Classroom Notes
Thursday, May 28, 2009 - 11:00am
Madison's parents were the lucky auction winners of Head of School for a Day this year. Today Madison rang the bell to start the school day. After being briefed by Susan Stone on Headly duties, Madison oversaw a firedrill.
Madison then announced the annual measuring of the Sycamore tree to the assembled crowd.
We measured the Sycamore and Madison recorded the height of the tree -- 152"! Madison then announced that there would be popsicles for everyone at lunch time and got an enthusiastic response from her classmates.
Madison continues her work -- writing memos to teachers, inspecting the grounds ... and she looks forward to lunch followed by a popsicle.
1 week 1 day ago
Wednesday, May 20, 2009 - 4:59pm
While there, students were privileged to receive a tour led by Nate Rice, PhD, The Academy of Natural Sciences Ornithology Collection Manager. Students saw how bird specimens are prepared for inclusion in the collection, oohed and aahed over specimens collected from all over the world, and saw birds that are endangered and some that have been extinct for many years. They took a look at part of the egg collection while learning about differences in egg coloration that continue to baffle scientists. They were also able to see one of the birds placed in the collection by Audubon and as they read the specimen tag they noted how beautiful his handwriting was!
In addition to time spent behind the scenes at the museum, students also toured the public areas and discussed ideas related to the theory of evolution.
1 week 2 days ago
Monday, May 18, 2009 - 2:44pm
Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten students enjoyed a visit to the Philadelphia Zoo on April 28th.
Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten students enjoyed a visit to the Philadelphia Zoo on April 28th.
Tr. Mingh's Pre-K students continued their investigation of movement and paid attention to the feet of the animals. Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten students enjoyed a visit to the Philadelphia Zoo on April 28th. Tr. Mingh's Pre-K students continued their investigation of movement and paid attention to the feet of the animals.
Pre-K students hopped and bobbed!
Kindergarten students focused on animals of Kenya and recorded their observations in their journals.
9 hours 47 min ago
Saturday, May 16, 2009 - 7:00am
On May 15 we headed over to the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge to put our birding skills to the test. While there we identified by sight or sound Great Egrets, wild turkeys, Great Blue Heron, Redwing Blackbirds, Brown Headed Cowbirds, Barn Swallows, Tree Swallows, Northern Mockingbird, mallards, American Robin, Carolina Warbler, and Common Yellowthroat.
1 day 17 hours ago
Friday, May 15, 2009 - 4:57pm
I am practicing with blogging. Instead of a newsletter to parents this week, I helped create the wonderful books that your children produced for the Language Arts Fair. They did the writing and illustrating; I did the binding and worrying. What a wonderful collection of stories has emerged.
One side benefit from this work involved their biographies. I have been trying to teach them the difference between 1st person and 3rd person without great success. When they learned that they had to do biographies for themselves in the third person, they thought that was very odd, but I heard several of them explaining the difference to a student who had written the biography in the first person. Learning!
17 hours 4 min ago
Friday, May 15, 2009 - 3:24pm
Families joined students and teachers at The Annual Language Arts Fair, a celebration of student writing.
2 days 12 hours ago
Thursday, May 14, 2009 - 11:00am
First and second grade students put their math skills to practical use every Thursday in May.
Students will be selling pretzels ($.50) in the lunch room!
1 hour 24 min ago
Friday, May 8, 2009 - 11:19am
Spring in all her glory was welcomed in on May 2, 2009 at our annual May Fair.It was lovely despite the rainy start to the day. As lunch time approached the day brightened a bit and we had a pretty good turn out. There was good food, good company, fun activities, crafts, games, Moon Bounce, balloons and entertainment. My personal favorites were the May Pole Dance and Steve Barbone's Dixieland Jazz Band. It isn't easy circling around going over and then under when you can barely breath for laughing! We got so twisted up we nearly lashed a child to the pole! I'm kidding about the child being lashed to the pole, but it was more like a circus than a circle dance! The band needed to perform indoors because rain threatened, but they were fabulous as always. Thank you Parent Group and May Fair Committee for a wonderful day. It is an event that exemplifies and nourishes our very special community. Warmly, Susan
1 week 5 days ago
Tuesday, May 5, 2009 - 1:30pm
Students in the 5/6 can fit the whole class through a 5 by 8 inch index card!
1 day 5 hours ago
Tuesday, May 5, 2009 - 10:50am
4 hours 45 min ago
