pesticides from cabbage farms are contaminating the air, prompting the local government to investigate.
PETS IN SCHOOL: Not during classes, though. Pinellas County schools will let family pets into three schools when they're being used as storm shelters.
CHARTER SCHOOL REPORT: The Orlando Sentinel is in its third day of reporting on the status of charter schools in Florida. The reporters find a lack of state accountability, and several schools that take advantage. Check out the entire project here.
CLASS SIZE, AGAIN: The Florida House plans to take one more shot at scaling back the class-size amendment, which moves to a classroom count next year, the Gainesville Sun reports.
EXPANDING GIFTED COURSES: Miami-Dade schools seek to reach a more diverse set of students with its gifted programs, noting that minority and low-income students are underrepresented in the classes, the Miami Herald reports. It's a problem across the state and nation.
IS THAT TEST VALID? That's not an easy question to answer, the Washington Post reports. But it's an important one, as NCLB requires tests that provide reliable and valid data to measure annual student progress.