The Light Returns....
2/10/2020
As the sun starts to appear earlier each day and stays later each afternoon, our school year feels like it is speeding up and hurtling down the road at light speed! We’ve been busy here at PNA, as students are growing and stretching themselves in so many ways! Here are just a few of their accomplishments these past few weeks:
-To honor and celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s contributions and vision, our class joined with the rest of PNA to show kindness to each other and to serve others. We worked with our 2nd grade buddies to learn to sew “bat wraps,” special soft pillow/blankets used to help orphan bats survive. Our bat wraps will be sent to areas in the world where extreme weather is causing loss of habitat and safety for animals. This activity held just the right amount of challenge for our learners, who now have the sewing machine skills needed to work on our upcoming Auction art project. Additionally, our students were able to see how they could be connected to something happening across the globe: an important concept as they study Earth’s systems and how they interact. - Brown Bag Week was a fun and important chance for students to practice living the PNA mission. It takes courage to stand up in front of the student body to share a skill or talent, and it takes integrity to be a good audience member: to listen patiently and politely; to clap and encourage classmates; to cheer for performers of all ages and skill. Our class chose to share a funny skit with the school, and we were gratified to get lots of laughs. Two of our fifth graders also participated in the city-wide battle of the Books, where they did a fabulous job representing PNA! - Last week the PNA's exceptional learners celebrated the 100th day of school! Fifth graders helped set up the many activities and then participated with gusto. They helped clean up afterwards as well. In fact, this group of young leaders can be counted on to lead the way and help cheerfully whenever they are needed! - Academically the class has been continuing to build an understanding of the text structures of non-fiction. We’ve embarked on some non-fiction reading about extreme weather events, moved into a study of our US Constitution, finalized our informational writing about the American Revolution, started learning about energy transfer in science, and continued our study of US geography. Our Morning Announcements Project continues to challenge each student to be a good writer and speaker, and students recently began taking even more ownership of this project as they made some of their own format changes to our daily program and began experimenting with GarageBand to change up our accompanying music. Yes, the light is returning, and it’s energizing us in wonderful ways! These next few months will fly by, and we are working to make every moment count! Comments are closed.
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Elizabeth FerryMs. Ferry's experiences include teaching with the Peace Corps in Tanzania, teaching high school English in Maine, and this is her second year at PNA. She loves moose, outdoor activities, and being with her students. Archives
April 2021
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