Flipping a switch to turn on the lights. Peeling an orange before you eat it. Turning the faucet off to stop the flow of water.

These concepts are familiar to us.

But in the Baldwin-Whitehall School District, officials are finding these simple concepts are among lessons that need to be taught before some students from refugee families are placed in the classroom.

Though the district has been host to a significant number of refugee students for the past decade, in recent years, educators have noticed the students coming to the district are more needy because they are coming directly from refugee camps and some have never lived in homes or attended school.

"Even things like electricity and running water, they don't understand," said Darlene DeFilippo, principal at Paynter Elementary, which holds the district's largest refugee population, between 90-100 of its 670 pupils.

To address the situation, Mrs. DeFilippo, along with Virginia Deasy, the district's supervisor of special education, has created a "welcome center" at Paynter where refugee children who need to learn about the American culture can do so before they are completely immersed in their classes.

The center is located in a classroom at the school and will be staffed by a full-time social worker who will be responsible for meeting the needs of refugee students not just at Paynter, but throughout the district, Ms. Deasy said.

The first wave of refugees to hit the Baldwin Whitehall schools came about 10 years ago when Catholic Charities resettled a number of Bosnian families to the Prospect Park apartment complex in Whitehall. Since then, Jewish Family & Children's Service also has resettled families to the complex, Mrs. DeFilippo said.

Many of the Bosnian families had homes and professions in their home country before they were driven away by war. Following the Bosnian refugees were some refugee families from the Middle East, who also had lived with families in their homes before fleeing their native lands.

But the recent wave of refugees have come from poor, war-torn countries in Africa, such as Burundi, and many of the children have grown up in refugee camps, where there is no private space, no bathroom and little more than rice to eat. This fall there will be nine new students at Paynter who have come from refugee camps, Mrs. DeFilippo said.

Their culture shock when they come to the United States and attend school in Baldwin-Whitehall is enormous, said Khadra Mohammed, executive director of the Pittsburgh Refugee Center.

"These kids are missing so many years of developing to where their peers are,"said Ms. Mohammed, who has three children in the Baldwin-Whitehall schools and who helps to advise the district on its refugee programs.

She said the refugee children from Third World countries live in poverty that is unimaginable to Americans.

"They may have not ever have had socks before. Deodorant --they've never seen it," Ms. Mohammed said. "These children have lived well below the poverty line in any urban area in the United States."

She said there have been instances of refugee students spending their days in the rest rooms at school because they are fascinated by the water faucets.

Mrs. DeFilippo said she is hoping the welcome center will be a supportive environment in which the refugee children can learn the skills they need to be successful in the classroom and at home.

During their time in the welcome center, refugee children will still attend their ESL classes and will still play during recess with the other children in the school and participate in gym, art, library and music classes.

In the refugee center, there will be a wardrobe filled with clothes and a mirror and the children will be taught how to dress like their American counterparts and how to dress appropriately for the weather.

Many of the children have not lived in a cold climate and haven't worn socks and shoes and coats.

"You may have a kid show up in flip-flops in the middle of winter," Ms. Deasy said.

The refugee children will be provided with winter coats, boots and school supplies, which are given to Paynter by South Hills Interfaith Ministries.

They will also learn the difference between male and female clothing.

"A family may put a pink jacket onto a boy because it was donated and the kid goes to school and is harassed," Ms. Mohammed said.

The children will also be taught proper hygiene and introduced to different types of food. The refugee children are used to food being rationed and it being mostly rice and now we are exposing them to all kinds of things. Oftentimes, the children do not like it at first," Mrs. DeFilippo said.

The students will also take tours of the school, meet the school nurse and learn how to negotiate the cafeteria line.

Some pupils may spend several days in the welcome center, others will need more time, Mrs. DeFilippo said. Children will be able to return to the center whenever they have an issue to address or need help in some way, Mrs. DeFilippo said.

Ms. Mohammed said she is hoping the welcome center also will help families to get their children involved in community and school activities and sports leagues.

Mrs. DeFilippo said the immediate goal of the welcome center is to serve the needs of the refugee pupils. But, she said, in the future, it may also serve parents as well.

Ms. Mohammed said that Baldwin-Whitehall has the largest refugee concentration in Allegheny County and among the highest in the nation. She said she knows of no other district that has anything like the welcome center at Paynter.

She said it shows the district's commitment to refugee students.

"This is the true American spirit. I see it everyday in the Baldwin-Whitehall School District. They do not neglect the children. They do care and I think that's remarkable," Ms. Mohammed said.