Classroom Activities
| A Poem As Lovely As a Tree |
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The cones on these trees make them coniferous,
Don’t you think they look splendiferous?
So asked third grade TAG students as they presented their Dendrology Quest to family members on April 24 and 25. These young scientists are in Mrs. Kathleen Hanson’s TAG (Talented and Gifted) classes at Oak Knoll and Holly Glen. The students conducted an in-depth study of the trees on their school grounds, then created a treasure hunt dubbed Dendrology Quest. To create the treasure hunt, they first toured the school's grounds, photographed the surrounding trees, measured circumferences, and took leaf samples. They then used books and internet resources to identify the trees and create original illustrations. After plotting a route around the school and creating a map for questers to follow, the students wrote clues in couplet form leading to a special treasure box at the end. Families had a great time unearthing the treasure together, and along the way they discovered.... “This tree is a red maple and deciduous To finish this treasure hunt you must be assiduous!”
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| Water Cycle |
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Rowan Clinical Practice Candidates Arielle Williams and Caitlin Eckert co-taught a lesson on cloud formations and the water cycle with a hands-on experiment with their Holly Glen First grade students. &nsbp;Students made shaving cream clouds and watched as blue color dye was dropped on the cloud. Students were amazed to see rain fall from their clouds!
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| "Do not open until February 29, 2016" |
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On Wednesday, February 29, 2012, Mr. Czbas’ second grade class from Holly Glen wrote a letter to themselves that they will open on the next leap year day, February 29, 2016. During this creative writing piece, the students identified the parts of a friendly letter, brainstormed ideas and made notes as part of their pre-writing about the things they wanted to ask their future selves. Some of the questions were about their future goals and what they would be doing in four years. The students placed their completed letters in sealed envelopes, which they were instructed to put in a safe place. One student even wrote Mr. Czbas a letter to open next leap year day. The students are now eagerly awaiting February 29, 2016 when they will go back to the future.
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| 1st Grade Contractions - Word Surgery |
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During our study of contractions, first graders performed Word Surgery to create contractions. First students dressed for surgery with masks and goggles. Then they gathered tools such as scalpels (scissors), and bandages (Band-Aids). The doctors operated on 2 words at a time, to cut off the un-necessary letters and stitch the words back together as contractions. After the surgery was complete, the doctors had to fill out their paperwork, completing the information needed to tell how the contraction was created. The 1st grade doctors were so excited about the lesson, they wanted to go home and perform more surgery on new words! |
| Mr. Spera Helps Us Learn |
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Mr. Spera visited Mrs. Foti's 4th grade class and did a lesson on Monroe Township. He brought in several articles, books, and pictures to share with the class. The students even had to find Mr. Spera in two school class pictures taken when he was in kindergarten and 8th grade. It was fun guessing! The class learned so many new facts about the town we live in with his help. Thank you Mr. Spera! |
| First Graders Love Dr. Seuss! | ||
Holly Glen’s First graders celebrated Dr. Seuss’ birthday with an afternoon of Seuss Stations on March 4th. Students rotated to fun learning centers focused around Dr. Seuss’ famous books. Students fished for rhyming words, created Grinch masks, decorated bookmarks, and made daisy headbands. A few math centers had students estimating and measuring. Students also enjoyed visiting Seussville at the computer center. Parent volunteers, teachers, and students alike enjoyed the memorable learning experience interacting with each other at the stations while celebrating their love for reading Dr. Seuss books! |
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| Mixing Up Learning |
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Mr. Czbas’ Third Grade students enjoyed their hands-on scientific investigation into mixtures and solutions. With the help of a WHS Future Teacher of America club member during their visit to Holly Glen Elementary School, the students mixed different kinds of solids: some tasty kids’ cereal and yummy pretzels. They mixed these potent ingredients together and then separated them by hand to illustrate a mixture. They then mixed a glass of tap water with a tablespoon of sugar. With the help of their trusty bendy straws, the eager students evenly mixed the solution and then tasted their sweet concoction under teacher supervision. Don’t try this at home!
| Groundhog Day at Holly Glen |
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| 80's DAY! |
Holly Glen students in Mrs. Wristbridge's and Mrs. Voci's classes had a Totally Rad celebration, 1980s style. The students celebrated being 80 days smarter by dressing in 1980s fashions, counting to 80, writing about the past 80 days of school, dancing to some fun 80s songs, and learning about popular fads from the 1980s. Holly Glen teachers kindly shared their photos from the 80s, which including some very cute baby photos and some very funny prom pictures as well. It was a radical day for all! |
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| Snow Day Stories |
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In December the students in Mrs. Wristbridge’s second grade were asked to type a story about a snow day. The students love to just type without worrying about following their prewritten pieces. The only direction they were given was to include characters, setting, and a beginning, middle, and end. Students used the program Canvastic so that when they were done typing they could just work on their illustrations. If you are unfamiliar with Canvastic, this program is a combination of writing and painting. Their stories came out awesome; lots of adventures! They are more encouraged to write stories now and always ask, “Are we going to type these?” They are also writing more detailed stories when they are not as concerned with spelling and writing. |
| Cross-Class Reading Day |
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| Mrs. Morris’ fourth grade class was lucky enough to have the opportunity to read to Mrs. Foti’s kindergarten class. Each 4th grader was paired with with a kindergarten student and read them a story. When they were finished the students switched books and read some more. At the end of the visit, the 4th graders and kindergarten students asked each other questions about school. Both the kindergarteners and the fourth graders had a great time interacting. It was a great day!!! |
