The fourth and fifth graders recently wowed us with their puppet show book reports. Each student chose a novel and created puppets and scenery to act out a conflict in the book. The class was to guess the climax. Their artistic talents and presentation skills impress us every time.
We’ve taken several nature walks to observe signs of spring. We were excited to see raccoon footprints by the river, and, most recently, we observed painted turtles basking in the sun at the Wheaton pond.
The 5th graders helped out at Wheaton College with the Relay for Life event again this year. Along with Mrs. Corkum and Jeani, the class hung up all of the original artwork created by Pinecroft students to inspire the walkers during the overnight relay. Co-chair of the Relay event, senior Elise Barrar, has worked at Pinecroft as an intern for three years.
In Social Studies we have just completed our unit on the Civil Rights Movement, complete with a whole group reading of the autobiography of Ruby Bridges. The unit followed our study of Maya Angelou and Langston Hughes. Andy gave us a recording of his original music, which he composed to accompany the lyrics of “The Weary Blues,” a poem by Hughes written in 1925. The students are now completing their Angelou mimic poems based on her poem, “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me at All.”