What a fabulous group of students we have in the 4/5 classroom this year!
We enjoyed creating our get-to-know-me project: The Next American Idols. The students and teachers created album covers and song titles based on their own favorite hobbies, interests, colors, etc. Andy brought in some of his rare albums as models and shared the music with us on a portable record player. Most students had not seen a record album or turntable before! The projects are beautifully displayed in our classroom. Please come and check them out!
Our Houghton Mifflin language arts program and Columbia Writing Project provide a thorough language arts experience for the children. We’re excited this year to integrate science and writing whenever possible. You may have noticed that our weekly spelling words are going back and forth between science vocabulary and traditional spelling words. The students did a fantastic job on their first portfolio writing piece, comparing and contrasting plant and animal cells after having read about them, illustrated them in great detail and observed them under the microscope. Wow!
Our Houghton Mifflin science curriculum for the first part of the year focuses on The Life Processes: Cells, Plant Systems and Traits of Living Things. Weekly nature walks supplement our classroom experience. We have collected, analyzed and classified leaves and sketched interesting discoveries in our naturalists’ journals. On Tuesday afternoons, Mrs. Corkum and Mrs. Elia will be conducting a science lesson together, further integrating the two curricula. This upcoming Friday, Miss Anne will also be doing leaf studies in art class with the children. What a connection!
The first Pinecroft Pal Picnic of the year was a huge hit! Notes and letters have been “mailed” back and forth between the two classrooms, generating lots of excitement and anticipation! We look forward to many more activities together throughout the year.
We’re so impressed by the Wheaton intern “crew” working at Pinecroft. They bring a variety of majors and areas of expertise to our students, from math to music to Spanish and more. Phys. Ed. teachers, James and Chris, bring the right mix of enthusiasm and good sportsmanship to our weekly gym class.
Don’t hesitate to email us with any questions or comments. We’re off to a great start!