TEACHER GRANTS: Time is running out for teachers across the state to apply for $1,000 grants for environmental education programs.

NC Beautiful, a nonprofit group, is sponsoring the grants to help teachers cultivate an appreciation among their students for the beauty of the natural environment. The application deadline is Nov. 9.

The program is open to all teachers, public and private, in grades K-12. But the schools must follow the N.C. Course of Study used in public schools. Go to www.NCBeautiful.org for more information on the grants.

WAKE COUNTY

HONOR ROLL: St. Thomas More Academy for the second year in a row has been named one of the 50 top secondary schools in America by the Catholic High School Honor Roll.

The Honor Roll's goal "is to encourage schools to educate students as effectively as possible, in a way that integrates Catholic faith and prepares students for active engagement with the world." St. Thomas More also ranked in the group's top 25 in the categories of academic excellence, Catholic identity and civic education.

St. Thomas More is an independent Catholic school founded by businessman Bob Luddy with the approval of the Roman Catholic Diocese in Raleigh. The school recently moved to a larger campus at 3109 Spring Forest Road in North Raleigh.

SCHOOL DIRECTOR: Beth McCauley will be the new director of the Lower School at the Trinity Academy, a private K-12 school in North Raleigh. McCauley will manage the K-6 teachers and staff at the liberal arts school. Most recently, she was director of the Good Shepherd Lutheran Preschool in Raleigh.

DURHAM COUNTY

TEACHING TOLERANCE: Northern High School teacher Anne Beaty won a $584 grant this week from the national program Teaching Tolerance, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Beatty plans to use the grant to infuse the high school's curriculum with politically relevant literature focusing on Iran and Sudan.

For more, visit www.teachingtolerance.org and www.splcenter.org.

JOHNSTON COUNTY

JUMP ROPE FOR THE HEART: Meadow School students in kindergarten through fifth grade are jumping rope this week as a fundraiser for the American Heart Association. They hope to raise $4,000 to support research on heart disease and stroke. Money also will go to the development of educational materials on staying fit, and Meadow School can earn gift certificates for physical education equipment. Donations accepted. For more information, call Cindy Biggerstaff at 894-4226.

FALL FESTIVAL: The community is invited to a Fall Festival at McGee's Crossroads Elementary School from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday. Money raised at the event will support the PTA, a school book room and extra classroom materials. Attendees can walk for a cake, try dunking a teacher, bid for the best-decorated pumpkin, play games and taste treats. Contact: Vicky Temple-Rains, 894-7161.

PRINCETON HIGH YARD SALE: Princeton High School will have a yard-sale fundraiser at 8 a.m. Nov. 3. Donations will be accepted. Proceeds will go to Relay for Life, Princeton Public Library and a Princeton parent with medical issues. For information, call Gwendolyn Kea at 936-5011.

ORANGE COUNTY

HONORS CHORUS: Five students from Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools have been selected for the 2007 N.C. Middle Schools Honor Chorus. They are Kathleen Smith and Tim Fay, McDougle Middle School; Troy Mitchell, Phillips Middle School; and Sarah McAdams and Alexa Young, Smith Middle School.

The honor chorus will give a concert for the N.C. Music Educators Association annual conference Nov. 11 at the Stevens Center in Winston-Salem.

FALL FESTIVAL: Cameron Park Elementary School will have food and entertainment from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday at 240 St. Mary's Road, Hillsborough.

To submit information online about school-related events and achievements, go to share.triangle.com and click on "schools" and then the "school news" link. For more information, call Kay Wallace-Holloway at 829-4520 or send news to The News & Observer, 215 S. McDowell St., Raleigh, NC 27602.