What a happy holiday for some Atlanta-area students!

The Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta got the attention of the nation when the video above of its students performing an election rap they wrote appeared on YouTube.

Teachers at the school are known to use rapping, dancing and drumming to help students learn.

Headmaster Clark, who taught in one of New York City's toughest schools and wrote the best-selling teaching book The Essential 55, opened the ATL school last year with proceeds from his book and private donations.

Nearly all of its 80 students are from middle- and low-income households.

Parents pay a small part of the tuition and the rest is paid by donors. It costs approximately $14,000 to educate each student.

Well, the generous Oprah Winfrey can be listed as one of the school's benefactors.

On Wednesday, Clark revealed to his students that Super O gifted the school $365,000!!

"We teach school all day and fundraise at night," said Clark. "To have an unsolicited gift come like that is incredible."

When Clark shared the news with the school community, the children, parents and teachers reportedly erupted in deafening cheers!

The donation will likely go to scholarships for students.

It's enough to pay for roughly 26 children to attend the school for one year!

In a letter that accompanied the check, Winfrey calls Clark a role model and applauds the "profound difference you're making with your passion for teaching."

The check was issued by the Oprah Winfrey Foundation, which gave $4 million to educational programs in 2008.

Oprah rules!

Jake GyllenHO and his beard better half, Reese Witherspoon ,were spending some time with Jakey's mom, Naomi, yesterday.

The happy bunch grabbed some coffee while out and about in Los Angeles.

They then headed over to their local farmer's market to grab some last minute goodies.

Wonder if 2009 will mean marriage for the two?

What do U think?

Do Gyllenhaal and Reese actually make a good couple?

[Image via Ramey Pix.]

Prince is gonna hit us hard in 2009.

The original diva is set to release THREE albums this year!

According to the LA Times, Prince is in negotiations with "a major retailer" to distribute the albums.

He'll also be selling them on a new and interactive website.

As to why he's not working with a record label this time, Prince says, "The gatekeepers have to change."

The first of his three new albums to be released is tentatively titled MPLSOUND and "is an electro-flavored solo effort recorded at Paisley Park Studios." One of the songs even features a Q-Tip rap.

The style is described as going back to the sound of When Doves Cry.

His Lotus Flower is described as "a varied album, featuring cuts recorded over the course of two years, but standout tracks include some heavy rockers — especially the apocalyptic "Dreamer," which Prince said was partly inspired by the radical black comedian Dick Gregory."

Can't wait to hear the new music.

Prince only gets better with time!

[Image via WENN.]

As we mentioned yesterday, former NBA star Charles Barkley was arrested early Wednesday morning on suspicion of drunk driving.

But, now, new details have been released and we now know why he was in such a hurry.

Apparently, he was rushing to go get a BLOW JOB!

Barkley told Arizona cops that he was in a hurry to pick up a girl who had "given him a 'blow job' one week earlier." One which he described as "the best one he had ever had in his life."

And according to the Gilbert Police Department report, police asked him just where he was going. He responded with, "You want the truth? I was gonna drive around the corner and get a blow job and 3 grams of coke."

Idiot!

What blowjob is worth an arrest?

He was also heard telling a cop that "I'll tattoo your name on my ass," if it would get him out of the DUI charge.

The idiot Barkley, who once said he planned on running for governor of Alabama, was busted after he failed field sobriety tests.

He was cited for a misdemeanor charge and later released at the scene.